My brother-in-law just emailed me some great news. A friend we met through him just signed the closing papers for her first house. She has her keys and can move in.
What does this have to do with America being wonderful, you ask? Kaus is an immigrant from India, a woman, single, young (30), and has her green card. She has been in this country 10 to 12 years. She has educated herself here to a high level, she holds an important job with TI. She has done this alone, paying her own way, and is an American success. She is living the American dream. Citizenship, are you far behind?
Yeah Kaus, you go girl!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
LONG BORING, WOW, SUDDENLY BUSY DAY
Wednesday I arrived at the County building at 12:40. Marty needed my car and had dropped me early. I talked to people, I read, I walked around, I read some more. Where are all the couples? Around 2:30 finally a bride and groom. And 15 minutes later, another couple, and they were my favorite for the day. Maybe even for the year.
There is the groom, the bride, and the witness. The groom is beside himself with joy. He told me "This is the happiest day of my life." And the two women just giggled. Then he said, "She didn't know we were getting married today. I called A (the bride) and invited her to lunch. Then I called J (witness) and invited her to lunch. Then I brought them here and we are getting married." I laughed and said that is really sweet and romantic. Where did you go to lunch? Then they all laughed and said, no lunch. I did a ceremony with all the sweet nothings. They said their family would kill them for running off. So we planned the big reception they will have and I gave them a copy of the ceremony. That way they can reenact it when the family comes. Just a lovely couple and so much in love. Oh, he was taking them to a special Italian place for a fancy dinner that night. Loved them!
At 3:40 the clerks asked if I could stay late. They had several couples just now punching in and it would run late. I told them I was there until 4:30, then I had to leave. They ground out the paperwork and I began.
The last couple was brought up to me about 4:15, I could do this and they would never know I was in a rush. The license had been bought a couple of weeks ago. Lovely wedding dress, four of the women were in violet strapless chiffon dresses, most of the men were in traditional Filipino wedding shirts. Cameras and rings at the ready. Lots of family and friends there. I thought this might beat out the fun surprise wedding. This was a well planned out wedding. Almost.
One of our clerks walked by the doors into the marriage desk office. The bride squealed, "Oh, there is X my best friend." I asked if she wanted me to see if X could take a break and be there for the wedding. Yes, oh yes. I went to X and she is sobbing, being held by the marriage desk clerk. Her "best friend" had told her nothing about the wedding. X is devastated. I had thought X knew and because she was working didn't think she could come. X also is a marriage commissioner and could have done the ceremony if given warning. Some best friend.
That made such a bad taste in my mouth. I married them, but I didn't like them.
There is the groom, the bride, and the witness. The groom is beside himself with joy. He told me "This is the happiest day of my life." And the two women just giggled. Then he said, "She didn't know we were getting married today. I called A (the bride) and invited her to lunch. Then I called J (witness) and invited her to lunch. Then I brought them here and we are getting married." I laughed and said that is really sweet and romantic. Where did you go to lunch? Then they all laughed and said, no lunch. I did a ceremony with all the sweet nothings. They said their family would kill them for running off. So we planned the big reception they will have and I gave them a copy of the ceremony. That way they can reenact it when the family comes. Just a lovely couple and so much in love. Oh, he was taking them to a special Italian place for a fancy dinner that night. Loved them!
At 3:40 the clerks asked if I could stay late. They had several couples just now punching in and it would run late. I told them I was there until 4:30, then I had to leave. They ground out the paperwork and I began.
The last couple was brought up to me about 4:15, I could do this and they would never know I was in a rush. The license had been bought a couple of weeks ago. Lovely wedding dress, four of the women were in violet strapless chiffon dresses, most of the men were in traditional Filipino wedding shirts. Cameras and rings at the ready. Lots of family and friends there. I thought this might beat out the fun surprise wedding. This was a well planned out wedding. Almost.
One of our clerks walked by the doors into the marriage desk office. The bride squealed, "Oh, there is X my best friend." I asked if she wanted me to see if X could take a break and be there for the wedding. Yes, oh yes. I went to X and she is sobbing, being held by the marriage desk clerk. Her "best friend" had told her nothing about the wedding. X is devastated. I had thought X knew and because she was working didn't think she could come. X also is a marriage commissioner and could have done the ceremony if given warning. Some best friend.
