Home again, home again…..

We arrived home at midnight last night. Oh, and of course I had to get up and go to work this morning. Yawn…..Yawn….Yawn…. I’m just a little tired.
I am still laughing about the white thongs and the wedding dress! Plus, the fact that the Justice of the Peace was confused over who was the bride and groom cracked us up. The Chinese buffet was great, and afterwards we went home and relaxed. We had a pizza party and watched movies for dinner. Not the traditional wedding reception, but we didn’t mind.
The next day, the 28th, was Bryan’s birthday. After sleeping in, we goofed around for a while. Then Dan and I went shopping. I got prezzies for the boys… yes, all three. Talon and Gavin got these little dragons. Bryan got more ammo for his Nerf guns. We also grabbed lunch.
Then, Bryan, Katie, the grandbabies and Morgan went to Hebber Lake. They went swimming. Dan and I went with Stefan, Anabell, and some of his friends out to a ranch where he goes hiking. We had a jeep drive and then took a hike. Yes, I took lots of pictures. 🙂
When we got home, we had barbecue. Pork, chicken, eggplant, squash and corn. Yummm… Then we had cake and ice cream. Oh, and lots of beer and other alcohol. Movies were watched and Stefan, Anabell and I went off to a coffee house to meet with some of his friends. It was a nice end to the evening. Funny bit was all of his friends reacting to the ‘oh my god! His mom is Just like He Said she was!!!!’
By the time I got home, Morgan was asleep, and Dan and Bryan were silly drunk. It was so funny. Funny bit was Bry and Dan wrestling. They were about matched.
Next morning, I woke up with a migraine. Dan woke up with a hangover. Tons of aspirin later, we left by 7:30am. Of course we forgot things which Bryan has promised to mail. Sigh…. my teacup… Oh well. The drive was interesting. Trying to deal with a headache in a car is not good, but I survived. It was HOT! I was so glad when the sun went down.
Oklahoma was Still under construction. So were parts of New Mexico. Most of Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico roll up the sidewalks on Sundays. We had a heck of a time trying to find food that wasn’t fast food. Oh well.
Over all, the trip was great. It was lovely to see everyone. However, Arkansas in August is like crawling into a wet hot dryer. Uggghh….. Next time I will go in December, like I did last time.

Arkansas and wedding bells

Yesterday was one long drive. Oklahoma and I 40 except for OKC, were one long cone zone. Road construction mess. It took us 18 hours instead of 13. Gods were our asses flat!

We arrived at midnight, and everyone woke up. Gavin and Talon weren’t too sure about us, but it was very late. After way too little sleep, we woke to giggles in the hall staring at Nana and Granpa sleeping in the living room.

We got up, showered, ate doughnuts and drank coffee. Then everyone got ready for the wedding. We headed down to the city hall. As we waited in the county office to get the paperwork, another bride and groom came in. I about died…

The bride wore a white strapless minidress. A really cheap prom dress style. That wasn’t so bad. However, the formal White Dress Flipflops got me.

The groom wore a plaid shirt 3 sized too large, South Pole jeans down around his hips and his hair was in a spiked mohawk. All I could hear in my head was “White Trash Wedding” by the Dixie Chics.

The Justice of the Peace was cute. We all walked into his office, and he wasn’t sure who was there to get married… Bryan and Katie, or Dan and I. We were all dressed nicely, and you could see the confusion on his face. Five minutes later, Bryan and Katie were married. I took lots of pics and will post them soon.

After the wedding, we went to the New China Buffet in Searcy. Yum!!! We’ve been relaxing this afternoon, as none of us have too many braincells. Far too sleepy. Katie and Morgan went off to get pizza for dinner. Dan, Bryan and Stefan went off earlier for beer.

Tomorrow is still up in the air. Something about jeeps, shooting and beer. LOL…

And the Brides wore Red and Black!!!

This event deserved it’s own post.

A friend of mine named Jessie and her significant other Tiffany got married today. I’ve known Jessie for years, and she fell head over heels for Tiffany a few years ago. They decided to hell with the rest of the world and have a pagan handfasting.

