Good Night Irene

Several friends have very kindly been inquiring about my family and how they survived Hurrican Irene. I'm happy to report that everyone is safe and sound and that they largely avoided even the minor inconveniences of power outages, downed tree limbs, and basement flooding.

That is not to say that Staten Island was unscathed. These pictures from The Staten Island Advance show that there was quite a bit of localized flooding, especially on our South Shore of the Island.

There were also any number of downed trees and power lines. Still, it seems that the worst case scenarios were thankfully avoided. Here in DC that is certainly the case. In Bethesda there were spotty power outages, but little to no flooding.

Let's hope that we can go a week or two without another natural calamity! And may the next weather event involve snow!!

Matthew & Christine's Wedding: The Wedding Day

On the morning of the wedding, Matthew's groomsmen gathered at our house for the finishing touches on their tuxes, and for the traditional photographs . . . 

. . . then it was up to Queen of Peace for the Wedding Mass.  Obviously, I don't have many pictures of that, as I was kind of busy - but it was a great privilege and joy to celebrate the Sacraments for Matthew and Christine, and to do so in the church that has meant so much to our family. Here, the happy couple are photographed outside the church with their wedding party . . .

The party then moved to New Jersey, not far from where Matthew and Christine met. The Eagle Oaks Country Club provided a lovely setting both outdoors and in. And although it was hot in the sun, it was a  really lovely day, especially considering what could have come our way that time of year. Waiting for the wedding party to arrive, there was time for cocktails and pictures with family . . .

And then we ate, drank, danced and laughed the night away . . .

It was especially fun for us all to celebrate with so many of the aunts, uncles, and cousins present, since it is so hard to bring us all together as everyone grows up and moves away. Here's to hoping there are lots more fun family functions in the months and years ahead!

Matthew & Christine's Wedding: The Rehearsal Dinner

It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks, so I've fallen behind on posts about my summer adventures.  The top adventure of the summer was, of course, my brother's wedding.  I had the honor and pleasure of marrying Matthew and Christine on July 30th at my home parish, Our Lady Queen of Peace.  A few nights earlier, we gathered for the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner . . .

. . . which was my first opportunity to spend time with Christine's family, especially her younger siblings - including Louis and Joseph, seen below. It was a great joy to spend time with the Ciceros and to think of the many family functions that will follow in the coming years.

The evening included several wonderful surprises.  The first was a cake that Christine had made for Matthew in the shape of a New York Police cruiser . . .

The second were the matching watches that Matthew and Christine gave as gifts to their parents, and to their presiding priest (me!). Here, Mr. Cicero employs his skills as a jeweler assisting dad with his watch.

It was very clear, even from the start of the rehearsal evening, that we were in for a terrifically fun wedding weekend . . .

Move - Learn - Eat

Thanks to a Facebook post by my cousin, Tim, I came across these videos today:

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

LEARN from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

EAT from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

How cool are these videos! Don't they beautifully capture the adventure and wonder of the world around us? They certainly give me a bad case of wanderlust!!

Birthday Cocktails

Back from Colorado, I spent the larger portion of July continuing my work with Catholic Boy Magazine, and especially studying French in order to pass a reading proficiency exam. Praise God, that objective was achieved on Bastille Day, of all days, and I was doubly ready to celebrate the weekend of my birthday.

It was my first birthday in our nation's capital, and the newly-married Mr. and Mrs. Smith were kind enough to organize a gathering of CUA friends to celebrate.  We gathered for fish and chips at Eamon's Chipper in Alexandria, VA - and the fish and chips were very good indeed. The deep fried Snickers Bar might have been even better! But the main attraction came just after dinner, and right upstairs from the restaurant ...

We were really in the Old Dominion to have cocktails at PX. I first learned of the place from an Imbibe Magazine article but Seth and Mary were already familiar with this speakeasy style cocktail lounge. Just around the corner from Eamon's, an otherwise ordinary brownstone entrance is marked with a blue lamp.

With a ring of the door bell, and a check of the reservations list, we were ushered upstairs to the lounge,

where we enjoyed a number of fascinating concoctions.  Both the setting and the menu at PX reminded me of the Secret Society Lounge in Portland - and the company was similarly delightful.