I Have No Endings

Beginning blends and the magic silent e

2012-02-01T09:54:00.000-08:00

Tuesday at Kaiser School the first graders were getting a heavy dose of phonics. During workshop, instead of small groups working on different skills, everyone had the same worksheet. One side had pictures and then the ending of the words. The children had to put in the beginning blend.

A picture of grapes        apes. They wrote in the blank gr. grapes. They had bl, gr, sl, sk, tr, st to pick from. Most of it was easy. Snail, trunk, tree . . .   And then regional and age differences showed up. There was a picture of a blouse. 80% of them didn't know what it was. All they could think of was shirt, but the clue was      ouse. Little girls wear cute shirts today, not a blouse. Then we had a sled and ice skates. No idea what those are. It doesn't snow in the Bay Area. Some of them might go skiing, but if they do something like sledding, they use a snow disc. Ice skating, not in their vocabulary.

Later they worked on the vowel blank silent e rule.   In words ending with a vowel, a consonant, and a silent e, the vowel will be long. No e, the vowel is short. We had 10 sentences with a word left out. They had a choice of two words and had to add the correct word.

I like to _______ my bike.       rid      ride

The lamp is ________.           dim   dime

The page had a ________ .      rip   ripe

This didn't go well because some used only the words ending in e. That is what we are studying, so it has to be right. They didn't read the sentences. When I had them read the sentences to me, they would say, "Oh, that doesn't make sense." It is not just we have a long vowel. It is also no e we must have a short vowel.

Ms H asked me to read to the children. YAY! It was one of my favorite books, Herb the Vegetarian Dragon. If you are not familiar with this book, do check out the link. The illustrations are wonderful. And there are lots of things on the website that are fun to check out, like recipes. The point of this book is it is wrong to condemn others for living differently than you do. We all can be different and still live together and be friends. At the same time this book is not the sweet PC book that is dumbed down so the children will not be scared. The dragons eat people, pictures show people in the dragons' mouths. Herb is almost beheaded. The children love this book. They also know it is make believe. Just like my generation knew Hansel and Gretal were not really in danger and they didn't really throw the witch into the oven. It is called make believe.

We did a lot of work yesterday. The children really buckled down and finished their work. No one stayed in at recess. No one really acted out yesterday. A very successful school day.

Southern Cooking

2012-01-29T23:18:00.001-08:00

Saturday night we had friends for dinner. They both really love good food, and are very good cooks. We have had fabulous food at their home. I wanted to give them the taste treat they had given us.

We changed the menu several times. I kept coming back to wanting to make spoon bread and Marty wanted fried corn. Not just anything goes with that. So we decided to go whole hog Southern.

The menu:

Appetizers

Benedictine spread, fancy cheeses, duck pate with truffles, and mushrooms stuffed with country ham sausage.

Salad course

Avocado and shrimp with a remoulade sauce

Main Course

Grilled asparagus, Fried Corn, Spoon Bread, Tri-tip wrapped in country ham sausage

Dessert Course

Creme Brulee

Champagne and various wines served

The table is ready for the guests.

Country ham stuffed mushrooms ready to go in the oven.

Some of the ingredients for spoon bread: Cornmeal imported from Kentucky, separated eggs.

The cornmeal is added to milk and cooked to a thick mush. This takes a lot of stirring or it will burn on the bottom. The yolks are added, other ingredients, then butter and whipped egg whites are folded in. This all goes in the oven to be baked.

Corn kernels are cut off the cob and cooked in bacon grease and butter. Cream is added at the end with salt and pepper. Notice it is cooked in a cast iron skillet.

Marinated shrimp and avocado, parts of the salad.

Torn lettuce waiting for the shrimp salad.

The tri-tip is resting before it is sliced. The sausage has been moved to the right side.

Marty had made the creme brulee and it is waiting to be torched. His blowtorch has been tested and ready to go. When he was ready to torch the topping, nothing happened. The blowtorch would not stay lit. He had to brown the sugar topping under the broiler. It doesn’t change the taste, but you don’t get that hard shell top.

It was a lovely dinner. One of our guests was excited to have spoon bread. He had eaten it years ago on a trip to Kentucky. And as for the fried corn, there was nothing left. Someone had three helpings. Happy guests=happy hosts.

Weddings on Wednesday

2012-01-27T17:18:00.001-08:00

Wednesday I had high hopes for a busy time doing marriage ceremonies. No such luck. I did very few marriages.

I had two weddings that were Hispanic. They each had lots of family attending the wedding. The one thing they both had in common, hovering fathers.

The fathers of the brides at each wedding were in my face, right beside me, trying to make decisions about the ceremonies, asking questions, grabbing for the paperwork. The couples were not 18 year old babies marrying. Both couples were in their mid twenties. Plus if they are marrying, then they need to handle the legalities and decisions by themselves. You know I didn’t pay much attention to the fathers. I was polite, but the couples’ wishes are all I consider and the ones getting the paperwork.

I checked a license and then looked over the souvenir certificate. There was an error on the souvenir certificate. These are not computer generated. They are on fancy paper with blanks spaces to type in the date and place, the names of the couple, witnesses’ info, and Marriage commissioner’s name. I took it back to Clerk K. She groaned and said, “ I have trouble using a typewriter. I’d never seen a typewriter until I took this job. I have trouble figuring out how to line up the spaces to fill in the blanks.”

Think about it. When is the last time you used a typewriter? This young woman is 23 years old. She and many of the other clerks have never lived in a world without computers. There are very very few instances today when typewriters are used. Try to think of a need for a typewriter. Let me know if you think of something.

Why weren’t you here last Tuesday?

2012-01-26T11:30:00.001-08:00

Tuesday I made it to school to work with the first graders. They were all in their groups working on math, reading, creative writing. I walked around to nudge slow workers and to give help where needed.

One little boy looked up at me and asked, “Why weren’t you here last Tuesday?” He acted as if I had skipped school without permission. I explained about the lost voice and that seemed to satisfy him. I guess the next time I have to miss, I’ll call him instead of Ms H.

Chinese New Year has begun. I read a story to the children related to the new year. The story deals with a child having lucky money to spend any way he wants. But it isn’t enough to buy what he wants, so he is pouting. The child sees a homeless old man who has no shoes, who has nothing. The children did a great job of understanding the point of your little bit can help someone with nothing.

Most of my work with the children was to hear them read a story and then to work on the Dolch List. Some of them are still struggling to read. They just need more time to work on basics. It is late enough in the year to consider holding them back this year. Parents are resisting and saying no you can’t retain my child.

That fact is amazing to me. When I taught (as a paid teacher), you told the parents for the good of the child you were holding them back. You had had conferences all year telling the parents the child was behind, the work was not being done, they needed more time at this level. The parents really had little say in the outcome. Some parents fought retaining their child, and went to the principal, and even the School Board, Every now and then the teacher lost that decision. The teacher always felt the child had been hurt by going on to the next grade. The next year that child’s teacher would come back to you and ask why you promoted her/him. Or if they knew the story, they would ask for worksheets, books, etc. from your level to help the child.

Times change. Maybe not always for the good.

The Voice is Back!

2012-01-25T09:54:00.001-08:00

Monday my voice was almost back to normal, so I felt my voice would hold up to do marriage ceremonies. Thestaff and volunteer had been really busy Monday morning. It was the first day of the Chinese New Year and an auspicious day to get married.

I was ready to go. But I sat and read for almost 2 hours. Where were the couples? Finally close to 3:00 a license! I married 4 couples that afternoon, and they were spread over almost 2 hours. That is really slow. Nothing for almost 2 hours and then I ended up staying close to 30 minutes after the building was closed. Two couples had punched in close to 4:00. By the time I received the licenses, it was getting close to quitting time.

Two weddings stand out. Again it was the contrast of the couples that makes me remember them.

Couple 1: They were a Chinese couple in their early 20s. This was a first marriage for both of them.

The groom wore a black suit and had a boutonniere of Baby’s Breath and a Sterling Rose. The bride was a teeny tiny woman. She wore a lavender taffeta dress with a square neckline. It was taffeta almost to the knees, then there was a 6 inch tulle lavender ruffle. The dress tied at the back, and the skirt was slightly full. She carried a bouquet of Sterling Roses that matched her dress. I told you she was tiny, her bouquet of two dozen roses and Baby’s Breath was wider than she was. It was gorgeous, but overpowered her body.

After the ceremony the groom handed me two cellophane wrapped velvet roses. Below is a picture of the roses. This was a traditional Chinese gift for weddings. I can’t take money for doing weddings, but I think this gift was in the legal limits.

Inside the roses are Hershey Kisses. The are is soon to be were. I love Hershey Kisses.

The next couple had had several marriages. He had been married 4 times and was now a widower. She had been married 3 times and was a widow. I don’t usually have much hope for couples who have that many marriages between them. But I think this one will last for life. The groom was born in 1929 and the bride in 1938.

The Weekend

2012-01-23T11:41:00.001-08:00

The past week, as I reported, wasn’t as planned. The weekend went much better. And I hope this week will continue to be normal.

Saturday we had a friend for dinner. We knew we wanted to have Dungeness crab, but how to fix it. For crab my job is to do research, find recipes and let Marty pick one. I only help clean crab, I rarely cook it.

I found several recipes and we agreed on Crab Imperial. Crab Imperial is basically a rich crab cake with a sauce cooked over it. There are a zillion ways to make it.

Marty bought live crab and cooked them. We cleaned them and then he did his magic . I cleaned romaine for a Cesar salad, and parboiled fresh peas to sauté later. The meal was rich, lovely, and left me wanting more crab.

Guess what? Marty had only used the body meat for his dish. He saved out the claws for dinner Sunday night. I made a tartar sauce, cut up some tomatoes, added a little seasoning, mixed in the crab and we had Crab sandwiches. Very good. But I think I would have preferred the crab hot over a fancy pasta dish.

This weekend we are again having friends for dinner. Pretty sure we are doing crab again. I am excited. It looks like the pasta sauce will win.

Not the week I planned

2012-01-19T11:32:00.000-08:00

Sunday and Monday went fairly well. Fun at the Food Show in spite of the swelled up foot. Tuesday I was supposed to go to school and help the first graders. Well, I had the foot I could barely walk on for any length of time. Also Monday afternoon I lost my voice. I had a voice, just not mine. This one was rough and sometimes didn't work. I don't have a sore throat, I"m not sick. I just can't talk much. So Tuesday I didn't go to school. I could barely walk or talk.

I stayed home Tuesday, didn't talk, kept my foot up as much as possible. The foot got some better but the voice didn't.

So Wednesday I called in come and go voice to the Marriage Factory. I stayed home, foot up and no talking. Last night the voice was some better. But still not good.

Today, I declared the foot healed. I had laundry to do and had to go up and down stairs, a lot. We will see tonight if the foot agrees it is healed. The voice is gradually improving, but still sounds terrible.

Stupid allergies.

Fancy Food Show 2012 part 2

2012-01-17T11:07:00.001-08:00

Monday we went back to check out the other hall of the Fancy Food Show. If this is your first time reading my blog, read yesterday’s post to catch up.

I was worried about walking yesterday. I aggravated an old foot injury. My foot was swollen and really hurt. How was I going to walk for hours? I keep all my support and braces for bad parts and I found an elastic sock with Velcro ankle straps. I wore it, I was slow, but I made it through the day.

So on to Day 2 of eating our way around the world.

This lovely lady is generously spreading humanely produced Foie Gras on little toast. I did not discover Foie Gras until well over 50. I regret those lost years.

One of the hundreds of cheese booths. There was a point I just couldn’t eat more cheese.

From Italy, Parma Ham on the hoof. Don’t tell anyone, but I almost like the European hams better than Kentucky Country Hams. Each type of long cured hams have incredible flavors.

The show has a standing rule, no cameras unless you are a registered press person. No pictures allowed. Yet many of the booths ask you to take pictures and put them on Facebook or your blog. Very few booths won’t allow pictures.

I am going to hell for this picture. After I took it they told me I couldn’t take pictures. I apologized, told them I had been asked at other booths to take pictures. I would delete the ones I took. They carefully watched me delete. Except as you can see I didn’t, I just pushed the picture to the side. Bad, Bad me. Marty didn’t get caught. He is one sneaky dude.

This is an antipasto spread, company shall remain nameless. After tasting many of the pickled veggies, I didn’t like anything except the cipollini onions.

This is very much a family pasta sauce business. The pictures are the parents of the people working the booth. The recipes come from their parents. The sauce was pretty good.

More ham, this time Speck from the Austrian Italian border.

More ham and cured meats. Do you see a pattern here?

This booth was fabulous! They had duck rillettes, duck pate, duck mousse. They had other pates and terrines. But why fill up on those when they were serving duck three ways. I loved loved the duck.

This picture is for Luis and his family. Mexico had a huge section of the floor with multiple booths. They served mole, guacamole, salsas, safflower oil, tequila, and other products. Great display, and it all tasted great also.

And we are walking out the door. What an incredible event! I didn’t even show you the candy, cakes, breads, wines, beer . . . Can’t wait for next year.

FANCY FOOD SHOW 2012

2012-01-15T17:19:00.001-08:00

Today we went into San Francisco for the Fancy Food Show. This is a three day event we have attended for at least 5 years. There are over a thousand vendors from all over the world who come and show their wares. Marty and I spent 4 1/2 hours walking the hall and sampling foods.

There was a lot of processed, I can’t cook, meals. There were chefs cooking or warming up food. There were little companies trying to break into the grocery world. There were huge companies such as Mezzetta showing their products. A little something for everyone.

We have arrived. Let the food sampling begin.

I loved the carved vegetables. These were at the Thai Feast booth. We took a sample of Pad Thai. It was Ok, but not what we have had at Thai restaurants. I think it would go over fine in other parts of America, where they don’t have as authentic Thai food as we do in the Bay Area.

Marty has a hard time passing up tea booths.

This would be me with Chef Susan Feniger. I loved her on Top Chef Masters. The food she was serving today was excellent.

You will have to click on the above picture to read the sign. They sell chocolate to go with wine. Two perfect food groups.

This is the Stubb’s Bar B Q Sauce booth. It made me sad this year. They were just barely cooking, and it was just sausage, little pieces of sausage. Folks, this showed we have a recession on. Every year in the past they have brought a huge trailer,(almost semi truck size) filled with smokers, grills, tables, sauces, posters. They drove that trailer right onto the convention floor. They were cooking! It was wonderful. They barbequed ribs, brisket, and sausage. They set out dinner size plates, forks, napkins, and lots of sauces. They let you take as much as you wanted. Their booth is where everyone came for lunch. Not this year, we got the tiny cup with a part of a piece of sausage. It was wonderful tasting, but oh so little of it.

We have had a lovely day. Our feet hurt, we are tired. We can’t wait to go back tomorrow to sample the next hall of food.

Wedding fashions and other stuff

2012-01-14T11:01:00.000-08:00

Wednesday some of the couples had some good looking outfits, as did their family members.

One bride wore a strapless satin sheath. The burgundy bodice had ruched roses and the skirt was black. She had on black tights and black peep toe shoes. He wore a lavender long sleeved shirt and black slacks. But the fashionista was the bride's 5 year old daughter. Her dress had a black and white checked top trimmed at the neck with a small burgundy line, a red sash, and a black velvet circle skirt. She wore black tights and grey suede boots that were trimmed in "fur".

The next bride wore a one shouldered white ruched dress with a black sash. Are you noticing that ruching is back in? The groom wore a grey suit, a tan ivy cap sometimes called a flat cap, and shoes that matched the weave of his cap. His 4 year old son wore a white shirt, black vest and slacks, with a little cap like Dad's.

The son walked up to me, stuck out his hand and said, "Hi, I'm Nate and I'm four." He grabbed my hand and held it all the way up to the wedding room. He was just darling. He sat down and watched the ceremony quietly. I pronounced the couple married and they kissed. Nate went ballistic! He ran screaming," NO!!!! BAD!!!! BAD!!!!" up to Dad and started hitting him over and over. He kept hitting and Dad had to pick Nate up and hold him away from him. Nate calmed down some, but ran around like a crazy child and kept saying BAD. While we were in the Marriage Desk Office, Dad said that Nate didn't like him kissing girls. I told the couple they better keep the bedroom door locked.

Two Extremes in Couples

2012-01-13T12:16:00.000-08:00

Monday, there wasn't a single couple to marry. None. Wednesday I had one couple, then an hour of nothing, then four back to back. There was another couple who checked in after 4:00 (cut off time) that would have made five. I already was running past closing so I didn't offer to stay even later.

Today your assignment is to compare and contrast these two couples and their friends.

Couple number 1: The couple had been together 21 years. She was in slacks that looked like jodhpurs without the balloon hips. The slacks were tucked into riding boots. She wore a loose top with a 3/4 coat sweater over it. She carried a bouquet of roses. He had on dark slacks and kept changing coats, one a dark sport coat the other a zip up black windbreaker. She decided he should wear the windbreaker (which was good looking) because she gave it to him. From the time they walked through the door, their friends were taking pictures. Everyone was laughing, it was a party in the lobby. They were close to over the top with happiness.

I went out and took them up to the wedding room. I was immediately the Den Mother. They were thrilled with the room, pictures of just the room were taken. They joked with me, they laughed, they listened to the rules, the help I gave the bride on holding her flowers to photograph better. Their was a lot of noise going on. I started the ceremony, dead silence. Cheering when the couple was pronounced married, and the party of happiness picked back up. When I was leaving them at D's office, the guest thanked me and thanked me. They were amazed how nice a wedding could be at the County building. I loved these people. So much fun.

Couple number 2: The bride and groom were in their early 20's. They looked scruffy and a little dirty. They had one person with them, a bored young woman who said she guessed she could take some pictures. The groom posed for the pictures throughout the ceremony, never looking at the bride. The bride spent the whole ceremony chewing gum like a cow with a cud. She also was smacking the gum. To add to that she examined her nails minutely the whole ceremony, every now and then picking at polish. There was no emotion, no happiness, not even sadness. They were just bored.

If it is Tuesday, I must be at school

2012-01-10T17:21:00.000-08:00

When I arrived at school this morning the first graders were hard at work. One group was reading with Ms. H. Others were sorting words by beginning letters in their "best handwriting". They then picked three of the words and used them in sentences. Others had listened to a book on tape and were answering questions on a worksheet. One group was doing phonics and writing sentences. The last group had pictures from a recent class event. They picked one they liked and pasted it on a paper.  They then wrote what was happening in the picture.

Lots of creative writing going on. Nearly every child finished their work on time today. Things were a lot calmer than last week.

I was doing clerical type work for Ms. H while she did a "follow the directions" exercise. She gave directions and then drew on the white board what they were to draw. She had them draw an oval. Then two triangles. Next up was a circle around the oval. Step by step they drew a rabbit together. Well, some of them did. Another rabbit was drawn in profile. Background was put in so the rabbits didn't float on the page. She wrote out some sentences: There are two rabbits. One rabbit can ________.
The other rabbit can_________. They read the sentences then offered words to finish the two sentences, such as jump, play, eat, hop, run . . .

