Sunday, October 31, 2004
Halloween on Islamare
Horror and fun at the end of Islamare with the Bethkes and Jonathon providing most of the terror (although my outfit might scare more than a few)!!
Saturday, October 30, 2004
Weekend Pictures
After a welcome conversation with my daughter this morning, I thought I'd post two more of my favorite pictures from our trip to visit Ashley and Bryce this past December.
St. Andrews Cathedral Cemetery
St. Andrews Cathedral Cemetery
St. Andrews Cathedral Cemetery
St. Andrews Cathedral Cemetery
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Create a Caption
Does this picture disturb you as much as it does me?
I challenge you all to leave an appropriate caption.
I challenge you all to leave an appropriate caption.
Monday, October 25, 2004
Fall Weekend
This last weekend was a nice Fall weekend. We started off in the morning cleaning up the yard of fallen leaves, etc. to quickly change from sweatshirts to t-shirts after about 15 minutes as the day warmed up just enough to take the chill off. It was nice to see the trees beginning to change color a little after the change in temps with our two or three days of rain (a good start for the rainy season).
A few other chores and some college football took up the rest of the afternoon and then we took a "Halloween Cruise" with the Bethkes whose boat was decorated with pumpkins, witches and small skeleton lights.
Church service was dedicated to missionary work and emphasized the dramatic increase in Christianity with the last 40 years, primarily in China and South Korea. The swath of countries from Indo-China through the Middle East to northern Africa remains the most difficult and least evangelized area in the world.
Sunday lunch was nachos with cheese, black beans, salsa and guacamole with brewskis as we watched some pro football. We ate enough that we didn't even have dinner! After some computer/financial work, I then caught the second game of the World Series and watched Boston go up 2 to 0.
Obviously, not an over-taxing weekend, but just fun to relax and enjoy our home and neighborhood. Hope you had a good weekend as well.
A few other chores and some college football took up the rest of the afternoon and then we took a "Halloween Cruise" with the Bethkes whose boat was decorated with pumpkins, witches and small skeleton lights.
Church service was dedicated to missionary work and emphasized the dramatic increase in Christianity with the last 40 years, primarily in China and South Korea. The swath of countries from Indo-China through the Middle East to northern Africa remains the most difficult and least evangelized area in the world.
Sunday lunch was nachos with cheese, black beans, salsa and guacamole with brewskis as we watched some pro football. We ate enough that we didn't even have dinner! After some computer/financial work, I then caught the second game of the World Series and watched Boston go up 2 to 0.
Obviously, not an over-taxing weekend, but just fun to relax and enjoy our home and neighborhood. Hope you had a good weekend as well.
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
October Poker
Poker is more fun when you win
Like roulette balls that spin
And to your number slot don't fall
Losing is no fun at all
Six or seven is better than four
Players only wishing for more
To share the betting or deal
Or fixing a snack or meal
Where were the cards for me to make
Four of a kind,a flush or a straight
No, this week my fate just to lose
Next month, perhaps I'll have better news
Like roulette balls that spin
And to your number slot don't fall
Losing is no fun at all
Six or seven is better than four
Players only wishing for more
To share the betting or deal
Or fixing a snack or meal
Where were the cards for me to make
Four of a kind,a flush or a straight
No, this week my fate just to lose
Next month, perhaps I'll have better news
Monday, October 18, 2004
Sunday's Sermon
Do you sometimes think about skipping church when your senior pastor isn't preaching and the church will be having a guest preacher? In the past, I sometimes have felt that way, but not at Pacific Coast Church as every "substitute" I've heard has been excellent.
Dr. Richard Mayhue who is the Dean of Masters Seminary (www.tms.edu) preached this last Sunday. The first thing that caught my attention was when he stated that he is invited to numerous churches to preach and in some cases he refuses as they wouldn't be open to his preaching faithfully from the Word. That I considered a strong rebuke.
