Be Kind -- I'm Expecting A Blessed Event

I've been among the Blogging missing this week.

I have a good excuse:  I'm expecting.

Yes, our family is expanding to include a Son.

In. 

Law.

The gestational period for becoming a mother-in-law is quite variable.

I've heard of some that lasted for years.

Mine will last not quite 6 months, from engagement to wedding day on June 25, 2011.

Pretty good deal, eh?

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 Our daughter Alida lives in California but is getting married here in New Jersey.
So, Mom's going to be very busy.
Details, lists, shopping, endless phone chats, more lists, more details, and more lists yet again.
Plus the occasional meltdown.

It's very exciting.
And still not quite real.

Wish me luck!

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And as it is Sunday, I am going to participate in Sunday Favorites,

a blog party hosted by Chari of Happy To Design.

This is a post that some of you may remember, about The Three Pierres and

their visit to That Old House, and my niece's wedding.

Without further "adieu" (a little French humor there), my post from April 6, 2009:

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Background: In 2007, my daughter Alida studied at the University of Edinburgh.
She met lots of people . . . including the Pierres.

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To introduce today's offering from That Old House,

here is a brief dialogue for

Two Women and Their Cell Phones:

Alida (at home in California): Ma? You remember those two French guys I was friends with in Scotland? The Pierres?

Me (at home in New Jersey): I think so. . . .

Alida: I traveled around the Highlands with them?

Me (suddenly recalling sleep-robbing nightmare visions of teensy rental car packed with 20-somethings plunging off treacherous rural Highland roads in blinding mountain blizzards): Ah. Yes, now I remember.

Alida: Well, they're coming to New York in November, that first weekend, and I kind of told them that they could stay at our house. (short pause)  I'll be home that weekend, too.

Me: You will be home for your cousin Maggie's wedding.

Alida: Ummm...yeah. Is that a problem?

Me (realizing that 22 is the new 8): Well. . . .

Alida: Oh! And they'll have another guy with them. Guess what his name is?

Me (taking a wild stab): Pierre?

Alida: Yeah. (short pause) Pretty funny, huh?

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And so,  A Tale of Three Pierres . . .

The Three Pierres were a big hit at Maggie's wedding:

Left to right, New Pierre, Tall Pierre, Alida, and Pierre Pierre.
(How else does one tell one's Pierres apart?)

My gracious sister invited our out-of-town guests to Maggie and Garrett's wedding.
They had a blast; weddings in New Jersey are apparently quite different
from weddings in France. We have way more food. The Pierres ate themselves silly.

After discovering that the three under-dressed guys who talked funny were not gate-crashers,
the other guests were quite taken with The Three Pierres.

Alida became "that girl who brought three dates."

(Pithy social commentary, from Tall Pierre, on marriage:
"This being with one woman for the rest of your life --
I do not see it, unless you are very sick and will be soon dead.")

The Morning After, the Three Pierres made crepes for us at That Old House:

Let me tell you, genuine Frenchmen make wicked good crepes:

We ate the crepes, French style, with a slathering of butter, a light sprinkling of sugar,
and a good big squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Try it. . . you will like it!  Nutella works, too.

These are not just any Three Pierres, not your common garden variety sort of charming French fellows. They are graduate students in Civil Engineering, studying last fall in South America, and together had just won an international prize for some sort of something-or-other involving ... cement. Or concrete. I can't remember which is the right term.

We were sad to see them go. Who knows what else they might have cooked?

Goodbye, Tall Pierre, New Pierre, and Pierre Pierre!

My niece Grace, bride Maggie's 20-year old sister, will be studying in Paris next fall at the Sorbonne. Tall Pierre lives in a houseboat on the Seine. I casually suggested to my sister, Grace's mom, that Alida give Tall Pierre's cell phone number to Grace, so she would have someone in Paris whom she knows.

"Ummm... Tall Pierre?," said my sister. "And Grace? Umm... no. No. No."

But cousin Maggie and her three sisters all say that every girl should have Three Pierres at her wedding.

 That Old House is quite miffed that she is not the subject of today's post,
but I told her that she can't always be the star.

And after all, how many ladies of her age have three Frenchmen spend the night with her?
All on the same night? Oooo lah lah!

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  Alida will not be having the Three Pierres at her wedding.

But we'll soldier on anyway!  Have a lovely Sunday.

I am leaving soon for the hospital; my Dad is being admitted

with what is likely another bout of pneumonia.  Please send good thoughts!

Thank you ... Cass