Wedded Bliss and a Motorcycle Accident

          

            The deed is done! My son and his beautiful bride, Rachel, are married!

The trip back to Hilton, NY was long and tiring but so worth it. Unfortunately Tristan had an accident on his motorcycle six days before the wedding and broke his right tibia and ankle very badly. He had to be put in a cast up to his upper thigh and on tuesday (after the wedding) he had surgery. A metal rod the length of his entire shin and a plate with six screws around the ankle was inserted, and another cast going all the way up the leg. The cast can come off and a new one below the knee put on in a couple of weeks if all goes well. Neither Tristan nor Rachel let this setback make a dent in the wedding plans and the whole event was truly beautiful, taking place in the back yard of her parents' home, four acres in the country! A large tent was put up and included a dance floor, many round tables, chairs, etc. lights, and beautiful table settings with floating candles and tea lights all over, and sprinkled with red and white rose petals. The ceremony was small with only immediate family but at 9 pm the 100 invited guests arrived and everyone had such a good time that no one left until 2am! 

          You probably notice that Rachel is wearing black. It is her favorite colour to wear and she didn't feel constricted by our present day convention of the bride being in white or a soft pastel colour. She had a friend make the dress and this picture does not do it justice. Gorgeous! In fact, the picture of Rachel does not do my new daughter justice either...she is incredibly beautiful! And sweet, and smart and most important, she truly loves Tristan (as he love her) and is SO good to him. Also her family and I hit it off immediately, which was a big relief as we had never met before. I stayed with them for several days and felt completely at home.

          As you can see my dress was a success (the "backup dress" was with me but stayed in the closet:-) and got a lot of compliments. For being 67 (I had my birthday while I was away) I suppose I looked presentable and enjoyed being in something other than jeans/sweatpants, t-shirt/sweat shirt, and gum boots, my usual apparel for up here in the semi wilderness. I took several nice things with me to wear which hang ignored in my closet most of the time and it was a treat to go out looking civilized. Now they are back in the closet no doubt for quite a while until some other special event comes up.

            I will get back to posting about what I'm doing artwise pretty soon. I have to start the painting for the Cortes Children's Forest fund auction this month. Oh yes, I just found out that "Spanish Shawl" was accepted into the FCA AIR show (Annual International Representational) so must ship that off in a few days.