Cabinets Today?

The drywall was finished in the kitchen on Saturday and the expectation is that today the cabinets will be unpacked and laid out. Hurray! Maybe when I return home tonight, it will begin to look like a kitchen again.

A couple pictures below of our kitchen in its current state and of outside cooking arrangement. Camping on Islamare lake at a campsite just off the lakefront.

Scott Peterson

Some of you know that I'm a talk show/celebrity trial junkie. You can blame that on O.J.

So the big aha moment in the Scott Peterson trial might have come today from his own mouth as wire tap tapes of him talking on his phone to his mom or dad or picking up messages from his voice mail. In January, a few weeks after Laci's disappearance, someone told the police that a woman said she was being kidnapped in a Washington convenience store. Scott's mom left him a message about the "news" of this sighting on his voice mail. As he was retrieving the message, his mom said that a relative was putting up posters in the Washington area - and Scott laughs! Not the reaction of a distraught man looking for his "lost" wife - more like one who knows that the posters won't do any good.

Weekend Past

Confined to the upper floor
Chaos reigns below
I with two remotes
Rest among Olympics and Golf

Muted and split screened
Watch beach volleyball and Cink
Chatting about books to Ash
Are typed jokes funny?

Adult snow cones on patio
Conversing with neighbors
Dinner out with the Bethkes
A lake cruise to complete the day

Camping Memories

Perhaps from reading Angle of Repose or Jonathan's and Sarah's blog, I began thinking about what the West meant to me and how I've experienced it. The closest I've been to my concept of the West is through camping, whether it be in the valley of Yosemite or on the beach, and I realize that it has been a couple of years since my last excursion into our closest "wilderness".

As my daughter and wife can attest, a long road trip up the central valley or into the deserts and mountains of the western states is never complete without my commenting on the difficulty the western pioneers must have encountered and endured as they transited long stretches of sand or rocky precipices. What kind of characters left the 'comfort' of the known to venture thousands of miles to the new land of opportunity? Especially those who came before the train made its way across the continent.

My paternal grandfather came to California from the mid-West in the early 1900's and my maternal grandmother came in the early 30's. But granddad was an attorney and my grandmother married one, so their experiences were not of the working men and women who had come earlier, but rather those of a smaller subset of professional, college educated men and women whose education itself provided status.

But when I think of the West, I reach back a little further into the 1800's and think of those who ventured here before or soon after the gold rush. Hardy and self-reliant men (and a few women) who survived by adapting and hard work. Men who explored the wonders of hidden valleys and deserts, saw new flora and fauna, learned from the natives already here and found a way to prosper when they let their imaginations run with new possibilities.

So here I sit in an air-conditioned office with a sometimes view of the mountains and think about camping. It's been too long, but perhaps (obviously) I've also gotten a little soft.

I like the smell of the mountain air and the crispness of an autumn or late spring morning. I like the closeness of a mummy sleeping bag and the pull to remain in it as long as possible. I don't like that the call of nature forces me out of the tent at dawn. I like bacon cooking over a camp stove along with eggs and Tom's potatoes. I don't like having to clean up in a small wash basin with water so cold it hurts your hands. I like watching sunshine fight its way through the trees to warm the morning ground. I don't like it when it rains and forces us into the tent or nearby motel. I'm glad for baseball caps, because I don't like bed head. I love the glimpse of deer/coyote/bear along the meadow, but hate it when there isn't a turnout to take a picture. I like hikes along streams and waterfalls, but hate altitude induced headaches. I like quiet afternoons when the breeze rustles through the pine needles and dislike those who don't. I like the preparation of steaks or burgers on the grill and I love smores or more than smores over a campfire. I like sitting around the fire warming your feet as the sky darkens, but I don't like it when the smoke chooses me as the one to envelop. And did I mention that I like to climb into a warm, cozy sleeping bag as the night stars begin their show?

I'm sure those of the 1800's would find me spoiled and pampered what with nylon and Gore-tex fabrics rather than canvas or flannel, with piped water to the campsite rather than buckets carried from the stream, to arrival by car rather than horse or foot, and to cooking by propane rather than hand-chopped wood. But, at least, they didn't share their meadow with hundreds of their closest "friends".

I think it's time to start planning an autumnal outing!!

Debris of 30 Years

The z-brick and turquoise wallpaper previously hidden away is now gone along with nearly all the drywall, piled two or three feet high in the driveway awaiting its dump destiny. How many breakfasts were eaten, sandwiches made, dinners prepared in that fixture of our home? Soon (cabinets arrive Friday) to be replaced with a new design, flooring, cabinets and appliances and a new way to cook (gas).

We even tore out the small closet under the stairs where Ashley, as a child, would secret herself away for prayer. It was only recently that we found that she had been burning candles in there when we found the burned and discarded matches! But Carolyn had the workers retain the header board with Ash's writing of Scripture. There are some memories that won't be easily tossed.

All had been going fairly well until the HVAC guy found mold on the back drywall, so we'll have to do a little extra drywall replacement in the garage. Par for the course. Will we be without hot water for a day or two? We'll see.

Without a Kitchen

Life is interesting at our old homestead as our kitchen is down to the studs in most places, new electrical wires and lighting cans abound, the flooring is old adhesive atop concrete and the air conditioning runs directly into the kitchen without (currently) any sheet metal directing it into the living room.