He spoke on Revelation 1:9-17 and its description of Christ. Nowhere else in the Bible do we get any information about Jesus' physicality - his height, musculature, eye color, or prominent features. But in these verses we see Christ in his glory as our high priest and John doesn't sit down and talk with him, but falls at his feet overcome by his righteousness, his glory, his magnificence. A position that we will all find ourselves in some day, hopefully in thankfulness and adoration, rather than in submission and despair.
Dr. Richard Mayhue who is the Dean of Masters Seminary (www.tms.edu) preached this last Sunday. The first thing that caught my attention was when he stated that he is invited to numerous churches to preach and in some cases he refuses as they wouldn't be open to his preaching faithfully from the Word. That I considered a strong rebuke.
He spoke on Revelation 1:9-17 and its description of Christ. Nowhere else in the Bible do we get any information about Jesus' physicality - his height, musculature, eye color, or prominent features. But in these verses we see Christ in his glory as our high priest and John doesn't sit down and talk with him, but falls at his feet overcome by his righteousness, his glory, his magnificence. A position that we will all find ourselves in some day, hopefully in thankfulness and adoration, rather than in submission and despair.
Friday, October 15, 2004
Friday's Pics
Two of my favorites from our trip to London and Scotland in December 2003 where we had a great time with Ashley and Bryce.
London Park
Stirling Castle
London Park
Stirling Castle
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Don't Try This After Drinking
Click on the this for a look at an optical illusion that will test your sobriety.
Pleasant Evening
Got home Monday night fairly quickly as Columbus Day kept some of the public servants and students off the freeway. The day had been partially overcast with high clouds as a quick moving front passed through the area - a promise of "cooler" days to come.
I pulled in the trash cans and refilled the recycle bin about 3/4 full with more cardboard left over from the new appliances and boxes from our kitchen. (Wanda had come over on Saturday to help Carolyn start to put things back in the kitchen as most of the cabinets were now available even though plumbing and electrical items remain to be completed.) Carolyn was baking a Trader Joe's lasagna in our new oven and learning how to use the new controls and we ate at our new marble countertop and imagined how it will be to have running water, a dishwasher (no garage sink), a garbage disposal, and how good it will look with a new copper hood and painted!
We checked e-mail and blogs, did a little financial work and watched a smattering of national news. Then we watched American Dreams from last Sunday night (a DVR is a nice new addition to cable) which was focused on the Vietnam war, and then headed down to the jacuzzi for a hot soak under a dark sky. We enjoyed it but could only handle it for about 10 minutes and we were still so warm we sat out on our bedroom deck and talked while wrapped in our beach towels. Not something you could comfortably do in Edinburgh, I suspect. Then it was off to a warm bed at 9:30 or so. Quite pleasant!
Throughout the night, we had flashes of lightning and distant rolling thunder and even a little rain as the front raced through Southern California. A little bit of nature's drama for our typically weather challenged area.
I pulled in the trash cans and refilled the recycle bin about 3/4 full with more cardboard left over from the new appliances and boxes from our kitchen. (Wanda had come over on Saturday to help Carolyn start to put things back in the kitchen as most of the cabinets were now available even though plumbing and electrical items remain to be completed.) Carolyn was baking a Trader Joe's lasagna in our new oven and learning how to use the new controls and we ate at our new marble countertop and imagined how it will be to have running water, a dishwasher (no garage sink), a garbage disposal, and how good it will look with a new copper hood and painted!
We checked e-mail and blogs, did a little financial work and watched a smattering of national news. Then we watched American Dreams from last Sunday night (a DVR is a nice new addition to cable) which was focused on the Vietnam war, and then headed down to the jacuzzi for a hot soak under a dark sky. We enjoyed it but could only handle it for about 10 minutes and we were still so warm we sat out on our bedroom deck and talked while wrapped in our beach towels. Not something you could comfortably do in Edinburgh, I suspect. Then it was off to a warm bed at 9:30 or so. Quite pleasant!
Throughout the night, we had flashes of lightning and distant rolling thunder and even a little rain as the front raced through Southern California. A little bit of nature's drama for our typically weather challenged area.