That made such a bad taste in my mouth. I married them, but I didn't like them.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
FINALLY, PICTURES
Marty burned a CD with the San Diego pictures. They just wouldn't work through email. There are 129 pictures on the CD. Don't worry, I am only going to use a few of them. And spread it out over a couple of posts.
Richard and Luis host Luis's family many Sundays. Food is very important to this family. Good food, spicy food, lots of food. The children play or swim. The teenagers play videos games or swim, and the adults watch them have fun. And all eat. Different families bring parts of the meal. They cook, they eat, they laugh, they tease. It is a good family to spend an afternoon with.
Below is food from the appetizer table. The left, celery and peppers stuffed with pimento cheese and with Benedictine. I made those two spreads.The large plate to the right is jicama with lime juice and some wonderful spices shaken over it.
More appetizers
Enjoying the food
Luis's Mom making rice for dinner, great rice!
Quality control
Pork cooked in banana leaves and then shredded.
Buffet line
One of the tables with family
Saturday, October 17, 2009
OH WHAT A WEEK. . .
Even with the messed up shoulder, life goes on, sort of. I did not help with my first graders on Tuesday. I hurt so much I knew I would be hateful to the kids. (Just ask Marty how his week is going. ) And kids pull, tug, and hug. I could not handle that. So I called in sick.
I did get my nails done Tuesday. Vanity always trumps pain. Now to get there I had to drive through an awful storm. It was the tail end of a typhoon. Big rigs were blowing over, lines were down, but I had my nails done.
Wednesday I married couples. I thought how hard can that be? That left shoulder is not involved at all in a marriage ceremony. Right. I have the book to hold, license to hold, doors to open. I had to walk and breathe. Guess what, all that makes the shoulder move. But I lived through it.
Only one couple drove us crazy. The couple was from Mongolia and spoke little English. His teenage son was translating. The first clerk had to change the license several times. They couldn't decide how to spell their parents' names. I got the license and found two spelling errors (put in the computer by the couple), second clerk corrected and reprinted again. They"looked" at the license for the umpteenth time and said it was correct. I married them, we printed out the certified copy, and gave it to them. The father started yelling at the son, the names are misspelled. Clerk three corrects it again and printed it out. Four of us to get them married. And it took nearly 45 minutes longer from start to finish.
Last night we went to the Willows Theatre to see Barefoot in the Park. The play was great. Very well done and even though it is over 45 years old, it holds up. It is just a story about 2 newlyweds. Good fun. Go see it.
There was the strange woman sitting to my right at an angle toward me. Her feet in my space, her huge purse sitting partly in my lap. I did the spread the feet thing and moved her feet over, and every now and then I hip checked her purse. She would sigh and then move it more into her lap. But it kept coming back. At the intermissions it got really strange. She completely turned toward me and stared, intently. We got up the first intermission, but she was still there staring. Even through the play, staring away. The second intermission we sat and talked and she stared. Strange, strange woman.
The shoulder is better. I need a week of doing nothing for it to really heal up: no makeup, no using a curling iron, no blogging, no cleaning house, no making beds, no using the arm. Not going to happen. Life goes on and you do what you have to do. And you take lots of aspirin.
Well, must go iron shirts now.
I did get my nails done Tuesday. Vanity always trumps pain. Now to get there I had to drive through an awful storm. It was the tail end of a typhoon. Big rigs were blowing over, lines were down, but I had my nails done.
Wednesday I married couples. I thought how hard can that be? That left shoulder is not involved at all in a marriage ceremony. Right. I have the book to hold, license to hold, doors to open. I had to walk and breathe. Guess what, all that makes the shoulder move. But I lived through it.
