The little things.

Generally animals like me. aureellia 's chocolate Lab Koko loved me on first sniff, collapsing in a wriggling pile on her back as soon as I reached down to pet her. OK, the fact that I probably smelled like a bacon cheeseburger at the time may not have hurt. Ended up pitching my tent next to Auree's and spending some of the weekend hanging out with her and some of the nice folks from Vinhold. Auree and I had way too much fun together.

Was collared by duchessletitia  while dressed in tee shirt and capris on my way back from parking 'Tite Blanche so I could attend Duchess Kara's Laurel vigil. (Not being a peer, evidently I must have racked up some Cool Kid points somewhere along the way.) Not presuming to give advice, I did congratulate the candidate and managed to come up with a tanka for her vigil book.

Got to admire mamapduck 's baby daughter. Jennie looks just like her daddy.  Got to watch the children's foam weapons' tourney, as it was being held between the tents in the Vinhold enclave. The kids were generally well behaved and didn't require too much correction by the grownups. Megan and Alfar's youngest toddled onto the veranda of the House of Cheerful Monkeys and petted Akio (I said he could).

Meals with the Miyakes. Again. Some time this spring, Sedany decided I must need feeding or something. At least this time I got in touch in advance with a "what can I bring?" message and came prepared with four frozen packages of ahi, a bottle of marinade, and a half bottle of sake to contribute to Saturday's dinner. (The ahi, marinated in Mitsukan ginger dressing, and seared on the grill by Nobu-dono was amazing. Also sake marinated rib eye, sauteed green-and-waxed beans, gyoza, rice. And Nobu-dono made up the leftover steak in fried rice for Sunday breakfast. MMMMMM!!!!) Such nice folks. Special congratulations to their daughter Linet, who was awarded the Wreath of Chivalry at yesterday's Crown Tourney.

The new plaid "tablecloth" kosode doesn't look too bad. Jocelyn of Rowanwood got a shot of me sitting in morning court that I'm not embarrassed by. It looks right, my collar isn't awry and I'm sitting like a lady.  And it's SOFT. That linen washed up so cushy.  The blue kosode I'm planning on wearing under it is pretty close to the color of the dress Aine (to my left) is wearing.

Owen, the kingdom's submissions herald, informed me unofficially that my badge and Japanese name passed with minor modification as Saionji no Hana (instead of Hanae). I won the point on the use of "no," and concede that use of the -e suffix may not be period-appropriate. He's been great about keeping me informed of the process and allowing me to add supplementary documentation in mid stream. The paperwork went in last year after Thanksgiving, if I remember correctly.

Catherine of Wessex has evidently been trying to catch up with me since Pennsic. She had prezzies for me from crimsongriffin, who's back in Japan at present:  a cell phone charm with a tiny wooden comb, a flowered tenugui (towel), and a breathtaking length of sheer black obi silk with a water motif that I will have to wait until it tells me what it wants to be.

Got off site at a reasonable hour, stopped at Yaoya-san (99 Ranch was mobbed) and picked up a couple bottles for the sake tasting, unpacked what needed to come out of the truck, and managed to get a coat of black paint on the poor, sake-ringed, battered sheet of plywood I use as a table. When I last checked, it was pretty tacky. Once it's dry, it can go back in the truck. I'd also like to take a scrub brush to the canvas seats of my X-stools. They're looking rather grungy.