So, the wedding was today in Gardner. We were suppose to be there by 4pm, when the wedding/handfasting was suppose to start. However, you have to understand that Gardner runs on something called Gardner time. Sort of like Pagan time. John, Beth and I got there at 3:55pm. Everyone was running around like stoned chickens. 🙂 This was a B.Y.O.B. party. Now, I am not sure whether that was bring your own bottle or bong.  Some of the people there were spliffy enough to give you a contact high just saying hello. 🙂 It was interesting in that I knew more people than either John or Beth. Sort of fun to play the social butterfly. Ginny was there with Nadia, so I got to play with my granddaughter. An hour later, the handfasting started.

Jessie wore a red gothy dress complete with hoop skirt and black lace at the bottom. Black tennies with sparkly red laces. B&W tights with skulls on them. Her hair was bright burgandy and spiky. Very nice. Tiffany had most of her head shaved except for a thin mohawk straight down the center, also dyed red. She had on red “bondage pants.” The kind that have buckles, straps and chains all over them and the legs are about 2ft wide. Her shirt was black and the tie was red. Over it all, she had this fantastic frock coat. Also covered in buckles and chains to immitate lace. The tails were a good 3ft longer than she was tall. Really cool that the “groom” had the train and not the bride.

The priestess used a standard Wiccan ritual. She wrapped their hands in various colored cords and then pronounced them handfasted. Very sweet and you could tell that Jessie and Tiffany were over the moon. This was followed by lots of food and a cake. The decoration on top of the cake was a gate in the tradition of the Adamms Family. Complete with bats on top. Black and red roses, etc. Very goth. Very J&T.  They had the first dance complete with everyone at the party and then we had to head home as it had started to snow.

What a change from Monica and George’s wedding in the Catholic church a year ago. We certainly wouldn’t have had to explain any of this to Morgan had she been with us! Nice to wear the pentacles out too. Nadia had lots of fun playing with mine. In and out of my shirt, giggling away. She’s only 18 months old.

Home by 7pm. I came over to 520 to check on the dogs and Dan was already in bed. He had been up all night. So, I’ll find out how his job interview went tomorrow.

Two Ceilidhs, a funeral and a wedding.

The Celtic Festival was magnificent! The music, the people, the fun! Oh gods it was a blast. It was also a lot of hard work. Most days were spent working lights and for me, running up and down the stairs at the Fox theater. Dan worked with David Enke to provide co-ordinated lights and sound.

I’d be hard pressed to say who I liked the best. It was just so amazing. Friday’s concert was light in attendance, but we blame it on the presidential debates. The best part was where Jack Yule was cracking jokes. He is normally so dower in demeanor that you really do a double take when he makes a joke. The concert was intitled “From Tango to Jig”That night we listened to Alfredo Ortiz, Kevin McElroy, Jerry O’Sullivan and Aine Minogue.

On Saturday, I was up early to go out to La Veta and help at the mining museum where Joe Lang and my dad, Jon Sudar were talking about coal mining.

Joe Lang at Gardner School
Joe Lang at Gardner School

I no sooner got back from La Veta then it was time to get ready for Carl Holzhauer’s memorial service. It was at the Baptist church my great grandma, Nanny went to. I remember going there with her as a child. Remembered getting in trouble too, for playing on the little organ’s foot pedals. The service was really very nice. However,  I do wish they had sung the hymns in something other than the key of off! After being around such beautiful music all week, it really stood out.

We went home, changed clothes and headed back for the concert. By this time, I had gotten us each a tee-shirt. Saturday was really packed. The concert was “An Irish Hooley at the Fox”. This time the artists were Liz Carroll, Shannon and Matt Heaton, Jerry O’Sullivan. Kieran Jordan performed Sean-Nos Irish step dancing while Shannon and Matt played.

