On Friday, the Palinode and I hopped into a car* with Gypsyhick and headed out to small, middle-of-nowhere Saskatchewan to attend our mutual friends', D and C's, wedding.
Saskatchewan's Usual Version Of A Valley
Mostly, the road was flat and long and, because I am terrified of highway travel, accompanied by dry mouth. I am always certain that deer are going to hurl themselves at the vehicle willy nilly or that some farmer is going to broadside us with his Oldsmobile because of an age-related lack of peripheral vision, but we lived, which I am so thankful for, because otherwise I never would have known about Saskatchewan's iron superstore. Verily, my iron needs will never go unmet again.
Saskatchewan's Iron Superstore
When we arrived at the town where the wedding would take place the next day, there was a lot of work to be done, which included drinking under a gazebo at the wedding site. There needs to be more workplace drinking. With hot, blonde women.
Woman At Sunset
We spent the night at a bed and breakfast called The Nest. It had offbeat decor and salad dressing in the refrigerator that was past due in August 2005, but the beds were comfortable and it had a coffeemaker, so no one complained.
I Don't Get Either Of These Things
In order to take the following photograph of the moon, I had to pile up a hardcover copy of
King Dork
, a compact, two beer cans, and a pack of cigarettes to act as a camera tripod. As a result, I have this slightly blurry, 48-times digital zoom picture of the moon waxing gibbous.
Waxing Gibbous
It dropped to the ridiculously low temperature (for August) of 5°C (41°F), so we huddled around a fire for most of the evening drinking beer. It was cold enough that, while our faces and knees were hot from the flames, our butts were icy cold. The whole fire/beer/cold/heat/moon thing was fiercely beautiful when someone wasn't terrifying me by throwing coffee cans filled with gasoline on the fire.
The Fire That Saved Us From Freezing To Death
After a long night of setting up tables at the reception hall and decorating, we were just about ready for the wedding. The Palinode did some last minute memorizing so that he could recite a sonnet without notes.
Shakespeare Scribbled On A Program
Because of where we were seated, I have very few pictures of the actual ceremony, but the flower girls were close at hand, so here they are.
Flower Girls In Size Large
A Flower Girl In Size Small
In between the ceremony and the reception, the Palinode,
Notquiteawake, a few others, and I sneaked off to eat bar food in a rundown building with flaking ceilings. Even the socket next to me at the table was appalled with us.
Shocked Socket
By the end of the day, I was near dropping, because despite my generally chipper behaviour, I am still easily exhausted since my hysterectomy, so I downed some coffee and managed to make it through C's amazing fireworks display at 10:45 p.m. The bride danced in her wedding dress on the golf course beneath a hail of bright lights, and when I turned to look at the crowd, everyone's happy faces glowed blue and green and red against a dark line of trees.
*Well, really, there was less hopping and more hobbling and cane work on the Palinode's part while getting into the car. He is seeing a specialist soon, and then hopefully he will be on the mend.
Sunday, August 26, 2007 
Reader Comments (4)
Those shots are all amazing but that fire one? Wow.
Just had to say...
Just lovely...
Your photos are lovely.
I believe the socket was shocked because someone with horrible aim was firing staples at it. Not a very neighborly way to treat a socket. Or your grandmother. I'm just saying.
Oh my God you take lovely photos!!!