This was the third wedding of a nephew in August for the Kenningtons.  There was a Kennington nephew wedding the first weekend of August, a Printz wedding the second weekend of August and our Kennington cousin’s wedding this weekend. My sister, Mary Beth is related to all of the weddings, mother of the groom for this weekend, aunt for the first and second. This was a wonderful weekend, so relaxing since I had no responsibilities except to be of service, and it felt like I was truly on vacation.

I was able to fly into Dulles airport and get picked up by Mary Beth. We spent the night at their house in Va and helped her husband, Richard, and son, Dave, pack up the car with all of the goodies for the drive to Virginia Beach the next day. On our drive down to the beach, we accidentally met up with our brother, Joe, his wife, Jane, and their family at a  Chick filet restaurant for a quick lunch. We stopped by the venue for the rehearsal dinner on our way to the Marriott hotel. Most of us had never been to Virginia Beach and really enjoyed seeing the ocean and the beach. Our brother Paul, his wife, Maggie, and daughter, Meredith, were already in Va Beach, staying with friends. We met for dinner at a very nice, casual seafood restaurant. It was quite festive and yummy. We returned to the hotel in a heavy rain, and had a 25th birthday cake for our niece, Jessie. Hurricane Dan was on his way and no one was sure how it would affect the wedding plans at this point, but plans for setting up the rehearsal dinner and picking up incoming guests continued. Several of us went up to Beth’s room to prepare the wedding guest welcome bags after a long day. We all slept well that night!

Friday, many of the family enjoyed the beach and or pool, walked down the boardwalk, etc. I went with Mary Beth, Richard and John, the groom, to pick up alcohol at Sam’s and to set up for the rehearsal dinner. When we got to the party venue, we set up tables, ironed tablecloths, decorated the tables with sand, shells, candles, etc, and set up the photo montage which was to play that night.

After getting back to the hotel, there wasn’t so much to do but relax and get ready for the rehearsal/party. Our sister, Mary Kay, my roommate, arrived on Friday afternoon, picked up at the airport by Joe and Jane, and our family contingent was complete. I got dropped off at the dinner venue to be there while the caterers set up, to meet the security guard, and greet early guests, while the Kennington family attended the rehearsal. One of the groomsman’s car got hit in the rear while waiting to turn into the church for the rehearsal. Fortunately, no one was hurt, although the car was totaled. That was a little excitement for the evening. But the rehearsal dinner was fabulous, the barbque was great, the photo montage was excellently prepared by the groom’s brother, Dave, and much enjoyed by everyone. A totally successful evening.

Saturday morning held a golf game for the guys. The hurricane stayed out to sea and didn’t threaten the wedding, besides some slight bands of rain, which did not fall on the golfers. The rest of the family enjoyed walks on the boardwalk, sitting out on the beach, and relaxing. Mary Beth and I rented beach chairs and an umbrella and sat in the shade and read until time to get ready for the wedding. See photo to prove I was outside on the beach! We then passed the beach chairs on to other family members who did not need as much prep time and didn’t need to get to the wedding early.

The wedding was wonderful, everyone looked beautiful, especially the family members. I loved Mary Beth’s dress, it was so beautiful and she just glowed. Everyone was so photogenic. This is the video montage of the wedding from Knox Studios by Laura’s dad.

The after wedding socialization took place in the lobby of the hotel. At sometime during the later evening, John’s cousins went out onto the beach and stamped a design in the sand in the dark. It could not be seen from our rooms which faced the Atlantic and the beach at night. But I got up early on Sunday, sat out on the patio of our room, read my book while I waited for the sun to rise. I took a series of photos, which included the beach zamboni grooming the sand and eventually obliterating the design. Anyone who was not an early riser would have missed the beautiful message of love from John’s talented cousins (Meredith, Jessie, Jenny, John D, Victoria. and brother Dave). I am pleased to post the photos here for the first time for everyone to enjoy.

We had an uneventful drive back to Fairfax after loading up Richard’s and John’s cars with gifts, clothes, and leftover wedding miscellaneous and hugging family members good-bye. After a relaxing evening remembering the lovely weekend, Mary Beth took me back to the airport for my flights home on Monday morning. It was a wonderful weekend, enjoying my family, being of service, yet with no responsibility. I thank Mary Beth and Richard for being wonderful hosts, Mary Kay for being a great roommate, and Jay for giving me the time to spend with my family guilt free.

