Happy Little Boy

When Will comes over, he's happy as a clam riding around the patio on his trycicle. With his shirt off. And a drink. What a life. Ah, youth...

What a Bad Blogger I Am!

I haven't written anything exciting lately! I'm afraid my blogging powers are diminishing or something. But I will report that we are presently enjoying glorious weather. If anybody wants to see Washington at its best, then hop on a plane right now! Bright blue sky, brilliant snow-capped mountains, emerald trees, lovely flowers, and gentle breezes all make for idllyic outdoor time. This afternoon after church and a barbecue lunch, I went out and sunbathed while reading Bill Bennett's new book "America: The World's Last Best Hope." Very good book, btw. Very informative and readable.

Then I got hot enough to get in the pool. I'm just not the pool fish I was when I was a kid. But then I lived in California. It's got to be over 80 degrees out with the sun shining to tempt me to get in cold water. At one point I got out and made one of my famous fruit smoothies, which I proceeded to enjoy while floating in the pool. Even my mom got in the pool! She also enjoyed a smoothie. My dad and I will probably go for a bike ride this evening.

Yesterday was my friend Julie's wedding. Certainly couldn't have asked for nicer wedding weather! It was a lovely, simple wedding, with yellows and greens as the colors. My friend Nathan and I sang a duet of "Holy is He" which went well. He's got a really good baritone voice and travels most of the year with a revival ministry team. I don't sing in as many weddings as I play at, so it's nice to haul around nothing heavier than my vocal cords and a piece of music! And I like to sing duets because I'm not usually as nervous as I am by myself. But go figure -- I was more nervous this morning when we sang it for our own church than I was when we were singing in front of a bunch of strangers! Maybe it was the happy mood of the wedding or something.

If you think of it, please pray for my Grandma Sweet. She's had some serious health issues this week, enough to make my mom wonder if she should go visit her very soon. Kind of a lot of unknowns, which is hard. I wish tickets weren't so expensive right now! I know it's hard on my mom and aunt to be so far away from her. It's the way the cookie crumbles right now, but that cookie doesn't taste very good!

For Purple Mountain Majesty

Yesterday I went hiking with my dad and some friends on Mt. Rainier. The weather wasn't great, but we still saw some breathtaking views. And my muscles are reminding me today of the arduous hike up! It was a fun day, though.

The Lord is my Shepherd

One day at Lisa's apartment near Jerusalem, I went out on the balcony to watch this little flock graze in the field nearby. You can look up from this small field to see Bethlehem, so I guess it's natural that Psalm 23 would come to mind. I had been feeling anxious about something and sat down to just be quiet. As I watched, I noticed the shepherd leaning against the wall on the right, just watching the sheep. I heard a strange, distressed crying noise, and finally located it coming from a little black lamb under the tree. I don't know whether it had lost it's mother or was just having a bad day, but it kept crying out piteously. The shepherd seemed to ignore it for awhile, but then he went over to the little guy, sat down next to it, and gently petted him until it was quiet and content. His original "issues" may have still been there, but the shepherd was near, and that's all that mattered. Tear sprang to my eyes as I saw in this tableau the character of my Shepherd. He hears us when we cry, He sees all, and He is quick to comfort us in our distress. In His presence is fullness of joy.
What's interesting is that a little later on, I didn't see the black lamb anywhere among the flock. The shepherd was walking around, but there was no sign of the little guy that I could see. Did God "plant" him there for a moment just to teach me a lesson?

More Israel Pictures

The Jewish Quarter kitty is one of the many little feline friends I made in Jerusalem. He seemed most grateful for the attention. I felt so sorry for all the neglected, diseased, and hungry cats I saw! I took this picture for my fat, lazy cat's benefit.

The dinner picture was taken at an outdoor restaurant in Jaffa right before I left. Great fun!

Lisa and I snagged an obliging Italian to take this picture of us at the Church of St. Peter's of Gallicantu. We're sitting right by the steps Jesus probably walked up the night of his betrayal.

Silliness

Craig's post about spoonerisms reminded me of some of the funny word plays we enjoyed with my cousins Brad and Penny when we were young. We all share some goofy blood and spent hours amusing ourselves and each other. One thing that hit our funny bone was spoonerizing couples' names. For instance: instead of Bill and Marge, we'd say Mill and Barge. Of course it only works when both names start with a consonant. Here are some more:
Rim and Tuth
Laul and Paura
Shim and Tarron
Nick and Dina (actually, that doesn't sound too weird!)
Bil and Phev
Chill and Berilyn
Pate and Nenny
Crad and Blaire

You get the idea. Such fun.

