For Us, There Was No Better Time to Make the Switch

Our nice, comfortable SUV is now serving some new folks. After much consider-ation, we decided it was time to trade-in the nine-year-old Acura MDX and make the transition to a more fuel efficient automobile.

Pictured above is the “pre-owned” Toyota Prius we recently acquired that has catapulted us into the green age. I was fortunate to get an unexpectedly higher amount on the trade than I thought was possible, and that sealed the deal.

I wrote about the thinking which resulted in the transition to a hybrid in my column in last Sunday’s Kitsap Sun newspaper. To read it, just click here.

I finally had a chance to check the “around town” mileage today, and it came out to 47.8 mpg. At that rate, our monthly gas bill will be cut by just about two-thirds. I couldn’t be happier.

Enjoying Good Times With Old Friends

Our California friends of some 46 years, Ed and Darlene Wall, stopped by this past week for a couple of days while visiting the Pacific Northwest. They are both natives of the Bremerton area, and my wife and I are mostly Californians. So it seems a bit ironic that they now come to their old haunting grounds to see us.

Whenever Ed and I have a chance to be together, going fishing is high on the priority list. Of course you have to know that the odds of being able to CATCH a fish by just dropping in on a lake, are pretty long. Except for the “Koskela Guide Service.”

We started out at Blackmans Lake, located smack dab in the middle of the city of Snohomish, but had no luck at all. We then headed for Flowing Lake, about ten miles north-northeast, and it wasn’t too long before Ed was fighting a scrappy, young, fat rainbow trout (pic above). We didn’t have a whole lot of time, as we all wanted to drive up to Snoqualmie Falls in the afternoon.

I'm sure Ed is thankful for a competent guide service. To my chagrin, he almost missed the fish while watching a mother duck train her ducklings after I had provided the location, pole, line, bait and may have even baited his hook. Apparently, his mind wanders easily.

Above are Darlene, Ed and Kay Lynne whom I snapped at the Falls overlook. At this time of year, the water is really gushing as you can see.

Good times with old friends is a commodity you can’t purchase. It has to be developed. There were lots of laughs as we recalled several of the more humorous times we’ve shared in the past. Ask Ed sometime about “slippery rock at Donner Lake.” My side hurts from laughing when I think about it.

Moms and Wives

In a parallel life to retirement and a part time work enterprise, I write a bi-weekly Sunday column for the Kitsap Sun, the daily newspaper in Kitsap County, across the Sound. With it being Mother’s Day, for today’s column I gathered some wisps about my mom and some recollections of the day that have all but disappeared.

You can read the post here, if you’d like.

With moms covered in the newspaper piece, I didn’t want this Day to go by without acknowledging moms (and grandmothers) who are also wives. Specifically that includes my wife, Kay Lynne, who, if you ask either of our sons (or any of our grandkids), is deeply loved and acknowledged as “the Great Encourager” by all of them.

So much is required of a good mother, and when one is blessed with a wife who is also a great mom, one is truly blessed. Happy Mother’s Day, KL.

A “Significant” Birthday for Kay Lynne

My wife has a “significant” birthday today. I’m not sposed to reveal her age, so I won’t, but here's a sneak clue: she had her first Medicare deduction this month from S.S.

Her first choice on very special occasions is always to be with family, so this morning we went to the Seattle Children’s Museum (with the son, daughter-in-law and grandson who live nearby) and then had lunch at Chinooks in Seattle’s historic Fisherman’s Terminal. The week following next we’ll repeat the celebration in Oregon with the son, daughter-in-law and three granddaughters who live there.

The pic above of the five of us was taken earlier today at FT, and one or two of the boats you see in the background you might have also seen in the extremely popular TV series Deadliest Catch on the Discovery channel. The few crab boats still here will soon be leaving for the treacherous Alaskan waters to search for and harvest King Crab for your next great restaurant or home dining experience.

Grandma is enjoying her day, and deservedly so. This matriarch is the personification of love, care and understanding for the Koskela clan. Happy Birthday, KL – all shmixtysome years worth! You are loved by all who know you!

Discovering Perspective in Lutheran Worship

The longer my wife and I worship in the Lutheran venue, the more we appreciate its teachings.

During this morning’s worship, we participated in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism for two precious infants who were welcomed into the family of God and whose families and the congregation were commissioned to be an integral part of these young lives until each can declare her own faith at Confirmation. The wonderful photo montage, by the way, is on the main web page of our church, St Andrews Lutheran in Bellevue.

