checking storm damage

We're back home and working on unpacking our stuff and a bunch of Emily's belongings, as well as catching up on various chores and wishing my daughter Charis a very happy birthday!

There are piles of branches all over Albion, but otherwise the storm damage seems mostly cleaned up and not too bad except for in the Rose Hill Cemetery, which has full sized trees down all over the place (pictures will follow later). I'm no expert, but it doesn't look like straight line wind damage to me ...

We drove out of town yesterday and on the way went through Hurricane, Indiana, which is the little town that much of Storm Chaser is set in. I told Emily I wanted to check on storm damage, but as I expected there was none -- since Hurricane doesn't exist in real life. It is, however, in a real place; there just aren't any buildings there. The only weather related activity I saw in the area was standing water in a location where the Hurricane Books & Bait building would stand, if there was such a building ... their basement must have flooded. :-)

I'm considering posting little hints, to see if local people can figure out where I set my fictional small town. The only problem is, the answer would be anticlimactic.

Jon and Lisa's wedding -- some half decent photos

'Cause everybody loves weddings, right? This was the wedding of Jon Munger and Lisa Jett, which took place in Sikeston, Missouri, on a day when the weather cooled down to a balmy 95 degrees with 70% humidity. Yes, the church was air conditioned.

I had my little digital camera, and originally sat at the back of the church with a notebook and pen, because I wanted to work on a novel idea Emily and I are developing. A half hour before the ceremony a line of elderly ladies sat down with me and enquired about what I was doing, and in the ensuing conversation I lost track of time and ended up staying there through the ceremony.

This seems to have gained me at least one sale, as the ladies wrote down my name and the title of Storm Chaser and promised they would keep an eye out for it come fall and winter. As for the idea I was scribbling notes for, they were satisfied by the description "romantic comedy" ... which was good, because I didn't want to tell them we were designing a rather satirical sex farce set in a nudist colony.

( My best pic of the ceremony )

There was, naturally, a party the night before the wedding. Apparently there's a Girl Scout thing about building big fires. Lisa, the bride, and Emily, the maid of honor, were both Camp Latonka Scouts. In this photo Rob, the groomsman, realizes he's parked a garden tractor too close to what he probably assumed would be a normal sized camp fire.
( disaster almost strikes )

Lisa does the traditional "Why do I have to get married? I didn't do anything wrong." dance around the fire. ( Interestingly, no alcohol had been consumed. )

Rob tries to put the fire out. We weren't planning to roast wieners tonight, Rob.
( Read more... )

The next morning Emily the maid of honor got her hair curled. Can't pass up that photo op.
( Second handsomest couple there )

Here at the reception are at least most of the Camp Latonka Girl Scout crew that made the wedding. Sitting are Wendy, bride Lisa, Maid of Honor Emily (also known as Sunny), and Tra. Stand are, um ... all the rest of them.
( This was originally a table shot and I was in the middle, but had to squirm out when the Scouts started gathering. )

The bride and groom. His eyes are fairly glowing with happiness, or maybe it was the heat.
( Thought I forgot them, didn't you? )

That's Claire the flower girl signing the guest book. She did such a great job that Emily and I are thinking of drafting her to flower up our wedding.
( Sign here, please )

That's it, except for one last view of Emily's Latonka crew getting together. The short one's my girl.
( You should hear their war cry. )