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 April:
A symptom and a cure
I dug the hole I'm in physically by being
focused on work and church and my service at
BCS. I have not taken the time to eat
properly and exercise sufficiently. And in
April it caught up with me.
The "ah ha" moment came when I went to give
blood at the Bloodmobile that had come to
campus. But discovering my blood pressure
was too high, I was denied that opportunity.
Nancy scheduled an appointment with my doctor,
Bob Kelley, and he has put me back on Lipitor
for cholesterol, and added Lisinopril for blood
pressure (which is now much reduced because of it),
and Metformin for diabetes. And with the
diabetes diagnosis comes blood testing, classes
and a low carb diet. Time will tell what
will come of all this.
 Revelation
a "revelation"
The Saturday morning Bible study through
Revelation has me listening to Jesus in His
letters to the seven churches.
There is no looking back and no standing still
(and no laying down on the job.) His yoke
may be easy, but one must still plow ahead.
There is the promise of a victor's crown, but
these are not laurels upon which to rest.
I continue to have a holy optimism for the
people of God -- and a thorough pessimism for
the well deserved wrath to come on the world.
On this map I edited, I can report our position
on May 1st was in Philadelphia. A few of
the older men in our group have actually
traveled to these cities and can add their
eye-witness accounts.
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T
Dad
is Happy to be Home
Dad is by no means out of the woods health wise, but
he's home. While doing his taxes he saw that he
could save money next year by being declared legally
blind. That's been done -- and was long overdue.
he does sound better over the phone.phone.
Randy's leave of absence from Snohomish County has been
extended -- and Randy is considering his long term
options there as the County continues to struggle
financially.
It's a Double Date
Dates are so rare that I like to include them here.
Marketing professor Dr. Regina Schlee reviews movies and
gave me four passes for an advance screening of
Letters to Juliet. It was showing close
to home at the Lincoln Center cinema near Bellevue
Square, so I invited friends Steve and Sheri White to
join Nancy and me. It was a "chick flick" that
Nancy loved and Steve endured for the sake of our
friendship. I found the film completely
predictable (and not surprising, knowing my romantic
history, quite poignant.) The search for that one
special long lost love . . . hit too close to the
heart.
After the movie we compared reactions over dessert at
The Cheesecake Factory. We had a gift coupon from
the Fremds that we used to splurge. Steve paid for
the popcorn -- I will never pay for Theatre priced
treats.
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 Photography
in April
Many of my photographs have been used on the SPU
athletics web site. And some large ones were
printed in color in The Falcon SPU newspaper in
April.
(1) (2)
The new 70-200mm VR lens is as amazing as expected --
and I have "photographer's elbow" from hefting it at a
Granite Falls track meet without my monopod. Click
on the shot of Chad Meis (left) to read what his
teammates in the back of the race are thinking.
And sometimes I get a great shot like this hurdles one.
If I ever do a show of my work, this shot will be in it.
Click on it to see it larger.
 Nathanael
still has not gotten his
1500m or
800m times down to the conference qualifying marks.
He's trying to move up to the fastest runners -- but
that's left him at the end of his races without his
signature kick.
While I continue to travel with
Bellevue Christian to
meets at schools like
Lynden Christian,
Rainier, and
Granite Falls, I've also gone (with Nancy) to
Tacoma, Ellensburg, and Bellingham to photograph SPU.
It is what I do apart from work.
And speaking of work, not a week goes by when I am not
asked to take pictures. I may get a photo credit
for the portrait I took in April of my boss (and friend)
Jeff Van Duzer
for his new book on business ethics.
It's nice to own ones own web domains on which to
quickly host
images like
these.
Fortunately, friend Bruce Fremd has picked up the photo
bug and caught this shot of me at my "night job."
I've been able to give tips to other photographers at
races, and BCS moms have already started ordering
prints. I even have sort of an assistant, David
Otwell, father of sophomore distance runner Anthony
Otwell. He thinks highly of his Pentax camera and
shoots a few events I can't get to.
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Earthquakes, Tornadoes, Oil Spills, etc. etc. etc.
Haiti, Chile, China (birth pangs?) A
Christian must always ask that question and use the wise silence
of his Father as a call to judge himself. Am I ready to
face the end - my end -- and face my Maker. Our job is not
to worry about "the big one" that is due (or the big one with
our name on it.) But we are to be about our Father's
business. |
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Bits and Pieces
Nancy got the income taxes in on time -- and the refund came
back in time to pay the April 30th half of our $6342.58 property
tax bill.
I started reading Mutiny on the Bounty that I'd read as a
teenager. Half way through I just got too busy (and too
tired) to finish it.
Annie's Senior Project is due in two weeks. Nathanael has
signed up for summer classes at the UW. Jean has her
spring play Beauty and the Beast coming up this week and
next. Annie graduates in June . . . Life is not
taking a breather.
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My Quote from March
Vice-Admiral Sir Samuel
Hood, 1st Baronet KB RN
(1762 – 24 December 1814)
was an officer of the Royal
Navy and the cousin once
removed of the more famous
Admiral Samuel Hood, 1st
Viscount Hood.
___________________________________
Capt. Samuel Hood was sent
to Malta before the
evacuation of Toulon
in December 1793 to bring
back reinforcements and he
sailed from Malta on 3
January with 150
supernumeraries of whom 47
were officers and marines
from Romney and the rest
Maltese. On the night
of the 7th, Juno passed the
S.W. point of Sardinia and
set a course for Toulon. He
was delayed by wind and
current so, when he found
on the evening of the 11th
that the ship would be able
to reach Toulon, he ordered
the hands to turn up to
bring the ship to anchor and
entered the outer harbour at
about 10 o' clock.
He was puzzled by the
absence of shipping and it
was not until he entered the
inner harbour that he was
hailed by a brig. He could
not make out the language
but answered that this was a
British frigate, the Juno
(of 32 guns), and requested
that they tell him the
whereabouts of Lord Hood.
They appeared not to
understand but shouted Luff!
Luff! several times.
Supposing that there was
shoal water near, the helm
was immediately put a-lee,
but the ship grounded before
she got head to wind. The
best bower was let go and
the kedge and two hawsers
lowered into the launch and
the cutter to warp the ship
off.
At this time a boat came
alongside and two officers
came on board to say that
port regulations required
ten days quarantine in a
different part of the
harbour. Capt. Hood was
still asking them the
whereabouts of Lord Hood
when a midshipman said that
they were wearing
revolutionary cockades and,
by looking closely in the
moonlight Capt. Hood found
that he could distinguish
the three colours. Finding
that they had been
discovered, the officers
announced that the British
were now prisoners.
When Lieut. Webley said to
the captain "I believe, sir,
we shall be able to fetch
out, if we can get her under
sail." Capt. Hood
immediately ordered everyone
to their stations and the
marines used their half
pikes to force the
Frenchmen, who had drawn
their sabres, down below.
Within minutes all the sails
had been set and the yards
braced ready for casting. As
soon as the cable was taut
Capt. Hood ordered it to be
cut and the ship started
free from the shore. As the
sails filled, he ordered the
boats to be cut adrift
in order not to impede their
departure.
When the brig and a battery
opened fire, Juno beat to
quarters and the guns were
manned. She just weathered
Cape Sepet without needing a
tack and opened fire on the
last battery she had to pass
before, at half past twelve,
they were out of range.
Capt. Hood's officers were
Lieut. Joseph Turner, who
died in May 1816, and Lieuts.
Mason and William Webley.
The master was Mr. Kidd.
(History
is as exciting as fiction.
-- RLS)
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