Royal Wedding Recap

I woke up early this morning to watch the royal wedding.  I didn't start watching as soon as the coverage started, but I didn't miss much.  I got to see all the royals being taken into Westminster Abbey.  It was different that the royals were driven there in cars, and many lesser royals were driven in mini-buses.  I do think it was a good idea since it would be safer and cheaper than a long procession of carriages.

One thing was fun to watch was all the hats the women wore. It reminded me of My Fair Lady.  Many of the hats were perched on the front of someone's head, or resting on the side of the head.  They were more like hairpieces rather than hats.

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrix, above, wore some crazy outfits. Their eyeliner was a bit much.  I don't understand why so many women think they need to look like Cleopatra or a raccoon. 
 
The prime minister's wife, Samantha Cameron, didn't wear a hat.  The news caster announced that, she got some looks when she entered the Abbey.  All the female guests are to wear hats.  It's de rigeur.  She wore a quaint headband that was becoming.  Oh well, she does have a right to be different.  She looked better with the headband than one of those hats that look like centerpieces.  Then, well, it does go against tradition.  Some have said is thinking she was above the occasion.  Yet, we don't know what was going through her head.
 

Anthony Devlin / Getty Images

LA Times write-up
One thing interesting is that the guests at the royal wedding were all expected to wear sleeves, and long ones at that.  Even the bride had a long-sleeved gown.  It's another one of those rules that they have to follow. 
Catherine Middleton's gown was compared to that of Princess Grace.

Well, Kate Middleton and Grace Kelly were both commoners who married into royalty.  It seems to be a growing trend among royals, to look beyond just marrying royalty.  It can be a good thing, since they have more options.  They can then find someone they are in love with more easier, rather than a marriage of convenience.  And we all know what problems closed gene pools can cause, like the the gene of haemophilia that Queen Victoria carried became present in the Romanov family and later caused the Russian Revolution.

I do hope that William and Catherine will be happy together for many years. 

And death shall have no dominion

And death shall have no dominion.

Dead mean naked they shall be one

With the man in the wind and the west moon;

When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,

They shall have stars at elbow and foot;

Though they go mad they shall be sane,

Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;

Though lovers be lost love shall not;

And death shall have no dominion.



And death shall have no dominion.

Under the windings of the sea

They lying long shall not die windily;

Twisting on racks when sinews give way,

Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break;

Faith in their hands shall snap in two,

And the unicorn evils run them through;

Split all ends up they shan't crack;

And death shall have no dominion.



And death shall have no dominion.

No more may gulls cry at their ears

Or waves break loud on the seashores;

Where blew a flower may a flower no more

Lift its head to the blows of the rain;

Though they be mad and dead as nails,

Heads of the characters hammer through daisies;

Break in the sun till the sun breaks down,

And death shall have no dominion.

Easter

I did have a good Easter. It was rainy in the morning, but finally the sun came out.  The flowers are nice in the yard. There's forsynthia, hyacinths, daffodils, tulips, grape hyacinths, and many buds on the lilac bush.  I went for a long walk with the dogs.
I went to Walmart to get some of the cheaper Easter candy.  There's nothing like Easter eggs and Easter bunnies.  Even though I'm in my 30s I can still like that stuff.  My mother, aunt, and I had sandwiches at Subway.  I like their vegetables, so fresh.  Honey oat bread is the best.
I later planted some gladiolus bulbs and uprooted some grape hyacinths that were in the yard and planted them in the flower bed and on Mindy's grave.  I miss Mindy so much.
I found three ticks on Benji and two on Jack.  I don't like ticks. I want the dogs to get shots for Lyme Disease, since it's so prevalent here.
I miss Mindy a lot. I am so used to having her in bed with me every night and seeing her sitting on the couch near me.  I keep thinking she's around, that I need to take care of her, and then I must remind myself that she's gone now.  I do hope pets can go to Heaven.  If any pet I had deserves to go there, it's Mindy.  She was precious.
Here's a classic "Looney Tunes" cartoon from 1947 about Easter:

Goodbye Mindy

Mindy, 2010-2011 Died of FIP

This week Mindy deteriorated.  She didn't walk around as much.  She stopped eating and drinking on her own.  I felt crushed because she made such great improvements since November, when I first noticed her having neurological problems.  She used to be paralyzed and didn't eat or drink on her own.  Later she started walking, even though it wasn't well-balanced.  I no longer had to spoon-feed her and give her water with a syringe.  She did have a sort of shaky head and her eyes darted back and forth sometimes.  She had FIP, or Feline Infectious Peritonitus.  I gave her a vaccine for that, but it's only 60% effective and she may have been born with the virus.

