Every Bride Cried

Monday I sat for an hour and waited for someone who wanted get married. Where were the love birds?  Be careful what you wish for.  Between 2:00 and 4:25 I did 8 weddings.  Every bride was emotional and cried.

The first couple was interesting.  They were really sweet.  But they had an out of control toddler.  Screaming, running around, trying to climb the support beam, he was a perfect ad for birth control.  Mom was  extremely well endowed in the bosom department.  But she didn’t have on a bra. She did have on a draped, low cut top.  When she bent over or when the toddler grabbed the top, we had a nip slip.  Charming.  Dad was a handsome African American young man.  He smiled and I nearly died.  He had a mouth full of gold grill. 

I had one couple who had bought their license in another county.  That means if I find errors, we can’t correct them.  We also can’t record the license.  We have to mail it back to the county where it was bought.  So this license had a problem.  I did the ceremony, explained all of the above, and told the bride how to begin the process of changing her name.  She said, “I’m not changing my name.”  But she had given the original clerk her name choice.  It is on the license, I did the ceremony, her name is changed. 

She was upset, “they told me to put it down and I could decide later.”  I told her that now it would take a court order to go back to her original name.  I am sure the clerk in the other county did not tell her she could decide later.  This law has been in effect for a couple of years.  People do not listen, and do not read the license when asked to.

Another license had an error.  Bad me, I did not find it until the only witness signed.  I looked below her name at the place for a second witness (not required but couples are allowed two) no name but an address.  The witness was a volunteer from the lobby and really needed to leave.  If we had to reprint to remove the address, she would be held up and be late for an appointment.  I raced to the Marriage Desk Clerk, and explained all.  She said the magic words, “ I can fix it, no need to reprint.”

As I said, all the brides cried.  Mostly from nerves, excitement, and emotion.  But one bride did not want to be there. I am sure it was an arranged marriage, they were both Pakistani.  He was from California, she was from England.  She stood with her arms wrapped around herself with the saddest expression on her face.  He answered the questions, even when I tried to talk to her.  They walked up to stand under the arch.  One of the guests called to the groom for help with a camera. 

He walked away and I asked her if she really wanted to marry.  She shrugged her shoulders and just stood there.  During the ceremony she stood away from him and wouldn’t touch him.  After the ceremony everyone, except the bride, was celebrating.

This was my last wedding of the day.  I left them with the Marriage Desk Clerk and went downstairs.  Marty was waiting out front so I gathered my stuff and left.  The groom and all the guests were in the lobby laughing and talking.  The bride was outside, alone, sitting on the planter wall.  I nearly cried when I saw her.

Dowsizing

Marty and I have our house on the market.  We need to downsize and to have a one floor home.  The first showing was last night, as we were getting it ready for the Broker's Tour today.  That tour will begin at 10:00.

The website for the house is here.   If you know anyone who wants to live in the lovely area of Rockridge in Oakland California, contact our Realtor.  All the info is on the website.

This Time He Cooked Pho

Sunday Marty gathered his ingredients for Pho.  My Asian friends have tried to teach me to pronounce it.  The closest I get to it is fa, rhymes with Pa, Ma.  Even if we can’t say it correctly, we like to eat it.

This time he used the recipe from the box of broth.  Usually he makes his own broth, but wanted to try this.  I think his is better.

Rice noodles and the broth.

Rice noodles going in the water.

Noodles cooking.

Broth with secret ingredients, unless you read the recipe on the box, then not so secret.  Of course knowing Marty, the recipe is only a starting point.

Broth with noodles, raw thinly sliced beef to drop in to cook, basil, cilantro, jalapenos, and bean sprouts.

Just a different angle of the table.

This was  really good.  Unfortunately Monday night Marty was all done cooking.  I had to fix supper.  We had curried chicken and lots of toppings.  No one took pictures of me cooking.  So you will have to imagine what a gorgeous plate of food I put out.

More Cooking

If I keep posting cooking pictures, I may have to change the name of the blog.  I do have endings for the food.  We eat it, all of it.

