Oh, how sweet...

We have so little to complain about when it comes to our home. Still, though Margaret has tried in the past, she's not been able to find the right location for growing Sweet-Peas! We made a stop at our favorite organic farm stand yesterday and they had these "sweet" little bouquets available. They smell just as wonderful as they look.

New additions...

When George first saw our water garden two weeks ago he asked, "Where are the goldfish?" We gave him the Reader's Digest version of the heartbreak of losing five or six fish and, then, three turtles in our first (smaller) water garden two years ago. Still... he planted a seed. Maybe we could keep some fish healthy in a larger tank. Larry went to the pet store on Sunday for birdseed; he came back with that AND three fish!

One is solid orange, one has white spots, and the third has stripes of black on his/her dorsal fin. Yesterday they were low-key and skittish as they were feeling out their new digs. Today, when the warm sun shone on the tank, two of them were swimming with abandon through their new habitat, no longer panicking if our shadows loomed over them. We hope the third will start showing the same vitality soon.

In the meanwhile, Margaret has been forbidden to name them - it's just too easy to get attached if you study their personalities and features enough to give them names. Hopefully they'll all become long-living members of our little menagerie. They sure are fun to watch! (We wish the vegetation in the garden weren't so sparse in these pictures, but before too long the "pond" should be looking lush again.)

Giving back...

The Sweeneys have been so incredibly generous to us, not just in wedding remembrances, but all the time; they are never too busy to feed and walk Sassy and Nica if we are away for more than a few hours, and they watch over our home, as well, when we are away. They are great friends in every sense of the word.

When they told us they had the opportunity to escape town for a couple days of R and R over the weekend, we were thrilled at the opportunity to return favors. They're older Shih Tzu, Honey Bun, currently recovering from minor surgery, isn't much for being away from her home territory any more. So we made several checks a day on her and their beautiful, young cat, Coco, in their home. Honey got out for walks, they both got their regular feedings, and we spent a little time with them yesterday, reminding them that they are loved, and telling them that "their people" would be home soon. We know they are thrilled that "Mom" and "Dad" are now back where they belong!

Doubly blessed...

Not only did Chuck and Christine bring us their decoy as a wedding gift, they also brought a Mezuzah, which signifies the sanctity and the blessing of the Jewish home. We have mounted it at our front door.

Before he left, George presented us with this God Bless Our Home plaque that he had found at the San Juan Capistrano Mission a week ago Thursday, which is now hanging in our breakfast room.

We are so blessed by our loving family and friends who've shared their hearts with us, as well as these beautiful symbols of God's blessings on us.

Life returning to normal...

In an attempt to keep hands and nails intact in the weeks prior to the wedding, Margaret had avoided doing any serious gardening. (And it showed!) A few minutes tidying the plants in our front entry-way were followed by an hour or so trimming a couple of the shrubs and unearthing some rocks that had gotten buried around our mini-rock garden. There's so much more to do, but at least a dent was made. It was great to see calla, statis (sea lavender) and the variegated leaf coral bells all blooming, despite being neglected!

Then we turned our attention to what we call our "Serenity Garden". In fact, it's just a small area that we carved out of a tangle of ground honey-suckle and ivy in a bed next to our condo; not very pretty to look at out our skinny kitchen window. Some weeding, some raking, and four bags of fresh wood mulch made that little pie-shaped "plot" with the enormous orange blooming clivia look loved again. We have a bird feeder just on the edge of the lawn outside that window that provides great entertainment.

On the window ledge there is a duck decoy... Last night, our friends Chuck and Christine arrived with it, boxed and beautifully wrapped. They've had that decoy for years, but it seems they'd decided that when we got married it should come live at our house! Next to it, in the clear vase, is the ivy that was in our table bouquet at the wedding. Hopefully it will root and will be a living reminder of that beautiful spray of flowers and of our special day.

Who may be coming in the door next?

We've eaten the last of the cake, the flowers are fading fast, and all the company is gone. When Sassy and Nica stretched out side by side on the rug at the front door this morning we weren't quite sure... Are they both as tired as we are and just crashed there for a nap, OR were they stationing themselves near the entrance, waiting and hoping for more company to come play with them?

The celebration continues...

Last Friday night at dinner we discovered something we'd not known about our friends Rev. David and Pat Graham. They are jazz fans! (We should have known there was a reason that David's emails had an extra "twinkle" in them when we mentioned having the ceremony in a jazz club!)
We made plans on Saturday to get back together at Steamers this week for a bite to eat and a set of music before they headed back to Arizona. Last night was the night, and it was great fun to spend a little more time with them, chatting about last Saturday, and sharing our joy in the music. As I write, they are on the road back to Arizona. We thank them again for helping make our day so special and wish them safe travel home.
(This picture of the two of them with our brother, George, was taken at the reception last week.)

