A Valentine wedding

A gay one.

This picture adorns perhaps half of the front page today of my daily read.

The two chaps in picture were married yesterday in a beach ceremony followed by a reception at a popular beach resort.

Having read through the usual ‘happy day’ quotes along with a few other details of the day the final paragraphs made me sit up..

“Our new surname will be Smith van der Berg, because we wanted to combine the two family bloodlines.

“Why should either of our surnames be lost?” Smith said.

And what are they most looking forward to as a married couple? “Starting a family. “We are past the party stage and seriously looking forward to starting a family.

“We have started with our practice child Alfred [the dog], who was our ring-bearer at the wedding,” they said.

(I’ve changed the surnames out of respect for their privacy)

The first idea is sometimes the best.

Returning from our boat trip in late last Summer, I only half seriously suggested we should take the boat to the Bahamas for the winter.
Well one thing led to another and the idea was shelved for 2013.  The winter here has been brutal, record cold and record snow, another 8 inches overnight.
To this worker in the wilderness that trip does not seem quite so crazy today.

Snow 2s

A coup, per chance?

I decided on my way back from work today to launch a coup. No, not a coup d’état or even a chicken coup. This is a photo contest coup. As our cherished lupine colleague is otherwise pre-occupied for all the best reasons, I have gathered some Dutch courage and propose serving as a judge for a photo contest.

The revolutionary photo contest committee has elected to propose a topic of aesthetically pleasing buildings. Large or small, old or new — so long as the photographer finds the building attractive, it counts. The deadline is 4 March at midnight, GMT.