I've got you, babe
I would like to personally meet and congratulate the advertising copywriter who came up with the tagline life comes at you fast.
Does it ever.
We are currently in the throes of a wedding year, and believe me when I say, if you had told me six months ago that that would be the case, I would have said you had had too much eggnog.
Be that as it may, our beloved Audrey is engaged to be married.
Family tree
Our entire family met Mike on New Year's Eve of 2023. He came over for festive nibbles and friendly chatter on New Year's Day.
Within two weeks, he and Audrey were an item.
They became serious pretty quickly.
A trip to Paris took place the first week in May, during which Audrey and Dagny met Mike's adult children. Mike is a widower whose wife of thirty-one years passed away in 2020.
She's a leggy one
Then, on June first, Mike proposed and they became engaged.
The wedding date is November eighth.
Our heads are full of happy plans.
Being a shutterbug and wanting to memorialize this never-to-come-again time, I suggested an engagement photo shoot.
It took place last Thursday, at the Horseshoe in downtown Columbia.
With this ring
This is a beautiful location for taking pictures, and we've used it several times. There are the Greek houses and numbers of small courtyards with fountains and rose gardens.
There are live oaks and historic buildings, masses of beautiful flowers, and lots of space to walk and to pose.
TG and I got there first, but we hadn't long to wait before Mike and Audrey and Dagny joined us.
Dagny was home schooled this past year, and way back in the fall, Audrey had asked me to take her school picture.
Of course I agreed and I know this will have you scratching your head, but as of last Thursday we had yet to experience the alignment of planets that apparently was necessary to make that happen.
Our Cherica et al
We talked of it many times but there was always some impediment to Dagny and I stealing away, just the two of us, for a photo shoot.
So in planning for last Thursday, I said why don't we get some pictures of Dagny by herself too.
And then Cherica -- Chad, Erica, Rhett, and Baby Elliot a/k/a Skippy -- joined us later, in time for me to get some family shots of them.
Erica is always eager for these, because as you know, family photos are a precious commodity.
One can never have too many of them.
I choose you
I took along my big Nikon with the powerful zoom lens, and I wore it on my person via my BLACKRAPID camera sling.
We hadn't been working for long before I became acutely aware of the prevailing meteorological conditions.
As in, it was approximately five thousand eight-hundred forty degrees, with six-hundred percent humidity.
And, the mosquitoes were biting.
I sent Dagny back to TG, who was sitting on a step near the entrance to the park, looking at his phone.
Pretty girl and pretty flowers
Ask Papaw if he'd go to the car and get my handkerchief out of my purse, I told her.
Why was my hanky not in my pocket -- I had one. A pocket, I mean, but not my hanky. Well, I had a hanky but it was in my purse in the car, which made zero sense.
Ever tried blotting your face on a humid day with a tissue?
It leaves you lint-flecked.
I give you my hand
But I'm the hanky type anyway and I have a whole stack of them, and I always carry a fresh one in my purse. Perfumed and everything.
Since the humidity was causing me to glow exceedingly, I needed to blot my brow with something that was made of cotton.
Soon enough I had my hanky and not long after that, it was damp. The hanky, I mean.
As for the mosquitoes, before long they had decorated my ankles and legs with welts where they had tasted me.
So happy together
Dagny suffered the same fate. Skeeters do not bite TG and Audrey rarely is bothered by them, but even she had some sample bites taken from her ankles.
The critters are fierce and they will be with us until the first frost -- meaning, nearly Christmas.
But we soldiered on and I don't think you can tell that Audrey and Mike were under any kind of duress.
That's because they weren't. Mike is relaxed and Audrey tends to be calm, and they were just happy to be together, anywhere.
They were fun to shoot because they did exactly what I told them and didn't care if I changed my mind mid-sentence, which I sometimes do.
Let's discuss ... I mean kiss
We paused now and then for me to get some shots of Dagny, who will turn ten this Friday and is becoming a young lady.
Where did that darling baby go? If you know, you know.
I was just about done with Maudrey when I spotted Cherica coming towards us, pushing Skippy's stroller.
We posed up near some gorgeous hydrangea bushes -- the colors! -- and took several of the little family.
When I'd done that, and got numbers of them sitting on a low wall in front of one of the mansions, I knew I had had about all I could endure of the heat and humidity combined with what for me is the arduous activity of taking pictures.
She is blossoming
It's one thing to point your phone at someone and quite another to frame the shot with a heavy camera, and to do that a hundred times in an hour.
We had planned to go out all together for our dinner, and I proclaimed that it was time to head in the direction of the restaurant.
All I had had time to eat that day was a handful of walnuts. I was hungry and thirsty.
We made our way to the Vista, which is a section of downtown Columbia along Gervais Street known for restaurants and shops and so forth.
Our destination was Grill Marks, a place we'd never been but were interested in trying.
They were exceedingly friendly and courteous there, and it wasn't long before we were seated in a pleasantly cool area at a table so long, there was room for everyone and then some.
Whither thou goest I will go
I did not take pictures of our food beause we were too busy eating it, but it was delicious. Some had burgers and a few of us had the Hot Honey Chick Plate, which I would highly recommend if you ever find yourself at Grill Marks.
I had a side order of sweet potato fries -- my one weakness, haha -- and they were superb.
We also ordered an appetizer for the table, allowing all of us to sample onion rings and fried pickles and yet more sweet potato fries, with tasty sauces.
All told, we packed a lot of goings-on into about three hours, and when we'd finished supper I was more than ready to go home and kick back.
Our Cubs were playing and TG and I watch the games on MLBTV, with a subscription. Our Cubbies are having a disappointing season so it's a good thing we were tired, and full.
Focused on you
I thought you might enjoy seeing a variety of the pictures I got at our shoot, and I hope that you have.
There are a mere two days until Dagny's birthday party on Friday -- and -- would you believe? -- there is another party BEFORE Dagny's party. As in, tomorrow evening.
I'll tell you all about it in due time.
And that is all for now.
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Happy Wednesday
