“Struan and Emily’s Wedding”
Our five week European excursion was anchored by Struan and Emily’s wedding the first weekend. The trip over on Wednesday was completely smooth, even Heathrow seemed easier and friendlier than we remembered. I ask again, how does British Airways server better food in less than an hour than they do on an eight hour overnight flight? The service and efficiency on those shuttle flights are excellent. We had our usual taxi driver who is always very pleasant to chat with.
On Thursday, I drove to Kilmarnock to pick up Hamish’s wee kilt and jacket. It had already been collected by Michael’s mum and dad. Oh well, it gave me a chance to ease into my left hand side of the road driving – only one attempt to get on the wrong side of the road and one curb hit. The kilt was dropped off and I had a nice visit with Jim about the upcoming Rush tour. He has tickets to see them in Glasgow and told me about taking Christopher (now quite an accomplished drummer in several styles) to see them when he was six – promptly went off to sleep.
Here’s a fun “head” from the kilt shop:
On the way home we had coffee at the nice place on Stewarton Main Street. Mum had sausage rolls (haven’t had one of those in years) for dinner and a yummy rhubarb cake with custard.
I visited the local book shop, now inside the library, on Friday to buy “The Correspondent” for Mother’s Day. Other than that it was a quiet day of quiz shows and reading ahead of the wedding excitement. We drove up to the Red Radisson on the Clyde on Friday afternoon. We met for a drink and snack at the sky bar.
Diana went for a walk along the river before we had to get ready for dinner.
Dinner was at a wonderful Indian restaurant called Dishoom. Heather had eaten at the Edinburgh location and really enjoyed it. She did an amazing job of listening to what everyone thought they might like and then creating an order that made everyone very happy.
Certainly one of the best Indian meals that I’ve had in a while – and very different in great ways. I think Hamish agreed:
We enjoyed breakfast at the Radisson before making the drive over to the Boclair to get ready for the wedding.
We checked into our gorgeous rooms and got ready for the festivities. Here are some pre-wedding shots:
Look at that trio of handsome gentlemen. Robin and Russell are two of the best guys I know.
After a very nice service, we regrouped and prepared for the reception. Here are the new couple entering the reception behind the bagpipes:
David did the usual wonderful job with his speech.
The first dance:
The dancing picked up pretty quickly – particularly with the “Proud Mary” Tina Turner impression:
And then the Proclaimers “500 miles:
About an hour into the DJ dancing part of the program, a saxophone player emerged and really picked things up several notches:
And then it all finished up with a rousing “Loch Lomond”:
What a fun and exhausting day.
We had breakfast together at Boclair in the morning. Hamish decided to entertain us as we packed up to leave:
We drove home, via the Clyde tunnel this time, making a stop at the large mall at Silverburn. This has a large Marks and Spencers and Mum was able to help Diana pick out a new workout jacket (her uniform from M&S has worn out on the zipper after several years of daily use.) The food options in this store were ridiculous – we have nothing like that in the US.
Later on Sunday afternoon, we went for a walk. Diana felt a bird splat by the Millhouse and we ducked in to clean it up. There was an old firm football match on inside and the atmosphere was quite intense.
What a busy and excellent week!
My book this week was “Mona’s Eyes” by Thomas Schlesser. I was about to launch into an explanation of the premise, and then realized that the online review can do that better than me:“Ten-year-old Mona and her beloved grandfather have only fifty-two Wednesdays to visit fifty-two works of art and commit to memory “all that is beautiful in the world” before Mona loses her sight forever.While the doctors can find no explanation for Mona’s brief episode of blindness, they agree that the threat of permanent vision loss cannot be ruled out. The girl’s grandfather, Henry, may not be able to stop his granddaughter from losing her sight, but he can fill the encroaching darkness with beauty. Every Wednesday for a year, the pair abscond together and visit a single masterpiece in one of Paris’s renowned museums. From Botticelli to Basquiat, Mona learns how each artist’s work shaped the world around them. In turn, the young girl’s world is changed forever by the power of their art. Under the kind and careful tutelage of her grandfather, Mona learns the true meaning of generosity, melancholy, love, loss, and revolution. Her perspective will never be the same—nor will the reader’s.
Mona’s Eyes is a heartfelt, enlightening journey across five centuries of Western art history. With the emotional impact of The Elegance of the Hedgehog and the readability of The Little Paris Bookshop, Thomas Schlesser’s sensational debut novel is at once a moving book about the beauty of life and a deeply touching story about the special bond between a girl and her grandfather.”