05-31-15

I love cows.  I really do.

Each morning I jogged down a country lane lined with cows.  No matter what they were doing,t hey would always turn their head to me and watch me run by.

I found it hilarious.

05-30-15

Catharsis is my focus word this year.  The process of releasing.  Making space.  Purging and experiencing relief.

The retreat theme this year plays right into those goals.  Encouragement for where I am seeing success, motivation for where I struggle.

Here's part of the falls.  I trekked almost 11 miles, enjoying nature and fellowship.

05-29-15

Nature...

A different kind of nature from the lake, but both wonderful in their own way.  Both offer lots of greenery, pretty blooms, and plenty of wildlife.

Women's Retreat at Falls Creek Retreat Center!

05-28-15

Baby waterfowl at the lake.  Ducks and geese.  I see them paddleboarding, walking, and jogging.  Keep moving before the parent sees me as a threat, give them a lot of room... Loving the weather for my morning jog!

05-27-15

Senior appreciation dinner at Calvary.  Not our home church, but Anastasia got plugged int here with camps, youth group, and especially working at their coffee stand and int heir nursery.  Eleven students honored, with a fun trivia game.

05-26-15

Anastasia went from sweats to put together in about 2 minutes flat. #BRIGHT

And congrats on level 8!  #INGRESS

05-25-15

Happy Memorial Day!

I thought it would be fun to Ingress at cemeteries today to see the Memorial Day festivities, but had too many other things to do before another week begins.

Something else we see a lot of with Ingress, either at rest areas, parking lots, or parks, are signs for the blue Star Memorial Highway.  A different kind of tribute to the U.S. armed forces, started in 1945 by garden clubs. 

05-24-15

A long tourist day in Aberdeen.  Oh, and some Ingressing too.  Celebrating Father's Day early, since June will be a zoo, and so hard to get the four of us together.  This photo was taken at Friend's Landing; we did a few nice long walks, and lots of driving around looking at old stomping grounds.

05-23-15

Anastasia and I went to Lloyd's Center today, in search of wardrobe staples, items to compliment existing separates, and outfits for sorority recruitment week.  We had some successes, spent almost $200, and were still talking to each other after the experience. 

05-22-15

Happy Memorial Day weekend!  Enjoyed a very quiet day at work today, ready for some R&R.

Bruce and I headed to the college tonight for our evening walk.  Downtown, Rainier, LCC, they all help break up the lake walks.

Enjoy!

05-21-15

Look what I got in the mail today!  Al Williamson wrote a great book on landlord led neighborhood revitalization.  We had a phone consultation once after I read the book.

He contact me awhile ago asking for my address.  He sent me a free copy of his latest book, with a Starbucks card, nice note, and some pages flagged for me.

Score!

05-20-15

Our last Bible study meeting of this school year.  Things are getting busy with graduation approaching, so seems like a good time to break for summer.  Now I'll have to try to be disciplined enough to self study over the summer.

05-19-15

I spent my lunch hour at an awards assembly.

I thought I was going with my Weyerhaeuser hat on, but I was really playing dual roles - Weyerhaeuser and Valley.

Investing in the Highlands, in so many ways.

05-18-15

Some days just get derailed.

I knew I had a 7pm thing, but a 5pm and 5:30pm thing popped up.  I only went home to use the bathroom.

Makes it hard to get anything else done.  Such is life, there's always tomorrow.

05-17-15

Bruce needed three dozen Vood-doo doughnuts for a Key Club event tomorrow, so seemed like the perfect excuse for a Portland adventure.  Anastasia was still in Federal Way following prom, but Jesse was able to join us.

We Ingressed, we explore the Hawthorne area and tried Blue Star donuts, and waiting in line at Voo-doo.  I liked this colorful mural.

05-16-15

Baptism services this week.

Bruce and I serve as screeners, interviewing people who want to get baptized to ensure that they understand its meaning.

The Electric Bean was packed and buzzing; 13 baptisms!

05-15-15

Alexa can add items to our grocery list!  Maybe she is worthwhile.