The children were to look at the sentences, copy them onto their papers, finish the two incomplete sentences, and then color the picture they drew at the top. This is where it all went to Hell in a hand basket. I quit what I was doing and started walking the room and checking the papers.

One little boy copied everything and finished the sentences. One problem,
                                                          this is where he began each sentence.

His name, date, and every sentence were started in the middle of the page. Plus he spaced words like this: The           rabbit            can           jump.   Major First Grade rule, use one finger to space your words. I asked him why he wrote like that. "That's how I normally write." (he isn't dumb, very bright, but not up to following rules) Now I had already had this conversation with him 30 minutes before. And Ms. H or I have it with him every day. He only wants to do things his way. We made him rewrite every single thing on another paper.

Others didn't write what was on the board. Some wrote what was on the board, except they didn't use capital letters, or they did use them but in the middle of a word. Ms. H says many more exercises like this will be done.

We finished the morning with me reading My Brother Martin by Christine King Ferris. It begins with the birth of Martin Luther King, Jr. and goes through his childhood. I tried to explain what it was like to have two schools, not being allowed to shop in a white store, two water fountains, no mixing of the races. I got a little emotional remembering and trying to explain segregation from my childhood and early 30s. After I read the book and answered their questions, one little girl said, "Well, that just wasn't fair." Out of the mouths of babes.

More Weddings from Wednesday

2012-01-08T18:01:00.000-08:00

My last post was about an immigration wedding. It was not a happy post. Today's post has happier weddings, interesting clothing choices, and love in the room.

The first wedding the bride was hugely pregnant. She and the witness would have looked better in thin white dresses. They both wore tops that just covered their waists. And they both wore black tights, not even leggings, tights. We are talking butt crack, camel toe, and nothing left to the imagination.

Then we had the plus sized woman with the humongous breasts. Her top was open to nearly her waist, and her breasts swung loose. Yes, swung. No bra. Marriage Desk Clerk D said she didn't know where to look while doing the paper work for the couple. It was not a pretty sight.

Now these couples were greatly in love. We had tears, we had laughter, we had hugs of love. If you are in love what you wear doesn't matter. D and I may want to pull our eyes out, but love is the important thing.

The next couple was afraid they weren't dressed appropriately. The wedding was a last minute thing. This couple could wear feed sacks and look great. They were both beautiful people. They looked as if they should be in Paris. They were wearing skinny jeans, turtles neck sweaters and gorgeous black coats. They had two nieces with them, along with other family. The bride combined two of our silk flower bouquets to hold during the ceremony. The little girls (who were around 7 years old) were to come up during the vows, each take a bouquet, and then sit back down. They were to return the bouquets to the bride after the ceremony. They came up when I told them, and then each girl took a bouquet, stepped to the left of the bride and stood there. Each girl was holding the flowers at her waist as I had told the bride to. They wanted to be part of the ceremony, and we left them there. They were so cute standing like bridesmaids.

My last couple was dressed to the teeth. The groom wore a black suit and the bride wore a black and white satin ruched sheath. The strapless bodice was white and the high waisted skirt was black.

Their daughter was around a year old. She wore a pink knit dress with kittens on the skirt., pink tights, and pink boots. This child was so pretty. She had little curls all around her face. About half way through the ceremony she started giggling and laughing. What a lovely sound, a laughing child. Except laughter and giggles are contagious. I nearly bit a hole in my check to get through the ceremony. Others lost it. When I pronounced the couple married, the whole room erupted in laughter.

Immigration Won't Buy This One

2012-01-06T16:36:00.000-08:00

Wednesday I was at the Marriage Factory. We were fairly busy, but not slammed like last week. Clerk M handed me the license and said, "They're a nice little couple. She is African American and he is Indian with the whole family with them." M then walked off. I started checking the license. Bride born 1940, never been married. Groom born 1975, married once. One of those dates has to be a misprint. I take it back to M and she starts laughing. "I wondered how long it would take you to come back to me." All the info is correct.

I am not one to judge. Love comes to all ages. So I gather everyone up and we go upstairs to the wedding room. As we walk in the bride says, "Where do you want us to stand? Let's get this over with. I have to go to work." That really sounds loving. The whole time everyone except the bride is talking in what I guess to be Hindi. I get information and give instructions and we begin.

Everyone is still talking as I am doing the ceremony. The groom is watching one of the men closely. I ask do you take this woman . . . nothing. The man barks out something in Hindi and the groom says yes. I yelled, "Hold it, doesn't he speak English?" Everyone, except the groom, says yes, he speaks English. I tell them I have to be sure, it is illegal to do the ceremony if he can't understand me. They all keep talking for the groom. Finally I get them to be quiet and question the groom. (I later found out M had done the same thing.) The groom did understand English fairly well. So we moved on in the ceremony.

During the ring ceremony he put the ring on her right hand, OK, some cultures do that. Then he slipped the ring back off and palmed it. She put the ring on his left hand and he kept it on. This is just weird. They then back away from each other. I pronounced them married and they just walked away from each other.

She was leaving when I told her the witnesses needed to sign, and they would then get their certified copy of the license. She didn't want to wait for the paper work. I explained if there was an error, we all had to re sign. She was up in my face with I'm busy and have to get to work. I said fine, leave. If there is an error, then you will all need to be here at 8:30 in the morning to re sign the license. While she was telling us how busy she was, Marriage Desk Clerk D found an error. The Bride decided she could wait.

While waiting the couple was talking privately, but I could hear them. She said something like that's done, do you have everything you will need? She signed the license again, and left while the rest of us signed.

After everyone left, D and I talked about the couple. We wondered how much the bride was paid to marry this man. Trust me there was no love in the room.

Just how dumb do they think immigration is?

Back to School

2012-01-03T23:26:00.000-08:00

Today was the first day of school after the winter break, or Christmas break as I call it. The children were wound up, but not too badly. They needed to be reminded of school rules: names on papers, soft voices, how to line up, clean up your work space etc, keep your clothes on.

Yes, children are sexual animals. When you read to them, hands drop into their pants. This is normal, but not acceptable at school. Two of the little girls were flipping their tops up and flashing people as I read a story. I had a long talk with them about protecting and respecting their bodies. I reminded them that girls keep their bodies covered. That what ever they do at home, it was unacceptable to take clothes off at school. I didn't fuss, although I wanted to scream at them, "are you nuts????"

We continued work on contractions, a hard concept for some children. But they are getting it. There were math papers to work on, they sorted words by beginning sounds. They also wrote stories about their winter break. Over all they settled into work mode pretty well.

I worked with the children in their different groups. I also listened to some of them read a little book and go through the Dolch list. Children forget so much over the two week break unless parents work with them. The ones I worked with individually did well on the reading. Parents did their jobs.

I read a great book to the class right before lunch, Iggy Peck Architect. This book has great illustrations, enough ick factor to made the children go yuck, and it has great rhymes. They really liked it. One of the children's parents gave the book to the class.

I was glad to be back to school. I had missed my kids. And they seemed really happy to see me today.

More Weddings from Wednesday

2012-01-01T18:50:00.001-08:00

The first wedding of the day, I found a possible error on the license. There is a box that asks for the mother’s birth name. The bride’s mother’s last name was the same as the father’s. Now that happens sometimes, so I went out to check before we did anything. The bride said that it was her mother’s married name. I took the license back to Clerk L. She blew a gasket.

L had asked the bride about the name. The bride said that was the name on her mother’s birth certificate. To me she says not the correct name. We reprinted the license with the correct maiden name. How hard a question is birth name?

One wedding really bothered me. Everyone was happy except the bride. She was the saddest looking young woman. I was sure she wanted to be anywhere except my wedding room. Her family was happy, his family was happy. He was happy.

He also was a sleaze bag. All during the ceremony he kept grabbing her and kissing her face and neck. She just stood there and took it. I was sick to my stomach watching him. He was like a dog marking his territory. I took the ceremony very slow in case she wanted to back out. She didn’t. She was no happier when they left.

There were several lovely fun happy weddings. Little girls in fancy dresses, brides dressed up with bouquets. But one wedding stands out.

The groom was 47 and the bride was 27. It was a first marriage for both of them. It was also a secret marriage. (I wish I knew why) In July they are having a big “wedding” for family. Such happiness and love in the room. They had a baby around 5 months old in a carrier. They put the baby on the floor between them during the ceremony. They were ecstatic, grins, great vibes coming off them.

When they kissed after the ceremony, I looked at the baby. He is looking up at them. He had the most puzzled expression on his face. It was like, what are they kissing for, what is going on? I hope the witness got a picture of that little boy’s face.

Weddings? Oh we had weddings!

2011-12-31T15:46:00.001-08:00

The last week of December is one of the busiest of the year at the Marriage Factory. Wednesday from 9:00 to 4:45 there were 22 weddings. I arrived at 1:00 and married couples until 4:20. I performed 9 weddings in that time. Staff and another volunteer did the rest of the marriages.

Now just to make the afternoon even crazier the computers went down all over the building. For about 45 minutes we couldn’t do anything. There were 3 licenses waiting to print and come to me. There were 5 couples waiting to buy a license and be married and several others waiting to just buy a license. Plus we had other customers that were there to get birth certificates, death certificates, business licences, and other business in the building. People were good. No one got angry, no one got upset. They were antsy, but OK. The computer came back on line and like a well oiled machine, everything was back to normal.

One of my couples was worried about the computer problem. The groom thought it was a bad sign and maybe they shouldn’t marry that day. She convinced him it would be fine. They were an interesting couple and group.

He had a huge gelled Mohawk (he was in his 30’s old enough to not wear a Mohawk) She was very traditional looking. His mother drove me crazy. She was taking pictures with his camera. A digital point and click. Well she couldn’t. The whole ceremony she talked, “I can’t take pictures with this. There is something wrong. I don’t like your camera.” Very intrusive to the ceremony. I called for the witnesses. His brother and Mother signed.

Then the groom said Dad was to sign why did his brother sign. I was worried at first. But it was OK. Father and son had the same name and same address.

One more wedding. The couple and their family and guests were from Mongolia. They were surprised and pleased I nailed both their names. I was too. These names were much harder than the couple last week.

The groom wore a tux and had a boutonnière. The bride wore a tiered white satin sheath with a square neck. She carried a huge bouquet of mixed flowers. Their baby son was in a suit and tie. Their little girl wore a burgundy sparkly waltz length dress.

This group was great. Everyone dressed for the occasion. Some of the women guests wore corsages. Lots of fun and love in the room. I love doing weddings when everyone is all dressed up.

That’s two out of my nine. I’ll post another day about some of the other weddings.

Christmas with the Family

2011-12-28T11:47:00.001-08:00

Christmas Eve we drove to Davis to spend Christmas with our nephew Tres and his family. If you remember we had taken his parents to Davis on Wednesday.

Everyone but Marty and me are Catholic. Christmas Eve Mass is their tradition. We stayed home and made sure food would be ready for the feast planned for dinner.

We had shrimp salad, a 5 layer salad, broccoli casserole, lobster mac, spoon bread, and salt crusted prime rib. For dessert, Marty’s crème brulee as requested by the children.

Casey set beautiful tables for the adults and children. Each plate held a Christmas cracker.

Hank and Ann with the grandchildren as they were leaving for Mass.

Tres and Ava ready for Mass.

Tres carving the prime rib. His mother Ann watches.

Maryann, an Airman nurse, who works with Casey. As you can see we had all kinds of cookies, fudge, and other goodies.

We have pulled the Christmas Crackers and are all wearing our crowns.

We turned out the lights to get the full effect of Marty torching the crème brulee.

More fire. Hall really was amazed by the torch. I think he wanted one for Christmas.

Annabella helping Uncle Marty.

The children are in bed and the elves are putting together toys. Not easy after lots of wine.

Hall and Annabella disc0vering what Santa brought.

Ava playing with one of her gifts.

Ava carrying her baby doll, headed for Annabella’s doll. She decided she liked hers best.

As you can see, Christmas is great with little children and family. We laughed, took gobs of pictures, eat way too much food, drank just the right amount of great wines, and had a lovely time.

Now we are home where it is very quiet and peaceful. That is a good thing, also a bad thing. Miss the family.

Tres and his family will probably be in Turkey next year. He has been told they will be transferred in early summer to Turkey. Things change in the Air Force and they could end up somewhere else. But is is pretty certain they will not be at Travis much longer. Really will miss our family being so close.

Bourbon Balls' Contest

2011-12-26T09:38:00.000-08:00

This is the final Bourbon Balls' blog for Christmas 2011. I have posted two blogs about making Bourbon Balls. One with the recipe and pictures of starting the process of making them and another of dipping the balls. I told you about the contest for the best Bourbon Balls, Marty against Tres and Casey. Two very different recipes, again they did not share the real recipe. Only that they had butter in the filling. We have shared the recipe here and on Janet Rudolph's chocolate blog. The tasting contest was held Christmas Day.

A little back story of this year's contest. My brother and his wife Ann stayed with us several days before going to their son Tres' home for Christmas. We let them taste, many many times, our wonderful Bourbon Balls. It seemed only fair, since last year they had sampled Tres' candy for several days. Then yesterday afternoon, we brought out our candy. Tres brought out his candy. The tasting began. Ours were very very heavy in Bourbon. You saw the pictures, the nuts soaked for days. Tres' were lighter with less Bourbon. Drum roll, please.

Marty won! We won! We are the King and Queen of Bourbon Balls. No votes for the other side, we buried them. Even Tres and Casey voted for us. We Won! Not that I 'm bragging or anything.

Playing Tourist in San Francisco

2011-12-24T18:21:00.001-08:00

My brother Hank and his wife are here from Louisville, Kentucky and spent 5 days with us. Wednesday night we took then to Davis to their son’s home.

We took them to a fabulous party the night they arrived. We stayed home a couple of days, visited, ate good food, and drank good wine. We drove around and looked at Christmas lights. And then we spent a glorious day in San Francisco.

It was shirt sleeves weather, December and 65 degrees. It is good to live in California. Our first stop was Grace Cathedral.

The doors of the cathedral.

One stained glass window after another. They were setting up for a Christmas concert.

From the cathedral to Lombard Street, the crookedest street in the world.

We headed to the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park next. Marty is in front of a huge cactus.

Ann and Hank looking at tropical plants and orchids. There were hundreds of orchids blooming. Just lovely.

More orchids and blooming plants.

These orchids looked like peppermint candy.

One wing always has seasonal exhibits. This time it was poinsettias and a miniature of Playland. They also had model trains running through it.

Some of the games from Playland were on exhibit too. This is Zoltar, one of the few originals left in the world. Zoltar was a “star” in the movie Big.

From there we drove through scenic areas of the city. Then it was time for drinks. Marty took us to a bar where he used to watch Billiards, Cinch. Very fun and we all made friends.

Dinner was at the delicious, wonderful, delicious, outstanding House of Prime Rib. Did I say delicious? The chef rolls this huge silver cart around to each table. He carves the cut of prime rib you request. Then he adds the vegetables you want. Very old style and very gracious dining.

They serve one fish dish and several cuts of Prime Rib. That’s it for protein. Then you have wonderful sides. They have been open for at least 50 years. If you have time watch the video on the link above. You might just lick the screen.

After that huge meal, we went home and sat around and groaned.

It was a fun tourist day in the city. It was even more fun because Ann and Hank were with us.

Weddings Last Week

2011-12-23T10:14:00.001-08:00

Last week an older couple was marrying. He was in his fifties, she in her forties. He had a ring for her, but she hadn’t bought one for him yet. She really wanted a double ring ceremony, so he pulled a ring off his other hand to use. He warned her it wouldn’t fit on his left hand. He was right. She tried to slide the ring on, pushed and pushed. It hung up on his knuckle. They left it there, I finished the ceremony and he replaced it onto his right hand.

Their witness, her teenage daughter, had a surprise for all of us. She pulled out a bag of rice and started throwing it at the couple and all over the room. As soon as I could, I stopped her. No rice is allowed in the building or the sidewalk out front. The room was a dangerous mess.

The clerks were having a bad day. I took a couple up to D for a Spanish wedding. Since it wasn’t my couple I didn’t check the license. I handed it to D, and curse words. The clerk had not filled it out. It had the couple’s personal information. Nothing else: no dates, witness info, where the ceremony was taking place, no info on where the license was sold, and on and on. Let us say D was ticked big time.

One of my licenses was really messed up. The day’s date was wrong, for city she had put Alameda instead of Oakland, for county she put Oakland, for officiate was the street address of the county building .

Instead of the bride wearing the dreaded thin white dress, the witness wore a thin black dress. Let’s just say I know she wears bikini pants and no bra.

Several couples just seemed too light hearted to be marrying. There didn’t seem to be the respect for the event that would change their lives. Laughter is good, but not making fun of the vows, acting bored, standing with arms crossed, or striking stupid poses during the ceremony. All of these couples are going to have a “wedding” later. If they don’t consider the civil ceremony a wedding, why bother going through it?

School

2011-12-21T11:21:00.000-08:00

Last week was the last week of school before the Christmas break. Can you say wild children. They were really on a tear. I became the cross ole lady and Ms H was loud. This woman rarely raises her voice. Tuesday, she yelled.

We continued working on the wreath of contractions. I spent most of the time peeling off words that they just glued on in order to be done. I worked with reading, phonics, and an art/math project. Again with the gluing.

The project was the Twelve Days of Christmas. They had two sheets with the 12 items of the song. They were to find the one with the word first, write 1st, cut it out, and glue to a long strip of paper. Then find second, write 2nd, and continue. Well, this didn't go well for about a third of the class. They found anything, wrote 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc, cut out and glued. Again, I was peeling off boxes, helping them to correct what they wrote, and re-glued. I was one sticky mess.

I read a great book to them, Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins. Being protestant, I can't pronounce some of the words correctly. I had asked the 3 Jewish boys to help me with pronounciation. They loved telling an adult how to read a word. This book tell how Hershel the Trickster fools the goblins into allowing Hanukkah to be celebrated. There are great illustrations in the books, scary golblins with lots of details. Sorry, none of the websites show anything except the cover, or really bad videos.

The class (really Ms H) gave me a lovely card and a pair of silver earrings. It was very nice to be appreiciated for my help. I get as much out of working with the children as they do.

Busy, busy holidays

2011-12-18T00:12:00.001-08:00

The holidays are hectic. Fun, but hectic. My brother and his wife arrived today from Kentucky. They weren’t here two hours before we left for San Francisco to all go to a party. We still have museums to visit, gardens to visit, and restaurant reservations in the city. Plus good food and wine in my kitchen.

Wednesday we will take them to Davis to visit their son and his family. We will spend Christmas with them in Davis. The Bourbon Ball tasting contest will happen there. I will post an update when we win. Today we started bribing Little Brother and his wife. They like our Bourbon Balls.

I will post as I have time. I still have weddings to share with you. I have first graders to tell about. Bear with me. I may not post as often as I usually do. But I bet some of you will not have time to read me the next week or so. I will try to post. And I hope you will try to read me.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.

