Washington's Birthday Weekend

Even though a lot of people call this almost-over long weekend "Presidents' Day" weekend, according to the fedall gubmint, today is officially known as Washington's Birthday. I spent it with my boyfriend. What? There's another holiday weekend in February? For the shortest month, it sure gets more than its fair share of holidays, but I digress.

The ironic thing is that so many of my experiences this weekend had nothing to do with presidents (past or present), American history*, or even democracy.

Saturday night: attended a joust. Yes, really. The event that involves horses, knights in armor, and semi-fake royalty. There was a king and princess hosting the tournament, and its accompanying feast. Several hundred spectators, wearing paper crowns that would make the Burger King proud, cheered on their knights and booed the green knight (the necessary bad guy). One of my favorite details was the fact that during the feast, no utensils were provided. Soup (described as dragon's blood soup) was drunk out of bowls, and the meat (described as dragon), bread and potatoes were eaten...using nothing but my fingers. Numerous napkins were provided. I don't think those were provided in the medieval era. Also part of the entertainment was a trained falcon who flew around the arena in a synchronized pattern. The jousting was pretty impressive - the venue was big enough that the horses (trained Andalusians)

Sunday afternoon after church and an excellent brunch was spent in a local Borders. Unfortunately, due to the recent filing by said company of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a large number of their stores are being closed, including the one closest to, and frequented by, my boyfriend. Book-lovers, teachers, students, parents, children, nearby small coffee shops and former First Ladies advocating literacy hardest hit.
There was a line that stretched all the way to the back of the store. Since everything was marked down and "had to go", and because CJ (my BF - I don't actually call him that, but it is a family nickname) has a google-plex worth of gift cards, we felt it would be worth grabbing stuff we wanted and enduring the long line. He got Lord of the Flies. I got three books - The Boys of Winter, about the 1980 American Olympic hockey team; a book by Bill Bryson about how English evolved; and a book about Napoleon (Bonaparte, not Dynamite).

Other activities this weekend involved watching more episodes of Firefly and the movie Bringing Up Baby, which BF enjoyed.

Unfortunately, the wonderful spring-like weather that came around last week did not stay through the weekend. But winter is on its way out.

I hope you all had a good weekend, too!

-BR

*The only direct American history had to do with the book about the hockey team.

For some reason, I have "Fifty Nifty" on the brain.

And those of you who are familiar with my nephew P would know why. :)

Also on the brain this evening: sewing machines, Cardinals baseball, and the BEACH!

Say "the beach" around any member of my immediate family and we all act like Pavlov's dog. I think we're all just tired of winter.

-BR

Happy 100th Birthday, President Ronald Reagan!

The 40th President of the United States, Ronald Wilson Reagan, was born 100 years ago today. Like him or leave him, he left his mark on the twentieth century.

It's fitting that his 100th falls on Super Bowl Sunday, as the Gipper was (and I assume still is) a huge football fan. I'm sure he'll enjoy the game from heaven along with some guy named Lombardi. I'd add someone's name who's associated with the Steelers, but I don't know any and I don't want to cheat and use Wikipedia.

I personally don't really care who wins the game. A dear friend from high school is a major Steelers fan, while my brother-in-law is a bona fide Cheesehead. I guess for my sister's sake, I hope the Packers win this one. :)

Enjoy the game and commercials, everyone! No real football until September after this one. (The NFL preseason doesn't count.) On the upside, baseball season will start in less than two months! Mmmmm, spring.....

-BR

A Hymn To Them

For the record, if the miniscule amount of people who read this blog didn't know, I am a woman. Call this an early or pre-St. Valentine's Day post.

I was having a conversation with a friend (also a woman) earlier today about the said upcoming Hallmark/marketing-driven day. I know it is a commercialized opportunity for various companies to get many people to buy things that, for the most part, are transient.
That fact aside, my friend and I agreed that if we were entirely, brutally honest with ourselves, we would be offended if our significant others did not get us anything for St. Valentine's Day. It is a dangerous thing, to admit the obvious, but in the spirit of drawing men and women closer together (as opposed to driving the sexes apart, which seems to be the goal of far too many people nowadays), as a woman, this is what (some) women think about February 14th. We don't want men to make a big deal out of it. But we do want something out of it. One nice gift. But we don't want to have to tell our husbands/boyfriends what we want. Here's the kicker:

We want them to know what we want without us actually telling them what we want. And if we don't get it, we become upset. Because, after all, if we bluntly told them what we wanted and then got it, it wouldn't be a surprise. Make sense? If not, you're probably a man. Or you don't like surprises.

My friend and I discussed this very point, which caused me to say: "I feel sorry for my boyfriend, and we haven't even gotten to Valentine's Day yet!"

