Austen Fest 2018

Rumor has it there’s a pretty important football game today. Instead of watching that, we held Austen Fest.

We held our first Austen Fest in 2010, for reasons I explained on the blog (see An Alternative to the Superbowl—Austen Fest). Nothing has changed our attitude toward the Superbowl in ensuing years.

But this year, we’re upping our game, if you will. Aly has invited our friend, Regi, to attend. We watched the group’s favorite Jane Austen movies, which, coincidentally and conveniently, we own: Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice.

In addition to our usual snacks, we made British food (sushi’s British, right? Okay, so we’re not too strict on the theme . . .but, we also made scones). Aly made a large pot of tea, (I’m sticking to coffee, thanks) and we even got appropriate tattoos!

Temporary tattoos, anyway. Regi gifted Aly a set of Pride and Prejudice temporary tattoos. Why not? What better opportunity to use such a thing?

The girls show off their Austen Temp Tatts (SO tough! So literary!) (Photo: Mark A. Zeiger.)

Mark’s Austen-oriented temporary tattoo (Photo: Mark A. Zeiger).

Aly makes scones for Austen Fest 2018 while coordinating guest arrival via  text (Photo: Mark A. Zeiger).

For us, Austen Fest represents a welcome break from the somewhat hard scrabble we’ve experienced lately. Our water system remains frozen (see Hygge NOT) despite our various remedy attempts. In the meantime, we’re hauling water from the spring on the road side, requiring a short drive and hauling a mile and a quarter across the windy bay and over the trail to the cabin. High winds and low temperatures continue, requiring a daily effort to cut firewood as our supply rapidly dwindles. Today, we did very little about either of these issues, choosing instead to relax and enjoy ourselves with friends.

Michelle pets Lucy, the dog Regi is keeping along with her house at the moment (Photo: Mark A. Zeiger).

This may strike some readers as frivolous. But, I have to ask: is it any more frivolous than arbitrarily choosing to root for one of two teams with which one has little or no connection with whatsoever to win an arbitrarily designated Final Showdown in a game? Call it heresy, but I’d rather spend the day rooting for a preordained outcome in a work of literary fiction.

 

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