Chris And Simi's Weddings, Part 4: The Christian Ceremony   ...Continued from yesterday: At 4 pm Saturday afternoon the bus arrived at the Courtyard by Marriott to shuttle the guests to the nearby Water Works, the venue of Chris and Simi's Christian wedding ceremony.  Located on the Schuylkill River at the foot of the majestic Philadelphia Museum of Art,  ...The Fairmount Water Works was Philadelphia's old municipal waterworks, built in 1812. Today the Water Works is a museum and popular wedding venue.
   The wedding was held beneath this columned shelter,      ...which offered lovely views of the river.  
  Parents of the bride, Jayendra and Kashmira. 
 ...also champagne - Callie and my sister romaine here - 
 ...got ready, 
   My brother Michael (back row, center) and his wife Louise (second row, second from the right) and their ten children with their spouses and children.  My sibs and me. 
 ...Chris appeared with the celebrant, Father Phelim Jordan,  ...the music began,  ...the attendants processed,        ...and for the second time that day Simi looked stunning walking down the aisle, this time on the arm of her father.     It was a lovely ceremony, during which there were readings by Chris's sister Maura,  ..and his mother, Theresa. 
    And then for the second time that day, Chris and Simi were joined as man and wife.   
 ...where we were treated to a magnificent array of the most awesomely delicious hors d'oeuvres.                                       After the hors d'oeuvres, we proceeded to the reception tent, .checking the table seating chart on the way.  
 ...the beautiful cake in its place of honor.  The patio afforded beautiful views of the Water Works and the Art Museum,  ...as well the Schuylkill River and a bit of city skyline,    ...the view more beautiful in the setting sun.    When we arrived the 14-piece rock band was already playing.  They were so lively and wonderful that the guests couldn't resist getting out on the dance floor,   ...which quickly became a crowded, happy place.      
 ...and danced their first dance to "You Are The Best Thing" by Ray LaMontagne.  Then, after speeches filled with love and good wishes by Simi's father, Chris's mother, and Chris's best man, dinner arrived.
  
 ...and Chris with his mom, 
    Later in the evening there arrived the most spectacular and yummy assortment of desserts.   
 It was a sweet ending to a beautiful beginning.  
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Chris And Simi's Weddings, Part 3: The Hindu Ceremony     ...Continued from yesterday:
 ...in the hotel's Grand Ballroom, which had been beautifully set up for the occasion.      Jim and Theresa, parents of the groom  Outside the hall there was a shrine to Ganesha, the god of beginnings.  There were also ice-filled buckets holding cold drinks for the guests, of which we were greatly appreciative, having just danced our way through downtown Philadelphia (see yesterday's post). The ceremony began with the entrance of the groom accompanied by Jayendra and Kashmira, parents of the bride.  They removed their shoes then ascended to the stage, where the priest officiated the beautiful hour-long ceremony, 
 
 The ceremony began with the entrance of the groom accompanied by Jayendra and Kashmira, parents of the bride.  ...and the moment the cloth is lowered,  ...so that the bride and groom can now see each other for the first time, as was the case in traditional arranged marriages where the couple had not met before. 
 ...and were looped together,  ...then tied together, by family members. 
 
  ...symbolizing the journey of life, 
 
 ...symbolizing the nourishment of their relationship. 
 ...then the couple was showered with rice and blessings by the priest and their families,   ...and were pronounced husband and wife.  
 ...which he was required to bargain for to buy back.  The little shoe thief then shared her loot with her siblings.    After the wedding the guests headed to the 19th floor to the venue hall known as the Rose Garden for the luncheon,  ...a sumptuous buffet.          ...topped off by yummy desserts.   
   
Chris And Simi's Weddings, Part 2: The Baraat  ...Continued from yesterday: On Saturday morning June 16, the day of Chris and Simi's weddings (see post from 6/21/2018), Romaine, Tom, and I walked from the Courtyard by Marriott across the street to the Reading Terminal Market for breakfast.
 One of America’s largest and oldest public markets, housed since 1893 in a National Historic Landmark building. 
 locally sourced meats and poultry, 
   
