Musical Saturday Morning

Just some foot stomping music from the homeland.  It is probably safe to guess that most of you have never heard of an Alphorn, much less heard one.  As a child I can remember hearing them in the high valleys of Switzerland.  Supposedly they were used for passing messages from mountain top to mountain top - and being completely tone deaf, I have no idea if that is true or not!  Sure glad I was not responsible for doing it!

Incorporated now into regular music, it is a bit odd but no weirder than Brother using the Didgeridoo with Bagpipes...

How To Clear A Sanctuary

During my vacation, I went to a church in the Denver area which was interesting.  First it was very laid back, something I very am.  Give me jeans and a tee shirt and I am just fine, even at church.  Amazingly, in laid back Seattle, I often have people offer to buy me a suit to wear to church!  It cracks me up, this idea that the clothes you wear are important to God in the least!  Yeah, He look on the outside of a man ... yeah ... wrong!

So, the pastor was going to be speaking on 1 Corinthians 6!  I have NEVER heard anyone actually decide to dive into this chapter because, well, it is too self condemning for nearly everyone!


"If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord’s people?

Or do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases?

Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!

Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, do you ask for a ruling from those whose way of life is scorned in the church?

I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers?

But instead, one brother takes another to court—and this in front of unbelievers!

The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?

Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters.

Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything.

You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!

Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”

But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.

Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;

you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.


And the people ran from the sanctuary at the closing prayer!  I had to laugh out loud, you would have thought someone had yelled, "Fire!" - instead of a sermon on behavior and responsibility.

Duane

Monday was a fairly horrible day.  Got to deal with the same issue twice, with different people and different outcomes.  One I think was successful and the other I am still not sure I got through to the point.  And to start off my day on a wrong foot, another friend died.

Duane Quande, was the owner of a car repair shop.  Big deal you say.  But, what if I told you that Duane ran an honest shop?  Yeah.  He rode his mechanics and most of them had been with him for years.  If you were not satisfied with something, it would be made right, no charge.  If the repair did not work out well, parts failure, whatever, he would make it right, no charge.  I was impressed with him as a businessman.

For those of you whom have been around this blog since the early days, those posts long gone, know that I had a horrible spinal surgery - from the inventor of horrible spinal surgeries in Seattle.  Duane was one of the people whom would call and just fill a few idle moments everyday, for months!  I had never met the man!  But, he had this way of genuinely being concerned about other people.

If I saw him on the street or in a shop, he always took time to say hi and inquire as to my health.  Yeah, as the local King of Klutz, I always had a good story which would make him laugh in that robust manner of his.

He never had children but he did have a cherry 1957 Chevy Belair convertible, the rarest of the rare.  It was his baby.  Just owning it brought him happiness.

Well, he is now gone, another friendly voice silenced.  He will missed.

Twenty-two And Confused

Now at lunch Monday, I fell into a conversation with this sobbing college student.  For those of you whom know me, crying female plus Kris do not mix.  Actually porcupines and your dog's face are more compatible than me when tears are involved.  But something in me was moved and I made the mistake of asking ...

Short story:

She desperately wants a boyfriend, but also knows it isn’t going to happen.  She is too busy to maintain a good relationship, insists on a solid Christian boy (like they exist!) and doesn’t want to kiss until sure he is really going to be "special" in the long run.  (psst!  how about at the altar?) !

And then this alarm clock is going off inside of her - she HAS to find him!

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah - far too much about her I would not share, TMI! and I hope I can do a mind dump and just lose it once I have written this up.  Interspersed with her above statement were perhaps three gallons of tears in there.  She was in quite a state.

Oh, did I mention that she has made it to 22 and is still a virgin?  Never had a boyfriend, never even held hands - and yes, she is more than most guys have on their list of wanna-be attributes (purely physical), has a brain and knows how to use it too, wants to do what is right by God and in tears over this exact problem!

"There are no guys!  I am going to die a ugly old virgin!"

Suddenly I was happy no creepy old guys were within earshot of that one!

So, was she willing to think, talk and work through - why a guy is so important in her life?

1. There is no one whom meets her requirements, but she still wants him. 

2. Waiting for God to pick out the perfect man, and realizes that is not what the Lord wants for her. 

So we had something to work with, God is not asking her to wait for marriage so she can have sex. He is calling her to stop waiting.  But, she has not been listening to that answer, it is the wrong one!

If God really is all you need to satisfy you, then what was she waiting for?  What is going to be better than Jesus?  She was waiting for a husband, thinking married life would be better than single life; she didn’t really think Jesus alone could be better than Jesus plus a great husband!

