What a day! A very nice day, all ‘round, and it’s not even over yet.

We got to the event just after Opening Court started, so we hauled our chairs over and I sat under my parasol. We were near the front, but a bit behind, so it was a little hard to see/hear. We were pretty much hanging out, saying whispered hellos to people, that sort of thing. Ken had Lasairfhiona and Wulfric’s daughter on his lap. The following part of the story will be obvious to all of you far faster than it was to me.

So they call the Order of the Crescent (Grant-level service) up. I say to Ken, “You know, it specifically says it’s for many years of service to the Kingdom. We did stuff before we left, but we lost three and a half years being in Drachenwald, so it’ll be a few years before we’d get something like this, if it happened.” He said, “But it’s for a lot of work, too, so you never know.” They called up Anna Grace, the Kingdom Chatelaine, who is absolutely wonderful and one of those people who everyone probably assumed _had_ a Crescent. I squealed in happiness. They said, “And in like manner, do We call…”

Yup. Totally blindsided me. I _so_ did not expect this. So we scramble around and Ken escorts me up there, and suddenly there’s this shiny dangly around my neck, and Anna Grace is hugging me…

The only problem was, I fully expected to then hear, “And in like manner, do We call Umberto…” He deserves one at least as much as I do. So, phooh on that.

It was nice to be wearing a whole new outfit, though.

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The day was pleasant, if short—we skipped Closing Court and were in the car to the restaurant at 5:16 p.m. It had been hot, we were hungry, and the winner of the day was the least favourite to win. So. We bought a few small things at the A&S fund-raiser, and perused merchants, and chatted with friends, and I got a few more people to sign up to help with Gate at GWW. Then we rounded up about 30 people and went to Outback for supper (mmmm, cow), where Giuseppe and I bonded over early 80s pop bands. (C’mon, how many people remember Nik Kershaw?) His partner Giles and Ken sent commiserating looks over our heads and discussed power tools and building things. Hee.

Now we’re home, caught up with e-mail, and have had a quick swim. I just discovered there’s an hour-long special on da Vinci’s portrait of Ginevra de Benci, so that’s what we’re off to watch now.