Beautiful gifts from the heart...

We've received many wonderful wedding gifts, too many to show here. (And even after we specified "No gifts please..." on our invitation!) But we want to share a couple with you that are particularly beautiful.

Weeks ago we received a box from Aunt Anne and Uncle Byron Steiner in Ohio. Inside was this memory book. Margaret knew immediately that it would be the perfect place to store our cards and other small mementos from the wedding. As you can see, it is already filled!
Last Thursday we found a bouquet of flowers on our front porch; the card was signed Martins, our long-time friend, Marti, a former Steamers employee, and a cherished member of the "family" we share Christmas Day with each year. It was the first of a series of bouquets, we've since discovered, that will be delivered. The second came yesterday afternoon. They so brighten the house! The timing is perfect; our wedding flowers have hung on valiantly, but time and the early week's high temps have taken their toll. While we must soon commit those only to memory, we have another gorgeous collection of buds to enjoy. (This vase has real lilacs in it - how that warms an old Mid-Westerner's heart!)

Thoughts on an amazing day and week...

It doesn't seem possible that it was only a week ago yesterday that we shared the Easter holiday with our neighbors, the Sweeneys - that a week ago today we were doing a final fluff and buff on the house - a week ago tomorrow that we picked up George and Carol at LAX.

Saturday was such an incredible day. We must express our deepest thanks to Terence Love for turning a jazz club into the perfect setting for our wedding. It made our celebration as much "us" as it could possibly have been. The day could not possibly have been the same without our friend, Rev. David Graham officiating, and we again thank he and his wife Pat for rearranging their vacation to make this all possible. Of course, the proverbial icing on the cake was being surrounded by the smiling faces of our families and friends as we started this new chapter in our live together.

We are sorry that Lee and Sue were not also here to share this special time with us, but having Margaret's two older siblings here was an incredible blessing. (As of course, was having Larry's Northern California cousins here for the weekend.) The days flew by, filled with so much laughter and joy.

We spent our last afternoon with George and Carol t-r-y-i-n-g to give them a taste of the local beaches. With temperatures soaring into the 80's and 90's, we certainly weren't the only folks with the same thought! We were finally able to find a parking space in Newport, grabbed a great burger lunch at a restaurant that had opened just that morning, and hit the souvenir shops so that each of them had beachie gifts for their grandkids. Hoping to show off a bit more of our gorgeous coastline, we then headed north on Coast Highway, quickly stalling out in bumper to bumper traffic that eventually turned us back inland and home. There was time for one last meal together Sunday evening, brought home from a local Mexican restaurant we'd been telling them about all week. Oh yes, and another piece of incredible wedding cake. Four tired people were ready to call it a day pretty early in the evening.

We dropped the two of them at LAX at around 8:15 this morning, after extracting promises from both that they would come visit us again. (There's so many more things we would love to show them in our little corner of the world.) Margaret just got a call from Carol; they'd safely arrived back in Detroit and were headed on to Battle Creek. We miss you guys. Please do come back and see us soon...

How beautiful were our flowers...

Once home Saturday afternoon, we were able to continue to enjoy Margaret's bouquet, the flowers that were placed on stage with our Unity candle and tapers, and the cake topper.

This one's for you, Aunt Anne...

In an email from Margaret's Aunt Anne in Ohio we learned that the streaming video of the ceremony we hoped would allow far away friends and family an opportunity to watch didn't work as well as we'd hoped. C'est la vie. (We do have a copy of the video and can duplicate it for anyone that's interested.) Anyway, AA mentioned that she'd missed the kiss at the end of the ceremony. Turns out that there was a pretty good re-creation of the moment a little later that was photographed...

April 18, 2009...

Surrounded by a small group of loving family and friends, our marriage ceremony went off without a hitch at noon on Saturday at Steamers. It will be a few days before we get the professional photographs from the ceremony and reception, and eventually we plan to share these on a new blog dedicated just to the day. In the meanwhile, we do have a few snapshots taken after the ceremony that we can post today, including the two of us taken just after the cake cutting, Heather with Josuha, our two beautiful granddaughters, Sophia (with "Grandma M") and Ava, and Larry's best man Ira chatting with son-in-law David and Joshua.

Friday morning...

