Great Seal

 Greetings

Whilst I was waiting for Teddy and our passenger after the ball in Putney, I noticed this marvelous charter on the wall.

My father used to do volunteer conservation work on documents at the National Achieves at Kew and used to refer to the cases for documents with the Great Seal as 'banjo boxes', as the seal has to has its own circular compartment.

This is the second time I have seen a document with the Great Seal. The first time was the charter setting up Queen Anne's Bounty to the Church of England ( I used to work for the adminstation side of the Cof E).

This one has, of course, the Great Seal of Elizabeth the second, just like all the Acts of Parliament of her reign. 

I'm told that,after Royal assent, each Act is printed on vellum and sealed with the Great Seal and one of the heralds has to take the document to Parliament and when its title is announced declare 'La Reyne Le veult' ( the queen wishes it- in Norman French) 

Apparently, the seals are so heavy that the herald has to remember to support it with one hand to stop the document tearing.

Of course the matrix for this seal will have been destroyed at the Queen's death.

A new Great Seal will have been made for King Charles the third and the heralds will say 'Le Roy le veult".

Here is a close up of the seal.

Until next time

Adieu

Raven Hair 1

 Greetings

This is a new piece of computer art I have been working on.

As usual, I shall post different versions of this piece later.

Until next time

Adieu

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