We spent a very pleasant Christmas afternoon and evening over at Norman and Annie's in Whitestone, after picking up Pickle in Manhattan. This was a big family get together, bringing together lots of young people we had not seen in a lot of years. Norman and Annie's older son, Justin, had recently been married. His wife, Sera - the younger, and her parents (Paul and Sera - the older) were there. We also met husbands and wives of family members that were little children last time we saw them. Eva and Nels and Maya, Kim and Mike, Lauren, Amy and Donald, Cindy, Roger and Lisa, were all there.
The best story of the whole night was that of Kim and Mike, who met in college. When Kim mentioned meeting Mike to her parents, they told her that they knew his parents from a long time ago. Well, it turned out that Kim's grandma and Mike's grandma were good friends in China before they emigrated to the US. And Kim and Mike had met before, when they were 2 years old! Kim's family had a picture of her and Mike holding hands at 2 years! Apparently Mike's family moved, and the two families drifted apart, only to be brought back together when the two met again. It really had the feeling of kismet!
Interesting work: Eva/Nels - gold leaf work and decorating, Mike - former ADA in the Bronx, now moving to a Manhattan law firm, Roger - interior decoration. I always enjoy hearing about people who lead a much different lifestyle than E and I.
Norman and Annie laid on a huge amount of food, easily enough for 50 people. We tried our best, but couldn't even get half way on it. One of the dishes was Chinese broccoli, with long stalks.When people had difficulty with it, Aunt Annie got out her kitchen shears and wandered around the house, cutting up the stalks on people's plates so they could eat it more easily. She also got to the strips of barbecued beef, which were a little difficult to cut with a fork. Bradley, their younger son, showed a taste for cooking and hospitality. He had taken a small watermelon and cut a decorative cap from it, then filled it with watermelon juice laced with Korean rice wine/brandy. The drink is apparently a traditional Korean libation called (phonetically) showju. Not my cuppa, but his strawberry daiquiris were.
Lots of people brought desserts, some homemade. There were also cookies from the Stork's pastry shop, a famous German bakery in Whitestone. They were terrific.
Poor Pickle woke up just as we were getting ready to go home. Somebody fixed her a plate to take along so she would have some dinner back at her apartment.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Thursday, December 25, 2008
J and L get married in Orlando
The whole reason for the Orlando stopover was to attend a nephew's wedding. E's brother P and his wife D married off their oldest son. J has been an educational miracle, with a bachelor's, a couple of master's, and now his dentistry degree. He married L, the daughter of an established Orlando family that emigrated from Taiwan. They are business people with a large circle of contacts in the South of the US.
The wedding was quite a production, held at the JW Marriott Resort in Orlando. Half the story was the pomp and circumstance, half was the get together with E's family. Both were entertaining.
Before, during, and after the ceremony a harpist played beautifully.
P (E's oldest brother) and his wife D looked good as everyone milled around waiting for the outdoor ceremony. Thank goodness it wasn't summer. As it was, the temperature was in the 80s.
One of E's other brothers, another P, looked sharp. I was under-dressed in gray slacks, a blazer, and a polo shirt.
The bride looked terrific in a gown that was modest and elegant. The long train looked inconvenient, but manageable. Here she is during the vows, in a "You be Frank, and I'll be Earnest" moment!
After the ceremony, they jumped (slight exaggeration) into a horse-drawn carriage.
And disappeared along the lovely lake (probably no alligators, but it's your guess).
P and daughter L in a quiet moment.
The reception was in the main hotel building (the place is immense). The tables were dressed beautifully. We had to grab votive candles with Chinese good luck characters (drawn in the wrong direction...), and find our table number. We sat with people we knew, luckily. Stilted conversations annoy me.
Here are the bride and groom with Mrs. W (D's mother) and her sister, at our table. They got around to everybody eventually. This must have been an exhausting day.
There was lots of drinking and dancing and speeches, stirred up by a loud and somewhat obnoxious MC-type person. Here are the best pumps of the evening. The legs weren't bad, either!
The bride's father stumbled through a speech written down by one of his other daughters. He couldn't read it very well (and was kind of tipsy besides). The audience was cheerful and forgiving, applauding him when he finished.
Finally they got around to the cake moment. The cake was pretty, but not too tasty, though.
This looks like a "What the hell is that?" or "I thought I would see that later" moment to me. Anybody else got any ideas?
After a bubble pipe exit for the bride and groom (no rice and no bird seed - I'm a fossil), we all gave up and left for the hotel where we stayed. A good time was had by all until they left and got a $16 parking bill on their way out.
The wedding was quite a production, held at the JW Marriott Resort in Orlando. Half the story was the pomp and circumstance, half was the get together with E's family. Both were entertaining.
Before, during, and after the ceremony a harpist played beautifully.
P (E's oldest brother) and his wife D looked good as everyone milled around waiting for the outdoor ceremony. Thank goodness it wasn't summer. As it was, the temperature was in the 80s.
