an amish moment

Tuesday, our neighbor's daughter got married in the farmhouse.  The week before, her mother offered to send out a serving of supper if we liked.  Yes, we like!

It came in colorful styrofoam cups and pint containers.  From the point of the napkin:  lemon chiffon pie, fruit salad, salad and dressing behind, small filled doughnut, apricot-toned fluffy tapioca.  On the plate:  ham with a great sauce, baked corn, boiled potatoes smothered in browned butter, and the salad.

They will get a big thank-you, and the couple a congratulations!

buggy graffiti: A loves K

A neighbor got married yesterday. In the dark of night this buggy was pushed up against my walnut tree to make a statement. Graffiti scrawled on it proclaimed that A loves K. I guess that says it in a nutshell. One hopes that K also loves A. Or, is the message that A or K ditched the relationship? The preachers had said this and that for over an hour. Is it possible that they missed the essential point and the teenagers had to say it? By dawn's early light, the wash was hung, the bench wagons were being loaded.

wedding in Pittsburgh

Friday evening we drove west for a Saturday wedding in Pittsburgh at the Union Project. We delivered and iced the Casselman Bakery cinnamon rolls. One event theme was vegetables. Another was bridesmaids dress colors. A wonderful time, thanks to friend and bride Anna Groff and her family, fiance and friends.

Millers in Maryland

Dorcas grew up in Maryland, 40 minutes west of Cumberland. So it was a nice surprise to visit many of her family Saturday just over the line in Bel Air, Maryland, at the ocassion of her sister Miriam's grandson Dayne's marriage to Amanda. The wedding was in the bride's Wisconsin. Dayne's area reception is what we enjoyed. The food theme was "our favorite things." Add to that goldfish in goblets, a chocolate fountain with fixin's, deep fried dill pickles and you've got a memorable array of food. Such a good time! Thanks to all!

30 years together

What to do on your 30th anniversary? A little poetry in flowers at daybreak.

wedding today

Approach Monterey from the north and here's your first sight on the left. Amish revival meeting in a tent? No. Well, kind of.

It's revival. It's conversion. It's sweaty palms and nervous teens. It's till-death serious. It's not under the tent. It's a wedding today at the neighbor's place. The bride and groom are in the two-story shop between the tent and the house. The horses have run of the tent. Well, tethered run.

After Thanksgiving

All the big things--the wedding and Thanksgiving--are over. Now time to take a break.

How to kick back and relax a day? Go to the big, bustling city. Find the Renoir exhibit. The sign's big enough.

The museum itself is some kind of work of art. It must have just been scrubbed. The Renoir pieces were all landscapes, his earlier work. So beautiful while we are living in an autumnal picture of yellow and red trees.

On the way home we can't miss a stop at Ikea for an office storage unit and a Swedish meatball.

wedding rehearsal

Time stopped at Monterey last week. Part of the world stopped.

A major building block was to be laid in the edifice of life.

That was the matrimonial union of Joel and Steph. Big, fun, seismic events don't take place with the stroke of a pen, a punch of a key, or the mouthing of a word with just one or two witnesses.

Something real happens. Camels and goats change fields. Servants flock around the families and prepare food, set up meeting places, make music, write documents, prepare rituals. Civil servants at the town hall write this up for the official record. Newspapers print it. Artists skilled in beauty, mirth, culinary arts, and dance are summoned by the leaders of the clans.

The evening before the final event, all the major players gather and walk through the ritual. That's what a wedding rehearsal is. And here is Dorcas checking the rehearsal dinner tables.

By 6:30 p.m. the 30 persons came together and had Thai food here in the foyer of the East Chestnut Street Mennonite Church, Lancaster, Pa.

Special couple at wedding shower

These are important and exciting days. Joel and Stephanie are getting married Nov. 10. It's kind of like building a new pyramid, a new Rome, a new civilization. You don't do it in one day.

Bible scholars point out that the wedding at Cana was probably a five-day shindig. The point is not being an extravaganza. The point is the rock-bed deep foundations.

Last week friends threw a wedding shower. I put up a pic of the gifts. Here's the couple having the first piece of cake.

Wedding shower

Here you see the gifts brought to the wedding shower for distinguished Monterey citizen Joel and his beautiful financee, Stephanie. The brunch event was held at a restaurant in Leola last Sunday, hosted by friends of Stephanie's family.
The wedding will be held November 10. We are in the count-down last 30 days. Table cloths, candles, silverware, menus, music, guest list, clothes--it's the current conversation and work.
We're all really excited for this.
Family and friends will come from Oregon, Ohio, New York, Virginia, Deleware, and many points in between.