And a few verses come to mind:

1 John 4:17

In this love is brought to completion and attains perfection with us ...

Psalm 16

2)  I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
    I have no good apart from you.”

5)  The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
    you hold my lot. 

8)  I have set the Lord always before me;
    because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

9)  Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
    my flesh also dwells secure.

11)  You make known to me the path of life;
    in your presence there is fullness of joy;
    at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

So, my challenge, was for her to continue to ask, “Is Jesus really enough? If you never got married, would your soul still be able rejoice in Jesus' love?”

And she was thoughtful.  She realized that indeed she could be satisfied in knowing that her real happiness was in Jesus and His provision for her.  Anything she did, in and of herself, was only going to cause problems and in the long term bring less than satisfactory results.

I walked with heaviness from lunch, for I remember those struggles in my own life and the years it took me to kill what was inside of me and to learn to wait upon the Lord and his provision - not my own.  It is a hard lesson and life without my Faithless Bride is so much better in the long run.

And then I was to slam right into almost the very same conversation again, within the hour!  This time, the conversation is not concluded I believe and I hope by sharing this, what I did say can be better understood by the second party today within the light of what I said on Monday.

Observing People

Sunday night, as I rode the light rail back to my town, there were lots of people to watch.  I like watching people, they are sometimes very interesting.

Well, not so funny was sitting with his back to me, due to the way the seats are located, and I am seeing this surgical scar down his neck and as far down his spine as the tee shirt would show.  I have no idea what was done to him, but as someone whom has had their spine opened up - OWIE!

Across from me was a young couple, just kids.  He showed happiness and pride being seated by her.  Her walls were completely down.  The she saw me and her walls came right back up, then down, up, down, up, she looked at me questioningly - I smiled.  Her walls collapsed and she snuggled her friend.  Very cute.  I remembered such a time.

Behind them, another young couple.  He was so far out of his league, he had not a clue.  I felt sorry for him.  Maybe 11th grade?  I shuddered, horrible years to remember.  Unlike the other young lady, this one had no warmth, nothing but walls and terror.  A wildcat completely on edge ready for a fight.

Behind them, two women.  One mid-forties, heavily tattooed, dressed in Seattle chic - 1950's garish Vogue.  The other a college student headed to the airport to catch a flight.  Tattooed lady turns out to be gay and was baiting the college girl.  Most of the conversation revolved around how horrible guys are and how they are untrustworthy soulless creatures whom only want one thing and then it is, "Hasta la vista, baby"!  I saw no reason to get involved in that conversation, I did that one once and there is no way of modifying perception I found out.

Then a blonde, guessing late 20's sat down next to me, with her sister and brother in-law, and struck up a conversation.  What over?  Life, the universe, how horrible guys are - and oh, by the way my name is, ----.  Well if she had known me then she would have understood my natural repulsion when facing a real blonde.  Yes, 40 years later and I still shudder and avert my eyes when ever I see one.  It was only through God's infinite humor He gave me three blond daughters!  I felt sorry for this one though, she has had a rough time as the scars on her arms showed.  I left without answering her as to my phone number.  Gees!

So Monday I am taking my daily short walk to my favorite Mexican eatery and I am thinking, what can I write about this week?  My mind played over the above and I quickly dismiss it.  But, lunch was to re-enforce this whole topic area to me, as you will see tomorrow, I was supposed to address this issue for a number of reasons.

Seattle Sounders

So billionaire decides to take 80 of us to the soccer match Sunday evening.  It was a hoot.  Best part of the evening was a 12" Bratwurst and it was prepared wonderfully!  :)

Last soccer game I was at was in 1968, NATO vs Germany - and they were beating the tar out of us!  I lost 4 players in just the first quarter!  So, four down and being transported to the hospital, I filed an official complaint against Germany, the referee told me something not so nice in Germany.  And well, if that is the way they wanted to play - the game was over in 12 minutes.  I lost two more players, Germany only had three thugs left standing but bloodied and no fight left in them, the ref was unconscious and the German coach would never have to ever worry about procreating.  As for me, three cracked ribs and a tremendous amount of my countryman's blood all over me!  Like I said, I did file a complaint first ...  We took our soccer seriously and honestly if you wanted to play dirty, so could the combined NATO team!  Amazing the rest of 1968 was incredibly clean and Germany was dismissed for the rest of the year, as was I because I was German playing on the NATO team.  Thank you the magic 8mm film!

As for the game, Seattle won, Portland could not shoot well - beautiful passers but just not on target with a 30 foot net.  Quite a bit of unnecessary rough housing by Portland and after Seattle then flattened one of Portland's plays they cleaned up their act and got back to soccer.

