Part II of the Chronicles of the S&G Wedding

Good morning, my fabulous daughter,

As promised, here is the next instalment of my chronicles of The
S & G Wedding:

Part ll - The Mountaintop Reception

Uncle Robbie, Nana Moe, your charning father and I arrived together at the foot of Grouse mountain and were whisked by gondola to the festivities atop - the view from the ascending carriage was nothing short of spectacular! Cleveland Dam, the reservoir, our beautiful city and areas beyond lay beneath us shimmering in the late afternoon sun. As we neared the end of our brief journey to the mountaintop a full moon shone brightly and strangely near - but no! It was not the moon at all, but a humongous white balloon, lit internally and bearing the regal Suzanne & Graham wedding logo: S & G. Beyond the balloon, on the lofty bistro balcony, were many white canopies and beneath them were numerous white clad cooks in their tall chef's hats serving up delicacies we had yet to imagine. Several of the glass panels beneath the Bistro railing surrounding this sea of canopies appeared to have been etched with the S & G logo and as I surveyed the scene, I noted a red breasted robin sitting on the railing directly over an S & G logo. Was this a trained bird the ever attentive boundless-thinking wedding planner had hired and timed for the very moment my mother, born Mary Maureen ROBINS, disembarked from the gondola?! or was it a supernatural visitation of some sort? Before Uncle Robbie could snap a photo of the feathered visitor, it gave a parting chirp and flew away, giving us all pause to wonder.

As we left our carriage behind and walked the rampart towards the party, we were greeted by a photographer snapping close-ups of each visitor. I thought it strange that there was no flash, and no audible click as he took his shot a mere inches from my face, and worried about whether or not I had remembered to trim that particularly long nostril hair I'd spotted the day before - but before I could contemplate this further I was distracted by two secret service agents clearly identified as such by their dark suits, impassive faces, dark glasses and ear pieces. Was there a visiting dignitary or a fear of party crashers? But again I could contemplate no further as I was distracted by a Joan Rivers look-alike dressed in faux fur and a long evening gown and wielding a microphone as she interviewed guests and announced she was from Entertainment Tomorrow. A cameraman filmed the scene. As your father and I approached Joan she cooed, "Oh! It's Hillary and Bill Clinton! Are you going to run for President, Hillary?" and she thrust the microphone towards me, "Absolutely," I replied. "Now Hillary," she added in a conspiratorial tone, "Bill really put you through quite a bit when you were first lady, what have you in store for Bill when you are President?" "Oh how I was made to suffer," I exclaimed, "It shall be Bill's turn to suffer when I become President!" Before I could explain the specifics of the suffering I intended to inflict upon my ex-President husband, Joan spotted George Clooney just behind us and left to interview him.

As we entered the bistro area, to our left was a table filled with red coloured drinks in martini glasses, each bearing a skewered strawberry - delicious! To our right were large floral arrangements of giant shiny tropical leaves and exotic blooms and a large Andy Warhol-esque canvas featuring the faces of the blissfully wedded couple in various colour combinations in each quadrant of the canvas. Just ahead of us a team of chefs were carving a large and colourful seafood terrine; the adjoining chef team stir-fried vegetables in a sizzling wok and scooped them into tiny Chinese food take out boxes. I gathered up a pair of chop sticks and a little box of veggies and continued on my journey around the balcony perimeter. To my right was a large platter of fresh oysters, an ice sculpture bearing dozens of small, rounded shot glasses filled with shredded lettuce and shrimp, followed by a cook pan-searing sea scallops in butter, and a team preparing seaweed cones filled with crab, avacado, lettuce, Japanese mayonnaise, rice, and teeny-weeny red fish eggs. After nibbling the tiny shrimps and lettuce from a shot glass with a tiny spoon, I set down my now empty take-out box, balanced my red martini on a nearby window ledge and took a crab cone from the gloved hand of a server - it too was delicious. Another server walked by carrying a tray of hamburgers - each only 1 1/2" across, topped with a mini pickle and speared with a festive pick - these were very popular and disappeared before I was able to rebalance my martini on the ledge and push the last delicious bite of seaweed cone between my teeth. Just ahead of me, standing beneath one of the propane heaters that dotted the patio, I saw cousin Wally and his lovely wife Katrina who was dressed in a low cut filmy knee length black, aqua, magenta, and sage green flowered dress that showed off her tanned and delightful bosom to its best advantage. I balanced my now empty martini glass on a planter just in time to accept a glass of red wine from a passing server and a tiny, shrimp and noodle salad roll in hot Thai chili sauce on a white tiny square plate from mmy galant brother, your Uncle Robbie. I spotted Robert nearby, sitting on a ledge, dressed dapperly in a dark pin-striped suit, white shirt and red tie, and eating from a tiny square plate bearing three baby lamb chops covered in a pastel green sauce made from mint leaves and pureed peas. Jeanette, lovely in pink, stood at a table awaiting a square inch of beef tenderloin topped with a sweet red onion salsa in an over-sized 1 1/2" bun. Just then a server walked by with another platter of tiny hamburgers, however, by the time I set my wine glass on the planter and set down my now empty tiny square white plate, the jolly and handsome group of surfer-types behind us had finished off the entire platter of burgers. Meanwhile your father was standing in line for baby lamb chops, chatting with a lovely looking young woman with a long pony-tail and a low cut white knee-length, poof-hemmed cocktail dress. Your father threw his head back and laughed several times - he seemed to be enjoying himself immensely and I supposed she must have been quite a witty woman.

