The Fairy Tale

I have been up since 3 a.m. watching the Royal wedding of Will and Kate, which was beautiful.

In my nearly 75 years I have seen the coronation of Queen Elizabeth, the ultimately disastrous and tragic marriage of Prince Charles and Diana, and now, Prince William and a commoner, Kate.

Fascination with royalty is intriguing to me, having grown up in a democracy. The implication of British royalty, even without power is somewhat interesting. It seems their only "duty" if, indeed, it is even a duty anymore, is head of the Church of England.

I love historical novels about the English monarchy and for a period time read quite a number, most titles of which have escaped my old memory. However, I remember one novel listed a long genealogy of the central royal characters of the novel. It was amusing to me that being the monarchy as head of any church, their behavior and lives were/are not very exemplary.

Of course, just because they are monarchs they are humans and their foibles were same as us commoners. The so-called planned marriages to produce heirs and keep royal bloodlines were disasters as far back as the centuries of genealogies existed. There were many descendants born out of wedlock and listed in genealogies as bastards.

Since the marriage of Diana and Charles was essentially just that: to produce an heir, it would seem we humans simply repeat history and repeat same mistakes over and over again.

Will, having witnessed the dissolution of his parents' marriage, surely knows the pitfalls, and seems to have taken his time and not restricted his sights to the so-called royal blood lines.

Kate seems to have a very level head, too.

Fairy tales are supposed to end with "and they lived happily ever after." I truly wish Will and Kate this ending. And Long Live the Queen, who older than I, is certainly chipper. I may begin to partake of gin. I understand she has a penchant for gin.

Upon reflection of my own marriage, which I have blogged about in detailed, my husband and I would have needed gurneys hauled down the aisle behind us for a two hour wedding.  We would have passed out standing that long, after all we went through, just as to get to the alter!!! I had a series of blogs last year on our courtship, mostly long distance, absentee groom on first wedding date, etc.
When Type A Meet Type Z: Part 1 Get Me to the Church on Time
The Path to the Alter Is Not Straight: Part 2 Get Me to the Church on Time
One Fiancé MIA! Part 3: Get Me to the Church on Time
From MIA TO AWOL! ONE FIANCÉ! Part 4: Get Me to the Church on Time
Dueling Chairs - Part V: Get Me to the Church on Time

I realize there really is an Epilogue to the series on my wedding saga, which is the trip to South Carolina to meet some of my husband's family and on to one of our many homes. When you are married to a military person, the military owns you, which is a perverse sort of way, today's marriage between Will and Kate will be dictated by the monarchy. The main difference the military career can end, the monarchy is forever, or so it seems.

Maybe I will get to that soon. I have a lot of blogging to catch up with. The short of one is my medical problem is stable and a procedure at the present time is not necessary.

THE ALPHABET & ME - A TO Z

I read this meme on Sweet Virginia Breeze, which also came from Lynilu over at Never Ending Journey .

All, well almost all, about ME.
A. Age: 74
B. Bed: lift chair
C. Chore you dislike: Cleaning floors, dusting everywhere
D. Dogs: Luckie, a rescue part shepherd and Heinz 57
E. Essential start of your day: Coffee concoction immediately upon arising
F. Favorite color: Blue
G. Gold or silver: Gold
H. Height: 4'10"
I. Instruments you play: In past, piano, piccolo, flute
J. Job title: Retiree
K. Kids: None (by choice)
L. Live: North Central Arkansas
M. Mom's name: Lucile
N. Nicknames: Crash
O. Overnight hospital stays: More than I can count!
P. Pet peeves: impatient people
Q. Quote from a movie: SAD! SAD! SAD! from Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe
R. Righty or lefty: Righty
S. Siblings: Sister, brother, half-sister, half brother; one half-brother deceased
T. Time you wake up: 6-6:30 a.m.
U. Underwear: Yes
V. Vegetables you don't like: Turnips, Rutabagas, Radishes
W. What makes you run late: I'm usually early, but inconvenient phone calls have rarely made me late
X. X-rays you've had: Entire body if you also count CT scans.
Y. Yummy food you make: Date Nut rolls
Z. Zebras and zoos.

If you choose to participate, you may link or reference it in a comment on my blog if you wish.

CHECKING IN

I'm checking in before someone sends the sheriff to find me.

Between being in my spring allergy/bronchitis funk, my main notebook computer was also in the hospital. I just got it back today which coincided with a tad better perceived health.

Despite my lack of memory, HP informed me AND sent me photos of moisture/spills inside my unit. I have owned 3 notebooks over 8 years and this is the first to crash because of apparent owner lapses in good judgement, i.e., don't drink or eat near your computer! Yeah, I know, we all do it.

However, I have some ideas to eliminate re-occurence; a wireless keyboard and wireless mouse, and/or an overlay for the notebook keyboard. Spilling coffee or whatever in a $9 keyboard, is much easier and less expensive to replace than the motherboard, keyboard, etc. of a notebook computer where liquids on the keyboard mean liquids inside on the main components.

Since I bought an extended warranty, but not accident warranty, I had to pay a hefty figure for repairs. Normally I'd chunked it for another, but this particular unit I custom designed and truly love the features, like streaming TV, etc. and its nearly 18" screen.

We also have hired a man to renovate our flower beds. I heeded his advice to basically start over. He dug up nearly everything and laid felt that is good for 5 years down, then about 3 inches of  good soil and same amount of a good chestnut colored mulch. We left 2 forsynthias and a few rose bushes which apparently grow in spite of neglect.

We are not through yet. We have some nandinas we saved to transplant or grow in whiskey barrels for awhile. And we have one area to renovate, but have not decided how yet.
So we have postponed work for a week or two.

Next Tuesday (26th) I go to Little Rock for a consult with a electrophysiologist cardiologist about and a pulmonary ablation, a heart procedure.

The somewhat dangerous medicine is working great, but I'd rather be off it, if possible. We discontinued a stomach medicine called Nexium which blocked full absorption of many foods and medicines. VOILA! Suddenly the medicine was fully preventing the A-Fib attacks, at least to the extent I am not aware of them. It has been wonderful.

Will try to get around to what I have missed, the two weeks I spent in 24 hour paroxysmal coughing, hacking,  and, well, I think you get the picture without further adjectives.