Only one couple drove us crazy. The couple was from Mongolia and spoke little English. His teenage son was translating. The first clerk had to change the license several times. They couldn't decide how to spell their parents' names. I got the license and found two spelling errors (put in the computer by the couple), second clerk corrected and reprinted again. They"looked" at the license for the umpteenth time and said it was correct. I married them, we printed out the certified copy, and gave it to them. The father started yelling at the son, the names are misspelled. Clerk three corrects it again and printed it out. Four of us to get them married. And it took nearly 45 minutes longer from start to finish.
Last night we went to the Willows Theatre to see Barefoot in the Park. The play was great. Very well done and even though it is over 45 years old, it holds up. It is just a story about 2 newlyweds. Good fun. Go see it.
There was the strange woman sitting to my right at an angle toward me. Her feet in my space, her huge purse sitting partly in my lap. I did the spread the feet thing and moved her feet over, and every now and then I hip checked her purse. She would sigh and then move it more into her lap. But it kept coming back. At the intermissions it got really strange. She completely turned toward me and stared, intently. We got up the first intermission, but she was still there staring. Even through the play, staring away. The second intermission we sat and talked and she stared. Strange, strange woman.
The shoulder is better. I need a week of doing nothing for it to really heal up: no makeup, no using a curling iron, no blogging, no cleaning house, no making beds, no using the arm. Not going to happen. Life goes on and you do what you have to do. And you take lots of aspirin.
Well, must go iron shirts now.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
A FEW PICTURES
Marty took some great pictures. Blogger does not like the format. So all we have now are a few taken with my Palm. Not great, but pictures. Below is the garage with the master suite above it. There is a tower to the right.
The courtyard looking toward the tower.
The courtyard looking toward the tower.
More tower and drive way.
Marty with the dogs in the courtyard.
Guest bath. Bright tiles, green cabinets, mosaic mirrors. Orchids.
Inside the tower, it leads up to the master suite.
Fuzzy pix of the fireplace in Master suite.
View from balcony in master suite.
If we can get blogger to accept Marty's pictures, I will post them also. He has the wonderful flowers, pool and view, and yard art.Tuesday, October 13, 2009
WHY NO BLOG, WHY??
There will be pictures of the trip, I promise. I have lots of pix to download and stories to tell. But I have had a couple of problems.
The trip to San Diego did not go as planned. Saturday I woke up in terrible pain. (years ago I injured my rotator cuff and that radiates pain into my neck and down to my fingers) I had been babying my shoulder, but I guess not enough. All day Saturday I ate aspirin, iced, and cried. We won't even discuss that night. Sunday was some better, I stopped crying.
Monday we came home, I helped drive. Shouldn't have done that. Last night, ugly. Today, not so nice either.
And our modem died while we were gone. Marty spent most of today getting our computers back up and running.
Stay tuned/
The trip to San Diego did not go as planned. Saturday I woke up in terrible pain. (years ago I injured my rotator cuff and that radiates pain into my neck and down to my fingers) I had been babying my shoulder, but I guess not enough. All day Saturday I ate aspirin, iced, and cried. We won't even discuss that night. Sunday was some better, I stopped crying.
Monday we came home, I helped drive. Shouldn't have done that. Last night, ugly. Today, not so nice either.
And our modem died while we were gone. Marty spent most of today getting our computers back up and running.
Stay tuned/
Friday, October 9, 2009
ROAD TRIP 2
Late last October we made a road trip to San Diego. If you remember it was an exciting ride. Yesterday we drove down again to visit friends. It was a very calm, nice, too long drive.
As I have mentioned I love road trips with Marty. We listen to good music, this trip it was satellite 50's channel the whole way. We laugh together and we talk. Not about what we have to do today, or what to cook. We talk: we discussed the water bill, we talked about one of Marty's clients, we talked about friends going through a hard time. We talked about serious stuff. We also pranked called Marty's brother (well it is a very long drive, we needed entertainment.)
We looked at the cars, trucks, and RVs we were passing. Yes, very little is fast enough to pass us. We decided the recession is really over. Lots of new, big shiny pickup trucks, huge beautiful ones. Hey, I am a Southern Belle, we love pickups, I learned to shift gears on a pickup. The 18 wheelers were huge and new looking. And the RVS, hundreds of them . . greyhound bus size, new and getting about 6 miles to a gallon. People, if they can drive those gas hogs there is a lot of money out there. We saw one pulling a pickup truck with a camper shell that was pulling motorcycles. I'm thinking 2 miles to a gallon.
