Karen's Wedding

One of my college roommates, Karen, got married last weekend, and I went out to Colorado to be there.

It was fun to see Karen's entire family again.  They had come to visit a few times while we were roommates, so I had gotten to know them.  Here she is with her dad.

(Martin wanted a kiss, too.)

I also got to see another college roommate who made it out for the wedding, Christine.  Here she is with her daughter.

Christine and I stayed at the same place, so I had some good time to visit with her.

Karen's granny particularly enjoyed holding Christine's daughter.

Christine's daughter particularly enjoyed the hem of Karen's dress.  The lace was so gorgeous!

Here you can kind of see the back of Karen's dress.  I didn't get a good picture, because of the sun.  Then, before the reception, everything was kind of rushed, so I wasn't able to make Karen pose for me again.

Karen with the flowers.  This is actually quite similar to a picture I have of her from college, enjoying flowers.

Martin.

Karen's parents, Jackie and Brian.  They were so gracious.  They had a whole crew staying in their home, and they found friends willing to house others of us, and they had food for all of us, everyday.  It was awesome.

 

Karen wore her wedding dress to the luncheon at Olive Garden.  With the napkin tucked in, it almost looked like she was wearing a green formal with a white shrug.

Right before the reception.  Karen's brother, Greg, is getting married at the end of August.

Two of Karen's nephews.  The little one is only 12 days old.  (Yes, Karen's sister drove 500 miles with two little boys 12 days after giving birth.  She's amazing.  And now that I think of it, my sister traveled 1500 miles to my wedding with two little girls while 10 weeks pregnant with twins.  I guess sisters are just awesome.)

There was a bit of a mishap with the cake, so this was the backup.  (I think it was originally going to be the groom's cake.)  It was absolutely delicious: chocolate and gooey and caramelly!

A close-up on the embellishments to the table.

I had a good chance to visit with Karen and Martin the morning I arrived.  We started talking about food, and I found out that they had two shelves full of spices.  Literally, full.  And yet, I gave them more.  :)  At least none of them are standard--it's a set of Italian dipping spices that you mix with olive oil and serve with bread.  I also gave her the cookie sheet to make the bread.  (This picture is from her bridal shower.)

We also talked about duplicate appliances, and I found out that Martin and Karen both had KitchenAid mixers.  Clearly, they are well-suited to one another.

And one final picture of the lovely couple.  (Although I will post more wedding pictures when I get the ones of me with Karen.)

Count your blessings

I hit some really bad traffic on the way back from dropping a friend off at the airport.  I decided that it's really not fun to drive a stick shift car in stop-and-go traffic.  Just as I was thinking about how annoying it was, I saw three motorcyclists ahead of me.  Well, it may not be fun to drive a stick shift in traffic, but it's much better than riding a motorcycle!

To-Do List

I made myself a to-do list before heading out for my college roommate's wedding.  Can you guess which item made David laugh?

- something to go with cookie sheet
- recipes
- card for shower; write in card
- card for wedding
- copy most recent pictures to external HD
- choose meal(s) to make; plan food purchases
- paint toenails
- put money on phone

Independence Day

We visited my cousin Katie and her family for July 4th.  First, we got a tour of the town, and the college where Katie's husband, Ben, teaches.

We came back and had lunch.  Here are David and Ben preparing it.

Then we played games.  Katie is a master at Boggle, as are her parents, and a number of my other cousins and aunts and uncles.  Some key games that I always remember being played at family reunions growing up are Boggle and Pit.  I never could hold my own at Boggle.  So, I made sure we played a non-word game.  And I won.  (I didn't make sure that I won, it just happened that way.  Twice.)

Later, we had a barbeque with some of Katie and Ben's friends, and we went to see fireworks.  They were great.

It was also cool to celebrate the 4th with Ben, because he can tell you a lot of the history.  As he read us the Declaration of Independence after breakfast (a nice tradition), he was also able to explain where some of the philosophies came from, and he pointed out phrases that Jefferson took directly from the writings of John Locke.

The Miracle that is the Eye

It's amazing to realize all the things the eye can see that just can't be replicated by a camera.  We went to Mammoth Cave last weekend, and there were very few things I could get a good picture of.  Using the flash ruined the color of what I wanted to see, and without the flash, the shutter speed was so slow that I couldn't hold the camera still.  Compare (this is the same pit):

Okay, so at this size, it's hard to tell how blurry the 2nd picture is.  Maybe I should just print it out really small.  :)

Anyway, what's amazing is how the eye can see just fine in that low light.  I could see clearly, I could see the variety of colors, and the detail of all the different layers of rock.  The camera also wasn't able to capture the grandeur of the cave.  There were huge climbs and long descents, all the while with a vast amount of space above us.  The eye can see the incredible depth, even in the low light; the camera can't.  I also think it's amazing how the brain adjusts the images it receives so that you can see when you're moving, without feeling the crazy up and down of a home video.

I also thought about eyesight as I took a bunch of bad pictures of fireworks on July 4th.  Here's the good one I got:

That was just another reminder of how miraculous eyesight is.

Something isn't right when . . .

Something is just not right when I find mold growing on my super-moist cake because I haven't been eating it fast enough.