Friends, orchids, and a taste of summer

When I was about 7 or so, I remember my brother David with his friends. They played so differently than I did with my friends. When they got together, they didn't play make-believe superheroes, or play with toys - they talked. And they laughed and joked. I wanted to be like them, but I didn't know what to say. As I got older, I learned to have fun just talking, though I still get a kick out of playing make-believe superheroes!

It seems more evident than ever now. We love having people over and pouring a glass of wine (or in the case of Friday night, limeade for our pregnant friend) and just talking for hours, letting the conversation meander aimlessly and interestingly. It's one of the real pleasures we've enjoyed as we've made more adult friends out here.

Saturday was Katherine's boss's wedding. After his wife's death, he was so despondent. We were really worried about him. He found support in the friendship of a fellow orchid lover from San Diego, and quicker than he probably wanted, they fell in love. Though they've dated long distance, Saturday they exchanged vows in a charming ceremony that was neither too pompous, nor too simple. By the way, for anyone wanting to know some gorgeous flowers for a wedding...orchids. I'm sure they're expensive, but they were lovely.

After going to bed to rain Friday night, we all happily sweated out what was hopefully the first day of summer. As Katherine talked science with all her labmates, I talked photography with one of the post-doc's husbands. We compared cameras and swapped lenses back and forth, both making each other jealous. He liked my wide angle, and I had fun with his telephoto.

I have my own telephoto on the way (crossing my fingers). I'm crossing my fingers because I ordered it on the internet...used...from some guy I've never met...or even talked to...on a message board. Okay, it seemed like a good idea at the time. I'm sure he'll email me any day to let me know that he has shipped the lens I already payed him for. It's an 80-400mm. My camera has a magnification factor of 1.6, giving me an effective telephoto up to 640mm. That's a lot. It's so much that I have to stabilize it on a tripod or monopod to keep it from shaking. But it means I can get really close to that bird or bear or mountain lion without actually getting close. (I'm excited, can you tell?)

Saturday night, we had a romantic dinner and indulged ourselves in a bit of wine...which meant that we got started a bit later than we wanted to Sunday, so our plans were a bit more subdued than we had hoped for. With the weather nearly perfect, we had though of going down to Santa Cruz to see the butterfly migration, but there was not enough time. And we definitely didn't want to partake of the Russian River Wine Barrel Tasting Tour! So we drove down to Stanford and walked around a bit, and Kat got her garden started.

All in all, it was a good weekend, and of course, it wouldn't be a postcard without a picture or a few.