funnystrange.com

I'm just back from the art car wedding! The bride and groom were Regina and Tom, drivers of Mom's Clutter Heap and Sun n Sand Van, respectively. They met at last year's Mt. Dora parade and got married at this year's. Isn't that sweet?

The ceremony started almost an hour late, but the reception was first so no one minded. We all just sat around the pool and snacked and chatted. The bar graciously gave me free refills on my iced tea so I gave my extra drink tickets to other art car drivers. The ceremony itself was perfect: short and heartfelt. And here I am, chilling for the evening.

The TV thing this morning was kind of comical. The TV woman seemed like a transplanted urbanite: she was wearing all black (including a sweater), extremely pointy shoes, a kicky hairstyle, and a very ... voluble way of speaking. She would have looked right at home in Soho, but in this tiny, charming Florida town it was a bit incongruous. She spent all her time with the Sashimi Tabernacle choir and didn't film UMJ at all. I don't blame her -- if I were doing a TV segment on art cars, I'd focus on Sashimi Tabernacle Choir too. It's such an awesome car, & the movement and sound make it so much more effective on TV. But still, I wish we hadn't had to stand outside sweating for hours.

After the TV thing a bunch of us had a great lunch at a cute little cafe a couple of blocks from the hotel. Becky (Wheels of Imagination) spent a couple of months here last winter, so she knows where all the good spots are. Funny story about Becky: This morning I walked over to the little bakery to get a bagel and pilfer a fork and spoon. A woman outside the bakery asked me if I was with the art car event, and when I said yes, she told me "I'm Becky's girlfriend." I didn't know Becky was gay but I like her a lot, so I told the woman (whose name I forget) I was very happy to meet her. I asked her when she had arrived in Mount Dora and she said that she lives here. I almost said something about the difficulty of a long distance relationship, but then decided that I didn't know her well enough for such a personal remark.

A little while later I saw Becky. She asked after Georg, and so naturally I mentioned that I had met her girlfriend. She had absolutely no idea what I was talking about! Turns out she's not gay and not even in a relationship. She wasn't offended or anything, just amused. Her main reaction was to ask, "So what does my girlfriend look like?" I was happy to assure her that her girlfriend is pretty and seemed really nice. We finally figured out who the mystery girlfriend is, and that she had meant the term in the old-fashioned sense of "good friend who is a girl." Since Becky's nickname is Queen Becky, I almost asked her "girlfriend" if she was a queen too. I'm so glad I didn't! I know Becky well enough to joke around like that, but it would have been really awkward with this other woman.