A Blind Date

39 years ago this very day, I was fixed up on a blind date with a friend of my friend's boyfriend.  His name is Paul.  He was in from college for a long weekend, and we saw each other most of that time.  It is one of my happiest memories.  I married him eight years later.

Celeste and Paul, circa 1976

Happy Update

Paul finished unpacking all of the cabinets last night.  They are all gorgeous; we could not see any flaws or damage.  This is night and day from the first order/different brand.  It pays to upgrade: one can be too economical, to the point that the result is exponentially far worse than the dollar amount would lead one to believe (does that make sense?!).  

Paul has the gas pipe mostly moved.  He needs one more part and then just needs to hook up the new source.  He is also adjusting the electrical for the microwave to be placed above the stove.  I will paint the opposite two walls tomorrow or Friday.  Once that paint is dry we can put up the cabinets there.  As there are no wall adjustments, electrical changes or plumbing changes on that side, we can put in all of the cabinets, one by one, whenever we find the time.

Good Friday - Our Lord's Death - Stabat Mater

Yesterday was Good Friday.  I had the privilege of singing Pergolesi's Stabat Mater with our church's cantor, who is a marvelous soprano.  I used the picture above as inspiration.  We sang it during the Veneration of the Cross.  The piece is beautiful (hear it here, I listened to it endlessly).  The words are in Latin, and depict the sorrow of Mary, Jesus' mother, at the foot of the cross:

Stabat Mater, dolorosa
iuxta Crucem, lacrimosa
dum pendebat Filius

There are translations online more in keeping with the meter, but I wanted to keep the literal translation in my mind.  Here is what I came up with:

Standing Mother, sorrowful
next to the Cross, weeping
while there hung her Son