Saturday, Marty went out to run errands.  He came home with live Dungeness Crab.  He threw them in a big pot, steamed them, and we then picked them. 

He picks the claws and I pick the bodies. 

After we got all the meat out, we had to decide how to fix it.   After much discussion . . .

Marty made crab cakes.  I made a Remoulade Sauce to go with them.  The crab cakes are made mainly from the meat of the bodies.  He served the claws whole.

A close up of one plate.  Lemons are from our tree.  The crab cakes had no filler, all luscious meat. 

This was a great Saturday night meal.  Not boring.  And again we were working together in the kitchen.  Even both of us cleaned up the kitchen. 

Hope you like the cooking side of our life.  The next blog is Pho. 

Such a Yummy Dinner

I love to cook.  BUT, I get real tired of every day cooking.  I have been making some of the same dishes for 45 years.  So every now and then I think, what’s new for supper. 

We love breakfast for supper.  Fried eggs or scrambled, with bacon or sausage, toast and jam, and potatoes fried in some unhealthy way. Usually with bacon grease, heaven on a fork.  All that with a big glass of milk is great.  But even that gets boring.  Still tastes good, but boring to cook.

I read recipes for entertainment.  Recently I have seen lots of foods cooked in muffin tins lined with bread, bacon, prosciutto, or ham.  Pig is always good.  What could I do?  I had prosciutto in the freezer and lots of eggs.  I told Marty what I was going to do.  He said if I wanted him to, he would make a Béarnaise sauce and fry up some potatoes.  Hell yes I wanted him to.  Fun in the kitchen, both of us creating.

I sprayed the muffin cups with Pam.  Next I lined the muffin tins with prosciutto up to the top of the cups.  Not as easy as that sounds.  It’s like working with cheap plastic wrap.  The prosciutto collapsed onto itself.  There was no getting it straightened out.  So I did what all cooks do with an error, I destroyed the evidence.  I ate it.

I got the hang of the prosciutto and lined the cups.  I then, one at a time, broke eggs into a little pitcher.  I carefully poured an egg into each cup.  I peppered them.  No salt because prosciutto is really salty. This was baked at 375 degrees for a little too long.  The whites looked runny and we left it in for 30 minutes.  I think 25 would have been better.  I like runny eggs and these were more of a firm yolk.

While I was doing that, Marty was working on potatoes and Béarnaise sauce.  (I did help stir the sauce) We toasted bread, cut it into circles.  That went on the plate first, the eggs were placed on the toast and the sauce was poured over them, and lastly the potatoes went on the side. 

                            

Building the meal.  Toast down, egg cups on top.

Béarnaise sauce pouring onto egg cup two.

 

Second plate of egg cups getting their Béarnaise sauce.

                                                

Ready for the taste test.

Smell wonderful, and yes, it was yummy.

When we do this again, I will cook the eggs a shorter time.  And I will make Marty pour more of the Béarnaise Sauce on the eggs.  I make a great Béarnaise Sauce, but I think his topped mine.  I just wanted to eat the sauce.

Back to the Marriage Factory

Wednesday at the Marriage Factory was one of my first outings after my Mother died.  It wasn’t that I felt I should sit home and live quietly for a while.  I just kept  bursting into tears.  But Wednesday I had it together and was ready to do weddings.

The first couple the groom was from West Virginia.  He was thrilled to have a Southern Lady from Kentucky doing the ceremony.  We talked about the Hatfield and McCoy feud, and that we probably were cousins 10 times removed.  The bride was a large plus size woman.  Her tunic top was low cut and she didn’t have a bra on.  Her breasts sagged to her waist.

For some reason Wednesday, we couldn’t find commissioners to do Spanish weddings.  At first if was their lunch time, and then the rest of the day, they weren’t answering their phones.  Finally they tracked down a translator and I did the Spanish ceremonies.  One problem with that, the translator forgot to explain to one couple the paperwork.  So I did hand motions and got them downstairs to record their marriage license.  I had to ask a bilingual clerk to explain to the couple what we were doing.