Jack Fredrickson Author

2011-12-16T14:55:00.001-08:00

Jack Fredrickson has become one of my favorite authors. He also is an email buddy. I wish now I had saved those emails, they are funny, clever, and rather sweet.

I have read three of Jack’s books.: A Safe Place for Dying, Honestly Dearest, you are Dead, and his newest book Hunting for Sweetie Rose. I have written a blog about one of them. The books stand alone. But I suggest, if you haven’t read them that you read them in order to better understand on-going feuds and friendships. So get out there and buy those first two books.

The latest book comes out February 12, 2012. Jack graciously sent me an advance copy in October. I loved reading Hunting Sweetie Rose.

Hunting Sweetie Rose begins with the death of a clown, a clown who was dancing on the edge of a building. Was it an accident, suicide, or murder? Our protagonist, Dek Elstrom, is hired to find out. From this one incident the story grows into many victims, several villains, and a mysterious client. Who is Sweetie Rose? Why does she care about a clown she doesn’t know. Is that Velveeta on her dining room table?

Dek’s everyday life is interesting. He is rebuilding his grandfather’s turret and battling with the city for permits. Dek is divorced but friendly with his ex. He meets a TV reporter, Jennifer Gale, who seems interested in him, his life, and his investigation. Dek and Jennifer work together on the clown’s death.

In the middle of this investigation, you have town clerk Elvis and the town awash in scandal. Parking issues that will make you laugh out loud. Then there is the friendship of Dek and Leo. Closer than brothers, lots of one upmanship between them. Leo’s mother and friends add a lot of humor and horror to the book. Imagine old old ladies, porn, and stripper poles.

This book peels like an onion. You have deaths, you have a missing socialite. And then more deaths, backgrounds are not what you believed. Some of the victims are innocent. Some, as we say in the South, needed killing. Multiple candidates to be the killer. How can so many people be so cruel and evil?

The plot is well done. You can follow it, believe it, and not guess ahead of the story. Characters are really well drawn. I can see them, hear them. I like some really a lot dislike others. I also can picture everywhere in this book. Trailers, turret, apartments, basement, and graveyard, I can see them clearly.

Go to your favorite bookstore and get on the list to buy this book when it comes out February 12, 2012. It is dark with comic relief thrown in to give you a release. It builds, it peels, it has a very satisfying ending. Read it and enjoy.

12 on 12/12

2011-12-15T10:07:00.001-08:00

Monday was 12/12/11. People like to marry on days with interesting number combinations. We, meaning staff and myself, did 12 marriage ceremonies on Monday. Marriage Desk Clerk D said she thought that I should include that fact in my blog. Thank you D.

My first ceremony was really interesting. And regular readers know that means somewhere someone screwed up.

The couple had had a lovely wedding in Mendocino. Lots of guests. The couple had asked a friend to do the ceremony, and paid for him to be a one day marriage commissioner. The county sent the friend the packet that contained information he would need to do a legal ceremony and how to do the paper work. There was also an application form that had to be notarized.

The clerk who sends out the temporary commission packets keeps track of when the marriage is in this type of wedding. If she does not receive the notarized application by the date of the wedding, she lets D know the marriage is not valid and not to record the license.

And folks that is what happened to this couple. Their friend did not fill out the application, did not get the paperwork notarized, totally screwed up.

The license could not be recorded, they had to buy another license. They had to have another ceremony by a legal commissioner, me. But the ceremony fee was waived since it was the same price as the temporary deputization.

Like I always told my students, read all the directions.

Bourbon Balls part 2

2011-12-11T15:46:00.001-08:00

As promised this post will show the completion of the making Bourbon balls. For those who did not read part 1, go here. Now I will tell you how Marty and I made his Mother’s recipe our own.

Dolly was not much on drinking. Every now and then she had a cocktail and sometimes a little wine. Marty and I love Kentucky Bourbons, so we soak the pecans longer than her recipe calls for. Ours soaked nearly a week.

What little Bourbon that was left over he poured into the filling. Marty does not use water to soften the mixture, just Bourbon. Do not eat these and then drive.

He mixed the ingredients up, spread them on wax paper, and used a small cookie scooper to make the balls.

He drops the balls onto wax paper on a cookie sheet.

The cookie sheet then goes into the freezer.

Chocolate my sister-in-law sent us.

Chocolate dippers. Dolly used fingers, toothpicks, spoons.

Deluxe Chocolate Melter. www:chocolatemelter.com
Dolly used a double boiler.

Just a little paraffin is added to help the chocolate not to melt in your hands. It still will. We don’t add that much.

Dipping the balls in chocolate.

More dipping.

Marty dipped in small batches. The filling would thaw if out long.

After dipped, into the refrigerator they go. When good and cold again, the Bourbon Balls are placed in sealed containers and kept in the refrigerator.

Now we are ready for the Christmas Eve Bourbon Ball contest. We are so going to win.

Christmas in the city

2011-12-10T10:14:00.001-08:00

Friday afternoon Marty and I rode BART into San Francisco. We walked around Union Square and through some of the stores to see the Christmas decorations. The city was beautiful and alive.

Remember to click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Crowds of people were thick and they were carrying lots of packages. Bands and Carolers were on every corner. You had to feel Christmassy with all the music in the air.

We then went up to the Hotel where Marty’s barber works. We had a fun visit with her, and Marty got a great haircut. Then we went to dinner.

Well we tried to go to dinner. The city was so busy we couldn’t get into any of our favorite restaurants. We couldn’t get a signal on our phones (thank you so much AT&T) to make reservations. So we walked for ever from restaurant to restaurant. Finally we got a signal and made reservations at La Central.

We hadn’t eaten there before. Very nice and very good. Then we went back to Union Square to see the lights at night.

This is the trombone section of the Cal Band playing Christmas music at Union Square.

Macy’s main store on Union Square.

Macy’s gift to the city of San Francisco, a gorgeous Christmas tree.

As we were leaving, we saw this tall glittery being. It was The Christmas Fairy. We stopped to take pictures.

The Christmas Fairy pulled us out of the crowd and handed Marty’s camera to a man to take our picture. The man messed up the picture, so his little girl said she could do it. And a good job she did.

We had a lovely evening.

Lots of weddings and then hardly any

2011-12-08T22:53:00.001-08:00

As I have said, December is as busy for weddings as June. Monday I was busy. Wednesday I did one wedding. That morning they only had one wedding. No one could figure out where the couples were.

The way one couple and their witness were dressed was in your face. The bride had on a long black sweater that hit at mid thigh. Right, a sweater no pants, tights, or leggings. She wore hooker boots that were high heeled and came almost to the bottom of the sweater. The groom wore a baseball cap backwards and droopy on the floor jeans. The witness had dreadlocks, backwards baseball cap, droopy on the floor jeans. The crotch was below the knees. The witness was texting, texting, texting. The couple had a toddler who the witness was really good with. The witness was helping with letters and colors as we did the final legal work on the license. I commented on how the child was lucky and had three parents. The bride commented, "Yes, my sister is really good with him." Sister, sister, OMW, I thought she was a man.

The next couple I asked is everyone here. Are we ready to go upstairs? Yes we are ready. We get to the elevator and guess what. They had to go outside and round up people. We get upstairs, and I realize the groom speaks no English. She only speaks English and no Spanish. They speak the language of love. I gave the license to D and she did a bilingual ceremony.

Indian groom and Russian bride. Thankfully they both spoke perfect English. He had on lovely black suit and a crisp white shirt with French cuffs. She was a red head with a porcelain complexion. She wore a very simple cream colored sheath with a draped neck line. She carried coral colored roses. One of their guests had a serious Nikon camera. He was snapping pictures right and left. He was flirty and fun. He kept taking pictures of me. I told him no one takes pictures of me, just of the bride and groom. He said but you are so beautiful and snapped away. Who could argue with that? He wanted pictures of me, snap away.

The next bride was so terribly nervous. She looked so scared. During the ceremony she was visibly shaking. You have heard the the expression their knees were knocking? That was the bride, her whole body was trembling. He held her, patted her on the back, she was a wreck. I really thought she was going to pass out. She made it through the ceremony without hitting the floor. By the time we recorded the license she had become somewhat calmer.

I had a license on my desk for over an hour. It had a post it that said waiting for witness. The clerk saw it sitting there and said she would ask them the status of the witness. She came back and said they are gone. She then said she would call them and see what was going on. She found them and brought them to the wedding room as I was finishing up on my fifth wedding of the day. Except the bride is missing again. Finally the bride shows up and I got them married.

Wednesday one wedding. We only did two all day. The license was out of county. So no point in checking it. We are not allowed to reprint another county's license. The couple is laughing, not taking the ceremony seriously. They both grab one of our silk flower bouquets. They laugh, it's all fun. And I then begin the ceremony. The bride gets really nervous. Tears start threatening to fall. I hand her a tissue. He held her and and they couldn't let go. After the ceremony she is no calmer. They have been together for years. But they realize, this is a life changing event.

Soft voice, my voice

2011-12-07T12:10:00.001-08:00

When I arrived at school Tuesday, Ms H had almost lost her voice. She was speaking very softly and not speaking unless necessary. I remember trying to teach without much of a voice, it is really hard. Teachers are constantly talking.

She would whisper directions, information, correct a child , and if things needed to be repeated, I tried to help her. By the time I left at noon, even the whisper was gone.

We began the workshop groups. I was working with the children who were doing a worksheet on contractions. It showed a wreath of holly leaves and berries. There was a leaf with a word, a berry that was blank, and another leaf with not. This continued to complete the wreath.

A leaf would have a word such as will, a blank berry, a leaf with not on it. They had to find a berry with the contraction, in this case won’t, cut it out and glue in the blank spot. Sounds easy, maybe for some. Others cut out all the berries at once, then the berries fell in the floor. They just glued any word, because they wanted to finish and do the art project. I spent time pulling glued down berries and helping them find the correct words that went between.

To the art project: the school secretary asked them to help decorate the office. The children were to make snowflakes and snowpersons. (too politically correct for old fashioned me.)

To make the snowflakes they put a bucket on a piece of paper and traced around it. The bucket hit the floor several times. Next they cut out the circles. The circle was then folded in half, then folded twice more into a cone. They could begin to cut. Some just slashed the folds, which didn’t change the look of the circles. I kept showing them to make cuts that left holes. Part of them got it, others didn’t.

We have snowflakes and they are worthy of being in the office. It isn't the look, it is that children made them.

I worked again with the two boys on their handwriting. They wrote in their phonics’ workbooks. I must have erased letters 50 times. They do not hold pencils correctly. I kept telling them, keep your fingers on the paint, not on the bare wood, don’t hold it so tightly.

The biggest problem with their writing is they do not begin letters at the top line, they don’t take letters to the bottom line. The letters float and aren’t uniform in size. They finished the two pages finally and I could see a huge improvement.

I made sure they knew they had done better. We turned back to Monday’s work and compared it to Tuesday’s. They were really excited to see how better their writing is becoming. Now if they will remember what we did when they work on their own.

BOURBON BALLS

2011-12-05T18:26:00.001-08:00

Bourbon Balls are a Southern taste treat. Chocolate and Bourbon, what’s not to love. In Kentucky you always serve them during Kentucky Derby parties and during the Christmas holidays. The Bourbon is not cooked out, so you have to warn children and alcoholics these are not for just anyone.

My mother in law made wonderful Bourbon Balls and shared the recipe with my husband, Marty. He makes them every year. But last year he was challenged as the maker of the best Bourbon Balls.
My nephew, Tres, and his wife, Casey, have a different recipe, that is mighty tasty. Last Christmas Eve we had a taste test. Marty lost. But we knew the contest was rigged. The judges were Tres’ parents. How fair is that?

This year we will have another taste test. Tres’ mother mailed all of us chocolate to make Bourbon Balls. She said for another contest. I said for her to have a large supply of Bourbon Balls for the holidays.

I am going to share the recipe from the Appel side of the family. The Tripletts have not shared their secret recipe.

DOLLY APPEL’S BOURBON BALLS

1 ½ pounds pecans
8 oz of Maker’s Mark Bourbon
2 oz water
2 pounds confectioners’ sugar
3 pounds semisweet chocolate
3 oz paraffin

Break and combine pecans with bourbon, cover and set aside for 4 hours or more. Sift confectioners’ sugar and add pecans, adding sugar gradually to a working consistency until a small ball can be made ½ to ¾ inch in diameter. Water is to be used only to bring mixture to desired consistency. Add water only to prevent ball from falling apart. Mixture should be semi-dry. Prepare balls and place on a waxed papered cookie sheet. Place in freezer to cool. (Approx. 2 hours)

Melt chocolate and paraffin and mix well. Chocolate should not be too hot, just warm enough to work up. The warmer the mix, the thinner coating the bourbon balls will have.

Remove formed balls from the freezer when ready to coat with chocolate. With fingers dip each ball to cover half of ball and return to cookie sheet. After this step return to refrigerator to harden chocolate. (Approx. 1 hour)

To coat top half of ball when ready insert toothpick in the bottom that has already been coated and dip top in chocolate. Remove toothpick and return ball to cookie sheet. Refrigerate again to harden chocolate.

Store bourbon balls in refrigerator.

Notes: This recipe is at least 70 years old. It was Marty’s mother’s recipe. She loved to make chocolate candies. Fingers were used for a lot of mixing, holding, stirring. Today there are fine chocolate tools to dip with, and electric pots to melt the chocolate. Paraffin is needed no matter how good your chocolate.

The recipe tells you to break pecans and then soak in Bourbon. We fill the container half way up with pecans and them cover them with Bourbon. Use good Bourbon, if you won’t drink it don’t cook with it. We were out of Maker’s Mark and used Woodford Reserve, a mighty fine Bourbon.

The pecans have been soaking for 48 hours. You can see the line of the Bourbon. About half has soaked in. I stir the pecans regularly to make sure they all are full of the Bourbon. We will make the filling and dip them this weekend. I know the recipe says soak 4 hours. We like to really let the Bourbon soak in. That is why small children should not eat these candies.

When we finish them, I will post some more pictures.

Many weddings, many things to remember

2011-12-02T18:58:00.001-08:00

This week there were lots of weddings. There were weird, funny, interesting things that happened. Some were fun, and some ticked me off.

Monday when I arrived I checked for licenses waiting for a commissioner. As I picked it up I was handed another license. I checked the first one and the witnesses had already signed, and then I saw some one had signed as the wedding officiator. I then realized the license had been put on the shelf and not in the inbox for D.

My first wedding was a couple with a toddler in the bride’s arm. This child had the most incredible eyes (the clerks commented on his eyes also).They were a piercing grey while green at the same time. Before I began the ceremony I asked if they were ready. The little boy answered, “yes”. We began with a laugh.

Then I had a Korean couple. As I am talking I realize he isn’t saying anything, she is doing all the talking. He spoke no English. The clerk should have figured that out. I took them downstairs and they refunded the couple the money for the ceremony. They reprinted the license and told them how to find a translator or someone who could marry them with the bride translating. We are not allowed to do that.

Two more weddings and this time the bride speaks no English. We do have a Cantonese translator who can do the wedding ceremony. Again, clerks please figure out if they both speak English. The couples get really upset when I have to bring them back downstairs and find a translator.

Wedding of the week, the groom is from Trinidad, she is from Ethiopia. They have one guest and the three of them are chatting in English, perfect English. I start asking questions and the bride keeps turning to the groom and asking what I said. I don’t understand, I know she speaks perfect English.

I ask what is wrong. She says I am speaking too fast. Me, too fast???? I am laughed at for being Southern. Southerners talk slowly. Very slowly. I have been told to hurry up and spit it out. The groom (and he has that lovely Trinidad accent) said she has trouble with accents. When they went to Trinidad she couldn’t understand anyone. So I did the ceremony slowly, really really slowly.

I love days that are busy with weddings. December is as busy as June for weddings. I enjoy doing the weddings and meeting the couples. The couples are interesting, irritating, fun. Volunteering is a great way to spend your days.

X marks the spot

2011-11-30T22:49:00.001-08:00

Clerk R put the license on my desk and said, “The couple is interesting.” I asked just what she meant. They were acting all lovey dovey, but aren’t. Also they were dropping the immigration word a lot. The bride was 26 years older than the groom. Now I don’t worry about age differences but usually it is a warning sign.

The couple was from Afghanistan, as was the witness, the bride’s aunt. The couple were friendly but didn’t seem “in love”. No rules you have to love each other to marry. I did the ceremony. I signed the license and the souvenir certificate. I called the witness up and she said by rote, “I don’t speak English”. I said, “That’s OK.” I show her where to sign on the souvenir certificate. She has trouble holding the pen and then marks an X.

Holy s#*t! She can’t read or write. This is a woman of least 70 who grew up in a village somewhere in Afghanistan. To make an X is legal. But you have to have a witness and sometimes notarize the mark. I don’t know what to do. I tell them it is legal to use an X but we aren’t signing the legal license until I know exactly what we need to do.

Clerk D to the rescue. She thinks she knows what to do, but is going to check with her supervisor B. B tells her to witness the X and then to type the woman’s name and put in witnessed by D. Also we had to see a picture ID. The Aunt makes her X on the license and D does all of the above.

The whole time the couple is asking us questions about whether Immigration will accept this. We tell them this is the legal way to sign an X. So they should be fine. They ask other questions and we give them our stock answer, You need to talk to an Immigration lawyer.

If there is school, there must be a test

2011-11-29T23:13:00.001-08:00

Today I was a little late getting to school. Traffic was awful. So I missed what the directions were for the workshop groups. Luckily I work with first graders and I could figure out what they were doing.

We had groups writing a story about the picture of them in their Halloween costume. Another group was sorting words by beginning sounds, another one was doing a math paper. The last group was writing words from the Dolch list and then writing sentences.

When the groups finished, Ms. H gave an evil grin. She asked one of the mother volunteers to put up the testing screening boards and for me to put a test on each desk.

The children were going to do a state mandatory math test. The nightmare began. The children do not listen to directions. They look over the boards to check their neighbour's work. They drop pencils. They are on the wrong page. They try to work ahead of the directions. This is normal for little ones. First graders take a lot of hand holding.

Ready for the children to begin the test.

This is Ms. H’s copy of the math test.

The last page of the test.

Later I read them a story. The Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett is wonderfully illustrated. There are so many things on the page to look at. The children love books by Brett.

It was a busy hard working day. We all felt we accomplished a lot. The children were tired and so were the adults.

Future wedding, a phone call, and weddings

2011-11-27T23:18:00.001-08:00

I don’t just do marriage ceremonies. Sometimes I become the bridal consultant.

Monday after I finished a wedding, I saw a couple go into the wedding room. I asked if I could help them. They told me they were planning a wedding for next week and just checking out the room. It was the groom and his mother. The bride couldn't take off work to do the research. Mom was taking copious notes for the bride. She made notes on how many the room would hold, the type of ceremonies we offer, the best time of day to come, parking, style of dress.

We talked and I hope I gave them all the info they needed. The plan is for them to marry on this Wednesday afternoon. So I should get to do the ceremony this week.

