No, we didn’t get a new puppy, although a few people have offered. As I have said before, we don’t want another pet because we plan to do more traveling in the coming year. Molly, our 14-1/2-year-old beagle, was in poor health and had to be put down recently.
I don’t think I told you, we finally found a home for grandson Hunter’s sugar glider. Diane’s ex-husband, Tom Cordaro, has a friend in Las Vegas, who has four of the exotic animals. When Tom approached him about possibly taking him, he said he would be glad to take him provided we get him checked out by a veterinarian.
Everything was fine and the man sends us an occasional video to show us how Storm is doing. So, with Storm and Molly both gone, we suddenly have the freedom to get away for a long weekend in the RV -- as we please.
Well last Friday afternoon, March 26, as I mentioned before, our family increased by one when Gina Gagliano became Gina Cruikshank in a 4:30 p.m. ceremony on the back side of Fountain Park.
She married my son, Brent, who was beaming during the ceremony.
Her son, Michael, was Brent’s Best Man, and bridal attendants were Claire and Emily Gagliano, daughters of Gina’s brother, Jeff. My daughter, Holly’s two daughters, Brooke and Addy, were the flower girls.
Holly and husband Bruce were the photographers.
The setting was the far northeast portion of the park. There is a large gnarly old tree that served as a backdrop for the 20-minute wedding ceremony. It also provided shade for the people in attendance.
Brent got worried when he found the area was flooded that morning when a sprinkler head was broken. A crew from the Town came out, fixed the sprinkler head and drained off the water.
By the time of the 4:30 p.m. ceremony you could not even tell.
But the wind was blowing in a northeasterly direction just prior to the ceremony causing the spray from the fountain to rain down on early attendees causing them to seek shelter behind some trees or get back in their cars.
The temperature was about 80 degrees, so with the shade from the tree, it was quite comfortable.
We had been afraid of how hot it would be when the 10-day forecast first showed a predicted high of 92 degrees for that date.
You may know how Brent reacted to that. He’s what you call hot–blooded. He picks me up in the mornings and there have been plenty of days when I got in the car and he had the air conditioner running, while there was frost on the neighboring houses’ roofs. And he would usually have his window down and not wearing a coat!
The reception was held at the Community Center.
The meal was catered by Phil Rodakis of Phil’s Filling Station Restaurant.
The meal included a tasty salad, Chicken Picata and baked ziti. Brent said he had many compliments on the meal.
In addition to his work as an advertising sales representative for The Times, he has worked for Phil a couple of nights each week for the past 12 years.
There’s another reason why he likes Phil’s.
It’s where he met Gina.
She started working there while going to beauty school at Toni & Guy Academy in Scottsdale.
She graduated from there and now works at Go Divas Salon on the Avenue of the Fountains.
Music was provided by Dee Jay Brent Owens, who played a variety of music ranging from 50s rock and roll to 90s hip hop. He kept a good pace for the evening. One thing he did that drew plenty of laughs from the audience was when he played the Newlywed Game with Brent and Gina sitting back to back on the dance floor and answering a series of questions.
I’d say the evening was a big success.
The night before the wedding, Brent’s mom and her husband, Bobbie and Bob Sternfels, hosted a catered rehearsal dinner for the wedding party and family members at their home in Scottsdale Mountain.
This is the second marriage for both Gina and Brent.
