Flowers for gay couples marrying; Gay civil rights

This is a wonderful idea.

I have a little smidgen of money still left from my sale of The Wild Swans. I tithed my advance on that book. 50% of the tithe went to amfAR, to research a cure for AIDS. 25% went to PFLAG and 25% went to the Quilt. I was hanging onto a little bit more because, I dunno, I thought I might buy a poster print of the cover to hang on my wall, but I never got around to calling the artist to arrange it. (I couldn't afford the original painting).

But . . . I think I will take a little of it and send some flowers to a couple. Yeah. In honor of Elias and Sean, as it were.

Marriage is love.

(Thanks for the banner, ivyblossom)

I had yet another argument with someone at work yesterday about gay civil rights, because of the San Francisco marriages. What is it about these conversations? This is the fourth one. I suppose I'll get around to hashing it out with all the other secretaries eventually. Of the four women I've spoken with, one was sympathetic to my point of view.

I find conversations like this frustrating, true, but I try to be hopeful. The woman I spoke with yesterday (I'll call her Beth) seemed to have a sticking point over using the word "marriage," arguing that it should be reserved for heterosexuals. Granting that status to homosexuals, to her, would be immoral, and it seemed that her objections were religious. I pointed out it was possible to be religious and still feel that gay marriage is good (which is the case for me). I pointed out that it isn't the state's business to enforce the religious aspect of marriage. To the state, marriage is a civil contract, which affects taxes, social security benefits, inheritance laws, etc. She was very polite, but unconvinced . . . although I found it encouraging that she seemed to concede that gay couples should be allows some kind of legal standing, as long as it wasn't called marriage.

Half a loaf, I know, I know, but still . . . look how far this country has come already. I think of the case of Loving v. Virginia. Forty years ago, perhaps a majority of people thought that interracial relationships were "immoral," yet now that view is held only be people on the fringe. I hope and trust that the same will be true of gay civil rights. Although George Bush says he is against gay marriage, even he admits that they should have "some kind of contract." Yes, not enough, but what an enormous shift that represents in the popular culture. I really don't think that the push to amend the constitution is going to succeed. Too many people have had their minds opened too much.

So when I have these conversations with people like "Anne" and "Beth," I think of it as a process like planting seeds, that will perhaps come to fruition years from now. Maybe an argument I give them will niggle at them, getting under their guard, and they'll start to think about it a little, wondering, could it be? I try to be patient.

But I still push.

My office

Mom and Dad, I finally set up the fountain you gave me. The new bookcases are up and filled with books, and the (larger) file cabinet is full. I bought this poster last night and put it up over one of the bookcases. This one's on the back of the door, and this one's on the front of the door (yes, I know. I'm obsessed). Fairy lights are up, hanging over the art postcards where the wall meets the ceiling. My favorite cashmere shawl (another gift from Mom and Dad) is draped over the back of the comfy chair in the corner.

Yeah. My office is a cozy place.

Now if only I could get a house elf to clean up the piles of papers on the desk . . .

Delia

has worn the same sweater eight days in a row.

Why? WHY?? WHY???

Paper meme

Gacked from titanic_days:

( Random meme )

Bag End Seed Cake for supper

Last Monday, which I had off work, the girls and I went to Cafe Latte for cream tea with minnehaha B and K. A wonderful time was had by all, partly because the tea was so good, and partly because B and K are such good company. They possess the enviable knack of conversing equally comfortably with both children and adults, a gift which is more rare than you might expect.

Anyway, the girls said rather wistfully that they wish that they could do it again this weekend. I nixed the idea of going back to Cafe Latte, and B and K are (I believe) out of town at this point, but I suggested that we might do a tea at home. I had a recipe for Bag End Seed Cake I was anxious to try. So we went out to the grocery store for various ingredients (where I spent more than I expected; do you know how expensive cardomom is?) and then came home and whipped it up. elisem, I called and left a message suggesting you come over to help us sample it, but I missed you. Anyway, that's what we had for dinner, and delicious it was, too. Bag End Seed Cake with jam. And Earl Grey tea. Yum.

Apropos of nothing, I learned how I have totally corrupted my children when they reported hearing one of the neighbor kids sing a common childhood song, and instead of hearing it as "The Ants Go Marching One by One," they took it to mean "The Ents Go Marching One by One."

Yeah.

Edited to add: Here's the recipe (originally from www.theonering.net)

Bag End Seed Cake

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/3 cup brandy or buttermilk
1 1/2 TB caraway seeds, soaked in the brandy if you like.
1/2 tsp ground cardamon
1 tsp orange flavoring or orange zest
1 7/8 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking powder

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees
2. Blend butter and sugar until well creamed. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
3. Add brandy or buttermilk, seeds and spices, then blend. Gradually add flour and baking powder until well blended. Pour batter into a greased loaf pan.
4. Bake 50-70 minutes or until knife inserted in middle comes out clean.

Buttermilk makes a moist cake; otherwise the cake tends to be rather dry. (Buttermilk substitute: 1/3 cup milk with 1 tsp vinegar or 1 tsp lemon juice.) Excellent with cream cheese, marmalade, jelly or jam. Serves 12.