Wedding Bells

Last weekend, my daughter got herself hitched to a pretty special fellow. As you can see, they had eyes only for each other during their first dance as man and wife.

The Big Day started out warm, sunny, and plenty humid. But by the time we were ready for the ceremony, huge dark clouds rolled in and lightening began to flash. We knew a wedding on the first hole of the golf course simply wasn't going to happen.

After a minor meltdown and calming sip or two of wine, the bride agreed to move the ceremony to a covered patio area. The change in plans worked out perfectly with a view that included a lovely lake. The rain didn't touch us and I think all the guests would agree the move didn't diminish the beauty of the ceremony one little bit. Besides, isn't rain on a wedding day supposed to be lucky?

I know for sure my luck is blooming bright as the North Star. Guess why? You know how I've complained before about only having grand-dogs and grand-cats? Well, this marriage brought me not only a terrific son-in-law but two awesome ready-made grandsons to call my own. I'm now officially a G-ma. Hooray!

The Happy song has been burning a hole in my brain lately. My daughter's wedding reminded me of how very blessed I am to have so many wonderful people around me...both family and friends. Not to mention the critters who occupy my lap and run my life. I'm feeling good, clapping my hands, and oh yes, I'm happy!

"Clap along if you know what happiness is to you..."

What's New With You?

Indy and Bogey...yep we're all still here.

It's been a weird few weeks. It all started when I ended up on the floor (literally) in the wee hours of the night with severe stomach pain and other symptoms I can assure you that you don't want to hear more about. Three doctor visits, one CT scan and one colonoscopy later, I was diagnosed with ischemic colitis. Yikes! I never even knew such a thing existed, and if I never experience it again, it will be too soon. In most cases it doesn't come back (although with my luck, who knows?). I finished a round of heavy duty antibiotics and am now on a "low residue" diet for two weeks. That means no fiber, spice, fruits, vegetables, or anything I like. In other words, I'm basically living on bread, water, and applesauce. You'd think I was doing time in the state penitentiary or something. Oh well. At least I'm feeling human again. Funny how you don't appreciate feeling good until you don't.

But there are fun things happening, too. Some of you may remember the beautiful Christmas proposal my daughter received from her boyfriend. At the time it seemed as though the wedding was eons away. But the big day will arrive on Saturday. The next few days will be a flurry of last minute details along with prayers for good weather, since they plan to get hitched on the seventh hole of the Club golf course. Ah, young love.

That's a taste of what's been going on in my life. I'm eager to catch up and will be visiting your blogs soon. What's new with you?

Don't You Love a Love Story?

On Christmas Day the entire family (including 20-something siblings, grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles) witnessed an honest to goodness, down on bended knee, ring box in hand, surprise marriage proposal.

I'm pleased to report that our daughter said yes.

And now may the planning begin...

Big Weekend Ahead

It's going to be an exciting weekend as wedding bells chime for our son and his lovely fiancee. They are both sensible, hard-working and successful. They like the same things and have similar values. They're old enough to realize the commitment marriage means and to take it seriously. I couldn't be more delighted (and relieved).

As mother of the groom, my responsibilities are few, but I did have the task of choosing a song for the mother-son dance. I hope not to embarrass anyone too much, for I'll probably need a whole package of tissues by the time the music ends. I wrote about the details of choosing the mother-son dance tune in an essay titled "The Dance", scheduled to appear in the October issue of Sasee Magazine. I'll put up a link when the story is available on line.

Meanwhile, thanks for the comments to the Indy-Bogey picture last post. I had to smile at the responses, because their cuddling next to each other wasn't by choice. It came as a result of Mom-intervention. Yep, I made them do it. Notice Bogey's pupils in tiny slits and Indy looking away because anyone knows if you don't see something, than surely it isn't there.

Oh, the agony of Mom making you do something you don't want to do.

Special Gifts

Christmas 2011 is over and I feel a faint sense of relief.

Don't get me wrong, I love the holidays. But right now I'm shopped out, have become more roly-poly than the jolly old elf, and am weary of running from event to event like a mouse through a maze. It feels good to sit in front of my computer screen and feel at least a bit back to normal routine.

I do have some cool gifts to share with you.

The Son made our holiday with an awesome announcement. He's officially engaged to a wonderful girl and we couldn't be more pleased! It will be such fun to help plan their special event which is scheduled to take place in 2012. And don't worry. I hereby pledge to give advice only when asked, thereby avoiding the dreaded "monster-in-law" sydrome.

The Daughter gave me a unique gift. Check out these t-shirts.

Cute, huh?  But take a closer look...

Tee-hee! I love them! They say every writer needs to advertise. I plan to become a walking Critter Alley billboard!

Hope your hectic holidays brought equally delightful pleasures!

Marking Time

It's wonderful to have great friends...especially when those friends have more than a few special talents.

Don Wiegand is one of those people. I've blogged before about Don. His studio is more museum than workplace. Outside his geese, ducks, exotic chickens, and peacocks roam the yard. I received my first goose egg (no, not a knock on the head) from Don. It sat in the refrigerator making all the regular chicken eggs look the size of a robin's.

And then there are his bronze sculptures. They're best described as "scary good". It looks as though they could come to life any moment.

When he's not working on a myriad of other projects, Don is kind enough to do hand casts. Last year, on our wedding anniversary, he did ours.

First, oil up hands and arms. Sort of like greasing the frying pan for that "no stick" effect.

Next, get hands in proper position.

Then in comes the gooey pink stuff. If you've ever had a dental impression before, you know what I'm talking about. Hold perfectly still and wait about 5 minutes. Slowly and carefully pull out hands. Then plaster is poured into the impression which sits for a few hours. Finally the bucket is dumped and a giant pink rubbery mound is revealed.

The next task is to carve away the pink stuff. Careful! You could lop off a finger!

Finally! My ring tore a little groove in the cast which makes my hand look like the aftermath of a knife attack.  But not to worry. Don can fix it. About one month later...

Voila! The finished product. Interestingly, the cast captures every line, bump, crease, and wrinkle. In other words, you may not want to biggify this picture.

Though we did the cast last year, a few days ago, on August 21, 2010 we celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary. It got me to thinking just how much our old hands have been through over the years...

Palms together on our wedding day, signing papers on our first home, digging in the garden, scrubbing, painting, pounding a nail, writing endless checks, cradling a baby, applauding accomplishments, wagging a finger of admonishment, carrying a load that sometimes felt far too heavy, wiping away tears, surrounding a loved one with a gentle hug. I guess we really have earned every single mark that's detailed on our cast.

And I wouldn't trade them for anything.