It's not fair to him to expect him to read my mind. What do women expect, a mind-reader? Hmmm, maybe Stephenie Meyer was on to something. But that's fantasy. And deserving of another post.

Women, on the whole, do not give men near the credit they deserve. They have to put up with our impossible standards. Women (in Western civilization) can whine about how hard life is. Men are not only expected to ingest this incessant complaining, they are compelled to listen to our society's message that Men are stupid and Women are smart. They are also compelled to go along with that message. Here's a question: in modern culture, men constantly continue the refrain that they are Neanderthals (with few exceptions). When was the last time you heard a woman in popular culture say something like, "You know what, girls? We DON'T have all the answers. In fact, sometimes we are more deserving of ridicule than reverence."

Imagine Oprah saying that. To an audience of women. Now wouldn't that be speaking truth to power?

While pondering my conversation with my friend, the words from a song from My Fair Lady kept running through my head. The song is "A Hymn To Him".

Women are irrational, that's all there is to that!
Their heads are full of cotton, hay and rags!
They're nothing but exasperating, irritating, vascillating, calculating, agitating, maddening and infuriating hags!

The joke is that the song is making fun of men's propensity to think highly of themselves, and their gender on the whole. But it wouldn't be so funny if there wasn't truth in it about women's behavior.

Saturday (Night) Post

Fifty-ish degree weather is nice, but in January that means trouble. It will not last. Still, it was nice to have it for the day.

What exactly is the difference between stewed and diced tomatoes?

February is coming - after the shortest month, then March. The official (if not realistic) start of SPRING!!

Barb, Paula, Elizabeth and Jamie

Four sisters in Christ were in the pew across from me tonight at choir practice. Three are sopranos, one is undecided. One is married and has children in school. One is in her late teens. One has white hair. One likes to be held by her mommy and daddy (and many other people). They are all different ages, and at different stages in life. None are closely related by blood. But they are all sisters, made into family by the blood of their Brother, Jesus.

I wish I had something more profound to say on the matter, but...isn't that amazing!

The choir was practicing a version of In Adam We Have All Been One tonight. The second and third verses go like this:

We fled Thee, and in losing Thee
We lost our brother too;
Each singly sought and claimed his own;
Each man his brother slew.

But Thy strong love, it sought us still
And sent Thine only Son
That we might hear His Shepherd's voice
And, hearing Him, be one.

One day the four sisters will be reunited again at the Feast. As another song goes, "Oh Happy Day!"

On an unrelated note, In Adam is one of my favorite short hymns. It sounds majestic. For some reason, every time I sing it, I automatically sing in an English accent. I don't think about it - it just comes out that way. The word sought, especially, seems to be made for that particular accent and language.

Final (random) thoughts -

Honey Nut Cheerios need nothing on them to taste good.

Everyone should have a pine-scented candle. For gals, the useful thing about them (other than their very nice scent) is that they can be burned before, during, and after the Christmas season. For guys - okay, acknowledging that the vast majority of guys don't burn scented candles, but hear me out - the scent isn't girly. Also, it's good to burn them in your living area so that the first thing any female coming in there thinks is not: "What is that SMELL?" but rather "Oh, it smells nice in here!"

The best quote read after The Ohio State Buckeyes won the Sugar Bowl: Even after they've left, Michigan quarterbacks can't beat Ohio State. :)

What kind of food would go well with a rose wine? Specifically, I have a Rose De Cabernet Franc and have no idea with what food it should be matched. If any. Some folks might say wine goes well with any kind of meal but as little as I know, I know that is not true. Any suggestions?

Blessed Epiphany to you and yours!

-BR

A Reminder

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" is not a suggestion.

And no, the reminder is not that I have a blog. My profound apologies for the neglect.

It sound much too cliche to say that my life has changed. A more accurate description would be that my perspective has shifted tremendously.

How do I summarize a relationship without over-dramatizing it or without making it sound trite?

An open door, a short talk
A noisy lunch, a quiet walk
Down on pennies, Up on movies
Holding hands
A yellow rose, chocolates, books
Homemade tacos, long looks
Weekend planning
From a small villAge to the big City
Improvising conversation
Homemade meals, Firefly
Free beer, getting lost
Right dinner, Left books
R - A - I - N
Introductions, a full house
F - O - O - D
Black Friday caffeine, Happy Thanksmas
C - A - R - S
Giving (and receiving) gifts
Yes, this family likes football
B - U - C - K - E - Y - E - S
Let's play What's His Name Again?
Late night pizza and PJS
Crying nephew(s)
Finding a Good Burger
Did we forget something?
On the road, again

Yeah, I like my boyfriend a lot. He makes me happy. 'Nuff said. :)


-BR