So if you were to follow that orange line on the right, straight up to the top, you would find my empty seat!  Yeah, I get up once to buy a bratwurst and the only photo taken of my section is exactly then!

Once again I am denied public photo-ability, I tell ya!

Musical Saturday Morning

Just for grins, I did a search on YouTube for: "Most Popular German Music Video" and this came in as number one!  And I would not have posted it except for things that made me grin.  But, first the video:



Now what made me chuckle?

I know nothing of Lena but she uses mixed accents.  Some words very British, as in the British you hear on the shortwave, some are Canadian, such as what might be heard in the northern German base areas and then - there is the color of her eyes .....  By all appearances in this video they are brown.  BROWN?  I never even saw a brown eye until I came to America!  So, not so sure what her ethnicity is but it is not German.  Which made me laugh.  Imagine a brown eyed person when I was a child growing in Germany - the streets would have been vacant!  The gypsies had arrived!  Yeah, we were warned of gypsies and they always had dark hair and dark eyes ...  Shudder!  The boogieman is doing musical videos in Norway, representing Germany, in English.

Go figure.

I thought it was hilarious.  And, Lena, well lip-synced, almost, okay not at all.

Jesus Loves Me

My favorite tee-shirt says in large letters: Jesus Loves You, But He Loves Me More!

Yeah, sort of tongue in cheek but the only way to really explain what my pastor calls "The Mystery of Kris", you see God treats me with quite some consideration.  I always  just figure because I am so stinking naive that I have no clue what I am really doing.  Which might not be so far off.

So, I am down in Casa Adobes, north of Tucson, a few weeks ago and the little church I attend when I am there - well, something unexpected always comes up!  This time around it was one death and five murders!  Gees!  A college age, whom murdered his parents and siblings, then took off for Vegas with the family car, best friend, a wad of cash cards and credit cards, and what on earth could have been in their minds!  The single death was one of the young ladies in the church whom was an exchange student to Spain and was killed in that train crash.  Wow.

And the pastor apparently became aware of a great deal of controversy in the church over this, there usually is with the American zeal for pointing self-righteous fingers and claiming that were it not for those people's sin, then they would still be alive today.  Only, the Bible tells us that ALL of our days are in God's hands, from birth to death.  And, whether we die in bed to a deranged relative with an axe, on a train reading a book, or even out jogging - we will die at exactly the right time.  Sin or no sin, has nothing to do with the argument.

And the pastor was wise for the service was tailored completely to support his message.  God was praised through hymns and readings - to emphasize HIS sovereignty.  Sin was addressed, as was forgiveness and fellowship.

And then he picked up a guitar, walked down the steps to the main area and started to sing a song:



Yeah, his song was Jesus Loves Me, But He Can't Stand You.
I was dying of laughter, I honestly thought there was no breath left for me to draw!

And he closed with: "This song is what the Lord's Prayer is not about!  Jesus, forgive us, gives compassion, lead us in your footsteps ... "

The sermon over - people fled the building!  I sat in the back and walk pretty slow at times due to my back - the building was empty by the time I made the front door!  Talk about hitting a home run there preacher!  And I congratulated him on a job well done.  He gave me a really funny look.

And all of this is tongue in cheek, for I know at least one whom reads this blog is not a Christian on the inside.  Yes, Jesus does love you and He has an awesome plan for your life, but it might not be what you wanted or expected.....

Compassion

I have been doing much grandchild babysitting.  One afternoon, I hear this wail swelling up from the living room, obviously grandson had managed to hurt himself again.  I tell ya ...

I returnded back in the living room and there is youngest grand-daughter, just shy of 3, sitting with her 3 year old sobbing cousin, patting him on his head.  But, what touched me was she was singing the only song she knew, "a, b, c, d, e, f, g, ...".  She was singing the ABC song and it was trying to comfort him.

And I thought on this.  Anytime in my life when I have ever been called compassionate - it purely was the result of the Holy Spirit over riding my base nature to be what I needed to be in the moment.  So, here I watched and pondered this natural reaction of my granddaughter to the sorrow of her cousin.  She just by nature desired to help him, to soothe him, to deal with him on an emotional level.

I could manage his physical need: a squirt of Bactine and a band-aid took care of that.  But she reached him in a way I could not.

This is just a quite story about my grandchildren, showing me yet another hole in my creation and I marvel at it.

I Want To Be Like That!

