Iolanthe (The Peer and the Peri) Soars in July Jean shone (with glitter) as a fairy in the 2012 Seattle Gilbert & Sullivan production of Iolanthe. Along with her singing and dancing in the fairy chorus, she had cameos holding and dancing with the cape of the robe of the Lord Chancellor (radio personality Dave Ross) upon his entrance in Act I, and at the opening of Act II she got to peek around the guard house at Pvt. Willis as he sang.   We got a photo of "her Peer" with whom she was paired to be wed in the final scene. Many family and friends attended the performance along with a large contingent of her Chapter A P.E.O. friends.  Twelve performances were held in July including the first Wednesday dress rehearsal.

JB Makes Plans Jean was giddy when Nathanael showed her that her "Pirate Ruth" photo from last summer was being used by Taproot Theatre to promote their summer 2012 fundraiser. She's already signed up for an audition in August for a paid holiday job as a Dickens Caroler.  A few of the cast members from Iolanthe have recommended this to her.  She is just a little entrepreneur.  It surprises me.

 
Thursday Mornings at Emerald Heights

My summer adventure has come to an end.  For eight Thursday mornings, I taught through Matthew 8-11, half a chapter each hour.  I recorded a few of the presentations and, in order to learn how to manage a WordPress blog, I began to put excerpts of my lessons on the web.

Not only did I learn a lot, as expected, but I also proved to myself again that this is likely my calling for the future.  I told the residents of Emerald Heights in Redmond that I only had two guiding principles for my preparations.  The result had to be true to the text, and it had to be something to which I would want to listen.  And in light of their enthusiastic response, I think I met my goals.

My biggest problem was lack of preparation time.  This ate up all my weekends, many week nights and a few work days to produce hour long presentations with the accompanying PowerPoint slides.  But the results were powerful and professional.  Now that I know how it's done, perhaps I won't procrastinate next time. 

The $600 honorarium was not big a motivator.  But the chance to use a suspected spiritual gift was.  The financial gift allowed me to splurge on yet another commentary, this one by the great Dutch theologian Dr. Herman N. Ridderbos (1909–2007).  It is out of print but I used a copy from the SPU library.  My own copy arrived from Great Britain as I was finishing up my preparation of my last lesson.  Being a champion of the "redemptive-historical" approach to Biblical theology, Ridderbos represents my views of Jesus and Scripture very closely.  Why go to seminary when the teaching of the best seminary Professors of the ages can be delivered by UPS to my doorstep? 

Nancy attended the last two weeks of the class and gave it a positive review (and took these pictures!)  The other feedback I got each week was glowing. 

Before I was completely packed up after the last session, Sue Scott (seated at the head of our luncheon table below), asked if I'd be interested in doing this again in June and July 2013.  I expected that question, but certainly not that quickly.

The last session was very well attended with hardly any empty chairs.  Before I was back in my office on the last Thursday afternoon, I had an email from two of my new students Arlene and Phil Pielemeier (back row middle), it read in part, "Thank you for speaking to the Bible Study here at Emerald Heights.  You do superb work as we can see by many hours of work.  I think you are most effective when you speak expotaneously (sic) and in using the PowerPoint.  The room is filled with more people with you being here.  You see — the studies are good!!!"  I was told that nobody else in the other ten months of the year illustrates their lessons using the screen and projector.

Apparently, next summer the new expanded community center will be completed, and this class will move to the new "Emerald room," two-and-a-half times the size of this room.  If I were to just teach on Matthew, it would take me seven years to finish the cycle at the rate I'm going.  But that sounds like a plan.  That would take me very close to a possible retirement date (Lord willing), and then I could teach the material elsewhere too.

After the last session, Nancy and I were treated to a nice dinner in the Emerald Heights dining room.  Of course, I had the steak.  Nancy had the salmon and took this photo. Now that my teaching season has passed, my diet and exercise season must return.  George Scott and Bob Wright from my Saturday group were here with their wives. 