 ...and all the busy cooks,   
 In any case, we could vouch for the bagels from Spataro's, as they were fresh, jumbo-sized, and yummy. 
 ...and then we met up with nieces, nephews, and cousins,        ...with whom we walked from our hotel to the Bellevue Hotel a few blocks away on Broad Street, where the first wedding of the day, the Hindu ceremony, was to take place.   City Hall 
 ...which Chris would do on horseback. During this prelude to the Hindu wedding ceremony, known as the Baraat, the groom processes down the street riding an elephant, or a horse, or in a carriage, or on a motorcycle, or even, as in the case of my nephew Randy at his wedding to Anusha (see post from 7/7/2016), on the shoulders of some buddies,  ...while the guests dance along the way. We arrived at the Bellevue and joined the other guests at the Walnut Street entrance to the hotel, from where the Baraat would begin.    
 My brothers Jim and Joe 
 Emily and Tommy 
 Me 
 The drummer who would lead the dancing. 
 ...and the celebration began. 
 ...and a DJ playing the music, 
    
   ...while onlookers enjoyed the celebration from the sidewalk. And I thought, I'm so glad I'm part of this, and not just watching it!          
   Then the Baraat was finished, and we entered the hotel for the first wedding ceremony.  To be continued... References:
https://readingterminalmarket.org/ 
Chris and Simi's Wedding, Part 1: The Rehearsal Dinner ...Continued from yesterday:
 Though the the wedding celebration of my nephew Chris and his bride-to-be Simi had been going on for several days, Tom, Tommy, Emily, Callie, Theresa and I joined in the festivities at the rehearsal dinner on Friday evening. On Friday afternoon we met up in the hotel lobby with a number of relatives who'd traveled from near and far to Philadelphia for the wedding, 
 The rehearsal dinner was held at Pietro's Coal Oven Pizzeria on Walnut Street, just a few blocks from our hotel (see yesterday's post), so we walked, enjoying the downtown Philadelphia scenery along the way.          
 ...where there were more happy reunions,  ...amidst the general joy. 
 Theresa and my brother Jimmy, parents of the groom 
 The bride-to-be and her girls 
 The food, prepared by the chef, right, and her assistants,  ...was out-of-this-world and just kept coming all night long, from the appetizers,   
  ...to the entrees,     ...to the desserts.    There were lovely, heartfelt speeches full of good wishes for Simi and Chris, by the father of the groom,  ...sisters of the bride,  ...and good friend of the groom.   It was a beautiful night.          At the end of the evening we walked back to our hotel.   The best was yet to come. Ben Franklin atop City Hall. 
Seeing The South Philly Sights ...Continued from 6/21/2018: Friday morning started out for us with a bevy of logistical issues to resolve. We had to be out of our Airbnb in South Philadelphia by 11 am,  ...but check-in at our wedding hotel, the Courtyard by Marriott about a mile away in in Center City (as Philadelphians refer to downtown), wasn't until 4 pm, 
 As the valet parking at our downtown hotel cost $55 a day while the parking at the SP+ was only $20 a day, we wanted to leave our cars at the South Philadelphia garage for the weekend. However, we had too much junk to schlepp across town on foot from the Airbnb to the hotel.  Anyway, we sorted it all out by coming up with a plan to walk back to the garage, pick up the cars, drive them back to the Airbnb, load our stuff, drive to our hotel, leave our luggage at the desk until check-in time, drive the cars back to the parking garage, then go kick around town for the day on foot. But first breakfast.
 ...told us that a good place for breakfast was Sam's Morning Glory, down the block on 10th Street. So we set off for Sam's Morning Glory.
  
 ...and political commentary, outside,    ...and inside. 
  The food was really good,     ...and the ketchup arrived in glass bottles.  The place was crowded at 9 am on this Friday morning,   ...and among the crowd of customers was a lively, happy, friendly group of youngsters throwing a Bachelor Breakfast,  ...for their friend who was getting married that day.  After breakfast we began the long haul of packing and gathering our stuff, retrieving the cars, loading the cars, driving over to Center City to our hotel,  ...which was on Juniper and Market Streets, right next to beautiful City Hall.   And so after dropping off our luggage at the hotel with Callie and Theresa who saw to its proper disposition there, the rest of us drove back to South Philly to the SP+ garage where we re-parked the cars, and from there headed our separate ways for the day. 
 ...then walk to Chinatown, 
 ...and rolled ice cream, apparently a Chinatown specialty, for dessert.  Tom and I decided to spend the day seeing the sights in South Philly. We stared by visiting The Magic Gardens,  
 ...who used glass, ceramic, and a variety of found materials to create mosaics, sculptures, and art pieces in a 3,000 square-foot-area. 
    ...and wonderful.       Isaiah Zagar has also turned a number of walls all around South Philadelphia into works of art with his ceramic murals.      
  ...then south to the Italian Market, an open-air market along 9th Street known for its groceries, bakeries, butchers, eateries, and all venues dealing in fresh, delicious Italian food.       
  ...that claimed to have the best cheese steaks in Philly.  ..a claim which, after trying one, we had no grounds to dispute.
 I still retained enough of my Philly roots to know he was asking whether or not we wanted onions on our cheese steaks. We opted for "with." Awesomely delicious as our cheese steaks were, we were glad we'd split one along with one order of fries,  ...especially as this left us enough room to head back over to the Big Gay Ice Cream shop (see post from 6/21/2018), 
     We then strolled around South Philly for a while longer,  
 
