Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

/ Adam Lid / Leave a comment
dancing-turkey

Carmencita, the early years? 🙂

We at Lily Absinthe want to wish everyone out there a happy Thanksgiving, no matter where you are. Thanksgiving is a somewhat unique holiday in that it speaks to our ideals and aspirations as a nation and while throughout the years we may have fallen short of the ideal, we still strive to make it a reality. President Rutherford B. Hayes’ Proclamation No. 247, officially establishing the holiday, says it best:

At no period in their history since the United States became a nation has this people had so abundant and so universal reasons for joy and gratitude at the favor of Almighty God or been subject to so profound an obligation to give thanks for His loving kindness and humbly to implore His continued care and protection.

Health, wealth, and prosperity throughout all our borders; peace, honor, and friendship with all the world; firm and faithful adherence by the great body of our population to the principles of liberty and justice which have made our greatness as a nation, and to the wise institutions and strong frame of government and society which will perpetuate it – for all these let the thanks of a happy and united people, as with one voice, ascend in devout homage to the Giver of All Good.

I therefore recommend that on Thursday, the 25th day of November next, the people meet in their respective places of worship to make their acknowledgments to Almighty God for His bounties and His protection and to offer to Him prayers for their continuance.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this 1st day of November, A.D. 1880, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and fifth.

R.B. HAYES

By the President:

WM. M. EVARTS, Secretary of State.

With that, we give thanks for our good fortune and we give thanks to all our friends for being friends!

Adam & Karin


Happy Thanksgiving, One And All!

/ Adam Lid / Leave a comment

Afew years ago we published this Thanksgiving greetings and to us, it still applies now more than ever and we thought we’d post it again. Since we first posted this, there has been a lot of changes in our lives which has sent us in various new directions and along the way, we’ve met some pretty wonderful people so for that we especially give thanks. 🙂

dancing-turkey

We at Lily Absinthe want to wish everyone out there a happy Thanksgiving, no matter where you are. Thanksgiving is a somewhat unique holiday in that it speaks to our ideals and aspirations as a nation and while throughout the years we may have fallen short of the ideal, we still strive to make it a reality. President Rutherford B. Hayes’ Proclamation No. 247, officially establishing the holiday, says it best:

At no period in their history since the United States became a nation has this people had so abundant and so universal reasons for joy and gratitude at the favor of Almighty God or been subject to so profound an obligation to give thanks for His loving kindness and humbly to implore His continued care and protection.

Health, wealth, and prosperity throughout all our borders; peace, honor, and friendship with all the world; firm and faithful adherence by the great body of our population to the principles of liberty and justice which have made our greatness as a nation, and to the wise institutions and strong frame of government and society which will perpetuate it – for all these let the thanks of a happy and united people, as with one voice, ascend in devout homage to the Giver of All Good.

I therefore recommend that on Thursday, the 25th day of November next, the people meet in their respective places of worship to make their acknowledgments to Almighty God for His bounties and His protection and to offer to Him prayers for their continuance.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this 1st day of November, A.D. 1880, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and fifth.

R.B. HAYES

By the President:

WM. M. EVARTS, Secretary of State.

With that, we give thanks for our good fortune and we give thanks to all our friends for being friends!

Adam & Karin

Happy Thanksgiving 2018!

/ Adam Lid / Leave a comment

Afew years ago we posted this for Thanksgiving and it seems appropriate now more than ever so at the risk of sounding repetitious, here we go again… 🙂

dancing-turkey

We at Lily Absinthe want to wish everyone out there a happy Thanksgiving, no matter where you are. Thanksgiving is a somewhat unique holiday in that it speaks to our ideals and aspirations as a nation and while throughout the years we may have fallen short of the ideal, we still strive to make it a reality. President Rutherford B. Hayes’ Proclamation No. 247, officially establishing the holiday, says it best:

At no period in their history since the United States became a nation has this people had so abundant and so universal reasons for joy and gratitude at the favor of Almighty God or been subject to so profound an obligation to give thanks for His loving kindness and humbly to implore His continued care and protection.