I love reading the licenses and seeing the information about divorces.  The next groom’s divorce was two days old.  Wish I knew the story behind that.  The bride had written out an almost prayer to bless their marriage and to bring her two daughters into the marriage. They asked me to read it before I started the ceremony. It was lovely.

Couple number five were cute and very relaxed.  Maybe they had had some help to be that relaxed.  He wore a long sleeved gray shirt and gray slacks with pointy toed cowboy boots.  He also had clip on suspenders.  Now that is just wrong, no one but little children wear clip ons.  His bride wore a black squared neck slip dress. The dress fit her perfectly, the back had several darts that pulled it in to her body tightly, but not too tight.  The hemline had a couple of inches of black lace.  And on her feet, cowboy boots.

The last couple arrived in this.

This was the longest stretch limo I have ever seen.  The whole family arrived in it.

The bride wore a creamy square necked dress with spaghetti straps.  It was a lined gauzy material that fell to the floor.  She carried pink roses.  The groom wore a white Hawaiian style shirt with a Kukui nut necklace and a pink rose boutonniere. 

Marty was across the street waiting for me when the limo pulled up to pick the family up.  He grabbed his Iphone and snapped away.


Loading the limo up.  The groom is at the door of the limo.


More of the family loading in. 

I was lucky Marty was sitting there when the limo pulled up and the family came out.  He knew I would want pictures. 

Oh you all are going to love this.

I just received a response to one of my apartment listing emails.  Perfect timing to go with the blog of a couple of hours ago.  I really only asked for a viewing to just see which scammer this one was.

Read it and enjoy.  Everything down to the questions was one big paragraph.  I put breaks in so it is easier to read.   Just how stupid do they think we are?

Re: $1000 / 3br - 1100ft² - 3BR/1BA Apartment,1515 Sunnyvale Ave, Walnut Creek, CA (walnut creek)


Hello Dear,

!!!!It is a great pleasure that  you are interested in my apartment... Thanks for your email and it is my gladness  hearing from you. we are the owner of the  apartment you are making inquiry of.I am looking for responsible tenants that he/she is going to take care of the apartment as if it were your own and he/she will be willing to make the Property clean as we left it. Actually I  resided in the apartment with my family,such as my wife and my only daughter before and presently we had packed due to my transfer from my working place and now situated in the (West Africa Nigeria)and won't be coming to the apartment until Five years now and that means we are renting the Property  for long term and short term lease is also acceptable. and presently my apartment is still available for rent for $1000 including the utilities like  Heat, A/C in wall/window, Hydro, cable, Garbage Disposal, Fireplace , Fridge,stove, Dishwasher, Dryer, Breakfast Bar, Dining Table and Sofa Set,Refrigerator,Canopied deck overlooking nature.,internet access e..t.c .,

We came to West Africa under (WHO) World Health Organization(WHO).. WHO is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. It is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends.Visit our website for more information if you also want to make an impact to the world. http://www.who.int/about/en/.

I hope you will promise me to take very good care of the apartment.. The apartment is very big and nice and it is in a nice area I have received many proposals today for my property.So i hope you will promise us that you will  take very good care of the apartment. So get back to me if you know you could take care of our apartment or perhaps experience you have in renting apartment.Hope you are okay with the price of $1000 per month .

RENTAL FEE: $1000 /MONTH, UTILITIES INCLUSIVE

PLEASE NOTE: You would not be able to see the inside of the apartment because the keys and documents of the apartment are with me here in Nigeria, you can only go by and view it from the exterior/surroundings, i would have really love to handle the keys and docs to someone in the state like relatives/friends but i don't have anybody there right now and i could have handle it to an agent to deal with with prospective tenant in person but he might want to handle the property professionally and the tenant might not want to reason along with the agent at the end and i wouldn't like such to happen to my tenant so i have to bring the necessary keys/docs along with me to Nigeria and i will be available dealing with my interested occupant who is ready to rent this place. The house It's located in a convenient, conducive, safe and great location. It's a place to call a home, I PROMISE...