Saturday, October 09, 2004
Kitchen Update
The marble is down and Carolyn is beginning to put some things away! We have electrical outlets and lights to finish along with the installation of plumbing, dishwasher and the copper hood and painting, but the kitchen is usable and looks fantastic!
Friday Pictures (a little late)
Here are some pictures from Yellowstone National Park on a road trip when Ashley was 13 and we drove about 3000 miles in 11 days to Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Oregon. Ashley had her head in a book a lot of the time, so she may not remember the scenery!
Yellowstone Meadow
Yellowstone Falls
Yellowstone Meadow
Yellowstone Falls
Wednesday, October 06, 2004
Liquid and Electronics
Just a word to my fellow bloggers - wine and keyboards don't mix! A made a clumsy mistake the other day by spilling a nice glass of wine which basically fried my keyboard. I tried typing in a username on one of my websites and Hutchins sort of came out like HutCJkEwgSS. Needless to say, I couldn't access that site or my blog and Carolyn couldn't get her email from our desktop computer. Today I picked up a new keyboard and we are online again. Hurrah!!
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
Musical Interlude
If you have high-speed access, you might enjoy the singing talents of 'George Bush' and 'John Kerry' at this site. Just click the title "Musical Interlude" which is linked to www.jibjab.com and then on This Land is My Land.
Monday, October 04, 2004
Weekend Pictures
A few pictures from our fun weekend
Steve, Carolyn and Debbie
Artist Capturing the Street Scene
Art on Display
Outside a Winery
Justin Winery - Dave's Domain
Justin Winery
Steve, Carolyn and Debbie
Artist Capturing the Street Scene
Art on Display
Outside a Winery
Justin Winery - Dave's Domain
Justin Winery
Fun Weekend
We had a great weekend with Steve and Debbie Kanda as we drove up to San Luis Obispo for a three day experience of art and vineyards.
Starting off an hour late on Friday at 11:30, we motored up to SLO in the back seat of Steph's Solara (Steve and she had traded cars for a couple of weeks) and made it up to the Apple Farm Inn and checked in only to find our rooms rather small and disappointing to Debbie who had stayed there a number of other times in the much larger rooms. After Debbie and Carolyn talked with the front desk, we moved into the main inn for Friday night only at the same rate as the smaller room. This room had a bigger sitting area, a bed you could easily get around, a closet (not just an armoire), a bathroom with a tub, and luxurious robes! Much nicer.
We headed into SLO for dinner at Firestones for burgers and beers while watching the college crowd begin to assemble for a later night than we four were up for. Then back to the Inn for a good night's sleep.
We met for breakfast at 9:30 at the Apple Farm restaurant for a big breakfast and then we headed off to the quick draw competition that was being held at the mission. The artists including Robin Cloud (Carolyn's art teacher) had 1 1/2 hours in which to sketch, paint and frame a piece for the competition. It was fun to see how good they all were and their various "takes" on the same general area. At noon, they began an outdoor auction and while we tried to acquire a couple of them, they often went for several hundred dollars more than we were willing to pay. Most went from $600 to $1500.
After watching about 2/3's of the auction, we headed into the foothills for wine tasting. We sampled a few whites, but mostly reds from several wineries as we enjoyed the rolling hill vistas and warm temperatures modified later in the day by a slight sea breeze. We bought a few bottles for our new wine refrig and some argon gas to "seal" those occasional unfinished bottles. Then back to the Inn (and our new smaller, original rooms) to change and head to the evening art auction and buffet.
Skewered chicken, sausage and beef with asparagus, salads and wine from Edna Vineyards (where we had visited earlier in the day) provided us with our evening sustenance as we viewed three pieces from each of the 50 or so artists that were available for silent auction beginning with a reserve price. Most of the reserve prices were $900 and above with only a few less than that so we just enjoyed mingling and viewing with no buying.
We finished up the evening having desert at ColdStone and visiting bubble gum alley where tens of thousands of pieces of gum have been deposited along 100' of a very narrow alley as 'tributes' from students over three of four decades. No one wanted to touch the wall!
