we had TORRENTIAL RAIN and a HUGE FLOOD yesterday afternoon. streets were like lakes, traffic was a snarled mess, cars were floating away, raw sewage was bubbling up out of the sinks at the local tv station (they kept playing that footage over and over)…and we really weren’t affected by the whole thing. i was waiting for a massage client to show up and she called to see if i still wanted to give her a massage, and i said, you’re the one who had to drive in the flood to get here. she waited a little bit and then she came because she was DESPERATE for a massage.
i didn’t realize the full scope of the flood till last night when i looked at the online photos people had taken all around town. amazing, amazing, all that water.
we did get some water in the basement, but randy had standing water in his basement which has nice carpet all over it, and he’s very depressed about that.
meanwhile, i’ve been neglecting to post some pictures we’ve been taking, so here they are. this is after amy did my hair for the wedding on saturday. unfortunately, the fancy bun part is on the same side as my HUGE HILLBILLY GAP and i was trying not to smile too much here.
the wedding started at 5:30 and i went to amy’s at 4:20 and told it it was more important to have it fast rather than good. so she started fixing my hair, and aunt sandy and i were chatting and amy said after a couple minutes HOW MUCH TIME DO WE HAVE? she thought we only had five minutes, but there was plenty of time. she said she’d been doing a poor job because she was so rushed, but then it all came together and was dazzling. but “we need a flower,” she said. at this point it was 4:49 and randy had just showed up because he was driving to the wedding. “anything, any kind of silk flower you have would work, it’ll only take a second,” she continued, as we ran back to my house to look.
she looked at the many fake flower wreaths and pots on the front porch, but they were much too full of bugs and cobwebs. she ran around upstairs, i ran to the basement, we grabbed different flowers, and she picked one that she thought was good.
it was all very exciting, and i was changing into my dress as i ran around, and we went back to her house, she stuck the flower in my hair, and we left at 5:15. for the 5:30 wedding.
when we got there, the guys in the wedding party were just walking up to the wedding gazebo, so we made it in plenty of time. but none of the night, for me anyway, was exciting as our mad last-minute 90 second dash for the fake flower.
after the wedding, randy and i had to go to the hoogland where his brother was wrapping up his elvis show. earlier in the day we’d gotten 36 balloons for the show and i loved holding onto them. here’s me saturday morning.
and here’s john and randy taking the decorations down much later in the night.
kevin got back home from the skirmish on monday and instead of sleeping in his tent, he slept in the van. so when he got back it looked like he’d been living in the van. down by the river.
luckily they didn’t have any torrential rains there, so it was just filled with stuff but not mud.
lots and lots of stuff.
monday night, birthday eating; here’s the CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH CHOCOLATE FROSTING. mmmm, chocolaty goodness.
i love this picture that kevin took of a heron early tuesday morning. maybe it was there to fix the boat.
he took all these pictures yesterday morning, and it once again makes me wish i had any desire at all to get up early, because it’s just so damn beautiful then.
luckily there are some lovely things other times of the day, too. we’ve had some baltimore orioles flying around, and yesterday one of them was outside the window trying to wrestle with a big ball of stuff. i was able to take a bunch of pictures of him.
nature, nature everywhere.
i never knew what a baltimore oriole was until kevin told me, and we have so many this year in the yard. one day i also saw a vivid red bird, definitely not a cardinal, with a bright red stomach and black wings. kevin and jim said it was a scarlet…a scarlet…mugwumper. thumptrolloper. slackbondeefer. i can’t remember, but it sure was pretty.
ok then,
thursday hillbilly grace.