Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Promises

This past weekend Dr. M officiated another wedding for former students from his university. The theme for the wedding was Lord of the Rings and it was so much fun (as well as so much hot!!). About half of the guests (including Dr. M) dressed in costume, and Dr. M wrote (cribbed/borrower/adapted) the service to match the theme. As is typical these days I didn't take nearly enough pictures, but I'll share what I have here, along with some of the text from the service.

The wedding was truly in the middle of nowhere.


Dr. M looked great. I dressed up too, but my outfit was pretty low key. I was going to wear a bodice, but it was just too darned hot for leather.



Invocation
So sing all ye joyful, now sing all together!
The wind's in the tree-top, the birds in the heather;
The stars are in blossom, the moon is in flower,
And bright are the windows of night in her tower.

Dance all ye joyful, now dance all together!
Soft is the grass, and let foot be like feather!
The river is silver, the shadows are fleeting;
Merry is June, and merry our meeting. (Tolkien and Dr. M)


(part of the) Meditation on Marriage
Always remember that, in marriage, one never walks alone. Though the path may be rocky and steep, and though you may not yet know the way, you walk together. If you cannot carry each other’s burdens, as ultimately even the faithful Samwise could not carry Frodo’s burden into the fires of Mount Doom, in the end, you CAN carry each other, even to the ends of our Earth, even beyond the Black Gates. So do not fear to lean on each other, to hold fast to each other, to dive into the water even though you know, alone, you may drown. Neither husband nor wife lives by Lembas bread alone. We live by love. Trust in each other; believe in each other, and together you, in love, will find a way. Though the world be full of peril, and love be mingled with grief, we have not yet written the final chapters of our quest…hope remains!


(part of the) Unity Tree Ceremony
Now let the song begin! Let us sing together
Of sun, stars, moon and mist, rain and cloudy weather.
Light on the budding leaf, dew on the feather,
Wind on the open hill, sheep in the heather,
Reeds by the shady pool, lilies on the water:
Old Man of the Forest and the River-daughter! 

For all that is gold does not glitter,
And not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
And deep roots aren’t reached by the frost. (Tolkien and Dr. M)


Benediction
May it be an evening star
Shines down upon you
May it be if darkness falls
Your hearts will be true
Though roads go ever on
And take you far from home
When the night is overcome
May you rise to find the sun
Believe and you will find your way
A promise lives within you now (Enya and Dr. M)

Our daisies from this morning

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Short Stories

The Blanket
A couple of weeks ago I posted this on Facebook:

Maybe I spend too much time with my yarn? Last night I dreamed that I was eating at some fancy pasta place but I got kicked out because I added (bright yellow!) acrylic yarn to my pasta & at this restaurant you were only allowed to use 100% cotton yarn. Yes, I was actually in a restaurant EATING yarn. What. The. Heck.

I knew that I was close to being out of yellow yarn for this darn temperature blanket, but I don't think my subconscious should have been that upset about it!

Here's a recent picture.


The Phone
The other day I was rushing to leave my office when I couldn't find my phone in my purse. The horror! Um, it was in my hand. So you can imagine how hard I laughed when I saw this:


Water
I downloaded an app to help me drink more water (Plant Nanny). As I give the plants more water they grow & change. It is weirdly fascinating.




My Face
A couple of weeks ago I was putting drops in my ears & thought I looked all artsy so I took a picture. And then I made it my Facebook profile picture. Yes, I am wearing no makeup. Anyway, I turned my head to do the other ear & thought about taking a picture from that side, but I looked like a stroke victim. VERY WEIRD. No, I didn't save that picture.


Monday, June 13, 2016

Am I Home Now?

Dr. M and I have had a crazy few weeks. We spent a week in NC visiting the fathers (as alluded to in my last post), a week at home, and then a week at Dewey Beach in Delaware. Whew! I'm ready to be home for a while. I'm going to share some random beach pictures in a minute, but first, words to the wise (that's me):

1. Maybe you should do Project 365 because since you don't journal you'd otherwise never remember that you went back to work the same afternoon after you had your failed root canal.

2. Flip flops are not good footwear. I wore them out to lunch one afternoon in Rehoboth & had an incident where one flip flop stayed put while the rest of me moved forward...and down. Skinned my knee like a little kid. And, of course, not being a youngster anymore I was pretty creaky for a couple of days. I took a picture of my knee, but decided not to share it. You're welcome.

3. Dr. M & I love going to the beach, but we don't really like getting in the water, or walking in the sand, or being out in the sun all that much. Ha! So our dream vacation is a room with a balcony over the ocean & that's what we had. We left the room to eat, and each of us took one walk on the beach, but otherwise we read (me) & took pictures (Dr. M). It was blissful!

These pictures aren't probably the ones I would usually share, but I'm sending these to Dr. M's dad & decided to just post them. Maybe I'll post more later. These are mostly pictures of birds and dogs - there were plenty on the beach!


Osprey & Lunch

Blue Grosbeak 

Crow

Another osprey with lunch :)





A fresh water pond

My one beach walk

Dr. M on the bay


For more beachy pictures, go to Dr. M's blog here.

Thursday, June 2, 2016

Still Here...

I can't believe that my last post was May 11th!! A lot of things have happened while I've been away - trips to NC, church stuff (Pentecost!), work, flowers, rereading the J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts) Eve Dallas series. Frankly, it's that last one that's kept me away from blogging (and reading your blogs - so sorry!). I'm up to book 16 in the series.

When I dive deeply into reading books that usually means that something is going on that I want to avoid. Books are such fabulous travel agents! And therapists, and old friends... As comforting as a bite of my mother's banana sandwich, and as effective as a tranquilizer dart.

I'm not exactly sure what this binge is about - because that's the point, right? Read read read - no thinking allowed! And I've been afraid to write here because, yes, now I am having to think. But not too much. I'm not ready to address my disquiet just yet.

So, here are a few random pictures from our yard. I'll bombard you with crochet later. And I promise to read all of your posts, even if I don't manage to comment.






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