Sunday morning we had breakfast in bed and checked out at noon and headed up to Templeton to meet Dave and Tim, friends of Steph and Manny from Cal Poly, to visit Dave's workplace - Justin Vineyards. A long drive through two lane, rolling hills following these former offensive lineman led us to a spectacular winery and small inn. Dave had arranged for lunch which was excellent and then led us through the winery and the cellars which are carved out of the hillside.
Dave is the Cellar Master in charge of the thousands of barrels of wine stacked five or more high and which in December had cascaded down after a 6.5 earthquake ruining about 200 barrels of wine and leading to their Orphan bottles which were delicious mixes of a wide variety of reds. Back in the tasting room, we joined the wine club and found a former SMCHS 2000 grad pouring behind the counter. Small world.
Steve continued his driving duties which I thoroughly enjoyed as we left late and headed home with a quick stop at Peabody's in Montecito for dinner and then onto to Torrance, where we traded out cars with Steph at around 11 and made it home at midnight. The only problem was the 5:30 start to this Monday morning.
We laughed a lot and just enjoyed each other's company and heard tales from the SLO days about Manny and his 20x20 at In N Out and licking chocolate pudding out of the serving bowl at Hometown Buffet with the football squad. Those images kept Carolyn and Debbie laughing so much on the return trip that I think their ribs hurt this morning.
Pictures will follow.
Starting off an hour late on Friday at 11:30, we motored up to SLO in the back seat of Steph's Solara (Steve and she had traded cars for a couple of weeks) and made it up to the Apple Farm Inn and checked in only to find our rooms rather small and disappointing to Debbie who had stayed there a number of other times in the much larger rooms. After Debbie and Carolyn talked with the front desk, we moved into the main inn for Friday night only at the same rate as the smaller room. This room had a bigger sitting area, a bed you could easily get around, a closet (not just an armoire), a bathroom with a tub, and luxurious robes! Much nicer.
We headed into SLO for dinner at Firestones for burgers and beers while watching the college crowd begin to assemble for a later night than we four were up for. Then back to the Inn for a good night's sleep.
We met for breakfast at 9:30 at the Apple Farm restaurant for a big breakfast and then we headed off to the quick draw competition that was being held at the mission. The artists including Robin Cloud (Carolyn's art teacher) had 1 1/2 hours in which to sketch, paint and frame a piece for the competition. It was fun to see how good they all were and their various "takes" on the same general area. At noon, they began an outdoor auction and while we tried to acquire a couple of them, they often went for several hundred dollars more than we were willing to pay. Most went from $600 to $1500.
After watching about 2/3's of the auction, we headed into the foothills for wine tasting. We sampled a few whites, but mostly reds from several wineries as we enjoyed the rolling hill vistas and warm temperatures modified later in the day by a slight sea breeze. We bought a few bottles for our new wine refrig and some argon gas to "seal" those occasional unfinished bottles. Then back to the Inn (and our new smaller, original rooms) to change and head to the evening art auction and buffet.
Skewered chicken, sausage and beef with asparagus, salads and wine from Edna Vineyards (where we had visited earlier in the day) provided us with our evening sustenance as we viewed three pieces from each of the 50 or so artists that were available for silent auction beginning with a reserve price. Most of the reserve prices were $900 and above with only a few less than that so we just enjoyed mingling and viewing with no buying.
We finished up the evening having desert at ColdStone and visiting bubble gum alley where tens of thousands of pieces of gum have been deposited along 100' of a very narrow alley as 'tributes' from students over three of four decades. No one wanted to touch the wall!
Sunday morning we had breakfast in bed and checked out at noon and headed up to Templeton to meet Dave and Tim, friends of Steph and Manny from Cal Poly, to visit Dave's workplace - Justin Vineyards. A long drive through two lane, rolling hills following these former offensive lineman led us to a spectacular winery and small inn. Dave had arranged for lunch which was excellent and then led us through the winery and the cellars which are carved out of the hillside.
