"Kickoff retrieved by Sheets, brought down by Faulkner."

"Faulkner?!"

"The sound and the fury of the game!"

"Through the fence, between the curling flower spaces, I could see them tackling."

"I don't see a whole lot of punctuation on the field."

• They love frozen custard in this town. Frozen custard shops, frozen custard stands, drive-through frozen custard, frozen custard cafes with free wireless... I'd never even heard of frozen custard before I moved here.
• The electric bill, if you discount the deposit, was about 1/4 what we were paying in Florida. Part of that, of course, was that the AC doesn't have to be running 24/7. Also, milk is about $1.50 per gallon, and gas is around $2.50.
• I need to weatherstrip the basement windows, because crickets keep squeezing in. They are driving me INSANE.

Yesterday, Ginevra and I went to our first Midrealm event, which happened to be Coronation. (I am told that it wasn't originally intended to be Coronation, but was later picked as the site at which Coronation was to be held. They do things much differently than in Trimaris, apparently.)

While still in the parking lot, we ran into Grizel, who was setting up in the merchant area to sell Midrealm merchandise. After dressing, we sat with her for a while and chatted. While we were talking, a Trimarian who styles himself "Archduke" (in violation of Corpora) strolled through. We mentioned his title to her, and she said that Archduke actually falls between Count and Duke in precedence - ha! (Unfortunately, I can't find any verification of this; it looks like it actually falls between Duke and King. Oh, but that would have been awesome if it were true.)

After lunch (pretty decent fare for $4), we walked around the site to see what we could see, and ran into, er, a Midrealm Laurel whose name I've already forgotten, who introduced me to a whole bunch of other people whose names I've also forgotten. (Have I mentioned that I'm very bad at remembering names?)

Martin and Islay, the current Crown of Trimaris, and two exceptionally cool people, were visiting, and we spent some time with them (primarily with Islay) catching up on all we'd missed in the past month. We also went shopping with Martin and Islay (whose money was no good at one shop — it's good to be the King).

After more walking and talking, it was time for Court; the Crowns processed to live music, preceded by a rapier honor guard. Court itself was much faster than its Trimarian counterpart; scrolls were read as the recipients were coming up to get them; the single cheer of "Hoobah!" was given as they walked away. Grizel acted as our charming native guide, and explained which awards were given for what.

At the end of Court, Martin and Islay did a mushy thing and introduced Ginevra and me to the Court and spake many complimentary words about us. (Well, so much for being a "stealth Peer" until people got to know me for who I am rather than what. But it was very flattering.) Afterwards, we were descended upon by a knot of Laurels, all of whose names, naturally, I have already forgotten. One was very interested in gaining players for his Commedia dell'Arte, which I may look into.

We changed back into real-world clothes to go have dinner with Grizel, and said one last goodbye to Martin and Islay. Martin told me a very surprising and pleasing thing about someone, which would have been great if the person in question had actually told me in person. But you know how it is.

All in all, a very pleasant event, having met some very nice people.

Addendum: The phrase "Oh, he's much less creepy than he used to be" is strangely unreassuring.

¶A bablynge gentylman, the whiche on a tyme wolde haue baſſed a fayre mayde, that had nat the leeſt noſe, ſayde: Howe ſhulde I kyſſe you: youre noſe wyll not ſuffre our lyppes to mete? The mayde waxinge ſhamfaſt and angrye in her mynde, for with his ſcoffe he a lyttel touched her, anſwered on this wyſe: Syr if ye can not kyſſe my mouth for my noſe, ye may kyſſe me there as I haue nere a noſe.