Center City wedding

Your Center City Correspondent had a great weekend (how many posts have started that way?). However, before it got started, we were reminded of one of the pitfalls of living in a home that’s about 160 years old. On Saturday morning, we were watching a soccer game and we both heard a drip coming from the corner of the room. We looked up and sure enough, melting snow from the roof was leaking into the ceiling. We caught it early, and to show you what a great gal Mrs. CCC is, she told me I could wait till the end of the soccer game to fix it! So I had to climb up on the roof that’s four stories from the ground. I had to shovel piles of snow off the roof, chop the ice up, clear and salt the drains, and keep my fingers crossed that was enough. I’m loving this snow more and more every day. Fortunately I did not break my neck or my back, and it looks like we fixed the problem.


This all happened about 1-2 hours before we were due to be at a wedding. Luckily the wedding was held at the Cathedral, just a short walk away, and the reception was at the Franklin Institute. We did not have to go out of the neighborhood (and lose our parking spot), and it was really nice to show off my church to my family. At the Institute, they set up tables and the bar around the big statue of Franklin, dim the lights and project stars on the blue-lit domed roof. It was a very nice affair from top to bottom. The bride and groom made a lovely couple; good-looking, talented and polite. The bride is my cousin’s daughter; she is a PHD candidate at Vanderbilt. The groom is from Raleigh NC, and most of the people on his side came from down south, so it was interesting to listen to them and their impressions of Philadelphia (snow, cheesesteaks and the Rocky statue). He is a musician who has released a few albums (see the link below) and one of the highlights of the evening is when he serenaded his new bride with a few of his songs. But what knocked me out is that the married couple are fans of the Boss, Bruce Springsteen! Their first dance was to “If I Should Fall Behind”, the groom sang a rendition of “Tenth Avenue Freezeout”, and there were other Bruce songs throughout the night. So to recap, leaky roof fixed, neighborhood wedding and party, and a solid dose of Bruce. Pretty good day, huh?

Sunday was Valentine’s Day, and the fourth straight day without snow! I got to spend the whole day with my Valentine without picking up a shovel. After Mass, we came home and relaxed and read the paper. It took me most of the day to recover from Saturday’s shindig. Mrs. CCC made a nice dinner and we turned in early. Like I said a great weekend.

Get out your ashes and don your sackcloth! It’s Lent! For those so inclined, Ash Wednesday is February 17th, the beginning of Lent, the season of repentance and suffering. Some faiths have a Day of Atonement. We Catholics spend 40 days atoning for our sins. I guess we need more forgiveness than others.

All for now. Enjoy your week and give James a listen.

http://www.jamesdunnmusic.com/