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Cathy and One of Her Old Stuffed Animals

After a day off and a beautiful wedding yesterday, we spent much of today going through things in Cathy’s mom’s shed. I took two more trips to the dump and we got through a lot of things. It isn’t exactly my idea of ‘vacation’ but a day off from work isn’t always about travel and seeing the sights. It needed to be done and it was good to do it. It was also good to be with David and Maggie, who leave tomorrow on the long drive home.

One thing that we had to do was go through a big, lidded basket filled with stuffed animals and dolls that belonged to Cathy. Unfortunately, the mice had already gone through the basket and most of the creatures inside were a little (in a few cases a lot) worse for the wear. There were one or two that even the mice wouldn’t touch, but for the most part, everything went to the dump. But I took pictures of Cathy with many of them as a remembrance. In the case of this picture, it’s a mouse that was totally disrespected by the other mice.

Edy and Laurie

As I write this, it’s been a week since this picture was taken, but as always, I’m posting this with the date the photo was taken, not when it is finally put on-line. We had an absolutely wonderful time at the wedding of Laurie and Edy this evening. The ceremony and reception were both held at the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, Virginia. We had never been there before but it reminds us quite a bit of Brookside Gardens, in Wheaton, Maryland, where we go often enough. In fact, seven years ago I met Laurie and her mom at Brookside Gardens to take some portraits for her graduation announcement. I know it’s cliche to say so, but it seems like only yesterday.

The wedding itself was lovely, under a mostly sunny, blue sky. Then, while the wedding party was involved in taking a few pictures, we were able to roam about the gardens a little while. This was taken as the bride and groom walked down towards a pond for a few more pictures.

It was also good to get caught up with Laurie’s sisters and her brother, who is heading off to college in the fall. Jack and Sue will be empty nesters for after raising five wonderful kids. Karlee and Nate will still be home from time to time, of course, and the others will visit, but this year will be an adjustment for them, as well.

Anyway, it was a lovely way to celebrate with a lovely couple and their families. We were honored to be invited and included in the festivities.

Laura and Maggie

As I mentioned yesterday, two of Cathy’s nieces are here for a few days. This evening, Laura, Maggie, David, Margaret, Cathy, and I went out to dinner at Yekta in Rockville. If you’re looking for good, Persian kebabs, you can do a lot worse. We had a wonderful dinner and of course, there was plenty of laughter, as there always is when these two girls are together. After dinner we went to York Castle for ice cream and this picture was taken at one of the small tables out front. I’d say that Laura and Maggie were in rare form but that would be a lie. For them, it isn’t even remotely rare. I won’t say that they are my favorite two nieces but they are certainly in the top five.

Cathy and Margie

Cathy and Margie have known each other since Cathy’s family moved here in the late 1960s and were close friends through high school. Of course people move and it’s harder to be close friends with people who live far away but they have managed to keep in touch pretty well through the years. We moved far away from here but close to Margie and her family in the mid 1980s, so that helped. We’re back here again so usually only see her when she’s visiting family, although when Dorothy went to Alaska for spring break earlier this year they ran into each other in the airport. Small world. Or small airport, anyway.

Diane, Amy, and Cathy

We went to the benefit dinner for Erick’s Hope this evening and enjoyed seeing a few friends, including Diane and Amy, pictured here with Cathy. In their own words, “Erick’s Hope exists to serve children in need of love and security by providing spiritual, emotional, physical and educational support through a variety of programs and services.” For more info, see https://erickshope.wordpress.com/. There was a huge selection of items in the dessert auction (we got a peach pie!) as well as the more traditional silent auction items. And the roast beast was delicious. Sadly we had to leave early so didn’t get to visit with other friends who came later.

Future Fireman

The Rockville Chamber of Commerce put on it’s first annual Community Fun Day today. I’m always impressed by the optimism in anything billed as being the first annual whatever. You could say that anything you do once was the first annual, but it implies you’ll do it again in a year. Even if you don’t, the first one was still the first (and last) annual event. In this case, I think there will be another next year, but time, as they say, will tell.

Our pastor had volunteered us to provide man (and woman) power to help with the event and I spent a bit of time in front of a grill. It’s a place I’m comfortable and reasonably capable, so that was fine. I also took what opportunity I was given to take a few pictures. The delay in getting the meat to the site helped give me more time.

There was a fire truck, ambulance, and police car there as attractions, along with a moon bounce and fairly large, inflatable slide. The fire truck attracted a fairly high percentage of the crowd, as they usually do. This youngster, however, stood out from the usual onlookers. He came in a pretty good rendition of a fireman’s outfit and was good enough to pose for a few pictures with what may very well be his future ride.