I picked up a wedding party. There was a large group and they were having a great time. The bride and groom had a little girl dressed in a black dress with sparkles across the front yoke. They also had a baby around 6 months old dressed in a tux. How cute is that, a baby in a tux? The groom was high fiving everyone. In the elevator I said something and he yelled HIGH FIVE! So for the first time in my life, I high fived. As they said their vows, they high fived. After I pronounced them married everyone high fived them.

It seemed strange to me but it seemed to be the couple’s thing.

The groom wore a black suit and a red rose boutonniere. The bride looked like a schoolgirl. She wore black leggings with matching shorts. She had on a red plaid ruffled top that came down on her hips with a red sweater. The sweater had a bow on the back at the waist that was red plaid. She carried a red roses bouquet and wore a red rose corsage. She looked darling. A very young look and yet at the same time very fashion forward.

Last Sunday a phone call was left on the marriage desk’s voice mail. A woman said, “ I have a question. This guy and I came in and bought a license . . . “ ( D and I loved it this guy. Not boy friend, not fiancé. Just this guy) She rambled on and asked to be called back. D called her back Monday. The woman said the license is for 90 days and about to expire, is she married? What should she do? D asked if she had had a ceremony. She said no, they broke up. D told her she isn’t married, to do nothing, just let the license expire.

More Weddings

2011-11-26T14:37:00.001-08:00

Earlier this week I posted about some weddings. Monday was a fairly busy day. I did seven ceremonies. Wednesday I did nine weddings. I am going to give you some of the highlights of the week.

One couple was so sweet, they just oozed love. I started asking what they wanted in the ceremony. They told me they just wanted to say I do. I could do all the rest.

We had the dreaded thin white dress problem. The bride wore a Grecian style knee length dress. She had on gorgeous jeweled sandals, had to be four inch heels. And she had on underpants that had a blue Grecian Key design. Really didn't need to see that.

One bride surprised me. She was Indian and stunning. Her look and carriage screamed sophistication. She was wearing an elegant black coat. The coat was open and I could see her dress. It was a sheath of black lace over a nude lining. Beautiful. She took the coat off. The dress was one armed and the bare arm had a full sleeve tattoo. Wasn't expecting that.

A couple in their forties were very emotional. His two daughters were the witnesses. The bride was crying before we got to the wedding room. During the vows she started giggling. Then she moved on to full blown laughter. By then we all were laughing. After the ceremony she was back to crying. She said they had talked at home on how she would react emotionally. And she cried and laughed just like she said she would. They were really a nice couple. Very appreciative of me and of the staff. As they left they thanked us again for "joining them together as a family."

The weddings were dress up affairs and jeans. We had large groups and a couple who had to find a witness in the lobby. Lots of love at each wedding. But one wedding really stood out.

The couple was around twenty. His mother was the witness. I started asking my questions and the bride said, " I just want him to be my husband. What ever you want to do is fine." I was getting such good vibes off the two of them, I picked out the fluffiest sweetest ceremony I have. Mama was snapping away taking pictures. I began. This couple just looked at each other and held hands. It is hard to describe how tender the looks between them were. I had goose bumps from the feel of love in the room. I also had tears in my eyes. This was how love should be. After the ceremony I hugged them and told them how they had touched me.

After doing thousands of weddings over 6 years, this reminded me why I volunteer at the Marriage Factory. It is all about the love.

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-24T23:09:00.001-08:00

Last night I made a great pumpkin pie. Marty and I both worked on a cranberry salad that my family has been making since the 1920's. Marty roasted the giblets to be ready to go into the gravy. Marty got up at 6:00 this morning and put the turkey out to come up to room temperature. Back to bed. At 7:00 he got back up to preheat the oven. Then back to bed. I got up at 7:00 and got dressed. At 8:00 Marty put the turkey in the oven. Todays' good smells began.

I made the dressing, hard and soft. I made corn pudding and the mashed potatoes and plated the country ham. I also boiled eggs for the giblet gravy. Later I plated the salad. Marty made the rolls and the gravy. The house smells like heaven.

Our friends, Nancy and Lew, arrived with their appetizer, a deconstructed Cesar salad on endive, and a bottle of J sparkling wine. She also cooked peas and pearl onions, an apple crisp for dessert and brought two other wines. We contributed a Proseco wine. Lots of good eats.

This is my pumpkin pie. I don't really like pumpkin pie, but this was really good. You couldn't taste the pumpkin.

Putting the oranges and the cranberries through the meat grinder for the cranberry salad. There also are pecans in this, all held together by lemon jello.

This is the oranges and cranberries after going through the meat grinder. Pecans and sugar under this. I love, love this salad. My son and his wife don't like it. We have friends who don't like it. We tell them that's OK we love it, serve it, and tell them it does not hurt our feeling if they don't eat it.

Top shelf of the fridge has boiled eggs, hard dressing, soft dressing. Next shelf down giblets, neck meat, turkey broth and cranberry salad that you can barely see. It is the white peeping out in the middle. Third shelf down large measuring cup and beaters chilling for the heavy cream to be whipped. Corning ware holds the corn pudding. On the left side second shelf, turkey broth. Crisper drawer on right holds butter lettuce for salad. Meat drawer on the bottom right holds the country ham.

The table is set. All ready for the food to fill the bowls and platters. Glasses are ready for wine.

This is the perfect bird. It is golden brown, tender, ready to be carved. Marty does good work.

The food is filling up the dishes. Almost ready to sit down. Let the feast begin.

Pumpkin pie and apple crisp for dessert. Really, really, really good. We all but licked the plate clean. We had a lovely Rose ( can't put the accent on the e) with dessert.

Clean up time. Silver cooling after drying, then it can be put in its silver chest. The glasses in the back were Marty's Mother. They are very thin and fragile. There is a matching pitcher. I do not use them very often. I am so afraid they will break. I love them. And when I use them I think of Marty's wonderful Mother. She was the best mother in law ever!

After the meal is over you have a turkey carcass to do something with. Marty makes turkey stock by slowly simmering the carcass with vegetables and seasonings,. This will be used for soup, curry, many different dishes.

We had a great Thanksgiving. I hope your Thanksgiving was great. Happy Holidays!

Three sentences and you're married

2011-11-23T09:34:00.001-08:00

Monday I was fairly busy doing marriage ceremonies. Some made me feel good, one was just sad, so very sad.

The couple and her mother were the total wedding party. When I asked if they had rings the bride answered shortly, with a big NO. Do you have your own vows and she said, "We don't want any vows. We just want you to sign the license so we can leave." OK, can't do that. I told them they had to go through the 3 legal sentences. All through this the groom is sitting on a pew with his head in his hands. He looked like he was going to cry. I then asked if the mother was going to take pictures, bride again with a no. They don't want pictures. The mother then looked like she was going to cry.

I sat down beside the groom and asked him what he wanted for his wedding. He tried to talk, but was over ridden by the bride. I talked the bride into letting her mother take pictures, I told her she could always delete them, but Mother wanted pictures.

I then did the do you . . . do you . . . and I now pronounce you . . . Who knows why the bride has so much anger and why the groom is so whipped and so sad. I may have no endings, but this one sure looks like failure in the making.

The next couple made up for all the sadness of the above wedding. The bride is adorable. She wore a short black strapless chiffon dress. It had a tight bodice, a mocha sash, and a full skirt. She wore black 4 in heels. The guests were so fun. There were three young men who were having the best time. They were snapping pictures a mile a minute. Teasing the bride, laughing, lots of love for the couple going on. There is a point during the ceremony where the bride's bouquet ( she carried one of our silk flowers bouquets) is in the way. I designated one of the young men to take the flowers at that point as the flower "boy". He was thrilled and played his part. He took the bouquet at the proper time and held it like a bridesmaid through out the ceremony. He reluctantly gave the flowers back to the bride for pictures. So much laughter and love in the room.

Later this week more weddings, some from Monday and hopefully some from today.

Have a very happy Thanksgiving!

Weddings, odds and ends Part 2

2011-11-20T12:56:00.001-08:00

Before I perform the marriage ceremony I go out to find the couple and greet them. I shake hands with them and tell them who I am. I get the group together and then we go upstairs. I run through our set rules and questions, explain where and when they can take pictures, and then I do the ceremony. About 95% of the time all that runs like clockwork. Today we will also have an example of the 5% who make me rethink volunteering.

I had a darling sweet Indian couple who had gone to Mexico with friends for a destination wedding. Except they didn't do their research. There is a waiting period in Mexico and blood tests to be done before you can buy a marriage license. They weren't there long enough to be able to buy license. So they had a lovely "ceremony" on the beach. I was to do the legal ceremony, and they will have a cultural ceremony in January.

It is traditional for Indian grooms to ride in on a white horse or an elephant as part of the wedding ceremony. I asked the groom if he was going to ride a white horse. No, an elephant. I asked him if they were marrying at the zoo. Ha ha, I am soooooo funny. Nope, they are marrying in Bombay.

The next couple was the happiest couple ever. They hugged and kissed during the ceremony. They laughed with sheer joy throughout the ceremony. As soon as I pronounced them married, they asked me to take a picture of them to text to their daughters. Yes the picture was of them laughing.

Now to the 5%. Clerk L brought me the license. She said they are a little flaky. I go to get them. I call their names nothing. I walked into the front lobby no one there, but I called their names, they might me in the hall. Nothing, I call a third time. Nothing. I find L and ask what do they look like. She says, "I'll find them. The bride is a ditz!" She takes off at a near run, and I am behind her. She goes through the lobby at warp speed. They aren't there. She looks outside, not there. She is royally ticked. "I told them you would be out in about 5 minutes, you would bellow their names, and then you would take them upstairs. We discuss maybe they thought they were married and went home ( have had a couple do that).

The deputies hear us talking, look at the monitors, and say there are people in the wedding room and no commissioner with them. I start for the elevator and L is with me. She charged off the elevator and went into the wedding room. It was the missing couple. She fusses at them for not listening to her rules. They say OK sorry, we're done, and leave! I went after them and asked, 'Where are you going, you aren't married yet?" " Oh, we aren't?" I married them, walked them to the Marriage Desk clerk D, and then made sure they made it to the elevator.

D and I decided this couple should never breed.

Weddings, odds and ends Part 1

2011-11-18T11:08:00.001-08:00

When you are doing wedding ceremonies in a government building, you gets all kinds of people. Some are nice, some are just fun, some are rude, some make you proud to be an American, some are dumber than a red brick. This week we had them all. I am going to write about a few of them today and later this weekend write about some others.

I read the license, the bride's address was USS Carl Vinson. Yes, this time the bride was military. A beautiful young woman who was very proud of being in the Navy. Anytime I have a bride or groom who are military, I get teary eyed. We owe them so much. Be sure to read the link. This is one important ship.

Another couple was really really nervous. When a couple comes in to buy a license, they input names and addresses into the computer.  Then a clerk pulls up information, she add some information, prints the license, they read over everything, and sign the licence. They pre bought the license and came back for the ceremony. The clerk who handled the ceremony transaction spotted an error and reprinted the license. I then got the license. The license has spaces for the mothers' maiden names. I checked the license and the couple had put the married names. Back to another clerk and reprint and sign again. The next one is partly my fault. I hadn't checked the whole license. We get into the elevator and I scan the license again. Another error. The license has a box for street, a box for city, a box for state. They had put in the street address, for city Unit D, nothing for state. Reprint again. They were very sweet and very nervous. We finally got it right and I married them.

This last couple were very sweet, very in love, but they had really rude guests. The bride wore a white one shouldered cocktail dress. She wore a pretty jeweled hair clip. The groom wore a white suit, and their toddler son wore a white suit.  Well over 30 guests. Loading them on the elevators took forever. People kept disappearing. It was like herding cats.  I go up on the last elevator with the couple and some others. The bride wants to walk in on her father in law's arm, she wants the groom to be up front with me.

I go into the wedding room and try to talk to the guests about rules of phones, taking pictures, how to bring up the rings. They won't shut up. One of the women kept trying hush them.   Not working. I finally used my school teaching voice and said to please be quiet! One of the men looked at me and said, "You certainly have attitude." And I thought hell yes I have attitude, you're lucky I am staying to do this wedding. I get the groom up front, signal the bride, and we begin. The guests are still talking and laughing.  They did not quiet down until we are half way through the ceremony.

I felt so sorry for the couple. But the crowd wouldn't listen to me. Rude rude rude. And the rudeness continued. I gave them extra time to take pictures, that many people it takes longer. I gave them the 5 minute warning after all the paper work was done. They wouldn't leave. They just kept taking pictures. I thought I was going to have to get the deputy to throw them all out. After I became the alpha dog, I got them out of the room. They were another 10 minutes leaving the downstairs lobby.

Next time, elephants, lost couple, laughter.

School

2011-11-16T11:31:00.001-08:00

Tuesday the children were just going to their group workshop tables when I arrived. I worked with a group making Thanksgiving baskets. They were to take the construction paper square, cut into the marked lines, and fold the cut areas to make the bottom of the square basket and then glue the corners. Oh how my first graders love glue. We could have earthquake retro fitted The Golden Gate Bridge with the glue they squeezed out. Those baskets may never dry.

They were to then make a handle from a pattern and cut it out. I was to staple it to the basket for them. They didn't trust those tiny staples, they glued before I got there with my stapler. The students then wrote three sentences about what they are thankful for, read them to an adult, and placed them in the basket.

We are not finished with glue. They now can decorate the baskets. Did you know there is "Sticky Glue"? This is not a glue to put things together, it is to decorate. It comes in many vivid colors. The children drew designs with it and it doesn't run, it stays humped up.

Tuesday was also an assembly day. This is Native American month, and the school had two men from a Native Pride Dance team come to perform. One of the dances they did was the hoop dance, absolutely wonderful. As they position the hoops, different animals are shown. Our dancer did an eagle from an egg to flight, butterflies, riding a horse, and many others.

Amazing skill. Some you might have to use your imagination as you watch the video. I so wished I had taken my phone to record some of the show. But alas it was back in the class room. Very glad for You Tube.

Then it was back to work. I finished testing students on the Dolch List. They either fly through it with little or no errors, or it is painful watching them try to sound out words that are sight words. It was very clear many of the children are not getting any help at home with the list.

Several of the children have just turned six, and should not be in first grade.Think about it, they started Kindergarten when they were only four. They don't have the muscle skills to use scissors nor pencils. They are not ready to work all day at the level of the other children. Their lack of ability to follow directions is a handicap. This is not to say they are not very smart children. They just are not ready to learn at the level the rest of the class is learning. They should have been held back. This could be problem for them for the rest of their school years.

Next week is Thanksgiving break, so no school.

Weddings high tech, immigration, too young

2011-11-12T14:39:00.001-08:00

As regular readers know, I hate doing immigration weddings. They never say they are, but we can tell. They are always in a hurry, and some act as if they just met on the corner. I had an immigration wedding this week, and it was great.

The couple is French Canadian, lovely accents. She is here on a work visa ( she works at UC Berkeley) and he is on a tourist visa. They own a house, own two cars, and have two adorable children. When they go back to Canada he has to really jump through hoops to get back into the USA. Tourist are supposed to go home after a couple of months. They have been together 13 years and decided to marry so immigration will quit hassling him. Isn't it amazing we won't let Canadians live with a partner, yet we let all kinds of kooks from terrorist land waltz in.

One couple took pictures in a very high tech way. The witness had her iPhone out to take pictures and then remembered she had her ipad with her. She used that to take the pictures. I am so far behind, I didn't even know ipads had a camera. The pictures turned out beautifully.

Just to show what a great product Apple turns out, one wedding used an iPhone to take pictures. They turned out great also. Oh I forgot to tell you the screen was broken, big crazed cracks in it. But it worked.

As I remind you every week, love comes to all ages. Love comes to couples I don't think should be marrying ( 7 weddings already between them and they are in their 30's). Love hits all kinds of people, but when really young couples come to marry the clerks and I get upset. We are so much older and we know how hard marriage can be. We know going to school and running a home is really hard. We are worried for them.

A couple came in, he was 20 she was 18. The clerk told me she wanted to refuse to sell them a license (we don't have that option, if a legal age, we sell it to them). She wanted to scream at them, "Do your parents know you are here?" She controlled herself and did her job. Now it was my problem.

The bride was so nervous and shaky, he seemed calm. I asked it they were ready. I told them we had all the time in the world, we don't start until they feel comfortable. They say they are ready. I did not feel comfortable that the bride really wanted to get married. I felt she loved him, just she seemed unsure. I stalled and then had to go for it. I did our longest fluffiest ceremony. If she wanted to back out, I wanted to give her time. She didn't back out, and I pronounced them married. I thought she would calm down them, nope. She was as shaky when she left as when she came in. I am thinking family doesn't know they were marrying and she is afraid to tell them. One clerk thought maybe she was marrying because she is pregnant and scared.

As I say, I have no endings.

We had a sub today

2011-11-08T16:14:00.000-08:00

As I walked down the hall to Ms. H's class room, I met one of the first graders. D was taking the attendance report to the office. He was so excited to see me (I have missed for two weeks) and he had news. "Ms. H is sick and we have a sub!" I am thinking please please let it be Ms. C, she knows what she is doing. It was. But a sub day is always a hard day. Children do not handle change well, and they will push a sub to her limit. Yes, even first graders will act differently just because a substitute teacher is there. We had our work cut out for us.

They were wild, pushing, talking, ignoring all rules. Ms. C is earning her paycheck today. Ms. H had lots and lots of projects to keep the children busy. Books were read and projects done from the stories. We worked, we got things done, but we worked.

Below I have some pictures I took of the classroom. No children shown of course, just things in the classroom.

I wanted you all to see the flowers on the tables. Only one was knocked over today. Not bad for active first graders. I am guessing Ms. H has the flowers as part of the study of harvest and Thanksgiving.

This another view of the classroom. As you can see, everything is really close together. We are in a portable which in many ways is good. We have our own heating and AC. Today we had heat, the main building didn't. Since it was in the 40's outside, a little chilly in the other classrooms.

This is my little area where I work with the students. Not a lot of cleared space, but we make it work.

A page from the famous Dolch List. I made notes on words missed, if they struggled or if they knew the words as sight words. Some flew through the list, others struggled with every word. If the children can be believed, some are not getting any practice at home.

This is a review chart that grows throughout the year. And yes, first graders use the word Homophones.

This list is for writing projects on Thanksgiving. They wrote riddles today about a food they have on Thanksgiving. They had to give three clues, write What am I? and then draw a picture of the food.
My favorite was: You kill me. I have feathers. I have white and brown meat. What am I? turkey One little boy was horrified to find out his turkey was killed. There was quite a discussion between two of them about where meat comes from.

Ms. C read the class the book Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs. Then they were to write sentences about weird weather.

This is the chart with the sentences they wrote together. Then they had to write some on their own. The last sentence is a reference to a Dr. Seuss book I read to them a while back. We misspelled oobleck.

