Birkenstock babushkas

If I had forgotten the huge difference between Bakersfield and Sonoma County I was reminded today in spades. Not one person was wearing jeans in church! We attended Great Vespers last night at the Russian Orthodox Church(OCA) and then Divine Liturgy this morning. The choir at this church is amazing--they sing so beautifully, effortlessly and as a single entity! It is like entering a different and more perfect world. I fall prey to St. Augustine's fear of beautiful music. But eventually I was drawn to the distractions of the other people in the church.

The first group that struck me were the aging boomers who can use the modesty in dress requirements of the
Orthodox church to continue to dress the same way they did while in college in the 60ies--long gathered skirts, shawls, scarf-covered heads and Birkenstocks. Hey--I could do this! I still have most of my college wardrobe anyway. Another group of worshippers are what I call the native Russians--you can tell the women because they have the highest stilettos I've ever seen and are generally dressed as if they can go nightclubbing at the drop of a prayer rope. The most interesting group are the Eritreans--they all take off their shoes before coming into the church and the women wear these long white wraps that go over their heads and over their shoulders. They wander about the church venerating icons and doing prostrations. At one point a young woman came up to the icon stand in front of me, moved the usual icon over to one side, and set out a new icon next to it. Suddenly, there were lines of people waiting to kiss the new icon. How they saw this happen is a mystery since it was nearly standing room only--but I learned not to get between any grandmother and an icon she has her eyes on--you get an elbow in the ribs!

All the women wear skirts and cover their heads. It's actually quite nice and I rather enjoy the different possibilities with head scarves. Since there are no pews, everyone just sits on the floor for the homily--I can say with great certainty that there is no way for any woman over 25 in a skirt to gracefully get up off the floor without assistance. It doesn't look all that great even with a helping hand.
All the candles reminded me of the eco-freaks who were demanding that the Jews light one less candle in the menorah. Give me a break!!!! I think the Russian sternness would wither any idjit who made such a moronic request. Hang the carbon credits! Light a hundred more candles. Each of the 9 choir members had a candle stand with 5 tapers in it to light the music. It was wonderful.
I wanted so much to snap off some photos of everything that was going on during the Liturgy. Somehow I just knew the Russians would not have the same tolerance of bling and glitzy that the Greeks encourage!
Another part of the worship that I especially appreciated was all the men serving the Liturgy. The men did everything. I can't imagine any woman not enjoying the sight of so many men making themselves useful.

We left church before the rush and headed out to meet with our realtor. One of the great driving hazards here is the hoards of skinny-butted, shiny-shorts, intense bicyclers that spread over the bike lanes and into traffic. I suppose they think they are helping save the environment--at least they don’t ride with lit candles--only this one with a lit cigarette.

Finding a house will be a long process I think. Prices continue to fall and no one wants to buy too soon only to watch house value fall below your purchase price. Also, I suspect many of the houses on the market for nearly a year now were taken off at Christmas so they can be re-listed in January as "new" listings. It's a slippery business.

We ended the day with taking the dogs to the polo field to run with their new homies. This is the great meeting point for dog owners. Very quickly you know all the dogs' names but few of the owners. I know that will come later. Byrdie is one of four Labradoodles who frequent the field and poodles are in abundance.

Back in our little RV we are grateful for shelter from the cold and rain outside. It's cramped but it's temporary. I'd forgotten what rain, fog and cold are like. And somehow, Dwight Singing Buck just doesn't sound quite the same.