PROPERTY FEATURES :
Heating features: Central, Electric Source
Status: Active & Available Now
Pets Welcome
Parking Available


Please if you are ready now to occupy the house kindly provide the rental information below for record purpose.


(RENTAL APPLICATION FORM)
(PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL)

(1)Your Full Name?
(2)Your Present Full Address?
(3)Contact Phone Number to Reach You:
(4)Nationality:
(5)Marital Status:
(6)Sex:
(7)Date Of Birth:
(8)Do you have a pet?
(9)Do you have a car?
(10)Religion?
(11)What do you do for a living?
(12)Short or Long Term lease:
(13)How many people will be living in the house?
(14)Your Move In Date?
(15)Your Move Out Date?
(16)Pictures of Occupant: Optional
(17)Copy of Photo ID: Optional


If you are interested in this rent, you can fill out the rental application form above and get back to me with all your details so that i can have it in file in-case of issuing the receipt in your name and contacting you. Please am doing this based on trust and again i want you to stick to your words, i am putting everything into Gods hand, please do not let me down on this property of mine and God bless you more as you do this...


Looking forward to read from you

It is a bad, rude, wicked world

We are apartment hunting.  We have steps, lots of steps. Steps in the house, steps up to the street, steps to the parking pad, steps down to the back of the house.  STEPS! We have bad knees and bad feet.  We have aging hips.  These do not go with steps. So a need to move.

I have been on Craigslist every day, several times a day for weeks.  I send emails asking to view, no response.  I call managers, listing agents, and owners, the majority don't respond.  Rude, Miss Manners would have something to say about them. 

The pictures in the listing will be lovely, then you google the address. When you zoom in, you can see the bars on the windows and doors. Tough neighborhoods.  Not an area a nice chicken hearted senior citizen would last in.  I would have to give the kids on the corner my lunch money.

I did get quick responses back from a few listings.  Nice area, square footage I want, in our price range.  The emails would tell me the owner was working overseas in England, Germany, Ireland, South Africa for the next 5 years.  They had moved and accidentally brought the keys with them.  If I would send them 3 months rent, the security deposit, my social security number, and a picture; they would send me the keys and the apartment was mine.  Well, you just know Marty and I couldn't get the money in the mail fast enough. The sad truth is people are falling for this scam.  I have received emails back more than once with the very same message.

Some of the listings are so funny. Sidebar:  Oakland is on the San Francisco Bay.  Most view homes are up in the hills.  We call the water views South Bay, North Bay, Golden Gate View.  Downtown Oakland has some lovely apartments, that start at 500 square feet and are very expensive, say starting at $2200 a month.   Downtown Oakland is in the flats, not up in the hills.  So there is a listing that says 

$925  2 br 2 ba, Italian palace   1250 square feet   Intercoastal views. Gorgeous pictures were posted of every room.  It then gave a street address.

Too cheap for the size and area. The pictures for sure came from Architectural Digest. That street listed, no way you could see the Bay from there. Guess what, we don't use the term intercoastal here, that is more Florida, South Carolina, or Georgia.  It did make me laugh out loud.

I will continue to search for a new home. 

Thin White Dress Alert!

Last week on Wednesday I performed 5 wedding ceremonies.  And as always,  every wedding had something different to remember.

The first couple were older, the groom was 65 and the bride was 59.  It started  off well.  The couple was sweet, very tender toward each other and then it went nutso.  During the ceremony the groom starting rolling his eyes until only the whites showed.  He was swaying.  I thought he was going to pass out.  No, she wasn’t concerned, she kept smiling at him.  he smiled at her.  Then the whites of the eyes were back.  He was flat out weird and scary looking.  He would totally shut his eyes and then they would pop open, to all white.  Zombie??

The next couple were in there 50s.  This is not PC, but he looked like a gypsy.  He was from Eastern Europe.  He was swarthy and had long dark hair in a ponytail. He was dressed well in a black suit and a lavender rose in the lapel.  She wore a gorgeous dark burgundy lace dress that matched the color of her hair.  She carried lavender roses and had roses in her hair.  This couple was very emotional, they both cried during the ceremony.


