Leavenworth in the Fall

My wife and I spent the better part of two days earlier in the week in Leavenworth, a quaint Bavarian town on the inland side of the Cascades about 110 miles east of Seattle along highway 2. The reasons? a) Fish Lake is nearby, and b) Fall foliage is ablaze in color.

My cousin Joel and his wife Sandra spend a timeshare week in Leavenworth sometime during each October. This year they invited Kay Lynne and I to spend a couple of days with them. I'm glad they did.

Joel and I fished both mornings until noon or later while the ladies shopped in the Village following a leisuely breakfast. Usually at this time of the year nearby Fish Lake is hot, hot, hot. For some reason this year (which we were never able to pinpoint other than the unseasonably warm weather) we had to work hard to get our fish. Joel is a purist fly fisherman, and I'm a bait dragger, so we rented a pontoon boat from which we could each fish in the manner we prefer (bottom pic is of Joel bringing in a trout on his fly gear). I guess we did finally limit both days, but for some reason we had to scour the entire lake to find where they were having their fall conference -- and then they were more interested in socializing than eating.

Each afternoon we took driving excursions in and around Leavenworth. One of the days we drove some 15 miles north of Leavenworth to a quaint little town called Plain. It's nestled in a gorgeous valley and is lubricated by the Wenatchee River which runs right through the area on its way to the Columbia.

We spent some time in a touristy "Hardware" store which was chock full of historical artifacts and souvenirs from the area and actually did have some paint and hardware goods in the back. It even had an Espresso bar and deli up front. I think the women could have stayed there a full day.

Later we drove out to Mountain Springs Lodge, within a mile of Plain, which is owned by a family who has been a significant part of the town's history for a hundred years or so. Our daughter-in-law Jamie went to Seattle Pacific University with the daughter of the Lodge family, so we felt we had a "connection". Plus Joel and Sandra had visited there before and indicated it was a "must stop" on the drive.

The top picture shows a bit of the Fall colors near a pond on the grounds at the Lodge which, by the way, can accommodate large family gatherings and conferences. Its facilities contain a marvelous, beautiful grouping of "log cabin"-type buildings with the main lodge a grandiose A-frame structure of heavy laminated beams and ornate woodwork set off by an immense rock fireplace. What a great setting this would be for a family reunion.

Unfortunately, we had to come home too soon. However, we feel fortunate to have enjoyed the beauty and sights of Leavenworth in the Fall while accompanied by family, even though the time was too short.

It's the Lifestyle, Stupid

Back in Bill Clinton’s first successful run to the presidency, the insider theme of his campaign skewed off course a time or two. But “it’s the economy, stupid” somehow came back into focus in time for James Carville & Co. to craft a victory at the polls.

For most of my overweight life, I’ve been on and off course, too. I’ve always viewed my weight situation something like this: “Well, yes, I may be a bit heavy right now, but in a few weeks I’ll go on a diet and lose the weight.” The Atkins diet was always my salvation before I became middle aged (and older).

I could drop 10 to 15 pounds easily in a month by eating salad, bunless cheeseburgers and scrambled eggs. Who knows what my cholesterol became, but the diet worked - time after time after time. I must have been on and off the Atkins recipe a dozen times over the past 30 years. I did so because it worked for me much better than "calorie counting" (I quickly ran out of fingers). In a relatively short time, I could take off significant weight on the low carb method – in fact, I think I’ve gained and lost over 150 “yo-yo” pounds in my lifetime.

Now that I’m an “honored” citizen (as they now call us at many restaurants) things don’t work like they used to. It takes much longer to lose pounds, even on a low carb diet. Plus the medical profession says the Atkins approach is not “healthy” though they have little scientific proof to corroborate their views (that’s a whole ‘nother blog).

Not only is an older, deteriorating body the problem, but I’m also now told I must control both my blood sugar and cholesterol – period. Otherwise there could be serious health consequences in the years not too far ahead. Yikes. Suddenly the question has become, how to best accomplish this?

