Heated "Up"

After going to the gym, shopping for groceries in 101 degree heat, and playing for a wedding outdoors in the previously mentioned heat, Muffin and I went out for dinner and a movie on Saturday night. Seriously, it has been so hot and dry here that we are losing plants in our yard that we've had for 20 years. It's been so hot that we take our ice chest with us to the grocery store so the cold food will still be cold when we arrive in the garage. It's been so hot that if you don't use the windshield sun screens in the car when it is parked, that the steering wheel and seat belt buckles are too hot to touch. It's been so hot and dry that the sky and the earth are almost the same glaring shade of whiteness. It was so hot at the wedding that the ring bearer stayed busy trotting up the aisle to the steps on the patio porch to the water cooler, hauling cups of cold water toward the bridal party. They all looked like they would like to interrupt the preacher and drink, but were too polite to do so. It was so hot that I was seriously concerned about my violin varnish being damaged by the heat and perspiration and dry air. It's so hot that the tap water is officially "warm". I think you understand.

So, back to dinner and a movie. We had a very pleasant dinner of citrus shrimp and scallops on rice pilaf with garden salad and vegetables. Our waitress was a darling college student who wanted to visit about ministry opportunities, rather than her major. Our city has three universities, each founded by a different Christian denomination, so lots of students find that they are drawn to ministry while working on their degrees. Isn't that fabulous?

The Pixar flick, "Up", has been out for many weeks, and we have intended to see it every weekend since it opened. We were anticipating it. We were pumped. I was surprised. In fact, I felt like a train hit me in the opening moments. I really do understand that it is an uplifting movie, pun intended. I get that we should not be encumbered by our possessions or life's circumstances and that we should always let our spirit of adventure move us forward. I just didn't expect to be reminded of so many people that I know who are not living freely in that spirit of adventure. And I began to cry. Then I cried more. Finally I was just a blubbering mess and wept out of control on the way home. Not a pretty date for Muffin at all. I don't cry pretty. I'm not the "let the tears roll down your cheeks past your lovely waterproof mascaraed eyes type". I sob. I snort. I grab whatever is handy--sleeve, napkin, tissue, upholstery. Well, maybe not upholstery. Poor Muffin. He loved the movie and always sees such richness in the graphics and storytelling, drawing, and imagery. I just see the story and beyond--to the prophetic meanings in the lives and events of the characters. I tried really hard to look at the mechanics and not the heart rending story, but I was a goner. Happy Anniversary, dear. Boo hoo, waaaaaaa. snort. sniff sniff.

This Day in History

The year: 1972

The time: 1400, or 2pm, CST

The place: Asbury Methodist Church, Lubbock, TX

The people: Muffin, Me, family, friends, and two preachers

The occasion: Our Wedding Day!

It was simple. Two shades of pink homemade dresses for the bridesmaids. Lots of music, of course, but I stuck to mostly Bach, a bit of Schumann, and hymns. "O Perfect Love" and the prayer of St. Francis (set to music by Olive Dungan) were sung by a dear friend, whose Daddy was one of the preachers. The other vocal solo was from a song cycle, about the ring on the finger of the the newly married girl singing it. Naturally there was a piano, an organ, and a violin playing. The flowers were basic pink carnations and white gladiolus. The former because Muffin sent them to me frequently when I lived in the dorm. The latter because they have always spelled S-U-M-M-E-R to me. The reception was in the parlor and all the food was handmade by my parents and brought from out of town. Muffin's baby sister, his only sister, his only sibling, was six years old. She was the flower girl and didn't speak a word all day, but she was adorable with her long blonde curls.

Favorite memories:

Coming into the sanctuary with my Daddy and seeing Muffin for the first time that day. I knew again that he was the person I wanted to grow old with and sit with on the back porch, looking at the sun go down.

Aforementioned musicians trying not to cry when we said our vows

Previously mentioned baby sister with chocolate cake all over her face at the reception

Second preacher nearly blasting us out of the sanctuary in his zeal to be sure the congregation hear every word he said. We heard!

Baby buggy and lots of shoe polish writing on the little brown Pinto in which we drove away

An awful polyester pant suit, made by my own two hands, in white with gold buttons, as a "going away outfit". Eeeeuwwww! What was I thinking?

Stopping in a small town for a milkshake on our way to our honeymoon destination and discovering dried cake frosting on my face. Muffin hadn't said a thing.

Remembering late in the day that I had a good friend from the music department who was in the Miss Texas pageant that same day

Thinking how very fragile my parents looked as we drove away

Knowing I had married my very best friend, given to my by God, the one who my heart loves.

Happy thirty seventh!

