The journey continues ...

Here in Sarasota, I did survive the drive over the Tampa Bay bridge despite high winds and out-of-control acrophobia. Wild overnight thunderstorms in Sarasota, and beautiful beaches and a reunion with Jean Lagunoff, my friend since 1975 Kuwait days. Spent a wonderful afternoon yesterday on the beaches of Siesta Key with Frank and Jean.

Today a bit of business at the local Cancer Support Community affiliate here and then back to vacation/honeymoon again. More wandering around Sarasota County. Frank really likes it here, though it's VERY Republican! Maybe more beaches today though it has been so overcast it isn't likely we'll have anything like a tanline.

4 days 19 hours 15 minutes

Married life is great! We made it to Sarasota yesterday. As we left the Tampa area we both got tornado alerts on our phones. This just as we were about to go over a very high, very long bridge. As we crossed the bridge you could feel the wind moving the car. We got to Sarasota without incident, walked around a beautiful park and then on to our hotel. We spent a great evening with our friend Jean, one of the highlights of our trip. Last night just as we got back to the hotel we had a serious thunderstorm. Today it is supposed to be cloudy and rainy. We are going to spend some more quality time with Jean. It has been a great trip.

Day Two

Not nearly as eventful as SOB, but a very nice day. Started out in Santee, SC with a temperature of 36 degrees. Ended in Safety Harbor, FL with a temperature of 81 degrees. It's shorts time. The drive today was made much more exciting by watching the thermometer on the dash continue to rise. Not the engine temp but the temp outside. We started out with the heat on and ended with the AC. We arrived at Safety Harbor at about 3:00pm. Took a walk on the main street and then around the resort where we are staying. Tonight we had a very enjoyable dinner with Mark's cousin Bonnie and her husband Gary. I really enjoyed meeting them and spending the evening with them. One problem I had coffee after dinner and am wide awake. Mark has faded and is trying to sleep. We are an old married couple. Tomorrow it is on to Sarasota and spending time with our friend Jean.

Cherished dreams come true on the honeymoon ...

Day One of our first road trip as a married couple and we've made it to Santee, SC on the southern shore of Lake Marion. The farther south we have gone the greyer and colder it has gotten so we're thinking we may end up buying parkas in Sarasota!

For years I've wanted to stop and visit SOB, NC - otherwise known as South of the Border - a holy repository of everything Most Tacky and Culturally Stereotypey and today we did. We started seeing the road signs 150 miles away and as we got closer the excitement built. As we rounded a corner of I-95 Pedro's Tower came came into view and I burst into repeated cries of OMG OMG OMG. Frank slowed the vehicle so that I could collect myself before descending in the Tackiest of Tackies, home to my lovely bile green coffeemug with bas relief rendering of Pedro!

Oddly enough there were very few people at SOB but that didn't stop us and we darted out of the car to stand in awe in the middle of Pedro Plaza gazing at the South of the Border motel, fireworks stand, ice cream shop, reptile farm and more and more and more. On the other side of SOB street were more shops and the vaunted 6 foot tall Pink Flamingos. We were drawn ineluctably towards the welcoming doors of the SOB emporium, t-shirt store, and ashtray and coffeemug storehouse and general storehouse of everything loudest, brightest, least tasteful, and most endearing.

In minutes I had more precious treasures than my hands could hold and, dropping yellow and green plastic pineapple soda holders as I walked, I called for help. A gracious retailperson sprinted to my aid and I dumped what I already had in the emerald green plastic basket and continued excavating more treasures: place mats and coasters in unearthly shades, Pedro snowglobes, ashtrays, and more that can't be shared in a primetime generally public blogpost. At the money shrine I duly handed over my poor monetary offerings for the treasures I had found.

As Frank dragged me sobbing into the waiting carriage, our Giant Gorilla friend waved a hearty goodbye. I cried out that I would return, I would return, and he nodded sagely (I think).


And so we drove away from the blaze of glory into the gathering gloom of a South Carolina unrepentant winter. I looked once more over my shoulder and saw it again.the High Holy Place of Tack: South of the Border!

Married Life Begins

My countdown clock is now counting up. We've been married 1 day 8 hours 2 minutes and 57 seconds. I've never been happier. It was a great weekend with family and friends. Our friend Bernie did an outstanding job with the reception. I think everyone had a good time, I know I did. Today we went and had breakfast with our out of town guests and then came home and did laundry. We also got to take a nap this afternoon. It has been a perfect weekend.

