I think part of all this may just be the wheel of Fashion. I live in Northern California, and there seems to be a great deal of interest among young people, especially young families, in growing one's own food. In San Francisco (I don't live there, but I subscribe to their newspaper), the garden pages seem to spend most of their time on that and on Urban Farming,and Going Green. I have no problem with any of those subjects, but there has gotten to be less and less in that paper about the kind of gardening some of the rest of us are interested in. This is all natural, as Fashion is always with us, its object of interest being the only thing that changes. I also think that it is natural that these types of gardening are the focus now - people are concerned about the planet's dwindling resources, climate change and its effects, and corporate irresponsibility. I believe and hope, however, that interest in Old Roses will stay alive, though it may go a bit dormant for awhile. I work as a volunteer at the Historic Rose Garden in the Old Sacramento City Cemetery, and that is certainly a labor of love. We do have a major event every Spring, that being the Open Garden and Rose Sale. It's not a "Rose Show", except in the sense that the whole garden is a wonderful "show". I don't think we indulge in any "one-up-man-ship", as all the roses are of interest to us, although we are, of course, proud of them. People come to that event from miles around, partly to see the garden at its best, and partly to buy the rose plants that are grown from cuttings from some of the garden's own roses, many of which are no longer available commercially. The atmosphere on that day is really wonderful - new people being amazed at the size and beauty of the place, returning people enjoying seeing old rose friends, and everyone just enjoying themselves. AND... of course, a real rush to buy the plant (or plants) you've always wanted! So I remain optimistic -- call me cock-eyed! Laura

When my husband of 25 years and I married we had a small family wedding at our church. At the end of the ceremony my 9 yr old daughter came and stood with us while the minister did the closing prayer. My daughter walked out of the church with us and our family began. My husband, unbeknown to me, had bought my daughter a gold band with a very small diamond. When we got in the hallway he stopped me and said he had something special for her. He ask her if she would wear this ring and told her he would love her as much as he loved me and would always be there for her. She has always loved him and respected him and is now the mother of our first grandchild. When she married 6 years ago she had a afternoon garden wedding with a very nice outdoor reception. She did not want any entertainment since it was an afternoon wedding so we had a harpist to "set the mood". That night the guest were invited to join us on the veranda of the hotel for an evening of "ghost stories". We were in an old historic hotel in Alabama which was situated on the Alabama River. There had been an early evening thunderstorm and there was mist rising on the river. I had put votive candles out and had light refreshments prepared. The story teller was a known author of ghost books, has written over 60 books. I can remember her from when I was in middle school and she would come and tell stories. I have also seen her at many arts festivals preforming. My daughter also knew her growing up as a story teller. My only request of her was to keep the stories about happy or good ghost, due to the children that would be present. Anyway, she told ghost stories for about 1 1/2 and everyone was totally amused by her. She presented the bride and groom with a buckeye to keep in their pocket. Guests are still talking about the wedding where a story teller was there. She must be in her 90's now and still going strong.

I like many/all the songs above, but theme is Easter & Passover and the songs I want to post are from my church as a child and my church now. So if you don't want to see anything with a religious tone, skip now. I'm posting links, not videos, to reinforce that I'm NOT pushing my thoughts/feelings and especially not my beliefs on anyone else, just sharing music that means "Easter" to me. They happen to be hymns because that's my heritage. Thanks for understanding, and please enjoy (or skip) if/as you care to. Ride On, Ride On in Majesty! - nicely harmonized, one man recorded multiple times, fun video. Go to Dark Gethsemane - simple voice, barely there guitar, profound and lovely. The Strife is O'er - this will be the recessional hymn on Sunday. Our organist will pull out all the stops, wanting us to sing joyfully. LOL we're Lutherans, we don't *do* emotions in public -- but she'll try anyway. I like this video, how it brings together so many individuals into one song.

Then I suppose it depends on a lot of logistics. For example, we're not seeing much spread at church, it's not that crowded and most are older, vaccinated folks. On the flip side, the concert where my grandkids and daughter in law got covid I imagine was very crowded, lots of heavy breathing and full of young people much less likely to be vaccinated. As I mentioned, I went to a celebration of life and that was full of older folks too, in a large, well ventilated setting. Most were not masked but I stayed masked except when I ate. Was not perfect but minimal exposure in a space unlikely to be populated by a lot of covid floating around. Not zero but minimal. As for masks, when I know I am going to be in close contact with non masked folks, I wear a K95. I have some fancy cloth covers for those. In places where I can count on OTHERS to be maked, a lighter mask will work. I went to a meeting at a community foundation in a small meeting room last week, I was wearing a heavy mask but when the two other people at the meeting volunteered to mask up, I was able to switch to my lighter, cooler disposable mask. So that's the way it goes, it depends on a lot of variables and I can only control a few. For example, I'm visiting a close friend at her family's large, well ventilated cottage. I won't spend a lot of time in close contact with many folks, and they are all well and vaccinated and boosted (they work in health care so don't mess around). But I'm not going to spend much intimate contact time while there or stay overnight, maximizing my time for visiting in person and by not just hanging around any longer than necessary to visit, minimizing my exposure time. So one just has to add up all the variables and make the best decision possible, knowing nothing is perfect, virus transmission is a complex game of probability. I try to just keep myself in a probability zone that is reasonable, which is what we do for all other risky activities in life, like driving, for example. We just try to do what we can to maximize our safety and not endanger others but still use the car . . . I think this is the wave of the future. There are many infectious diseases out there and as population grows and grows, so does exposure. I can't live a perfect life, but I am more and more looking to make sure I have everything wrapped up that I want to do in this one . . . so one has to weigh that too . . .