Dave is the Cellar Master in charge of the thousands of barrels of wine stacked five or more high and which in December had cascaded down after a 6.5 earthquake ruining about 200 barrels of wine and leading to their Orphan bottles which were delicious mixes of a wide variety of reds. Back in the tasting room, we joined the wine club and found a former SMCHS 2000 grad pouring behind the counter. Small world.
Steve continued his driving duties which I thoroughly enjoyed as we left late and headed home with a quick stop at Peabody's in Montecito for dinner and then onto to Torrance, where we traded out cars with Steph at around 11 and made it home at midnight. The only problem was the 5:30 start to this Monday morning.
We laughed a lot and just enjoyed each other's company and heard tales from the SLO days about Manny and his 20x20 at In N Out and licking chocolate pudding out of the serving bowl at Hometown Buffet with the football squad. Those images kept Carolyn and Debbie laughing so much on the return trip that I think their ribs hurt this morning.
Pictures will follow.
Friday, October 01, 2004
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Dan the New Jeb
From hughhewitt.com, and in reference to my earlier post on Dan Rather, I thought some of my older readers would enjoy this reach into our cultural time capsule to adapt this TV theme song to the current situation at SeeBS.
Courtesy of Bud Vesta:
The Ballad of Dan Rather
(Sung to the tune from the Beverly Hillbillies)
Come and listen to my story 'bout a man named Dan,
The documents were fake and he didn't give a damn;
He put 'em on the air, an' he thought he'd done the job,
But up from the web come a howlin' mob.
Blogs, that is.
Web logs.
Checkin' facts.
Well, the first thing you know ol' Dan's a-runnin' fast;
Made a false report an' it bit him in the ass;
He said 'dog-gonnit, I done thought I'd get away!'
But it turned out to be his a-reckonin' day.
Busted, that is.
Red-faced.
Mud in the eye.
Well, now it's time to say goodbye to Dan and all his men;
And they would like to shoot you folks for turnin' them in;
You're all invited back next week to watch the Evening News,
And see which correspondent's picked to fill Dan's empty shoes.
Y'all come back, now, hear?
Courtesy of Bud Vesta:
The Ballad of Dan Rather
(Sung to the tune from the Beverly Hillbillies)
Come and listen to my story 'bout a man named Dan,
The documents were fake and he didn't give a damn;
He put 'em on the air, an' he thought he'd done the job,
But up from the web come a howlin' mob.
Blogs, that is.
Web logs.
Checkin' facts.
Well, the first thing you know ol' Dan's a-runnin' fast;
Made a false report an' it bit him in the ass;
He said 'dog-gonnit, I done thought I'd get away!'
But it turned out to be his a-reckonin' day.
Busted, that is.
Red-faced.
Mud in the eye.
Well, now it's time to say goodbye to Dan and all his men;
And they would like to shoot you folks for turnin' them in;
You're all invited back next week to watch the Evening News,
And see which correspondent's picked to fill Dan's empty shoes.
Y'all come back, now, hear?
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Poker Part 2
Well, I think our Texas Hold 'em poker night will become a monthly male bonding, take your money, eat chips, kid each other night out with the "boys".
We met at Jim Hill's home last night and played with a new set of 11.5 gram clay poker chips which Paul had purchased (along with its own stainless steel carrying case) from Costco. Taking a short time out to watch the Angels hold off Texas in the bottom of the ninth with bases loaded and no outs and win 5 to 3, we played until 11. Carolyn called around 10 pm to tell me that the electricity was out in our neighborhood for the second night in a row, but with candles burning and my luck holding, I convinced her she would be OK until I got home. She is now worried that I like poker more than I love her (totally untrue), but thankfully the lights came back on around twenty minutes later and before I got home.
The cards were good to me for the second time (along with a new found skill - ha!) and I came home with $34 more than I left with. So I think I garnered some grace from Carolyn. Good thing I didn't lose!