Feels great

It was great! It was exhausting! It was fun! And we look forward to many wonderful years together.

So this is what it's like being married!

7 hours and 22 minutes into married life and I'm pooped! But what a great assembly of friends and family today for the wedding at Friends Meeting and the reception later in Arlington. The problem with weddings is they bring together people you don't get to see very often and would like to spend time with but there are so many of them that you don't get to spend enough time with any of them. There's also a feeling of regret because you know you should see all of those people more often but you don't.

Real kudos go to our friends Bernie, Scott, Ronny, John, and Carl from Harrisburg who did a superb job of catering the reception and really worked tirelessly.

It has been a wonderful and an auspicious start to our officially married life (except in Virgina which of course doesn't recognize any such thing).

Thank you to everyone who blessed our wedding with their presence today and all those who sent their thoughts and wishes even though they couldn't be there.

Here we go .........................

It's just about time. We're dressed and getting ready to leave for Meeting. Up at 6 and setting up the reception space by 7 am with the help of friends and family. Now it's on to the really important stuff!

The stair issue at the Meetinghouse

If you're coming to the wedding and don't want to have to deal with a lot of stairs, there is an easier entrance to a level ADP-compliant entrance. You need to come in from Phelps Place, a one-way street on the northeast side of the Meetinghouse. The easiest way to reach the entrance is to turn off of Florida onto S St NW, go up the hill and then make a sharp U-turn onto Phelps Place. Halfway down on the right side (X on the map) is a garden gate to the Meetinghouse. Make a sharp right after going through the gate and go to the handicapped entrance.

And now for the good stuff ...

Picked up 8 pies today from Mom's Apple Pies in Occuquan, VA. Three more pies, lemon meringue, are arriving today from Gettysburg, PA's Lincoln Diner courtesy of our good friend Bernie. We already have Caroline's seven layer caramel cake (thanks for introducing us to this, Ashley). Life is short; start your wedding reception with desert!

Oh yeah, I think there's going to be other food as well. Bernie is doing the catering for the reception, which is a bit tricky logistically since we can't get into the reception hall until 8 am tomorrow morning. Oh well.

Did I mention there are only 94,300 seconds left until the wedding? Where does the time go?

The Big Countdown

Our out of town guests start arriving today. This week has been hectic but I think we are in good shape. Later today I'm going to continue work on the music for the reception. At least I can sit down to do that. Yesterday Mark's coworkers gave him a wedding shower. It was great, thanks to all the wonderful folks at the Cancer Support Community.

Only 225,700 seconds left!

Got the hummos and baba ghanouj done tonight. Started getting the house ready. I think I have the wedding vows memorized - until I forget them. I think I'll pin them to Frank's shirtfront so I can read them. Family arrives tomorrow and Frank's sister on Friday. Then begins the fun of trying to get people back and forth between DC and Arlington but way will open.

I've been working on Frank's family tree - my way of sidelining the stress - and had a breakthrough discovery of his great great great great grandfather David Taylor (b. 1756) and his son Wallace Taylor from whom Frank is descended. I'm marrying into a colonial/revolutionary war era family! Does that mean I can join the DAR? The Taylors all come from that small convergence of New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania and started outin Quaker communities of Salem, NJ and Woodstown, NJ in the former New Sweden colony.

It's almost Here We Go time!

Serious running around time!

Now we're getting down to all the little bitty time-consuming niggly things, like getting stuff out of the house into storage so that there will be room for visitors. Getting enough cups for drinks. Getting wrapping paper. Booking hotel rooms for the post-wedding trip. Stocking up on cat food for the critters when we're away. Getting Metrocards for visitors. Getting the car washed, Trimming my hair (what there is of it). And the daily Oh My God moment! By the time Saturday comes we'll both be worn out - meaning no resistance, we'll go quietly.

Once we get our vows memorized, shirts pressed, shoes polished, etc. etc. etc.

Baking is Finished

I made the last batch of cookies tonight. I'm tired. Today I made Pecan Crescent Cookies and Chocolate Drop Cookies. I just finished about 8:00pm. Oh I made a pie too.