This is the book I read to them. It is written by a Native American Chief. It is a beautifully written book and wonderfully illustrated. After I read it, Ms. C discussed thanksgiving, the harvest, and cornucopias. They then did an art project on cornucopias.

It was a busy day. Lots of fussin' at the little ones. But we got lots done.

Update on Lulu

2011-11-06T22:51:00.000-08:00

When I posted last week about Palm Springs, I didn't tell you about a problem at Lulu's. I wanted to give them a chance to respond to my email.

Below is my note.

This is a well done “but” letter. I called for reservations for October 24 on the 24th. We are here on business and didn’t know where to eat. Friends told us that day about Lulu. So I called after the lunch rush. The person who answered the phone had trouble with the computer and with understanding English. I had to repeat several times. Before I hung up he asked if this was a special occasion. I said yes, it’s my husband’s 70^Th birthday. Every restaurant who has asked that question has greeted us with who has the birthday, so nice you picked us to celebrate, something was said.

When we arrived, on time, they couldn’t find our reservation. Then they said they had a table and to please stand over there until someone could seat us. I reminded them about the birthday, and said it would be nice if the wait staff said Happy Birthday. The hosts and hostess just looked at me. We stood and others were taken ahead of us. One party was addressed by name and didn’t have to even check in. We were seated and then things were just lovely.

Your restaurant is beautiful, table service is perfect (Ramon is outstanding as are the other wait staff helping him), the food was tasty. We were not rushed, we were allowed to enjoy the fun of a birthday together. When our dessert came Ramon asked if everything was OK, I had a big frown on my face. No candle, no Happy Birthday? Ramon was embarrassed, no one told him it was a birthday. We found out later that friends in the restaurant had told the servers it was my husband’s birthday. But no one bothered to tell Ramon. I wanted nothing more than a Happy Birthday for my husband. I saw candles on desserts going by and thought that would be a nice touch, but didn’t expect it.

When we left, the two at the desk did not acknowledge us. No thank you for coming, no have a good evening, or as we say in the South You all hurry back. I am only asking you to train your staff who answer the phone and greet the guests. No Happy Birthday is not a huge deal, but it left a bad taste. Not having my reservation and taking others ahead of me, could cost you my business when we return to Palm Springs.

Below is their reply.

I want to sincerely apologize for your experience at our restaurant the other evening.

For the most part Lulu, has a reputation of offering great food and great service from the moment our guests make a reservation to the time they leave the building, I am very sorry that you did not experience that here at Lulu. I understand that communication and acknowledging a celebration is extremely important. We have had some opening glitches and have had to make changes to our staff. I have shared your email with our front desk manager and he also shares my concern. I trust that your experience was an isolated incident, we promise we will take steps to ensure that lapses such as this do not happen again.

While I cannot change the past, I would like to invite you back as my personal guest so we can show you that we really can do a much better job than what you experienced. Please provide a mailing address and I will gladly send a gift certificate.

Once again, please accept our sincere apology and thank you for letting me know about this incident.

********************************

I received a gift certificate Saturday. It is a sizable one, and I plan to use it when we return on business after Christmas. Lulu handled a problem quickly, worked with their staff and went beyond what the upset customer asked for.

If you are in Palm Springs do go to Lulu for a wonderful meal. Ask for a table in Ramon's section. This restaurant truly understands customer service.

Tuesday no school Wednesday weddings, no

2011-11-04T14:06:00.000-07:00

I would have loved to worked with the first graders this week. I would have loved to gone in Wednesday and performed wedding ceremonies. Things just went against me.

I had a jury summons for Tuesday. I was to call Monday after 5:00 to see if a jury pool was needed. I called I wasn't needed for the morning roll call, call back at 11:00 Tuesday. I will find out then if I am needed in the afternoon. OK if they say I am needed for the 1:00 roll call, I have to be at the court house by 12:30 to get through security. Marty has to know to come take me by 11:30 so he can be home on time. If I had gone to school, I would have had to leave early morning in order to make the calls and to get my big girl clothes on for court. So I stayed home. I called at 11:00 no answer. I called three times, it just rang and rang. Great. I went on line to the website to check, the link didn't work. I googled the proper courthouse, and I didn't have to report. I am good for a year and a day.

They will summon me next year, I have been summoned 11 times out of the last 12 years.

Wednesday I planned to go in to do weddings. Then Marty and I started hearing reports about the many marches the Occupiers had planned. They were going to shut down business and march on governemnt buildings. To get to the county building we had the choice to go by one camp, or go close to where the main marches were to start. One of the clerks told me they were not expecting people to come downtown for business on Wednesday. Another friend knew people who were marching and she had heard scary things. So we decided to take the safe plan, Janet stays home.

I am glad I stayed home. Our most often traveled route home went by a Whole Foods the idiots vandalized. Roads were blocked and it was not nice.

I hope next week will be a little calmer and back to normal.

Halloween Weddings

2011-11-01T11:04:00.000-07:00

I have done marriage ceremonies on Halloween before. I even wore a Widow's veil with the skulls of my husbands arranged in a pyramid on top of my head, a lovely look. Couples and their guests came in costume. As one groom said, "If you're marrying on Halloween, why wouldn't you dress up?"

Sadly yesterday no costumed couples. And there weren't many couples for me. During the morning there were 7 weddings. I arrived and it ground to a halt. I finally did 2 ceremonies, and L did a few in Spanish.

The first wedding the bride and groom laughed and laughed. Everything set them off. We are talking major nervous laughing. Then we started the vows, she laughed and then she would cry, and then she laughed some more. The crying won out. They were a somber couple by the end of the ceremony.

The second couple the groom was 25 and the bride was 44. Usually age differences don't bother me, but this one did, this was the bride's fourth marriage. It just looked like red flags going up everywhere. They managed to tick me off immediately. I called their names, (they are the only group in the lobby I knew it had to be them) no response. I called their names again and a woman walks up. I ask if she is P, no she is over there. Finally I have a bride, I asked where the groom is. Over there. What is wrong with these people? I introduce myself to the bride and groom, ask if they are ready, is everyone here. Yes and yes. We load the group on the elevator and go to the wedding room. Things go down hill from here.

Please, mute your phones. A phone rings and this dumb s#** answers it and starts talking loudly. I gave him the stare of death and he left the room. I call the bride and groom up, no bride. They don't know where she is. One of the women says she went to the bathroom. OK, I 'll just ask the groom the usual questions, do you have rings. And some woman starts answering the questions. I told her it wasn't her wedding and let the groom speak. He says yes we have rings. We run through my rules and questions. Still no bride. Finally she strolls in. We begin, phone guy still out in the lobby talking. He eventually strolls in and joins us.

I begin the ring ceremony and the groom says, "We don't have rings." He had told me they did, I asked what is going on. "Oh, we don't have real rings, we have plastic spider rings." I tell them rings are a symbol and a token, we can do spider rings.

The ceremony is OVER. I sign the license. As the witness is signing, a guest looks at the license and says, "That isn't a confidential license. They wanted a confidential one." Then the bride says she wanted a confidential license, please get the license changed. I told them I didn't think after the marriage it could be changed without a court order. I would go check with the marriage desk. I talk to C she agrees with me. But will check with the higher ups, who aren't answering their phones. She does know the couple will have to buy a second license and no refund on the first. C is going to track down her superior while I tell the couple they will need to buy another license. When they hear they will have to pay out more money, suddenly they are just fine with the license they have.

I was very glad to see the back of this group.

A few memories and then back to reality

2011-10-28T11:45:00.000-07:00

Our trip to Palm Springs was for business, but we managed to get some fun and relaxation in. Because Marty was working, we were limited Sunday and nights for fun. I had no car, so I stayed home and read with an occasional nap thrown in. We ate a lot of good meals. We drove around and saw beautiful Southwest architecture. Below is a little info about Palm Springs.

Where to stay? first choice www.richrobrentals.com

Where to eat? On www.richrobrentals.com they list some of their favorite places. We ate at some of theirs and one we found because it had a parking spot.
Standouts:
Giuseppe's the pizza is great, we had the thin crust. The table next to us had Chicago deep dish and it looked and smelled great. We also had Calamari maybe the best ever. Calamari is our test of restaurants. If they do it right, they can cook.

Hamburger Mary's was a lucky find. We were hungry and there was a parking spot. The website won't tell you, it hints, that it is mainly a gay bar and restaurant. Sunday brunch the Brunchettes, who are Drag Queens, entertain. This was one of the most fun floor shows ever.

For Marty's birthday dinner, I took him to Lulu. I highly recommend the mushroom soup.

For lunch one day we ate Margarita's. Yes, we had Margaritas. It is a strange place, Mexican, sushi, oyster bar, pasta. Marty had oysters and Tacos. I had an enchilada and a soft taco. All very good. No pictures here. This is where my phone died.

Our last night we ate at Trio. Again we had calamari. Marty had a lamb shank and I had a pork chop. Very good. But the star of dinner was the Trio Mac and 5 cheese. We had a side, but it is offered as an entree also.

Marty taking a picture of me as I took a picture of him. We are as bad as teenagers playing on our phones.

Trio had sculptures inside and outside the restaurant. Very modern and very interesting.

Where to buy food to cook? There are the usual chain groceries. We were headed to Ralph's and saw Fresh & Easy. They are not in Oakland yet. There are some in the East Bay, so will try to go there when possible. These stores are so shiny clean and green. The meat is in serving sizes in clam shell containers. Most things are packaged that way. And really good pricing.

Because of the hours Marty was working, we didn't get to any museums. When we go back that is a must. RichRob has several links to attractions and museums.

Now it's back to reality. I have washed clothes all morning and this afternoon I will starch and iron shirts and blouses. I have given the bathroom a lick and a promise. And I have food to get ready for supper tonight. Life is back to normal.

Time to go home

2011-10-26T14:41:00.000-07:00

Marty and I have been on a business trip to Palm Springs, California. Business trip for him, lay on the couch and read for me. First off I must say I am sorry to all desert lovers I am about to insult.

What is wrong with you people???? We were told how pleasant and cool it was when we arrived. The weather lady talked about the big cool down. The restaurant people said what a pleasant evening it was. No, it was hot. It was 94 when we got here Saturday afternoon, at midnight it had dropped to 87. Hot, not pleasant. People that don't know me personally, I live in the Oakland Hills, we often have fog, we think it is hot if it reaches 75. So you can see our problem with the heat.Two nights it did cool down to the 70s. We turned off the AC and slept with the windows open, still not sleep under a down comforter weather as we are used to. Of course AC was back on by 10:30 A.M.

Today is our last day here. Marty did some business this week. I read a fabulous book that I can't talk about until February ( I'll explain that another time). We have eaten well, been entertained, cooked some good meals, and once again I killed a phone.

Sunday we wandered into a hamburger joint. They have a floor show on Sundays. Drag queens performing to songs. This show was so fun, so entertaining. and it was just luck we were there. Oh and the burgers were great too.

Miss Vicious was one of the best performers. Every number she had a different costume. Her headdress cleared the ceiling fans by less than an inch.

I don't remember her name, but she was fabulous. All of the entertainers were fun. I think there were four, and three of the four had multiple costumes.

For Marty's birthday we ate at Lulu. For Bay Area readers, no connection to the one in San Francisco.

It is a beautiful restaurant. The food was at great as the look of the restaurant. Service was perfection.

Now to where we are staying. Marty met a guy at one of the many Billiard events he goes to. Rob and his partner own several rental condos in Palm Springs. We rented one of the condos and have had a lovely home away from home. If you are ever coming to Palm Springs you should stay in one of their condos. All kinds of prices, all kinds of sizes. All are beautiful. Check out their website here.

This is the view from our balcony.

A full kitchen, two sets of dishes, spices, appliances, wine glasses, pots and pans, dishwasher, pantry, and a washer and dryer. We brought some food and bought food. We ate in breakfasts, some lunches, and a couple of dinners.

Living room and dining room combo. The couch works well for naps.

Our balcony. We had breakfast on it one morning. Before it became so crazy hot.

They provide a computer, wireless, printer, long distance calling. Nearly everything you can think of, they have at the ready. Rob even asked if we had requests for things in the condo. Very helpful landlords.

The guest room, a queen size bed. There is a flat screen TV on the wall, huge closet, clock radio, and a full bath.

Master bedroom, a king size bed. A flat screen TV, clock radio, huge closet, a Juliet balcony, a huge bathroom. There are two sinks, lots of cabinets and drawers for storage, and a wonderful wonderful shower. The shower is big with a bench. The shower head beats down at just the perfect pressure.

If you like the dessert heat, good restaurants, shopping, museums, theater, Palm Springs is the place for you. If you need a great place to stay check out the above link to Rob's and Rich's website.

I know some of you are going, what did she do to her phone this time?? I did nothing. I was having trouble with things loading as was Marty. He stopped in the AT&T store to get help. They had him reboot (hold down the top button and the front button at the same time, wait a minute then do it again). Presto Bingo it comes on and everything loads.

Well, when we did mine it didn't come back on. We had to find an Apple store, which was three towns East. We go in and it is packed. A clerk told us it would be over an hour, if they could even work us in, plus their computer system was down and they might not be able to help us. We got in line and I told them my problem. We are traveling, this was my Mother's Day present, we can't come back, it has to be fixed now. All this said with a tear in my eye and a Corbin Southern Accent. The head guy grabs someone from the genius bar and tells him to help me now. I hug the first guy and go off with the second guy.

Second guy can't get any reading from the phone, it is dead. No sign of life from the battery. He has never seen that on a fairly new phone. When you reboot they always come back. Not mine. He walks over to a shelf, pulls out a new phone, says sign here, inputs info for Apple, and tells me to go home and sync. I hugged him too.

More weddings from last week

2011-10-25T17:25:00.000-07:00

People react differently to a marriage ceremony in the County Building.Below are two couples who are planning a big wedding later. Each came in withdifferent vibe. Then we have a story about not researching the laws of theland.

Couple one is planning a big wedding later. They don't want any pictures,this ceremony isn't important. I insisted they have pictures taken. This is thereal deal. They say OK witness can take pictures. The couple has zero interestin what I am saying until we began the vows. Reality kicked in, this was thereal deal. The bride cried, he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek andwiped her eyes. It suddenly was a solemn occasion. They both thanked me forinsisting on pictures.

Couple two was really excited. This was "the real ceremony". Theywere having a big wedding later. But this one, this was what counts. They werehappy, excited, and very emotional during the ceremony.

Sidebar about the witness:The witness was 6 days past her due date. She was hugely pregnant. The countydeputies told later told me when they saw her walk in they were worried theywere going to be delivering a baby. When the witness had gone to the bathroom,as all pregnant ladies do often, they sent the female deputy to check on her.The witness was gone so long they were afraid her water had broken. She made itthrough the wedding and left the building still pregnant.

And then we have the angry couple. They had had a cultural wedding. But theyhadn't bought a marriage license. The officials at their mosque had told themall they had to do was come in and the clerk would register the marriage. (thisis how some countries register marriages.)

They also said when they came to do that a clerk, K, was rude, wouldn'taccept their marriage. They told me all kinds of things that K said. Now I knowshe can be rude sometimes, but she is usually very polite and checks all theregulations with superiors before making a statement. Of course she didn't needto check this one. No license, you are not married. We can't back date thelicense and have the priest/minister fill in the info. They left mad. Then theycame back two days later to try again.

They still did not understand why they had to be married with a license.They were still angry. The errors were from the mosque officials, and from themnot checking United States /California laws. I became the sweetest SouthernBelle there is. I soothed their hurts, apologized if they had been misled. Iexplained the laws and told them I would make things legal for them. I did ashort ceremony; they weren't in the mood for anything else. They had picturestaken, and they then received a certified copy of their license. They leftfairly happy.

We want to get married, again

2011-10-23T16:22:00.000-07:00

There were several weddings last week. I plan to post a couple a times about weddings this week. The one today is a doozy.

The groom was divorced 6 years ago. He and the bride were married 3 years ago, big wedding with a license. Then they started adoption procedures. The adoption agency needed a copy of the divorce final decree. Oops, he isn't divorced after all. The first wife didn't do all her paperwork. He didn't realize he didn't have a final decree.

Many moons later, one big lawyer bill, and with a final divorce decree, he and his second wife were at the Clerk Recorder's Office to be married.

Now some of you are wondering how do the clerks know to sell a license to someone if they say they have been divorced. The honor system is the rule. Except if a person has been divorced in the last 6 weeks. (I think that is the correct time period) Then the person must show the final decree.

Tomorrow or Tuesday more weddings.

Tuesday, I must be at school

2011-10-19T12:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my day to volunteer at Kaiser School. My first graders were happy to see me, and I was very happy to be there with them. We had lots of help in the classroom, almost too many to get around in the crowded room. There was me, a student teacher, Ms. H, a special needs teacher, and two mothers.

Sometimes in the past some of the volunteer mothers have driven me crazy. They hovered over their child who they helped too much, and they chatted and chatted. One mother even put her child in her lap and let her cry about how hard the work is. Not this year. The mothers are watching every child, they might give their child a pat as they go by, but they are working with all the children. One mother is on things immediately. She is on the trouble makers before I can get their names out.

Yesterday I mainly worked the room: listening to children read, pushing children to get done, helping with phonics and handwriting. The phonics workbooks did not go well, mainly because they did not listen to directions. The page had endings ack,   ock,   ick   in columns and they were to put a beginning sound to them and create words. The beginning letters were given to them. All they had to do was write the letters given to them and the endings down the column. The first column was done as a group and then they were finish the page at their seats.

s       t        p          st

__ack                   __ick            __ock
sack                  _______      ________

tack                  _______        ________

pack                 ________       ________

stack                _________      _________

Second column, what letters do I use? How do I spell . . .   I can't do this, it's too hard. What are we to do? This was half the class. Now Ms. H gave great directions, this was not a teacher messing up. These children did not listen, and thought it didn't matter. Well it did, if they didn't finish, they stayed in at recess with me. Most suddenly cranked it out. No recess means I think I will listen to directions this time.

But one little girl J just would not listen or try. Her handwriting is poor, so I had dotted out the ack words for her. I told her again what to do. She traced over my dots and then started crying, J didn't know what to do. And cried and cried. I had zero sympathy for her. Ms. H had worked with her, the student teacher and I worked with her. She just didn't want to do the work. So she cried, and I kept telling her the directions. She wanted me to dot out the other columns and I refused. There is helping and there is doing the child's work. Still crying, she finally did the work, but not in time to have any recess.

The truth, I just wanted to shake J. This exercise required no real reading skills, really not even phonics skills. They had to follow directions and write new words. She had pulled the crying on the student teacher M last week. M told me she thought it was her fault that J cried. M was glad to see J pull it on some one else. If J had needed real help, yes we would have given it to her. But not listening and wanting an adult to tell her every step, no.

Some days are a little harder to feel good about helping. As I walked through the halls as most of the school was going to lunch, good things happened. Several of the 5th graders came up and hugged me. I had worked with them when they were 1st graders. Other children hugged me and called to me as I walked by the outside lunch tables (remember we are in California).   Those hugs and waves are worth everything.

