This is the first official produce of our new mini-orchard we planted last year. We have a bunch of new baby trees we planted on our property last spring: two plum trees, a peach tree, a cherry, a pear and a nectarine to keep our ancient apple tree company.
Last year they just grew, and this year that's still where most of the energy went (they are starting to look like real trees now!) but one of our plums pulled out all the stops and made a single golden fruit.
It was condensed deliciousness. All our fruit farming hopes and gardening efforts congealed in one glowing orb. A and I split it one very early morning for breakfast while the dew was still on the grass, dripping juices on our hands, alternating bites. Sometimes we share an achingly happy vision of life together.
I haven't got a television. This meant that I "missed" the royal wedding. I realize that for some, the allure of getting up at 4 am to watch a state event from a different country seems a bit thin at best, perhaps even verging on insane. I never claimed to be normal. My friends are just as kooky as I am which makes me feel that this breed of insanity is quite within the realm. They were: creating authentic high tea for granddaughters, setting alarm clocks for early hours and hauling their children out of bed to watch the wedding, TiVo-ing the entire thing and then watching and re-watching it with family over the next week or more, discussing all the details of the day endlessly together, wearing union jacks for the day and even getting out their own wedding dresses to celebrate. I hav
e cool friends. Cool, kooky friends.
All that to say, I felt not at all beyond the pale when I finally got around to YouTubing my way through the ceremony in great detail myself...(replaying the key moments perhaps) and spending the rest of the day thinking about it I have some thoughts. I know that monarchy is out-dated historically, but I really feel like there is something lovely about it anyhow. Something morale boosting, something culturally lifting, and as an onlooker, it feels a little otherworldly as well. (in a good way)
After musing on the whole concept of the royal wedding all day here are my take-aways:
Practice makes perfect...there's no shame in practicing to remove the hiccups from jobs done in public that present an image by which you will be judged. I was impressed to hear Catherine recite so smoothly the litany of Williams many names and then later read that Diana stumbled over Charles' when it was her own turn. Not to knock Diana or the concept of human error or relaxation....I firmly believe in grace and forgiveness at these times. It is admirable to hear that Catherine and William worked so tirelessly to iron out the wrinkles. I would like to take more time to prepare when I have sticky words to pronounce publicly or an important visual I am going to present. Note to self: practice smiling gracefully. I always grin far to wide for pictures and find that I end up with photos of me with no lips, bared teeth, squinting eyes and a giant blue vein popping up on my forehead. It's the little things and a bit of conscious practice that make people appear polished and elegant. Be done with the idea that some are just naturally elegant and that you and I cannot be among that number.
Being old fashioned is not "out." I thought the classical vows that the couple took and the timeless wedding attire were so lovely. Catherine used the "quaint" Victorian language of flowers to select a symbolic bouquet, bridal decorations and the sugar blossoms for the wedding cake. She wore a tiara that was a royal family heirloom. She continued the tradition of carrying a sprig of Queen Victoria's myrtle in her bouquet. They chose a carriage as their transport, cathedral to palace. They came across as elegant and ageless, not in the least bit twee or matronly. We needn't update every little thing to be fashionable and modern....sometimes the old ways are best.
A little warmth and respect buys you goodwill now and freewill later. I find this one so helpful that I might even tack it up on the wall. I am generally warm and respectful but I forget that part of why you do so is so that eventually you will be in a position to be able to exert freewill and do so without offense. The Queen is a bit of a controlling woman...it is sort of her job. I'm sure she can be quite intimidating. Instead of either bowing completely to her wishes or flagrantly defying her left and right, Catherine wisely came to her for crash courses in "princessing," communicated often and regular with her new family, worked symbols of the royal family into the wedding ceremony and even had lunch with Camilla--notepad in hand, taking down the ideas and suggestions she had to offer. Once she had done all of this then when the queen sent specific orders for how she wanted the wedding to go Catherine had created enough goodwill to not raise a fuss when she sent word that she'd rather wear her hair down thank you, and that the royal couple had chosen to travel leave the cathedral in a carriage instead of a car. I need that kind of grace + fortitude. I am all warmth and then no resolve in relation to other people. She inspires me.
Humility and regal dignity are sweet companions. I thought it was wonderful that Catherine chose to line the sides of the cathedral aisle with live maple trees in pots specifically because they symbolize humility. I also thought the direct but not performing acknowledgement the newlyweds gave to onlookers was lovely and impressive. They were elegant and regal without being showy or sneeringly proud. So often if feels like people who work on humility don't know how to be graceful and give themselves dignity and then again, those who have great dignity or personal pride don't know how to be warm and humble in relating to others.
Less is more. Such a cliche, green, modern idea in some ways but all too true. Catherine didn't need a tumbling orchid laden arrangement, her admittedly small bouquet and simple dress and veil were elegant and also showed that she and William had nothing to prove by appearing ostentatious. How do you "dress up" Westminster Abbey anyhow? Just as they did...with subtle, elegant touches....nothing over the top and nothing too wild. And really, some of the wedding guests with those outrageous hats? I'm sure they meant to look edgy and impressive but they just came off as over the top and very, very silly looking.
Don't fight technology. I am impressed by how very technologically embracing the royal family has been concerning the wedding. They have tweeted, posted Flikr photos, started a website, streamed live footage and accepted email comments and well-wishes. They have been thoroughly modern in every way and yet never cheapened themselves or the solemnity of the occasion. This bought them a lot of goodwill with regular people, gave them a lot more publicity and visibility and it also gave William the tool his mother never had....an element of control over the press. By running his own, pointed PR campaign he is avoiding reinventing the wheel. Poise + technological sophistication is a great recipe.
