Prepping for a Farcical Aquatic Ceremony

Sister and I and Red Hair Girl are recreating "The Lady of Shalott"––the painting by Waterhouse––at the lake tomorrow, weather permitting. 

I procured a boat from the thrift store (49¢):
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and last night I started to adapt it, and RHG tested it out. It floats!

The Orphan Reds are always happy to dress up and play. The Lady was my sister's choice--partly because Nancy, who was our father's best friend, is an art professor specializing in Victorian painting of this type. 

Generally, I'm not big on Victorian hoo-ha. I like Monty Python's take on the Arthurian cycle. From Monty Python and the Holy Grail:

Arthur: I am your king!
Woman: Well I didn't vote for you!
Arthur: You don't vote for kings.
Woman: Well, how'd you become king then?
[Angelic music plays...]
Arthur: The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering silmite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. THAT is why I am your king!

Dennis, interrupting: Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony. 
. . . You can't expect to wield supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you!