What a weekend.

Mark Hipkins and Deb McMahon had a wonderful wedding here on Friday – albeit hot! These two are such wonderful and fun people and they deserve all the happiness in the world. Congratulations guys on a wonderful day and thank you for including me and the parish in your plans.

Saturday saw a convoy of vocalist, musicians, preachers and friends from St. Mark’s by-the-Lake travel to Burlington, ON for a big event. Andrea Byrne married Phil Morosin. Our church music director had a brilliant wedding. The music was excellent. I could not have been prouder of our choir who showed with great class their giftedness and their skill.  The music was played by Angus Sinclair – as far as I am concerned the Best in the Diocese of Huron and beyond. Angus shared with me his delight at being a part of such a great musical celebration. He was so impressed with the choir and their knowledge and remarked that it is a real testimony to Andrea and what she has been able to do with them since coming to St. Mark’s in 1999.

Andrea was radiant. None of us were surprised that she made a beautiful bride – she after all a beautiful person. All of us from the church were so proud of her and so happy to be involved in her special day. I was honoured to preach at the wedding which was held at Holy Rosary Catholic Church. Phil was, as well, dapper and handsome and was full of love for, and pride in his bride. They were the perfect hosts and made certain to be present to each and every person at the wedding.

The dinner cannot be described in words alone. It was a feast of great proportions. It included two different pastas, a wonderful salad, Chicken Florentine, wild rice, Prime Rib, roasted potatoes,  wonderful vegetables, a to die for chocolate waffle desert bowl, and…oh… did I mention that before dinner there was a antipasto bar with mussels marinara, smoked salmon, roasted peppers, and on and on. There was a lot of food. In fact on the way into the wedding we walked through a load of people in the lobby – they were serving sushi – Catherinanne and I enjoyed it very much. Trouble was – it was another wedding. I am not sure which of us was starring in the role of Owen Wilson and which was Vince Vaughn – but we discovered that we were crashing a Portuguese wedding.  I almost went back at midnight when they were serving late night lobster. I did hear that Andrea’s brother and a friend ending up in a wedding photo with the bride at that wedding! I’m not sure if they got lobster or not!

It was a great night and we all offer our congratulations and best wishes to Andrea and Phil as well as our thanks for a great time and a wonderful evening. Many thanks as well to the Portuguese family for the fine sushi.

The best part of all was having Saturday and Sunday with Catherinanne who as been away for over two weeks. We met there for the wedding and we enjoyed ourselves immensely. The Hornby’s and the George’s were among those who closed out the wedding on Saturday evening and man can Dave Hornby do the twist!  We were treated to our first IKEA experience on Sunday with our tour guides, Dave, Lynne, and Allyson Hornby! It is quite the spot. The tour was supposed to be free but somehow or another it ended up costing us. We went to the 5 PM Mass at the Catholic Cathedral of Christ the King (The big Church you wee when you enter Hamilton from the West) It is a gorgeous church. And – Air condition. The priest began his homily by saying how great it was to have air conditioning. It remarked that it is possible “because of modern technology and a generous benefactor.” I was able to visit with Catherinanne on Sunday and we parted ways again for one more week. As my Nan used to say “Meeting is pleasure but parting is sorrow!”  Many thanks to Geoff for taking both Sunday morning Masses yesterday – It was a great gift to Catherinanne and I.

Well – I think I’ll go out and see how hot it is! Summer in south western Ontario has arrived – It is going to hit the high 30s.