In seeking the answer, I’ve become a “fan” of the James Carville approach. From what I’ve read (and it’s quite a bit) just about everyone agrees that if you cut back on simple carbohydrates, your blood sugar does not tend to spike as is normal after every meal. For adult-onset diabetics like me (who fortunately can still control blood sugar with diet) it’s obvious I’ve got to limit carbs for the rest of my life to control those spikes.

It’s not a matter of “going on a diet”. That’s history. It doesn’t work. I’ve got to eat more healthily and live differently (get exercise), again, for the rest of my life. I’m finally coming to grips with it and am willing to deal with it.

This past week I’ve cut out all unnecessary carbs (not the healthy ones), and I’ve been to the gym three times. Admittedly, I feel better already. Funny how slightly abnormal but trending (in the wrong direction) blood tests can be a more powerful motivation than almost anything else. Diabetes doesn’t get better on its own with time. Quite the contrary. At best, you can only keep it at bay with healthy eating, weight control and exercise. It’s the lifestyle, stupid. And that's reality.

Winds of change

Some changes are in the wind. I’ve never been that excited about health clubs although in my younger days I sure did love to play racquetball. But today, out of necessity, I checked out a nearby health club and found it to be very amenable.

Earlier in the week my doc made some medication suggestions about which I was a little dubious. Seems in my recent blood tests the ol’ cholesterol crept up just a hair as did my fasting blood sugar. It was nothing to be alarmed about, but it reflected a trend. So, rather than beginning to ingest a medication which could possibly whack my liver, I bargained with my doc for exercise instead. As it turns out, daily exercise and the loss of a few pounds could solve the slightly elevated blood test readings. He gave me three months to demonstrate it.

Fortunately, the health plan I have will pay for a FULL health club membership for me as part of their “prevention” approach to health care. Yes! It was the affiliated health club to which I paid a visit.

After a tour of the facilities I spent about an hour on several different machines and got reacquainted with some weights I hadn’t encountered in nearly 50 years. A very pleasant surprise was learning that there were two racquetball courts in the club. Fantastic. However, I have to admit that I’m really not that good with doing exercise just for the sake of exercise.

The reason I enjoyed racquetball so much was that it was a really nice way to get exercise by simply playing a sport you enjoy anyway. Now, I’ve got to try to find a racquetball partner – hopefully one who has bad knees like I do so I don’t get killed all the time. Actually, the club jacuzzi should help in this regard also.

The changes will now be to schedule workout time into my routine. Initially, I think four days a week will do the job, but results will ultimately be the determinate. I have to admit that exercise really does make one feel better. Now let’s hope it’ll change blood test results.

October Baseball

Tonight the resurgent Angels eliminated the Yankees from the post-season. Who would have thought that the Red Sox, Braves and Bronx Bombers would be gone after the first round of playoffs? Certainly not me.

Wasn’t this the time for the Yankees to rise up and revive their perennial superiority? Wasn’t this the year Atlanta finally had a more balanced team (except for their bullpen) that was capable, at last, of getting past a short series? And wasn’t this the year we’d be privileged to watch another marathon rock-em, sock-em ALCS between Boston and New York?

Nope, nope and nope.

I guess now it’s time to turn our attention to the ALCS and the NLCS. Four very good teams are left. A tired (for a day, at least) group of Angels are flying overnight to the windy city to meet the rested and waiting White Sox tomorrow night. And a spent troupe of Astros are on intravenous feedings trying to find strength to take on the rested Cards on Wednesday. Looks to me like a wonderful two+ weeks of high caliber baseball is just ahead.

If the Sox and Cards are able to subdue their next opponents, then the World Series would have, I believe, the best two teams based on their season performances. However, in playoff baseball anything can happen.

Often, the team that gets “hot” in the playoffs is the one that goes all the way – like last years’ Red Sox who entered the post season via the wild card and kept on winning just enough. This year one of the post season wild card teams is the Houston Astros who Sunday simultaneously shocked and entertained the sports world with an 18-inning marathon win that sent the Braves home for the winter.

Of course the question now is, can the Astros remain hot and go on to defeat a more talented and “complete” Cardinal team? Who knows? If great pitching beats great hitting, then maybe so. But the St Louis pitching core is very solid also. And the Cards have strength in the bullpen and also off the bench.