We had a wonderful Father’s Day. It started at 7:30 am when we left the house to meet our friends, Tim and Marilyn, at the foot of our driveway. Tim works part time in the pawn shop and fishes with Jay, Marilyn is an Assistant Dean at Pueblo Community College Fremont Campus, where Jay taught last spring. Our first target was Salida CO for the annual FIBArk Whitewater Festival. We got to see the freestyle kayak finals, wandered through the park and vendors, then had lunch at the Boathouse Cantina restaurant, right on the Arkansas river, where we had seating at an open window, with a view of the river antics. Watching the dogs enjoy the water was especially entertaining. After delicious fish tacos, chips and salsa, we left lovely Salida and headed out for stop 2.

Our second target was Elevenmile Canyon, through which the South Platte River runs. This was where Jay, Tim, and Charlie fished last Thursday. The river was running briskly, the water was high and the banks were littered with fisherpersons of both sexes, campers and their families enjoying the brisk water, and plenty of dogs! We saw several groups of people with climbing gear, attempting to climb the vertical cliffs. Without fishing equipment, we took only pictures, and although the guys caught trout on Thursday, we did not see any of them for dinner, since this is a catch and release area primarily. We took a rough dirt forest service road out of the park, heading to Guffey, CO. This forest road was bumpy, lumpy, and rough, but not the worst we have been on. Thank goodness for high clearance in the Tahoe. On the way to our third stop, we visited Spinney  Mountain reservoir, which feeds the part of  South Platte River that runs through Elevenmile canyon. You can use fishing boats on this reservoir, and I think Jay was totally scoping out boat launches for his 16′ bass boat that is sitting in our garage.

Our next stop was Guffey CO, to have a snack on the way home. Guffey is a small rustic mountain town, which the guys visited on Thursday as well. The Guffey garage was open, but looked like no garage we had ever seen. It seemed like a museum, which in effect it was. It was very eclectic, with lots of animal skulls and skeletons around. Bill, the proprietor, owned all of the historic buildings in town and sent us on to explore the City Hall Saloon and Museum on our own, giving Marilyn the key since she seemed reliable! LOL, which she is. Along side the closed antique store were a row of claw foot bathtubs. Marilyn insisted that we take a picture in the tubs, apparently not a unique idea in this town. Bill invited us to come to his 25th Annual Fourth of July Chicken Fly.  At first I thought this might be like a pumpkin chunk-in, but it isn’t. Apparently chickens like to fly, so they take them up a short tower, and release them somehow to see how far they can fly. The record was 138 feet, if memory serves. Bill says he has about 150 chickens on his property available to rent for the chicken fly or you can bring your won chicken. There will also be an antique car show, 3 bands, food, etc. We all agreed that this would be our 4th of July activity this year. One of the more bizarre displays Bill had in the yard, was a prison wagon, driven by a pretend human skeleton, pulled by the actual real skeletons of two horses. I asked Bill if he knew the horses and he gave us their names, and offered that they had been shot, but no further details. He said he had two more horse skeletons to put together, but the animals kept dragging the bones away and he didn’t think he had enough to put them together anymore. The local bar was quaint and cool, and fun. We all shared an appetizer plate of nachos, with a beverage of choice, before heading home to Westcliffe. We look forward to additional visits to Guffey CO, especially on the 4th of July this year. Guffey may become one of the regular tourist stops for our guests, it was that unique.

Father’s Day calls from the kids topped off the day, they found us in various and sundry places throughout the day, sending their good wishes for a nice Father’s Day to Jay.

Ok, this post was timely (kind of), watch for another post from 2009 coming soon.

More old stories never published, but which should have been:

We had a great time at Matt and Molly’s wedding. Everything went off smoothly and it was a lot of fun. We love Molly and we have known her and her parents for years. It is so nice to have in-laws that you already know and can be comfortable with right away.

It was great to meet Molly’s extended family and for her family to meet ours, including Jen’s parents, Rikki and Jerry who came from San Francisco to join us. On Saturday morning we scheduled a 2 hour driving tour of Austin, which included a stop at Mayfield Park, the wedding site. The bus was exclusively family, Molly’s and Matt’s. So the aunts and uncles got to meet each other socially in a relaxed setting before the wedding and the Welcome to Austin dinner party that evening. I even agreed to wear a Birthday Hat in honor of my birthday for the whole tour and while walking to the restaurant for lunch afterwards. People driving down the street would honk at me and those walking, smiled and waived.

