More photographs and marriage
Because one does not document a marriage with only one entry! Plus, we went honeymooning afterwards. Various technical problems (computer refusing to read CDs and a lost/stolen camera, mainly) have prevented me from providing the range of photographs I would have liked, but my father kindly emailed me the pictures he took, so I provide you here with a slideshow of sorts that resembles what an ideal world would have allowed me to exhibit.
What happens if you go to the Alameda County Clerk's Office to get married is an encounter with a system very similar to the DMV. Daniel and I went up to the main desk, showed our marriage license, and got a number (W304. Imagine, if you can, an image of us happily displaying our slip with a number on it in front of a board displaying which numbers are now being served. The image exists on a CD right by my elbow, which my computer has decided it no longer reads.) After a while, which we spent taking pictures in the lobby (few of which turned out well), the number was called and we went up to a little desk to sign paperwork and present our witnesses. We had my sister and Daniel's brother serve as witnesses, but they did not need any identification or anything, so I imagine some bum on the street would also have worked*. We did the signatures, and were then sent out into the lobby to wait again**. Eventually the deputy marriage commissioner in a black robe called our names and brought us up to a little room with some benches, which was unexceptional except for a little area in a corner that was all prettied up, I assume for the purpose of photographs. The picture below shows the extent of the little area, as well as the deputy marriage commisioner, and the standard-issue window coverings on the walls of the rest of the standard-issue room. Oh, yes--it also shows Daniel and me being married.
This next picture shows us outside. Note the pretty rings on our hands.
After the marriage we went to Muir Woods, where we ate the pie referred to in the last entry. Here is a picture of us cutting it. Notice the pretty ring on my finger.
We then took a nice stroll on a pretty path/boardwalk through the woods, where apparently we stopped to take pictures, although I do not remember much of that. Note the pretty ring on Daniel's finger.
We also found a banana slug in a tree, which is unusual, considering how dry it has been recently. They like it wet, so I don't know how it kept itself moist, but it seemed to be healthy enough to scoot out of sight before my mother could arrive so I could show it to her. I feel her appreciation for banana slugs is not quite what it should be, so I try to expose her to them whenever I get the chance. Have you ever seen one? Here's a banana slug we saw in Big Basin State Park, near Santa Cruz:
Anyway, getting back to the post-wedding stroll: At one point, Daniel had us do a reading of a story called "Happiness in Marriage." I cannot find the text of it online--otherwise I'd link to it--but the idea is that a poor, unschooled porter rejects the religious leaders' description of heaven as a place where a wife is a man's footstool, and instead insists that his wife will sit next to him at an equal level, and God will just have to put up with it. It's a sweet story, and if you want to read it, it can be found in a book of Yiddish stories by I. L. Peretz, translated into English by Daniel's late 1st cousin twice removed, Eli Katz, who lived right down the street from us until he died last year of a stroke.
Then we went to Muir Beach for a little more strolling, although the beach was less than picturesque, because apparently it was the time of year (or maybe simply of tide) when jellyfish wash up on the shore in extraordinarily large numbers. All those little specks behind us on the sand are jellyfish. This will also be the last picture, because at this point I was tired and a bit overwrought, and insisted that I would not pose for any other picture until I'd sat down and had a cup of tea.
So we returned to Berkeley and I had my cup of tea in my parents-in-law's (!) hotel room, shortly after which my parents (Daniel's in-law!) arrived and we all had champagne. Then we went to Chez Panisse--the downstairs, for which a reservation had to be called in exactly a month in advance, which is the earliest they take reservations, and even then the fact that the call was made in the afternoon instead of the morning meant that the only seating available was for 9:00 PM--where we had a very yummy meal. In particular the spinach was fabulous, and since my mother does not like spinach, I got hers as well. Then we all went home and slept.
The rest of the week was spent moving, as I described below, and that Saturday we left for our honeymoon/Daniel's birthday trip. Another entry will follow, with images taken from other people's websites, since our camera went missing at the campgrounds. This is a great pity, for Daniel has had it for six years and it still works perfectly, which is unusual with electronic devices. But since I do not want to end on a sad note, I will instead add a bonus image of the marriage, which I particularly like. The hair on the left belongs to my mother:
*Furthermore, on our pretty little marriage certificate which we received afterwards, the witnesses' addresses were so absurdly wrong that I cannot imagine how they could have come up with information so faulty. Fortunately, on the actual legal documents that matter, everything was correct.