In the American League, I hope the White Sox clean house on the Angels. I’ll never forget what the Angels did to the Giants in the 02 Series. So, my preference for the World Series is the Sox and the Cards. Two great teams and nine days of anticipation (if it goes seven). Only thing better in October would be to get the salmon skunk off my boat.

Trying to get in gear

Well, here it is Friday already, and I have not blogged at all this week. Been one of "those" weeks -- lots of "busy stuff" to do and seemingly not enough time to do it.

It's a busy time right now for several reasons. There're plans to be finalized for our Costa Rica trip just three short weeks away. Then there were a few "issues" with the boat that had to be dealt with, all of them requiring cash. Also, the fall and early winter holiday season approaches and we need to schedule concerts, events, etc.

At least my son & I are going to one Seahawks game together (he gave up his season tix this year) -- the one against the Niners on Dec 11 here in Seattle. I'll be yelling the whole game, as I'm an old-time diehard 49er fan, plus I really like the Seahawks and Mike Holmgren. Whoever wins is ok by me.

Studying John Wesley's theological perspectives has fortunately been an uplift for me in my daily "reading for meaning" sessions. Sure wish I'd gotten to know this man earlier in my life. He's providing some cohesiveness for many of my fragmented thoughts I've had through the years. I'm trying to get in gear to write about some of it. Hopefully it'll be soon.

Looking for a Church

This morning my wife and I attended an Episcopal Church – I think a first for both of us in that tradition. The step was another in our continuing effort to find a church in which we can both serve and at the same time have a worship experience that is appropriate for our ages and (continually developing) Christian formation. This particular Episcopal Church is an affiliate of the Anglican American Council, a group of Episcopal parishes who wanted to maintain their focus on celebrating the authenticity of the Holy Eucharist sacrament but who also have pulled out of mainline American Episcopalianism because of its ”move further and further away from the historic biblical Christian faith, as if … in a dance of death with the postmodern Western culture”. That part sounded just fine.

After the service, we talked about it. Kay Lynne did not relate well to the worship experience at all, mostly due to her feeling that the priest (and parishioners) “ran through the liturgies so fast that they couldn’t possibly have contemplated its meaning”. On the other hand, I was somewhat prepared for it and tried to grasp meaning from its order and execution. However, I have to admit that my wife had a point. We both respect the merits of proper liturgy, but if it is glossed over, the meaning, for us, has little chance to take effect.

Our move to the pacific northwest in 2004 has given us perfect pause to reflect on our changing reasons for becoming active in any church. Neither of us relate well to the incessantly repetitive “praise choruses” in most evangelical churches, which are tediously prolonged each week in our estimation. (What happened to the great old hymns of the church which sustained the generations before us? Why are post moderns so different?) We also look for solid orthodox Biblical exegesis from the pulpit, which seemingly is rapidly being replaced by pop-culture expositions that sound good and make you feel good – for a few minutes – but that have little life-affecting impetus.

I’ve also been reading Randy Maddox’ wonderful book on the “practical theology” of John Wesley called, Responsible Grace. In it, Maddox talks of the “Wesleyan Quadrilateral”, a synthesis of four elements of good faith practice – 1) Scripture, 2) Reason, 3) Tradition, and 4) Experience. To me, the “Wesleyan Quadrilateral” could certainly be the balance-guide for any church I’d want to attend. But try to find one with a balance even resembling that.

A significant issue, currently, for me and – I think – for my wife, is this balance. I’m interested to know, for instance, why so many evangelical traditions today have virtually thrown away the liturgy, many of the sacraments, and the traditions of the historical church. For some 16 centuries the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches appear to me to have been more homogeneous than different – though they, of course, might disagree. Then the reformers reacted to many and significant “abuses” of this tradition and doctrine and “protested”. Now in our post-modern world the “protest”-ants have further divided and we have in many an amalgamation of doctrine and practices that seem to me to be in perpetual imbalance.

Even mainline Methodists are today some distance away from balance in their own Wesleyan Quadrilateral. My theology prof son pointed out to me that "for many present-day UM’s, experience and reason 'trump' traditional readings of Scripture". So where does one find balance? My wife and I really enjoy the Free Methodist worship (at least at Seattle First Free) – which to us does seek that balance – but alas, there is no such church near enough for us to participate in.

