An 18th century weekend

Last weekend at Leuftsabruk was really wonderful. It was actually just not a weekend, for those who wanted, they could come Wednesday evening, but with everything that has happened lately, we felt that just the weekend would be enough. We came up in the late morning and found that the weather was summery warm, so it was very pleasant to take strolls in the garden. I had a very relaxing and pleasant two days. On Saturday we strolled around, occsionally meeting friends at various places in the garden for a little chat. In the early afternoon there was a guided tour of the castle and after that a very long and lazy lunch. I actually sat and talked with friends for so long that the only thing I did before dinner was to change my clothes.

Dinner was excellent, but by the end of it, both my gentleman and I felt the toll of the past weeks, and retired too early to be able to go and have midnight snacks in the orangery. Instead we slept for ten blissful hours and woke up feeling very refreshed. So we had a loong breakfast, milled around a bit and chatted and in the early afternoon we went home. It was really just what we needed- rest at a lovely place with good friends. I do hope that the next time we will have energy for more than two days and perhaps a spot of party too.

I couldn’t find my camera- it’s somewhere in all those boxes, so I just took a few with my mobile phone. Annali has a few, but lovely, photos here. I really missed my stays, though! I just felt sloppy without. So I’m not overly sad that I haven’t seen any pics of myself, so far. I was very pleased with my new cap, I can’t say that I really found it flattering, but it felt right, and is pretty in its own right. It was very pleasing to see that nearly every female there had their head covered properly. I feel that caps are something that is often omitted, probably because they are considered so un-pretty and un-flattering. But they do bring so much to the overall picture. We actually discussed how much better people have become to wear caps only in the last few years.

A few of us also discussed the neglected 17th century and it seems that we are several who would thing it would be fun to do something like that. And not just girls. My gentleman surprised me with saying he has always longed to have a musketeer’s uniform and another friend talked about breeches with “all those ribbons”. A big problem is the lack of places that goes in the 17th century style, but I’m sure that can be solved.

Speaking of the 17th century, I saw a portrait that interested me quite a bit.

The lady in question was called Christina Rynning and the painting seems to have been painted in 1653 to celebrate her husband elevation to something grand. I like her look, she seems to smirk, which we all thought must be to the REALLY BIG JEWELS she has in her hair. One thing that interested me was that her bodice if laced shut in the front. It’s a bit hard to see, even in the enhanced picture, but standing close to the portrait one could clearly see even the lacing holes.