Travellin' man

I've been visiting my brother in Colorado this week. It's always nice to spend time with him and his family. He's a considerate and generous host (I belong to the "skipped sibling" group in that situation). I arrived on monday afternoon and we spent the afternoon and evening shooting the shit and relaxing. Tuesday we took care of a few chores and then a couple of my other siblings arrived and it got much louder (these two make me look like a monk who's taken a vow of silence). Wednesday we did some more chores and then drove down to Littleton, about 40 miles of bad traffic from Longmont, to partake in a short wedding rehearsal and a longer rehearsal dinner. We got back to my brother's house at about 10:00 PM and there were more siblings and in-laws there. Everybody else sat around yakking for a while but I was feeling out of sorts and decided to go to bed. About fifteen minutes after I got in bed I was offering obeisance to the circular file and then the porcelain god. First time I've puked since my thirties, but my belly was trying to make up for lost time. Food poisoning, for the second time, at a family wedding. Last time I wound up in the hospital--the night before my goddaughter's wedding--and missed everything. That was not an option this time as I was the photographer of record. Thank the universe for immodium and GatorAde. The wedding was wonderful--two nice kids getting married, tons of screaming little ones, lots of nice adults, a notable absence of fuckheads and assholes. I was feeling pretty crappy but it all worked out. Lots of fun, some great photos and family time with everybody. Yesterday was a 65th b'day party for my sister, Fran. That was majorly fun, too, as my sister Pat is the MC (Mistress of Ceremonies) and that girl likes to engineer the fun. I woke up this morning feeling a bit better and spent a lot of the day burning a bunch of CD's and DVD's for all the sibs and other interested parties. Then I took a short ride up to Estes Park, looked at the mountains, watched a variety of ground squirrels and chipmunks scamperingf around--while thinking truly evil thoughts about them and their treerat brethren and came back to my brother's place. Another smaller gathering just got going here (only 25 people) and I gotta go mingle--more later... The photos of the pre-wedding, wedding and post-wedding festivities were a hit with all parties concerned, which makes me very happy. These family functions are always "pig out" events but, due to my recent technicolor yawn experience I looked at each piece of food before I put it on my plate, thinking all the while, HWJFIHHTWTCBU? (How Would Jesus Feel If He Had To Watch This Come Back Up?)--rimshot! Hey, I'll be here all week, try the veal--but make damned sure it's been cooked to an internal temperature of 160 degrees, capice?