Just as water is needed to sustain physical life, Lutherans believe that the Baptismal water initiates and symbolizes one’s entrance into the kingdom of God. The encompassing support a child receives from family and congregants provides the guidance to lead that young child to his or her own personal faith and salvation.

An idea that is new to Kay Lynne and me is the “sidebar” on each page of our weekly worship bulletins. Each week these informational comments shed light on the particular theme for the week - usually related to the church calendar - or give enlightenment on a liturgical point that we might be celebrating.

As an example, because we had Holy Baptisms today, following is the sidebar which appeared on the first page of our worship order bulletin. It provides a wonderful perspective and deeper understanding as to how Baptism fits in to our faith practice. Here it is:

Today’s Theme – Grace alone is key to our understanding of life with God. In Jesus Christ, we share the promise of forgiveness and new life. By the power of the Holy Spirit, God comes to us again and again through the Means of Grace, the Gospel, Holy Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. This morning we remember God’s enfolding grace that comes to us as we remember our baptisms into the Body of Christ, the Church.

Thanks be to God.

Here Comes #3…

Seven-year-old Aubrey, the youngest of our three granddaughters, has started in organized sports. She had her first tee-ball game this week.

From the pic above, it’s not clear if it’s pitching in her future – or the outfield. Whatever the case, she’s got the moves. Looks like a fun time on the diamond for the next couple of months. Can’t wait to see her play.

Granddaughters Are Athletes!

Granddaughters Hayley (13) and Aubrey (7) are both very busy with Spring sports in Oregon. Seventh grader Hayley had her first track meet yesterday in Forest Grove, and Aubrey has a new baseball glove and is practicing for her first T-ball game.


Pic above shows Hayley running the hurdles yesterday (the girl is athletic – she also long jumps).

Above is Aubrey with her appropriately colored mitt (it’s Aubrey).

Now, if we can just figure out a day or two when all three of them are playing or running, we might be able to catch them all in action on one trip. Talli (15) is on her high school track team as well.

“His Ribs Feel Fine to Me”

Grandson NJ had fun checking out our Cavalier KC Spaniel, Buddy, yesterday, following Grandma’s delicious ham dinner and his mom’s incredible cheesecake. The boy shows signs of future success as a physician, as he seems to be checking the dog very thoroughly.

Above, he’s having fun counting the Easter eggs he found. Come to think of it, he also shows indications he could end up as an accountant. Eggs are pretty much the same as beans, aren’t they?

Click on any photo for a larger image, if you'd like.

“He Is Not Here; For He Has Been Raised, As He Said”

This 14th century painting, The Holy Women at the Sepulchre, by Duccio di Buoninsegna, depicts the early moments of that first Easter morning when the angel proclaimed the exciting news of the Resurrection.

We trust your Easter will be filled with worship, thanksgiving, and celebration of the Risen Christ.

He is risen, indeed!

Rare Old San Francisco Film Footage

Here's something you likely have never seen before. This film was shot with a 35mm camera mounted on the front of a San Francisco streetcar. Note the chaotic traffic system and apparent lack of vehicle regulations. It looks to me like it was possibly shot on Market St. heading east toward the Ferry Building. Recently recovered from long-time storage, the film is said to have been shot just a few days before the great S.F. earthquake in 1906.

A Reflective and Memorable Palm Sunday Holy Communion

Today’s worship service at St Andrews Lutheran Church was perhaps one of the most memorable that I can recall in my dozens of years of church attendance.

As we entered, we noticed that behind the center altar in the circular-shaped sanctuary was a long table with 13 places in a tableau-like scene. Following Scripture readings and prayers, 13 people fell into place at the setting, representing the 12 disciples and Jesus at the Last Supper, or Passover Meal.

Each disciple then offered personal reflections on what it was like for him to follow their leader, Jesus. We learned a bit about each one’s home town, family, calling and commitment.

It was a moving worship experience. We were reminded that Christ chose ordinary people, warts and all, to follow him and embrace a changed perspective for living.

When all had spoken, the entire congregation came to the altar one-by-one to celebrate and participate in Holy Communion. Still today we find our spiritual strength renewed and refreshed with every partaking of the meal elements.

My wife and I have learned to appreciate a fresh and deeper meaning to the Communion sacrament since we have been worshiping in the Lutheran tradition. We have become conscious that the Eucharist is much more than just a “remembrance” or a symbolic ritual.

