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A MOVEABLE FEAST 30 October 2006 The moveable feast finally seems to have come to a stop. After a round of goodbyes today, following brunch, we seem to finally be heading in our separate directions: Lucille and Ernie to the Long Beach airport to catch a flight for D.C., Kayleen off to Boston, Ernest to Denver, Jeri & Phil off to Boston by way of Long Beach, Nora and Kathy to Ireland, Rosemary and Stefan to Denmark, Ned & Marta to Sacramento, us back to Davis, and the honeymooners on their way to Lake Tahoe, leaving the locals to pick up the leftovers, change the sheets on the beds, and put their feet up and relax after all the activity of the past week. Our day started by dropping by Tom and Laurel's to drop off Walt's tux. I also wanted to search for my cell phone, which I still had not found. Ned decided to call me on it and when there was no ringing phone in the house, he went outside to where our car was parked. Pretty soon Walt came in, and handed me my purse, which seemed to be ringing. I found the cell phone and answered the phone message, which was from Ned and said "Mom, your cell phone is in your purse." OK...call me dummy! We now all moved, en masse, to Moby Dick (restaurant), on the Santa Barbara wharf. I had called to reserve a table for 20 for 11 a.m., and we ended up with about 30 people, who began showing up at 10:45. The grizzled old owner (who, we assume, is NOT Captain Ahab, but was about as pleasant) was not at ALL cooperative in accommodating our group with just about anything? Want breakfast? NO! Want separate checks? NO! Want the bill broken at least into two checks? NO! Want an extra table? NO! It made me wonder why this was such a popular spot! But nonetheless, we settled ourselves in as best we could, the "adults" in the big room and the "kids" (Jeri, Phil, Ned, Marta, Tom and Laurel) at a table on the opposite end of the restaurant in a completely different room. Jeri, Ned and I sent each other pictures and text messages throughout the meal. ("Mom! Send me a picture of Alice Nan in her tiara." Click. Photo is on its way.) In a way it was easier than trying to have a conversation with someone at the far end of the table for 25 that the "adults" had! When the meal finally ended we stood around saying goodbye inside the restaurant, and then stood around saying goodbye outside the restaurant when Ahab glared at us for taking up air space we were no longer paying for in the restaurant.
Final (we thought) hugs were finally given and we went our separate ways. I stopped along the boardwalk to take pictures of the display of >2000 crosses set up on the beach to commemorate all the soldiers killed in Iraq, a display which goes up every Sunday morning and comes down every Sunday night (photo supplied when I get home). It's very moving.
Walt and I decided to stop by and see his mother before coming back to Dick and Gerry's house. We opened her door and there sat most of the people we had just spent an hour saying goodbye to at the restaurant. Those who weren't there already soon joined the group and we crowded into Alice's tiny apartment, using chairs, wheelchair, and anything else we could find (short of her bedside commode) to sit on (Alice Nan sat on Joe's lap ... awww).
Grandma was remarkably spry and attentive. We worried that all the activity of the wedding day would have exhausted her, but she seemed quite happy to have all the chatter going on around her.
We stayed longer than we intended, and then stood around saying goodbye to each other again. I waited for Walt to walk some of them over to where Nora and Kathy were staying and when he came back for me and we left to go to our car, there were more Sykeses...they reproduce like tribbles, you know...standing around, so we said goodbye again. Finally, finally we drove off to a Sykes-free zone, except for ourselves, of course, and we had some time to visit with Dick and Gerry, whom we have been treating like innkeepers for this time, something I have felt very guilty about. We had nice talk over rum punches again, and then enjoyed a delicious Indian feast, with Naan bread to celebrate Alice Nan's wedding. Now I am about to acknowledge that though the clock says 10:30, my body clock is feeling 11:30 and head off to get some sleep before starting the long drive to Davis tomorrow morning. There is little doubt in my mind that at this time tomorrow night I will be at my computer plugging photos into previous journal entries and deciding which photos to upload to Flickr. One thing about compulsives: we're predictable! |
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