every day at 5 pm a red-tailed hawk flies over the hillside. when twigg crawford was visiting, he named the hawk 5 o'clock charlie. recently he requested that i post some photos of our daily visitor, so these pictures are for him (and you.)
i take photos with my iphone, no telephoto lens obviously, but there's something about seeing this hawk from a distance that brings poetry into my life every day at 5.
as you can see, charlie has found--or is in the process of finding--love.
The day was brilliant, and the wedding took place by the sea.
Molly and Alex had written vows that included references to water--they had met in it, the pool at Connecticut College. And it flows and surrounds and falls from the sky and brings everyone and everything together. As they spoke to each other, they held hands, and just behind them the cove glittered in sunlight.
The day was joyful. We were so happy for Molly and Alex, and to be together in such a spirit of love, to be with people so open and positive. People had traveled long distances to be there: from California, Texas, even Wales. The weather was pure September: warm in the sun, cool as the afternoon progressed.
The wedding began with a moment of silence, for beloved friends and family who were not there. Alex's stepmother Deb played cello and Maureen and I noticed an osprey fly overhead. It was a moment, probably not that meaningful or significant, or maybe it was. How hokey, to look up in the sky and see a fish hawk and get choked up thinking of who wasn't with us.
Molly held a bouquet of blue hydrangeas. She'd woven the stems with a bracelet made of sea glass given to me by her mother. I remember the day Molly visited the cottage at Point O'Woods and spotted it on my bureau. She'd gone straight for it, picked it up as if it had called her. I suppose it had. She didn't have to ask--I gave it to her.
Maureen and I sat in the front row. We'd been instructed to by Molly, who wanted us in her line of vision. We are her aunts, her family. Mia, her cousin, was a bridesmaid. Alex's family embraces her as if she was their own. All the toasts and comments and conversations and actions say as much. They have taken her to their hearts. It was moving to see.
Michael, who officiated, spoke about the mysteries of water and of life.
The reception was held under a tent. It was festive and fun, and with Twigg at our table full of laughter and stories. He and Audrey Loggia were also "family of the bride." The food was delicious. The band began to play, and Alex's aunt Penfield came for me and Maureen and told us it was up to the aunties to start the dancing. Which we did, no problem.
P.S. Arleen, I posted the picture of Molly's gold shoes on my Facebook page.
Please get the popcorn. Darken the lights. And watch the videos made for luannerice.com by Michael O'Gorman. The Pony Story...the Intro...more to come. The Luanne Rice video series! (Just go to "Multi-Media" on the home page here.) I feel lucky to have Mike working for this site. He is a comedian by day and night. Like the undead, he gets no rest. He is destined always to be funny. He has has own show, and he frequently appears on VH-1, the Onion, and other hilarious tv shows. He just so happens to be the main squeeze of my friend and associate Jessie Cantrell, and he has been working between jaunts to Vegas, Sunset Boulevard, and the PIT to make video magic for our site.
Now Mike has started out easy. We wanted to ease the site into sweet, simple videos that introduce you to me and my writing. It's a new way to get to know a little more, a little deeper. At times Mike's avant garde innovation comes out. I stare down the barrel of the camera at him and and quite certain i'm seeing the reincarnation of Cocteau.
No matter what, Mike has true heart. He gets the emotional nature of my work and lets if come through. He makes me laugh while doing it, threatening to ruin take after take because I can't hold it in. He knows my novels, and sticks close to the spirit of them in the videos. We've been lucky enough to uncover some ancient (truly! circa sixties and seventies) Rice family movies, and Mike has woven them into the current stories.
Honestly, in videos coming up we have footage of the Rice girls swimming AND real live images of Twigg Crawford--famous to many of my readers, considering he's both a recurring character and a dedicee (of "The Last Kiss.")
So please jump on the video love train. We'd love you to love them, and if so, to repost them to your friends. If you have ideas, please just use the comment section under "multi-media." Any videos you'd like to see me in? Singing Francois Cabrel's "Encore et Encore" in French and pretending to be a cat playing with a catnip apple are two much-requested favorites. Merci for those ideas, but we shall skip them for now. Thank you for visiting my site, and I'm really hoping you'll groove to the videos and give them the popcorn shout-outs they deserve.