Letters home

I found out a couple of weeks ago that one of my cousins is in possession of letters that our grandfather wrote home during World War I. She got them from her dad, my mom's brother, who got them from our great aunt, our grandfather's younger sister.

My mom was also unaware that the letters existed, so we were thrilled to find out about them.

I'm going to pick them up tonight and will be scanning them and posting them somewhere so that all the family members can read them. I can't wait to see them; I know it will give all of us a new perspective on my grandfather: to hear his voice as a 17 year old newly minted soldier and to get a glimpse into his world at war.

This week's bouquet

Some of what's available for cutting in the garden
is the same as last week:
blue columbine and daisies.

But now there are two more peonies blooming;
the deep pink one has a pearly luster to its depth of color.
The white one has a beautiful fragrance.
I wish I could combine the color of the first
and the fragrance of the second.

And the light pink roses are from a plant
that was in my father's childhood garden,
and now is in mine.

By the grace of God and with the consent of the people of God...

...was the opening line of the invitation to the ordination.

Before the service at St. James Cathedral
the acolytes (the one on the left is the daughter of my friend)
light the candles on the altar.


What a morning - what an afternoon.
(It was a long service.)
Two friends of mine have just finished three years of seminary
and were ordained this morning as deacons in the Episcopal Church;
in six months they will be ordained priests.

The eight newly ordained deacons prepare to join the processional
at the end of the service.

It was a wonderful service in a gorgeous space;
with glorious music, inspiring prayers and hymns,
and an occasion to be thankful.

Photo op with the bishop after the service.

And the closing voluntary was one of my absolute favorites:
Charles-Marie Vidor's Toccata

Fast relief

Our internet provider, which is where I also have our main email address, upgraded their web mail by adding a lot of nice features (long overdue) but also put in a rather large frame on the right side of the screen with everchanging ads. Many of them also have flickering images.

Can you say annoying?

There is a way to expand the email message to hide the ads, but each time I move to a new message, the message box shrinks to reveal the ads again.

Then I found this: Adblock Plus.

And it even has a one and a half minute video to show how it works:



It was easy to install, and now the pain is gone.

Busted

G and I have a running and good-natured debate: who takes more covers and more space in our bed?

I contend that he migrates to the middle, leaving me clinging to the edge. When I try to move him over in the middle of the night, he grumbles groggily and finally shifts over, but in the morning denies it ever happened.

Last night G went to bed before I did, and when I finally came upstairs, this is what I found. I made enough noise exclaiming over his position and taking the picture, that he woke up and moved over.

Today I showed him the picture on the computer. He laughed and then pointed out that his hips weren't in the middle of the bed, so it didn't count.

Hmph.

What's that smell...

I love meadow rue, especially its foliage.

with mountain bluet in foreground

Kind of like columbine...

or maidenhair fern.

The flowers are pretty - fluffy and pink,
but until a few days ago, I had never tried them as a cut flower.

Not a good idea.

They have a faint but odd smell, kind of like an onion going bad,
which I didn't notice until I had brought them into the house
with the other flowers I had cut.
It took a few minutes to figure out where the aroma was coming from,
but once I realized it was the meadow rue flowers,
I cut them off the foliage and tossed them into the kitchen scraps bucket,
which lives in the cabinet under the sink
before making its way out to the compost pile once it's full.

Within a day I had to empty the bucket,
because even with the cupboard door closed,
I was getting whiffs of the odor.

Glorious Day

Yesterday was so gorgeous: warm, sunny, and low humidity.

I had time for an early walk before church


to admire some other gardens


Love this fence - the previous owners used to have lots of astilbe,


but now it's all roses


Home in time to pull rhubarb for stewing


Later, it was a perfect day to cut the grass


and hang some laundry


spy a bird on a nest


check the progress of the radishes and arugula


and pick a bouquet for the table.