Young and Old, they want to be married

2011-10-15T11:13:00.000-07:00

I have had a shortage of couples at the Marriage Factory. It seems the mornings are busier and then it tapers off when I work in the afternoons. My average number of marriage ceremonies is down from 6 couples to 2.5. Is is something I did? Monday and Wednesday this week, I only did 5 ceremonies. That is 5 total for two days. They were quality weddings, no crazies this week.
The first couple forgot their wedding rings. Of course they were upset about that. I told them they could do a private ceremony at home and exchange rings. During the wedding ceremony I explained the rings were an outward symbol of their love. And then I added some more fluff about rings. They seemed pleased to hear about the rings.

The next couple were both in white. She wore tight white jeans, a white sequined top, and a white hip length loose sweater. She had recently had a baby and the pants kept slipping. They didn't quite pull far enough up. At one point the groom reached over and yanked the jeans up for her and straightened her top over the small gap. She thanked him and we began the marriage ceremony.

Then we had the baby couple, they were so young. You must be 18 to buy a marriage license. When they brought me the license, I was sure it was a mistake. How can someone born in September of 1993 be old enough to marry? They were old enough. They were excited and happy to be there. No parents, just a friend to witness. This is a couple I would love to know the back story. During the marriage ceremony the groom look serious, yet happy. The bride I can only describe as having a look of grim determination.

The last license showed that the groom had been divorced and then widowed. The bride had been divorced and then widowed. He was born in 1941, she in 1940. Her daughter and grandson were guests and another couple were the witnesses. Everyone was having a good time. The bride and groom had known each other for 42 years. They had an air of real friendship as well as love for each other.

I asked if they had their own vows. They did. They wanted to say a couple of things and then use the traditional vows. He asked her if she would do his laundry now. She said, "No." He said, "OK, I love you." She then said," You can shop at Cabela's , if I can play Texas Hold 'em on line and at casinos. I love you." I asked if they still wanted the traditional vows. He answered, "No, that will do it." So I finished the ceremony.

To celebrate they were going to Fenton's an old Oakland institution. For non Bay Area people, you have seen Fenton's in the movie Up. The old man and the little boy sat on the curb in front of Fenton's at the end of the movie.

The Wedding Room and a wedding

2011-10-13T13:24:00.000-07:00

I post about the Wedding Room all the time. But I've never posted pictures. Monday I remembered to take my iPhone upstairs and take a few pictures. When you step off the elevator this is what you see. Many of the couples have a picture taken by the sign.

We have four pews and lots of standing room. The Fire Marshall says 29 people can be in the room. Luckily he doesn't come by very often. We have had bigger crowds. With the paneled walls and the pews, it is a very warm room. People are always surprised by how nice the room is.

The couple stand in front of the lighted arch. We have silk flowers on the two stands. For special days, such as Valentine's Day, we have fresh flowers. The screen behind the arch is a piece of art made of metallic threads. It is based on the Double Wedding Ring quilt pattern. Here is a close up of a quilt.

As lovely as this room is, not all appreciate it. Every now and then we get a couple who just want the legal part of the ceremony. Some are nice about it and some are just rude. Last week I had a rude couple. They walked with boredom and arrogance. The couple told me they were already married, they had done a cultural wedding yesterday. They just wanted the legal part and a certified copy of the license. The witness, his mother, wanted more. Mother also wanted pictures, the couple saw no need for pictures, this wasn't "important". Hey, if it isn't important and you are already MARRIED, why are you here? Mother took pictures anyway.

I remained the lovely Southern Belle that I am, and told them I would do the three legal sentences for them. They didn't even stand in front of the arch, they were where the pews began. So I did the "Do you take....... Do you take....... and then I pronounced them married. As the witness and I were signing the license the groom was doing push ups off the back of a pew.

Some couples are nice, fun, touching. Others are a pain in the rear.

Tomorrow or Saturday I will post about some other weddings.

School last Tuesday

2011-10-11T11:21:00.000-07:00

I knew there was a reason I never posted about school last week. I wasn't able to volunteer today, so now I can post about last week.

The small groups were finishing the rotation we began last week. I again helped with the scrambled sentences. This group knew exactly what to do. Their friends had told them all about it. They knew the sentences without even reading them. Maybe we should mix up the order of the sentences or something.

I finished testing the children on the Dolch sight words. These children had the advantage of the list going home last week. They had had time to study the words. There were some interesting comments from the children when I asked if they had been working at home on the words. I got the expected answer, I didn't get a list. Right. I personally stapled the list to each homework packet. One child told me his mother ripped it up, she didn't want to work on the words. Now I take any child's statement with a grain of salt. But that sounds like something bad happened.

For math the children were given a number chart from 1 to 100. Except most of it was blank. It had 14, 23, 89, 93 filled in. They were to fill in the blanks. If they thought it was too hard, they were to get a number chart and copy the numbers in. I was to mark on each paper if they used the chart. About half needed the chart after they got over 30. One little boy (using a chart) insisted on filling in the blanks from 100 backwards. He flat out refused to start with 1. I noted that on his paper. Several made errors and lines did not come out right. But they came to me to help find their mistakes. That is huge to know something is wrong and ask for help. Usually they had written a number twice, so we would erase and then they finished just fine.

Kaiser has gardens for each class. The gardens are a year long science project. People other than the classroom teacher come in and work with the children. The children help in the gardens (which were started in the summer by volunteers), and class time is spent on how things grow. Finally they pick the crops, or in the case of potatoes dig the crops up. Then the vegetables are cooked in class. The children also help prepare the food. This is a great science project.

The stories we read to them are sometimes about growing food. Everything ties together. The book I read this week was Apples to Oregon. After going to the link, look to the left side where the image of the book is. Then click on either search inside the book or Look inside. If you have little ones in your life, I highly recommend this book. It is based on truth, but is a tall tale. Trust me, children love this book.

Again with the pretend grandchildren

2011-10-08T19:11:00.000-07:00

Thursday we drove up to Davis again. Friday was Grandparent's and Special Friends' Day at Hall's school. No real grandparents were able to come out, so Marty and I had the privilege of attending. We took Hall to school and then signed in for the morning's events. There would be a Mass, a reception, time in the classroom, and an assembly.

Now the Mass is always a problem. We are not Catholic. We don't know when to stand or when to sit down. And we don't know 90% of the responses. Also Catholic services last longer than our protestant service. Marty and I tend to tune out after 45 minutes. We did OK, and didn't embarrass Hall.

This is Hall reading part of the prayers. He was very composed. Several hundred people were in the church. My knees would have been knocking. Amazing, he is only 8 years old.

This is Marty and Hall in the classroom. They are playing a math game.

Look at that evil grin on Hall's face. He thinks he has beat Marty at the math game. Guess who won. That would be Aunt Janet.

This is the next project we did with Hall, a word search. This thing was really tough. It took all three of us to find the words. They were up, down, frontwards, backwards, and oh hell on a slant.

Word search is finished. Now he gets to color the picture. We wore a picture of Hall as our visitor's badge.

I have three wonderful videos of the assembly. For some reason none will load. I have tried emailing them to family, that hasn't worked either. I will have to call 1-800 Erik. He posts videos on his blog, so surely he will be able to help me. It may cost me cooking dinner for my son, but he will help Mom. If we figure it out, I will post them later.

After all the events, school was out around noon. We had told Hall he could pick where we would have lunch. He picked Subway. He was so funny when we went in. It was very clear he had been there often. He went to the soft drink cooler, grabbed his drink. Then he grabbed chips and got in line to order his sandwich. He knew the people standing behind him would pay. Everyone was ordering by name, the spicy Italian, turkey club. Not Hall, he ordered the type bread untoasted, cheese, the two meats he wanted,tomatoes, onions, then the condiments he wanted. He was precise. The sandwich guy commented on how Hall knew what he wanted. The sandwich he ordered sounded so good that I ordered it.

Thank you, Hall, for letting us be your grandparents for a day. We love you very much.

2011-10-08T09:30:00.000-07:00

Today Corbin High School's Class of 1961 is having a reunion. We graduated 50 years ago. I find it hard to accept I am that old. I am unable to attend and sent the below letter to them. It, along with other letters, will be read to those that attend. Corbin was then a tiny town in the foothills of Kentucky. It is a bigger town now, but still not a "city." Corbin was a great place to grow up.

Fifty years, it doesn’t seem that long ago that we werecruising through the town and dancing at the Youth Center. I wish I could be with you all for thisreunion. We did have fun times.

We moved to Louisville while I was in college atEastern. I hated leaving Corbin. I knew no one in Louisville, and didn’t wantto go. It turned out well. I met myhusband in Louisville in 1966.

Marty and I were married in 1967. When he proposed he told me we would moveuntil we died. Marty worked for CHEVRON until 1999 and we kept moving, 8 movesfrom 1967 to 1985. We have lived in Maryland, and several places in Californiaand Kentucky. We have had two more moveson our own in recent years.

We have one son who is a geologist and he works out ofSan Francisco. He and his wife have nochildren, so we have pretend grandchildren. One family in our church had nofamily in the state. We became thepretend grandparents 12 years ago. Nowour nephew, a Lt. Colonel in the Air Force, is stationed at Travis Air Force Base. He has three fun and loving children. Theylive only an hour from us. My brotherand his wife let us be pretend grandparents when they can’t come out forevents.

I taught elementary school for several years. Then we were transferred one time too many.No teaching jobs to be had. I had tofind something else to do, so I became the Volunteer Queen.

I have worked with the church wherever we have lived:taught Sunday School and Vacation Bible School, chaired committees, served asan Elder, and been on the Church Board. Iwas there more than the ministers. Ihave worked with the Leukemia Society, been a docent at the Museum of Scienceand History in Louisville, a docent at a Children’s museum in Baltimore. In the San Francisco Bay Area I have servedon a county United Way Board, and also chaired committees and served on theBoard of a Non Profit that worked with the low income and homeless. Together Marty and I work the San FranciscoAIDS Walk.

After years of hard gritty volunteering, I finally foundmy loves: volunteering with a firstgrade class and becoming a Deputy Marriage Commissioner. I love working with the children andperforming wedding ceremonies.

For 10 years I have worked with first graders on readingand math skills. I still get to teach,but no paper work. Many things inteaching have changed in the last 40+ years. But the thrill of a child learning to read hasn’t.

I volunteer at the Alameda County Clerk Recorder’s Officeas a Marriage Commissioner. I have done thousands of marriage ceremonies in thelast six years. I also help train newstaff and volunteers as Marriage Commissioners.

One of proudest moments of my life was when I performedthe first same sex marriage ceremony in Alameda County. It was also one of my scariest moments; I wason live TV feed on major networks and news networks. It was a wonderful historic moment that makesme tearful and happy whenever I think about it.

I developed a need to write in my old age. I am too undisciplined to write a book, soour son said, “Blog Mom”. I write aboutmy life, books I read, food Marty and I cook, rant about crazy drivers,whatever hits my fancy. If you likereading rants, raves, and bragging, check out my blog: www.ihavenoendings.blogspot.com

As you can tell, I keep busy. I am lucky that my health is good and I dopretty much what I want to do. I alsocan claim old age and get out of what I don’t want to do.

I love living in the San Francisco Bay Area. The weather is gentle, the people arediverse, and there is always something to do. In many ways I have gotten above my raising. I am not as small town as I was. I love the city. But whenever I think I am a city girl, one ofmy friends ribs me about my accent. Youjust can’t lose a Corbin accent.

I belong to a mystery book group that meets weekly. This group periodically puts on internationalmystery conventions. I have worked ontwo of them and we have another one coming up next spring.

Many of my friends mostly grew up in bigcities. These city people have led verysheltered lives. They’ve never fired agun. No one has lain in the floor of a bus after an away ballgame hoping therocks being thrown won’t hit you. None of them have ever driven some of thefootball team to the bootleggers. They have never cruised a drive in or snuckinto a drive in theater. They haven’t had a senior skip day. They never danced to Gary Edwards’ music. Very few of them can drive a stick shift pickuptruck. They never fired a cannon in theDistad’s back yard. And the thing I feelmost sorry for them is they have never had Pool Hall Chili.

I found out in college that CHS might have been small,but I received a good education. I hadthe background to attack any course. Thank you to our teachers.

Have a great time at this reunion. I miss you all and think about our yearstogether more than you can imagine.

Two Mondays Weddings

2011-10-04T15:33:00.000-07:00

Last week I did not have time to write about the weddings. This week one day is already down. So here are Monday and Monday.

Monday 1, the county has a new hire in Vitals. She is young and eager to learn everything. The lead clerks asked if I would help the new hire D to learn about marriage ceremonies. I showed her what to check for on a license, how to fill in the paper work, and then had her observe several weddings.

D saw a variety of couples/weddings. She found out we never know if we'll do a wedding or not. No body wanted to get married for the first hour, then we had two weddings. Then nothing for nearly two hours and we were slammed. At 10 minutes to 4:00 (our cut off time for being in line to be married that day) I had three licenses handed to me. So D and I didn't go back to my desk. We just called names and took couples up. We had 40 minutes at least of weddings to do. And later at 4:20 another license was brought up from my desk and given to me.

The first wedding D observed was very emotional. This couple was dressed up, he in a suit and she in a black chiffon dress with a jeweled neckline. She carried a red and white carnation bouquet.The couple were in their 50's. The groom choked during the vows. He could not speak, he was crying, the bride teared up, and D was about to lose it. The groom pulled it together and was able to finish his vows.

The second couple had a confidential license (no witness required, all info sealed and only available through a court order). The bride wore a white brocade suit that had a ruffle down the lapels. They wrote their own vows, very touching and again D was near tears.

In our late afternoon rush we had a fun wedding. I asked if they had rings for the ceremony. No rings, something better: cigar bands. That was so cute and fun. Several of the young and foreign born clerks did not understand why a cigar band. They hadn't seen the old movies of eloping couples using a cigar band for a ring.

Clerk M came upstairs with a a couple and their license. She said this is Nona and Paul. I said I have the next license for Nona and George. M said this is Nona, but the groom said ,"I'm not George, I'm Paul." Two brides one name. We made sure the grooms had the right Nona and finished up the day.

Monday 2 was really really slow. I had one ceremony and the only interesting/strange thing about it was the license. The clerk W brought me the license and said this is a mess. The couple had bought the license weeks ago. When they came back for the ceremony, the groom handed the clerk the license except it wasn't an original, it was a photocopy. W asked where is your original. He said that is it. Finally he dug through his pockets and found the license. It had been folded at least 5 times, creased all over and the sides were bent to almost a ruffle. It had been stapled, and there were raised bumps all over it. The bumps felt and looked like braille, but weren't.

I said that I didn't think Sacramento would take it. W didn't want to deal with it. So I took it and the couple upstairs. I showed it to the marriage desk clerk and she said ,"Oh, I don't like this. I"ll reprint it." Now they could have done that downstairs, but who knows why they didn't.

D can not wait to be sworn in as a Deputy Marriage Commissioner. She loves all the types of people that pass through the wedding room. She will be good at it and we have the bonus she speaks Spanish also. She has no idea how much she will be called on.

An incredible weekend!

2011-10-03T00:10:00.000-07:00

Friday we drove to Travis Air Force Base. We had been invited to our nephew's pinning ceremony. That would be Henry Hall Triplett III, aka Tres. Tres was being promoted from Major to Lt. Colonel. His father ( my brother) and mother flew in from Kentucky. His wife, Casey, and their three children were there. Other family present were Casey's Aunt; her cousin and husband, their two daughters; and a cousin and her baby. Many of Tres' squadron were there, several high ranking base officers, and some civilian workers.

The ceremony began with family escorted in, then the Color Guard marched in. The National Anthem was then played. You have never experienced the Star Spangled Banner until you have heard it standing with 75 Air Force men and women. I cried. Most of them are so young and have been in the hell holes of the world protecting us.

The rest of ceremony told Tres' military history which was damn impressive. I knew he was good, but he is better than I knew. He has done the Air Force and the family proud. The best part was the actual pinning on of his Oak Leaf. First they changed his rank on his coat epaulets, then they changed the ones on his shirt. Finally he was handed a new hat with his new rank on it.

After the ceremony his squadron put on a cookout for about 150 people that included Tres' family and their families. Then we went home with Tres and had a Triplett reunion. It was also Casey's 40th birthday. The next day Casey and Tres left on a mini vacation and left their three children with the real grandparents and the pretend grandparents.

Below are some pictues from the ceremony. The ceremony was held in the warehouse Tres is responsible for. It is stocked with supplies that are needed when the Air Force takes supplies in for a crisis anywhere in the world. This could be an earthquake, flood, hurricane, or a war zone. Outside the warehouse are armor clad humvees and trucks, portable buildings, bulldozers, anything that they would need to survive on their own for four days. That would be gasoline, water, food, everything. They have to be in the air within 12 hours from the time they receive the call they are needed.

From left Tres' parents, Ann Triplett, retired Lt. Colonel Henry H. Triplett, and Casey's Aunt Yvonne.

One aisle of the warehouse. The blue on the right is a table for a small reception with cake, cookies, and punch.

Tres on the right while the Color Guard marched in.

Casey and my brother pinning the Oak Leaf on Tres. His son Hall, daughter Annabella, and his Mother wait their turn to pin.

Tres having his shirt rank changed. Annabella had handed her Daddy his new hat. As you can see she is a Daddy's girl.

Tres taking his oath as a Lt. Colonel.

Tres thanking family and the military at the ceremony for their support. He made a loving tribute to his wife Casey and how strong she has had to be. Mitlitary spouses do not have an easy life. They are mother and father. They put their careers on hold as they move around the world. My family thinks Casey is outstanding as a wife and mother. And in her spare time she is a doctor.

We thank Lt. Colonel Triplett for his service and all the United States Military.

Sight words and small groups

2011-09-29T17:47:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was my day with the first graders. It was a big day. For the first time Ms. H broke the children into five groups and each group worked on a different project. The first problem was some children thought they had to finish all five projects that day. They will move to a different project each day. They did not listen. There was an adult to help each group and it still was a little chaotic.

My group was working on scrambled sentences. Each word in each sentence was numbered. Sentence 1 each word had a 1, sentence 2 each word had a 2. They were to cut out one word at a time for each sentence, arrange it correctly, have me check it, and then glue. Then they were to write the sentence. An example: the He with cat. played I asked them what the first word of a sentence begins with, then asked what goes at the end of every sentence. After they found those two words, some could complete the sentence. But cutting, gluing, arranging words, tough for some. A lot of things to do in a certain order. A couple of the boys just glued without any thought to correct order. That did not work out well.

All five groups finally finished their tasks and them we moved on to phonics. While they worked in their workbooks, I tested them individually on Dolch sight words. Each child would read the word list, if they did well I had them go on to the next list. I marked down which words they missed, gave a check , minus, plus depending on how many they missed. I made comments on speed, sounding out (which rarely works with sight words) whether they liked to read or not. Then on to the next child.