   ...and our room on the fourth floor,  ...where we rested up for a while before the evening's festivities.   There's been much speculation about why in the world First Lady Melania Trump would set out on a mission to help the suffering migrant children and their parents wearing a jacket painted on the back with the sloppy/chic graffiti message I DON'T REALLY CARE, DO YOU? What's the message? Was there any message? Who was she talking to? The migrants? The press? Her hubby? The fashion world? The whole world? Will Melania ever tell us? The answers to those questions we may never know, as Melania, after whipping up our attention with her jacket, won't tell us, preferring to keep us whipped up. But here's one thing we do know for sure: At 48, Melania Trump is too darned old to be wearing a coat that shouts to the world I DON'T REALLY CARE, DO YOU? Never even mind that she's First Lady of the United States and a mom; no mature middle-aged adult goes around sporting a sulky, adolescently in-your-face, mad-at-the-world coat like that in public. That coat is something a rebellious 15-year-old who pierces her nose, shaves half her hair and dyes the other half blue slips on before she goes out vaping with her friends. It's not something her mom wears. It's not something anybody's mom wears. Because most moms, most grown-ups in fact, no matter how frustrated, unappreciated, tired-out, at the end of their ropes and sick of it all they might feel, would never in a million years don a coat with I DON'T REALLY CARE, DO YOU? painted on the back. I mean, what kid wouldn't die a thousand deaths if their mom grabbed their I REALLY DON'T CARE coat and wore it to the mall? Or a plane?  In any case, grown-ups generally aren't so blatantly, cluelessly all about themselves and needy of drawing attention to themselves in that way. We have too many responsibilities in our lives, too many people and situations dependent upon us to take on that kind of resentful adolescent attitude. Nor do most of us really want or need to. It's something a person eventually outgrows. Hopefully. Mayhaps not Mrs. Trump. "Melania, why did you wear that coat?" everybody in the world asks. But Melania won't talk to us. She wants us to just keep following her around and asking her and asking her and asking her what she means by that, but she's not talking to us. She's mad at us and wants us to know it and won't tell us why so that we'll keep on following her around and asking her what's going on, what's wrong.
So Melania, my advice to you is, whoever or whatever it is that's bugging you, suck it up. Be a grown-up. You're a mom and First Lady of the United States. Try to do some good without being sulky or wearing a whiny coat. In fact, give the coat to Barron. He's twelve, it's okay for him to wear if he wants. You're 48. On you it's just childish. At best.  
Good-Bye Columbus, Hello South Philly Last Thursday, June 14, Tom, Tommy, Emily, Callie, Theresa and I, 
  ...for the weddings of my nephew Chris and his bride Simi.  Weddings, because, Simi being a Hindu and Chris a Christian, they wished to have two ceremonies in honor of their two cultural and religious heritages. And two beautiful ceremonies they were.   Though the families of the bride and groom had been celebrating with parties and events since Tuesday,  ...including the Mehendi celebration, during which the bride's hands and feet are painted with henna in beautiful, intricate designs.  ...we the Ohio branch of the family planned on joining the festivities starting with the rehearsal dinner on Friday night. For Thursday night, however, I'd booked us an Airbnb in South Philadelphia, .on the other side of Chinatown,  ...off 10th Street several blocks south of South Street  
 ...Salter Street being a tiny little alley of a street, barely wide enough to accommodate our Ford Flex. I won't go into the agita suffered by Tom as he tired to maneuver our car down the street without taking out any steps or flower pots.  That being said, it was a lovely little street. Just not really wide enough for a Ford Flex.  (N.B.: If anyone ever opts to stay at the Airbnb on 1010 Salter Street, no matter what Mapquest tells you, DO NOT attempt to make a right to turn onto Salter Street from 10th Street. Rather, make a right onto Christian Street then a quick left onto South Adler Street, which dead ends at 1010 Salter Street. Then after you've unpacked your stuff, make a U-turn and exit back out onto Christian Street, 
 
