Old Postcard Wednesday--Bridal Veil Falls, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon

Beautiful Bridal Veil Falls is an elegant and graceful lady that can be fully appreciated from the deck of a viewing platform rebuilt in 1996. The creek hustles down from the top of nearby Larch Mountain, tumbles over the cliff and eventually flows into the mighty Columbia River. No visit to the Columbia Gorge should be considered complete without a tour of the area of Bridal Veil and a visit to Bridal Veil Falls State Park.

     ~ excerpt from Bridal Veil Falls State Scenic Viewpoint, where you can find out about the hiking trails at the falls

Today is our 15th wedding anniversary. Since it landed on Old Postcard Wednesday I wondered if I might possibly have a postcard that would be in any way fitting for the occasion. Thanks to my grandmother I do.....

..... I do. Those are the simple words, with some variations, common in the marriage ceremony that I have promised to two men, and they to me. At neither ceremony was I wearing a bridal veil, or even white for that matter. The first time I was in a hippie gown of dusty rose. Twenty years later I wore a soft city dress in shades of teal. This is a shot Michael took of me at The Cloisters in upper Manhattan after our civil ceremony downtown.

We were about to embark on a first year of marriage that was more difficult than I could ever have imagined being possible. With my mother's pitiful track record of four marriages set before me and my own apathy for the institution in general I still find it remarkable that I didn't throw in the towel. My mother, the woman who could not keep a marriage herself, proved to be a stalwart friend and non-judgmental support for each of us in the face of extreme trials during those twelve months. She had the street smart credentials, and another woman, a psychotherapist suggested by our family doctor, had the professional credentials that combined to pull us through the muck.

First year muck long behind us, Michael views 15 years as half-way to 30 years. I hear him say that and think wow...how? One day at a time, I do realize that. But right now contemplating 15 is a full experience for me and important enough to warrant its own day in the sun before looking into the future.

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About = The Cloisters Museum & Gardens
My post last year = 14th wedding anniversary.....Ta-da* 


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Long Day's Journey Into Night

Photo credit: Jez Smith

We will be in Portland on Sunday for the afternoon presentation of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night. Seeing this production is our early anniversary gift to ourselves so we splurged and will be sitting center front row. 

William Hurt, whose acting I have admired for a long time, stars as James Tyrone. The play is directed by Andrew Upton, who is co-artistic director with wife Cate Blanchett of the Sydney Theater Company. It opened in Sydney, where Time Out Sydney published this review (opening paragraph below):

For a few years in the 1980s William Hurt was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. The Washington DC-born actor (The Big Chill, Broadcast News, Gorky Park) won an Oscar for Kiss of the Spider Woman  playing Molina, a gay window dresser in a South American prison who survives day-to-day on his memories of trashy old movies. To see Hurt, now 60, playing Eugene O'Neill's deluded patriarch James Tyrone in Long Day's Journey into Night  on the Sydney Theatre stage, is to experience the unique privilege of watching an actor who excels at conveying self-deception. His eyes deep-set and distant, his voice, a somnolent, teasing murmur, Hurt's very presence seems to be struggling from the depths of a pleasant dream into the cold light of day.

This is a video trailer about the production:

"Long Day's Journey Into Night" Aug. 13-Sept. 5 from Artists Repertory Theatre on Vimeo.


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