Our Welcome to Austin event was a Tex Mex buffet at the Iron Cactus Restaurant in downtown Austin on 6^th street, within walking distance to the hotel. Everything went very well, the food was great and plentiful. We even had enough leftovers for dinner the next night. We had name tags with a picture of either a groom or a bride, so we could identify how the family and friends were connected to Matt and to Molly. Everyone seemed to have a good time. Some guests left early to try to catch the nightly flight of the bats under the bridge adjacent to the wedding hotel. Apparently my siblings had ordered a birthday cake for my brother Paul and me, our birthdays are 3 days apart. But I never got the message and headed back to our lodgings after the party. But they bravely carried on without me, wishing me happy birthday in absentia.

Austin is a great city, I appreciate it more each time that I visit. M&M had selected Mayfield Park for the outdoor ceremony at 10:30 am on Sunday. It is a beautiful park with lush foliage and many peacocks wandering around. The Rabbi was great, the weddin itself was short, and the ceremony very moving. Molly and Matt have 4 siblings in total, just enough to hold the 4 corners of the chuppah. The reception was indoors at a synagogue about 3 miles away. Molly and her mom, Cathy, did a great job of organizing the reception. There were vegan and kosher options on the brunch buffet catered by Whole Foods Market, something for everyone. It was nice to be indoors away from the August heat. Even though the wedding was early in the day, the outdoor setting was a tad warm and everyone was glad to get inside where they could take off their suit coats. Matt and Molly bravely smiled through the familial toasts, numerous photographers’ efforts, including the professional photographer. Matt and Molly left for their honeymoon night at the famous Driscoll Hotel, and their parents saw the wedding guests off on their way safely home.

Sunday night those of us left in town met down at the hotel to catch the bats nightly swarm from under the bridge. We missed the beginning of the flight, but there are so many bats, that we still had time to see many streams of bats leaving for their search for flying insects. We had a great time in Austin and look forward to many future visits to see our two Printz families now living there.

I received a lovely email from my sister-in-law, Maggie, about her family’s Memorial Day traditions and stories of her family’s military service. I learned so much and I felt it was worth publishing here. After all, Maggie’s family is our family too, in a related sort of way. Maggie agreed to let me share her story. Thank you, Maggie. Enjoy!

Dear Barb,

So glad you enjoyed the day. Memorial Day was always a big deal in my house growing up. Both my parents had served in WWII.

My dad was active duty prior to the war and was, in fact, stationed in Pearl Harbor when it was bombed. He was getting ready to be discharged; his enlistment was up but instead spent the next 4 years fighting battles in the South Pacific. He had three ships sunk while he was serving, one of which when he was the commander. He received the Bronze Star as a result of his actions that day. His first Commanding Officer after Pearl had been stationed in the Phillipines.  The CO’s wife remained there and was eventually taken prisoner of war for the duration of the war. The war profoundly affected my dad.

Every year he took us to the Memorial Day program where he was always asked to sing the opening Star Spangled Banner. Then we would march in the parade carrying flowers mom had cut from our garden. (usually purple irises). Dad would meet us at the cemetery and show me the graves of his friends where we would put the flowers. It was always very emotional. After he died I was always a little sad on that day hoping some little girl was putting flowers on his grave.

Mom joined the WAC after Pearl Harbor and was in the first group of women in the country to become officers in the WAC. Her stories were much different but she reached the rank of Major and by the end of the war was serving at the Pentagon. Later after my brother, Bill, was born, she was selected by the Governor of the State of Connecticut to serve, as the first woman in the state on the Governor’s Board and as part of his Honor Guard. At the parade on Memorial Day the American Legion Auxiliary always marched. As a little girl I asked my mom why she did not join. She just smiled and told me she did not qualify. When she died she was honored by the Orange, CT  American Legion Post as a member of the American Legion. Bill told me that was why she did not “qualify” for the Legion Auxiliary. She couldn’t march with my dad as part of the Legion because in the 50’s, the women were not invited to march with the men. I think not marching with the Auxiliary was her own quiet protest.

Then Bill joined the Marines during Viet Nam. He served as a Marine Recon officer. They were the guys they dropped out of a helicopter in the jungle and came back 3 weeks later to pick up whoever was left. He experienced a lot of pretty awful things. His life was also profoundly impacted by his experiences. Every year he takes his family to the Veteran’s Day Parade and the Memorial Day Celebrations in Denver. He attends annual reunions with his unit and has made a video of his photographs to the music of the 1960s. Someday if you visit I will show it to you. Watching it is an experience. The guys in the pictures look sooo young.

So, I guess you see why it was so important to Becky to be able serve. When my mom lived with us, Becky would sit and listen to her stories.