Typical Weekend AEN

Playing for Lunch

That's After Empty Nest...

For twelve years Muffin and I have not exactly lived together. We have the same address, but he has a job 200 miles to the east and keeps an apartment there. He has never called it a home-just an apartment. For the first three years or more he did not have a bed-just an air mattress on the floor. Finally, we both decided I would never be happy spending a night over there in camping conditions, so he bought a mattress set at Sam's Club. And so the living conditions go...

His employer allows him to work flex time so that he completes his work week in four days. A typical weekend for us, when there is nothing else on the calendar, looks like this.

Thursday around 7-8 PM Muffin rolls into the driveway with his ice chest full of groceries from Central Market, including a dinner for two in a brown bag which is our version of eating out that evening. He also brings me fresh flowers from their flower market because he loves me. We put away the groceries, heat the dinner and eat in front of the TV where we talk about his visit with Nana (his Mom) on his way home and then watch recorded TV shows from the week. In the summer, that means So You Think You Can Dance. He reads all his accumulated mail, both USPS and electronic.

Friday we sleep in a bit, drink coffee slowly, visit some more about whatever we missed during the week, and make any outstanding phone calls that need to be returned. At noon we go to the Health Club for a Body Flow class. Afterward we may run errands, grab a bite to eat at Taco Bueno, or just come home for leftovers and salad. However, last week we skipped the usual Friday routine and drove 42 miles northeast to a small town and met four of my students, ages 12-16 and played at a local nursing home. Then we played for a Chamber of Commerce luncheon and knocked their socks off with Mozart, Bach, a tango, and Ashokan Farewell.

Returning home we headed to our favorite bakery to pick up honey wheat bread and a loaf of braided Challah, which was pre-ordered and waiting for us. By that time it was 98 in the shade and the heat index was around 105, so we just dripped home and took a wee nap. We spent the remainder of the evening watering plants, doing laundry, eating dinner, watching some recorded and live shows, programming Nannie's new telephone, and surfing the internet.

Saturday we did a Body Flow class, took the phone to Nannie and gave her some quick lessons on it, stuck around awhile to comfort her in her continuing grief since Dubbie went to his heavenly home, then grabbed a meal at the Bueno. After that we shopped at Sam's and HEB, unpacked all the groceries, talked to some of the daughters, finished the laundry, cooked dinner, made cookies, and generally toodled around the house doing things that had to be done.

Sunday after church we visited with a family who has two adorable and precocious sons adopted from Russia, just because we had time to do so. Then we talked to another daughter for over an hour, read the Sunday paper, watched Formula 1 racing, and took a nap. Sunday nights we cook. The menu is usually a variation on grilled meats and fresh veggies and some salads, which we divide for the week and pack half in the ice chest. Then we clean the floors in the house, put away everything, pack Muffin's car with all the clean laundry and good food, program the coffeemaker for a full pot, go to bed early while Muffin sleeps and I read or listen to podcasts. The next morning he hits the interstate by 7 AM or earlier.

One of these days we would both like to return to the Sunday-Saturday of life together every day and night. The first twenty five years seem like a great luxury now.

Movie Night

Tonight Muffin and I had a real date. We had dinner at the nearby Italian restaurant, which uses the very freshest ingredients. I had a grilled chicken rotini dish made with fresh tomatoes, herbs and artichokes. The most delicious ingredient was the crumbled peccorino cheese. Muffin had a ravioli dish with delicious fresh basil and tomatoes. Their house dressing on the salads is one of the best Italian dressings ever. 

After dinner we drove to the Town and Country Drive-In Theater for a double feature. Tonight's choices were Terminator Salvation/Star Trek  or on the other screen Night at the Museum: Battle at the Smithsonian/ X Man Origins:Wolverine. So we took our snacks and bottled water, rolled back the sun roof, and turned on the radio to the theater frequency, and sat under the stars from 9 pm to 1 a.m.  Night at the Museum was fun, especially all the animated art hanging in the National Gallery (which is not technically part of the Smithsonian).  But we turned the car around and drove to the other side of the lot to watch Star Trek. Muffin loved it!  Proclaimed the special effects were the best ever. 

Oh, and the lot of the theater, in addition to the snack bar, has a working oil well pump surrounded by a fence right smack in the middle of the property.

A rose is a rose is a ......

Aren't these stripes cheerful?  They almost take the edge off losing an hour of sleep last night to the beginning of Daylight Saving Time. 

I love red. My closet and my house is a testimony to that preference. 

Muffin gave me beautiful Henri Matisse roses this weekend.  No special occasion.  Just because he loves me. I love him back!  Anyway, I thought I would share them with you.  

Have a blessed Lord's Day.