The Wedding and The Climb

The order was quite simple, be at Creekside Cabin at 10:30 if you wanted to keep peace in the heavens. Dutifully all responded and our caravan terminator was the red Mustang. The men were decked out in black pants, white shirts, suspenders and Alexa-made boutonierres.














And of course there is the photogenic Levi:

The women were in colorful dresses accented with red and sea green. We met with the official photographers and we were off on our stroll to the wedding site.

Remember the ladder? Well it was encountered towards the end of our hike:

Nikki is wending her way down. As Carma heads on. Notice suspenders are everywhere for spotting and polite assistance.


And then we were there. There is no way to describe this spot appropriately. It felt and looked like another planet of rock, forest and a cornucopia of color. The energy-ometer nearly broke as we assembled. Let us sneak a look from Gini’s perspective and then let the photos speak for themselves the best they can:

(Thus Spoke Zarathustra is eerily playing)

 (Please click on these pictures to get a better idea)

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Shoes were a big theme this weekend and again here as packs were emptied to bow to fashion. Our hiking footwear cast aside:

It was time for steppin’ out.





















Mike brought all into focus despite a deprecatory look from Baron Von D’Lucci:

The “ushers”:

Oh, did you notice Chip’s shoes? Really?!

Rittichiers reign and regale the occasion.

And then they were one

The photographers then had their session of this combination and that as the rest of the party took it all in; wandering, drifting, cosmically surfing the vibes.

A nod to our photographers:

And then everyone returned to the parking lot and changed into picnic/climbing clothes. Ah yes, another hike. This time to a rock wall with an opportunity to spread some blankets and equipment at its base. Chicken salad on croissant or tomato and basil?

Esther decided to hang out for awhile before tackling the cliff.

Alexa leapt onto the rock first and set up the ropes for the first route. Chip set up the second; Nik would later add a third. Nikki was now in her element also:

Chip and Nik patiently helped prep the climbers and giving reassuring instructions involving safety and strategies. Ron was psyched and ready to go.

At the top of each route is a chain that you would like to be in a position to touch before descending. Ron did so with Nik looking on approvingly:

















Gini was determined to try this and Chip was willing to oblige her:




Really Mom, this is going to be okay! The rest of us were so engrossed with Gini on the wall that we forgot to take pictures of the event. Hopefully the pros took some.


















Then Chris decided he would try. Gulp!

Yes I can! Yes I can!













Then lo and behold The Dads were on the wall:

…being belayed by the bride and groom:

These two are pretty hot together:

Carma was ready to go too:

And then Josie took on the route




She was also able to ‘touch’ the chain. You go girl!














All returned to Scenic Cabins and the Dads went to work. Spaghetti carbonara, steak and vegetables for 19 thank you please. Cameras were dropped for cooking equipment and the hive was buzzin’. Dinner was a grand success followed by the cutting of the cake:

So before we bid fond farewell to our nubial couple let us thank the supporting cast:

Our unofficial host Buddy:

Donkey?!

Chip-made Jenga

The back of the wedding dress:          

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And they are living happily with a far eye to ever after. Peace and Love.

The Wedding: Thursday and Friday

The Rittichier women have a wedding tradition. They ditch the men…excuse me…it is by pure coincidence that the men gather separately and the ladies do something spa-tacular. Such a venue was reserved in Lexington for Friday while principals would gather there Thursday night.















Chris and Gini had flown into Columbus, OH and were able to pick up Steph in their rental car. She took them to NorthStar Café, which is a delightful place to eat, before they headed for Kentucky. Derek, coincidentally, was unable to accompany us.

Josie, Jeff, Levi, Esther and Rosie were wending their way from South Carolina. They had arrived their from their home in Chad to visit with Jeff’s family. Hopefully Jeff and the kids would rendezvous with Chris, Ron and Chip.

BBQ was the theme as Carma, Ron and Katie met the others at a local restaurant (aka honky tonk). They were also meeting Chris for the first time. A good time was had by all despite the fact that the ribs and half the menu were not available supposedly because of a power outage the night before. We’re still trying to figure that one out.

