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Just finished Vanity and Vexation (originally published as Lions and Liquorice): Pride and Prejudice in drag and modern dress, and I found it quite funny. Prior to that was Teverton Hall, which was so fluffy and inconsequential it felt like it shouldh't have taken more than an hour to read. Possibly worthwhile if you want to read more Mr. Collins, otherwise probably not.
The bedtime reading has been Venice, Cita Excelentissima, the English translation of selections from Marin Sanudo's diaries I've been waiting to see published for over a year. It's very exciting to finally have it, but it's a little daunting to cart around.
Have been working like a fiend on Jacob's stocking, determined to finish it for Christmas this year. Still failing at pictures, but 9/10ths of the cross stitch is done: the last bit is very fiddly, though, as I changed the cello to an electric guitar and now have to do the cross stitch equivalent of Photoshopping in the background where the edges have changed. Then the backstitch....
Garment bags for the baronial investitures have been a big success so far (Altavia and Gyldenholt). Painting is in process for Angels, Dreiburgen and Calafia, and Grainne, bless her heart, has offered to sew them after that.
Last Saturday I charged up to FIDM to see the Artistic Dress exhibit (http://www.fidm.edu/resources/museum+galleries/current-exhibitions.html), which is seriously worthwhile if you have a thing for Aesthetic Dress like I do. (They also had a whole lot of Fortuny, too.) If you do, go soon: it's closing July 3rd.
Then I charged back down to Manhattan Beach to get my hair permed: it's nice to have the curls back.
Saturday night was a Bardic Circle and going away party, and Sunday was a Baronial Picnic in the Park. Both fairly low-key, but a nice chance to just hang out. And the park, under the trees and with a slight breeze, was cooler than most everybody's home at that point. Everybody agreed that we should do it again, but not too often, and not if it's going to put pressure on anybody. Do you think maybe we're all working too hard?