And so, it was in seeking a balance of faith and doctrine (hopefully somewhat akin to the Wesleyan Quadrilateral) that we ventured into the Anglican Episcopal world this morning (in fact, wasn’t John Wesley once a part of this body?). However, the effect of today’s tentative dance with our Anglican brethren likely will be that we will continue to search for a compatible partner.

Northwest "Power" Living

Living in the Pacific Northwest certainly has its benefits. However, there are also idiosyncracies. When the first good autumn storm hits, many of the gorgeous trees that have been damaged over the summer are tested. And so it was today. The high winds and rain arrived after midnight last night, and nearby tree #1 fell on a power line about 3am. The power finally struggled on at 8am. I was hesitant to plug my computer in, because when a storm hits, it often expresses multiple personalities.

When the power is out, our cable is down. Because I have a cable high speed internet connection, when the cable is out, there is no internet access. I'm glad I waited. An hour or two later we heard a big crash which we assumed to be a tranformer blowing, but, after a surge or two, this time the power remained on. But I was still spooked. Good thing. An hour later the power disappeared again, this time for several hours. Another tree had taken out more nearby power lines. So, finally, at days end, I was able to get everything going again.

One last thing, however. There is a certain offbeat beauty about a dark, foreboding, wind-swept storm. Sitting at home by the wood stove as the storm rages brings an odd sort of comfort. But now that the storm has passed, it looks like it's time to pick up the beat again.

Brain Cramp

Writer's cramp in the old days occurred in the hand and wrist. In today's hi-tech world it happens in the brain. Try as I might today, nothing materialized in the word world.

I did have a lot to do, but writing is such a formidable (and enjoyable) part of me I usually can come up with something. Not today, for some reason. The only thing I could muster up today was a reactionary comment on my son's blog
-- certainly nothing noteworthy. Some days are like that. The picture depicts my brain's activity today.

Acknowledging an Apparent Inconsistency

If you've read the last several of my blog posts, you may have picked up on an apparent inconsistency. I wanted to acknowledge that it's there. Late last week I had a post about the used boat that I/we recently purchased, and then in the immediately following post ragged on about how the influence of John Wesley was affecting my life with regard to sharing what we have with those less fortunate.

Well, let me try to explain (rationalize?:-). Boating has been a part of my/our lives for many years because I love to fish and a boat provides excellent access to same, especially where we live. I consider neither fishing nor boating an OVERindulgence, but rather a normal recreational outlet of which I have few. At the same time I'm trying to learn and be sensitive to possible overindulgent living. Balance is what I believe we should strive for in all areas of living.

So, in that regard, my wife and I are going through the process of evaluating all of what we possess and we are prayerfully considering how we should use what we have to live consistently as followers of Christ and his teachings, which call upon us to help others who need it. In time, we may even discover that the boat will have to go.

A "Lighter" Note - Meet the Teletubbies

After two days of "heavier" posts, it's time to take a break from serious stuff. For some reason I was reminded today of the motorbike excursion three of us took this past June on Quadra Island in British Columbia just off Vancouver Island. I assure you we had had nothing to drink; we were just happy to be together. That's Ed Wall on the left, Ted Petersen in the center and silly Grandpa on the right (actually we're all grandpas - just one is silly). For some reason which I can't remember, the fourth guy, Mike Silkwood, in our group of couples who took the trip, didn't go with us on this high speed zoom around the island. We earned the nickname, The Teletubbies (I wonder why). These four couples have been friends since the dark ages when we all lived near each other in the San Jose area and attended the same church, except for the Petersens.

Overcoming Dualistic Thinking

For many in my generation it’s been very easy throughout our lives to distinguish right from wrong, good from evil and fidelity from fault. I considered myself as good at it as anyone. But I’m being a bit facetious here. We (my generation) may have thought we could make these distinctions quite instinctively, but how are our views holding up in the post-modern world in which we live?

