I'm barely functional after SIX HOURS in the Philadelphia airport yesterday. Thankfully it was a wonderful day in football land with the Colts, the Redskins, the Eagles, the Broncos and the Dolphins all winning! And thankfully the sports bar in the Philly airport takes credit cards! I'd have been okay without the explanations of exactly why things get so backed up at that airport. (A very nice lady explained how, due to the geometry of the river, they can't build any more runways so the take off and landing strips criss cross and have to take turns so it's easy to get grid locked if even one plane gets behind. Another nice lady came on to explain that it wasn't OUR plane that had a mechanical issue - but they took our plane to replace the one whose windshield wipers broke and they were looking around for one for us to use. The words 'cascade effect' were used several times. I decided the explanations made me worry more than they reassured me - so I stopped listening and ordered another beer.)
But all of that was worth it - because the wedding was delightful. And interesting! St. Ann's friends are all preppy girls from suburban Philadelphia who went to all-girl's schools and JTM's friends are from New Jersey and build robots. The wedding was in a tiny chapel in the middle of a graveyard*(built in 1715). It was perfect space. The four kids (they each bring a boy and girl into this) were their attendants. The boys carried the rings (tied to R2D2 figurines) and the girls each read a passage from Scripture. It was a lovely ceremony (with the bonus of having gravestones for the kids to play hide-and-seek among during the receiving line!) They held the reception outside in the luscious back yard of the house they just bought. Giant hostas, gorgeous lawn, charming stream complete with footbridge crossing it: it was storybook. There was a delicious dinner to savor, a moonbounce to play in, and a super-cool go-cart race to watch. There were fascinating people to talk to and lots of little kids to watch. (My favorite little girl was about 5, had a bowl cut and was wearing a purple t-shirt underneath a satin/tulle flower girl's dress with rainbow-striped, wool tights covering her legs and birkenstocks on her feet.) It really couldn't have been sweeter or more fun.
Before we left Philly, VBGF and I ventured to South Street for cheesesteaks. (How could we not?!) Jim's (we were told) is over-rated. The place to go is Ishkabibbal's*. I wish I could say that we got cheesesteaks at Ishkabibbal's because it is such an incredibly fun word to say! However, while it smelled heavenly, it turns out that Ishkabibbal's is a tiny, shack kind of place with no seating to speak of. We needed to sit! We did find yummy cheesesteaks at a sports bar (charmingly located close to the Condom Kingdom). Our waiter was wearing a Ukranian National Soccer shirt and had obviously had too much fun on Saturday night - but it was a great place nonetheless. VBGF ended up chatting with the owner about local beers and even though we couldn't buy a six pack of fun IPA to take home because it was Sunday, he gave her a pint glass as a souvenir.
Then she dropped me off at the Philly airport and I'm still there. (Just kidding.) She dropped me off at three something and I got home at midnight something. Some of that time was not actually spent in the airport, but rather sitting on the plane on the runway (trying not to worry that we could perhaps be sitting ducks for planes landing criss-cross to us.)
*I did learn some interesting language factoids this weekend. Do you know the difference between a cemetary and a graveyard? And did you notice at the end of that fun article that the author says US dwellers "have been internetting much longer than the Brits"? Internet as a verb!! Then finally, while looking to see if Ishkabibbal's had an online presence (ha ha ha - they don't have chairs much less a website - they have one thing and one thing only - chicken cheese steaks), I found the word ishkabibble. I LOVE IT. It is really too much fun to say. I think I will have to name my next dog Ishkabibble.
That's my weekend wrap up. I'm headed back to the hayfeathers to see if Morpheus (not Morpheus) will give me just a few more hours!
Peace.
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