Liz, Shannon, Matt and Kieran
Liz, Shannon, Matt and Kieran
Jerry and Liz cooling off a foot... each
Jerry and Liz cooling off a foot... each

Sunday, I was up early again and out to La Veta. We were at the Methodist church this time talking about… yeah, you guessed it,…. Coal! Dad was there again as well. Joe Lang gave a slideshow on the Roselyn Chapel where he is a docent. Lovely pics, but we ran out of time. I literally raced to the Fox Theater, as the concert was due to begin at 2:30pm. I had just enough time to learn where to aim the spotlights and the concert started. This was the “Coal Mining’s Heyday”.  It started off with some of our local talent singing. (Oris, Bob, Gary and George)

16 tons, wada ya get.... deeper bass voices...
16 tons, wada ya get.... deeper bass voices...

Then Ed Miller, Jennie McAvoy, Patsy Seddon, Alison Bell, Kim McKee, Ken Willson, Anne Enke, Frank Manning, Heather Yule, some of the Ceilidh Peppers performed.

Calum and some of the crew
Calum and some of the crew
Girls Night Out, Alison, Anne and Kim
Girls Night Out, Alison, Anne and Kim

Lots of songs and poems about coal mining. Joe Lang read one of his poems. It was a really good time. At the end, the audience was promised a special and unique encore.

After the houselights went up, we had a wedding!!! Kim McKee and Ken Wilson got married on stage. They had been together for years, and decided it was about time they married. Kim’s daughters were her maids of honor. The Celidh Peppers were Ken’s Band of Honor. :>

Ken and Kim getting married
Ken and Kim getting married

It was sweet, wonderful, tearful and funny all in one big lump. At one point, I got the giggles… why? Well, my mind played a weird association… Four weddings and a funeral is one of my favourite movies. Meanwhile in real life, I had just had two ceilidhs, a funeral and a wedding!

After the wedding, we packed up all the sound equipment and moved to the Blue Rooster in La Veta. There we ate, listened to the Ceilidh Peppers, and a lot of the other artists until nearly 11pm. Dan worked sound for those playing. It was awesome! Got home at midnight.

The Ceilidh Peppers at the Blue Rooster
The Ceilidh Peppers at the Blue Rooster

It was a long week full of hard work, but oh so worth it. Lots of new friends, work experience and plenty of good music.

Masses and Weddings and toasts! Oh My! (irreverant humor warning!)

    Yesterday was interesting. John’s boss Monica got married. It was a Catholic marriage with the whole nuptial mass. Oh, and you have to add in that all of us, (John, Dan, Beth, little Morgan and I) are PAGAN! So, it was going to be interesting no matter what.

Did I mention that Monica is in her 50’s and George the groom in his 60’s? Or that Dan still smells like his underhouse guest, the skunk?

I got up and started running around trying to get ready about 8am. At 10am, I came over to 520 in order to trim up Dan’s beard. He was in the midst of writing the tech savvy article for the Huerfano Journal, so I didn’t get that done until nearly 11:30am. I got back to the house at noon, dived into the shower and then struggled to get tights over damp legs and to dry my sweater which hadn’t. I wore my new brown skirt, green and brown tweedy sweater and my lovely English black hat. I even left the pin with the witch on a broomstick on it! I wore my pentacle and amber too! Yes, I was being a brat. However, I’m the only one who has been in that church out of all of us. Been there for lots of funerals and a few weddings.

The wedding was at 1pm, and it was nearly 12:45pm before we started out the door. It was snowing too!

We got to St. Mary’s Church in decent time. Sat in the back and hoped that Dan didn’t offend everyone in sight/smell. Beth had little Morgan sitting next to her in hopes of explaining all the odd bits of catholicism. I was sitting between John who was trying to be solemn and respectful and Dan who was switching from giggling to rapt curiosity.    Of course there were all sorts of people in there I hadn’t seen forever, and had to catch them up in 30 seconds or less on everything that has happened since I saw them last.

Things got started and that is when hilarity began to ensue. First off was the catholic aerobics… the whole up and down bit. I have always joked it was to keep people awake.  Little Morgan began to give the adults the “What???” look. Then there was the priest. He is from Africa. English was not his first language, and he had a very heavy accent.  This of course sent both Dan and John atwitter. I leaned over towards Dan and he whispered that all he could hear was Peter Cook from the Princess Bride saying “Mar-wage”. Snicker…. Then I leaned towards John… and he said all he could think of was Rowan Atkins in Four Weddings and a Funeral saying: “The Father, the Son and the Holy Spigot”. I had to bite my lip not to laugh.  The priest’s diction and pronunciation had us giggling all through the mass.

