New Year's Ball



We (my husband and I) ran a New Year's Ball in Milwaukee for the first time.

Some observations, so perhaps I'll remember next year:

  • The ball was a great deal of fun! We really enjoyed it! The group went through a great deal of time and effort to make the event special for everyone - and the food was great.
  • People get more tired as the evening progresses, so the sets can actually be shorter. Our planned program of 20 dances was FAR too ambitious. At times 3 dances in a set would have been sufficient.
  • 4 hours is an awfully long time for a ball (we didn't set the time) - and I got emotionally dragged out as it went on. I worried less and less about the dancers keeping exact time as it got later. I need to keep that in mind next year. Pacing is everything.
  • Perhaps some more waltzes? I don't want to overload on waltzes, but they are slower....
  • People are so willing to put up with your little glitches if you are open with them and you can laugh. Most reenactors are very gracious and generous people!
  • Children matter. Definitely.
  • This was our first time using our new sound system and it worked wonderfully! Since we needed to provide our own music for this, I will need to practice more with the Ipod. Somehow or the other you must be able to restart a song without losing lots of time. Some of the songs need to be just a touch slower. Some need to be longer!
  • I got my hair to roll under and stay (good hair!) for the first time EVER!
  • I think staying over next year is a must - the drive back home (arriving at 3am on New Year's Day) was brutal, although the roads were good. We were blessed with good weather too!
  • I didn't lose my voice for the first time I can remember - and I don't know what we did differently. Perhaps the voice volume was adjusted louder for us. I think there was less chatter in the dance room - there were tables in the next room, so most of the chatter occurred there. I didn't have to try to cut through the buzz of noise.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Mid-Nineteenth Century Lady's Nightcap

Image
I decided I needed a lady's nightcap.  Not a fancy ornamental day cap, but a practical one that could stand washing, ironing, and wearing.  My criteria were that it be historically accurate,  that it would cover my ears and keep me warm, and that it not twist around or fall off while I was sleeping.  I sleep cold; when we camp out at a reenactment, I will wear a knit cap to sleep during the cold weather.  At the end of March we are going to participate in an immersion event, which is where everything must be as accurate as possible at all times, 24/7 (or in this case, 24/3).  We will be staying in an antique log cabin, so there is no heating other than the fireplace.  It's been a cold, windy winter with an over abundance of snow, so I wanted to make sure I stayed warm at night. In July 1859, Peterson's Magazine  (akin to Good Housekeeping or Better Homes and Gardens ) published a pattern for a lady's nightcap.  A number of reenactors have made it up and there
Read more
Image
Chocolate Cream Historical Food Fortnightly Challenge #2 - Culinary Vices! The Challenge :   Culinary Vices (January 15 - January 28)   Some foods are really, really naughty. Globs of butter, lashings of sugar and syrup, decadent chocolate and wine. Bring out your naughty, indecorous side with foods associated with all the bad things, in the best ways. Being a child of the twentieth century, I know what I consider to be decadent (chocolate!  whipped cream!  rich creaminess!) and being a student of the nineteenth century, I know that my tastes do not necessarily align with theirs.  Many of their desserts are not as sweet and naturally, few rely on refrigeration - I do qualify "few," because there are desserts, such as ice cream, which require chilling. Boiled puddings there are aplenty on both shores of the Atlantic Ocean, as well as cakes like our fruit and pound cakes.   Mrs. Isabella Beeton That type of dessert didn't strike me as decadent.  I needed
Read more

Oiled Linen

Image
So, why would you want to make oiled linen? At reenactments I usually portray the president of a local Soldiers' Aid Society. I like bringing a display to engage the spectators and help them understand some of the items that were collected and sent to the armies. I also find that I learn a lot when I research and then recreate period items. The Annual Report, Issues 1-4, of the U.S. Christian Commission issues directions for packing supplies to be shipped. It mentions, "Stone jars of jellies should be corked and firmly bound with oiled linen or leather over the cork...." The Kentucky Housewife , by Lettice Byran, a cookbook published in 1839 suggests that many jars of food, especially pickles, be covered with leather. While I had already used leather as a cover for many of my jars, I wanted to add oiled linen for variety. First, I had to make oiled linen. Researching oiled linen, I learned that it was used in window panes as a substitute for glass, as an early umbrell
Read more