Weekend XVIII :: sense, sensibility, and irish dancing

My weekend was pictureless, alas. Not because anything dreadful happened to me or my camera (although I do fear that the latter is growing a little aged and weary). No, simply because I was having too much fun and too much relaxation to remember to take photos. So I will have to tell you all about it in words.

First, there was Saturday, and great was the sleeping-in thereof. Then there were the usual Saturday things, like general tidying up, and washing -- and cleaning out the fridge. Finally all was done, tiny egg sandwiches were made, mint m&ms (yes!) were tempting me, and party pies were in the oven. Girls' movie night -- yay! About ten of us gathered to watch the newest BBC Sense and Sensibility. It's a truly gorgeous adaptation, and we were excited to share it with our girly friends. We munched and watched our way through all three hours, and then talked for several more hours about life and love, old times and new. We finally headed to bed around 2am, tired but definitely blessed in fellowship.

After breakfast together on Sunday morning, we all parted ways. Lauren and I headed out to a rotary bookfest and spent happy times rummaging through piles and piles of secondhand books. Yes, of course I bought some. I'll review them at my book blog as I work my way through them.

Over lunch, we watched Marie Antoinette, which, apart from all the visual loveliness, proved to be a rather silly movie indeed (and therefore not recommended). However, it got me all interested in Marie Antoinette and her husband Louis VXI, and I did a little sleuthing around to find out more. If any proof was needed, their history makes "the truth is stranger than fiction" very true indeed.

In one of those quirks of life that make everything all so interesting, our lives got to sort of intersect (in a tiny way) with Louis XVI's that very afternoon -- even though he's been headless these two hundred years past. For, hearing that there was a free folk music afternoon on at a local garden centre, Lauren and I headed out to enjoy it. It turned out that the first act was a duo called Fiddlesticks, who were playing a violin made in Paris, France, in 1793 -- the very same year that King Louis XVI was beheaded. I was in awe. Here was an instrument that could, through no huge stretch of reality, possibly have been held and handled by someone who had seen the French royal family -- maybe even someone who had served in the castle. It made the history I'd just been watching hours earlier really come alive.

Of course, the music was awesome, too. The one-hour set told the story -- no doubt elaborated on by creative souls -- of the fiddle's journey from revolutionary France to the here and now. Each new moment in the instrument's history was accompanied by music native to the time and place depicted in the story. So very, very good.

The second set was another duo, an offshoot of the first group, I think. They played a fabulous run of Celtic-inspired fiddle and guitar duets -- with occasional very awesome bits of irish dancing thrown in just to make everybody smile. We later learned that the dancing dude was one of a group of four who made it to the grand final of Australia's Got Talent -- so here's a sample of the goodness:



I bet you're grinning now, right?

After the fun of our music-filled afternoon, there was time for just a quick run home to shower and then head out again for night-church which was great, as always. We had dinner afterwards with a handful of friends and enjoyed some excellent conversation.

And then, back at home, we got to talk to some of our very dearest friends via video chat, and we talked and laughed and made ridiculous jokes until, well, Monday morning actually. And it was also very, very good.

So as you see, my weekend was super in many ways. How about yours?