**I will take this moment to point out that while we were waiting we saw the lesbian couple ahead of us get called in, and as we were finishing up we saw the gay couple after us waiting for their appointment to be married. This made us very happy, and if any Californians are reading this, allow me to encourage you strongly to strike down that ridiculous proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage this November.
What happens if you go to the Alameda County Clerk's Office to get married is an encounter with a system very similar to the DMV. Daniel and I went up to the main desk, showed our marriage license, and got a number (W304. Imagine, if you can, an image of us happily displaying our slip with a number on it in front of a board displaying which numbers are now being served. The image exists on a CD right by my elbow, which my computer has decided it no longer reads.) After a while, which we spent taking pictures in the lobby (few of which turned out well), the number was called and we went up to a little desk to sign paperwork and present our witnesses. We had my sister and Daniel's brother serve as witnesses, but they did not need any identification or anything, so I imagine some bum on the street would also have worked*. We did the signatures, and were then sent out into the lobby to wait again**. Eventually the deputy marriage commissioner in a black robe called our names and brought us up to a little room with some benches, which was unexceptional except for a little area in a corner that was all prettied up, I assume for the purpose of photographs. The picture below shows the extent of the little area, as well as the deputy marriage commisioner, and the standard-issue window coverings on the walls of the rest of the standard-issue room. Oh, yes--it also shows Daniel and me being married.
This next picture shows us outside. Note the pretty rings on our hands.
After the marriage we went to Muir Woods, where we ate the pie referred to in the last entry. Here is a picture of us cutting it. Notice the pretty ring on my finger.
We then took a nice stroll on a pretty path/boardwalk through the woods, where apparently we stopped to take pictures, although I do not remember much of that. Note the pretty ring on Daniel's finger.
We also found a banana slug in a tree, which is unusual, considering how dry it has been recently. They like it wet, so I don't know how it kept itself moist, but it seemed to be healthy enough to scoot out of sight before my mother could arrive so I could show it to her. I feel her appreciation for banana slugs is not quite what it should be, so I try to expose her to them whenever I get the chance. Have you ever seen one? Here's a banana slug we saw in Big Basin State Park, near Santa Cruz:
Anyway, getting back to the post-wedding stroll: At one point, Daniel had us do a reading of a story called "Happiness in Marriage." I cannot find the text of it online--otherwise I'd link to it--but the idea is that a poor, unschooled porter rejects the religious leaders' description of heaven as a place where a wife is a man's footstool, and instead insists that his wife will sit next to him at an equal level, and God will just have to put up with it. It's a sweet story, and if you want to read it, it can be found in a book of Yiddish stories by I. L. Peretz, translated into English by Daniel's late 1st cousin twice removed, Eli Katz, who lived right down the street from us until he died last year of a stroke.
Then we went to Muir Beach for a little more strolling, although the beach was less than picturesque, because apparently it was the time of year (or maybe simply of tide) when jellyfish wash up on the shore in extraordinarily large numbers. All those little specks behind us on the sand are jellyfish. This will also be the last picture, because at this point I was tired and a bit overwrought, and insisted that I would not pose for any other picture until I'd sat down and had a cup of tea.
So we returned to Berkeley and I had my cup of tea in my parents-in-law's (!) hotel room, shortly after which my parents (Daniel's in-law!) arrived and we all had champagne. Then we went to Chez Panisse--the downstairs, for which a reservation had to be called in exactly a month in advance, which is the earliest they take reservations, and even then the fact that the call was made in the afternoon instead of the morning meant that the only seating available was for 9:00 PM--where we had a very yummy meal. In particular the spinach was fabulous, and since my mother does not like spinach, I got hers as well. Then we all went home and slept.
The rest of the week was spent moving, as I described below, and that Saturday we left for our honeymoon/Daniel's birthday trip. Another entry will follow, with images taken from other people's websites, since our camera went missing at the campgrounds. This is a great pity, for Daniel has had it for six years and it still works perfectly, which is unusual with electronic devices. But since I do not want to end on a sad note, I will instead add a bonus image of the marriage, which I particularly like. The hair on the left belongs to my mother:
*Furthermore, on our pretty little marriage certificate which we received afterwards, the witnesses' addresses were so absurdly wrong that I cannot imagine how they could have come up with information so faulty. Fortunately, on the actual legal documents that matter, everything was correct.
**I will take this moment to point out that while we were waiting we saw the lesbian couple ahead of us get called in, and as we were finishing up we saw the gay couple after us waiting for their appointment to be married. This made us very happy, and if any Californians are reading this, allow me to encourage you strongly to strike down that ridiculous proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage this November.