The microwave is in our game room along with the coffee pot, the refrigerator is in the garage, our camping stove is set up on the patio along with the BBQ. So meal preparation often entails obtaining frozen components from the garage, defrosting in the microwave upstairs, and cooking on the patio. Then cleanup (without a garbage disposal - Ash/Bryce we feel your pain) in the sink in our garage with the dish drainer draped on the washing machine. I feel like we should have a washing machine on the porch and a car on blocks on the front lawn.

But we manage. Carolyn has even continued with interesting and gourmet dinners and then there is always takeout/takeaway! We're hoping the electrical rough-in will be finished today, followed next week with inspections and drywall repair. Maybe the cabinets will begin to be installed in a week! That would feel like real progress.

Angle of Repose

Well, last night we began reading the Angle of Repose and we took a suggestion from Ashley and Bryce by reading it aloud to each other (even though I read last night). I don't think that is something we've ever done before for more than a few pages of a book or article. We enjoyed it.

We might be coming from a different place than most in the book club as the Doppler effect is more pronounced the older one becomes. I can identify with Lyman's interest in his familial past and his connection to the history of a small part of this world as last year I was heavily into researching my genealogy.

I just hope we can keep up with the reading requirements established by our director (Ashley) and her questions about plot/character/themes that are part of her current mental processes! Well, we will do our best to follow along.

Sea World

Or a day in the soak zone! It's always difficult to get two females on the road, so after I'd read the paper, made coffee, showered and shaved, gone to get a haircut, had my car washed, I came home to find Carolyn still in her nightgown and Katie still asleep. So after a conversation with Ashley in Scotland and the necessary preparations, we left home around 11 a.m. and stopped at I Love Bagels for a late breakfast or early lunch.

But the traffic on Saturday was terrible and I think it took 2 1/2 hours to make it to Mission Bay. We began our tour with the Manatees and then took in the Arctic Zone and the Shark exhibit.

Mid-afternoon we got some smoothies to ward off our hunger pains and then we went over to the Shamu stadium early enough to get third row seats which were clearly within the 16 row "soak zone". It's been a long time since I've seen these massive creatures perform. I'd forgotten how large (9,000 lbs) and how fast they are! His first lap around the pool sent waves of water over the lip of the pool to completely soak the kids who lined up below.

Then the trainers joined in by "riding" the killer whales as they did barrel rolls or leapt out of the water. A really amazing performance by both women (all the trainers this session) and whale.

After getting somewhat wet with Shamu, we decided to finish the process by taking Shipwreck Rapids. After a 90 minute snaking-line wait, we made it to our "raft" just as the sun was getting ready to set. We got soaked!! Water down Carolyn's back as we went down rapids and under the waterfall and my shorts and shirt were pretty wet as well. We'd seen enough, and we headed back on a much quicker trip to home where we all changed into warmer/dryer clothes and had a smorgasboard of leftovers to finish the day. A fun one at that.

Tongues - Part 2

I'm a little delayed in posting this second half of my earlier post as the sermon on part two was given two Sundays ago.

This Sunday the concentration was on 1 Corinthian 14 verses 20 to 22. In verse 20, Paul admonishes the Corinthians to "stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults." Paul is telling them to disregard the childish 'Corinthian tongues'. We see throughout the Bible that incomprehensible, incoherent speech is always a sign of God's displeasure as in Babel or Deut. 28:49.

In verse 22, Paul writes "tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers." Here Paul differentiates between tongues as a "sign gift" like in Acts 2 where peoples of differing nations heard the gospel in their own language. It was for the benefit of unbelievers or skeptics so they might hear the Word whereas prophecy, or teaching, is for the benefit of believers. Paul leaves open the door for tongues as a gift in unusual circumstances to authenticate the speaker.

Some might ask if there is a place/admonition for a prayer language outside of the worship service. For instance, I Cor 13 "if I speak in the tongues of men and of angels" might suggest an angelic tongue. However, there is no Biblical basis for an angelic language. In fact, angels as spirit beings would not even have the physical ability to speak through vocal chords, etc. When angels do appear to humans they take on human form and one can infer that they speak the language the human understands. When angels "speak" to each other, it is probable that their communication is on an entirely different level than through vocal utterances.

Our pastor's conclusion was that our God is one of order, and it makes more sense (in the absence of contrary Biblical teaching) that God would want us to understand our own prayers to Him through our native language rather than communicate with Him in an unintelligible prayer language that we can't even objectively translate. His greater aim would be for us to communicate with Him more frequently and intimately.

Kids and Tents

As Katie, Carolyn and I sat around the outside patio table eating salad and BBQd steaks last night, we talked about camping and found that Katie had never been camping! The discussion progressed and soon I was pulling out Ashley's two person (Carolyn would say one person) tent and pitched it on the front lawn along with a pad and sleeping bag for Katie. That, however, negated watching the scary movie Katie and Carolyn had chosen for our night's entertainment. As we drifted off to sleep with our windows open, I could hear Katie talking on her cell phone to her mom from the tent. Now there is a cultural statement if ever there was.

We'll have to indoctrinate Katie into a more complete camping experience some other time when we venture up to Yosemite or some other national park. As I left this morning, the yellow tent stood out on our front lawn as testimony that she'd made it through the night without attack from possums or raccoons and, thankfully, we'd remembered to turn off the automatic sprinklers.

Day at the Getty

Saturday we went with our friends, Paul and Marcia, to the Getty for our quarterly cultural fix. I can't believe that we hadn't been before, but the journey through LA traffic is not my favorite weekend activity. We explored all the buildings while looking at Manet, Monet, Pissaro, Van Gogh, sculptures, Renaissance art, furniture making, etc. Then we wandered the lovely gardens and had lunch before heading home.

A few pictures from our day.