The Wedding

Last December Stachelbeere got engaged.  That was a happy thing.  They decided to get married in Hawaii in October and those ten months went by super fast.  There was lots of planning to do, not only for the wedding but for the trip, as well.  Hawaii is a long way away and in these days of covid restrictions, there was a lot to do to be able to go.  And, there was no question, we were going.  Because of the pandemic, they were not able to have the ceremonies and celebrations they had hoped for.  As the day of the wedding approached, the State of Hawaii tightened down the requirements to come to the state and for any gatherings, which had required a number of changes in plans and some hard decisions, but they didn't shut down the state entirely so the happy couple was able to have a scaled down celebration and we were able to go.

The day began at the temple in Laie, for wedding photographs.  What would a wedding be without photographs?

The sun was out, a typical Hawaiian day, with temperatures in the 80s.

Among others, there was a photo of the groom with his parents.

And the bride with her parents.

And the happy couple.  In this day of the on-going pandemic, there were face masks.

But they came off for most of the photos.

After a while at the temple, all the photos were done and it was time to head to the beach, several miles down the road at Walahole Beach, for the next part of the celebrations.

Wahahole Beach is a small park on the east side of the island.  More grass than sand, it is more a park than a beach.  That was perfect for the next part of the day.

We looked around and then got busy getting ready for the next part.

The next part was the actual wedding ceremony followed by the reception.  It was small because of the limits on how many people could gather, even in an outdoor setting.  But it was still good.

The jam that several family members had made for the occasion was set out so the guests could have a remembrance of the day.

Refreshments we also set out.

Because of the pandemic, all  kinds of gatherings have been made available via Zoom, including this one.  That way, those unable to attend in person were still able to participate.  Moosebeere had been asked to be in charge of the Zoom broadcast so some time was spent getting that set up.

At last, everything was ready and the service began.  The offical was a friend that the bride had worked with for several years.  It was a nice mix of Christian and Hawaiian traditions, held on the beach since not everyone in attendance would be able to attend the temple a little later in the evening.

The couple exchanged vows, each written by themselves.

Then they exchanged rings.

Then, in the Hawaiian tradition, there were special leis they each put on each other.

He put hers on her ...

... then she put his on him.

And then the couple kissed, the kiss that drew attention all across the country.

And then, the new family was presented to those gathered.

And, when the service was over and the couple was greeting everyone, they took some time to greet all those who had tuned in over Zoom to participate in the happy day.

The festivities continued at the beach for a while, visiting and enjoying one another's company.  But eventually it was time to head back to the temple to finish the day.

And when the very small group that was allowed inside the temple (the state was limiting indoor gathers to only ten people) was done, the happy couple came out to greet everyone who had tagged along, now as Mr. and Mrs. for time and all eternity.

Yes, another kiss because, well, because they could.

And a few minutes with the well wishers before the long day was finally over and a new family was established and off to a great start.  It was a good day.  

Victory Over Death

I was reading in the Old Testament the other day and came to the story of Jacob's wife, Rachel, dying in childbirth, one of the tougher parts of Jacob's life. Jacob's name had already been changed to Israel. And the Lord had told him it was time to return to the Land of Promise, the Land of Canaan. On the journey, they stopped at Bethel, the place where Abraham had built an altar when he first arrived in the Land of Canaan about 190 years earlier. Jacob had gone to Haran, to stay with Laban, his uncle, after his father, Isaac, had given him the birth right instead of giving it to his older brother, Easu. On his way there he had stopped at the same place and seen the vision in which the promises made to Abraham were also given to Jacob. At that time Jacob had built a memorial and said, "This is the Gate of Heaven." But that's a different story. 

On the trip back, Jacob's wife, Rachel, who was expecting a child, gave birth a little after the family had left Bethel, at a place called Ephrath. It was a hard delivery and Rachel did not survive, though the baby did. Rachel named the baby, a boy, "Ben-oni", which is given as "Son of my Sorrow" but the scriptures say his father called him "Benjamin", which is given as "Son of the Right Hand." Jacob had lost the wife of his youth, his first choice, the girl he had worked 14 years for. His heart was broken, he'd lost his wife to death. Jacob buried his wife and built a pillar of rocks to mark her grave and then moved on. 

