Austria - Day 4 The Feast

So, we head out of the church... this picture here is of the entrance on the "other side of the moat". There is a statue of someone full of arrows... when Squink saw it he said "Look mommy, a bird". I was like what? Until I looked and realized that it did indeed look like feathers.

Here is the moat, the one where we blew every single dandelion that was there... I am guessing it was way over fifty... Now, if you see that pointy building in the center; that is where the party was at.

Starting here I put the captions under the photos.

The woman on the left is Schatz's sister and the mother of the Godfather's. Her home is located across the street from the church and she has a lovely Heuriger there (luckily it was the season for it to be open). The gentleman on the right is a butcher. He looks mighty proud of his creation. That is a roast beast, a pig to be exact. It was fabulous and I was ever so profoundly grateful that it was there. It tasted much like the roast pig in Ecuador... and it was a nice reminder of that time of my life.

It was so heavy that it took two men to move it! That is Schatz's brother on the left.

I was lucky enough to get to sit next to Lovely Lisa... what a charming woman. I don't think I can talk about just how nice she is, and she is so lovely with "The Older Godfather". A cute couple, but not the kind that make me gag.

This is my niece. I only post this because apparently this is a rarity, she does not allow pictures to be taken... she is a lovely girl so I haven't a clue as to why she would be so shy.

That gentleman on the right is Christoph's older brother, he is a doctor, an ENT to be exact. The woman to his left is an aunt (Opa's sister)... I call her tante La Mer... but that is another story. The pretty woman that is almost out of the picture is Tante La Mer's daughter... she works for the government in what I am told is a pretty important job.

Schatz's brother again, with his wife. She spoke not a stitch of English but she has a ready smile and exudes some charm that crosses cultures. A lovely couple. They are the parents of the "shy" niece.

Schatz and his siblets in their sisters courtyard. Don't they look Austrian?

I just can't get over how cute they are.

Nor can I get over how cute he is... and the best part was that Squink and the Godfathers all wore pinstriped suits.

This is a better picture of the other Godfather. He was actually the first one on Schatz's side of the family to see Squink. He is quite debonair, has impeccable taste... he even wore an ascot on one of the days I saw him. I love the Godfathers, they are just too cool.

Here is a better face front picture of The Other Godfather. Oh dear... how am I going to name them so one can tell whom I am referring to? How about "The Godfather; the Older" and "The Godfather; The Younger"? That reminds me of a Black Adder episode.

Squink went off by himself and started to draw, and when I looked I noticed these incredible streams of light falling on him. This is one of the pictures I managed to capture. I may take crappy pictures when there is "regular" light... but when I see incredible light, I usually manage one or two.

(now I switch to top captions again)
It was a long day, and Squink starts taking pictures; there are a few more if you click through to flickr, but this is the best one.

A picture of the married into the family relatives... well, Agnes (next to moi) will be joining the family in that way fairly soon... she is such an awesome woman and will be a married soon enough and I can't wait to be able to spend more time with her. The handsome gentleman is the winegrower husband to Schatz's sister, his family has done so for quite some time, he is very nice and I got to meet his mother who was equally lovely.

I have to get these women in somewhere. The woman on the far left got to see Squink when he was a baby as she and her husband came over for a visit with Schatz parents. She and her husband (whom I can't find a picture of at this point) are a lovely couple! The other two women run the neighborhood bakery, they are a mother and daughter. The daughter used to work for Schatz family when their heurigen was open... she thought so highly of Schatz as a little boy that she named her own son after him. I got to visit their bakery later, it was fabulous!

What can I add here other than I gave all the women in Schatz family a "cowboy" themed bracelet at this party. I am sure this won't come up again, but every single time I saw them - from Lovely Lisa to Charming Sister in Law- they wore it. I am sure it was not to their taste, they are all so much more sophisticated than that, but what a kind and gracious gesture. I was, and remain, very touched by that... even if they cursed my choice of gift when not in my presence, which I am sure they did not do, but still... I feel awkward for having given it to them, but I wanted to give them something that represented where we live, my heritage, that sorta thing. Heck, the poor men all got bolo ties... which I thought were awesome and are apparently like a tie that is worn in the area... but I did not see any of them don those at any point! I told them they all had an important part of a Halloween costume, they did not laugh... see awkward.