We met at Jim Hill's home last night and played with a new set of 11.5 gram clay poker chips which Paul had purchased (along with its own stainless steel carrying case) from Costco. Taking a short time out to watch the Angels hold off Texas in the bottom of the ninth with bases loaded and no outs and win 5 to 3, we played until 11. Carolyn called around 10 pm to tell me that the electricity was out in our neighborhood for the second night in a row, but with candles burning and my luck holding, I convinced her she would be OK until I got home. She is now worried that I like poker more than I love her (totally untrue), but thankfully the lights came back on around twenty minutes later and before I got home.
The cards were good to me for the second time (along with a new found skill - ha!) and I came home with $34 more than I left with. So I think I garnered some grace from Carolyn. Good thing I didn't lose!
Monday, September 27, 2004
Lakeside Living
Carolyn was away on Friday night on a Community Bible Study retreat up in Costa Mesa and so I watched a college football game and the Ultimate Fighting Championships. The UFC involves boxing (without padded gloves), kick boxing and judo. Totally brutal as contestants use elbows, rabbit punches and submission holds to subdue their opponent. It makes boxing look like it's for sissies. You wouldn't want to find yourself in an alley with any of these guys.
Saturday I tackled mowing the lawn and cleaning the yard before joining the Bethkes and Dennis' brother and sister-in-law for the annual visual scavenger hunt on the lake. We had about 15 boats participating by gleaning answers to clues about various architectural details or paraphernalia at various lakefront homes. Using our years of experience, we won by a large margin and collected our prize of Starbucks coffee at the BBQ at the Club that followed.
I got home around 8:30 and then watched both the Arkansas-Alabama and the Stanford-USC games that I had earlier digitally recorded. Using the fast forward extensively, I watched both Arkansas and USC win in just over an hour! You don't realize how much wasted time there is in a televised football game until you use a DVR. Carolyn got back around 9:30 and we headed to bed.
Sunday, Pastor Mike continued his preaching on Corinthians 15 and death as the consequence of man's sin - both spiritually and biologically. Then we stopped by Wanda's to trim a few trees in her front yard and went to Proud Marys in Dana Point harbor for lunch. The weekend was beautiful and the air just the right temperature as we dined by the harbor. We finished up the afternoon back on the Bethke's deck just talking and having a few glasses of wine as the sunset colored wispy clouds with reds and purples. A pleasant finish to a weekend.
Saturday I tackled mowing the lawn and cleaning the yard before joining the Bethkes and Dennis' brother and sister-in-law for the annual visual scavenger hunt on the lake. We had about 15 boats participating by gleaning answers to clues about various architectural details or paraphernalia at various lakefront homes. Using our years of experience, we won by a large margin and collected our prize of Starbucks coffee at the BBQ at the Club that followed.
I got home around 8:30 and then watched both the Arkansas-Alabama and the Stanford-USC games that I had earlier digitally recorded. Using the fast forward extensively, I watched both Arkansas and USC win in just over an hour! You don't realize how much wasted time there is in a televised football game until you use a DVR. Carolyn got back around 9:30 and we headed to bed.
Sunday, Pastor Mike continued his preaching on Corinthians 15 and death as the consequence of man's sin - both spiritually and biologically. Then we stopped by Wanda's to trim a few trees in her front yard and went to Proud Marys in Dana Point harbor for lunch. The weekend was beautiful and the air just the right temperature as we dined by the harbor. We finished up the afternoon back on the Bethke's deck just talking and having a few glasses of wine as the sunset colored wispy clouds with reds and purples. A pleasant finish to a weekend.
Friday, September 24, 2004
Pictures of the Week
I thought I'd occasionally post pictures from my personal favorites on my blog for your viewing pleasure. These are invariably from vacations over the years. The two below are from Yosemite during the winter. Ashley might remember this time as the time I slipped on an icy covered rock by a stream and destroyed Carolyn's camera in the process.
I've reduced the pixels in deference to those without cable or DSL connections.
I've reduced the pixels in deference to those without cable or DSL connections.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)