Wedding Day

Here is Sam and Solanah getting ready to make the marriage official, signing the wedding license. Sam looks a little distracted, but he was very much ready to make sure all was official.

It was a wonderful wedding. It seemed really short for me, as a witness. I remember at my own wedding, time moves slower when you are the ones getting married. After this, Sam and Solanah danced a bit, then spent much of the rest of the time posing for the wedding pictures. Fortunately, as the Grandmother and Great Aunt, MaryLou and I didn't have to worry about much posing.

It was a beautiful setting for a wedding, at the old Fort Vancouver. There's lots of green grass, trees, and historical old buildings. There was even an old car ralley on the grounds and Sam and Solanah were able to get some pictures with an old car. I found a cool place to sit in the shade and just enjoyed the scenery. I could see the Columbia River in the distance and saw a sailboat or two. It was very nice. It was also hot, but nowhere near as hot as it has been lately. According to our local newspaper, Portland can expect to hit 106 degrees tomorrow. I sure hope not though. That kind of heat in that area is unthinkable!

The newlyweds went to San Fransisco for a few days. We had left before they got home, but it surely had to be cooler in SF than back home.

Sam and Solanah are embarking on their new lives together, a time full of joy, love and challenges. I wish them smooth sailing and much love and joy!

Vacation

We had a wonderful vacation! The picture is of Moltnomah Falls along the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon. The picture was actually taken 2 years ago. I have the recent pictures somewhere in my computer, but I forgot what I named the file. I guess I find them eventually. I t really seems strange to lose something in a little laptop, but if anyone can do it, I can.

We drove up by way of Wells and Jackpot Nevada. I took a wrong turn to US 30 west, thinking I was getting on I-84. As soon as the speed limit changed to 40 mph,I knew it wasn't an interstate. The road is a scenic highway called Thousand Springs road. We saw quite a bit we'd never seen before and it didn't add that much to the trip time, so it was worth it. Some of my most interesting trips have come from wrong turns.

We left at 5:20 AM mountain time and arrived at my Son's home around 7 PM pac time. We had printed out directions from google and only had to turn around once to find their new diggs. They have a very nice house.

My kids, notice how I claim them all, my Daughter-in-Law, is just like my own Daughter, so anyway, my kids have the most caring and generous friends. One couple brought over their trailer to park in front of the house and plug into the power, so we had our own home away from home. Another friend provided fresh flowers to make the trailer homey. These couples provided absolutely indispensible help and direction for the wedding rehearsal dinner, the ladies doing the decorating and much of the cooking, the men providing the grunt work of setting up and tearing down. They were phenominal!

The wedding was beautiful, espcially the Bride. The motif was the "50's".It was great! The Groom, the Father of the Groom,and the Brother of the Groom all wore colored sneakers with their suits with matching ties.Very stylish. If I ever find my pictures, I'll post them later.

Now,we're back home and I'm back to work. It's been very hot, but it's supposed to cool a little next week. On my first day back at work, my car died. I found out there's a security system that totally shuts off your electrical system if your battery gets below 9 volts. My key fob wouldn't even work, I had to use the key and when I tried to start the car, it beeped at me. Thank goodness for AAA. I've paid for it for years. some years I never use it, but when I need it, it's there and worth it. I got jumpered and got started. When I finally got home and parked, I turned off the car. I tried to start it again and couldn't. I planned on getting a jump the next morning and then going to get a battery. It actually started, but since I couldn't remember when I'd bought that battery, probably at least 3-4 years ago, I decided to buy a new one. I can't afford to commute so far to work with a car I can't trust. Other than that, we're surviving.

Vacation Time

Yesterday was my last working day for 11 days! Yeah! I need a vacation. Life in Retail has been a bit tense lately. I'm glad of the break. I'm really glad for the reason to vacation now. It gives me the reason to go on a trip rather than having a "staycation". Besides, a staycation doesn't get you out of your rut enough, you just end up being lazy, or worse, doing some home project.

We are going on a road trip to Vancouver, WA for my oldest Grandson's wedding. I might hate to admit that I'm old enough to have a Grandson getting married, but I'm so happy for him and his wonderful fiance, Solanah! Sam and Solanah seem like a wonderful pair. They seem to complement each other so well and are very obviously in love. They remind me, a bit, of my Son and his beautiful wife, Lisa, who are themselves still very much in love. Actually, My son and Daughter-in-Law are more than "in love". They are simply devoted to each other and best friends.

We are going to try driving up in one day. Usually, we spend one night in a hotel and will probably do that going home. We have to time our return to pick up our big, white, furry animal at the kennel on our way. We're trying a new route going up this time. We'll go by way of Nevada and pick up Interstate 84 from Twin Falls, ID. Hopefully we'll miss some traffic by avoiding SLC this time.

The last time I saw my Washington family was a sorrowful occaision. This time is a joyous time. I much prefer it this way.

Some Updates

I've had a little time to do some genaology this week. Ancestry.com has changed things a little so that it is easier to get around from person to person, so I've been doing a little clean-up on some of my lines. I don't think I've mentioned that we also have Greek ancestors who were in Constantinople, Turkey. We have some French and Norman forbears who did some take overs in Turkey.I guess it was around one of the Crusades. We are also related to some of the Greeks who were also playing take over in Turkey. One was named Andrinikos Dukas Kamateros. He was born in 1108, in Constantinople. His wife was Theodora Kalusine Komnera, born 1126, also in Constantinople.

We've even had some of our French and English forbears who died in Bethleham or Jeruselam, probably on Crusade. The thing that's surprising though, is that some of them took their wives along. We have one ancestor who's name I can't recall just now, proclaimed himself King of Jeruselem and actually ruled for awhile. Can't say our family didn't have nerve.

On the Welsh front, we have Llewelyn Ap Iorewerta who was born in 1173 in Aberfraw Castle in Cearnarvonshire Wales. Most of our Welsh forbears came through the Clark side. One of our Great Grandfather Jefferies married Emma Clark here in Utah,and there was born our Welsh lineage.

We are also related the "Alfred the Great". He was supposed to be one of the first great kings of England. He did have great statesman like skills and could handle men. However, there wasn't really an England, as such, then. It was in the ninth century and England consisted of London and the surrounding area, called Mercia. The northern part of the country below Scotland was called the Danelaw and consisted of, well Danes, who had decided to settle down and enjoy the spoils of viking. Wales was bigger and occupied the area east of Mercia. Still, Alfred managed to keep Mercia for his people and laid the foundation of the future England. I had read stories about that time period and felt pretty pleased to be related to Alfred.

On another note, we're looking forward to a wedding next week. We'll be loading up and heading for greener climes next Tuesday. Whee!!!!!