Catastrophy Strikes

I've been using my Mother's mixer to make the cookies. I remember her using this mixer when I was a kid. So let's say I was 10, that makes the mixer about 50 years old. I was getting ready to make the Crescent Cookies today and I broke the bowl to the mixer. YIKES!!! What do we do now? There isn't time to use my favorite shopping tool, the internet, and find a replacement bowl. Mark did look on the internet and find Target carries Sunbeam products. So off we go to Target. Not only didn't they have replacement parts but they didn't have Sunbeam mixers. Not to dismay though, I'm now the proud owner of a Kitchen Aide Mixer. I'm still sad that my Mother's mixer is in disrepair, but I guess time moves on. I may box it up and put it away for the good memories it holds. So the baking is a little behind, I only have one batch of Crescent Cookies done and it is almost 6:00 pm. I wanted to get them all done today. Time is running out.

Why DO people get married in the spring?

A week from now we'll be running madly about trying to get everything done, get ourselves gussied up and get to the Meetinghouse on time. We may start by running in circles in the living room screaming "Oh my God! Oh my God!". My mother always used to say" When in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout!" It's great stress relief.

And I'd just like to say here, make it very clear, that if my eyes look red and teary next Saturday it has NOTHING to do with wedding. Spring weddings happen in a haze of pollen. The trees are just beginning to get leaf buds, the forsythia is blooming, tulips are pushing up through the dirt, and my eyes are leaking, my nose is twitching, and I'm already sneezing. And this is just the beginning. Next weekend is the beginning of the Cherry Blossom Festival so you know someone is planning for those trees to be leafed out, pollen full, and active.

Next Saturday no one will have to throw rice or anything, Frank and I will be walking through a yellow haze as the horny trees and flowers all go at it with a vengeance. Next time we do this, it will have to be in November.

No Baking Today

I used today to tie up loose ends. I talked to the Hilton Garden Inn (the hotel where out of town guests are staying). I worked on the music for the reception. I have several playlists started on my computer. Some really good music, old stuff, new stuff and somewhere in between.

Things are moving along

Today I made one batch of my Mother's Chocolate Drop Cookies (without nuts) and Cranberry Orange Biscotti (without nuts). We have at least one guest coming who is allergic to nuts. I'm taking tomorrow off from baking. I have to work on the music for the reception.

Catching Up

I forgot to post this last night. Yesterday was Raisin Puff Day. We now have about 16 dozen raisin puffs. They are so good. I found the recipe in a book I was reading. I also made some with craisins. I only have my Mother's chocolate drop cookies and Mark's Mother's pecan crescent cookies left to go. We are starting to be over run by cookies.

Back to Action

After a brief break (Sun & Mon) it was back to work today. This was pizzelle day. We usually make half a batch at Christmas. Today I made a whole batch. I started baking them ( on the pizzelle iron) at 1:30 and finished at 5:00. I have no idea how many I made. An estimate based on the time would be 210. I know we have a lot of pizzelles and the house smells like anise.

Along with the baking today was laundry day. Quite a busy time around here.

Take your fiance to work day

I thought Frank, and the kitchen, needed a little break from his very industrious baking (we have a LOT of biscotti!) so I took him to work with me. He very generously offered to help stuff envelopes for the Cancer Support Community's annual Spring Celebration fundraiser in NYC.

We do have something of a vested interest since we would be going to NYC and have tickets for the Friday evening after the Celebration: we're seeing the new Priscilla, Queen of the Desert musical.

Day of Accomplishment

Yesterday and today many things got accomplished. The glasses for the reception arrived yesterday. I continued to bake. More lemon almond and cranberry, orange, almond biscotti. Today we went to Mom's Apple Pie Company and ordered the pies, 10 in all. Bernie is bringing the Lemon Meringue. We then came home and washed all the glasses. Mark took the program to Kinko to get a proof run. We are waiting to hear from them. I'm tired!!!!

Plan into Action

I'm baking cookies for the reception and a short meet and mingle at the Meeting House.

• Today: Orange, Cranberry, Almond Biscotti and Lemon Pistachio Biscotti

According to the recipe they will last over a month so I figured I could get started a little early. I also finalized the arrangements for the Rehearsal dinner.

Yesterday I started putting together the music for the reception. I'm loading it all into playlists on my computer.

There is a lot to do the problem is, it is all last minute stuff. It's a good thing I retired when I did.

Mark has done a beautiful job on the program for the Wedding, he is so good at that kind of stuff.

Took a deep breath! Pie day is almost here!!

OK, so we didn't elope! It was a near thing though. So now things are a little more settled and it's back to doing one thing at a time.