The third couple was strange.  I did not think they even wanted to be in the same room.  They seemed so unhappy and they stood way far apart.  No smiles, no touching, no happiness.   The Marriage Desk Clerk told me later they were smiling and seemed happy.  I hope so.


Group four, and it was a group, close to 30 people.  It was like herding cats.  They had taken over the lobby and were having a loud fun party as they waited.  I kept trying to give instructions of where to go for the ones waiting for the next elevator.  They just kept talking.  Eventually everyone showed up in the Wedding Room. 


Then I totally lost control, all the women suddenly had to go to the bathroom.  The men were making phone calls, and the groom was posing for pictures.  When I finally got all of them in the room again, I used that stern school teacher loud voice of mine.  I told them, “From now on only I am allowed to talk.  So listen and I will tell you what we are going to do”.  And they all got quiet and listened.

I looked at the groom, he is still posing for pictures as I talked. Then I really looked at the bride and had to bite my cheek.  Thin white dress, no slip and her underpants’ seams showed.  Such a thin dress.  But none of that mattered.  This couple was in love, they had their families with them, and we had a wedding.


My last couple were in there late 60s.  Very tender with each other.  Their witness asked if she could read something before the ceremony.  I said yes and she began to read.  It was a legend about a Native American woman and the Coyote.  The woman was a weaver and made beautiful clothes.  Everyone wanted to win her for his wife.  She didn’t want anyone.  Then the coyote courted her and won her heart.  The legend told of their coyotes babies and then he takes her to his den and shows her his wonderful home.  And they lived happily ever after.  It was such a sweet loving story and a great beginning to the wedding ceremony. 

I only wished I had asked the name of the book.  I would love to read the legends.  I will have to do some research and find Native American legends.

A Grand Lady is gone.

My mother passed away today.  She has been ill since February and also in April fell and broke a leg.  She was 95 years old going on 16.

Anna French Edwards Triplett Hollin enjoyed life.  Last Fall she was still tailgating at the University of Kentucky football games.  Mother loved to eat out.  She always had fun at  parties, and for years was the designated driver.

She always wanted people around her.  She said it was because she was a twin and was used to having someone with from the time of the womb.  Neighbors would come watch her wash the floor and talk to her.  In her later years a neighbor would come and work crossword puzzles in the morning.

Mother was widowed when she was around 35 years old.   I was 10, my sister was 13, and my brother was 7.  Not a good time.  When I was in high school she met Jack Hollin.  And they eloped when I was a freshman in college. In February they celebrated 50 years of marriage.  Oh, the kicker, Papa Jack is nearly 20 years younger than her.  Let me tell you the little mountain town we lived in was horrified.  The doctor’s widow has married a much younger man.  We didn’t care, we loved Jack, and so did my Daddy’s family.   Anna was the original Cougar.  A gorgeous redhead who could have who ever she wanted.  And she wanted Jack.

Anna is known for good works.  She helped friends of mine get into college.  Which I didn’t know until the last year or so.  She helped a pregnant classmate in 1960 who the town shunned.  Anna took classmates of mine to away ballgames.  She paid for their food, knowing some of them had no money to spare.   In her 70’s she was a Councilwoman for the little town she and Jack lived in. 

There are lots of stories to tell.  Anna wasn’t perfect.  She drove her children crazy at times.  As we did her.  Just teaching my sister to drive literally gave her ulcers.  Then my turn to learn, flared up the ulcers.  I think Jack taught Henry to drive.

Mother and Papa Jack at their 50th anniversary celebration.

Mother’s 94th birthday.

1983 Mother and Papa Jack

1985 Mother and Papa Jack

Mother, friends and family tailgating at a  U of K football game sometime in the last 5 years.

Mother and Papa Jack and his sisters sometimes in the early 1970’s.

I have so many pictures of Mother and Papa Jack.  Weddings, family reunions, with their grandchildren and great grandchildren.  What I put up is a broad picture of my Mother’s life.  She was loved, she was fun, she was strong willed, and she will be missed.

Mother, you had a hell of a life.  Sad times, good times, great times.  Rest in peace.