Friday, October 28, 2011

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

An assignment to bless

Not to get religious but my mother wrote the attached article focused on humility. Just do the translation and you'll get something out of it!
An assignment to bless | Church Alive - The First Church of Christ, Scientist

My mom and me in front
of the SS United States

Friday, October 7, 2011

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

SS United States on CNN Live July 7, 1999



Thought to have been lost, this rare footage from a 1999 CNN Live broadcast was found in the SS United States Foundation archives. The footage is grainy and flows more like a movie from the silent screen era, but some wonderful footage remains! This footage is the only known national news broadcast featuring maritime legend Frank O Braynard. The short interview with SSUSF Chairman Robert Westover is also (to date) the only known Big U engine interview to appear on national prime time TV.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Friday, August 5, 2011

Lord Westover: The Wisdom of the Lord: Economic Pandemonium is th...

Lord Westover: The Wisdom of the Lord: Economic Pandemonium is th...: "By His Grace, Lord Westover, (obviously) For some unexplained reason, top investors in America seem to take great pride in panic selling on..."

His Grace, Lord Westover (obviously)

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

The Day I Met His Royal Highness, Charles, The Prince of Wales (updated Nov 2020)

Prince Charles with the author in the background, (Courtesy photo.)
Prince Charles on a visit to Washington, DC. (Photo Credit: Robert Westover)

On an official royal visit, His Royal Highness, Charles, Prince of Wales visited a local DC farm, the Common Good City Farms, (the only such farm in DC). My husband, Tom, had told me The Prince would be there, so being not only a royal enthusiast, but also a climate change advocate, I had to try to meet His Royal Highness as he too is a proponent of global warming issues.

I was not disappointed. He shook my hand and we spoke for about a minute on climate change issues. He then said, "But is anyone listening? [about climate change]" to which I replied, "We're making progress. They will listen..."

God bless the Prince of Wales!

Robert Hudson Westover
Washington, D.C.

Friday, April 29, 2011

Royal wedding coverage: Americans watched and sighed

I'm quoted extensively in this post royal wedding article in the Christian Science Monitor. They really make me sound smarter than I am!!! God Save the Queen!
Royal wedding coverage: Americans watched and sighed

Royal wedding coverage: Americans watched and sighed
Americans who watched the royal wedding coverage say they appreciated the elegance and traditions of the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, now Duchess of Cambridge.
Britain's Prince William and and his wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, travel to Buckingham Palace in a 1902 State Landau carriage after the royal wedding at Westminster Abbey, London, Friday.
Peter Jordan / AP
By Gloria Goodale, Staff writer / April 29, 2011
Los Angeles
William and Kate are wed. Half a world away, Americans from Washington to Los Angeles roused themselves to watch the hour-long ceremony broadcast live and in HD from Westminster Abbey. While denizens of the former colony sometimes carp about oppressive British traditions, those who breakfasted on the event showed a genuine sense of appreciation for the restrained elegance that ran through the moment.
“It was really beautiful,” says Nathalie DeWulf Miller, a naturalized US citizen born in France. She turned on the TV while her husband slept in their Southern California home. “I knew Kate would have long sleeves because every royal wedding dress has had them,” says Ms. Miller, “but it was so elegant and modern.” The choice of gown was decidedly not what Diana and Fergie chose, she adds, “not over the top at all.”
On the other coast, third-generation ex-Marine Robert Westover fired up his wide-screen, high-definition TV to enjoy what he calls a celebration of the best parts of royal traditions. “It encapsulated a thousand years of British history from William the Conqueror – who was crowned in the Abbey – all the way through Chaucer and Milton,” says the Washington, D.C., resident. “I am not a monarchist or even a royalist,” he says, but “this is the country that gave the world the Magna Carta, laying out the rights of man for the whole civilized western world.” Respect is due this heritage, he says, “even if I firmly believe in electing all my own leaders.”
Being of British descent, Mr. Westover says, it’s the least courtesy he can accord his mother country. Besides, he says, as a former Marine, respect is a professional courtesy. “When British Marines set fire to Washington in 1812,” he says with a laugh, “the one building they did not torch was the Marine commandant’s home.”
Watching from her Detroit-area home, author and social scientist Terri Orbuch says she was impressed with the lack of ostentation. “No big-name celebrity performers or modern vows written by the bride and groom,” she says, although she does concede that walking out of a church to see a crimson-lined carriage drawn by white horses “may just be every little girl’s wedding dream.”
She says she was struck by the obvious connection between William and Kate. “Their body language – small looks and glances between them – spoke volumes about how united they feel in this union,” says the author of "Five Simple Steps to Take Your Marriage from Good to Great."
While the Bible verses and traditional passages from church officials suffused the ceremony with a traditional hue, the relationship at the heart of the wedding is completely modern, “a paring of equals,” she says, very unlike the distant, somewhat tense relationship on display in the Prince Charles and Diana nuptials.
She hopes that watchers will absorb the importance of a calm and mature bond at the heart of the wedding. Nonetheless, she adds, a more likely take-away will be yet another upgrade for any self-respecting modern wedding: “No doubt, we will see some brides demanding their very own horse-drawn carriage complete with footmen,” she adds with a rueful laugh.