A wedding and a funeral

Today was busy because I attended a "funeral" in the morning and began to plan a wedding in the afternoon.

This morning, I served as a mourner for the reenactment of Lawrence Joergen-Dahl's funeral at the Dana-Thomas House. I wore a long black skirt and dark jacket and decided to borrow one of Chelsea's head bands for a somewhat suitable funeral headpiece. I was interested in just being a part of the event; because I am so disabled I knew that I wouldn't be able to do much. When I pulled in the parking lot, I was delighted to see Susan's original horse and carriage. It was going to be used for the funeral reenactment. Many of the other mourners were costumed in authentic looking Victorian funeral garb complete with hats. As a mourner, I feigned sadness during the mock funeral.

This afternoon, I met with Emily and Jake and her dad and his wife and Jake's mother at one of the venues we're considering for their wedding/reception. It is a beautiful location and the coordinator was helpful and nice. I would like to go with this location if we can. This will be a wonderful event and I can hardly wait. I hope that I can be some assistance to Emily, since she is working full time and pretty stressed out.

Two major events in one day -- what will tomorrow bring?

PechaKucha Night

Last night we attended PechaKucha Night at a bar in Springfield. This was a new thing for me and probably for most people there. At a Pechakucha Night each speaker presents 20 slides and spends 20 seconds on each. By adhering to this format, presenters are able to keep their a presentations succinct and to the point.

One of my friends is on the ad hoc committee that organized the first PechaKucha Night in Springfield, so we met her and her husband there. The place was packed -- about 170 people crammed into the bar, mostly people around our age. In the front was a large screen and a podium where each presenter stood to talk about the images flashing on the screen.

There were 9 presenters, a real mixed bag. Some presentations were very self-serving, commercials for the presenter's business. Other presenters seem to have understood the idea better. I like a couple of these very much: a jazz musician who recited song lyrics while surreal images flashed behind him and a woman who sang part of her presentation on bee-keeping.

It was fun, but probably not for the reasons it should have been. As a friend observed, we middle-aged people don't go to bars much, so it was unique. Also we knew lots of people there, and the emcee was "older" too. Just a fun time.

Maybe we'll go to the next one in October and see if the quality has improved.

Boating, pizza and Mad Men

Yesterday, Ron and I borrowed his parents boat and went out on Lake Springfield for a couple of hours. It was the end of a long hot Sunday afternoon and there were still water skiers, but it was less crowded than it had been earlier. We explored some inlets and followed the shoreline around, looking for a club that Emily might get married at next fall, but we couldn't find it. We did find signs for lake clubs that we never knew existed and admired the woods that border Lincoln Memorial Gardens. The private houses on the lake were beautiful with well-manicured yards stretching under large trees down to the water. Almost everyone has a big boat dock and boat house. All I could think of was how expensive it must be to live at the lake.

After we returned, Ron's mother was waiting at the dock with the golf cart to take me back up to the house. We ate pizza with his parents then watched Mad Men. A really great evening - slept like a log.

Our backyard is teaming with wildlife! Here are a toad and a tree frog Ron photographed last night.

Back to School

"I want my children to have all the things I couldn't afford. Then I want to move in with them." -- Phyllis Diller

Today after church, the Single Moms Ministry had a back-to-school luncheon for the church's single moms and their kids. It was the first event that I had attended since rejoining the leadership team as an ex-officio member, and I was impressed that there were close to 50 attendees.

My friend started this ministry back about 2001, when she, a newly married single mom, felt a need to provide assistance and love for this very important (and underserved) group. She felt frustrated and unable to cope at times, so as a former single mom, I joined her, helping her through some rough patches.

Now the ministry is mature and is moving forward to provide concrete assistance to these women and their children. When I left the ministry in 2008, my friend hosted a lovely, memorable dinner for me. It meant the world to me, so when she asked me to help out with three single moms, but I was happy to oblige. I am enjoying the feeling of usefulness I have and the company of the moms.

Praying mantis

I came back from an errand yesterday and saw this baby praying mantis by my back door. It let me get very close to it and take a picture before climbing up the siding and out of sight. I couldn't sleep last night and started thinking about the mantis, wishing I could migrate into its body. Then I started researching them and this is what I found.

The praying mantis is named for its prominent front legs, which are bent and held together at an angle that suggests the position of prayer. ...They have triangular heads poised on a long "neck," or elongated thorax. Mantids can turn their heads 180 degrees to scan their surroundings with two large compound eyes and three other simple eyes located between them.

Female praying mantises apparently bite the head off the male after copulation. Although I have been accused of feminism, this strikes me as a bit too radical, even for a flaming bra burner. So maybe I will pick another animal to carry my soul.

Sunday's Coming

I have Chelsea to thank/blame for this hilarious movie trailer. As she said, it's pretty true to life (unfortunately).

For the birds

As I was resting on the sofa in the family room this afternoon, I heard a crunching noise and realized that both of our birds were eating, even though they are in separate cages. I don't know whether it was because it was time for them to eat or whether they liked to eat together. We have two birds: Wally, a cockatiel, and Paco, a golden-collared mini macaw.

We got Wally for Chelsea and originally thought the bird was a boy (thus the name). We realized that it was a girl when one day I looked in her cage and saw an egg on the floor. I was amazed because I thought that you had to have a male and female for this to happen, which obviously was not the case. Eventually the poor bird had 12 eggs, which she attempted to sit on and cover with the wings. We felt sorry for her since the eggs would never turn into baby cockatiels and started sneaking them out of her cage. Wally quit laying eggs, but she still is very affectionate and watches me carefully, climbing up her cage when I come near. I open up the top and stick my hand in and she nuzzles up against it, closes her eyes and gives me little bird kisses.



Paco, the mini macaw, has been with us about seven years. He has a beautiful green coat and a blue undercoat and he can say a couple of dozen words pretty clearly. However, he only talks when Chelsea is around, then he lets loose with a string of words: hello, goodbye, peekaboo, woo, etc. He will even put his head into his food bowl and talk sometimes, making a weird echoing noise. Paco is very smart, but also cantankerous. When we first got him he seemed friendly, but now if I get near his cage, he comes toward me with an open beak like he is going to bite me. Usually when Ron gets him out, he flies over to the dining room table and then runs around it on the floor followed by Ron until he is caught. He will ride docilely on Ron's shoulder, but he doesn't look like he enjoys it.