Both Margaret and Larry headed out to the nail salon Friday; a mani and a pedi for her, just a "manly" mani for him. Since it was his first (and probably his last!) Margaret just had to get a picture of the event!

Wedding eve...

On Friday evening, the four of us gathered for dinner with Larry's cousin, Dale Bates, husband, Bob, and our mutually dear close-as-family friend, Carlene Kahn, as well as Rev. David Graham and his wife Pat. Mimi's Cafe has great food and everyone found a dish that pleased them.


It was a nice opportunity for the two families, plus the Grahams, to get to know each other a little before the big event Saturday morning.

Wedding eve a little later...

After our family dinner, George and Carol returned to the house for a another quick visit, long enough for Carol and Sassy to curl up for a short cuddle and snooze.

One item off our bucket list...

It suddenly has occurred that one item from the bucket list we created on the blog last fall can be checked off - we're actually enjoying "A California visit from big brother George and big sister Carol"! It's an extra blessing to have them here with us when we exchange our vows and begin our married life together tomorrow!

A Thursday of Family Sightseeing...

Carol and Larry had a great time wandering through Hollywood/Rodeo Drive on Wednesday, while George took the opportunity in the afternoon to visit with an old friend now living in Huntington Beach. By the time we all gathered back at the house, the winds were high and cold. But, that didn't stop us from having a lovely Italian dinner at a local restaurant, the more official recognition of Larry's birthday.

Thursday dawned completely opposite weather-wise, bright and sunny, with temps in the high 60's and low 70's. We started out from home early, driving into Northern San Diego County to visit the Flower Fields in Carlsbad. A large hay wagon ride around the acres and acres of fields of ranunculus started our tour, then we walked through a Hall Of Fame Display of Roses, a sweet pea maze, and the Garden of Artists - beautiful square displays of unique plant combinations. From their we headed back to San Juan Capistrano, first for lunch at our favorite barbeque restaurant "Bad to the Bone", and then on to a tour of the Mission at San Juan Capistrano, with its gardens spectacularly beautiful in the spring. We couldn't be in San Juan without stopping at the stable and introducing George and Carol to the Beautiful Bella! We got back home late afternoon, all sleepy from the hours of sunshine, eventually to enjoy a simple meal of bean soup and salad.

The Flower Fields - Carlsbad, CA...

Both dogs and their new BFFs...

Nica still thinks that George is just the greatest new friend in the world. Sassy and Carol are developing their own special relationship.

Computer bonding...

Carol and Larry spend some quality time together, checking out favorite YouTube videos on the computer.

George and Carol have arrived from Michigan...

and Nica has found her new BFF (at least for this week!). Arriving just in time to help Larry celebrate his 70th. birthday, George and Carol got their first taste of spring in Southern California while relaxing on our patio. Grilled flank steak, baked potatos and fresh, steamed asparagus made up their welcome meal. Today, Larry and Carol are off to explore "Hollyweird", while Margaret and George will run a couple of errands and do a little closer-by sightseeing. We are SO thrilled to have them with us for this week!

Sassy and Nica are ready for company...

Even though Sassy and Nica don't get to go to the wedding on Saturday, they wanted to be clean (and in Nica's case, freshly clipped) when company began arriving. On Saturday they visited the groomer and came home decked out for Easter with their pretty pastel bows and soft, gleaming coats.

A peaceful Easter weekend...

Margaret is off to the barn in a few minutes for her last day of teaching for a few weeks. Once back, she and Larry are looking forward to a peaceful weekend at home, a few moments to reflect on the significance of the season, and time to relax before family begins to arrive on Tuesday and wedding week moves into full swing. On Sunday, we've been invited to share a meal with our dear neighbor/friends, the Sweeneys. We hope that wherever you are and with whomever you spend the holiday, that you hearts are filled with love and gratitude for the all the gifts bestowed upon us, now and always.

Family travels...

Margaret's niece, Tracy, and her mother, Judy Wall, recently returned from a trip to Spain where they were visiting Tracy's daughter, Katherine, who is studying there this semester. I was able to steal this photo from Tracy's Facebook photo album of the three of them in Seville.

Two weeks from today...

...this stage will be empty, except for the piano, so that Larry and Margaret can take their vows in the company of dear family and friends. We just returned from the club where we met with the photographer and then with club owner, Terence Love, to finalize our buffet menu for the reception. We thought we might share a few pictures of Steamers as it looks on a normal Saturday afternoon in preparation for the high school big band that will be performing there at 4:00 p.m. (And after that, three sets of great jazz performed by a one of the many world-class bands that plays at Steamers, beginning at 8:30.)