At one point during WWII, my grandparents were told my father’s ship had sunk and he had died. They had a Gold Star in their window. A few weeks went by and the dust settled. As soon as my father had the chance, he called them and told them a handful of men had survived and had been rescued. My grandparents changed the colored star in their window back to blue. They said it was the happiest day of their lives.

Enough rambling, glad you enjoyed the day. It means a lot.

Maggie

Any wonder that Maggie married a Navy officer, my brother, Paul?

Note to Matt: I just started reading Cryptonomicon after many years of encouragement from you. Interesting that it is partly set in WWII in the Pacific Ocean theater. Coincidence…. ? there is no such things as coincidence.

Memorial Day 2010. I have attended every Memorial Day service in Westcliffe since we moved here, which makes 3 times. I am embarrassed to say that I did not give Memorial Day adequate attention in my pre-Colorado life. This is such a close knit community, many veterans are my friends, and the town has parades and activities on the Saturday before Memorial Day, it has become a meaningful day to me. Additionally, my dad died in early August 2007, the first year we were here. I think that first attendance was in honor of him, as much as anything.

This year was meaningful because my nephew, Jeff, has been serving in Afghanistan this past year and will be returning to Fort Lewis, WA in a few weeks. I thought of him alot. The day was gorgeous, blue skies, light clouds, snow dusted mountains as a back drop. I forgot the sun screen that I reminded myself to use as I was dressing, so I got a little too much sun on my neck and arms, but it was worth it.

I was particularly moved by two of the speakers. The representative of the American Legion Auxiliary is a mother of a young Marine, currently serving in Iraq a “blue star” mom. She talked about how the American Legion Auxiliary Red Poppy got its name, and about her concerns for and her pride in her son. She has a young dog that she takes to visit wounded veterans for therapy, schools, and other programs to talk about not forgetting our veterans. She is collecting donations for our soldiers and sending boxes to Iraq and Afghanistan each month. She made a comment that I thought I would remember so I could post it here, but I didn’t, so I can’t, but take my word for it, I liked it and it brought a tear to my eye. Should have brought a notebook!

The second speaker was Dave Roever. He is a wounded veteran of the Viet Nam war and has created Eagles Summit Ranch here in the beautiful Westcliffe valley. He has been bringing wounded soldiers to his ranch for healing and therapy for three years. I have not been to one of their graduation ceremonies,  but I understand it is an amazing experience as the soldiers talk about their journey and what this experience meant to them. Dave is a minister, motivational speaker, and a genuine mover and shaker in the efforts to help our returning soldiers. I understand that a Texas ranch is in the works as well. Here is an article from Fort Carson about this program.  I had heard a lot about Dave from my friends, and it was great to hear him in person.

It was also special to have soldiers from a Fort Carson Medical Unit, recently returned from a tour of duty in the middle east on hand. They had set up one of their portable medical units for people to tour and learn about their jobs. They got a standing ovation when introduced. There was also a mounted Honor Guard, there is probably a name for this, but I don’t know it. There were 2 soldiers with swords on either side of soldiers carrying the American and Colorado state flags. The four horses to my eyes, were perfectly matched in color and size and were well trained. The soldiers were dressed in what looked like historic cavalry officers uniforms. They were a very nice addition to the program. And finally, we had a fly over by two jets from the Colorado National Guard. Last year the weather was too overcast and the fly over had to be canceled.

I wonder at these events, if I could qualify as a member of the American Legion Auxilliary because I have a neice and nephew currently serving in the Coast Guard and Army, respectively, or as the daughter of a veteran of WWII? Maybe one of these days, I will ask. There were quite a few families / individuals who stood when prompted as “Blue Star Families”, and unfortunately, there was one lady who stood at the prompt for “Gold Star Families”, which meant a family member had died in service to their country during a war or military action. The original “Blue, Silver or Gold Stars” displayeed in the window of a family’s home started in 1917 during WWI.  There is now a revived movement for Blue Star Families, using all of cybertechnology to enhance support for the families and their soldiers.

In conclusion, I would like to honor our family members who have or are currently serving in our military: Army, Navy, Coast Guard.   William Barber – WWI, OP Doyle Sr, Andy O’Connell, Marty O’Connell, WWII, OP Doyle Jr, Mike Means, Spc. Jeffrey Doyle, Lt. Rebecca Doyle. I thank you for your service.

I only have one picture from the Memorial Day Program presented by our American Legion Post 170. It shows the mounted Honor Guard, the riderless or caparisoned horse – honoring a fallen leader, and a few of our American Legion motorcycle Honor Guard, and of course, the mountains.