We were, after all, raised by a generation who clung to high standards of character, behavior, and deportment. And we hoped we pretty much stayed the course with regard to rearing our kids. Now, kids of my generation have grown into adults, some even approaching middle age. My case may be quite different from yours, but I’m finding that my sons have quite contrasting ways in which they discern truth than those of my era. And as difficult as it is to face, I’m finding that their processes of seeking truth, justice and the moral way seem to hold up quite a bit better than mine – or at least they stand up better to intense scrutiny.

For us. right was right and wrong was wrong, and we knew (were told) the difference. And if we strayed, look out ‘cause G-O-O-O-O-D (God) was watching. In my case, those childhood learned “rights and wrongs”, “goods and bads” pretty much carried forward into adulthood without much critical thought about them (an example of “skewed Christian formation” as pointed out to me by my more learned sons).

As an example, I was always taught the typical mid-America mores: go to school, study hard, get good grades, work hard, apply yourself. If you do all those things, you can’t help but be successful. And success in a capitalistic society brings a degree of wealth. Here’s the problem: To my best recollection, never once in my upbringing was I ever challenged with the immorality of wealth and consumption in our culture when compared with most of the world. Not from parents. Not from church. And not from school until college – and even then, if you took a course which dealt with western overindulgences, you thought the instructor was a commie.

We took great pride in thinking that we were better than the rest of the world because we had engineered an economic system which brought us so much more, but we totally ignored the immorality of the disparity. At the same time, interestingly, we sure were aware of and understood all the pitfalls of promiscuity, lieing, cheating, stealing, gossiping and hating. We figured out how to profitably navigate morality in our little micro world, but we had no clue that the pursuits of our then fairly isolated sector of the globe would eventually have an effect on the rest of the planet.

The stark reality is that because I was born here in America I was given all this opportunity. This country is a wonderful place, and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. But in my dualistic world "our way" was equated with being good, right and just. I never considered all these benefits as a chance of birth. I never even thought about the poor hombre just south of our border who works six and seven days a week from sun-up to sunset to earn in a month what we can earn in a week or even a day. And if I did ever consider it, I was thankful I wasn't him. (Why did my mind stop there?)

Don’t misunderstand me. Our capitalistic system has brought just about the greatest everything to our lives. But it is not ALL good (as in a black and white world). The immorality begins to creep in when we discover the unbelievable imbalance both in our riches and in our consumption of resources relative to the rest of the world. And we are moral failures in my view – especially as Christians – when we blindly continue in our ways.

It’s been easy for me all these years to justify my way to a fat and full life. Now I need to confront the very harsh truth that for me to live as I do is an injustice to those who cannot. At the same time I’m a realist. I could give everything away that I have, and it wouldn’t make a dent in poverty. I don’t think that’s the point. In a nuanced world – in contrast to a “black and white” world – we who have the ability to think, read the scriptures, follow the teachings of Christ, and apply them to our lives so it will affect those around us, have an obligation to start somewhere.

John Wesley may be my spiritual emancipator

Ok, it’s time to tackle some issues that have some meat. In the half-dozen or so previous blog posts, I’ve just been practicing on training wheels for the real stuff. So far, most everything has been rambling fluff – and that’s fine. But the real reason I’m blogging is, yes, to have fun, but also to chew on issues of life and living that have a degree of meaning and purpose.

As my sons are well aware (who both have been of immense help in the late years of my journey – one’s a senior pastor with an MDiv in theology and the other is an assistant university professor with a PhD in theology), my struggle for spiritual authenticity has taken several turns. Raised in a fundamentalist Christian environment in the midwest, I necessarily have come away with a lot of restrictive (and probably unnecessary) baggage. My sons have (correctly) implied that due a lot to this baggage, my Christian formation has developed somewhat askew. This is a knotty problem for one who is supposed to be a “mature” person.

I’ve always maintained that all of life (daily grind, the past, the future, the universe, God & science, for starters) needed to come to some sensible co-existence – at least in my thinking. I now realize that the complexities and intricacies of an infinite God cannot begin to be fathomed by us finites. Of course we have some clues. Even evidences. But can it (or should it even?) come together just so I or any human can feel “comfortable” in our belief system?

