advice for the last days of March..or anytime, for that matter.

Our shower is finished! This is great cause for rejoicing as it was taken apart the 6th or so of this month and driving several blocks for a shower is kind of a pain. Now, don't get me wrong, I was very glad we had water in our house and the chance to go somewhere to shower. But, it is so nice to be able to shower, put your bathrobe on, and walk to your bedroom to get dressed!

At any rate, since I felt I had cause for a celebration, I decided to 'use' a salt body scrub packet that I have had around for ages. It was an organic mix of fragrant oils and sea salt and looked festive. I carefully read the packet and it suggested that you should not get the mixture in any sores or do any shaving prior to use. I was good with that. Not rubbing salt in wounds was one of those mantras you learn at your mother's knee along with hot stuff burns and don't spit into the wind. (ok, that last might have been from Jim Croce, but you get the picture)

As I mixed the salt and oils as directed I realised that I had clipped a hangnail on my finger a tad too short. Ouch! Then, I started applying the paste to the skin. Yes, it did smell nice, but I had not known that 'wounds' could also be scratches along my arms and legs from working in the garden (I had just done that) and all the teeny holes in my tummy where I had been taking my insulin shots were also areas in which salt should not be scrubbed. Needless to say, it was all a rather stinging experience. In my haste to remove the organic sea salt, I had also forgotten the bit of advice on the packet that suggested that the oils may cause tub to become slippery. Thankfully, I did not slide much and in spite of feeling like an Olympic speed skater for a milli second or two, I survived.

All in all, I have come to the conclusion that one should not just read the directions to things carefully, but one should also heed them in their entirety. Although, in heeding directions you can lose a great many interesting experiences. Not necessarily exciting, but definitely interesting.

Am reading Hidden Harbor by Katherine Pinkerton as I have just finished House Upon a Rock by Elsa Pederson concerning the Alaskan earthquake of 1964.

Seattle or Bust! (in a walnut shell, rather less than more!)

The YD youth from our church left our small sleepy town in two vehicles just a little after 8am on Friday. We had no idea what was in store for us! As we drove through the mountains we go to see lots of snow and it was beautiful!


Then, we arrived in Seattle. Our first glimpse of the Space Needle was as thrilling as seeing snow! Kids in both rigs were snapping photos of this amazing bit of the NW. We had quite a bit of time to kill before the conference started, so after playing around the best fountain I have EVER seen, they participated in a brief round of laser tag at the foot of the Space Needle.

Afterwards, we were introduced to Dare 2 Share and the Blaze conference at the Key Arena. We did NOT get dinner that night, but we did see a great deal of down town Seattle! (The one way streets and a statue of a naked man and boy in a waterfront fountain traumatised our girls as we drove past more than once!) I think we got back to the church where we were staying around 12:30 am!!! We also learned that the Space Needle is a terrific landmark. The next morning we got up and found a much needed breakfast before another day at the Key Arena. On this day one of the things we did was visit a school. Ours was under construction, but it was neat we got to be 'on the ground floor' so to speak. We visited the school and talked about the trash around them and how it symbolised the world moving in on it. After we picked up the visible trash and talked to people about Jesus, we walked around the school praying for the facility, the students, and the faculty. It was a humbling experience.

After more lessons and music at the conference, we went back to the church (once again losing our way and seeing some incredible lights at the Seaport) and talked about how we would live the cause in our town and schools.

The next day was Sunday. We ate breakfast at Beth's (highlighted in Man VS Food) and not only was it excellent, it was probably the best meal we ate the entire weekend! Because it was so filling, we had to work off some calories in a nearby park. Afterwards, we went to the morning service at the Greenwood Christian Church and toddled off to the zoo. It was a good end to a full weekend of learning and growing. Jon took several videos during our vist along with scads of photos. This particular video we call 'don't tap on the glass'.

For more on Dare 2 Share visit http://dare2share.org/ you will be glad you did!

The trip home was pretty uneventful and the view of the Space Needle as we left the city was met with relief!

Where in the World is Sasquatch?

There are just some things I don't understand. Power tools and stuff like that are one thing, but then there are others. Like people who don't use their blinkers because they are a)pointing that direction anyway or b)in a right hand turn lane so everyone should know they are going right. Or perhaps those people who create signs like those photographed by Kanga in their blog Living the Travel Channel. Or even people who need to sue a furniture company because they broke their ankle tripping over a kid in a crowded store (their OWN kid). But, today, the one thing I have found that is just wrong is truly head shaking.

I am on the creation end of the program for our Cub Scout Day Camp this year and thought it would be fun to have Sasquatch visit prior to our Sasquatch Egg Hunt. (watermelons) I know that there is at least one Sasquatch around cuz he hangs out with Umatilla County Commish, Bill Hansell. So, I called and after a bit of searching learned something that is just not right. This particular Sasquatch is not only a member of the Oregon National Gaurd, but he got DEPLOYED! Yes, you read that right. There is a NW Sasquatch now serving overseas somewhere in our armed forces. I only hope that as he wanders around with his M4 that he doesn't forget his forest home and his friends in the land of Lewis and Clark. He may now resemble Chewbacca from Star Wars, but he still belongs to those of us in Oregon and Washington. As anyone who has seen Harry and the Henderson's knows, living legends don't show up all that often and we need him to help remind us that mysteries and things that go bump in the night are not all scary.

So, God keep you Mr. Sasquatch and may He bring you home safely.

Looking for the Sunset

Jon has been playing with the camera again. Which is quite alright as he has taken some amazing shots of our Father's world. (note: that is a wonderful song, by the way This is My Father's World) Anyway, we were cleaning up the little house in anticipation of guests and he decided to hang around outside and shoot birds. Thankfully, as it was in town, he used the camera. He caught a cowbird and a robin in the yard. And then he asked if we could take pictures of the sunset. As it was just before 5pm, I was a tad skeptical. The sun has been setting later and we'd be getting home after 6, but it would also count as driving time, so we set off.

We found this red tail hawk who was perched minding his own hawking business until he was chased away by some smaller birds. Mobbing is so not nice!!! After we lost him in the sky we saw that next to the road was a ditch full of cat tails and red wing black birds! The male was most interesting as it is courting time and he was showing off a LOT.

The camera did decide that the windmill was more entertaining than the bird and focused on that instead! We thought it was a cool picture even if it was not what Jon was 'aiming' for! And as we looked back we saw Athena! This shot is practically the entire city. Pretty nifty, huh?

We were trying to reach an area that Jon prefers for sunset photos, but he did stop to take this one across the ditch. The sun kind of melted away for the rest of his photo shoot, though. So, we'll wander out on the next sunny day to see what we can find!

Reading March books. Finished The Secret Garden and am doing Brian Jacques. Redwall books are such FUN reads!!!!!! Eulalia!