The other thing that I think Brad taught us (but I could be wrong) is adding "in the bathtub" to a song title, especially a hymn. Now of course you have to use caution that you don't slip into blasphemous sacrilege, but here's how it works:
Shall We Gather at the River...in the bathtub
Showers of Blessing...in the bathtub
Come, Thou Fount...in the bathtub
Brethren, We Have Met to Worship...in the bathtub
We're Marching to Zion...in the bathtub
Count Your Blessings...in the bathtub
Day is Dying in the West...in the bathtub
Blessed Be the Fountain...in the bathtub
We Have an Anchor...in the bathtub

I'm cracking up as I write these! Great amusement. Hope I haven't offended anybody. You can blame it on Brad. :-)
And speaking of that worthy gentleman, he was messing with video cameras when he was just a lad, long before there was such a thing as a vlog. I remember he and Penny loved to make "backwards" videos. They would tape ordinary or non-ordinary happenings at home and then play it backwards. Cats were the best objects for this sort of project. Or they would make things appear or disappear through "trick" photography.
Ah, those were the good old days. Now we're all grown up and never think of partaking of such juvenile silliness.
Ha ha ha!!

Happy Anniversary...

...to me! Yes, it was one year ago on June 5 that I first started blogging. I can't believe it's been a whole year! I've thoroughly enjoyed Blogland, and thank Penny for persuading me to join it.

Hip Hip Hooray!

Whew, what a week this has been! School is finally over!! The graduation/promotion program was Thursday night. This was a program of musical selections plus awards, diplomas, and recitation of certain bits of knowledge learned. I felt pretty confident that the kids had their songs down cold, but I was a little more uptight about everything happening when it was supposed to and my doing and saying the right thing at the right time. All went well, though, generally speaking, with only one "issue."

I was sitting in the front pew next to the first graders. I was about to go up to present music awards, so I had them (the awards) in my lap and was "braced." Just then the little boy next to me told me he didn't feel so good. Understand this is the boy who always seems to find the opportune time to say he has to go to the bathroom really bad. So half the time, I don't really believe him, and I just believed he was probably a little excited or nervous. All I remember is encouraging him to relax, when suddenly his eyes widened, his cheeks ballooned, and then the contents of his stomach came spewing out all over the dark green carpet! Aaaagh!! Did I mention I was right next to him? I moved my legs quickly, so only a little bit got on my dark skirt. What I didn't hear was that one of the teachers had just called me forward to present the music awards. I was sort of sidetracked and the other teachers later said my eyes were quite large. I turned around and frantically beckoned the boy's mother up. At first she didn't know what I wanted because she hadn't seen anything happen. But comprehension dawned when she finally came up. I gathered my wits and my awards and staggered up to the pulpit, trying to ignore the noises and horrible stench just a few feet away, while I attempted to gracefully present awards. They soon got him out of there, and I learned later that it was the flu. Lovely. Amazingly, half the crowd didn't seem to know what had happened.

On Friday most of the staff went out to lunch in Seattle at a great seafood restaurant. This place has the best smoked salmon soup and chocolate volcano cake. Mmmmm....This cake is shaped like a cylander, the outer part being firm like a brownie, while the inside is creamy, warm, dark, rich chocolate. This heavenly concoction is further embellished with whipped cream and drizzled caramel. I was so stuffed when I was done!

Today was my student recital, which was fairly brief because about half my students couldn't be there due to sickness or other circumstances. Bad time of year. But everybody did pretty well and the audience seemed to enjoy it.

So there are two big hurdles out of the way! I still have to go to school a couple times to wrap up loose ends, but then I don't come back till September. People keep asking me what I'm doing this summer. Frankly, I haven't had much time to think about it! I'm not going to NH in July like I had hoped, but hopefully the Lord will provide so I can visit Jill in August or thereabouts. With a trip to Israel, braces, and a greatly depleted teaching load for the summer, my bank account is kind of skinny. But I do hope to get up to Victoria, B.C. for my birthday in August, if not sooner. I'll also be studying to earn 12-15 college credits. Hmmm...what else? Oh! Weddings! I'll be singing or playing in several. I plan to hike with some friends, have a few bbq's, bike a lot, swim a little, practice some, maybe strip and refinish my dresser, read, and save gas by not driving much!

My parents are in California for the weekend visiting some friends, so it's just the two of us knocking around the house (when I'm here, that is). My diet has been sort of bachelorish and I've got a nice stack of movies to keep us company. :-) I need to figure out my offertory for church tomorrow before I completely relax tonight.

Toodleloo!

Loveliness