Last night around 1 am I was trying to sleep with Mindy on me.  Suddenly she started hyperventilating.  I knew her mouth was open and she was seething. I wasn't sure if she was vomiting or just foaming at the mouth. I put my hand there and she bit my thumb hard.  It bled a lot. I turned on the light and I realized she was having a seizure.  For about 15 minutes she scratched around, shrieked, and writhed. I trapped her in the blanket so she wouldn't fall on the floor. 

I moved her to the couch. I turned on the TV so I would have a distraction. I petted her. The convulsions were less severe.  Yet, around 3 am, Mindy passed away.  I put her body in a paper bag. It was only then I realized she was biting the couch.  I had to extract her teeth from the upholstery.  I am so upset.

I buried her next to the house. I uprooted some irises that had multiplied and planted them there. I also put in two hyacinth bulbs that I had brought in the house earlier.  I poured water on the plants so they will grow.  Once I came into the house, I realized I didn't cut off any fur. I have usually done that with pets who have passed away.  I just told myself that I have some photographs to remember her with.

Today is Good Friday.  I really do hope that pets can go to Heaven.  I do need to remember that Earth isn't my real home.

Andrews University

I want to go back to Andrews University. I went there from 1999-2001.  I have missed it a lot since I left.  It has been a long time though.  I wish I didn't leave. I mostly left because my family talked me into leaving, saying Andrews was "too far away".  I do wish I held my ground and said "no".  I do realize that saying "no" to people is very important.

I know that going back there won't bring back my old friends, my former life there, or make me able to pick up where I left off.  I will be going there as a graduate student this time.  I won't fit in with the crowd of 18, 19, and 20-year-olds who will dominate the campus.

I will be studying International Development. I am sure I will like that degree. It will be a master's degree, so I can spend time with other older students. I will be there for a three-week session next month.  There will be other three-week sessions in other venues. They are in South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Italy, and Chile.  I do look forward to more travel. 

Since I do know that I want to be on my own again, I am thinking of finding out about jobs in that area, so that maybe I can stay there. I don't want to live with my family now. I am 31 years old and should be living away from home.  The major also has studies on campus, so if I don't want to study by distance and part-time I can study on campus.  Maybe that will be a good idea.

Death Be Not Proud

DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee


Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,

For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,

Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee, 5

Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,

And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,

Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.

Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,

And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell, 10

And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,

And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then;

One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,

And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

--John Donne

Diana with Cystic Fibrosis

Diana may not be her real name.  Yet, there is a girl in Ukraine that is living in one of the many orphanages there.  She has cystic fibrosis, a congenital disease that affects the body's way of digesting food and causes mucus to grow in the lungs.  With better medical care these days, many CF patients can live to be in their thirties.

I do hope and pray that Diana will get a family soon.  She shouldn't have to live her life without a family to be with her.

Link to profile: http://reecesrainbow.org/diana-29
Link to older girl's collective grant: http://reecesrainbow.org/category/waitingchildren/angels-6

Going to Lancaster

Last Thursday I went to South Lancaster, Massachusetts to visit the Adventist Book Center.  There was a sale of books, music, and vegetarian foods.  My family got a lot of food to stock up since we are all vegetarians.  I looked at the books, but I didn't get any.  I don't think that many books from Adventist publishing companies are worth reading.  That's because there aren't many good authors these days.  The better books are usually those written before the 1980s.  Those are good stories of missionaries and early Adventist pioneers.
I went to my alma mater to get a new diploma, since I lost my original one when I was in Korea. I moved a few times and I ended up losing it somehow, along with my alien card. I was upset.
Mindy the cat came along for the ride.  She was a good girl and sat in the back seat without any trouble. I didn't want to leave her at home.  She sat beside me or on my lap and was very quiet.
We went to a grocery store and got lots of food. I decided to get lasagna noodles and an eggplant to make lasagna.  We made it a few days ago and it was good.  We also added spinach to it.