Western Night

For Labor Day this year we went over to a friends' house for a western themed evening. We had a great time, and it was enjoyed by everyone. Here are some photos, starting off with a group photo and some photos of what people were wearing:

This was me for a total of about two minutes...

This is what I looked like for the rest of the evening.
(By the way, I seem to be in a disproportionate number of photos in this post,
but, on the other hand, I usually don't have any of me, because I'm taking the photos,
so maybe it will average out all right)

Dinner was excellent, and western themed as well, with a sprinkling of green jalapeño peppers, which was appreciated by some more than others ;) Some photos from dinner:

Everybody smile!

That's me!

And plenty of humor, fellowship, and good fun to go around.

Though for some more than others

A little girl from the prairie...

And last, but certainly not least, the dancing:

As will happen when you have people different heights, we had  the occasional height mismatch...

But, the dancing was enjoyed by all, (except perhaps two boys who became invisible at the first possible opportunity!)

(I won't say who)

Apologies for the (out of focus) video, this was the next to last dance, and people were getting tired and hot, but this gives a better idea of how the dance goes than the photos.

And, winding up, a final group photo.

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.