This is where these early chapters of Matthew’s biography of Jesus have brought us.  Here we’ve answered the where, when and who questions.  Most of the rest of Matthew’s book answers the what and why questions.  This is what Matthew has been trying to say.  Come to Jesus, all you who are weary and heavy-laden.  He’s right here.

Grandma Ginger's 90th Birthday Party 

On Saturday the 7th we held an open house party at Susan's for Grandma Ginger.  We had at least 55 RSVPs.  Friends and family from all over stopped by, and many more from all over the world sent cards and flowers.

Closer to the actual birthdate on the 17th (the day after Annie and Thomas's anniversary), we had another party at our house.  And still later, on the 20th, we celebrated again at Ivar's Salmon House on Lake Union.  I never thought I'd live to see the day when Nathanael would order crab legs.  I certainly never would.

4th of July in at the Bellevue Downtown Park

Steve White and I had our traditional 4th of July beers, and once again we enjoyed the fireworks at the park.  We kept it simple with hot dogs on the BBQ.  It was an especially good show.  Sandra was staying with us, up visiting from San Francisco, and Kristen came down from Everett.  Andrew White and his long time girlfriend also joined us.

Chris Wedes, who as Julius Pierpont Patches became one of Seattle’s most recognizable figures and a beloved icon to generations, died Sunday morning (July 22nd). He was 84 and had battled blood cancer since 2007.

At its peak, “The J.P. Patches Show” on KIRO/7 had more than 100,000 daily viewers and was broadcast in the morning and afternoon. It debuted February 10, 1958, and when it went off the air in 1981 it was the longest running locally-produced kids show in the United States.

“We loved Stan (Boreson), but there was never any doubt about who was No. 1. around here,” . . . “J.P. Patches was our rock star.”  — from blog.seattlepi.com

One never knows which memories will sting the most when one hears that so-and-so has passed away. This one hurt, but the happiness J.P. shared, the memories he created, were all good.  He was our Mayor of the City Dump who raised us until our dad's came home at night from Boeing.  And he was much more approachable than our fathers.

If he had a lesson for us, it was to be kind, and have a good time while you were at it.  He helped us to still use our imaginations when the world was moving from print and radio to the television.  I was one of the lucky ones for whom J. P. was always there.      I had just turned three when he first came on channel 7 in Seattle.  And I was finishing my first year of college teaching when his daily show went off the air in late 1978. 

Making my entrance again with my usual flair
Sure of my lines...
No one is there . . . There ought to be clowns. 

Laurie's Medical Report

Sister Laurie wrote late this month, "It turns out I have a Heterozygous PT (Prothrombin) Gene Mutation, meaning one of our parents passed this on to me.  Obviously, we don't know which parent, but certainly Mom had horrible peripheral vascular disease and Dad had a major stroke! Nevertheless, my blood tends to clot more than it should."  

 Here is the actual interpretation of the test:

"This individual DOES have the Prothrombin G20210A mutation on ONE allele, (heterozygous carrier).  The Prothrombin G20210A mutation is a risk factor for venous thromboembolism and recurrent miscarriage, and possibly a risk factor for complications of pregnancy and for arterial thrombosis.  The individual may have other genetic and environmental risk factors for thrombosis.  If clinically indicated, suggest Coagulation Consultation 83093 (Thrombophilia Profile) to complete the evaluation for an inherited or acquired thrombosing disorder (i.e., thrombophilia).  Consider genetic consultation and counseling of potentially affected family members regarding laboratory testing.  This test is a direct mutation analysis of leukocyte genomic DNA by the Invader Assay system (Invader, Hologic Inc, Madison, WI)."

