The Doctor is in . . .

Jean had the chance to sing and dance and had some lines in a seemingly minor part in the SPU spring Mainstage performance of As it is in Heaven. While she was one of the twelve all-female actors, she was on stage throughout the entire performance. Not only was her acting once again superb, Nancy and I loved hearing the many accolades her fellow performers shared about her. She is a much loved member of the SPU Theatre community. (And, by the way, she's learned to juggle in her Stage Movement class this quarter just as Nathanael had.)

By the way, the play was a valuable introduction to the Shaker faith. Alas, I would have to deem them members of a cult due to their veneration of and prayers to Mother Ann Lee, their faulty eschatology, and a variety of their other practices. Misdirected devotion, however fervent, is suspect.

"A religious community is changed when a nonbeliever has an ecstatic experience. The 1830’s Shaker society of Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, is set in ordered ways. Their once dramatic form of worship has by now developed into routine. The arrival of Fanny upsets the harmony; the Sisters suspect her to be a “winter Shaker,” one who suddenly converts when life gets too hard on the farm. Fanny sees angels in the meadow, and soon all the young women are receiving spiritual “gifts” of songs, drawings, ideas and giggles, completely upsetting the community.

The leaders question Fanny’s intentions and honesty: Is this a resurgence of the original Shaker celebration or something manufactured by Fanny so that she can remain with the Shakers? Eldress Hannah is jealous that she, the most devout of Shakers, has not been privileged to see the visions.

But only the ones who question need visual proof. Whether they were heavenly or earthly, the angels were there. “Hands to Work, Hearts to God” is their motto, and in each scene the Sisters are always at tasks. The set is as simple as the Shakers: benches, baskets and laundry. Hymns sung a cappella punctuate the scenes of the play, which ends with a joyful explosion of Shaker singing and ecstatic dance."

— from the Publisher

♦ Spring hopes eternally. In my case, I hope I'll get a decent tomato crop this year. The seeds ("Rutgers" variety) I planted in pots are coming up fine, but I can't see the ones coming up that I planted in the garden.

♦ April means income taxes, which Nancy processed with only modest input from me. She did take over $6,000 out of our (my) checking account toward an IRA, leaving me completely tapped out as I pay half our annual property tax here at the end of April — $5,116.27. Alas, 43% of the property takes are "voter approved" — but not by this voter.

♦ We binge watched the 9th season of Smallville and the 1st season of Stargate: Atlantis this month. Nancy enjoys Sci-Fi adventures, as I do. But I think we've given up on Gotham on FOX TV because the plot is just too dark.

♦ Dr. Bob Whitford is doing an overview of the intertestamental period on Saturday mornings in late April and early May, giving me a break to cover some Saturday track meets. We also got through Psalm 141 in April.

♦ I am so overworked my fingers hurt sometimes. But one nice touch, my SPU provided Lenovo laptop got upgraded to a DELL XPS 13" Touch. It's my first touch-screen laptop (although I have three touch-screen Android tablets.) It's light, fast, and four times as expensive as the cheap laptop that would have met my needs. It is really a glorified netbook since it has no DVD drive and no VGA port.