The Eucharist meal, we now recognize, in a mysterious way provides us and sustains us with what we need to live out the grace of God in our daily encounters and occurrences.

Thanks be to God.

Experience Adds Appreciation

There are certain things in life that you must experience in order to fully appreciate. I suppose a variety of things could fall into this category, but (a) kids and (b) grandkids are certainly two of them.

On Monday night a second cousin of mine gave birth to a beautiful, healthy little girl (click here for their blog story). The feelings and involuntary responses that she and her husband have experienced since then could not have been “explained” to them, nor could they have felt them, ahead of time. But right now they are overwhelmed with love and feelings of bonding for their little sweetheart.

The same was true when Kay Lynne gave birth to our sons, first to Gregg and later to Doug. The intense feelings of love and total acceptance we felt and experienced following their arrivals came totally out-of-the-blue and ended up deep within our beings from where we could not extract them.

The same has been true at the birth of each of our grandchildren. And I’m very happy that things work that way.



For the past two days we were privileged to enjoy time with our sons, daughters-in-law and grandkids at a beautiful ocean beach front vacation home on the coast. Pictured above are all of us just before we left for home (except moi, of course, the “taker”.)

All I can say is that this pleasurable experience has already woven its way deep into my psyche and memory and will forever remain there to “call up” from time to time.

These times together are also occurrences you have to live through to fully grasp. Even so, much takes place at the feeling level, almost subconsciously, and the reality of it all often doesn’t totally sink in until you’ve had a chance to process it.

I think I’m continuing to do that right now, and I’m deeply thankful for each and every one of these incredible human beings whom God has brought into our lives.

A First & A Second For Talli In Track Inaugural

Our high school sophomore granddaughter, Talli, took first place in the 3K run (and beat several boys in the process – note pic) and a second in the 1500 meters on Thursday in a dual meet at Reynolds High School in Troutdale, Oregon, just east of Portland.

What a great start for Talli’s 2010 varsity track season. She ran an 11.36.02 in the 3K and a 5.19.88 in the 1500, getting nosed out by less than 2 seconds. Both are excellent “first race” times, especially when run within an hour of each other. I get tired just thinking about it!

I didn’t know girls ran directly against boys in high school track, but perhaps in a dual meet, when there aren’t that many competitors, they can gain some event efficiencies by doing so. I’m going to ask Talli about it when I see her in a day or so.

Congratulations, Talli. You’re off to a great start for the season!

Happy Birthday, Nikolai

Today, I’ve been told, is the birthday of Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov. But I think I’ll call him "Nick".

Nick may have been one of the first to use a hyphenated last name. He was a Russian musician who lived through the turn of the 20th century. He died just short of 102 years ago.

A passionate and accomplished pianist, Nick became an active composer and was a contemporary of Tchaikovsky. They were “cautious comrades,” however, each proud of, and protective of, his own work.

One of his more well known pieces is Flight of the Bumblebee which closes act III of his opera, The Tale of Tsar Saltan, composed in 1899-1900.

The reason I noticed Nick’s birthday is due to a very creative application of his last name. If you’ve ever been to Portland Oregon’s funky east side, you may have come across the Rimsky-Korsakoffee House, a very popular eatery, coffee gathering place and music bistro. Click here to reach their blog.

My wife and I enjoyed some outstading chamber music there back in the 90’s. Apparently, it’s still going strong.

So, Happy Birthday, Nick. Thanks for your music contribution to our lives!

Some Music Fun

You can't beat this for music improvisation! It was sent to me by my old California friend, "Boof." Click on the arrow below for some great music on video. First grab your guitar/uke/banjo so you can strum along...

Fishing May Take a Back Seat For a While

Life in general, for this retiree, is getting busier rather than calmer. And I couldn’t be more jazzed about it.

Once you’ve been retired for a period of time, daily routines become less than challenging and efficiencies begin to erode. But it’s really only during the last six months or so that I’ve become more aware of the slide toward inadvertent time squandering.

As a result of an incredibly fortuitous set of circumstances, I now have a part time work assignment that I not only am most happy with but also that provides me with an ideal resolution for time malaise. On top of that, the southern California hi-tech company providing this opportunity operates using cutting-edge technology in its field and grants the opportunity for this older guy to stay on top of things.

The only factor for which I’ll now have to incorporate some creative efficiency is the fact that I’ll have less overall time for my favorite recreational enterprise: salmon, steelhead and trout fishing. Somehow, though, I’ve got a feeling I’ll still be able to work it in from time to time.