The men headed for Stanton that evening and rallied with Mike at that beehive of activity in Stanton: Kroger’s supermarket. Ron took this opportunity to present Chris with a newly acquired Kroger discount card in a meaningful ceremony in the parking lot.

For the men the evening drew to a close in the hot tub at the Scenic Cabins outside Stanton. Some cabin, a huge wooded abode with incredible amenities and ambiance. Mike, all six seven of him opted for the couch instead of the bunk bed. The women calmly awaited Friday’s agenda of pleasure and relaxation.

Friday morning Ron managed to trick Chris into going outside for cell phone purposes, bars being a rare commodity there in the woods of Eastern Kentucky. A mile or so later it dawned on Chris he was in the midst of “morning exercise” – yikes! Thankfully a break occurred when a ‘carload of Africans’ accosted them on the road. This car was filled with Jeff and the three kids. Introductions were made and as they drove to the cabin Ron smiled and stated, “I’m feeling really good right now”. This was a rare opportunity to enjoy his missionary daughter and her family and it had begun with the arrival soon to be followed by Josie.

Preparations were made for the pizza soiree that would follow. Miguel’s Pizza, famous among the many climbers who frequent Red River Gorge, would provide the fare. Mike and Chip headed for the wedding site to prepare for Saturday’s trek along the trail. Ron had brought a ladder to facilitate the hike’s minor challenges and it was attached to Chip’s car roof.

The women were finally able to de-luxuriate and handled some serious food and beverage shopping before leaving the civilized confines of Lexington. The fathers were scheduled to cook the wedding night meal and the ingredients were gathered.

Two new cabins were made ready, Eagle View and Creekside. The Rittichiers would be at the three story promontory with wrap-around deck, Eagle View. Chip would stay with Mom and Dad at Creekside for one night along with Nik, Nikki and Eva. Dan, newly arrived in his Mustang after a bus tour of Eastern America, would join Mike and the family at Eagle View.

Enter the pizzas:

The action quickly moved to the porch where an ad hoc community established itself.

   

Ron was consistent in being able to provide energy and assistance at key times. So if we wanted a night fire he would help prepare.

Notice Alexa is towering a bit above her sisters due to the help of some shoes that even Dorothy would fight for.

Gifts were also presented including the most beautiful boutonierre Chris would ever wear courtesy of Alexa's talents and creativity:

The only nagging issue was that Nik, Nikki and Eva had been delayed in LA and had to arrive in Chicago and then drive six hours to the Scenic Cabins. During the campfire they arrived tired but elated to be part of the festivities.

Saturday would be a big day. Say Hallelujah!

The Wedding: Cast of Characters

Greetings!

They just got married right? Well, this is actually before the wedding when we were rallying the troops and synchronizing watches. It was to be a caravan but more of that later. This segment is to introduce the cast of this Kentucky production.

As you have already surmised these are our heroes, Alexa and Chip. Note the spontaneous protection of the flowers and sunglasses while poised on front foot. Such balance! Such cohesion! …Such a couple!

Now we will not get into the Micheneresque history of Red River Gorge Kentucky but it is a key player in this saga. It is located roughly one hour east of Lexington close to Stanton. You know…Stanton? Well check out www.redriverclimbing.com for the lowdown on this caper (Menu – Gallery is a good place to start).

But let us take a moment to savor the visual charm of Alexa. Our son is quite fortunate since her beauty extends throughout her being and desires to flourish with Chip. Amen.

However we will get into some genetic back ground here. Rittichier’s the name and helping, supporting and celebrating the human race is the game. It is very difficult to get a picture of Ron and Carma without including some family interaction. So we will also introduce Esther at this time. She’s the one on the left. Ron has professionally used education and Carma has used nursing to integrate career with purpose. Their real personas extend across the milieus of many others too numerous to account. Actual interaction is highly recommended.

There is a bevy of Rittichier beauties. The oldest is Josie. She manages to combine a healthy hardiness with motherhood and missionary work. Married to Jeff, they have brought three very interesting individuals onto the planet.

