To Memorial Day... and BEYOND!

This morning we drove out to the cemetery and met Steve and Grandma there. We had to buy some flowers on the way because we are in the beginning stages of a total make-over of our back yard. (We bought some donuts too, but you know why I had to do that.)

Above you see the plastic flowers Mom brought, along with some of the roses Melody & I procured. We had enough to add a single rose to the headstones of Dale Thacker, Gus Stentzel, and a few others notables.

It was a relaxing day. I got up and ran 3 miles in weather cool enough to require a long sleeved T-shirt. This even we had baby back ribs, garlic bread, and salad. For desert we got out the soft ice-cream maker and had cones. What a way to end the day.

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Melody and I spent the day Saturday down in Saratoga (south of Mountain View, south of San Jose) for the wedding of her nephew Greg. His bride is from a Japanese family, and the wedding was held in the Hakone Gardens. It was very beautiful. The waterfall that you see below was just one of the many wonderful sights. 

On the footbridge you'll recognize Mel, but and the others are her nephew Mark and his oldest two daughters. Also pictured is Cipriana. I didn't get too many photos of the younger kids. but these were good.

The bride is from a family who's ancestors converted to Christianity in Japan in the early 1900's, and suffered a fair amount of persecution for it. The wedding ceremony was performed by a really nice Japanese man who is a Presbyterian minister. We sat at his table at the banquet, and he and his wife were really fun to talk to.

Below are photos of the prettiest girl at the wedding. She let me sit next to her during the ceremony, and walked with me through the old downtown area. We stopped at a neat little bistro/market and bought some Lavash bread (Yumm!). Anyway, you can see this cute lady in front of a couple of the more picturesque places in the garden.

The banquet was held at a country club a few miles from the garden. It was a real nice place, and they served the biggest (and reddest) cut of prime rib I've ever seen. At least 24oz, it was HUGE! Fortunately, Mel and I had ordered the Halibut - which was without doubt the best fish dinner I've ever eaten. It ws laid on a bed of  something like cheesy "funeral potatoes" with other veggies round about. Manalive!

The cake was topped with these origami swans (which I know how to fold out of paper), but these were made out of hard candy. Very pretty.

Greg and Chihiro (Marie to her friends) do make a cute couple.

And finaly, a photo of the Ed Mumford (Melody's brother) family. Too many to name, but most of you know all of them anyway. We really had fun, and it was good to see all of Ed's kids and grand kids together.