Seth and Iris

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to take any pictures during the ceremony. There were plenty of others to do that, including the professional photographer. Video was also shot, so it should be covered well enough. But in spite of having basically the best seat in the house (I was standing, actually), I didn’t have the liberty to stop and take pictures. In any case, I did get a few before and after the wedding, when my official duties were complete. Most of the guests had left for the reception and a few of us were still at the farm loading things into our vans and cars. The photographer was still working with Iris and Seth on a few pictures and I took a moment to join in, taking a couple of them walking together. It was a beautiful, if somewhat hot, afternoon but the rain held off and Iris and Seth got married.

Amy, Dr. Vanderpoel, James, and Jon

We were fortunate enough to be able to share the excitement today with two families whose youngest sons were graduating from Trinity Christian School in Fairfax. This is Amy, James (the graduate) and Jon (the older brother). We’ve known them since Dorothy entered kindergarten and was a classmate of Jon’s through third grade (when we switched schools). We also enjoyed seeing Nate and his family. We see the youngest of his sisters (Karlee) more than the rest but it was great to see Laurie, Stacy, and Amy. Hard to believe it’s been nearly ten years since Amy got married! Anyway, a fun time. Congratulations, James! And Nate!

Jules

Few people take the time to comment on the pictures on my blog. Followers who see the pictures on Facebook do a little more frequently but even there it’s probably on fewer than half of my pictures. That’s fine, of course, I don’t want people to comment for the sake of commenting (although I do like knowing that people are actually seeing them).

The reason I bring this up is that I had my first non-spam comment in over 7 months after posting the picture of Cathy two days ago. Even that wouldn’t have rated a mention here except the comment came from Julia’s mom. And here I am, two days later, posting a picture of Julia (or, as I call her, Jules, because she’s a gem). She had finished just finished her junior year in college and was home for the summer. At least she was out of school for the summer. She was only home for a few days before heading off to some flatland in flyover country for an internship. I only make it sound like a wasteland because it meant that Jules couldn’t work for us this summer. We were hoping to get quite a bit of her time to work in both our house and Cathy’s mom’s. But, that’s the way it goes.

Maureen and Bob (Julia’s parents) asked us over for dinner this evening, sharing one of their few evenings before Julia left with us. It was an honor to be invited and we had such a good time with them all. Thanks, guys. We sure love you.

Cathy

I nearly called it quits tonight. Since the beginning of 2011 (actually starting three days before that, on December 29, 2010, I’ve taken at least one photograph every day. The first year’s worth were posted to Facebook and then starting in 2012 they’ve been posted here. I still linked to them from Facebook and more recently posted them to Instagram, as well.

There have been a few times when I wasn’t sure I’d keep going. For the few of you who actually read this, rather than just enjoy the pictures on Instagram or Facebook, I really appreciate it. You are the main reason I’ve kept going. The next level are those who mention to me that they enjoy the pictures on Facebook. I know a lot more people see them than comment or even click on the “Like” button (because I hear from you in other ways) and that’s quite encouraging, as well.

This evening it was a few minutes before 11:00 p.m. and I hadn’t taken a picture. Cathy had just gotten home form her indoor soccer game and when I told her I was thinking about just not taking a picture today she said, “come on, get off the couch and take a picture of me.” So, I did. And here we are, continuing the streak at 1,967 days.

Ethan and Abbie

Cathy and I spent the afternoon and evening with Ben and Erin’s younger kids today and had a really nice time. We’ve gotten to know them reasonably well overt the last year and a bit, except Ethan, of course, because he only officially joined the family recently. We really enjoyed being with them and getting to know Ethan a bit better, in particular. Abbie came home for a little while before leaving again for a babysitting gig and although she’s not a fan of having her picture taken, she did let me take a few of her and her youngest brother. I think this one turned out pretty well.

Kadie and Stephen

We were fortunate enough to be able to help Kadie and Stephen celebrate their nuptials this afternoon and evening. Their wedding was beautiful, fun, and somewhat funny and we wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else. Planning an outdoor wedding for the first week of April is a risk but aside from being a little cool it was a gloriously beautiful day. This is the happy couple leaving the reception, being saluted by their friends and family with light sabers and glow wands.

Ben, Will, Gracy, Hope, Ethan, Lilly, and Erin

It was an exciting day today for some very good friends of ours. Ben and Erin and their family have been working to adopt Ethan for about two years and all that work and effort finally payed off. Ben and Lilly (daughter number three) left last Saturday and returned late this morning. Cathy and I were privileged to be allowed to come so I could take pictures. If you are connected to the family on facebook you have probably already seen some of them, posted by Erin and Abbie, but I wanted to put this up here. It’s by far my favorite of the pictures I got. We are all so excited to get to know Ethan and to welcome him into our community.