the colours were chartreuse green and chocolate brown, they all wore orchids and the bridesmaids had great little brown dresses on.
despite showing up in my docs (which i had carefully oiled and polished for the occasion) i embarassingly found myself shocked at the number of women who had shown up in short skirts or dresses and NO STOCKINGS OF ANY KIND! this was horrifying not only because it was just barely 10C at the time, but because i seem to have not fully shed my conservative upbringing. imagine, attending a church wedding with naked legs. i had wool tights covering up my legs, and i even wore a bra and a slip. (further horror: wearing open-toed shoes without painting OR EVEN TRIMMING their toenails!)

the reception was at the zoo, and 606 and i decided we should spend the time remaining after the ceremony having a look around. unfortunately the bridge that we needed to pass to get into our assigned parking lot was blocked by an accident. we got slightly lost, trying to find a detour or another way into the zoo, then went for coffee instead.
i had the best tart of my life. it had a shortbread crust, and a slightly sour custard filling that perfectly complimented the intense juicy sweetness of the strips of mango that were arranged into a blooming rose on the top. it was incredible.

we met Leona when we sat down at our assigned table for dinner. she was blonde, and in a black and white polka dot dress. she had a pink cellphone and lots of rhinestone jewlry.
she had come with 2 friends, the guy was wearing a black dress shirt, wranglers and what appeared to be his barn boots. they looked slightly awkward and nervous. Leona teased him relentlessly, he kept getting up from the table to take calls, apparently about his cows.
you could tell right away that Leona was Here to Have a Good Time. she made racous conversation with everyone, introduced everyone, and not only was she concerend with having fun herself, she was into making everyone else have fun too.

somehow Leona discovered her cutlery was magnetic. this began an impressive series of table games, party tricks and other forms of merryment. she was really amusing. we had been provided with vials of bubbles, and four bottles of wine for dinner. Leona led us all in wild tableware and wineglass clinking, bubble blowing, and cheering. she also drank an entire bottle of wine, and 3 or 4 cesars. through dinner, Leona would pour herself another glass of wine, then travel to another table, sometimes abandonning her glass, sometimes aquiring another before making her way back to her spot.
her friends left during desert, and she saw them out. she returned with her cellphone brimming with hillarious photos of her and various zoo sculptures in compromising positions.
she dared us all to request various terrible songs at the dance, then requested them herself.

never have i met a more gregarious person. Leona was the life of the party, but that's not saying enough about how much of a hoot she was.

606 and i returned to the zoo the next day.
there were no wombats.

they had one grey kangaroo, and 2 or 3 wallabys.

the condors impressed me. they were huge. i think they could have picked me up by my shoulders in thier talons and carried me away. i was particularly impressed as i just read "Pilgrim on the Great Bird Continent" by Lyanda Lynn Haupt, and learned about Darwin's interest in the condors, and his experiments to determine if they could smell or not. totally amazing.

there was a sting ray petting zoo, a pride of lions, zebras, tigers, ostriches, bats, hippos and giraffes.
the elephants had silver caps on thier tusks, very pimpin'.
there were also japanese serow, a sort of bovid i had never seen nor heard of before. according to thier wiki, there are only 35 in captivity. we saw about 6. they squirt vinegar out of thier eye glands.

there were so many neat things. i love zoos!

we had a delicious breakfast at a tiny diner right near 606's house called dairy lane. they made vegetarian eggs benedict with tomatoes and avocado. yum yum yum.

i am adding leona to my facebook in hopes that i can carouse with her again.