Sunday, January 20, 2013

In which a few Members of the Society attend a shindig in honor of Dorian Gray

Saturday, Lord Ballington, Major Dammit, and myself hied ourselves southward in the setting sun to attend the Gray Ball, commemorating the birthday of  Oscar Wilde's Very Good Friend, Mr. Dorian Gray, held on the grounds of the beautiful and historical Spanish Governor's Palace.
It was a very lush and well tended garden/patio area, with an abundance of wonderful plantings and charming seats, and the lighting was really quite magical. There was even a wishing-well! The bands were good. Vendors were few, but of good quality. I wish the vendors had better lighting. There was neither food nor beverage. I don't know if that was a restriction of the venue, or an oversight of the organizers. I know liquor laws in Texas are both obscure and antiquated, but at least water, tea, and/or sodas might have been made available? I know of some events and venues that have gotten around the silly liquor law thing by taking "suggested donations" for beverages. 


Anyway...overall, it was chilly and not well-attended, and honestly, I think that since there were so few people, *everyone* who came out should have been extended an invitation to whatever "VIP" thing happened afterward, but then again I am an inclusive sort of person. Mostly, I felt as if I was a party crasher rather than an invited guest. Though, I guess as a paying customer, I didn't really have the right to feel much of anything other than "did I get my money's worth"...honestly, no. (Though, to be fair, some of the evening's "meh" factor may have been that I have been ill all week and still don't really have my energy back, so I was not as outgoing or sociable as I might have otherwise been.)

The most fun for me was when we nipped out to get supper and ended up actually crashing a birthday party. Not entirely our fault...the restaurant staff at Mexican Manhattan seated us out on the patio overlooking San Antonio's picturesque River Walk right next to the large birthday gathering. The birthday gentleman made us feel very welcome after we helped sing to him, and gave us flan cake made by his sister. We posed for pictures (Lord Ballington placed his top hat upon the gentleman), wished him a very happy birthday, and thanked him for the cake.

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