Latest trip was to San Francisco for a wedding. (Returning to Sacramento in August, so I'm sure there will be more delights yet to come.) It was an unexpectedly nice trip. As someone who is pretty firmly of the conviction that cities are the zits on the face of the planet, I was prepared to dislike San Fran.
We didn't see much of the city due to time constraints and the making of a surprise friend (not pictured) who asked us to breakfast at her restaurant. We met via Tcho, where she works as a cashier (being independently wealthy, she wanted to keep roots in work) part-time. She advised us against visiting Fisherman's Wharf and other spots and instead directed us to Coit Tower by way of Filbert Gardens.
We returned to say thanks (and take a tour of the chocolate-making facility) and received an invite to her French Bistro—one of some repute and excellent food. This kept us pretty busy the day of the wedding (which started at 3—plenty of time for a morning brunch) and so we didn't get out to see much of the city as a result.
The weather was cool in San Fran (highs in the low 60s—a veritable heaven compared to the heat-index-adjusted 122 degrees last Friday) but heated up as we went south to Menlo Park. The ceremony was nice, although throughout I was reminded again why I don't like attending weddings of non-believers. (It stood in such contrast to last week's wedding, which was less ornate, not as produced, and yet moved me significantly more.) The pictures are rather more tarnished and harder to appreciate.
It was good, though, to make new acquaintances with some of L's college friends and meet up with some possibly like-minded people—the sort of thing I think I've been trying to do for most of my life. A fellow Tolkien / Lewis (and, it must be said, Potter) fan was there, and he lives a comparatively short stretch south in DC. I chatted up the photographer, who was using a lens E was hoping to get and really loved it. He had lately quit a newspaper job due to the stress and had rediscovered his craft and interest in pictures during the off-season (i.e., when he wasn't shooting weddings).
We also took in the last Potter movie, which was darker than the first one (the only other I've seen). It really wasn't too bad, though again I find that the pictures of the afterlife that Hollywood offers are rather insubstantial.
The week following the SF trip was another wedding for B&A, who are well-matched and will, I pray, enjoy many many years together. They're honeymooning in Jersey (of course?). He joked they were going to Camden. His deadpan is approaching epic proportions (nearly as good as mine), so he got quite a lot of Why are you going there? questions. Quite fabulous.
I charted out the weekends from 31 May to 27 August and found that basically every single one was taken except the 13th and possibly 27th. The weekend of the 13th was sort-of taken by a trip to see Clarkson on the 14th after church, and cousins A&G are possibly coming in at the end of the month (though more likely September).
Needless to say, I didn't do any exterior improvements on the house this year despite my intention to put in a patio and do some landscaping. It's been very busy. Even now, I'm stealing some moments at work to write this, and I certainly need to get back to it—but wanted to share a few things.
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