You have already met Esther and that is Rosie on Josie's back; to be lovingly carried over hill and dale.     

May we introduce the cutie Levi along with his Dad, Jeff.

Chronologically next is Alexa followed by Steph who also works in the medical field and is soon to be a mother herself:

She is escorted through life by her husband Derek. We are talking very nice guy here.

The youngest is Katie the teacher. Here she is entertaining Steph and Josie while taking a break from some picture taking:

So this is quite the dynasty that Chip is embracing. 

You remember Chip, that bon vivant:

He is the progeny of Ma and Pa Duggan:

          Such a family.

As for significant others we have Nik, Nikki and the precocious Eva. These California compadres have shown Chip and Alexa incredible support. Nikki has shared work opportunities with Chip while Nik allows their company, Sober Expeditions, to stabilize and develop. Climbing is where they all revel. Eva is an effervescent pocket of energy who is to be reckoned with.

Chip has also been fortunate to remain friends with a friend from Keene State University who lived with him in that famous house. Our Man Dan is newly married on his own a few days after this ceremony. He claims that the rental company had only one car left but he helped make an interesting caravan:

Spiritually this group covers a lot of ground so the one who has to focus all this for legal and metaphysical purposes has quite the chore and honor. Well that belongs to Michael:

Chip says he is one of the few men he looks up to. Mike is six foot seven and a quiet, gentle presence from Chicago who is quite capable of gathering the forces of the universe for the day’s ceremony.

Ah the day's ceremony....

Lonely, I'm Mr. Lonely

"Lonely, I'm Mr. Lonely,
I have nobody for my own.
I'm so lonely, I'm Mr. Lonely,
Wish I had someone to call on the phone.
...
Letters, never a letter,
I get no letters in the mail.
I've been forgotten, yeah, forgotten,
Oh how I wonder how is it I failed."

Thank God for Bobby Vinton. There have been times when Gini, that regal Baroness, has had the opportunity to do something interesting or exciting but without me. ...Without me! The very idea! However my overall assessment all these decades (4 to be exact) is that Gini is quite sensible and intelligent. Therefore one should take advantage of life's invitations without reviewing the entire guest list.

Currently Gini is still in Miami Beach and is putting her lessons on her new iPhone to use by texting more easily and transmitting descriptive photos. Exhibit A:

This was taken at Happy Hour at Monty's at the marina.  A place where martinis and a raw bar suffice for an attempt to view sunset and compose a pronouncement on the day. And she is doing it with two of my favorite women.

She has decided that another month in Miami Beach at our new home is quite necessary for emotional and spiritual stability. Her sister Janice, her husband Bill, our dear friends Paul, Greg and Rick have all conspired to make her stay as pleasant as possible given the throes of her separation situation. Me, I am throe-ing up north amid snow, ice and whatever happens to brimstone when the temperature is constantly below freezing.

Retirement seems to offer more and more new experiences. In this case it seems that in our forty years together we have never been apart for more than a week at a time. So here we are schizo-occupying our residences. Well, alright, I did willingly come back to coach track one more time. After being conducted into the NH Coaches Hall of Fame you'd think I would go quietly into that good night. The money will be helpful but I must admit when I am at practice it all comes together...but then there's the other twenty two hours...

I have never lived by myself. Thankfully Kevin, our tenant, lives next door in the front apartment and makes a mean seafood gumbo to complement my mean martinis. As we are both avid and knowledgeable sports fans there is much hurling of invectives at the TV. Oh yeah, the TV, our new 47 inch flat screen now lives in Florida also after temporarily seducing me before we wended South it decided it also needed emotional and spiritual re-enforcement provided by Belle Isle. Ah, a stiff upper and all that...hmmph!

So as I retch, er..., reflect on my situation I ponder our recent wending. We arrived uneventfully at Mary's house in Winter Park and spent some peaceful days. On Jan 2 we exited and arrived at Island Ave on Belle Isle with the Element filled with our new household. This consisted of some kitchen equipment cleverly sent our way from Gini's sister Janice; an inflatable queen-size Coleman mattress; a card table to match the folding chairs we had left in storage; and a 47 inch flat screen television.