Then we did my favorite thing. I read them a story. Ms. H always picks the story, gives it to me when I arrive, and then before lunch I read to them. This week's book was How Rocket Learned to Read written and illustrated by Tad Hills. This is such a sweet gentle story, and really nails learning to read. The children loved this book and made some great observations about sounding out words. Click here to see the book. Be sure to click on Search inside this book just under the picture of the book. You will be able to read several pages of the book.

Another nice thing for me is walking through the halls. Children stop and hug me or call to me. Parents stop and talk to me. This school is a community. Feels good being there.

Testing another recipe

2011-09-28T15:47:00.000-07:00

Monday night Marty and I, mostly Marty, tested another recipe for Cook's Illustrated. (I was the wash up help) The recipe was for Szechuan Stir Fried Pork and Eggplant with Garlic Sauce. It read yummy, we love to cook and eat Chinese food. I thought this time I would show you some of the shopping we have to do for these recipes.

After Marty picked me up at the Marriage Factory, we were off to Whole Paycheck to buy ingredients, some of which we didn't think Safeway would carry.

Eggplant was the first ingredient we picked up. Let's just say the globe eggplant was the most expensive in 9 counties. It isn't called Whole Paycheck for nothing.

Next up boneless pork ribs. How can they be ribs if no bone? Just asking. As for the specialty items we needed, they didn't carry them.

So we go to almost where we started to China Town to get Chinese Black Vinegar and Asian Broad Bean Chili Paste. The store we went to is pretty friendly to non Asians. Some clerks speak English and some signs and products are in Chinese and English. We still had to ask for help. There were shelves of vinegar, and this was on the very bottom.

This is the wall of live fish, crab, lobster, and other interesting things that swim. We get Dungeness Crab often.

Just a look at the signs. Most stores in China Town do not have English signs.

Home, Marty is making one of the elaborate sauces. One sauce has 9 ingredients and the other has 5.

Marty cutting the boneless ribs into small pieces. Boneless ribs, that just makes me laugh.

Marty showing off flipping the eggplant. It is pretty impressive to watch.

Here he is adding the sauce to the stir fried pork. It really smells yummy.

All ingredients are combined and ready to be plated. Smells rich and spicy.

Ready to sit down and enjoy. So we ate this lovely looking meal. Did we enjoy it? No. It was bitter, little taste in spite of the 14 ingredients making up two sauces, and the texture was awful. Szechuan food is hot and spicy, not this recipe.

Chinese food is multi textures, some soft, some firm, some in between. This was just soft. The eggplant was almost too soft (Remember we cook exactly as the recipe says. We can not pull things out if we think it is overdone.). The celery was firm, but there was too much of it. The meat was soft with little flavor. This was pork, how did this recipe kill the pork flavor?

Very disappointed by the meal. Also it had some expensive ingredients. It is one thing if the meal is good to spend money, but not OK if the meal is bad. Marty threw the recipe in the trash.

Kaiser School Update

2011-09-26T11:04:00.000-07:00

Saturday the Oakland School Board gave Kaiser a reprieve. They are no longer on the list for closing, this year. Conditions were named that will be looked at again in 2013. They were happy with Kaiser's high test scores. They recognized Kaiser is one of the most diverse schools in Oakland. So for now we are all doing our happy dance.

But we know work has to be done to meet the conditions, one of which is growth. And the neighbors are already beginning to grumble, too much traffic, parking etc. Keep your fingers crossed.

Wedding outfits

2011-09-25T15:02:00.000-07:00

Wednesday two brides each made a fashion statement. The first bride certainly stood out and everyone was talking about her. Clerks found business to do out front just to look at this woman.
You know how yellow a banana is? Well not bright enough to describe this outfit. Maybe daffodil yellow. It was really really bright. She had on a yellow picture hat with pink cabbage roses. Something like this, only bright yellow. It totally hid one side of her face. She wore a yellow coat dress with offset buttons. The buttons were the size of a silver dollar and each was a different color. Her shoes were silver and her clutch purse was a beaded ecru. She wore a huge yellow watch. To complete this outfit she wore fuchsia Jackie O sunglasses. This woman looked like something from the late 50's, about the time she was born.

Vintage clothing is cool. I love hats. But this outfit was just over the top. When the groom bent down to kiss her the hat nearly blocked him. That would be why in the 50's and 60's I usually wore pillbox hats.
The next fashion statement was gorgeous. The groom's shirt and the bride's dress were the exact same color, brown. Not just any brown, this brown was rich, soft, elegant. When I saw them I flashed to when I was around 6 or 7 years old. My piano recital dress was the same brown. I loved that dress. Back to the wedding. The brown was almost a milk chocolate but better, lighter. It was like a cup of coffee with just a little cream in it. The dress was a full skirt at knee length in the classic Greek style. The material was chiffon. She wore a brown silk flower in her hair.
One note about this couple's wedding. Their son was their ring bearer. They had tied the rings onto a little satin pillow. The son brought up the rings and they couldn't get them untied. They worked and worked, the groom's mother came to help them. I thought I would have to go get scissors next door. Finally they untied the knots and we finished the ceremony.

Strange Wedding Date

2011-09-23T18:05:00.000-07:00

Monday we only had two couples who wanted to be married. The first couple the groom was 60 and the bride B was 50. The groom told us he woke up B and said, "Get dressed, we are getting married today". Then he told us that Monday's date, September 19, was the date he had married his ex wife. That was 30 years ago. Wife two had no problem with the date. They looked at the date as an ending to the first marriage and a new beginning for this marriage. The clerks and I felt it was just weird.

To buy a marriage license each person has to present a current government issued picture ID. The next couple had brought a Mexican birth certificate and an International ID. That is what it said across the top, International ID. Problem, the name on the birth certificate and the ID don't match. Another problem, the International ID says not a government issued ID. Yet the card had a California government logo on the bottom.

The clerk started asking questions. Do you have a California driver's license or ID? No, it was stolen. Do you have a Mexican passport? No, it was stolen. Any government ID? No it was stolen. A work ID? No, it was stolen. How did you get the ID you have now? He ordered a birth certificate from Mexico and bought the international ID from a Notary Public here in Oakland. A Notary Public can not create and sell IDs. That would be illegal. Can you say illegal resident?

No, we did not sell them a license.

School traffic, no parking

2011-09-21T12:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I took Marty to BART earlier than usual. Then I headed off to school. Huge mistake. I have to pass three other schools before I get to Kaiser. The first traffic was a little heavier, then I got closer to Chabot. School buses, Mamas dropping children off, Mamas walking children to school. Close to chaos. The next school had started so not much traffic, and then I was a couple of block from the turn to Kaiser.

Both sides of the street were lined with cars, two blocks before the turn to the school and four blocks uphill after the turn. Traffic was stopped down hill for a couple of blocks as parents let children out in the circle in front of the school. Cars just stop in the circle and doors slowly open, a leg or head will appear. Then nothing. Finally children start spilling out of the car, both sides not just on the sidewalk side. And I wait to get around to the street where I can park. Why do these children have to be driven to the door, and why do many parents have to walk them to their desks??? Why can't they be let out at the foot of the hill (one block walk) and parents leave. I can almost understand walking a kindergarten child to class the first week, but 5th graders?

So I can't find a spot close to park and I drive uphill several blocks. I know in about 15 minutes most of the street parking will empty out. I'll then move my car down hill. No way am I walking up this monster hill when I leave. We are having summer as usual in September, and it will be 90 degrees when I leave. This girl does not do heat and sweating.

I planned to sit and play Angry Birds as I waited. But you would not believe the view from the Hiller Highlands. It is one of the best views in the Bay Area. Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, The Oakland Bay Bridge, Alcatraz. This link is close to what I was looking at. Be sure to click on the time lapse for yesterday. Lovely. I sat and enjoyed the beauty and then went inside to work with the first graders.

I now know next time Marty leaves early, I'll sit in BART's parking lot and call my Mother, read a book. I won't get in the school traffic. I can look at the view when I leave.

Monday Weddings

2011-09-17T14:47:00.000-07:00

I only did weddings on Monday. Wednesday I had a conflict. That is the beauty of volunteering, you get to pick what you will do. Monday was really busy before I got there. When I walked in at 1:00, one clerk yelled, "I love you, Janet!". Then she handed me a marriage license with a big smile. She had done a lot of ceremonies that morning, and it wasn't her turn. For some reason the clerk on call was not answering her phone. That meant W had to do them.

I perforomed 3 1/2 marriage ceremonies. Regular readers know what that means. Someone didn't tell the clerk they needed a translator. The clerks should figure that out. If only one person is talking in English and translates to the other, big sign English will not work. I hated not to do the ceremony. The bride wore a white chiffon knee length Greek style dress. The groom wore a black suit with a lighter black stitching on the lapels. Their toddler son wore a long sleeve white shirt, black tie, black vest, and black slacks. Guests were dressed up, everyone was nice. But it wasn't mine to do, Marriage Desk Lady got to do it.

I had a Confidential Wedding to do. (a confidential license doesn't require a witness, the record of the marriage can only be accessed by the bride and groom, anyone else wanting information about their marriage must obtain a court order which are rarely given.) The couple was relaxed, excited about the wedding . . . until the ceremony started. The groom became very emotional, he barely could say I do. And then for the vows, he lost it. He cried, then he could not utter a word, she held him until he calmed down enough to finish the vows. Then she cried during her vows. I was worried I was going to cry, it was pretty emotional. It was very touching.

The last wedding left a bad taste in my mouth. The couple used the young man from the Deli for the witness. I asked if they wanted him to take pictures for them. The bride looked at me as if I were crazy, and said, "Why would we want pictures of this? We were married yesterday. We had a huge wedding yesterday. Just get this done." OK, bitch, heard. I explained this is the wedding/marriage for legal purposes and she can't use yesterday's party as her marriage date. She glared at me, crossed her arms, and looked between pissed and bored. The entire ceremony she and the groom had their arms crossed, looked bored, and did the vows in a dead I am so over this voice.

Usually if there is no interest in the ceremony, I do the 3 legal sentences ceremony. This chick had ticked me off. She was rude to me and to the volunteer witness. She felt no importance for her legal ceremony. So I out bitched her, I am way older and have much more experience as a Southern Belle in handling rude people.

I gave her and her bored groom the longest fluffiest ceremony we have. I also read it as slow as molasses in January.

Kaiser School continues for now

2011-09-14T19:20:00.000-07:00

Even though parents, staff, volunteers and teachers are upset over a possible closing, Kaiser is running like a well oiled machine. Education goes on.

Tuesday, my class was doing group work. There were to cut out four pages (printed on one sheet of paper) and put them in order. An adult would then staple the pages together. Cutting is a hard learned skill. Either you have the muscle development to use scissors, or you don't. I trimmed up a lot of pages. Even though the pages were numbered, not all students could put them in order. Other directions were given, and were not followed. They were to find page 1 and put their name under the word name. That went so so. Some put their names on the line, some put it at the bottom of the page, some didn't put their name anywhere until shown where. They were not to draw anything, or write anything else, until told to go to the next page. That part did not go well. Several children finished the 4 pages, even though they couldn't read the directions.

This was to be a group project. They were to follow directions, not lag behind, all were to finish together. No where close to that happened. This project was all about directions. Children have to learn to listen and follow directions. The directions may be to help them to take a test together, or to be safe during an earthquake. Groups have to be able to follow directions. We work on this all the time.

Other times we let them work on being an individual. But always they have to follow directions. That is a life skill we all have to learn.

I did some one on one work in math. They had taken an addition test and many didn't finish in the time given. Some finished but many of the numerals were backwards. For example 9 looked like P. 10 would have an open zero and look like 16. Math is exact, if we can't read it, it is wrong. They must learn that at an early age. While I worked with the students who had lots of mistakes, I made notes for Ms. H. She wanted to know how they solved problems: in their heads, using counters, using fingers, or knew the math facts. Most could do the problems with counters, but were very careless. They wrote answers under the wrong problem, started with one problem and then took part of the next one so neither was correct.

This is a very chatty group. I think most of them will be successful this year. But in many ways they are "younger" than last year's class. They have a harder time sitting in a chair, they stand, perch, lean. We will work with them, fuss at them, expand their horizons, let them be creative. We will educate.

Wednesday Weddings

2011-09-11T14:26:00.000-07:00

As soon as I arrived at my desk there was a marriage license on it. For the next hour and a half I did five weddings. The weddings ended at 2:30. Nothing after that. I guess they had all heard about the 3:00 rush and wanted to avoid it.

One marriage ceremony I just grinned through out the ceremony. The couple had a year old daughter and that little girl cackled with laughter the whole time we were in the wedding room. The more she cackled, the more I smiled. There is nothing like the laughter, or cackle in her case, of a small child.

One of the most touching weddings was a bride who was 54 years old. She had never been married. Her groom had been divorced for 47 years. They were so in love, so emotional, goose bumps up and down my arms. The groom's age you ask, 86 year old. And let me tell you he didn't look or act much older than the bride.

Then we had the rude arrogant, did I say rude group. I saw the group of Indians in the lobby. The women wore incredibly beautiful saris. The men were in suits and each turban was a different color. I was looking forward to this wedding. Big group, gorgeous clothes, my kind of people. Well, it did not go well. I called the couple's names. They looked at me and just sat. I called their names again, and finally the bride walked up to me. I asked my most important question, "Is everyone here?" Yes they were. I met the groom and said let's go upstairs. A clerk is holding the elevator for us, and she deeply regretted this later.

We load on the elevator, and I start to punch the button. The groom says, "There are still two people not here. We can wait for them upstairs." I said, "NO, we don't go up until everyone is here. Please everyone get off the elevator." And the arrogant sh*t said, "NO, we'll wait here." And he sent someone outside to look for the missing persons. I asked everyone to please get off the elevator. They wouldn't, the alarm is going off because the door has been open too long. I can't let them go upstairs with out me, so I am trying to get them off. We don't tie up the room waiting for late people. Staff could need the room for a non English wedding.

The missing two people show up, and there are really five of them. They stood outside the elevator and argued about who should get on first. Finally these rude people get on the elevator and we go up. I tell them to follow me to the left. As I turn toward the wedding room, I realized no one was behind me. They are out by the elevator talking. I herd them in, and try to give instructions about phones, cameras, taking up the rings etc. No one will shut up so I can be heard.

I give up and began the ceremony. The whole time I am doing the ceremony, everyone is talking. Not whispering, just talking and talking. They are taking pictures and walking in front of me. I am ready to kill.

Then they annoyed me and the Marriage Desk Clerk, M. M has a tiny one woman office. She has two chairs for the couple and that fills up the office. I always tell the guests to please wait in the small lobby, there is only room for the couple. I take couples in, I stand and have M check the license is correct, and I leave. This time a couple of the men came in the office with us. I asked them to please wait in the lobby. They just looked at me. One finally left, but I couldn't get out of the office for the other man blocking the doorway. I put my hand on him and pushed him back into the lobby so I could get out.

This could have been such a fun lovely group. Lovely clothes, really really good jewelry, I should be describing beauty, not rudeness. Some people are just more special that the rest of us.

Kaiser School

2011-09-09T13:38:00.000-07:00

As long time readers know, I volunteer at a school in the Oakland Hills. I have been there for 10 years. I used to volunteer twice a week, and then dropped to one morning a week. I work with a first grade class, and it is a highlight of my week.

Well folks there is trouble on the horizon. Kaiser is on the Oakland School District list of closures. It is not final yet. But it is a very possible thing. This is a school that draws from the whole city. We have every race, ethnic group you can think of. We have every income group you can think of. This school serves the total population of the city. We teach children from the hills to the flats. Read this link about Kaiser.

Kaiser is a small school and that is one reason it is on the list. It is more economical to run large schools. But if Kaiser closes, the area with the huge property taxes that support a city wide school system will have no school. No school, people will request a lower tax assessment. And then less money to run the schools.

There are many reasons why this school should remain open. Too many to list here. I know a lot of my readers are not from Oakland. But if you feel like writing an email to some officials, I would be really happy. Read the above link and then you decide. I will list a few people to email. If you are from Oakland, please write, I know some of you already have. This closure affects the city, not just kids from a high end neighborhood.

Thank you.

Here's who to email AND call:
Tony Smith (Superintendent) tony.smith@ousd.k12.ca.us, (510) 879-8200

Jody London (school board member for Kaiser's neighborhood) Jody.London@ousd.k12.ca.us, (510) 879-2161

Mia Settles (our Regional Executive Officer), mia.settles@ousd.k12.ca.us, (510) 879-2923

David Montes de Oca , david.montes@ousd.k12.ca.us, (510) 336-7570

Other school board members:

Vice President Jody London -
District 1 - Jody.London@ousd.k12.ca.us

David Kakishiba -
District 2 - David.Kakishiba@ousd.k12.ca.us

Jumoke Hinton Hodge -
District 3 - Jumoke.Hodge@ousd.k12.ca.us

President Gary Yee -
District 4 - Gary.Yee@ousd.k12.ca.us

Noel Gallo - District 5
- Noel.Gallo@ousd.k12.ca.us

Christopher Dobbins - District 6
- Christopher.Dobbins@ousd.k12.ca.us

Alice Spearman - District 7
- Alice.Spearman@ousd.k12.ca.us

Wearing a different hat

2011-09-06T14:14:00.000-07:00

Today I am not wearing my marriage commissioner hat, not my wife hat, not even my best MOM ever hat. Today I am wearing my first grade volunteer hat. Yes, school started last week. Ms. H likes a little time alone with the children before she has volunteers come in.

Today she introduced me to the class, and they all told me their names. I will never remember all the names. Well maybe around March I will. We have more children this year, 26 students. I told Ms. H to think about when I taught in the 60's and 70's, if we had under 30 kids we felt lucky. My first year teaching I had 38 first graders. That was probably a living hell. But as a new teacher, I was too green to know. Anyway, Ms. H has had classes of 30, so she just has to adjust her methods to handle more children.

There are problems with that many children. When they sit on the rug, they don't all fit. We have more desks, so there is less room to walk around and help children. I kept sliding chairs under desks so I could get through the "aisles". Checking that the children are doing the work correctly as we walk around takes longer. This is a chatty bunch, so the noise level is louder. Even lining up for lunch takes longer. It will smooth out shortly, but right now Ms. H has her hands full.

What did I do all morning? I put together the checked work packets to go home, that means all work is alphabetized and stapled together. I glued homework information on lunch bags, I worked one on one with many of the students, I handed out snacks, and I read them a story. The worse part of helping first graders is their low desks. My back is killing me. I bend over so much of the time. When there is a real problem I pull a LOW chair over and sit with the child. Sitting helps with the back pain, but the low chair transfers pain to the knees. Oh well, it is only one day a week. I always recover by the next Tuesday.

Rita Moreno

2011-09-04T18:07:00.000-07:00

Marty and I met Rita Moreno at a neighbor's New Year's Day party about 8 years ago. We walked in and this beautiful woman walked up to me and said, "Hi, I'm Rita." And I was tongue tied. Of course she was Rita. She was Rita Freaking Moreno, shaking hands with me, talking to me about cooking. I babbled stupid gushing fan things and then promised I would never act that way again. And over the years at neighborhood parties, I have been almost normal talking to her. But she is Rita Freaking Moreno.