  Trust me, there is no other way).  Anyway, our Airbnb turned out to be a super-cute, if slightly curious, little place, the front door opening into a kitchen, 
 ...first floor was the kitchen, 
 ...and a bathroom, 
 ...another bedroom.  Now, this Airbnb advertised that it slept six people. To me that means six bed spaces, not four bed spaces, one sofa-loveseat and a blow-up mattress. Hence I felt the ad had been a weence misleading. However happy campers Theresa and Callie said they'd take the couch room, so it was all good. Other than that, the place was pretty, spotlessly clean, and in a great location in the heart of South Philly. View from the third floor.  After we'd settled our cars in the SP+ garage - Tommy and Emily drove in one car, the rest of us in the Flex - and our stuff in the Airbnb, we set off in search of some nourishment, walking along skinny Salter Street,   ...then through the neighborhood,  
  ...known for its square pizza with the cheese on the bottom and the sauce on top. We ordered pizzas with veggie toppings,   ...and one with just cheese. 
   After dinner the guys wanted to return to the Airbnb while the girls had a hankering for ice cream. Callie, Theresa and I walked down South Street, and close to the corner of South and Broad we found Big Gay Ice Cream. 
 
   ...and the ice cream was quite yummy,    
 ...then up the spiral staircase.  After insisting for weeks that his hands were tied to end the directive he himself authorized and blaming the Democrats for his own cruel policy of separating migrant children from their parents, today Donald Trump finally signed an executive order ending that policy, at least temporarily. But Trump's executive order doesn't apply to the children already taken, the ones we've been seeing in the heart-wrenching photos, 
These children and their parents, the very ones whose plight has united our country in horror and rage, the ones all the pressure on Donald Trump was intended to save, will not be saved by Trump's act today. Nothing will change for them because the order Donald Trump signed today applies only to migrant families crossing the border in the future, and not to those who've already been separated. According to an article published earlier today by the New York Times: The president’s order does nothing to address the plight of the more than 2,300 children who have already been separated from their parents under the president’s “zero tolerance” policy. Federal officials said those children will not be immediately reunited with their families while the adults remain in federal custody during their immigration proceedings. “There will not be a grandfathering of existing cases,” said Kenneth Wolfe, a spokesman for the Administration for Children and Families, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services. Mr. Wolfe said the decision about the children was made by the White House, but he added, “I can tell you definitively that is going to be policy.” (1) "We're gonna have a lot of happy people," Trump smugly boasted this afternoon as he signed his practically useless piece of paper, his two consiglieres at his side.  So who, I'd like to know, are all these people Donald Trump thinks will be so happy? Not the over 2,300 children still separated from their parents, not the babies in pens still crying for their mothers,
...not the migrant mothers in detention recently visited by Representative Pramila Jayapal who were told by officials that "they needed to briefly leave their children to be photographed or see a judge, only to return and find the children had been taken away...They were forced to leave their children in this room, and then when they came back, the children were gone, and not a single one of them was able to say goodbye.” (2) And surely not the parents who've already been deported with their young children left behind in American detention centers. I ask again, who are all these happy people?  And what about the children already taken?  I can't shake the feeling that God's going to punish us for this. References
(1) nytimes.com/2018/06/20/us/politics/trump-immigration-children-executive-order.html (2) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/15/us/politics/trump-immigration-separation-border.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/17/us/immigration-deported-parents.html https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-order-address-separations-no-clear-answers-happens-children-shelters-now-214127748.html  Our country is in the grip of a horrible and urgent humanitarian crisis, as terrified young children are being taken from their parents at our southern borders and put into detention centers with appalling conditions,  ...as terrified young children are being taken from their parents at our southern borders and put into detention centers with appalling conditions,  With the entire country on fire fueled by outrage and protest and demanding that our leaders do something immediately to end this barbaric cruelty,  ...this afternoon President Donald Trump stood before the people of the United States and called for the immediate... 
 That's right, a Space Force. You know, like the Air Force. Only in space. Because what our country needs right now, immediately, is a new branch of the military. Because, "Space is a war-fighting domain, just like the land, air, and sea." Donald Trump actually said that today. He also said, "Our destiny beyond the Earth is not only a matter of national identity but a matter of national security," and, "When it comes to defending America, it is not enough to merely have an American presence in space. We must have American dominance in space." I'm not kidding. He really said all that. Look, here he is this afternoon looking pleased as punch after after signing his Executive order for the IMMEDIATE establishment of the United States Space Force. 