During the next two months we managed to entertain Chip and Alexa, Kevin, his sister Katy and her husband Chris, Gini's sister Linda and her husband Geoff, and my sister Eileen. They were primary witnesses for an ad-hoc design and execution of an HGTV experience.

First the windows were torn out from the enclosed balcony, the living room and the bedroom along with the door going out to the balcony. The door, along with the living room and bedroom were equipped with high impact-resistant glass so as to deflect objects thrown by hurricanes or rabid guests.

Soon a king size bed, night lamps, night stands and a fabulous Miami sunset photo (courtesy of Sandy and Tom) adorned the bedroom.

The real HGTV experience began with the living room/dining room. Moving from over 3,000 sq feet of NH living space to 900 in Miami Beach is definitely a challenge. Especially when you would like to offer your guests accommodations of a certain quality. You know, comfort that lasts 8 or 9 days and then inspires a desire to see someone else.

The murphy bed was our solution. Frederico of More Space designed a queen sized beauty with attached cabinets and pull-out shelf. This framed our flat screen perfectly especially after Bill and Chris anchored its hinged, swiveling, omnivisual bracket to the wall.

Chris had explored the web and come up with a geometric-inspired dining room table. This was complemented by Gini desiring (and obtaining) Philippe Starck ghost chairs (knockoffs). A trip to City Furniture with Greg and Paul resulted in the sofa. Ikea yielded a comfy chair for Chris.

The coffee table was procured through a real group effort. Chris spent an afternoon collecting and bookmarking about 40 possible choices on the internet. That evening he used the flat screen to display the inventory. Through an elaborate but fair voting system 5 finalists were chosen. Switching to a more Machiavellian scheme, the winner emerged.

Here is the result:

Special attention should be paid to the Venetian mirror and accompanying cabinet. The mirror was a gift from Katy and Chris and is of the knock-your-socks-off variety:

Turning around is the kitchen where someone had the foresight to open it up and have a counter available:

So as we click our heels three times and embrace winter's offal landscape of March in NH let us take an aerial view of where Virginia and company are poolside:

Miami is at the top of the picture. The Venetian Causeway connects the islands to Miami Beach. Belle Isle is the first coming from Miami Beach and the largest and closest in the picture. Our condo building is the one closest to the viewer at the curve in the island. Ciao.

LA di Duggan

Greetings:

It had been a couple of decades since we had explored the lower left coast. One of the things I remember from visiting our friend Dennis in Reseda was his being impressed with our lightning blitztour of Universal. This time our raison d’voyage was to see how Chip was surviving in East Hollywood. We did have some reason for concern when we were asked by Chip to view the following picture on Facebook. We were to figure it out from the visual context:



Yes, he is working his way through the opening in the “H” of the Hollywood sign. (You can take the boy out of Chicago…). The event was inspired by a visit from his Chicago ‘Urban Guide’ photographer. This seemed like ‘fun’.

So after a three hour delay at Logan and a nice dinner at Legal Sea Foods, we arrived at LAX at thirty four o’clock Pacific time. Chip was dutifully waiting and eager, as were we, to unite the family.

Now let it be said that there are many traffic nightmares in this country: the LIE (Long Island Expressway) and DC at rush hour immediately come to mind. There might even be something to marvel about the daytime density there also along with some other major urban areas in the US. LA however is a 24/7 stream of automotive angst and vehicular effluvia – YUK!

To each rapturous LA accolade and ambient vista there was the accompaniment of a traffic flashback. Should we decide to bring the retroment out west for a month or more there may need to begin a conscientiously applied program of damnitol and regularly applied psychiatric care.

Chip, our dutiful chauffeur, weathered it all. Of course he had the assistance of two iPhones and a manic navigator.