Btw, the pic is of the largest trout I’ve ever caught. It was a 17-pound Brown Trout that I hooked in Lake Michigan near Sturgeon Bay, WI three years ago this April. I still can appreciate it everyday because it's mounted on my office wall. (Sorry about the shirt dishevelment in the photo; I wasn't exactly focused on attire.)

Finding the “Right” Church Is a Challenging Experience

Since we moved to the Eastside (actually the NorthEastside) of the Seattle metro area just over four months ago, my wife and I have been “church hunting” on most Sundays. We’ve been to many churches once but we have visited two churches several times at least.

Today, after a wonderful worship experience at St. Andrews Lutheran in Bellevue (above pic), Kay Lynne and I agreed that we may not have to look much more. It’s a good feeling to be finally zeroing-in on what could become our church “home.” We very much miss the wonderful experiences we had at First Lutheran Church in Poulsbo when we lived in Kitsap County.

As an overview, St Andrews maintains a traditional, orthodox, liturgical worship service (which fits our particular needs at this point in life) with an inclusive, broad-based membership that crosses apparently all socio-economic categories as well as a fairly balanced age distribution from the very young to the very aged (thankfully :). Holy communion is celebrated each Sunday.

The primary preaching minister (and senior Pastor) is the Rev. James McEachran (right), a learned Bible scholar and superb communicator. He’s been at the church since 1983 and appears to be loved and esteemed by the congregation.

One of the things most attractive to us at St Andrews is the incredible variety of Bible studies and opportunities for growth and learning. It looks like there’s no excuse here for relaxing into complacency regarding one’s faith journey.

I won’t be so bold as to say our “church search” is over, but I think we both agree that we’re going to give St Andrews every opportunity to become our church home. Thanks be to God.

It’s “Almost” Spring…

We got outside for a walk and then some play time on the patio today, as the days are getting longer and warmer, though it was hard to tell in the cool back yard shade this afternoon.

Our grandson NJ is simply happy anytime he can go outside, even if he has to bundle up. Today Kay Lynne caught this pic of him sitting in his own “big boy” patio chair.

Of course he’s not a charmer, or anything like that…

About Time I Posted Something

I got a phone call today from my former business partner and California fishing buddy, Ed Wall, pictured above this past Christmas with his lovely wife, Darlene.

“How long are we going to have to look at that five- or six-inch long fish?” he asked, referring to a photo in the last post.

“FIVE OR SIX INCHES,” I responded. “It’s at least 15” long.”

“Can’t be if those are ‘two-by-fours’ it’s laying on,” he retorted.

“Ah, but they are two by eights,” I pointed out.

Turns out, he was bored silly and was looking for fresh reading material. Admittedly my last post was two full weeks old.

Well, now it isn’t.

At least Ed has something to read tonight. They were planning to fly out at midnight to visit their son’s family in Maine, but the east coast snow storm cancelled their flight.

Flowing Lake Yields Nice Rainbow on First Trip

When I stuck my head out the door at 6:30 yesterday morning to check the weather for possible fishing, it felt very cold and it was raining steadily. A perfect reason to head back in for a few more winks.

But by noon the rain had stopped, and the sun, trying to peek through here and there, had warmed the temp a bit. I decided that an afternoon trip to Flowing Lake (see Jan 21 post) might be in the cards.

Finally got there around 3 p.m. only to find the “free” dock loaded with more fishermen than it was designed to hold. So I went back around the lake to the State Park at the north end where I had to pay a small fee to park and fish.

But I was then the only one on the dock.

The top pic, taken with my cell phone cam, shows how beautiful and peaceful it was from that vantage point. I was actually fishing by 3:30 and enjoyed a very quiet 30 minutes with nothing but an occasional dog bark in the distance.

I decided to move the bait a few feet along the bottom (a technique used to sometimes arouse a fish’s interest), and it wasn’t five minutes till the pole tip was twitching furiously.

The fish felt good, so I loosened the drag a bit and let him make several tiring runs. I was then able to ease him out of the water onto the dock to get a closer look at what I had caught. Not spectacular, but it was a very nice 15” rainbow trout (yes, I measured it – 15-1/4” actually – see photo above). He was what we call a “pounder” (weighs about a pound).

I left him in the water on the stringer to swim around until I gutted him just before leaving for home. That kept the fish nice and fresh in case we want to cook him up in a day or so. All in all, it was one of the best “first-time-at-a-lake” experiences I think I’ve ever had.