Thanksgiving and a Wedding

Well, another Thanksgiving has come and gone.  This is has become my favorite holiday as the years have gone by.  Good food and good company.  Each year it seems there are both constants and variables in each.  This year Livia and Darren who have become friends of Sarah and Keith through an exchange program of sorts at Cornell.  They are from China.  Livia is an MBA student and Darren, her husband, driver, cook and chief bottle washer as the saying goes.  This was their first Thanksgiving and they cooked a terrific steak/spinach stir-fry. 

We also had some significant help in the kitchen from Zhora as you can see in the photos below.

 

 

 

New apron made with love by G'ma Karen.

 

Makin' some celery boats! 

The mess hall!

 



 

 

 

Denise and her ladies.

 

Just a sliver more, with help from four-legged friends.

 

 

Nice smile......

 

and another.

 

 

On Saturday we had another gathering at Veneta's house with a surprise event mixed in.

 

 



 

G'ma & G'pa doing their thing.

 

Darren doing his thing...........very well, by the way.

 



Three generations.

 



 

SURPRISE!!!

One very happy guy.

 





 

Two very happy ladies.

 

Mr. & Mrs. Bassington

 



Party royalty!

 



 

The party's over, it's time to call it a day...........

The newest Mr. and Mrs. Harrington, or Cory & Laura git hitched

 

The flowers were beautiful...

 

 

 

The stained glass was "cool"!

 

 

 

The Bride and Groom were ready...I think...

 

I love the first dance!

 

Dinner was great :-)

 

There were LOTS of attendants, but

 

these were my two favorites!

 

Grandpa didn't dance, but I know he wanted to, and

no, they didn't take home any of the special beer brewed and

gifted by Cory.

(They did take the cool glasses through.)

 

Andy and Gayle didn't dance either, but they had

a good time and enjoyed the food and music.

 

Mom and Vaneta were able to visit during dinner...

afterwards, not so much.  (The music was great though!) 

Grandma didn't dance, but Vaneta did!

 

Perhaps the biggest wedding cake I have ever seen!

It was really, really good!

 

We got to see Jill briefly and are looking forward to a little

more visit time before she returns home.  She has school

work to do... go figure!  

 

The parents of the groom, looking a little shell shocked.

I think it was just their dress shoes...

 

ahhh - also my favorite dance...can you have 2 favorite dances?

 

G'ma Harrington and her boys - all lookin' mighty fine!

 

The venue is called Windows on the River and it is

in the old Power Station.  It was really lovely.

 

A blurry shot of "The Term" looking festive.

...and a couple more lovely, wintery

 

shots of the river and lights out the big windows.

 

 

Congratulations to Cory and Laura!

May your journey together be blessed with

love, laughter, meaningful experience, and

family and friends with whom to share

both the good times and the difficult ones, as well.

Love, Aunt Karen and Uncle Pat 

 

Mostly Shades of Red

While walking about the yard a few weeks back, I noticed how dominating the color red was in our landscape. Perhaps it was a precursor to last weeks election results.  As you know, Ohio is a red state:-(  As we are supposed to dip into the 30's during the daytime for the next 10 days, I thought these might help to keep my warm feeling.

 

 

Viburnum berries

 

Cutleaf Japanese Maple

 

 

Hydrangea

 

 

Snapdragons

 

 
Hydrangea

 

Cutleaf Japanese Maple

 

 
Pink Dogwood

 

Flowering Crab

 

 

Ruby Sedum 

 

This one and the next two are obviously contrary to the theme, however I couldn't leave them out.  These are Toad Lilies.

This is a paper wasp (Hornet?) nest in one of the street trees on Grant St.  It's approx. 2' tall x 1' in diameter.

 

 Anemone from the garden.

 

One last shot of red.  This is a traditional Japanese Maple.