One of E's other brothers, another P, looked sharp. I was under-dressed in gray slacks, a blazer, and a polo shirt.
Uncle J, his wife M (E's sister), and our niece L (P's daughter) were all happy to attend.
The bride looked terrific in a gown that was modest and elegant. The long train looked inconvenient, but manageable. Here she is during the vows, in a "You be Frank, and I'll be Earnest" moment!
After the ceremony, they jumped (slight exaggeration) into a horse-drawn carriage.
And disappeared along the lovely lake (probably no alligators, but it's your guess).
P and daughter L in a quiet moment.
The reception was in the main hotel building (the place is immense). The tables were dressed beautifully. We had to grab votive candles with Chinese good luck characters (drawn in the wrong direction...), and find our table number. We sat with people we knew, luckily. Stilted conversations annoy me.
Here are the bride and groom with Mrs. W (D's mother) and her sister, at our table. They got around to everybody eventually. This must have been an exhausting day.
There was lots of drinking and dancing and speeches, stirred up by a loud and somewhat obnoxious MC-type person. Here are the best pumps of the evening. The legs weren't bad, either!
The bride's father stumbled through a speech written down by one of his other daughters. He couldn't read it very well (and was kind of tipsy besides). The audience was cheerful and forgiving, applauding him when he finished.
Finally they got around to the cake moment. The cake was pretty, but not too tasty, though.
This looks like a "What the hell is that?" or "I thought I would see that later" moment to me. Anybody else got any ideas?
After a bubble pipe exit for the bride and groom (no rice and no bird seed - I'm a fossil), we all gave up and left for the hotel where we stayed. A good time was had by all until they left and got a $16 parking bill on their way out.
The next morning we had a really fun talk with P (#2) and L, making plans to return to Jamaica. Then we set out on another boring drive back home (in three steps).
East from Austin
This was kind of a boring trip, in the early part. First night we stayed in Butt's Nub (Jennings), Louisiana. This is kind of a dead town with not much to recommend it. Following that we passed through eastern Louisiana, passing throught the Atchafalaya Basin early. There was a great deal of fog, giving the cypress trees in the basin a ghostly, beautiful look.
Then we passed through Alabama, seeing the USS Alabama in the same fog. The effect was also lovely.
We stopped for the next night in Pensacola, followed by Gainesville. That was our anniversary night (32 years)! We met up briefly with Bennie Smith, a graduate student from our years who came back to be a professor. We also saw Nic Omenetto, who post-doc'd with Dr. Winefordner during our time in his group. Nic also joined the faculty at University of Florida, giving up on his native Italy.
Since we had seen S on the way down to Texas, we thought of looking for our old apartment. S lived downstairs from us for a year or two. We had a missed attempt, but finally found 1309 NW 6th Street! It was just as I remembered it from 30 odd years ago.
The next night we were on to Orlando, in preparation for a wedding. On the first afternoon we went on to Cocoa Beach to meet with a former colleague of E's from Celanese. Then we went on to D's parents home to deliver presents and have a nice home-cooked meal. They live in a small development directly on the inland waterway. The house is really nice, with a screened pool overlooking the water. Apparently all manner of wildlife are evident here, including manatees. This was a really enjoyable day. It was good to get to know D's folks a little better. They are easy to talk to and a lot of fun.
Then we returned to Orlando to meet up with Esther's relatives. More in the next post.
Texas and eastward
We had a great time in Texas (Austin) this time. It was a different experience, as H and D both had jobs this time. We had to have fun around their schedules to some extent. But it was also, in part, a celebration of their lives becoming more stable and established in a place they enjoy a lot. This time was enhanced by L (our older daughter) joining us from NYC for a vacation. Here we are in the park on a map of Texas, sitting around Austin.
It was really good to see H & L together again! They are good sisters and enjoy each other a lot.
I am happy to report that Austin is lively (and weird) in the winter, too. This city is active! The events are possibly a little more sparse than summer, but not much. Here is a sampling.
One evening (at the full moon) we went down to the Zilker Park Barton Springs Pool. Rumor had it that every full moon there is a "Howl at the Moon" night. Nobody was howling, but the pool was beautiful in the moonlight. We also went down to the pool during daylight. As cool as the temps were at times (flurries in the air one day), there were always lap swimmers doing the length of the pool!
Here is a peek in the kettle corn (popcorn) tent. These guys were going a mile a minute, popping and emptying the kettle. They stirred continuously, with the popcorn inactive until it burst all at once, filling the kettle with sugary corn. The light was low, so you can't see the the individual corns.
It's a toys for tots kind of parade. Many kids attend, bringing toys to put in trucks and shopping carts that are part of the parade.
Among the bands, choirs, tiny ponies, etc. are some examples of "Keeping Austin Weird", a continuing theme stemming from the 1960's and a bohemian atmosphere that has persisted.