By this time cousin Craig had found us and my he looked handsome (Nana Moe had earlier exclaimed how very handsome Craig was as he escorted her at the pier, and she was absolutely right!) in his dark jacket, dark trousers, white shirt and elegant tie and natty beard and moustache. Just then, there was an announcement that the bride and groom and wedding party had arrived. There was much applause as the handsome party entered the patio area. Auntie Candy was seated beneath the central canopy which housed a wooden dance floor and the accoutrements for a live band. I soon spotted Uncle Graham, dressed in a beautiful black suit and wearing a large magnificent large boutonniere of three large purple and white large orchids. GB and Suzanne were glowing with happiness and mingled, hand-shook and kissed their way through the crowd of 200 guests and 50 + wedding facilitators (servers, cooks, chefs, bartenders, photographers, assistants, actors, the wedding planner, magician, and a caricature artist).

Nana Moe, Uncle Doug, and Auntie Fellette were seated inside the bistro on one of the long couches in front of the windows that framed the incredible view of the city below. I sought them out, partaking of an endive leaf filled with a dollop of goat cheese and topped with a toasted pecan on my way inside. Before I sat down with the family elders, a server offerred me a pinwheel of smoked salmon on an inch square of dark rye bread and I was unable to resist. Uncle Doug, dapper as usual, was dressed in keeping with the tropical floral theme, wearing a cream coloured dinner jacket, light trousers, and a pale green/yellow tropical leaf shirt. Auntie Fellette was a vision of good taste and understated elegance in a long georgette dress of batik-like pale yellow and sage green banana leaves (had someone given her a heads up about the banana leaf floral theme?) She also had a pale ochre coloured pashmina to guard against the evening chill. Nana Moe was chatting with some of the numerous A&A attendees, and looked particularly au courant in her swishy black slacks, black camisole and lime green tailored shirt-waist top. The coffee table before us was long and low and had a cutout section in the middle which was filled with a vase bearing exotic blooms and greeneries. The coffee table across from us was similar, with three cutouts in the middle, each bearing a tall vase identical to those we'd seen earlier in the day at the pier, however these each held one long waxy banana leaf and a 3" fully formed mini pineapple atop a long slender stick - no goldfish in sight. As I took stock of the elegant furnishings around me, I couldn't overcome a feeling that these unusual coffee tables and long creamy coloured microsuede banquettes and chairs, festooned with silk pillows that matched the aforementioned bridesmaids' bouquets, groomsmen's boutonnieres, and the colours of the wedding invitations, booklets, waterbottles, Warhol-esque canvas, etc. may not actually belong to the ski hill bistro, but rather had been brought in for this specific and joyous occasion. Before I could contemplate this further, a server came by offering me a 1" square of luscious red watermelon that had been penetrated to it's centre with a drop of balsamic vinegar reduction - delicious - and another server came by offering green martinis with floating apple slices on the top. By this time, two and ten had begun to add up and I realized with a start that the martinis were colour coordinated with the silk pillows, wedding invitations, booklets, waterbottles, Warhol-esque canvas, bridesmaids' bouquets and groomsmen's boutonnieres!

Stay tuned tomorrow for Part III

LOVE YOUR WONDERFUL MOTHER