Trying to behave, I went back to looking around the church when we weren’t bobbing up and down in our seats.  (every time we did, Dan wafted skunk) St. Mary’s is a Very Marionite Church. The arch inside the church over the main altar is very Yonic. And it doesn’t help that at the very top of the arch there is an ornamental carved piece of wood in the shape of an acorn or ball. And yes, it is in exactly the right spot to be a clit. There is also a fringed dome behind the arch… very womb-ish. All I could think was that if you superimposed a picture of the female anatomy over the altar, it would match! Dan noticed this as well.  The church is also odd in that it’s main door faces North. In church doctrine, that is the “witches door”, or the door that all of those out of favour are suppose to enter when they come to church.  As this is an old church, it isn’t like they couldn’t have put the door facing east. However, there is a very heavy Converso element in the Spanish Catholics that was here when the church was founded. All of those Conversos would have come through the North door… (conversos… jewish converts to catholicism to avoid the inquisition) So, all of us Pagans came in the right door!

The mass itself was typical. Lots of bits about how god created marriage because a man should not be alone, that a good marriage is supported by going to church on Sunday, etc. The only part they really left out was the whole ‘fruitful’ bit. Considering the age of the wedding couple, it was a good thing! It also reminded me just how far from a Christian mindset I am. That whole “obey” and “until Death do you part” just doesn’t work for me. Never did.

There was a soloist who was very nice. Good thing I knew enough Spanish to know what he was singing. He sang at the reception too. Folkloric guitar and NO MIC NEEDED . Oh gods he had volume. But back to the wedding…

When they got to the actual vows, George was being a bit of a cut up. I was so proud of him. He normally isn’t a solemn guy, and to sit that long must have been a trial. They did the ring thing and then it was time for the sharing of the body of Christ.  The priest brought out the host and I started giggling. It was a plate sized disk, and all I could think of was “Oh my gods! It’s the Holy Tortilla!” It didn’t help when he broke it up in wedges and Dan leaned over to whisper, “look! it’s a holy quesadilla!” I just shook with laughter.  They actually did use the big disk broken into pieces for everyone. Norma Lou, one of the older ladies who is on the library board was helping with the cup part of things and when everyone is done, she drank the last of it. This of course prompted comments about her real reasons to help out, etc. Dan and I were also making snarky remarks about cups of sharing and cakes and ale etc. We were being very quiet, but John started glaring at us because we weren’t being “respectful enough”. When it came to the Peace unto Others fellowship bit, we stood, and shook hands with those around us. That’s when I realized that not only were we the “pagan” section, but the whole two rows behind us were too! All of our pagan/alternative faith friends were together. Dan apologized for his ‘scent’, and one guy laughed as he thought he had smelled skunk, but wasn’t sure.

After the wedding, we went to Alys’ Cafe for the reception. Daniel was working there and I got lots of hugs from my friends who work there.  I got lots of compliments on my hat. :> There was heavenly food. Shrimp, caviar, barbecue chicken on skewers, hummus, fresh fruit, chocolate and carrot cake, and lovely wines, beer, etc. Alys makes everything from scratch. Yummmm…… (and that is why I loved working there!)

Once again, I had to catch up everyone I hadn’t seen in a while on life in our family. I also got stuck talking to an “art broker”. Strange lady! Ah well…. We ate tons, visited and then went to say goodbye to Monica and George. George noticed the witch pin on my hat and asked what that was… I said it was a witch on a broom, and he looked at me a bit strange. (no, he doesn’t know I’m pagan!) I said it was on my hat and I hadn’t taken it of. He sort of smiled and then I said that “at least I didn’t go up in flames when I went into the church” with a smile and he laughed. John about choked. I waited until we were outside to laugh!

After the wedding, I went out to see Damon and Pauline. I visited with them for about 2 hours and then headed home and to bed! What a day!