Better Early Than Never...

Got this apologetic e-card from MJ on 7/24/11, more than a week BEFORE
 our upcoming 30th wedding anniversary.  Note that he has resorted to blaming
poor, decrepit, defenseless Casey for the card's "tardiness."  So sad.

My reply is below card:

Happy (belated) Anniversary! Just a belated good wish for your now past anniversary! Of course we would have been on time with a call, text, or email, had we not be distracted with Casey's continuing loss of body weight; she's now about 30% of her full adult girth. But she still has a ravenous appetite and can still hold herself up, so we trudge on... We hope you enjoyed a wonderful anniversary dinner! XXOO, The Marions _____________ You can tell us in person Mr. Mgoo... our "now past" anniversary  isn't until Monday, August 1. Or you can recast this email to  suggest an early anniversary greeting.... Either way, early or late, we ALWAYS appreciate the thought, Mikey.   wom

On OUR birthdays, WE go for cake and ice cream...

Le Maison Carpentier, Paris, May 2007

(l to r) Marc, Pierre, Amira, Linda, Marie-Silvie

 

However, on his recent Anniversaire (7/21), Pierre -- French to his

 very marrow -- went for more mature delicacies as pictured just below...

(drum roll please) champagne, fig jam, and foie gras (aka force-fed

goose liver).  You have to hand it to him, HE knows how to PARTY.

Hope it was tres great, Pierre.  My condolences to the geese.

 

The aforementioned foie gras candidates

at feeding time, choking down their meal.

The evolution of a name...

He entered this world at what has to be the most

inconvenient hour ever... 3:21 am.  Due to their

understandable grogginess at the time and the pressure

 to  come up with something on the spot, Martha and

 Bill quickly settled on the name Baby -- brilliant,

 really,  rebecause what was he, if not a baby?

In the morning, after sleeping on it, they came to

 their senses and gave him a proper calling card:

 John Pruitt, an O'Brien-Marion hybrid,

the best of both worlds.

Today, we celebrate the early arrival of little "Baby"

Marion those many years ago.  All the Best on Your Big

Day, Brother Baby (aka, JP).

 .

Baby Marion Himself, in an archival

Harper Hospital photo taken shortly after birth.

 

30 years of deciding what to order...

Gettysburg, PA - HackFest2004

RJ and Mary Ella scanning a menu, and showing in

this simple act, total togetherness in their thought processes;

an instinctive willingness to compromise; complete and utter

 regard for each other's likes and dislikes; and a selfless

determination to "share" (if that's what it would take). 

On this particular occasion, RJ got a martini, then a

second; Mary Ella, got a Cosmo, then a second. 

After that, they were most definitely on the same page.

Congratulations you two on your three decades of

harmonious decision-making.... 

Home Invasion.

    (pictured above, left to right) Amira. Steve, Mickey, Adam, Joe, Linda, Mike, Christian

 7/10/201 - Ann Arbor, MI- The boys of Delicate Steve take time
out  from their summer tour to scarf down Cottage Inn pizza and
Monterrey cervezas with their lovely hostesses Madame Amira and
Mrs./Dr. Marion.  As repayment for the hospitality, the unwitting
band mates were later obliged to sit through a lengthy slide show entitled
Guatemala 101, which they graciously did, thereby earning breakfast
the next morning. 

Note:  1157 Warrington Drive has been officially designated as a National
Heritage Site with the bronze plaque -- which is now being produced in
Washington and which will hang over the front door -- to read: 

Delicate Steve Slept Here.

It's Official...

Key West, FL  7/3/11 - Joel & Charlene, at the very

moment they were pronounced "Man and Wife."  (Or was

it "Husband and Woman?")   Well, regardless...after an

18-year trial run, they went ahead and linked ball to

chain, then sealed it with a kiss.

The spectacular surfside ceremony began with

 mojitos, which I've quickly come to believe should

be a mandatory prequel to every wedding, funeral, baptism,

confirmation, graduation, etc. etc.  And it proceeded perfectly

from there.

Mojito:  Should be required.

 Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Martin or Mr. Martin and Mrs. LaCasse

 or Mr. Martin and Mrs. LaCasse-Martin. No matter how you choose

 to go, we couldn't be happier for you. 

HB, Maggie...!

The Birthday Girl herself, a minature version anyway,

exuding the signature style (more like elan) and sheer

 sense of cool that makes her T.O. & O.** 

All the Best on your Big Day, Maggie!

Fashion note:  Maggie's ensemble (clothing and accessories)

 by John Galliano.

John Galliano Himself.

**The One & Only

Ye Olde Train Station...

Hackfest92-Wolverine/IndianRiver

Who's having the best time at this gathering?  Clearly Michelle.

And the Most Perfectly-Posed Award goes to... Matty.

Most distracted? Amira.  Most determined not to smile?  Maggie.

Alas, there will be no more HackFests at Ye Old Train Station...

we sold it a few years back.  It now serves as a canoe, kayak, and

tube livery, catering to the annual influx of tourists (AKA,

 "Fudgies - Northern Michigan has lots of fudge shops).

  C'est la vie!

Marion Maidens...

From the HackFests' Past pile...

HackFest 2004, Gettysburg, PA - While countless thousands of Civil War

victims lie mouldering in their graves around them, these four cousins

 enjoy an uneasy chuckle together.  HackFest '04, organized by His

Eminency, Commissioner Emeritas W. O. Marion, is widely

 considered to be the most educational of our annual gatherings,

 though it did provoke weeks of nightmares (many involving

 Confederate General A.P. Hill) in some of the more

 impressionable attendees.

Scary dude:  Ambrose Powell Hill

The hits just keep on coming...

Delicate Steve's patriarch and publicist passed this along... Click HERE.

The ultimate example of making the best of a heartbreaking situation...

This video is veers on being an SNL skit...but it's not. 
It's about a couple and their 19-year-olds twins.  Oh, make
that conjoined twins.

Click right HERE.

Happy Fadder's Day...

The Marion-Stagg betrothal, June 15, 1986, Saline, MI

The Birthday Boy...

Mary Ella and Matt, 1985

The utterly exhausted mother, staring blankly ahead at the

TV she was too tired to even turn on.  The newborn son,

 now several weeks old, as content as they come, already

 dreaming of Titleist golf  balls arcing majestically onto

 the green, baby bottles full of National Bo, and his next

 jar of Gerber creamed oysters.

Ahhh...those halcyon days of babydom/young motherhood --

well worth looking back on and cherishing on this of all days. 

Happy Birthday Matty!

A Milestone Year...

Char, Rose, Linda

We'll always remember 2011 as bittersweet...It's the year that Rose

passed away; it's also, simultaneously, the year that Linda Wirth

 would have turned 60 and it's the 10th anniversary of her death. And

finally, it's the year that Joel and Char are tying the proverbial knot.

That momentous event is coming up on July 3rd in Key West.  

So take a moment and remember Rose and Linda and think happy

thoughts about the soon-to-be-betrothed....  

Vote Early and Vote Often...

D.S. Himself

NPR's All Songs Considered is soliciting voters for its

"Best Music of the Year (So Far)" feature.  Click HERE and

cast your ballot for our boy Delicate Steve.

THAT MEANS YOU.