From this restraining fundamentalist youth (we knew explicitly what NOT to do, but we had little clue as to how we WERE to act as a Christian) I continued to struggle inwardly with what I was being taught (it didn’t make good sense to me even then). During and after college I “evolved” to become a practicing Baptist. A few things improved, but the total focus was still in “getting people saved”, nothing of which is wrong with that in and of itself. However, little was in place to teach us HOW to live fully and fulfillingly as a follower of Christ - to say nothing of our inability to receive authentic theological teaching.

I wallowed in this quagmire for close to 30 years, experimenting with the tenets of various “spiritual gurus” and theories of faith. I even became a Presbyterian, thinking that to be an improvement of sorts. But the dilemma continued, and the quagmire almost swallowed me. I now wonder how my growing sons found any meaningful faith at all in the midst of all this. But the grace of God is truly boundless.

For my 60th birthday, my son Doug (the prof) gave me a book called Rethinking Wesley’s Theology by Randy Maddox, then a Wesleyan Theology professor at Seattle Pacific University – in Seattle, Washington, of course. Maddox combined over a dozen essays about the life and theology of John Wesley, all written by scholars who had extensively studied his works. Inside the cover my son scribed, “To Dad – Happy Birthday and Best Wishes on your theological journeys. Love Doug.” This book was the springboard to my finally experiencing freedom and fullness in my faith journey.

For me, the book was an introduction to John Wesley, not a rethinking. Of all the reformers, Wesley, to me, got it most right. He carried forth just enough of the “traditions” of faith (he came out of the Anglican Church of England) and founded a wonderful “synthesis of faith” (my words) in the sprouting Methodist conference. I had been struggling mightily with Calvin’s concepts of “election” and “predestination” though taught them all my life from fundamentalism through the Baptists and of course later on as a Presbyterian. Wesley, on the other hand, was Arminian in his posture which allows for true “free choice” with regard to accepting or rejecting any or all of God’s revelation and, consequently, in my view, maintains the integrity of God's salvific provision.

I could go on and on. Wesley’s sermons and writings have truly brought back an exuberance and strong desire for me to experience Christian living in a fresh new way. One of the factors in Wesley’s theology is his passion that we as Christians must put shoe leather on our faith by living responsibly in all areas of our life – and at the same time literally share our abundant (western world) means with those who have so much less. I have an immense amount to learn in this arena, but at least now I’ve opened the door to explore it. John Wesley just may be my spiritual emancipator.

By the way, Rethinking Wesley’s Theology by Randy Maddox is available on Amazon.com . And if you'd like to check out another Blog which is full of exciting things on the Christian life, check out my son Gregg's blog: http://greggsgambles.blogspot.com/

Boat Fever

In the year+ we have lived at water's edge, the passing boats (adjacent pic) have slowly eroded my ability to withstand buying one. It's been as if each passing boat was another drop in the chinese water torture. Well -- no more.

I/(reluctant) "we" finally succombed and took the plunge into boat ownership (once again). We now have a "pre-owned" Canadian-made Campion boat parked on a trailer down in front of the house. Middle pic (taken at another location) is the front starboard view and bottom pic is the interior view. Though it's technically a 19-foot "runabout", it's just large enough to have a nice little cuddy cabin up front and enough area on the main (and only) deck to adequately move around to fish properly.

Since I took these pics, I have added down-riggers (to be able to hit the salmon on the head and knock them silly so they'll be easy to catch no matter how deep they are :-), a full GPS mapping electronic system (so we "can't" get lost and end up in Japan), a kicker (trolling) motor and a bunch of safety equipment. Even got a "porta-potty" so the women can discreetly relieve any discomfort behind closed cabin doors.

I think, in time, we'll christen the boat "Finn Fantasy" (catch the double entendre? :-). We've already had it in the water but not enough to fish yet. Hopefully that can be accomplished in the next few days. Fishing, of course, is the real reason I/we got the boat. So many salmon and so little time....

Autumnal Equinox

The furnace came on before dawn this morning for the first time this Fall. Of course Fall has only been here a scant 19 hours, but it was interesting to me that on the first full day of Autumn it got cold enough the night before to kick the heat on.

