Bye, Bill

My last boss at The Times is leaving for good today. Bill was a great boss. He left me alone, listened to what I had to say and told me quietly when I got out of line. Mostly, he was supportive. The remains of our team went to lunch today. That's Bill on the left, then Dianne, me, Idalia and Clif. Dianne, Idalia and Clif have absorbed all of Bill's old job and my old job. Lucky them. I used to love to visit Bill because his office looked on demolition across Broadway. They stopped when everything was out of the space and the ground was clear. I guess he decided to leave because there was nothing interesting to look at. Or it could be that his job was extremely stressful. I vote for the vacant lot.

Connections

I was a little embarassed to mention that I had read this book last week while reading the four others. It was very short. It seems like a lot of people were killed. That is not common for Agatha Christie. This was meant to be a diversion from all that Danish and Saxon blood. Ms. Christie was, fortunately, less bloody in her killings. But really! And to top it off, it was placed in a prim girl's school. The school was only for prim girls. And we all know that prim girls do NOT get involved in murder. Usually.

More reading goes on, of course. I am reading The Adventure of English. It's about how the English language developed over time. I'm only a quarter of the way through it, but the timing was perfect. The author writes about the Britons, Celts, Danes, Jutes and Saxons in this first quarter of the book. He was even kind enough to tell me the names of the battles that the protagonist of the Saxon books fought. Of course, he said the hero was Alfred, but we who have read that series know better. :) So, Alfred's seat of power was in Wessex and how many Americans know exactly where that is? But he was in Winchester and I know where that is, having seen his magnificant catherdral long ago. Yes, I know it's been rebuilt since Alfred, but don't spoil my illusions.

This is the best part about reading a lot of books of various genre and traveling extensively. I've been reading this smash 'em up historical fiction and it relates to a book about language that I'm reading and it all relates to trips to England. Adrian, on the other hand, is a gamer and has related the Saxon books to an on-line game about conquest that he played years ago. He says he was too young to tie our first trip to England to these books. I'm sure everyone is aware of connections and how they help understand a period of time or a principle. I find it fascinating. It's most fun when it pops up unexpectedly, like the Mencken and Charlatan connection although reading two non-fiction books that involved MacArthur helped me understand him better.

Another great connection I made recently were the delicious strawberries, raspberries and blueberries I bought at the local farmer's market with fig balsamic vinegar and whipped cream. That is now connecting with my hips. But it was worth it.

Traveling "Music"

I like to listen to books when I'm in the car. I suppose that's why long trips, or driving into work, never phases me. As long as I can find an outlet from time to time to recharge my Ipod, I'm good to go.

A major consideration when driving north for the wedding was what to listen to. Adrian and I have different tastes. That's a given. But he is more unforgiving in his preferences than I am. My brother, Eric, had recommended a series by Bernard Cornwell. This is the man that wrote the Sharpe's Rifle series. Adrian likes those, so I thought he might like the Saxon Chronicle series.

We listened to The Last Kingdom on the way up, The Pale Horseman on the way down, and I've listened to the last two this week - Lords of the North and Swords Song. I know that seems like a lot in just one week, but all but Lords of the North were abridged. Adrian pointed out that the first one must have been abridged because it was almost done by the time we got to San Francisco. Unabridged books are usually a minimum of 12 hours. That's even longer than our trip up and back.

I've always said that i would never read an unabridged book because, well, they cut stuff out of it. That doesn't sound like a good thing to me. We noticed the exclusions in The Last Kingdom. But it's kind of pulp fiction, so does that really matter? Sometimes we lost the motivation for the character's actions. We'd look at each other and say, "Hunh?" I was excited to read Lords of the North to see if it was better unabridged. The answer is that unabridged is better. Duh. In this case, I abridged the book myself because it is very violent. I'm not sure how many times you can read about hand dripping with blood. Verdict is, abridged is okay in a pinch, but never preferred.

About the books: it was fun to read about the Danes invading England. We know that a dear friend at The Times is Danish, so I kept picturing him slashing through people's chain mail. Not that Per ever would. Adrian and I both missed the maps that surely exist in these books. I think I'll ask Eric to bring a book to Cathie's wedding in May so Adrian and I can look at all those place names. Other than London and Mersey (which I wouldn't have known without that old song about the Ferry 'Cross the Mersey) I was pretty lost. It wasn't fatal, but it would have been more fun to have a map.

I've just ordered a bunch of real paper type books which are finalist for The Times Book Prizes. Karen and I will share those on our trip across the US. We're starting our own private book club to discuss them. Or as I like to call it, Our Private Idaho Bookclub. We looked up that movie on IMDB and decided to just take the name, not the subtext of the movie. Too wierd.

Trina and Mark are Married!

