For family, for the record

Note for non-family who don’t know us: our father married twice, first to my mom, then again after their divorce. Two kids with Mom, me and my brother, and four from his second marriage, two boys and two girls. So I have a slew of half-relatives—siblings, nieces and nephews, and grand nieces and nephews. I’ve lost track of the latter—many of them I haven’t met.

The reason for the gathering was a reception for one of the nephews and his new wife. They got married in CA, where most of her relatives live, and his parents hosted the reception for them for his relatives here in Ellensburg yesterday. (As I have been telling everyone, most of my relatives on that side of my family seem to fear they will melt, or be attacked by ravening vampires, or something, as soon as they cross the border into CA. I mentioned this to my awning rescuer, hastening to add that I had worked in CA and retired from there, so am very grateful to CA. He then told me he had recently retired from San Francisco to move to WA, and was a hippie Deadhead. Hence his tie-dyed T-shirt, which I had been subliminally admiring.) Four of Dad’s kids—me and three of my half-sibs—were here.

Enough text. Most of the rest will be pictures, in three sections: before the main event, during the main event, and after it—i.e., this morning.

Before—the setup

Some people started very early. Bill began somewhere around 4 a.m. needless to say, this picture was taken a few hours later, after I was up and had tea and so on.

He used two small dutch ovens and two big ones, to make his famous beans, meat on the side. He also managed to fit in bacon and eggs for our breakfast somewhere in there.

Misty, keeping Bill company. Sort of.

The awning for the deck, about which there had been MUCH discussion, got put up.

Toddler was cared for. Here’s one of my grand-nieces and her new aunt by marriage.

(Angie: I took this picture because it reminded me of you and your climbing tendencies when you were a toddler. And before. You are clearly related to this one 😊)

Tables got set up.

That’s Bill’s wife taking a picture of me while I got one of her.

Helping with tables and chairs was my main contribution to the day, and even that was pretty minimal. But at least I did something.

Dance floor got set up . Of course, music was integral to this process.

That’s the uncle of the toddler, brother of the groom. He and the baby have a special thing going on.

Measuring and discussion ensued.

Floor got laid out.

All done! Note the lights. They added something to the ambiance, but only minimally, since the sun didn’t set until nine o’clock, and I don’t think much if any dancing was done after dark. Of course, I can’t be sure, because I had long since retired out of sight to my van.

The deck was prepped for a place to lay out the feast to come.

People began switching into their party duds. Things were pretty casual, but the work duds just wouldn’t do.

Here’s my sister with her (so far) only grandchild.

Yes, we did have a practically perfect day for it.

Here’s the baby’s father with her. He changed later, before the main event.

During: the main event

More relatives showed up. Here’s my other brother Mike (lots of Mikes in the family) and his wife, with Bill’s wife over on the right. I don’t see them very often, so it was especially nice visiting with them.

Sharon offered to get a picture of me with them, using my phone.

She did one where you can see my face, but I like this one better, partly because Debbie was laughing at me and Scamp.

Here’s the whole crew. Both brothers, their wives, and the guy on the right is (one of) the son(s) of Bill and Sharon (i.e., one of my nephews). Of all their kids, I knew him the least; we spent a lot of time talking before and during the event. He was delightful. If he enjoyed me half as much as I enjoyed him, I did well holding up my end of the conversation.

Here’s Bill, still cooking. Or as he prefers, being a stove. Stoves don’t have to think, they just do.

The groom (David), looking handsome in his vest, and his mom (Sue) over on the left.

Sue again, close up. No one can confirm that she sat down at any point during the entire day. I predict she will not like this picture, but I do.

Groom’s brothers, playing something or other on the front lawn, with a friend whom I do not know. Chris on the left, Mike on the right, for those who want to know. As I said, lots of Mikes in our family.

These two also hate their picture—they were facing into the sun—but honestly, I like it. they apparently sat with my other brother and his wife at the wedding in CA, and found him charming (which is not a word often applied to him, but he does have his moments), and Jo both charming and interesting. The family here seemed to have been very happy that E&J made it, possibly because so few of David’s family made the trek down for the wedding. Jo gets the credit for getting them there, so thanks, Jo, from everyone here.

Ok, I think the important (to me) players have all been introduced, so here are just some pictures.

Oops, I forgot Jerry, father of the groom, dancing with his wife.

Here they are both dancing with their grandchild.

Here’s the band that played after supper.

And a brief clip of their music. I still think “is you is or is you ain’t my baby” is a weird choice for a wedding celebration, let alone for the first selection, but there it is.

I tried, but the music was way too loud for me, so shortly afterwards, I retired to my van.

The morning after

I think this may be my favorite of the pictures I got of Bill. He was up at some ungodly hour (but usual for him—he has a weird sleep pattern) and started cleaning up his dutch ovens and grill.

Took him HOURS, and when he was finally finished he admitted he was tired.

Today was lots of cooking, eating, relaxation, and tearing things down to get them ready to be returned whence they came.

Ending with a shot taken through the back window of the van of nephews playing with knives.

Safely, I hasten to add.

Oops, I just showed them this picture, and apparently this is them checking out the handle of the axe David just broke. The playing with knives came later. That wood thingy is the back of the target they throw these things at.

No travel post is quite complete without a few critter pics. So here are some, mostly of cats.

Walk yesterday morning. There are two cats under there. Find the tails.

They followed me and Scamp down to the settin’ spot by the creek. Phantom:

I think I caught him just as he was chewing on some grass.

He liked it so much he stayed down there when Shadow, Scamp, and I returned to the van. Then he went down there on his own again today. Both times, I got concerned enough after several hours to go calling for him, and he emerged and let me grab him. He wasn’t thrilled about going, but I fed him when we got there to take his mind off it.

Here he is, responding to my calls this afternoon.

The creek., which is running high and strong.

And finally, Scamp.

Whew. Made it. Soon we’re off to church (they even let heathen like me in these days), where I will have the pleasure of hear both Sue and Jerry play.