It’s been a long, long time since I wrote anything here. Being a father and working full time is one way to be very preoccupied. That being said, here’s a picture of passing 11,000 miles on my motorcycle, posted on 11/11/11 (even though the mark was made yesterday morning).

Congratulations to Heather and Joe! I hope you’re having fun in Jamaica!

This was the speech Rosa gave as Heather’s Maid of Honor. She read parts of it a little differently, but this was basically what she said:

Hello everyone. My name is Rosa. I met Heather three years ago. Doug and I had just started dating and within a few weeks I came out to Bethesda for a business trip. I didn’t know what to expect but I met Heather, and sweet Karma, and Dad at an Italian restaurant and I will never forget how welcoming they were to the newcomer… and now newcomers! I have always wanted a sister, as any of you ladies with only brothers might understand, and I found that sister in Heather. Last year when she asked if I would be her Maid of Honor I was very honored. Thank you, Heather.

And thank you to Father Whitestone for the beautiful ceremony, to my companions at the alter. Thank you Erin, Allison, Leslie, Bernadette, Mary Lou, little Megan and Karma for making me feel so welcome into Heather’s circle of friends and family. And thank you to the Moose Lodge for hosting us this evening. Am I forgetting anyone? (Look around, see Joe and wave to him).

A couple years ago I threw a surprise birthday party for my husband, and Heather and Karma flew to San Francisco to join us. Heather and I talked about our hopes and dreams… and our men. Each of us loved and wanted to marry these fantastic men we were with, and now we know dreams do come true.

I haven’t known Heather for as long as many of you but fortunately I’m married to a great source of embarrassing stories about her. The list is very, very long.

Did you know Heather is a great escape artist? When she was little she would drive her family crazy trying to find her when she would run away from home. Once Chris had to save her from a charging bull in a field near their house in Utah. Another time Doug barely got her back on the train before it left. A police officer once found her and brought her home. Mom listened to him lecture about keeping an eye on kids for a while. Then she asked him where Heather was. The police man looked down and Heather had slipped out of her jacket and had disappeared again.

But now she’s found Joe, and Joe found her in a way that would tame our little escape artist. In giving Heather his love, Joe caught her heart.

So please, Everyone, raise your glasses and join me in a toast. To my sister, Heather, and her wonderful husband Joe… May they give each other the love and compassion each of them deserve for a lifetime.

To Heather and Joe!

I have observations about the trip, but they’ll be for separate posts!

I’m thinking I will start with those and ignore all of the previous galleries I used to have. Unless there’s one that someone misses? Maybe I’ll do a “retrospective” of older pictures. That should be entertaining…

Jennifer and Rosa at the De Young

Despite the rainy, windy weather we started by going to Golden Gate Park to visit the De Young Museum. The copper siding has a little more patina since I was there last. We wandered around looking at old landscape photos, modern art, and giant stone heads from the Olmec culture in southern Mexico.
Al Farrow’s CathedralOne of the more impressive pieces on display (for me) was Al Farrow’s Cathedral. Made almost entirely of gun parts, bullets and bones, it made quite an impression. Down the naive was a human spine; I’m rather curious where that came from since I can kind of imagine someone not minding their spine being in an art exhibit, I can’t imagine who that person would be (since Santo Guerro wasn’t a “real” person). I’m rather surprised there isn’t anything in Wikipedia about it yet.

Of course while at the De Young it’s almost mandatory to go visit the tower and take in the view. If you’re in the area I was assured that visiting the tower is still free. The view, even on a rainy day like we had, was spectacular.
Tower of the De Young MuseumWhat was funny to me was listening to the tourist pointing at landmarks and calling them by the completely wrong names/locations. Someone was pointing at the church up at the University of San Francisco and claiming it was the original Mission of San Francisco (which is completely obscured from view in that part of the City). Oh well. I’m sure I’ve done worse.

Next up, the California Academy of Sciences. This is probably my favorite museum in the city. We got there a little late but we managed to snag tickets to the Morrison Planetarium to see Life: A Cosmic Story. Narrated by Jodie Foster, it was quite an amazing show. Not a bad thing to see on our first planetarium show at the CalAcademy. Unfortunately for us this was the last show of the day, and the Academy was closing right afterwards.
T-Rex at the CalAcademyI guess we’ll just have to check out the rest the next time Jenn visits.

Later we had caffeine at Borderlands Cafe but that couldn’t stop the food coma after eating at Osha which has great Thai food.

“Bright” and “early” on Sunday we picked up Jon E and headed north to Sonoma for wine tasting. We’d had heavy wind and rain overnight and some of the roads were flooded but that didn’t deter us. We hit Gundlach Bundschu, Ravenswood and Bartholomew Park wineries. All were good and none of us got too buzzed (the portions are getting smaller and smaller every year; good and bad). Later that night we ate at Ti Couz and called it a night.

Now it’s Monday and I feel tired enough for an all day siesta. Too bad I’d get in trouble for that… It was a great weekend, though, and wonderful to get to know Jennifer better! Rosa and I will have to get up to Seattle to visit her sometime.