Old Fashioned Church Wedding

I call this an "old fashioned church wedding" because the bride grew up in the church, and anybody who is part of the congregation was invited to attend. The bride and her sister both sing in the choir, even as young adults today.

Most of those folks there have known her since she was born.  We, of course, only in more recent years.

It was definitely a Christian wedding, with hymns and scripture selections. Many weddings nowadays are more generic and less religious.  In this case, both the bride and groom are active church folks, grounded in their faith.

Back in the days of my youth, in a simpler time and place, weddings took place in the church, and there was typically a reception in the church fellowship hall following the service.  That was also true today.

For closer family and friends, I'm sure that there will also be a more formal reception in another location,  with a presentation of the wedding party,  the typical dances, a wedding cake and other festivities.

We are just delighted that we got to enjoy being a part of the church portion of this wedding ceremony.  We wish them many blessings!

Non-Holiday

It is July 4th today,  but the day is much like any other day for us.

That is not to say that I take for granted the significance of the Independence Day event.  How fortunate we are to have been born into this remarkable country!

This evening we will watch the fireworks,  from Washington, from New York City, and from our front porch. (put on by the nearby golf course)

But today,  Gerry has cut the grass.  I have been doing the things I usually do, from food prep to weeding the garden to Netflix watching.  Then Gerry and I played tennis for our daily exercise.

On the drive home from the tennis courts, I noticed that all the stores seem to be open.  I expected Wal-Mart to be open, and the grocery stores.  But somehow, I did not expect all the stores to be open for business today, including even the Auto-Parts store and the Salvation Army store!

I'm not sure what I was expecting for this holiday,  but that was not it.  All businesses seem to be open as usual!

For some reason, I thought about Christmas and realized that it is the last remaining day for stores to be closed.  This past year,  Thanksgiving took the fall from a holiday status to a day for business and consuming, in the build-up to Christmas.  I do believe that in the next few years, Christmas Day will no longer be "sacred",  or safe from holiday consumerism.

And certainly, not all Americans are Christians.

When the stores all stay open on Christmas Day, and I believe they will,  I wonder if employees can opt out of working, for religious reasons?

And will they?

Clematis Climbing

A few years ago, I planted a clematis vine.  For perhaps the first three years, it was eaten off each time it reached a few inches high.  Either the woodchuck or the deer.   I gave up on it, completely discouraged.    I guess it grew a few more inches and maybe put out a flower or two,  but I didn't pay much attention to it, because it seemed dead and gone to me.

 In the past couple of years, it has actually grown into a climbing vine.  It is growing profusely this year.  We tied some string to a pipe near the roof line, and at the top of a window for it to climb on.

This year it is so prolific that I think that if I could tie a string to a star, it would climb all the way there!

Clearly, the climbing clematis is teaching me life lessons here---- not to give up too quickly, to be patient, not to make assumptions.

And also, I suppose, every vine has its time.

Glass Museum

We enjoyed a day trip to the Corning Glass Museum today.  We have not been there in probably 25 years!

There is so much to see and experience. That includes many artifacts from antiquity, perhaps from as far back as 3000 years ago.  I don't remember the exact historical time frame of discovering glass making,  but it definitely goes back into the ancient B.C. era.

Those artifacts include many small vials which were primarily used for perfumes.  That, of course, evoked a biblical scene of Mary pouring out the expensive nard on Jesus.

There are very small artifacts which were recovered that are thousands of years old, and very large items which are unique modern sculptures.  I tend to enjoy the brightly colored ones.  The fruit bowl pictured here is around four or five feet in diameter, and the pear may be three of four feet high.

We did see some of Dale Chihuly's work, which we greatly appreciate from seeing an entire gallery of his sculptures in Seattle last year.   We discovered that the possibilities for artistic expression in glass are absolutely infinite.

The offerings included  a combination of the artistic, and the educational.  The Innovations section told of the contributions of the glass blowers to the creation of light bulbs, and television screens, among many other marvelous cultural and functional contributions.

There was also quite a bit of stained glass on display.  This one was popular for standing in front of and taking photographs.

The Museum was a feast of color and light and a celebration of artistic genius.