Cookies & Chicken

We took advantage of a cancelled meeting and tried out a new rub for chicken tonight. It was a Tuscan Rosemary rub, which is pretty simple. All you need is two cloves of garlic, minced, two tablespoons of crushed rosemary, a teaspoon of kosher salt, a teaspoon of fresh ground pepper and a quarter cup of parsley. Stir it all together and you've got yourself a pretty tasty and simple rub for chicken.

For dessert, and mostly 'cause I had a hankering for cookies, Bethany made the classic preacher cookies using a recipe that you can find here. The chicken, of course, was a healthy meal. The cookies not so much. But I worked out today. It'll be ok.

Into Every Life A Little Rain Must Fall

Now this is my kind of day.

It's been so long since we've had any rain that I've nearly forgotten what it looks like. But today is a perfect rainy day. It was after 9 a.m. when I pulled myself out of bed. I got myself together, grabbed my keys and headed to Covington to return the tuxedos from Patrick's wedding.

I stepped outside into a light drizzle that turned into a raging downpour the moment I put the Jeep in park half a block away from Rooklin's Department store. I returned the tuxedos at a dead sprint that still left me soaked. After seeing to a couple of things in town I came back home to do a little housework, process some photos and continue the job search.

Now it's a perfect rainy day. The sky is completely overcast and the rain is falling straight down with just enough breeze to bring the cool summer air through the open windows. All the splashing and pitter-patter of the rain is a perfect counterpoint to the all instrumental, all jazz radio station that I've found on one of the upper digital music channels on the television.

After Bethany comes home from lunch I'm going to hit the gym and spend a couple of hours on the free weights and the basketball court. Then I'm going to settle in to processing wedding photos. We're two weddings behind and one of them absolutely has to go out this week.

But on a day like this, I can handle it...

Meanderings After The Wedding

Patrick McNown got married today. 

Those of you who know Patrick will know how momentous that sentence is. His passing from the freedoms of the bachelor life into the bonds of Holy Matrimony marks the last of our group of four close friends to tie the knot. He did hold out the longest, whether that was his intention or not.

And it was a pretty cool and elegant ceremony. They were married in the same church Bethany and I were, though it was much hotter today. Everything went just about as smoothly as it could have gone. I found myself enjoying being on the other side of the camera for this one. Sure, the tuxedo was hot, but I looked good in it and it was an honor to be a groomsman. I'm pretty happy to say that of the three close friends I've grown up with, I've been in (or was supposed to be in if life hadn't exploded that week) all of their weddings. I count that among the things in my life that I'm proud of.

I enjoy weddings. The ceremonies are always something pretty to watch. You don't quite get the best view when you're taking part, though. Since the groomsmen were lined up by height today and I'm naturally the shortest of the six groomsmen, I had to stand at the end of the line. So I just stepped to the side so I could see what was happening. And before that there was the incident with the acolyte stick.

See, I'm a baptist (I think. I don't know. The idea of denominations is irritating. Christian is good enough for me.) and we don't have acolyte sticks. They're nice though. They're the long, golden candle lighters that have two curves, one ending in a bell to snuff the candles and the other ending in a wick to light the candles. At rehearsal Friday I was told that I wouldn't have to light anything. I showed up today and was handed a shiny stick with flames and told to go light the candles on either side of the altar, six total.

These are fancy candles with wicks that are recessed inside a plastic cap so that the candles melt evenly all round. I've never used one of these acolyte sticks and I was too short for the job anyway. The first two candles on the left I could reach. The third I had to stand on my tip toes and try to lengthen the wick and even then I still couldn't get it lit. So I stood up on the little red velvet cushioned step that was there. I really hope it wasn't something sacred that I wasn't supposed to step on. I'm not an episcopalian. I don't know these things. I'm just a guy with a shiny gold stick that has a flame on it and who's trying not to look like an idiot who can't light a candle in front of a church full of people.

I lit the three candles on the left and repeated the process with the three on the right, including stepping on the little cushioned step on the other side. Everything else came off without a hitch.

At the reception, Dick, who works at an accounting firm, made the discovery that each of his has been with our wives for nearly 25% of our lives, if not a little more in some cases. That, of course, made me thing. If I consider that a quarter of my life has been spent getting me to this point, what have I to show for it?

The answer, of course, is a wonderful wife, a great home, family and friends who are a great part of my life, a couple of novels...

But what have I seen of the world? I've never been outside the country, nor I have I been to many of these United States (or been old enough to remember than I've been to them). I am a home body and there's no denying that. But when I set down to write my memoirs in my golden years I want them to be worth reading. So maybe it's time to wander a bit.

I don't think I could be like Patrick's brothers, Andrew and Robert, who wander the world at a whim pursuing various projects. Andrew just returned from teaching in South Korea. Robert leaves Thursday to return to his graduate work in the Alaskan tundra. But with Bethany, I think I could wander comfortably and enjoy having her to share my adventures with. Europe...the Northern Lights...Seattle...

Maybe we'll start with the French Riviera next summer...

After The Holiday

I hope everyone out there in blog land had a great Fourth of July weekend because we certainly did. We even shot a wedding Saturday that had some of the best reception food ever...barbecued chicken, pork barbecue, ears of corn roasted in the husk and just about any side you could want.

On the even better side, I purchased a copy of Lake Wobegon: Summer 1956 for just a penny. That's beautiful stuff right there.

Bethany had yesterday off so we headed to Roanoke to check out Eclipse. While Dick and I disagree a bit over the quality of the acting, I thought it was a pretty good movie overall and a definite improvement over the last one. The Twilight Saga films have been very well done and have stayed true to the original novels better than any other film I've seen yet. It's hard to be disappointed with them when they stay so true to the author's original vision. I'll grant you that these actors won't be taking home any Academy Awards for these roles, but I still think they handle to roles fairly well for the most part.

I can't say that I have much to report on any of the current projects I have waiting and being two weddings behind in the photo processing probably means I won't get much else done this week.

In the meantime, however, I am really enjoying Imager's Challenge, the latest in L.E. Modesitt's new fantasy series. I highly recommend the Modesitt's Saga of Recluse and Imager's Portfolio. Recluse is over a dozen books long and full of great characters and plots. Imager's Portfolio is only two books long at the moment, but so far they've been great reads.