As I read the story of Jacob's loss and sorrow at the death of his wife, and saw that the place of her burial was at Ephrath, which is also called Bethlehem, I thought it ironic that the place where Jacob was so heart broke by the death of his beloved wife, Rachel, was also the place where, 1,900 years later, the Prince of Peace was born, the Bread of Life, the Fountain of Living Waters. The Savior who would deliver mankind from death. The one who would give Rachel back to Jacob for eternity. 

The prophets tell us that the Lord gave us numerous signs and likenesses throughout the Old Testament to point us to Christ. It made me wonder if this was one of them. 

Another Volunteer!

A year or so ago we had a volunteer plant take root out in the back yard. That was interesting but didn't result in anything that was useful for anything more than decorations.  This summer we've had that happen again, but the result has been lots prettier, and we didn't have to wait so long to see the final result, either.  This year's volunteer, however, picked a very unlikely place to grow: the doorway to the garage.  Kind of hard to see in the photo below, if you don't know where to look.

Pretty much right in the middle of the garage doorway.  I'm thinking some bug must have carried it there.  Sometimes we get anthills right along the cement seam at the doorway, maybe some enterprising worker ant was carrying a seed back home and dropped it on the way in the front door.

At any rate, we have a tiny little pansy growing in our driveway.  It's just off to the side enough that it's out of the way of all the traffic in and out so it has been able to grow unhindered.  That, plus it's so small, maybe because the cement doesn't allow it much room.  It's a cheery little greeting every time we go in and out.  So we've just left it.  Kinda fun, a happy thing. 

Migrating Geese

Fall is here and that means birds have begun migrating.  So today, as I was out riding my bike, I came across a flock of geese that had stopped to rest by a pond the trial I was on went by.  As I was approaching the pond I could see there were dozens of geese congregating on about 20 to 30 yards of the trail I wanted to travel: this was going to be interesting.  So I slowed down some and charged ahead.  Sure enough, as I got close the geese began squawking, honking, and running, some out of the way, others flapping and lifting away.  Pretty soon I'm cruising through a cloud of squawking, running or flapping geese. That went on for the minute it took to get through the flock.  Really made me wish I'd thought of getting my camera out for this stretch of the ride.  It could have been real good.

A New Toy

We'll say it was in an effort to keep me active and healthy, but anyway, Brombeere recently talked me into getting a new bike. And not just any bike; a recumbent bike.  Maybe it was a safety concern as well.  After all, it's much harder to fall over on a recumbent tricycle.

I've dreamed about recumbents for years.  Years and years, since before I had ever actually had seen a commercially manufactured recumbent bike.  Recumbents have been around since the 1890s but I had never seen one until much later.  I used to image how to make my own but I'm not an engineer, nor have I ever had ready access to the  machining and welding tools it would take to make my own recumbent.  Actually, what I used to envision was a four wheeled recumbent, which I still have never seen commercially available.  But two and three wheeled recumbents are now readily available so when we decided to get one we just went to the store.  Much easier than making one of my own.  And likely much more efficient and better built.

So we bought it but had to come back the next day to take delivery on it.  I ended up going in myself to pick it up because Brombeere had somewhere else to be.  So I picked it up and promptly went on a short ride.  That was fun.  I also learned right away that, while it uses many of the same muscles as an upright bike, it causes me to use them a little differently.  So in some ways it's easier, in other ways it's just as hard.  But I don't think it's any harder than an upright bike.

So over the next several days we went on several bike rides around our usual haunts, riding the roads and trails we usually ride on where we live and gradually I began to get more familiar with riding a recumbent and some of the differences that are involved.

We've also taken it on a couple of excursions we've been on.  We took it to a place called Terrell's Island, which is a place I've had on my list of places to go for a few years.  That was a fun ride.

