Christmas at Norman and Annie's

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.

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.

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).

Lunch at Auntie Cherry's

Aunt Cherry invited us to lunch at her house today. She lives at the end of a long street with no cross street. Her house is really elegantly decorated. At the back it has a covered room with grilled walls. The room is beautiful, with sofas and a small table, flowers and trees outside, and a nice cool breeze. We had stew peas and Aunt Esther's chicken. Everything was great.

It turns out that Aunt Cherry's real name is Ida May. We never knew that. When she was born the helper told her Mom that the baby was "red as a cherry". The name stuck. Cherry is a truly international person. She has lived a variety of places. For a long time she lived in Switzerland, married to a Swiss citizen. Her relatives are in the US, the UK, Switzerland, Jamaica, and the Caymans.

Cherry's daughter Rosie, a doctor, came by for a while with her two beautiful boys. They are 3 and 5, and very shy. Today they had red tongues from Valentines Day candies. Rosie was PoPo's doctor during the problems she had earlier this spring.

Later on, we took a tour of the back yard. It is really secluded and beautiful. There are lots of plants, flowers, trees, and bushes all around. Everything from orchids to bananas. The yard is a few steps down from the back of the house. There is plenty of room for kids to play and adults to relax.

Mandeville today

We went off to Mandeville today to see a cousin that E had not seen for 40 years. Cissie spends some of her time in Atlanta and some in Mandeville. Mandeville is crowded and lively in the center, but seems to spread out fairly quickly away from the center.

We picked Cissie up at the supermarket she and her husband own. Then we had lunch in a Chinese restaurant with her husband, and went on to Cissie's home at the top of a hill. After Kingston, the cool air and breeze were really nice! Cissie's grandchildren, two girls, were there along with their mother. They were really cute and lively. One is 4 and one is 2.

We had a good long talk (well, I listened), discussing what was going on with our families. As we drove around we also passed the street on which E's coworker's parents live. We'll visit them another time, as we pass through to Negril.

The drive back was not too bad, though there were certainly some maniacs on the road. It takes around 1 1/2 hours to get back to Kingston. The new superhighway - T1 - really improves things. My name for the country part of the road is the "Food Road". In the flat lands you pass stands vending honey. Farther along the road you pass the "Cashew Crossing", a railroad crossing where cashews are sold in bags by roadside vendors. Right after that comes the Juicy Patty factory and a store where you can get patties and lots of other things (e.g., fried chicken, red pea soup, Jamaican meatloaf, coco bread, etc.) Farther along the road starts winding up the hill. In this section there are bags and bags of oranges, as well as stands with coconuts and other fruits. As you get up near Mandeville there is an off the road parking place with a set of stands where you can get things like roast corn, roast yams, fried fish, and other things to eat.