Swimming

I was supposed to write a paragraph today about how great swimming is. Here's the first draft:

Swimming is a very good sport for many reasons. Just think about it, a big pool of chlorinated water with lots of people swimming in it. And chlorine is good for you, right? After all, the government puts it in drinking water, so it must be good for you, because of course the government would never do anything that isn't good for you...right? Also, you are not only immersed in it, but many pools are indoors, so the evaporated chlorine stays right there instead of blowing away, so you get double the benefit!

I have to use humor to get through writing...

Titanic 100th anniversary

For the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic we had a formal dinner with some friends of ours.
Everyone dressed formally, close to the style of that time. We danced, ate and watched a movie. When you came to the house, this is what you were greeted by:

And of course, you must sign the guest book;

We took a number of photos first: (This one by C-Serpents, CC 2.0)

After we finished taking the (seemingly endless) photos ;) we all went in and danced. We danced older dances, such as they might have on the Titanic. One was the Virginia Reel, which is one of my favorites (partly because it is one of the easiest!) This time though, we danced the old version, which has the head couple link elbows and turn their way down the line, separating at each couple to turn them instead of sashaying (I think that's how you spell it?) down the line. Unfortunately I don't have any photos, but we did learn that when an IPod says "do not disconnect" (without ejecting) when it is plugged into a computer, it means it. That delayed us for a while, but eventually we worked things out. After that, I set up for a movie, and the others got dinner ready. When dinner was ready, since it was a formal dinner the gentlemen had to escort the ladies in to dinner:

(photo by C-Serpents, CC 2.0. I obviously couldn't take this photo)

We had a delicious 7 course meal, of which I did get a few photos:

And for dessert, since it was my sister's birthday, we had candles:

And here's the menu:

After dinner, we watched the Titanic (movie, 1958). -Edit. I stand corrected, the movie was about the Titanic, the actual name is A Night to Remember-
The younger ones watched Mary Poppins.
Things took somewhat longer than expected, so we ended up watching the sinking of the Titanic at around the time it actually happened!

Some watch very intently!

Then, present time! I'm not sure who enjoyed it most (see photos)

And I wasn't the only one taking pictures: (though all but two of these are mine)

And, when our movie was finished we all came up and watched the last bit of the other one:

It was a wonderful and inspiring evening, as well as a good reminder of how fallible we truly are.

Trip back

We are doing better at stopping at reasonable hours, last night we actually got in before midnight! -sigh-