Here in the Northwest, the advent of Fall is of some note. Not in and of itself, but for its many ramifications. Most of us here have a furnace/heat pump combo which allows you to set your thermostat at high and low end limits. If it's too cold, the furnace comes on; if it's too hot the heat pump and related airconditioning kick in. Since late March or April the heat pump has had its share of use, as we've had perfect summer weather -- which still requires air conditioning with all our sun-exposed windows (ponder this: why does a HEAT pump provide air conditioning? Why do you slow down for a speed bump? Etc., etc. ad nauseum). Never once to my recollection has the furnace come on since late Spring. But now this rather innocuous event heralds many anticipatory occurrences.

The days will become increasingly more cloudy (hopefully not for some time yet so we can get some salmon fishing in), and there will be less and less sun breaks among the stretches of cloudy days. Rainy days will increase and will last several days in a row -- hopefully not as much as the 100+ straight days of rain back in 2003. We'll also have to pull out the long pants, sweaters and sweat shirts to help combat the season's chill. Though I was a Californian for more than 35 years and learned to enjoy the sunshine as a steady friend, I am now reprogramming the psyche to learn to accept -- and even enjoy -- the variety of seasonal changes. However, it can be hard to teach an old dog new tricks.

Closing Out Port Ludlow

Just as we were about to leave the Inn, a float plane landed and docked near our window. A group of six guys jumped out, golf bags in hand, and headed for the championship course nearby. They must have won a sales contest or something; what a fabulous way to spend an afternoon!
We took a slight detour on the way home to have a late lunch in historic Port Townsend. Middle photo is one of the restored 19th century downtown buildings. We found a quaint eatery, the Belmont Hotel & Saloon, housed in a building which was built in 1885 -- all brick with rustic wood beams now supporting the structure. From its deck we watched the Port Townsend - Keystone (Whidbey Island) ferry chug by and enjoyed an incredible lunch. Then we headed home -- for a nap!

Morning at Port Ludlow Inn

This is the early morning view from our room at Port Ludlow Inn. We've now enjoyed our fresh-brewed Pegasus coffee -- from Bainbridge Island ironically -- and our "free" continental breakfast (quite good, actually -- not just carb city) and are debating whether to kayak, bikeride or relax in our luxurious suite. Take a guess what we did...

The Port Ludlow Inn

Well, we're here. And is it beautiful! Top pic is the main building of the Inn (there are other condos, rentals, etc.). Bottom photo is of the adjacent Marina which has guest moorage if one desires. We should have come by boat! Now we're off to enjoy the place...

On the Way to Port Ludlow

The trees are already starting to change in northwest Washington as witnessed by these in Port Gamble. We stopped there on our way toward Port Ludlow. We grabbed a bite to eat at the Port Gamble General Store, which had a sandwich shop and sidewalk cafe (the top pic). Homemade pea soup really hit the spot as the Fall nip is already in the air.

Port Ludlow Here We Come

This past March we celebrated our 40th anniversary. We wanted it low-key, and fortunately our kids honored our request. Their gift to us was a gift certificate to the fabulous Port Ludlow Inn only about an hour's drive away. We put off going to the resort during the busy summer, but now it's time to enjoy their wonderful gesture. If you check their website http://www.portludlowresort.com/ you'll catch a glimpse of the wonderful amenities which will be at our whim. So, THANKS, Gregg, Elaine, Doug & Jamie, for a PERFECT anniversary present. We'll be back in a couple of days

What will help in the Katrina/Rita aftermath?

The visual images from Katrina's aftermath are sobering. Recovery -- from our perspective -- is overwhelming. What can the average person do, other than contribute some cash, to be of help?
When you're retired, like I recently have become, the obligation to do more than just "relate" and "well-wish" or send a few bucks is looming larger each day. My wife agrees. We took the first steps to do something more this past week by contacting both the Red Cross and World Vision web sites to begin the process of making ourselves available for something tangible which we could contribute to this worthy effort. I noticed online that there are a myriad of volunteer needs in both organizations which are doing a mighty work so far. I have no idea where this will lead, but we'll trust that God will direct us in this regard.