We also took it down to Chicago to ride the Lakeshore Trail on Lake Michigan with Erdbeere and her kids.  That was quite an adventure. That was actually another ride I've thought for some time would be fun to do.  Erdbeere was kind enough to indulge me on that ride. That involved some mechanical difficulties that we had to deal with, that were the result of me still learning the ropes with this new toy.  But we managed and, all in all, had a good ride.

So we've cruised around on our bikes and we've been having lots of fun, near ...

... and far, on old familiar trails and some new ones.

Getting back to some places I haven't been for a while ...

... and some I've been to frequently.  Yes, I even persuaded Brombeere to stop with me at my favorite ice cream shop. 

Yep, I think I'm going to like this new toy, the more and more I ride it and get more familiar with it, the more I like it.  This is going to be good.

The Island

Some time back I learned of a place called Terrell's Island.  It's a cool trail on the west side of Lake Butte des Morts so, of course, it went on the list until I could find a time to take my bike out there and ride it.  The trail is maintained by a non-profit organization that works to preserve and maintain the natural habitat in and around Lake Butte des Morts.  One of the things the group did many years ago was to build a causeway out into the lake on the west side, making a circle that ran for three or four miles and came back around to nearly the same place, enclosing a large body of water within the causeway.  Out in about the  middle of the causeway a small bridge was built so that the causeway doesn't completely isolate the water inside from the rest of the lake.  A trail was made along the causeway that is open to anyone that wants to walk or bike it, allowing the viewing of the flora and fauna living and growing in the area.  Pretty cool, actually.  We were looking for something to do that might interest our oldest grandchild, Blaubeere's oldest, and decided to suggest a bike ride that took in the trail at Terrell's Island.  He was game so that's what we did.

We drove to Omro, the nearest community, and parked at one of the city parks there and then rode our bikes the few miles out to the island. 

That all went well until I missed a turn about half way there.  We went quite a ways beyond that before I realized my error and then we had to go back, so that missed corner added a little over three miles to the trip.  Ah, well - that happens.  But finally we arrived at the entrance to the island.

The original plan had been to ride to the island and then all the way around the trial and back to the park.  But we met the general manager who told us quite a bit about the island and its history.  One of the things he mentioned was that the group had decided a couple of years ago that the causeway was disrupting the natural habitat more than it was helping so they had decided to take the causeway out.  They had actually begun last year so the trail no longer went in a complete circle around like it used to.  They had quit maintaining it and actually removed a section so it was no longer possible to go all the way around, even on foot, much less on bicycle.  That was disappointing to learn but we decided to go out to the bridge anyway.

We had to go in a clock-wise direction, the trail only went about a quarter mile beyond the bridge.  So we started out.  There were all kinds of wild flowers growing up on either side of the trail.

We came to an area where a whole bunch of lily pads were growing. with lotus flowers growing up just above the pads.  I've never seen such a large field of lily pads.

The lotus flowers growing up out of the pads were really pretty.

They really are a pretty flower.  Normally they come in all kinds of colors but these were all white.

I had heard there were pelicans around the lake so I was hoping we'd get to see some.  Boy, did we see some.  Thousands of pelicans and lots and lots of cormorants, as well.

The general manager had told us that when the group first started up there were only a few nesting pair of pelicans.  They decided they wanted to encourage the population, which was one of the reasons the causeway had been built.  

But now, 30 years later, the area can no longer sustain the population at the size it's grown to.  Like many other animals, pelicans return to where they were born to have their own babies, so each year the population has grown until now they're killing many of the other birds and plants because there are just so many of them.  That's one of the reasons the causeway is being taken out. 

Anyway, we finally reached the bridge.

The bridge was our "turn around point", since it's no longer possible to keep going all the way around.

So we stopped for a couple of pictures.

Then we headed back the way we came.

Oh, yeah.  There were plenty of seagulls, too.  This guy was the keeper of the bridge.  He stood there on the piling the whole time we were there, keeping an eye on us.

We made it back in good time, no missed turns this time.  Braumbeere's counter said we did 15 miles.  Yeah, a few of those were unplanned, but it was pretty country and a nice time.  Even in the heat, it was a nice ride.  We got to spend some grandbaby time and I got to cross off another one from my "bucket list".  A good ride, indeed!