We are staying with friends Richard and Luis. They have an incredible home. It is just beautiful and so relaxing. We feel as if we are staying at a 5 star hotel, only better. If time I will post some pix of it. It looks like a hacienda on a mountain top.
Stay tuned.
As I have mentioned I love road trips with Marty. We listen to good music, this trip it was satellite 50's channel the whole way. We laugh together and we talk. Not about what we have to do today, or what to cook. We talk: we discussed the water bill, we talked about one of Marty's clients, we talked about friends going through a hard time. We talked about serious stuff. We also pranked called Marty's brother (well it is a very long drive, we needed entertainment.)
We looked at the cars, trucks, and RVs we were passing. Yes, very little is fast enough to pass us. We decided the recession is really over. Lots of new, big shiny pickup trucks, huge beautiful ones. Hey, I am a Southern Belle, we love pickups, I learned to shift gears on a pickup. The 18 wheelers were huge and new looking. And the RVS, hundreds of them . . greyhound bus size, new and getting about 6 miles to a gallon. People, if they can drive those gas hogs there is a lot of money out there. We saw one pulling a pickup truck with a camper shell that was pulling motorcycles. I'm thinking 2 miles to a gallon.
We are staying with friends Richard and Luis. They have an incredible home. It is just beautiful and so relaxing. We feel as if we are staying at a 5 star hotel, only better. If time I will post some pix of it. It looks like a hacienda on a mountain top.
Stay tuned.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
WEIRD AND SWEET
Today there were only 4 weddings. Slow, but interesting.
The first very interesting wedding gave me no warning. Two very NOW people from Afghanistan getting married. She was in a pin striped pant suit, he was in a wide striped suit. They seemed like a young hip modern couple. WRONG. When I asked if he took this woman as his wife, he stalled and then said, "I will accept her." After I pronounced them, no kiss, no hug, not even a hand shake. Can you say arranged marriage. They had us all fooled.
Then I had the really sweet couple but with a little baggage. She received her divorce decree two weeks ago. OK, maybe she had been separated a while. Well she had been busy, they had a month old baby. I know I am a little old fashioned. But get the divorce before you have a child with the next husband. Technically the baby was the first husband's, because she was married to him when the child was born. But it was husband number two's child.
The last couple I married was at first a little grating. I went out to get them and they just hit me wrong. It was a mixed race couple. They didn't have everyone there, they were sort of trashy looking. Well, my bad. Don't judge a book by its cover. When I called their names, 5, count them, 5 children walked up with them. These children were absolutely beautiful. Nothing like a mixed race to make gorgeous children. Their ages were 2, 3, 4, 7 , and 8. They were so well behaved, yet excited Mom and Dad were getting married. This couple was so sweet, so in love, and such outstanding parents. The children were well behaved, polite, and so normal acting. After the ceremony the children clapped and laughed and hugged Mom and Dad. Such a happy close family. They took the bad taste of the arranged marriage away.
The first very interesting wedding gave me no warning. Two very NOW people from Afghanistan getting married. She was in a pin striped pant suit, he was in a wide striped suit. They seemed like a young hip modern couple. WRONG. When I asked if he took this woman as his wife, he stalled and then said, "I will accept her." After I pronounced them, no kiss, no hug, not even a hand shake. Can you say arranged marriage. They had us all fooled.
Then I had the really sweet couple but with a little baggage. She received her divorce decree two weeks ago. OK, maybe she had been separated a while. Well she had been busy, they had a month old baby. I know I am a little old fashioned. But get the divorce before you have a child with the next husband. Technically the baby was the first husband's, because she was married to him when the child was born. But it was husband number two's child.