 However, there's one little thorn in the rose of which neither Donald Trump nor his advisors in their wisdom seem to be aware: Having a Space Force would be against the Outer Space Treaty. That's right, the Outer Space Treaty. The Outer Space Treaty was ratified in 1967 and has been signed by over 130 countries, including Russia, China and, of course, the United States. This treaty is the basis of international space law and basically forbids the mass weaponization of space or using celestial bodies such as the Moon or planets for any purposes other than peaceful pursuits beneficial to mankind.
 ...who is, of course far more intelligent, knowledgeable and sagacious than the toadying band of ignorant, sycophantic, self-servers Donald Trump surrounds himself with and calls advisors.        "Well, then," said I to Tom after he'd told me about the Outer Space Treaty, "that means that Donald Trump can't have his Space Force. And a neither can anyone else because it's against international space law to conduct military maneuvers in space.." "True," said Tom, "but just because it's against the law doesn't mean that some bad guys might not do it anyway." (Sigh) Yeah. I just hope we don't end up being the bad guys.  References:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/18/president-trump-directs-pentagon-defense-department-to-immediately-being-the-process-of-establishing-space-force-as-sixth-military-branch.html https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44527672 https://www.state.gov/t/isn/5181.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Space_Treaty https://www.propublica.org/article/children-separated-from-parents-border-patrol-cbp-trump-immigration-policy  In accordance with the Trump administration’s new “zero tolerance” immigration policy, over the past six weeks almost 2,000 babies and children have been seized by U.S. Immigration agents after their families stepped over the border seeking asylum. These crying, terrified children have been taken away from their shocked, frantic, pleading parents and sent to makeshift detention facilities. Where is the outrage over those suffering children and their grieving parents? While on an investigative mission U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley spotted some of these children being held in chain-link dog pens, others being kept, day after day, on the floor of a Walmart warehouse. A pediatrician reports seeing infants and toddlers alone and crying on the floor with no adult picking them up or comforting them. Nobody's there to change their diapers. (1) Where is the outrage? Where is the national outrage over the families being torn apart, the mothers and fathers sent to Federal prisons for the crime of crossing our border and requesting asylum for themselves and their children? What mother who’s ever held her own child wouldn’t feel a pang in her heart for the mothers sitting in prison cells crying for their children? What mother who’s ever nursed her own baby wouldn’t be stricken by the report of the young mother whose baby was pulled by an ICE agent from her breast as she nursed? (2) Why aren’t we as a nation outraged, that these people,    ... have turned our country from a beacon of hope to a theater of cruelty? Why aren’t we all disgusted that they use Bible verses to justify their merciless brutality to the poorest of the poor? Why isn’t every American heart breaking over the suffering now being inflicted on these people by our government by order of our President and, by extension, by everyone of us? While half of the country is outraged by this: 
 ...and this, 
 ...and this, 
 ...can't we unite in outrage over this?  ...and this, 
 Can’t we all look beyond the law – which was man-made and thus can be changed whenever we want – and everyone’s own personal interpretation of their respective sacred scriptures and look rather into our hearts, which, in the end, determine each person’s convictions of right and wrong, goodness and evil, justice and inhumanity? Because the inhumanity that has been carried out along our southern border for the past six weeks will not end if only half of our country is outraged by it. All Americans must be united in our outrage, and we must be as loud and vociferous about this as we’ve been on the other issues we stand so firmly on, the issues we believe define us as Americans, Christians, Jews, Muslims, blacks, whites, browns, or however we define ourselves. Which I guess, for me, begs a final question: if there exists an American out there who isn’t outraged, ashamed, and sick to the bottom of their heart and soul over the cruelty being inflicted on these children and their parents, could you please explain to me why not?  References:
(1) https://www.yahoo.com/news/hundreds-children-wait-border-patrol-facility-texas-193735082.html (2) https://www.thedailybeast.com/migrant-claims-ice-took-her-baby-while-she-was-breastfeeding https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/the-stunning-cruelty-of-immigrant-family-separations/ https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/07/us/children-immigration-borders-family-separation.html https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/14/health/immigrant-family-separation-doctors/index.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/06/10/mothers-could-not-stop-crying-officials-blast-trump-policy-after-visiting-detained-immigrants/?utm_term=.15a73 https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/jeff-sessions-bible-quotation-defend-separating-migrant-families/story?id=55926837 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jun/14/sarah-sanders-bible-trump-immigration-border-policy |
"Equal And Opposite Reactions"
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