We have seen her in concert, been at an event where she was given an award, seen her in movies and on TV, she has led the neighbors in Christmas songs, she has been a neighbor. She is an amazing beautiful person.

Saturday our good friend Thom called and asked if we would like two tickets to see Rita's show. Of course we wanted the tickets. Last night we really saw Rita, well what she would let us see. We saw her one woman show at Berkley Rep, Rita Moreno Life Without Makeup. If you only see one performance this year, this is the one to see. We laughed, we cried, we were horrified by the way she had been treated. This show is great.

Rita is 79 years old. She admits it, makes no bones about her age. She dances as well as ever, sings like an angel, and is sexy as hell.

This is part of a display of Rita's pictures in the lobby of the theater. Marty is on the right.

This is a picture of Rita Moreno in San Francisco Magazine. Trust me she looks this great in person.

See, this was taken with my iphone at a Christmas party. She is gorgeous and fun.

In 1961 Rita won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for West Side Story. (The dancing in this You Tube link was recreated in the show last night. She had two male dancers who performed with her.) Fellow winner from West Side Story George Chakiris is beside her.

This is a page from the program listing some of the awards Rita Moreno has won. No, you probably can't read it. But you can tell, she has won a lot of awards. Just four you might have heard of: Grammy, Oscar, Tony, Emmy. If you click on her name at the beginning of this blog, you can read the list in that article.

Last night was magic. Live theater always is. But this was a much higher level. We were with an American Icon who brought the audience to their feet to cheer her. Fabulous show, go see it while you can. It won't be long before it will be on Broadway.

Finally, lots of wedding

2011-09-02T12:02:00.000-07:00

Yes, Monday was a busy day. It started really slow and I thought yuck, another day of reading and not marrying. And then all hell broke loose, in a good way. The lobby filled up and staff and I were marrying couples right and left. I married 9 couples, most who showed up after 3:00. I usually am done by 4:15. Not Monday, I left the building at 5:00. If they are punched in by 4:00 they will have a marriage ceremony.

I will share a few from Monday. The first couple were in their mid 20's and were wearing braces. The groom wore a midnight blue suit, that the bride had picked out. The bride wore midnight blue floor length chiffon dress.The groom had picked it out. The straps were beaded and she had a chiffon scarf around her neck that hung down her back . The groom was soooooooo shy. He would barely talk to me and that caused a problem. When I asked, "Do you take this woman?", nothing. Not a sound. And suddenly the bride punched him and said, "Tell her I do!" So he did.

One bride wore a knee length dress. The top was red, white, black smocking with spaghetti straps. The skirt was tiers of black chiffon. She had a red sash at the waist. Another bride wore a grey dress and carried pink carnations. The groom had on a grey suit and had a pink carnation boutonniere. They had such a crisp sharp look.

And now to my favorite wedding of the week. The bride was 7 1/2 months pregnant and looked gorgeous , the groom was tall and handsome. Their witness had a huge thick bandage on his right arm. It went from his knuckles to his elbow. He was to be the camera man. He balanced the camera on his bandage and pushed the button with his left arm He was right handed so this was a little hard for him.

The wedding began. The bride was throwing the most outrageous flirty looks to the groom. He is just melting from the love. I am getting goose bumps watching the two of them. As I start to pronounce them married a rap song starts playing. It is the witness' phone. {sidebar: That was my fault. I always ask for phones to be put on mute, except I forgot to this wedding.} The witness is suddenly jumping up and down, throwing his hips to the left, and trying not to drop the camera. We all start laughing at him. He has one good hand, he can't reach the phone, and we don't offer to help him. It looked like he was doing some crazy dance. We laughed until we cried. The phone stopped ringing, he quit dancing, and I pronounced the couple married.

Annabella said, "Thanks, but no thanks."

2011-08-31T17:54:00.000-07:00

Annabella is our great niece. Her Dad is a pilot stationed at Travis Air Force Base. When I first met Annabella last year she was three years old. She asked if I had a guest room for her. A few months later she and her family came for brunch, the first thing she wanted to see was the guest room. It seemed to pass muster.

Her big brother had made the trip alone to see grandparents last month. She is too young to fly without an adult. I thought I would give her a little trip this weekend. We planned to pick her up Saturday morning to visit us. Her family would come for lunch on Sunday and take her home. Dad thought she would want to come.

I had a few plans, just in case she hated something. We had a Plan A, B, and C. Plan A was take her to Children's Fairyland. This is the place that inspired Walt Disney to create Disneyland. Plan B, Smurfs. Plan C, put her at the kitchen table with a computer and earphones and stream movies from Netflix. We won't tell her parents about that one.

Dad Tres called us. Bella doesn't want to spend the night. It is just too big a step for a four year old. I understand. I was the kid the parents had to come pick up when it was bedtime. I am disappointed. But better Bella likes the idea than Bella come and get homesick and have an hour's drive home crying.

A Trip to Wine Country

2011-08-28T20:52:00.000-07:00

This week our nephew Tres ( father of our pretend children) Skyped us. He invited us to join Casey and him for a VIP wine tasting on Saturday and then dinner in Napa Would we like to join them? Hell yes. We love wine tasting. We love road trips, no matter how small. We love to spend time with Tres and Casey.

We went to Cline Cellars. This is a beautiful winery. It looks like an old farm, which it is, only better. The gardens are wonderful. Old fashioned flowers are planted everywhere. They have a small museum, ponds, grassy places to picnic, and lots of little animals to look at.

Tres and me in front of the main building. The porch wraps three sides of the farm house. Our private wine tasting was on the right side of the porch. It was a very pleasant day in Wine Country, with a gentle breeze.

Our guide took us on a tour of the property. While we walked we sipped a lovely sparkling wine. They built a traditional building from the bricks of a building that was torn down in Sonoma. They use this building for events.

This is Ruth our guide and the miniature donkeys. We all fed them apples. Very cute little animals. The donkeys were originally used as pack animals at the wineries.

The museum is the history of the missions of California. The missions were built a day's horse ride apart. Just as Kentucky's county seats were set up. We are looking at models of the missions. They were built for the Pageant of the Pacific in 1939. The models were going to be destroyed and the owners of Cline saved them. These models are so detailed, they are perfect miniatures of the real buildings.

Another mission.

On the tour. Note Marty holding our empty flutes. He is in front of the tanks the grapes go into after being crushed.

Tres and Casey in the Barrel Room. This is a working warehouse and is also used for events.

We are in a room that holds the stainless steel tanks that hold wine as it ages. After being here, the wine either goes into small barrels or into bottles depending on how long it is aged.

Ruth is checking what wine is aging in these stainless steel tanks. She was looking for a particular Chardonnay and a Syrah.

Never ever have we been on a tour and the guide has given us samples from a tank that is for ageing. She wanted us to taste the wine when it was very young to compare with the aged product we would taste later.

This is a barrel head that was behind the table where we did the wine tasting.

Casey and Tres sitting at our private table for tasting. Ruth has gone for some of the bottles for us to taste.

Marty and me waiting for the next pour. We had some lovely wines. And we bought some for a special meal at home.

Tres having some cheese to cleanse his palate. You see Casey's arm. She was making notes on everything we tasted. Then she bought some bottles from her notes.

Marty finishing tasting one of the Zinfandel's. They were really nice.

Ruth is pouring one of the wonderful wines. Poor Tres loved the tasting, but he was the designated driver. So he took very small tastes and passed his glasses to Casey and to me. We thanked him and enjoyed our extra tastes.

When we arrived Forrest on the right, was on the front porch. Casey wanted a picture with him. When we were ready to leave, Forrest was inside the building. Oh, Forrest is a mannequin.

We had a great day. Lots of laughing, tasting, and we finished with a lovely meal in downtown Napa. Thank you Casey and Tres.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE BRIDES GONE???

2011-08-26T10:55:00.000-07:00

Well, I can answer the above question easily. The brides and grooms have gone to Friday. My friend Joe married 11 couples last Friday morning. And today, who knows how many he will marry. Fridays have always been the busiest day for couples to come in to marry. But Monday used to be a close second. Not this summer. I am lucky to have more than two couples come in to be married. The County Recorder's Office has been very slow on Mondays and Wednesday.

Monday I had two couples, Wednesday only one. It was so slow I feel asleep at my desk. The couple I married Wednesday ticked me off. It was a for legal purposes only marriage.

The couple was Jewish. He was wearing yarmulke, she was wearing a shawl. Their witness was one of the pushiest women I have ever met. Every question I asked the couple, she answered. She even was telling me what to do in the ceremony. I finally told her it was not her wedding, they were the ones getting married. She backed off some then. They told me they had had a religious ceremony and they wanted the legal part of the marriage ceremony totally separate from the spiritual. Thus the two ceremonies.

Except they had brought their book from the religious ceremony. They wanted to read the vows they used at that ceremony. ??? Separate, no crossing the line from legal to spiritual??? So they stand up front, the bride wraps them both in her shawl. They stood there looking bored, they had big smirks on their faces. No way are they doing their marriage in a respectful way. They start reading their vows, which had nothing to do with marriage or love. The vows sounded as if they came out of a peacenik's tree hugger's rant. They read in a bored tone, sometimes reading really fast as if to be done with it, sometimes plodding word for word. And they kept the big smirks on their faces. They made a mockery of their religious vows and of the legal/real wedding.

I was glad to see the back of them.

Ava's first birthday

2011-08-21T16:57:00.000-07:00

Today's blog is mainly for family. This is so family can see what they missed by not being with us yesterday. Saturday we took a little road trip to Davis. Our niece Ava was having her first birthday party. It is hard to believe this darling (and I don't use that word much) child is a year old.

Ava just one year ago. We could see the beginnings of her red hair.

Ava now, with Mom Casey

Ava in her party dress. She is ready to receive her guests.

Marty and I brought gifts for Hall and Annabella also. Just because it isn't your birthday doesn't mean you don't want or deserve a gift too.

Big sister Annabella helping Ava open her gifts.

More help from Annabella.

Why are these people looking at me? What's going on?

Annabella and Hall on the left. Big girl cousin on the right.

A crown for the birthday girl. And she was not happy with it.

What is this dumb thing on my head? Get it off!!!!!!!!!!!!

CAKE! This I understand. Gimme!

Notice the pretty dress is gone. Stripped to just a diaper, the perfect way to eat my cake. MINE!

Notice Annabella approaching the cake. Ava does not notice, she is too busy eating icing.

I see you there Annabella. Stay away. Notice the swipe in the back of the cake. Annabella did damage before Ava started watching for her.

If you are still reading this post, you are family, love goofy pictures, or a stalker. We had a fun time with Ava and her guests from both sides of her family. We are so happy having Tres and Casey and their little ones close to us.

Happy Birthday Ava.

So very slow at the Marriage Factory

2011-08-19T13:54:00.000-07:00

Monday I did only two weddings. There was a threat of 8, but more about that later.

The first couple were from Afghanistan. They were very reserved. After I pronounced them married, he laughed and said they would do the kiss in private. The groom did ask me the number one question I get. "How many weddings a day do you do?" And I gave my stock answer, "Zero to 9 in a three hours shift, average around 5."

Wedding two the couple were Hispanic. They had already exchanged rings and did not want the ring ceremony. They were a little weird. He had a death grip on her hands. She kept pulling away from him and playing with her bracelet. He would grab her again and finally he held her so tight she couldn't get loose. I was getting worried, It looked like maybe she didn't want to be there. Should I stop things and talk to her? Was she going to balk? She seemed to relax and I didn't stop the wedding. After I pronounced them married, great big kiss, big hugs, everyone happy. Still it was strange.

Then an empty lobby until 3:55. We had couples everywhere. The clerks told me we had 6 couples punched in to buy a marriage license. I could be there until after 5:00 if they wanted to be married in our wedding room. As it turned out 5 couples were only buying licenses. One couple wanted to get married today. But there was a problem, they had lost their license. (many couples pre buy their license) So could we just pull up that license and then we could do the ceremony. No. They needed to buy another license. Each license has a number, and you can't print another one without the original being there. When they found out they would have to buy a new license for $85, they went home to look again for their license.

Sidebar: I am having major allergy problems. They have drug on for months. The doctor has tried different things, but we never get the whole respiratory thing cleared up. The last several weeks I have really been bad. So I haven't gone in as often to do weddings. New meds start tonight. Keep your fingers crossed. Hopefully next week I can make both Monday and Wednesday at the Marriage Factory.

I won, I won, I won!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-08-17T15:31:00.000-07:00

My friend Janet Rudolph writes several blogs: one on chocolate, one on her business on Team Building, and one on mystery related topics. Sometimes she has authors guest blog on the mystery site. And sometimes Janet says if people post comments they will have a chance to win a book by that day's author. Last week the guest blogger was Sue Ann Jaffarain. I commented and I won!

I was allowed to pick the book I wanted from Sue Ann Jaffarian's three series. One series I hadn't read yet, so I picked the first book of the series, The Ghost of Granny Apples series. Ms. Jaffarian writes with humor, plots well, throws in surprises, and has clear characters. I never forget who characters are in her books. And trust me some books I have to keep a score card to remember everyone.

These are highly entertaining books but not fluff. If you haven't read her work, pick a series and enjoy a good read.

A statement she ended the blog with I have heard other authors make. "The series writes itself, I am just the medium." I often wonder what it would be like to have all those characters running around in my head. The authors must feel a desperate need to write and let the characters take over.

A big thank you to Ms. Jaffarian for writing books that are so enjoyable. And a big thank you for the book I have won.

A wedding first

2011-08-13T18:07:00.000-07:00

Wednesday I thought the afternoon was going to be slow, maybe not even have any couples to marry. I sat and read over an hour and finally a marriage license was brought to me. In the remaining hour and a half I did 4 marriage ceremonies and staff did 2. So business picked up a little at the county building.

We all tend to stereotype cultural groups. All grey haired Southern women look like Paula Dean. Northerners are loud, talk too fast, and never develop deep relationships outside of family. Asian don't show emotion or affection in public. The French all smoke, don't bathe, and wear incredible clothes. And on and on. Very often we have couples who prove the stereotype.

And then someone breaks the stereotype . . . I had a couple from Cambodia. The bride starting crying during the vows. He held her to comfort her, and when I pronounced them married, they kissed! Asians rarely kiss, they barely will hold hands. I was surprised, and tickled at the same time.

Next was a fun couple. They had lots of guests. The bride had on a lovely taupe, knee length, lace dress. She carried a bouquet of white mums. Now for the weird part. The bride had on a black coat sweater that came almost to her knees. I thought she would remove it for the ceremony. No, not only did she keep it on, it was belted over the dress. Not quite tacky but close. Why, I don't know. Her dress was lovely and should have been shown off. The only guess I have is the dress was too little and it wouldn't zip, so the sweater to cover the back.

Now to the wedding first. Our wedding room looks like a little chapel. We have lots of dark wood and 4 pews. It is a really pretty room. People always are surprised that a government wedding room is so nice. The couple were cute. She wore a grey dress and carried a bouquet of white iris. He had a huge iris just stuck into his shirt pocket. He wore a straw fedora hat, as did their year old son. When we turned the corner and the bride saw the room, she burst into tears. No one has ever cried from seeing the room. She couldn't believe what a nice place she was being married in. She cried throughout the ceremony, laughing at the same time. A very happy couple. There was love in the room.

Wedding Extremes

2011-08-09T20:06:00.000-07:00

Monday I did several weddings. I was helping to train an intern who wants to be a marriage commissioner. She was going to watch me to see how we handle weddings.

The first license was interesting. The bride is 41 years old, the groom is 31 years old. Age doesn't matter, but she has already done a lot more living than him. This was his first marriage, and it was her fifth marriage. They told me they wanted the shortest ceremony I could do. I told them only three sentences are required by law to be married. Were they sure they wanted that cold of a ceremony. Oh yeah, that's what they wanted. "We are having a real wedding later." You know how well I take that statement. I told them they were breaking my heart. ( I hate doing the three sentence ceremony. It doesn't seem real. It also seems pretty tacky.) I did the ceremony as requested: Do you. . . ? Do you. . .? I now pronounce you . . . She jumped his bones and we had a tacky tongue down the throat kiss, and I eased them downstairs to do the paperwork.

The intern was lucky. She saw the extremes that come to the wedding room. We had the three sentence wedding and the next one was a full blown extravaganza. There were 30+ people in the room. The bride wore a knee length white strapless dress. It had a deep purple sash. She carried white roses with purple flowers mixed in. The groom wore black slacks, black vest with a deep purple shirt and purple boutonniere. Their toddler daughter had on a white dress with a deep purple sash. Do you see the theme here? Everyone at this wedding had on purple. Many had on corsages/boutonnieres. Even I had on a blouse that was a shade of purple. I had received the memo. We had a great look going on.

The couple had a best man and a maid of honor stand up with them. Few of the couples do that. I did the sweetest fluffiest ceremony I have. The bride cried, her parents cried, the maid of honor cried. It was a lovely ceremony.

I was worried about pictures after the ceremony. With so many people it takes a long time. The lobby was full and I needed to get the next couple. I needed the picture taking to be quick and everyone move out. I shouldn't have worried. One of the guests was armed with a digital Nikon and she was organized. She barked orders like a drill Sergeant: all the girls with the bride and groom; next all the boys; next all the children; next Mom and Dad; next . . . I asked Nikon girl if she would come in on Mondays and Wednesdays and help me.

This was a beautiful wedding. They had everything planned, they listened to my rules, they told me what they wanted, and the guests were great. It was fun, it was lovely, and it was so nice after the cold three sentence wedding. The intern was excited to see two such extremes. She didn't realize people came in wedding dresses with lots of guests. These two weddings taught way more than anything I could have told her.

The parents are just stupid

2011-08-07T23:41:00.000-07:00

This afternoon we went to see Cowboys and Aliens, which is rated PG-13. That means there is stuff in it that little children should not see. I really enjoyed this summer entertainment movie. But it had scary stuff, icky stuff, jump out at you aliens. The aliens were gross, they dripped icky mucus stuff. They had body parts that were disgusting. They were scary. Then we had deaths, bloody wounds, dead horses and cattle, and a dog in danger. Nothing here for very young children.

That did not keep lots of parents from bringing their little ones to this movie. A family walked in and the little girl was already upset. She kept saying, "I don't want to see this, I don't want to be here." Guess where they sat, right behind Marty and me. The little girl walked up and down the row, bouncing my chair, bumping my head, pulling my hair, and whining. And her parents talked throughout the picture to the children, not even whispering. This was one time that the loudness of a movie got points from me. It helped to drown out this family.

There were crying children, whose parents had to take them out. There were bored children and their parents took them out. Thank you parents. Some of the little ones were scared, and probably will dream about the gross scary aliens (hell, I may dream about them). The parents should not have brought their kids to see this film. It is highly entertaining, but it is an adult film. Get a sitter next time parents, don't subject your children to a scary film. And don't subject the audience to your upset children.

And that is this old lady's rant.