In case you didn't know, we are having wedding pies instead of a wedding cake (I've never really been a cake kind of guy). So we've been sampling pies all over the place. At the start I wanted to get them from the Lincoln Diner in Gettysburg; their pies are great! But it's kind of a hike. There's the Woodmoor Bakery in Silver Spring which does great eclairs as well, but also a hike. We tried Dangerously Delicious Pies in DC and Mom's Apple Pie in Occoquan VA and we've decided to go to Mom's in Occoquan! Saturday we're going down there to order 10 or 12 pies (should we go 10 or 12 slices per pie? hmm?) to pick up the day before the wedding. I'm thinking blueberry (my favorite), lemon meringue, apple crumb, apple pecan crumb, coconut cream, cherry, apple walnut, winterberry (cranberry/apple/blueberry), and ... and ... and.

Frank, being more of a cake person than me, is going to get a 7 layer caramel cake from Caroline's Cakes (http://www.carolinescakes.com/). Caroline's caramel is REALLY good. It's a diabetes epidemic all by itself. So we're ordering one of those (and maybe a red velvet) for Frank.

With all of those desserts, who needs a meal?!

(Did I mention there are only 1, 366, 700 some seconds left until the wedding?)

Mark

Sorry, we' ve eloped!

Just realized there's too much to do and the house won't hold everyone who might visit after the wedding and there are too many people and there's too much to do and I know something is going to go wrong, and I'm sure I've forgotten something and I look too fat and my hair is falling out and the sky is falling and so we're eloping and that should take care of the pressure and OMG!!!

"Take care of your blessings"

The African-American gay poet Essex Hemphill used to tell his friends and audiences "Take care of your blessings."

My one remaining Aunt, the last of her generation, who has figured large in my life and whom we planned to visit in Florida the week following the wedding, has died. Verba was a force of life and I will really miss her. Her death reminds me not to put off the important things and the most important of things are people, relationships, and faith. And Essex reminds me to take care of my blessings, such as Verba Kuebler MacKenzie Hill.

We could have gone earlier (and now in fact I am leaving tomorrow for the funeral in Clearwater), but we thought and Verba said that the end of the month would be soon enough. Most of you have heard my "expect the worst and you won't be disappointed" tag line. I should have remembered it with Aunt Verba.

The good news is that Frank and I aren't putting off our relationship and are eagerly awaiting the chance 21 days from now to proclaim it to the world. We are taking care of the blessing that we are each to the other.

Wedding Plans on Hold

Not what you think. Our friends Ellen and Jim gave us a Lego model of Frank Lloyd Wright's, Fallingwater. I'm HOOKED!!!! I worked on it all afternoon, when I probably should have been doing something else. I have it about half finished. One way to look at it is if I get it done soon then I can get back to Wedding plans.

On the wedding front things are right on schedule and falling into place nicely. Now it's just the big countdown. I get more excited as each day goes by.

First Bump in the Road

I've been trying to get in touch with Buca di Beppo for the rehearsal dinner. Went on their website and submitted a request for a reservation - got no response. After waiting about a week I called yesterday and left a message for the group sales person - got no response. I called again today and finally got a live person. They are booked for the night of March 25. So the scrambling began. We now have reservations at Marrakesh Palace on P Street. I guess that's appropriate for a same sex wedding since the building used to house Mr. P's. I hope everyone likes Moroccan food. Other than that things are falling into place.

And then the other shoe dropped ...

Soooo we're out of a restaurant for the rehearsal dinner, we learned this morning.

AND just minutes ago a friend sent me information about the Sun Trust National Marathon and the Carefirst National Half Marathon and the United Way Team Relay which are all being run together on, guess what?!, March 26th. As a colleague just remarked, well we will have plenty of guests and foot traffic since the marathon goes right up Connecticut Avenue and then turns up Florida avenue, about 1 block from the Meetinghouse. Luckily the finish line is at RFK Stadium so the runners and spectators could well be gone before our crowd arrives! We hope!

It's called Progress or OMG we only have 23 days left!!!

We made some headway yesterday on the spreadsheet of tasks. I photoshopped our 'tree' (see the website) into a line drawing for etching on the glasses we have ordered for the reception. Frank has gotten a pretty good deal on the glasses and the etching. Now we just have to hope they arrive in time.

I also did a first draft of the program. Put too much in it the first time around. Somehow I lost the grid lines in In Design so when folded the type was all skewed to the right. Easy to fix but aggravating to look at. We're trying to do the brochure as a balance of Quakerly info and Wedding/Groom info. Frank's looking it over again today and like the Virgin Mary we "will keep this in our hearts and ponder it" - but not for too long; we do have to get it all printed and folded.

Every time we get on the list of tasks, we seem to think of something new that needs to be added. Oh well.