I Always Manage To Find A Kitty

I flew out on Saturday (yesterday), got picked up at the other end by my Auntie, and was whisked away to a wedding already in progress that she had missed in order to pick me up (is that love or what?).

Since it was a family friend's wedding and wedding reception, Auntie felt it was perfectly fine for the two of us to drop by on the way back from the airport and let me "crash" the reception. I've never done that before. It was an interesting experience to be formally introduced to everyone by Auntie but really have no connection to anyone at the reception.

We ate a delicious catered meal of good ole' barbecue and then everyone just sat around casually chatting in the outdoor garden setting or dancing on the small dance floor set in the grass. As soon as it was appropriate, I stole away to retrieve my camera from the car so I could take photos.

On the way to the car, I passed by a little red house that matched the main red house belonging to a friend of the bride. Wouldn't you know it? It was a kitty house with kitty snoozing in residence! (see photo at left) I always make it a goal to have at least one kitty encounter a day on my trips, and I was already fulfilling my quota only about an hour or two after having touched down. Is that great or what?!?! So the first photo I took yesterday was of this adorable little tabby. He woke up briefly at the sound of my shutter. I said, "Hi Kitty!" in my kitty-whisperer-falsetto, and then he just went back to sleep. So adorable!

The rest of the photos are some of my favorites that were all taken at the wedding reception I wasn't invited to (it's so weird to even type that right now). The photo at the left is of the gorgeous sky as the sun started going down. If you look at it large you can see a jet coming in for a landing probably along the same flight path I had just been on not two hours before this photo was taken.

I'm uploading and typing all this from Auntie's laptop (thank you Auntie) mostly so I can share all of this with my husband back at home. We're best friends and normally don't travel without the other. It's really hard to have an experience without him there because I want to say, "Oh look at that!" or "Isn't that cute?" So this blog is making that possible in an internet-new-millenium sort of way. The rest of you can enjoy too. We don't mind.

Look closely at the photo at the left. Doesn't it look like an abstract heart?

The centerpieces [photo at right] were all different fruits from gala apples to lemons to limes to oranges to cherries. That's how the tables were called up to the serving line for food--by the type of fruit in the centerpiece. The last fruit to be called was not happy.

The photo above was just so precious. Two of the relatives were having their own little dance in the gazebo that wasn't being used for anything else at the time. It was a tender moment that I'm glad I saw and caught in photographs.
The juxtaposition of the gorgeous autumnal wedding cake with the "hot dog stand" in the background was just priceless! [photo at left]

Something about the images of the barefeet of one of the groom's sisters-in-law [left] and the lemonade stand [right] were charming to me--possibly because of the simplicity they exhibit and the feeling of everything being just fun and celebration without a lot of pretense. No wonder I was welcome to "crash" the party!