Floral Ball, Putney

 Greetings.

I have recently attended a Floral Ball at a hospital in Putney.

This is quite a convenient location for us, as we do not live far away.

The beginning of the evening was, not, however, tranquil. 

My husband, Teddy, is not the most organised of people and we left the house a little late and in a great rush only to find on our arrival that he had managed to leave his coat and waistcoat behind.

I had to drive us all the way home again to fetch them and we had missed the first danc by the time we arrived.

The ball was well attended and I soon relaxed and started to enjoy the dancing.

After a few measures, we adjoured for our dinner.

Then there was a raffle with the proceeds going to one of the hospital's charities. Teddy and I bought three strips of tickets each and , between us ended up with four books and bottle of bubbly. 

Unusually successful for me...

We then returned to the Ball Room. I dance most of the dances, but decided to sit out the Quadrille, as I find they have too many bits for me to remember.

I decided I didn't want to waear any of my military uniforms this time, so wore the tailcoat from my Court Dress (civilian) uniform with my white britches and black gorsgrain silk waistcoat.

I think it worked quite well as a combination and may wear that again.

We gave one of the other dancers a lift down to Wimbledon station and got home around 11.30.

Until next time

Adieu

Unexpected flower.

 Greetings

My longest surviving houseplant is a succulent called Wandering Jew.

Despite my poor memory and neglect, I have two examples that have , so far , survived since the 1990's.

One has even gone on to surprise me by flowering for the first time...

Until next time

Adieu

Oriental 27

 Greetings

Here is the final version of this computer art.

As nature intended- with a little censorship for this blog...

Until next time

Adieu

Faversham 2026

Greetings

I have just been to a event in Faversham, Kent.

This was a one day event on a Sunday and they had asked us to be there a 8.30 to set up. In order to get there in time, I had to pack the car on the Saturday and get up at 5.00AM.

I achieved this and arrived (just) on time.

The site was very cramped and we had to empty the vehicles and get them off to the arranged parking straight away. Luckily, this was not too far off. We got the camp and arena set up in time for the opening at 10.00.

We started off with a Kids' Battle, which I marshalled. 

This went a lot better than at Amersham, though poor Deejay found himself assaulted by some of his own side, as well as the enemy.

I armed up and then narrated the Arming of the Knight with Deejay as the knight in question and we went stright into the tourney, ending in a melee , which I won.

We had a good reaction from the public and I was able to do a fair amount of educating.

The vent ended at 3Pm, which was nice and I ws lucky enought to find a parking spot right next to the camp, which made take down much easier.

The journey home did not go quite a smoothy, as I took ne wrong turn that delayed me for 20 minutes and then ran into several traffic delays after that, but I still got home just after 6.00.

I wasn't able to take any pictures, but here are a couple more from Amersham.

Despite the early start, I quite enjoyed the event and might do it again.

Until next time

Adieu

Oriental 26

 Greetings

Here is another version of the new outfit.

This one requires a little censorship for this blog...

Until next time

Adieu

Amersham 2026 2

 Greetings

The show at Amersham was a relatively quiet one this year.

We didn't have as many of us there and, unfortunarely, this led to the tent being set up a bit too far forward, so we had to set up a slightly restucted arena at the side.

We did Arming The Knight and then tried a Kids' Battle.

This was a very restained affair compared to all other kids battles I have seen. The kid were very tentative and it was practically impossible to get a sound out of them. I have never seen the like...

We then got armed up and did a small tournay, which went very well considering there were only six of us.

Here are some more pictures (courtesy, again, of Member of the Public Connor, who gave permission for me to use them)

The take down wnen smoothly and I had a reasonable journey home.

Until next time

Adieu

Oriental 25

 Greetings

Here is another version of the new outfit...

Until next time

Adieu