The armored 'dillo is a mascot here. This one squirted flames out its nose on occasion.
We were at the end of the parade and got to watch the balloons go horizontal to pass under wires on the Congress Street bridge.
Austin is certainly all about music. They have a LOT of free concerts. We went to see a City Hall Plaza concert while we were there. There is a really nice setting with sunshade (not needed that day) and a stage for bands. The group at this concert was Chicken City Strut, a funk and jazz band. They play at Guerro's regularly. The music was really good, reminiscent of the 60s and my early days. The guys were fairly young, except for the keyboardist, but they had a really good feel for this music. We enjoyed it a lot.
Another day we went back to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center for a free day. This place is captivating! The stonework is really nice. There is something soothing about limestone. A favorite spot is this pond at the entrance. In the summer there is wildlife. In winter it is less populated, but still draws people.
There is quite a bit of sculpture around, and it changes from time to time. I would call these whimsical. Good to see that Americans can do whimsical as well as the French.
We didn't do as much hiking this time as last, probably due to H & D working as well as our own sloth and laptop addiction. We did get to the Wild Basin, a preserve close to Austin. This one is only here due to a stubborn group of women dedicated to keeping some wildness around as Austin grows. It is a nice area with several trails traversing the limestone hills and a beautiful creek area. We enjoyed it a lot, even getting a giggle when we passed a freakshow next to some limestone boulders. A guy with a beard was laughing along with his girlfriend, under a sheet on the ground. They were smoking a J and getting it on, interrupted only momentarily as we passed. Things are dry in Texas this time of year. Be careful with your roach!
It was really good to see H & L together again! They are good sisters and enjoy each other a lot.
I am happy to report that Austin is lively (and weird) in the winter, too. This city is active! The events are possibly a little more sparse than summer, but not much. Here is a sampling.
One evening (at the full moon) we went down to the Zilker Park Barton Springs Pool. Rumor had it that every full moon there is a "Howl at the Moon" night. Nobody was howling, but the pool was beautiful in the moonlight. We also went down to the pool during daylight. As cool as the temps were at times (flurries in the air one day), there were always lap swimmers doing the length of the pool!
During Christmas season the park is decorated. Austin retains a Moon Tower in the park, a remnant of an earlier lighting scheme that placed lights on a high tower to cover a wide area. In this season they dress it up as a Christmas tree, strung with lights. It is quite impressive. If you stand inside the lights, as a whole crowd does, the effect is dizzying.
Here is a peek in the kettle corn (popcorn) tent. These guys were going a mile a minute, popping and emptying the kettle. They stirred continuously, with the popcorn inactive until it burst all at once, filling the kettle with sugary corn. The light was low, so you can't see the the individual corns.
A little earlier in the stay we went to see the Chuy's Christmas Parade on Congress Street. Chuy's is a well known TexMex eating place on Barton Springs Road (the site of some embarrassing behavior by one of the Bush twins). Chuy's sponsors a parade each Christmas.
This was a pretty big parade, with lots of participants of many types.
It's a toys for tots kind of parade. Many kids attend, bringing toys to put in trucks and shopping carts that are part of the parade.
Among the bands, choirs, tiny ponies, etc. are some examples of "Keeping Austin Weird", a continuing theme stemming from the 1960's and a bohemian atmosphere that has persisted.
The armored 'dillo is a mascot here. This one squirted flames out its nose on occasion.
We were at the end of the parade and got to watch the balloons go horizontal to pass under wires on the Congress Street bridge.
Austin is certainly all about music. They have a LOT of free concerts. We went to see a City Hall Plaza concert while we were there. There is a really nice setting with sunshade (not needed that day) and a stage for bands. The group at this concert was Chicken City Strut, a funk and jazz band. They play at Guerro's regularly. The music was really good, reminiscent of the 60s and my early days. The guys were fairly young, except for the keyboardist, but they had a really good feel for this music. We enjoyed it a lot.
Another day we went back to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center for a free day. This place is captivating! The stonework is really nice. There is something soothing about limestone. A favorite spot is this pond at the entrance. In the summer there is wildlife. In winter it is less populated, but still draws people.
There is quite a bit of sculpture around, and it changes from time to time. I would call these whimsical. Good to see that Americans can do whimsical as well as the French.
We didn't do as much hiking this time as last, probably due to H & D working as well as our own sloth and laptop addiction. We did get to the Wild Basin, a preserve close to Austin. This one is only here due to a stubborn group of women dedicated to keeping some wildness around as Austin grows. It is a nice area with several trails traversing the limestone hills and a beautiful creek area. We enjoyed it a lot, even getting a giggle when we passed a freakshow next to some limestone boulders. A guy with a beard was laughing along with his girlfriend, under a sheet on the ground. They were smoking a J and getting it on, interrupted only momentarily as we passed. Things are dry in Texas this time of year. Be careful with your roach!
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