I attended seven weddings this morning.  Today was the first day for same sex marriages in California.  A clergyman friend was going to the courthouse this morning to lend support for any couples choosing to marry today.   Since I also support the law, I went along.   Seven couples representing over 100 years of committment were married.  The average number of years was 17 per couple.  It was an historic morning.  The simple fact that these loving people can now legally be each other’s next of kin makes it all clear.   We blew bubbles, handed out roses, and offered wedding cake to each couple, and even sang a few songs.  We were thanked for our demonstration of love and acceptance.    I make no judgments.  My personal faith says God so loved the world, not just some of it.   Here is an open letter which states this position better than I.

My youngest grandson has found a place to store Cheerios for later snacking.

“Every duke and earl and peer is here.  Everyone who should be here is here.  What a smashing, positively dashing spectacle, the Ascot opening race.”   (My Fair Lady-Ascot-Gavotte)

I’m currently a cast member in a local production of “My Fair Lady.”  Never having done, the show, I decided to audition and here I am.  Why “My Fair Lady”?  It’s all about the Ascot hats!!!  Here’s mine sitting on my dressing table.  Such fun.

It will soon be Memorial Day.  Somehow every year we drift away from what the day is about and see it as another day off or the official beginning of the summer season.  Another flurry of sale papers inserted into our newspaper and more commercials advertising how to save money.  The history of Memorial Day dates back to the Civil War.  It was first called “Decoration Day” and if you have family members the age of mine, many of them still refer to the day as that. 

A lasting memory of my childhood was watching a Memorial Day parade and seeing my grandmother riding in a convertible with other Blue and Gold Star Mothers.  I was about 8 or 9 and I will always remember my mother telling me about why there were two colors.  My daddy came home from the war so Grandma is a Blue Star Mother.  The Gold Star Mothers had sons who died in the war.  I think it was the first time I really thought about what war was really about.  I had seen death before.  Coming from an era when open casket funerals were the norm, I had seen many old people in their caskets, but this was something else altogether.

Today our country is again at war. As more and more of our soldiers are put in harm’s way, more and more Blue and Gold Star mothers are being created.  I grieve that I know someone who was killed in Afghanistan.   Who will become our next commander-in-chief?  How many more soldiers will die in this war?  Why haven’t the candidates adressed this more?

In honor of my father and father-in-law who served in the Navy during World War II…hear the Naval Academy Band playing one of the most beautiful hymns ever composed. 

“The Navy Hymn: Eternal Father, Strong to Save” by the USNA Band

 Words by Rev. William Whiting.
Music by Rev. John B. Dykes

Verse 1
Eternal Father strong to save
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave
Who bidd’st the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea!

Verse 2
O Christ! Whose voice the waters heard
And hushed their raging at Thy word
Who walked’st on the foaming deep
And calm amidst its rage didst sleep
Oh hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea!

Verse 3
Most Holy Spirit Who didst brood
Upon the chaos dark and rude
And bid its angry tumult cease
And give for wild confusion peace
Oh hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea!

Verse 4
O Trinity of love and power
Our brethren shield in danger’s hour
From rock and tempest, fire and foe
Protect them wheresoe’er they go
Thus evermore shall rise to Thee
Glad hymns of praise from land and sea

“Well, it may choke Artie, but it ain’t gonna choke me!”  (Stymie, one of the “Our Gang” kids)

Nothing says Spring in the farm fields near the Red Door than the beautiful globe artichokes (Cynara Scolymus) just waited to be stuffed or made into filling for ravioli.  Yum!  Here are two recipes from Allrecipes.com for your artichoke eating pleasure.  The first reminds me of how my Italian father used to prepare artichokes, the second is a wonderful “lite” Alfredo sauce which is great over Trader Joe’s fresh artichoke ravioli.

Stuffed Artichokes                     Quick and Easy Alfredo Sauce

And then there’s the wine.   Definitely a pinot grigio.  Light, cool and crisp.  Castoro Cellars or Meridian both make wonderful ones.

Here’s my nephew playing one of the drums in a Scottish band.  He’s the one doing the fancy stick work.  Glad those music lessons paid off.

Getting ready for Easter dinner tomorrow and need to get the music playlist together.  Here are the  selections for this year. The list is divided into two parts: classical and pop/jazz.  Links are to Youtube videos of the selection. 

The poppies are blooming on the Central Coast.  I found these in a vacant lot across the street from my mechanic.  You can find beauty everywhere you look.  I’m going to have to go for a drive this week and find some more.  They revive my spirit.

Classical

• Sonata for Violin and Piano No.5 in F, Op.24 (Beethoven)
• The Four Seasons(”La Primavera,” No. 1), Op.8/1, RV 269 (Vivaldi)
• Appalachian Spring, ballet for 13 instruments-Simple Gifts (Copland)
• Blumine (”Flora”), for orchestra (discarded movement from Symphony No. 1) (Mahler)
• Frühlingsstimmen (Voices of Spring), Op. 410 (RV 410) (Strauss)
• Spring Song (Mendelssohn)

Popular Music

• “Spring Can Really Hang you up the Most”
• “Beautiful Day”
• “Here Comes the Sun”
• “Turn, Turn Turn”
• “Daydream”
• “It Might as Well Be Spring”
• “You Must Believe in Spring”
• “Skylark”
• “Spring is Here”

 For the great Gaels of Ireland
Are the men that God made mad,
For all their wars are merry
And all their songs are sad. –G. K. Chesterton

In honor of my Irish great grandmother and in preparation for my long awaited trip to Ireland this summer, here are my favorite Irish songs.  Links are to Youtube performances.  Some are sad, some are rowdy, and some just beautiful. 

• Whiskey in the Jar 
• Down By the Sally Gardens
• Isle of Inisfree
• Galway Bay
• Spancil Hill
• Black Velvet Band
• The Rising of the Moon
• The Wild Rover
• Wild Colonial Boy

How to use the corners in small space living?  Bookcases!  The hardest part of downsizing to a little beach house is where to put the books and all of the lovely treasures one collects over the years.  Using the corners is great way to find more room for these old friends.  Here are some from my file.

Where to put the flat panel tv in a small master bedroom?  I figured the hotel and RV industries would have ideas so here are some pictures from my file.