The last couple I married was at first a little grating. I went out to get them and they just hit me wrong. It was a mixed race couple. They didn't have everyone there, they were sort of trashy looking. Well, my bad. Don't judge a book by its cover. When I called their names, 5, count them, 5 children walked up with them. These children were absolutely beautiful. Nothing like a mixed race to make gorgeous children. Their ages were 2, 3, 4, 7 , and 8. They were so well behaved, yet excited Mom and Dad were getting married. This couple was so sweet, so in love, and such outstanding parents. The children were well behaved, polite, and so normal acting. After the ceremony the children clapped and laughed and hugged Mom and Dad. Such a happy close family. They took the bad taste of the arranged marriage away.
Monday, October 5, 2009
FINALLY WEDDINGS
Last week I was feeling puny and missed both days of marrying couples. But today I was back. I married 5 couples. It was good to be back.
Two weddings stand out to me.
The couple was young. He was almost without emotion, she was shy. I found an error on the license, so we reprinted. I took them upstairs and they re signed the new license. He just seemed to not want to be there. I started the ceremony, and he began to beam. He absolutely glowed with love for her. And she glowed back at him. It really was sweet, they are so in love. I took them down to have the marriage recorded and to get their certified copy. The clerk found another mistake. They signed for the third time. I told them it would be a story to tell their grandchildren. Finally we got everything corrected and they got their certified copy. Thankfully they were so happy to be married that they didn't get upset.
Another couple was a little harder to work with. They were from Laos. He spoke very good English, she spoke none. He was in his 30s, she was 19. They had their beautiful 4 month old daughter with them. The groom was going to translate for her with help from the witness. I always worry that the non English speaking person may not be getting the true story. I began the ceremony. The bride had been very shy, quiet, standoffish. During the ceremony she began to smile. Evidently she understood some English. When I asked if she took him as her husband she grinned, nodded yes, and answered in English YES! After the ceremony there were many happy kisses. She just bubbled after the ceremony. This was a love match. Not a forced marriage.
I love doing marriage ceremonies. The power, the fun, the little insight to others' lives.
Two weddings stand out to me.
The couple was young. He was almost without emotion, she was shy. I found an error on the license, so we reprinted. I took them upstairs and they re signed the new license. He just seemed to not want to be there. I started the ceremony, and he began to beam. He absolutely glowed with love for her. And she glowed back at him. It really was sweet, they are so in love. I took them down to have the marriage recorded and to get their certified copy. The clerk found another mistake. They signed for the third time. I told them it would be a story to tell their grandchildren. Finally we got everything corrected and they got their certified copy. Thankfully they were so happy to be married that they didn't get upset.
Another couple was a little harder to work with. They were from Laos. He spoke very good English, she spoke none. He was in his 30s, she was 19. They had their beautiful 4 month old daughter with them. The groom was going to translate for her with help from the witness. I always worry that the non English speaking person may not be getting the true story. I began the ceremony. The bride had been very shy, quiet, standoffish. During the ceremony she began to smile. Evidently she understood some English. When I asked if she took him as her husband she grinned, nodded yes, and answered in English YES! After the ceremony there were many happy kisses. She just bubbled after the ceremony. This was a love match. Not a forced marriage.
I love doing marriage ceremonies. The power, the fun, the little insight to others' lives.
Friday, October 2, 2009
SHINY! SHINY!
First off let me say shiny always looks spelled wrong. I even looked it up, I want another n or even an e.
What was shiny? Cars and more cars. Lasts night I went with a friend to a trade show at the Blackhawk Museum. The cars are in dark rooms with high powered spots on them. The Museum has cars from day one, celebrity cars, and tricked out cars we all have driven or ridden in.
Above a Ford Thunderbird, after they ruined it by adding a back seat. But it was cool to ride in this. Guy Bait.
What was shiny? Cars and more cars. Lasts night I went with a friend to a trade show at the Blackhawk Museum. The cars are in dark rooms with high powered spots on them. The Museum has cars from day one, celebrity cars, and tricked out cars we all have driven or ridden in.
Above a Ford Thunderbird, after they ruined it by adding a back seat. But it was cool to ride in this. Guy Bait.
Shiny, lots of shiny cars
These cars are really shiny. More so than the day they were driven off the car lot. They look as if they are painted with acrylics. The museum is well worth a trip. Three floors of cars. And each car more beautiful than the last one.
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