	Easter 2015 Easter morning began as many others in the past. Those at 1228 99th headed for the 6:00 a.m. sunrise service at Bellevue Downtown Park. Rev. Rosalind Renshaw of Bellevue Presbyterian gave the message. Two days later, I cannot recall the sermon. For once we stood at the back. I recognized only two folks there, Rosalind and Linda Fluke who once again handed out programs. We moved on to the 8:00 a.m. service at UPC. Before the sermon began, Grandma Ginger had yet another of her fainting episodes. The paramedics were called, and they carried her out of the balcony. But this time, Nancy and Susan took her home instead of following her to the hospital. She napped, and by lunchtime was at the table for a fabulous ham Easter dinner. At the meal, Nathanael sang a song he learned with his special-needs kids at school about loving ice cream and broccoli. For my part, I found I needed to nap both before and after the big meal — too many late nights and early mornings.
	The egg hunt was a success, with every egg (and exotic European chocolates!) found. And after dinner, Susan spotted a coyote lounging on her lawn south of the tennis court. I caught this one quick shot at nearly the same spot that I'd photographed the bobcat in November. It would have been a sad coincidence if Ginger had passed on on April 5th, four years to the day my father passed away.
	Nathanael is Still Running Strong At the King's Invitational, Nathanael entered the Open Mile race. He's continued to serve as a volunteer coach at BCS. The Open Mile is a "predict your time" race. But I'd told him that if he couldn't win based on his prediction, he should just try to win it the old fashioned way. He predicted a 4:50 time for himself and finished in a hair over 4:52. But the beauty of the race was how he paced himself and won the race — finishing with a great kick, a full lap ahead of many runners, including one from BCS. He and I were both given Coach's jackets, and they help make us feel like part of the team.
	Jean Performs in As It is in Heaven Jean had the chance to sing and dance and had some lines in a seemingly minor part in the SPU spring Mainstage performance of As it is in Heaven. While she was one of the twelve all-female actors, she was on stage throughout the entire performance. Not only was her acting once again superb, Nancy and I loved hearing the many accolades her fellow performers shared about her. She is a much loved member of the SPU Theatre community. (And, by the way, she's learned to juggle in her Stage Movement class this quarter just as Nathanael had.) By the way, the play was a valuable introduction to the Shaker faith. Alas, I would have to deem them members of a cult due to their veneration of and prayers to Mother Ann Lee, their faulty eschatology, and a variety of their other practices. Misdirected devotion, however fervent, is suspect. "A religious community is changed when a nonbeliever has an ecstatic experience. The 1830’s Shaker society of Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, is set in ordered ways. Their once dramatic form of worship has by now developed into routine. The arrival of Fanny upsets the harmony; the Sisters suspect her to be a “winter Shaker,” one who suddenly converts when life gets too hard on the farm. Fanny sees angels in the meadow, and soon all the young women are receiving spiritual “gifts” of songs, drawings, ideas and giggles, completely upsetting the community. The leaders question Fanny’s intentions and honesty: Is this a resurgence of the original Shaker celebration or something manufactured by Fanny so that she can remain with the Shakers? Eldress Hannah is jealous that she, the most devout of Shakers, has not been privileged to see the visions. But only the ones who question need visual proof. Whether they were heavenly or earthly, the angels were there. “Hands to Work, Hearts to God” is their motto, and in each scene the Sisters are always at tasks. The set is as simple as the Shakers: benches, baskets and laundry. Hymns sung a cappella punctuate the scenes of the play, which ends with a joyful explosion of Shaker singing and ecstatic dance." — from the Publisher Bits and Pieces ♦ Spring hopes eternally. In my case, I hope I'll get a decent tomato crop this year. The seeds ("Rutgers" variety) I planted in pots are coming up fine, but I can't see the ones coming up that I planted in the garden. ♦ April means income taxes, which Nancy processed with only modest input from me. She did take over $6,000 out of our (my) checking account toward an IRA, leaving me completely tapped out as I pay half our annual property tax here at the end of April — $5,116.27. Alas, 43% of the property takes are "voter approved" — but not by this voter. ♦ We binge watched the 9th season of Smallville and the 1st season of Stargate: Atlantis this month. Nancy enjoys Sci-Fi adventures, as I do. But I think we've given up on Gotham on FOX TV because the plot is just too dark. ♦ Dr. Bob Whitford is doing an overview of the intertestamental period on Saturday mornings in late April and early May, giving me a break to cover some Saturday track meets. We also got through Psalm 141 in April. ♦ I am so overworked my fingers hurt sometimes. But one nice touch, my SPU provided Lenovo laptop got upgraded to a DELL XPS 13" Touch. It's my first touch-screen laptop (although I have three touch-screen Android tablets.) It's light, fast, and four times as expensive as the cheap laptop that would have met my needs. It is really a glorified netbook since it has no DVD drive and no VGA port. My Quote from April On the day I called, You answered me; Ps 138:3a NASU Perhaps the short definition of Deity. The only God who can answer, is the one who does answer. -- RLS