Sunday at the fair

[jay]

After the last entry... patgreene got up from a nap and felt better, and I decided to go ahead and dress up for the Dickens Christmas Fair. It was rather overwhelming at first... the kids loved it.



The sounds and crowd affected patgreene a bit, but I liked the bustle. And bustles, on some costumes ;-). On Thanksgiving, dawnd had given me a red patterned waistcoat... I already had a formal shirt, shoes and trousers, but my tuxedo jacket was just too modern. On Saturday, I got an ascot and found a long jacket at a thrift store in Palo Alto. Pat pinned the sleeves, and we were off... nursing our wounded minivan through the rain to the Cow Palace.

Initially, I regretted dressing-up... I felt I was under/wrong-dressed for the 1/3 of the people there in period costuming, while too overdressed to be mundane. Encountering akienm and dawnd by chance in a shop, they had beautifully-detailed period costumes. Akien had his walking stick and a new cape and a gorgeous green silk waistcoat (that he'd made himself!). Dawn in a full hoopskirt and bonnet and gloves... beautiful. I actually felt rather intimidated around them because my own costuming fell well short of their standards... I wonder if that kind of thing happens at renfaires? I felt sheepish and quickly departed.

With Pat and the boys, we wandered... saw several shows (street theater, music hall, magic show, book reading, Scottish dancing troupe), played arcade-like games with the boys, admired penny-farthing bicycles, and were lucky to meet bdot while she was on a break from working in the teahouse. Keeping the kids together (and little hands off of breakables or first-edition books in shops) required constant attention. But worth it... David resumed talking in the faux-British accent that he'd adopted after seeing "Oliver!", and walked up to gentlemen and wished them a Happy Christmas :-). All of the males acquired new hats, too... We stayed until nearly closing... it was much fun, and even teenage-blase James got into the spirit after awhile. Hey, I'd go back.

And Pat took a photo of me after we babyed the car home:

Comments

[dawnd.livejournal.com]

6:45 is when the Fezzi's closing is supposed to start. I think they were running a tad late yesterday, though.

Yes, your jacket is too recent for Dickens. Though with some sewing modifications it could work pretty well (make it more of a cutaway, morning coat affair, or tails). Though it seems a shame to do that to a very nice period piece like that. I'd probably just look for another one over the next year. The ascot was fine, though. Stripes were fine, and to combine the stripes with the floral print was VERY Victorian. Add some plaid pants and you REALLY would have had it! :^D

Akien wore his wedding outfit because he felt like it. It's more comfortable than the more period stuff, and his neck was out of alignment (still is actually).

Yes, Michael was Neptune himself. :^) No, Akien and I did not meet at Fair, though it could be said that we met BECAUSE OF Fair, in one sense. We first met at my house on E 18th in Oakland. My housemate Tom worked Dickens in 1986, and met Clovis there. Clovis was a once-and-future GF of Akien's. They all ended up in a threesome for a while, and I first met Akien when he came to our house with Clovis to pick Tom up for some event or another. The second (and to Akien more memorable!) occasion of our meeting was at Randy's house for a rehearsal of that musical that Michael wrote (Bronwyn, a musical based on Welsh mythology). The first performance was at 12th Night Coronation in the SCA. (I performed in it the same day I got my Laurel, actually. :^) Then Michael wanted to re-stage it at UCB (where he was still attending school, IIRC), which necessitated re-casting a few roles. Akien joined the cast at that time, and we started dating the night of the cast party in March of 1987.

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Rather than cut this jacket, I think I'll aim for a cutaway... I'm kicking myself for allowing one to slip away last week on ebay. Although patgreene reminded me "how much formalwear do you really need, unless you work for the State Department?" (grin)

(actually, I bought my first tuxedo when I was stationed in Washington, having grown tired of rentals... but have scarcely used it since returning to California-casual-land. :)

Plaid pants, eh? Maybe a dark green plaid to set against the red floral waistcoat...

akienm seemed externally unaffected by his neck pain on Sunday... he must have hidden it well. I hope he's better aligned now, or at least has a chiropractor visit arranged.

Bronwyn, a musical based on Welsh mythology

with all due respect to bdot... was the play's namesake character male or female? I find it giggle-worthy that in some context, you and Akien were introduced by "Bronwyn" ;^).

[dawnd.livejournal.com]

Yes! A dark green plaid would be perfect against the red floral. So would many less-loud combos, BTW. There's just something quintessentially Victorian about what we would consider loud or busy combinations of patterns and fabrics.

The Bronwyn we sang about is a Welsh woman.

Akien has been to the Chiro now, and his neck is improving. He was much drugged at the Fair on Sunday.

Take your time on the cutaway or tails. You'll find one eventually, without having to overbid.