I missed Garden Bloggers Bloom Day because for most of the week leading up to it I was on the East Coast, in Providence, R.I., for my son Iain's wedding. So instead of trying to play catch-up and post for GBBD, I'm just going to share my happy, albeit hectic, week. There's not much flowering in my garden right now anyway, other than very wet and wind-blown Echinacea purpurea and Sedum Autumn Joy. I came home at the end of Happy Wedding Week to gale-force winds and rain, strange weather more suited to later in the season.
I found some flowers in Providence, I'll show you those. But I'll also start with plants.
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| This was my airplane carry-on -- a tote bag full of potted starts for my son and new DIL's garden |
We arrived on Tuesday afternoon and met with Iain and Diana for dinner,
and then on Wednesday afternoon they took us to Newport, R.I. to wander
around the shops on the waterfront. We were still having a hard time
getting acclimated to the new time zone, and in fact, never really did,
we were still falling asleep around 2 a.m. the night before we came
home. I also didn't take a lot of photos of the wedding, I just wanted to
enjoy being with the two of them, plus Nigel and I had to meet all of
Diana's family, which, as you can imagine, was pretty stressful for two
old introverts who rarely talk about anything other than gardens (me) and computers (Nigel). Therefore, there are photos in this post that will be attributed to others.
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| A small park and old church next door to our hotel in Providence |
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| At our afternoon meal (I wasn't sure whether it was lunch or dinner, since my time sense was all off), my son Iain made us all laugh with his version of Mr. Napkin Head from the movie The Holiday |
On Thursday morning, rather than continuing to eat at the somewhat disappointing hotel restaurant, Nigel and I ventured down the street for breakfast at a little cafe called
Ellie's, for lattes and breakfast sandwiches.
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| The interior of Ellie's |
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| Breakfast |
On Thursday was the actual "paperwork" wedding of Iain and Diana, at the North Providence Town Hall, officiated by a justice of the peace. The celebratory wedding, which was scheduled for Saturday, was going to be officiated by a friend of Diana's, who was not actually licensed in Rhode Island. So to get the paperwork correctly filed, they decided to have essentially two weddings. The one on Thursday in front of the J.P. was attended only by Nigel and I, Diana's parents, and Diana's sister Julia.
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| As you can see from the expression on Diana's face, she's a weeper, but she's also very much a keeper |
On Friday evening, after the wedding rehearsal for the bigger celebration set to take place on Saturday, Nigel and I hosted a get-to-know-you party for all the people who had arrived from out of town for the big formal reception (Diana's family are all from Long Island).
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| Nigel and Brad, one of Iain's "groomsfolk," a good friend from Iain's high school days, at the Friday rehearsal party (photo by 2 1/2-year old Arzu, one of the flower girls) |
On Saturday morning Nigel and I went for a walk around Providence.
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| I like this mural of a young girl opening a magical door |
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| And this one, of a young man tossing a ring in the air, seemed appropriate |
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| This art deco building in downtown Providence is called the Superman building because of its resemblance to the Daily Planet building in the original Superman comic books |
We walked along the river that runs through the city, where preparations were underway for a city-wide celebration called
WaterFire, set to take place that evening.
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| Those braziers full of wood would be set ablaze, but we wouldn't be there to see them as we would be at the wedding |
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| Another Providence mural |
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| Barges full of wood and a gondola |
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| Along the riverfront, art with the city as a backdrop |
Of course I managed to find a little pocket garden near the river.
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| There were large swaths of Rudbeckia |
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| As well as lots of tall sunflowers |
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| This building captured my imagination |
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| Plant City was apparently a vegetarian market - we didn't bother to go closer for a better look |
Providence recently built and opened a new bow-shaped pedestrian walkway across the river, that makes use of old bridge pylons. Read about it
here.
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| Providence's new pedestrian bridge |
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| View of the city from the bridge |
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| On one side are tiered planters full of grasses that were blowing in the wind |
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| I spotted Miscanthus, Panicum, Calamagrostis, and I think the short, pinkish tufted grass is Eragrostis |
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| At the other end of the bridge was a large concrete walkway with island beds |
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| I'm pretty sure they were intended as rain gardens, as they all dipped in the center, and although the plants on the edges were not especially moisture-loving, the ones in the depression in the center, such as Lobelia cardinalis, were |
In the evening we headed out in our rental car to the reception hall at the Meehan Overlook in North Providence.
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| Flower Girl RaeLynn and Bridesfolk, Diana's sister Abby |
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| Second Flower Girl Arzu, holding up a mask of Diana, created by one of Arzu's moms, one of the Groomsfolk and friend of Iain, Rosalie (who also took the photo) |
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| Here's adorable Arzu in her dress (photo by Rosalie) |
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| Arzu playing with bubbles (photo by Rosalie) |
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| Arzu's favorite greeting -- "I have a dress!" (photo by Rosalie) |
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| Nigel and Arzu, who took a liking to each other (photo by Rosalie) -- the bandaids are adornment |
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| Iain looking quite dapper |
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| Arzu calls him "Uncle Iain" |
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| Diana and her mini-me Arzu -- Diana's simple bouquet was made of flowers from her garden |
Arzu's second mom, Elnara, is from Azerbaijan. Arzu's name in Azerbaijani means "wish" or "dream."
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| My sister and her husband holding up bride and groom masks |
After the wedding came Bridesfolk and Groomsfolk speeches. To Nigel's relief he wasn't called upon to speak. Iain's good friends who have all known him since high school shared funny and at times heart-warming stories of life with Iain. The last ten years have had their ups and downs and I'm so glad he has had such good friends for support back east.
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| Brad's speech included a funny story about Halloween, always one of Iain's favorite holidays |
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| Scott told a story about being part of an underground newspaper in high school that was Iain's brainchild |
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| For some reason I didn't get a photo of Rosalie's speechifying, but I did take a photo of her from Friday night's party |
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| Diana (center) and her sisters/Bridesfolk, Abby (left) and Julia (right) (photo by Diana) |
There are (fortunately) no photos of me, I'm not much of a selfie-taker. But for the wedding I did make a fun little fascinator. I bought a witch hat from Michael's last year at Halloween, which I altered by adding some colorful feathers and a flower with a battery-powered fiber-optic center that lit up.
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| Brave soul Nigel models my fascinator |
After a brief visit to Iain and Diana's house on Sunday morning to say good-bye, we headed to Boston's Logan Airport Hilton for one last overnight stay before boarding our plane for home.
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| View from the Hilton |
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| The shore of Lake Ontario from our plane |
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| The opposite shore of Lake Ontario |
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| Finally, the welcome sight of Mt. Rainier as it rises above the clouds |
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| Lake Washington as our plane descends into SeaTac airport |
Of course, now I am still jet-lagged despite never acclimating to East Coast time. It was a stressful, exhilarating week full of meeting new people, eating at odd times, etc. Nigel was back at work the very next day and we still haven't caught up on our sleep. Maybe by the weekend we'll get that chance.
