The wedding was quaint. The bride wore a bright orange Chinese silk print dress with slits up to there, hair died to match, a flaming sea of orange offsetting a bright blue flower. Her daughter, the beautiful Ute, in a complimenting blue silk two piece, looked almost ornamental – like jewelry – between the two. It was her day too. The wedding reception would double as her first birthday party.
We arrived fashionably late, which was right on time. We took a row boat onto Stow Lake and Ed complained about the ballast of the boat and rowed as Secret Agent Dog and I diligently spied ducks and harbored knowing thoughts about the nearness of the reeds and our captains steering abilities. While I was told to provide steering direction he resisted instruction. We arrived, however, as I say, fashionably late, which was right on time.
They were wed in the Chinese Pagoda on Stow Lake – some constellation of guests convened with their string quartet to watch and serenade from inside the pagoda. Other’s like myself, Ed and Secret Agent Dog arrived by row or paddle boat and were aquatic onlookers to the event.
The reception and birthday party was celebrated as pot luck barbeque in a field with a tent in Golden Gate Park. The entertainment was an accordion player, dressed in a rainbow colored house dress, doing very bad drag in tribute to Julia Childs, who’d occasionally burst into Aerosmith covers. Ed manned the grill, taking great pride in cooking the groom’s steak.
We sat on the big green fleece blanket I’d taken from the sofa, along with Secret’s Mustard-colored fleece throw, ate food, played with Ms. Honey Bee, and chatted with the various guests who’d come our way. It was much warmer there on the lawn than it was under the big white tent which housed the lion’s share of the guests and the wedding party. There was a handful of us who scattered across lawn and took in what warmth the sun offered through the fog which hung high over the City, which means it wasn’t so damp or cold as a typical summer day in San Francisco.
