Marriage in Mathews County

Once you get to a certain age, you suddenly start going to a lot of weddings. Gradually they all tend to fade into a white-dress-pretty-flowers-dancing-music-best-man's-speech kind of blur, but a few still stand out. Some for good reasons, some for bad, and some for just being an altogether lovely day.

Of course, when it's your brother getting married, that automatically makes it stand out from the average, but John and Kristal's wedding definitely fell into the "altogether lovely day" category. With my grandfather officiating, they made some simple and beautiful vows under a shady tree in the garden of Kristal's honorary grandparents. The Chesapeake Bay shimmered in the background while a soft breeze kept things cooler for the guests seated on gingham-covered hay bales. After a few family photos by the cheerful photographer, John and Kristal departed for the reception venue, perched up on the back of a red convertible (don't worry, the roads are very quiet!)

The reception was at a yacht club just down the road, and featured flowers grown and arranged by Kristal's parents, strawberry daiquiris made with berries that John and Kristal had picked, and a handsome cake baked by Kristal's sister. This wedding took family involvement to the max, and the result was really relaxed and happy. A description which also applied to the bride and groom and spilled over to all the guests. They'd found a great duo to provide the music and had obviously rehearsed some moves for the first dance! Later Graham and I were prodded onto the floor and got an unexpected round of applause for our rather rusty rendering of LeRoc - I guess we haven't completely lost the magic!

John and Kristal left in a cloud of bubbles, and after signing the hand-made quilt and picking up a jar of home-cooked strawberry jam (you would not believe how much effort these two put into the wedding!) their friends and family headed home as well. What an altogether lovely day.

Comments

John Evens said…

Thanks, really - You're too nice!

10 August 2009 at 20:19

Mr White Watson of Bakewell

Once upon a time, back in 1795 or so, lived a man who was always asking questions. The kind of questions like, "Why is glass transparent?" or "Why do fruit trees grow better in that place than in this place?" or "What does the earth look like underneath the surface?" This last question was one that he was particularly interested in, and he went so far as to work out what the rock layers looked like where he lived, and draw little pictures of them. Now he was a marble sculptor by trade (as well as fossil hunter, mineral seller, and a few other things) so he thought it would be even better to make his little pictures in stone. That way he could represent the layers using the actual rocks they were composed of. Over the course of his lifetime he made almost 100 of these tablets, as he called them. Then he died. And no one else was quite as interested in all those rocks and minerals as he was. His collection was sold off, bit by bit, and the table...

The Imitation of Christ: Spiritual Formation Book 2

"This is my hope, my only consolation, to flee unto thee in every tribulation, to trust in thee, to call upon thee from my heart, and to wait patiently for thy consolation." The second of my four books for spiritual formation is The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis. The introduction to my copy starts off by saying that 21st century readers may wonder why they are bothering, which hardly seems like a recommendation! I have to admit I finished it with a certain sense of relief, but there were some hidden gems along the way. It's rather like reading the book of Proverbs. There's no story or explanation of a theme, but there are astute observations, honest prayers, the occasional flash of humour, and quite a lot of repetition. Thomas à Kempis was a priest in an Augustinian monastery in the 1400s. Presumably his life conditions favoured the silence and solitude that he advocates for in The Imitation of Christ , but also gave him opp...

Pirate Party

Ahoy there, me hearties! All hands on deck, we have some partying to do! Arrrr! Now, hats on, and don't forget - no self-respecting pirate admits to having two working eyes. Eyepatches it is, mateys! (What scurvy dog cut the elastic too short? They should be thrown into Davy Jones' locker.) Hats ready for assembly. From Yellow Moon but the elastic really was too short. All of ye who can wield a pen, get drawing a treasure map. We wouldn't want to mislay our loot, would we now? Toby wrote his name backwards and Blogger uploaded this sideways, just to confuse you. Shiver me timbers! Where did those gems and spyglasses go? Get hunting, me hearties, and the last one back with the swag is a scurvy dog. Each pirate had to find these in the treasure hunt. Now, this is a strange parcel, methinks. Let's pass it round, and when the shanty stops, why, 'tis your turn to unwrap a layer. One of his real presents, act...

Martha's Marvellous Munchies

Search This Blog