Tail Gate Party

Miss Cynthia and I have scheduled special days out each month. We call them "tail gate parties," or "TGP's" for short. We started the tradition after having several lunches out of the tail gate of our rental car while touring and hiking around in Arizona. This month was "Skamania hike and seafood buffet."

The weather turned bad on us with everything from wind, rain, hail, and sun. Our answer was we did everything in spite of it. We drove the gorge, visited the Vista House, Multnomah Falls, Bonneville Dam, the Fish Hatchery, and then over the Bridge of the Gods to Skamania Lodge.

We experienced waterfalls, rivers, lakes, streams, historic pictures, local art, gift shops, lunch in the car, sturgeon, trout, dams, fish ladders, the "boom" of the guns used to scare sea lions away from the fish ladders, bridges, woods, golf courses, freezing cold wind, rain, hail, sun, snow, rocking chairs, the smell and warmth of a huge fireplace, the chill of huge picture windows looking out over the gorge, and lots of seafood. There was more, but here are a few pictures...

What's Old is New

Hey, here's a poster my brother, Scott, had in high school. I've kept it all these years and had it tacked on walls in my studies, my garages, and I don't remember where else. Now it's probably almost 40 years old, aged, a little tattered. Pretty cool actually.

Now it will go on my wall in my office at the church building. Thanks Scott, you probably had no idea this piece has been around all these years. Good taste is timeless, Bro'.

Snow Business

So today, March 28th, we have snow. Something surprising and wonderful for this time of year.

Let's enjoy that each day brings new wonder; sometimes obvious and other times hidden in and around the normal and less than wonderful.

What's wonderful in your world today?

Birthday Beach Trip

Miss Cynthia and I spent a couple of days at the beach for my birthday. We enjoyed the galleries and came face to face with art of all kinds.













I went for early morning walks on the beach and enjoyed Seaside before most others were awake and out on the streets.




My most memorable moment, among many, was when I popped three ibuprofen in my mouth while walking into a gallery (back was hurting something awful). When I swallowed, two went into my tummy, and one into my bronchial tube. I tried to sneak out of the gallery to go die, but Cynthia saw me with that urgent look on my face and followed me. I drank water, stayed calm, and within about five minutes I finally coughed it up while sitting on a park bench on the streets of Cannon Beach. It blew out of my mouth into my palm like a slimy bullet. Cynthia looked at me and said, "promise you'll never take pills without water again." "I won't" I said. She said "No, I want you to say the whole sentence." After three attempts at satisfying her with variations of this promise, I sat for a while, spitting and sputtering. Later we laughed about what passers by might have thought as Miss Cynthia badgered me like a witness in a court room. "Say it! Say the whole sentence!" I'll bet someone had a fun reflection over dinner about it.

So I will continue to live past my 50th Birthday. Let's see what we can do from here. One thing is I'll always take pills with water. Maybe I'll eat better, get more exercise, and rest more, too.

Some of Christmas Time

let's get together, yeah yeah yeah

Greetings! Certainly, it has been a long time since I've posted any news about my life. Allow me to update you all on the goings on.
It was SO good to have Chris and Catherine and Finley all out for the holidays. I miss you guys already. But life must go on, right? And so it does...
On Monday, Trippe and I began our winter term at Clackamas Community College and, since a few kinks in Trippe's schedule have been smoothed over, we're both satisfied with our schedules.
We're taking a British literature class together which has proven to be pretty fun thus far, then I go off to speech and Spanish while Trippe works on his online writing class. It's so nice to be together at school. It feels so much better to have him with me! (Plus we save gas money by carpooling.)
Trippe let me steal his other phone from him since mine has gone haywire and it's really nice. I was frustrated at first, but I'm getting used to it and beginning to enjoy it. So, anyway, that's all I can think of right now. I hope EVERYONE is well.
Happy primaries!

Red Room, Green Room, More Room, Home Soon

What
was
red
is
green.

Change
is
the
fabric
of
life.

Change
for
the
good
is
always
most
pleasant.

We look forward to your return home for Christmas Chris and Catherine. It will be extremely pleasant with the family all together once again.