And I'm sure there are more lovely nuggets to glean from this important historical thumbtack in the timeline of our lifetimes....and maybe later I'll think of them. But for tonight, that's all I've got.
A and I are taking time out tonight to go out alone together and get a little couple space. It's really good to do this anyhow, in normal life, but right now...when I am doing daily battle with the holiday gremlins of chaos, it's even more important.
I need to remember that I love him, even if he drive me crazy. That we can enjoy being together. That love is the deepest, best good in life. That we are a couple, not just parents, employees, homemakers, schedulers, packers, bakers, cleaners, policemen, caregivers, creators, and homeowners. I hope this will be a new tradition. Our own, window of love in the madness of the season. A time to be still together, to step away, to absorb the beauty around us, and to purposefully make a small memory.
I'm not sure where we're going...we haven't had time to plan anything, so we'll make it up. After we go somewhere fun to eat and hopefully laugh a little bit, we're going to try to find a special Christmas ornament in a shop somewhere, for each of our boys, one that we can label with the year and their name and hold in our hands and imbue with all the warmth and richness that this year has held for our family. A small way to remember this time and try to help ourselves stir the aroma of purposeful hope just before we rush wildly out of town.
Just sharing more of my latest paintings with you all today...been a while since I posted any of them. I'm still swishing away with my brushes on Tuesdays at my art group and loving it just as well. There is nothing that can replace community...to do things that you love in the company of others who love it just the same will give you a power not to be underestimated. I am quite addicted.
These ducklings are what I was working on today.
My sister Foxy's ducklings to be exact...and I'm not done yet but I thought I'd share
because I'm so excited with how they're coming so far. I like the composition a lot.
And here is a genuine framed painting of mine. See!
This is actually the one I entered in the church art show I mentioned.
And in other news, today was our 8 year wedding anniversary! Hooray! Very hard to believe we have been married that long. Our marriage is in 3rd grade. Lovely. Told A tonight, during our stroll around the grounds of the New England inn where we had dinner, I think this has been our best year yet. Barring the euphoria of the year we were only dating, I think we've had no better time. And even the euphoria probably only brings that year up to a tie with this year. Pretty good stuff. Am enjoying marriage very much these days and feeling very bullish on the whole concept of another 8..... or two or three 8's as the case may be. Bring it on!
After our dinner we were driving back and woohoo!!! The periodic lobster special at one of my favorite little grocery stores was on! And we dashed in for a late night lobster run, you can never have too much lobster and when its only 5.99 a lb....why dawdle.
A and I read together, its one of the ways (as discussed in this post ) that I manage to fit literature into my life. We read on the daily commute occasionally, we read on long road trips and we sometimes even read in the evenings while we take turns getting ready for bed or after the little ones are down for the night instead of a movie or some other relaxy activity.
"Steinbeck's slippers" shoved under a quilt covered bed at the Steinbeck Museum
We both really love Steinbeck and our recent trip to California only reminded us. Excitingly, we have not even come close to reading his works and so there's still a lot out there to discover. We talked a little during that trip and then recently, when we finished our latest read about how we'd love to read more Steinbeck and, which one should we pick for our next tome?
A had never read The Grapes of Wrath. Never read it! Really! He's a very well-read guy so this kind of discovery is quite astonishing. I had read it which immediately made me feel very cool. (thank you public high school English teacher) These little moments of achievement in which I have done something intelligent that A hasn't are the kind of things we hold onto. *grin*
Dustbowl ephemera from The Steinbeck Center in Salinas
Even though I'd read it once and I'm not the kind of person who re-reads anything....ever. Still, I was more than happy to pick it for our next read-aloud. I loved the book the first time around and I know how much fun we both have reading Steinbeck together and I'm certain A will love it which will make it a complete joy to live through again as a couple.
So, this week the copy we ordered off of Amazon arrived in the mail and we ripped it right open in the van and proceeded to make story-hour out of the traffic jam we were stuck in on our way home. Such fun. I really love Steinbeck. And folks, granted, I'm still rather deeply hormonal but still, I was crying within pages of the front cover. The man is a word wizard with such an empathetic and beauty probing gift that I can't help but wish we had time for one long non-stop reading time. It was so hard to see our driveway approaching and know that it was time to wrap it up. I've been salivating ever since about when we'll get another little moment to dive in again.
Steinbeck quote about our local area
And today, thinking about the whole story and the characters (I do love Ma Joad) I was stumbling around through YouTube and discovered accidently that Woodie Guthrie, one of those golden American songwriters had a similiar fascination. He wrote several rambling songs, set to plucky guitar accompaniment that are on the subject of The Dust Bowl, the Great Depression, Tom Joad himself, and the migrant workers that Steinbeck was so absorbed by. Enjoy the following:
Also, check out this amazing painting by artist Ashley Cecil who was commission by Oxfam to illustrate the poverty of modern farmers in the third world. Love the brilliant colors, the swirling dust coming from the bowl of the harvesting woman and elegant use of emotion. Lest we forget, The Dust Bowl was not just a quaint event in American history, it has just rolled on to other places where mothers still struggle to feed their little ones and the hand to mouth life drives families on in desperation.
And folks, if you somehow managed to escape school without reading Grapes...do yourself a favor and pick up this brilliant bittersweet American masterpiece. I also highly recommend Travels With Charley and Of Mice and Men.