Health, wealth, and prosperity throughout all our borders; peace, honor, and friendship with all the world; firm and faithful adherence by the great body of our population to the principles of liberty and justice which have made our greatness as a nation, and to the wise institutions and strong frame of government and society which will perpetuate it – for all these let the thanks of a happy and united people, as with one voice, ascend in devout homage to the Giver of All Good.

I therefore recommend that on Thursday, the 25th day of November next, the people meet in their respective places of worship to make their acknowledgments to Almighty God for His bounties and His protection and to offer to Him prayers for their continuance.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this 1st day of November, A.D. 1880, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and fifth.

R.B. HAYES

By the President:

WM. M. EVARTS, Secretary of State.

With that, we give thanks for our good fortune and we give thanks to all our friends for being friends!

Adam & Karin

Happy Thanksgiving From Lily Absinthe!

/ Adam Lid / Leave a comment

Once again the holiday season is upon us in its full glory and we would like to pause a moment from our busy schedule to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. It’s been a trying year for us but there’s also a lot to be thankful for and most importantly, our friends and family. For us, the sewing machines and ironing board will be temporarily idle and we’ll be spending some time relaxing with friends and family. 🙂

Adam & Karin

Image result for thanksgiving 1880s

Putting On The Dog (aka Going Formal)…

/ Adam Lid / Leave a comment

Tonight we took a small break from our various projects and attended the Holiday Grand Ball put on by the Social Daunce Irregulars. The Holiday Grand Ball is somewhat of a Thanksgiving Weekend tradition for the two of us, providing a bit of a break from all the usual pressures created by project deadlines and the overall holiday frenzy as well as providing an excuse for use to wear some our latest creations. 🙂

This year was no exception for Karin but for me it represented a new departure. For years, I tended to avoid men’s formal wear like the plague, usually opting for some sort of uniform. However, uniforms get old after awhile and I decided that it was time for a change so I opted for formal wear but only on my terms. Like many, I raised on the idea that if one needed formal wear, one rented it and that usually meant some sort of cheap polyester nightmare (I still have prom pictures from 1978 with me wearing a powder tuxedo that I might actually be bold enough to post one day…). In the end, it just seemed to be of such limited use item that it simply wasn’t worth the expense.

So what changed my view? Well, a small confession is in order: it was from watching way too many episodes of Downton Abbey. Yes, that Downton Abbey… For many years, I regarded formal wear (or “penguin suits” as I normally called them) as an affectation that really bore little relevance even though I do a variety of 19th Century living history events and presentations. Besides, uniforms are just way more cool… 🙂 However, after watching Hugh Bonneville I changed my mind- I like the character and he seemed to pull of the look with a sense of presence without looking affected. It simply looked way too good for me not to try it. 🙂

Image result for hugh bonneville downton abbey

So, after doing some research I decided to have a tail coat and trousers constructed based on a style that was appropriate for the 1880s/1890s. Here’s some of the inspiration for my set of tails. First, we start with some overall impressions:

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Wedding Suit, 1886; Metropolitan Museum of Art (C.I.47.76.10a–c)

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Evening Suit, c. 1885; Victoria & Albert Museum (T.171 to B-1960)

Obviously the color choice was going to be black with both coat and trousers made form wool. Because I live in Southern California, I opted to have the coat and trousers made from a tropical weight wool. Also, I decided to have the coat made with panels of black silk set within the lapels- the contrast in fabrics between the wool and the silk make for a more interesting appearance and it’s a detail that one rarely sees on modern formal coats.

For the vest, I opted for one with a shawl collar made of white pique fabric with silk lapels, somewhat along these lines:

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Vest, c. 1880; Metropolitan Museum of Art (1991.388a–f)

Just for contrast, here’s one in black wool:

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Vest, c. 1880; Metropolitan Museum of Art (1991.388a–f)

It’s difficult to discern in the picture but it also have a shawl collar. Finally, I decided that I’d go for the “white tie” look, which was considered more formal, so I had a fixed bow tie made from ivory silk and opted for a straight detachable collar. Below is the final product:

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Not bad for the first time out! 🙂

I’ll be making some additional improvements for the next to time to include a more comfortable collar and not forgetting my white gloves. See you at the next ball…