This evening Bruce and I walked the hills of Rainier.  Ingressing of course.  19 flights of stairs today according to Ingress.  Ran into an old friend, that was fun.

TGIF!

05-14-15

Today Alexa played us Christmas music.

In other news, we hosted a little mini event on our adopted block.  Some flowers and a craft for the kids.  We got a good response, the block is loaded with kids again.  Everyone assumed they were Mothers Day gifts, which I thought was interesting since it's past Mothers Day.

Could not ask for better weather...

05-13-15

Meet Alexa.  I hope we come up with a more original name for her, but it works.  She is also called the Amazon Echo.  A black cylinder who lights up when you say her name.  So far she tells us the weather, plays music, and is used to annoy each other.  I’m guessing she’ll become more useful as time goes on.

05-12-15

Rainy day, stuck inside.

Normally I do my small group study over the course of a week, looking at the chapter in one or two different Bibles each day.  

Tonight I power studied, doing the entire lesson with all my favorite translations and study notes all at once.

05-11-15

Rain, rain, go away!

I know we need the rain but I have gotten so used to being dry.

It rained on my during my morning jog.  And it poured on me for our evening walk.  Both times I saw spring babies, that's fun.

05-10-15

Happy Mother's Day!

As part of my mothers day gift, we walked around a section of the lake together Ingressing together.

05-09-15

Greek Preview day.

When I was at UW, I sometimes wondered what  the inside of the big, historic, regal sorority houses looked like.  Today I got to tour two houses.

And learned a lot about sorority life, since Anastasia wants to join one this fall.

Fact: over 100 girls live in most houses.  And one mature responsible House Mom.
Fact: They have hired cooks to make them nutritious buffet meals.
Fact: No alcohol is allowed inside the sorority houses.  The fraternities, however, are wet.

05-08-15

Early morning.  Alarm at 4:10am, Left the house at 4:50am, arrived downtown Seattle at 7:30am for registration and breakfast on the waterfront.  Every break, I made a beeline of the restroom, then the balconies outdoors.

05-07-15

The only reason we still have cable TV is so that I can watch CNN in the morning and know what's going on in the world.  But for as long as I can remember I've been running the lake instead of the treadmill.  SO now I small talk about how great the weather is instead of current events!

05-06-15

I told Anastasia I wanted her to have her announcements out by next Wednesday and she went into high gear.  Chasing addresses, stuffing envelopes, addressing envelopes.  And watching a lot of TV.

05-05-15

Several years back Uncle Pat and Aunt Mo gave us this really neat photo frame.  I never did anything very cool with it, so I decided this year that I wanted to get a nice family photo and display it at work.  The photo was taken near my birthday, took awhile to get it printed on the linen paper that is hard to photograph.

05-04-15

Wild child!

A few years ago I had two ferns that were the same size.  The one under my fluorescent light at work is thriving and has grown into this beast.  The one on my bedside table with only filtered light is anemic looking.  

So this week they are trading places.

05-03-15

Another beautiful day in the neighborhood!

We headed up the freeway a few exits to wander around Castle Rock today.  I pointed out the old time jail to Anastasia and it became a photo op.

05-02-15

First Saturday!  Literally the first Saturday of the month, but also a big Ingress event.

One of my favorite days of the month.  I save gear for it all month.  We headed to Esther Short park in Vancouver this month.  Great weather, great surroundings, great company, and a win for the Smurfs!

05-01-15

I was hoping I'd be feeling well enough to not cancel one of our rare family events.  We went down to the St John neighborhood of north Portland to participate in a special ops for Ingress.  We used a walkie-talkie app to communicate with a dispatcher coordinating four cars as we drove around smashing green portals.  Good family fun, Anastasia is now a level 7 agent.  Roger that!

04-30-15

Spent most of the day driving.  Or sitting, maybe.  Took highway 101 between PeEll and Aberdeen and got caught in a lot of construction back-ups.  At least it was a beautiful weather day!

04-29-15

Just chillin'.  Wednesdays seem to only have enough time for walking, small group, and Survivor.  But I tried to shove in a haircut and a long walk.