Not Condiments - In other words, it's catch up time again.

I wish I had photos. This has got to be the most vibrant falls I've ever seen. The leaves are falling quickly now, and should be down before the weekend is over. I'm sad to see them go as this has been an early fall. I've enjoyed them as much as I could.
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It's been very wet besides. Retention ponds all over the South Suburbs are near overflowing. I dropped Ed off at the main UCLA (The University Closest to Lagrange Avenue) campus last week. The pond there was creeping very close to the road. This part of Illinois is swamp land. The name Chicago is a bastardization of the Algonquin word meaning stinky place, as wild onions were suppose to grow in the swamps where Lake Michigan and the Chicago River met. As engineers historically have tried to move or remove wetlands, they found out water has a will of its own. Rather than trying to dry them up, engineers and architects are now installing retention ponds and water features in order to prevent flooding.
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Jon bought a brand spanking new, okay not so new, Mustang. This is his dream car. Ever since he got his license, he's been talking Mustang. Which is fine and dandy. I'm happy he has a nice car, but...... He doesn't own a car anymore. The car owns him.
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He and Gloria broke up. In spite of the new car, in spite of a decent job, in spite of all those good things in life, he was devastated. I'm only happy because he can spend more time here.
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So my nephew, Christian, got married this weekend. He is Bill's brother, R's, son. We were all suppose to go, but we were counting on going in Jon's Pontiac Sun Fire. I don't want to complain, or seem ungrateful, but that Mustang kind of sucked enough cash out of the air that we backed out. We truly don't need to be sponging off of Jon for everything. So the other two sponged off him instead. Jon had asked Gloria to be his date weeks before they broke up, so she went. Becki brought Chris, and Ed joined them.
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I've talked about rivalries before. In baseball, it's the Northside against the Southside. We get very hot on that subject. Now football is worse. It's the Bears against the Packers. Seeing that the wedding took place in Wisconsin, and the bride's family are Packer fans, and groom's family are Bears' fans, they did something with the cake decorations; half for Bears and half for Packers. When they cut and served it, Bear fans got the Packers' side, and Packer pans got the Bears' side. And Becki said something about small rocks. Apparently someone collected them and cleaned them. When wedding guests arrived, each person received one. He or she was suppose to squeeze their wish for the new couple into it, and then pass it onto the new couple after the ceremony.
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I understand that there was a lot of carousing this weekend, and almost no one was exempt. Something about Ed ending up at a pizza parlor because he erased his pass card by placing it next to his cell phone. He couldn't get into his room. I also heard stories about the nieces and nephews which I won't repeat. But everyone had an extremely good time. Becki enjoyed the idea that brother-in-law N twisted his butt off. And as far as that goes, neither he, nor C., or R. were too sober. And the bride's family were in the same condition. "You wouldn't believe it, Mom," Becki told me. "Her family is as crazy as our is." Now figure everyone else went out after the wedding. Becki had the sense to go to bed. Leave it to her.
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I'm sorry we missed it, although I wish the best for Christian and his new wife.