(no subject)

[samuelpearce]

Coronation is past and went well.

Highlights of the day:

• Ilsa's new dress - it was a perfect cornflower blue that went beautifully with her hair, and she said she felt very special walking about in a dress her lord sewed especially for her. We had been working on her Gothic Fitted Dress, but towards the end of last week, she asked if I'd be disappointed if she wanted a simple dress that we were well sure would be done on time. So we set aside the brown wool and knocked out a simple t-tunic, with hand-stitched cuffs and collar because it was simpler than doing it on the machine. (Plus, cuffs for Ilsa won't fit around the sewing machine's free-arm - they're quite slender)
  
• The ceremony was lovely, though my one objection was Runa's crowning. While it's quite symbolic to crown the new Queen in the midst of the populace, in practical terms it meant that only very tall people or those immediately adjacent to the meeting saw anything. Nice symbolism, bad theater-craft. It would have been better if the entire populace hadn't been standing.
  
• Fencing went well. Miguel caught up with me before Court to hand off the Baronial Champion's buckler and, since I'd forgotten the tabard on my dining room table, I felt obliged to use the buckler throughout the Round Robin tourney. And the only person to whom I lost a bout was the gentleman who won the entire tourney, so I feel I acquitted myself well as Champion d'Epee.
  
• the soap-making class was enjoyable, though we ran into some difficulties with two working groups and one set of crucial tools (digital scale, electric mixer). The electric mixer literally died shortly after it reached our group, but we'd mixed the product by hand well enough before we got it that we were able to proceed. Ilsa and I brought home two pounds of frankincense-scented soap, which I discoveredd this morning had made my car smell exciting.
  
• Feast was wonderful, and we had excellent seats up front to see the presentations. By the end of feast, though, we were so wiped that we ended up making a night of it soon afterwards. I poked my head into the hall for evening court and found it was sweltering hot, which helped decide us to forego attending.
  
• A good time was had by all, and Edward didn't look like a frazzled autocrat. "At this point, about all that would ruin this event would be an asteroid hitting the planet" quoth he, followed by a nervous glance up at the sky :D
  
• Sunday afternoon, we went to see CSU's production of Ben Jonson's The Alchemist, a play which i'd only ever read. Very enjoyable, and a perfect "scam artist" show, precursor to all the modern caper-flicks.
  

I didn't get the lawn mowed, but you can't have everything, can you? Besides, it gives me something to do tonight.