"So Dr. Patel took me off the Tamoxifen (I had 1 1/2 years of benefit from it), and put me on a baby dose 81mg Aspirin per day regimen, to thin the blood a bit prophylactically.  She also suggested that I follow up with my vascular surgeon. She suggested that my children have a 50% chance of having this same gene mutation, and that they may want to get it checked out, especially Katherine since she wants to have children.  Then it occurred to me that you all probably have a 50/50 chance of having it as well.  It is a simple blood test, only one vial of blood is necessary.  And of course we all know that it is prudent to do whatever we can to prevent any type of vascular event i.e. heart attack or stroke, by eating healthy and exercising.  I can't change my genes, so I need to work at being healthy in every other way."

It was Supposed to be a
Quiet Summer

In July, Wayne Elling from Facilities tracked me down (not the Dean) and got my permission to rewire "my building."  I seems somebody found some money and CIS decided McKenna Hall would be the best candidate to rewire. 

I offered my lab as the staging area for all of the wire and equipment.  They've left access to only six six of the computers but the lab is only slightly used before evening graduate courses and closes until late September after August 3rd.

Grandma Elsie Matthews (1930-2012)

"Elsie Martha Krey Matthews passed into eternal life on July 25th, 2012, under the loving care of the Cottonbloom Asst. Living facility and Amber Care Hospice. Elsie was born December 20, 1930, in Massena, New York."

Knowing Kim Disher's mother was in hospice care made the Disher family, with Annie and Thomas in tow, rush from their visit to the Grand Canyon on to Las Cruces, New Mexico (nearly El Paso, TX).  They were able to see her for one last time.  She passed away the morning after they arrived.  Being there means they'll stay for the funeral.

I recall my visits with Grandma Elsie during the wedding last July and at Ivy Cutting the June before.  She was lively and alert. She was across from me at the rehearsal dinner.  She had borrowed a dress from Nancy that Nancy had originally intended for Grandma Jean.  Elsie was very generous, often taking her whole clan on cruises.  Annie joined them in 2010, over the Christmas holidays, on a Caribbean cruise.

Bits and Pieces

• My oral surgery for the new tooth implant is still on for Monday, August 6th.  I'm surprisingly anxious about being knocked out.  My oral surgeon, Dr. Jim Reed was at Grandma Ginger's party and we takled Nikon cameras.

• I've scheduled my summer vacation for August 3-12.  I suspect it will be a lot of hot house painting.  I ought to lose weight in August.

• Back on October 10, 2001, my "Special to the Falcon" editorial titled Scholarship in a time of war was published one month after 9/11.  I'm adding a copy here, in case I have not done it earlier.

• Why do I covet yet another lens?  I would love a Nikon 28-70mm f/2.8D ED, not the new VR version but the old 77mm heavy model.  But the price, even used around $800, is just too big a sacrifice — since I have so many lenses  already.  What I need is a moderate fast zoom that will shoot indoors without a flash.  My 70-200mm f/2.8 is too long to work indoors.  My 50mm f/1.8 is a fixed prime.  So as a compromise (and this is a real compromise since, until now I've been a Nikon purist), I purchased a Tokina AT-X 28-70mm f/2.8 AF for $309.48 total.  Ken Rockwell gave it a positive review. "This Tokina 28-70mm f/2.8 is a bargain of a fast medium zoom. It's all-metal and better built than anything from Nikon in this price range new.  It's optical performance isn't quite as good at f/2.8 as Nikon's $1,000 lenses, but this Tokina is super sharp most of the time, and it's smaller and lighter than any of Nikon's f/2.8 zooms. I'd rather carry this lens all day than the beastly Nikon 28-70mm f/2.8."  Nikon's newest 24-70mm f/2.8 AF-S is over $1800.  I expect this Tokina f/2.8 to be my indoor sports lens. 

• I'm back on the elliptical machine, exercising each day, at least late in the month.  My boss Jeff says he can't insist that I exercise but he wants to encourage me to do what I know I should.  We'll see how many days I can string together.

My Quote from July

Thoughts from my teaching in June.