What a trip, however. We grabbed a few hours of sleep and then headed for Santa Monica. Brunch reminded us of the fact that we were in fresh fruit and vegetable land. We then made our way along the Third Street Promenade which reminded us a lot of Lincoln Road in Miami Beach.


It also allows an easy ramble along the ocean.



There was even a hint of deco:



In coordination with our preponderance of coincidence and kharma we then met with Chris’ Irish cousins who were on a more extensive tour of the western United States. These rendezvous have occurred in Avignon, Tuscany, Ireland, New England and now Santa Monica.

It was great to see them and catch up with news of family and just enjoy each other’s company. Dinner was a bit of a challenge on a Saturday night but Chip managed to find an Italian Restaurant that would serve us before midnight. But then we were reminded of some of the ‘charm’ of Southern California – the portion sizes. Though exquisite of taste and presentation, the allotment of food is parsimonious at best. Paedar firmly announced, after splitting the two scallop appetizer with Noreen, that he would not be ‘sharing’.

Entrees were also delicious but meretricious (Gini felt that hers was just enough – the male contingent was ready to pursue mastodon or sabertooth, Noreen kept her own counsel)

The price, of course, was inversely proportional to the portions (antiportional?)

None the less it did not deter us from sitting on the porch of their B&B into the night hours and conversing. Another coincidence is that this B&B was only a few blocks from where Chip works. Chip, who had been up for at least three hundred hours between work and chauffeur duties, finally called a timeout and we headed to his apartment.

Once again our fabulous son performed a work of mercy by giving up his bed and sleeping on an air mattress right next to us in his limited space residence.

Art has taken a back seat to his current employment. He works at a sober living residence for young men between 18-25. There are currently 8 clients. It is on the upscale side and the house includes chandeliers (Gini was very impressed), a pool, Jacuzzi, rec room and dorm-like suites. Of course Chip has introduced climbing into the routine of the household. Enthusiasm can readily be observed among these guys and, as many of us might know, people recovering from substance abuse and trying to stabilize their lives are not always described as ‘enthusiastic’. Yea Chip!

Though Chip is committed to this group we arrived in the midst of business negotiations. One of the residents had been asked to leave, as he had been from several other sober living situations. The young man’s parents, who love their son dearly but also are very wealthy, were negotiating with Chip to establish a team for another residence. This would have more structure and challenge the ‘clients’ much more seriously. We shall see over the next few weeks what becomes of this.

The weather was not behaving in a very California way so we headed for the Getty Museum. Actually the Museum is composed of two locations: the Getty Center and the Getty Villa. The Villa is dedicated to ancient Greek, Roman and Etruscan art and theater. Our destination was the Center.

A tram glides its way up a quintessential pacific hillside and deposits you at the entrance:



The exhibits, though good (we viewed photographs of Cuba through the years and illuminated manuscripts, for example, both very interesting) were outdone by the complex of buildings and the grounds. As you climb the steps up to the main level you can get an appreciable panorama:



Lovely gardens and lawns (yes a lawn in these brown hills) flow from the main area:




Later that evening we vicariously extended our experience by taking in the movie ‘Drive’ which takes place in Los Angeles. Violent and graphic so as not for all but we thought it was good (especially the scenes of places we had just been riding through for the past couple of days).

The next day we went to work with Chip and enjoyed downtown Pacific Palisades and the residence. After work Chip needed to do something physical so he cut us loose as he joined a fellow climber for ascents that, if viewed parentally, would create dissents. We went to the nearest mall.


For our last day we headed for Malibu where Chip hopes to rent a house for the new venture. We had a great ride, also, through Topanga Canyon and then a fabulous tour of Rick Leslie’s house, which is also near where Chip works in Pacific Palisades. The house was mind blowing. Built into a hillside, this friend of Tom and Michele’s has created an open concept of earth materials, solar assisted living and realized vision. Taking pictures while being given a tour just did not happen. I apologize. It was so engrossing.

However here are some views along the Pacific Coast Highway:





Finally, here are some proud parents and their son:















Our chauffeur wakened us at 5:30 AM, drove us to the airport and then headed for work. May the Force be with him.