Wow, what a weekend. I didn't take a lot of pictures. There were so many people there that I should have shot. What I got you can see by clicking here: wedding. Yes, I also learned how to link to a website without having the URL hanging out. Big weekend.

Adrian and I drove up on Friday. It was a very easy drive and even the last bit in San Francisco getting to hotel was okay. We got there in time for the rehearsal, but I didn't have to participate. The woman who was reading the poem recovered and did a wonderful job. She had to rehearse. Most of the rest of us stayed upstairs at the bar and drank. The rest of us included Karen (Peter was practicing videographing), Jeff and Sandi, and Bill and Nisi. I haven't seen the last two since Bill's brother Bob's wedding. It was much fun to see them. Bill and Karen exchanged memories of growing up because Karen had brought him a photo album. I love to hear other people's memories of shared events. We all look at things from our own perspective.

I've just written about all our meals before the wedding because that's what I did mostly, eat. But that was boring to me. What I want to write about is how good it was to see everybody. So, let's do it like this, by sibling:

Eric's Family

Eric's son Mark was the groom. Mark was sweet and deliously beside himself. I tried to keep out of his way, because his activities were predetermined and focused on one woman - as it should be. Trina is a very sweet woman and I know that they will be happy together. She looked gorgeous at the wedding. We had chatted about the brides on a TV reality show about buying wedding dresses. It's a big decision because those wedding pictures are with you always. As you see above, she picked the right dress.

Chris was an usher. He is Mark's brother and his signifigant other is in Columbia visiting her mother. I talked with Chris a little, but most fun was dancing with him at the wedding. He was pretty game to dance with his stiff old auntie. I was avoiding a nasty woman and just full enough of champagne to dash over and grab one of the cutest guys in the room to be my dancing partner. My knees hurt all night, but he is worth it.

Tara is Eric's daughter. We we seated together at all events. Hurray! She's a sweetie and a bright new lawyer. We talked about my final move up to Albany in a couple of years. She desperately wants to learn how to cook and I can't wait to cook with her. That's how Adrian and I learned, we cooked with people. Tara's husband Ivan is becoming more a part of the family each time we see him.

Mark's mother is Millicent. She looked absolutely fabulous on both occassions, the dinner and the wedding. Her hair is usually long and flowing. She had it up and it looked great. We spent a lot of time on the staircase, waiting for the reception after the wedding. 90 minute wait with too few chairs. People were surprised that we were so friendly, since she hasn't been part of the family for a long time. I told them that when my mother got someone into the family, she never let go. Man, we almost sound like the mafia.

Eric's wife Cindy brought her two adult girls and a husband to the wedding. Cindy is wonderful. You can imagine how difficult it is to share your husband with an ex in the "parents of the bride" role. Cindy was perfect in this role. Her daughters are great. Carina asked me if I was going to take a picture the was "blog worthy" this time. This is my excuse for not getting a picture of 90% of the other people there. Last time I cut Carina out of the picture with Cael. Now she is here with Cael and Sean. Adrian and I also met Cindy's parents at breakfast the next morning. I got no picture of Kaitlin or the parents. Or Cindy for that matter. Tsk.

Karen's Family

I got lots of pictures of Karen and Peter and their son Kevin. And of course Maggie. They were sitting at my table. But Julie, Adam and the boys were always someplace else. And Maggie has more of my energy level. The boys are constant motion machines, but I think they were pretty good at the wedding because I never heard them once. I wonder how Julie and Adam did that. Kevin's Natalie was all over the place, herding Maggie to rehearsal and wedding. Maggie was the very precise flower girl. She knew her job. She had to get rid of all the flower petals in her basket when she got to the bride and groom. Too cute. I think that's why they have flower girls, cuteness factor. I just stole this picture from Natalie's blog.

Adrian and I drove over to Karen's after having brunch with Cindy's family. I guess Adrian had arranged to have dinner there that night with Kevin and Natalie. Natalie needed a break, so Kevin came over and cooked dinner with Adrian. He is his mother's son and made enough for Kevin to take home and Karen and Peter to eat all week. And the mothers enjoyed watching their boys take charge. Fantastic.

Jeff's Family

No pictures. I'm devastated. We had such a good time with Jeff and Sandi and Bill and Nisi. We all went to lunch on Saturday to celebrate Jeff and Sandi's 39th wedding anniversary. The women had been out shopping and found the perfect dress for Sandi to wear at her daughter, Cathie's, wedding in May. So here's my excuse. I always hated that my mother made us pose for pictures constantly when we were growing up. Now I like looking at those pictures, but it always seemed to break to the flow of things. Even though I have my camera in my purse at all times, I forget to bring it out to snap little memories. Are the pictures in my head better than the ones I can put in my blog? Sometimes. But I sure wish I had thought to capture all those pictures that I missed.

Happy New Life, Mark and Trina!