1 Timothy 3:1 - 7, lays out the qualifications for an elder - narrowly viewed by the Western Theological movement as being an all inclusive, only applying to Elders, list of what is unattainable.  And yet, Paul expected this to be possible in God's church!  (psst, if you do not have these in your church's eldership - find an other church because God is not where you are!)  I will get off my soapbox again...

God Help Me To:

Avoid Unhealthy Extremes
Be balanced in your:

• Work
• Pleasure
• Food
• Sports
• Sex Life
• etc!

The big point here is:

• To be self-controlled
• Wise
• Respected by those whom are God-ly

Have A Welcoming Spirit
New visitors in your church? Go welcome them!
It appears change is about to happen? Prayerfully discern the intent and react accordingly.
Have problems with someone in the church? Go out of your way to set it right.

Be A Lover of the Word
Read your Bible!  Know its content, know its intention!
Be teachable.
Be willing to teach others one on one, be a study leader, be a witness.

Be Reasonable
Think on this before answering: what comes before God in your life?  Is it you, someone else, money, pleasure, power, etc?

Be:

• Sober - not a drunkard
• Gentle - not violent
• Calm - not quarrelsome
• Generous - not a lover of money

Have Roots
Be mature in the Christian faith, know the difference between what Western Theology says and what God really does say.
Judge not the moment, but across time, in all things.

If you can not accomplish this then yes, you will have problems!

Be Someone Non-believers Will Respect
You must be well thought of by outsiders to the faith.
Your unsaved friends respect you.

The qualifications we find here in this passage should be attainable for any believer.  There is nothing here which calls for any piety or massive sacrifice, it is you being called to change your life and its direction.  To be willing to follow a new calling, a new path, to seek His Will and not your own.

So, read back through here and ask yourself where you fall.  Then do something about it or if you are there, be God's voice in a dying world, right where you live, work and play.

RED 2

So went to go see RIPD.  I had seen this as a preview, when I went to The Wolverine while I was in Denver, and it looked funny.  But, it must have tanked quickly because the AMC I went to had it advertised and it was no longer available only hours later!  Hmmmm.

Well, what do you do when the movie you start out for, disappears?

RED 2 was on the marque and so it was either that or The Wolverine again.  RED 2 won.

Now I did like RED, it was humorously over the top.  And RED 2 is equally as humorously over the top - with the noted exception that it is a far better film.

John Malkovich is allowed to be quite humorous this time around and I laughed as I have not done in a very long time.  Bruce Willis I can live without but he seemed to manage to not hog the film as he usually does.  Catherine Zeta Jones I guess is supposed to be "hot" and honestly almost anyone else could have played the femme fatale so much better!  She was believable in Entrapment, but that was a few decades ago.

Lots of shooting, explosions, car chases, psychopathic humor and did I mention that Anthony Hopkins is quite delightful?  I liked him in a sociopathic way.....  Any one over 13 will love this film.

Everyone kept their clothes on, I did not notice any language problems, lots of martial arts and dark humor.

Its an owner.

Set It Free

It must have been 1972 when I first heard the quotation:
"If you love someone,
Set them free.
If they will return,
It was meant to be."

Well, that expression lasted less than a nanosecond in my mind and I replied to Karen Carroll, the young lady whom had quoted these lines:
"And if they don't return,
Hunt them down and kill them."

Everyone roared with laughter and those words actually became a bit of tag identifying me in high school and even pops up ever so often now days too.  (and to think that reply is now all over the internet!  wow! i am quoted!)

Of course, there are lots of variations on this the original theme: Someone, Some thing, Your dog, etc.  The idea being that we are not supposed to possess, we are to share experiences and existences.

Across last week, I was given pause to think about this, for real, not just as the joke it has always been in my mind.  There is probably much in life I need to let go of: people, places, things.  People are the hardest.  There are so few I trust and can call friend.  I cherish each of them in my life.  I wondered if I smother them or is it really a problem of co-dependence?  I realize society thinks co-dependence is bad, but it has always worked for me.  And though I fear it, letting go might be the best for some of them.

But, seriously I have fought over the question of backing off of my relationships, letting others seek me out, instead of my always initiating conversations and visits, planning the vacations together, the parties, etc.  Maybe Kris needs to just back off and see whom wants to be around me and let them pace the relationship.

It made me physically ill.  I spent most of Saturday one button away from dialing 911 for the majority of the day.  Yeah, just a little stress there.  And I realized that walking to Argentina would be so much more productive than fretting at home, having another heart attack and possibly in the end improving a little!

And so in prayer, I took my friend and turned them back over to God, emphasizing that my desire is for them to have the best in their life, not necessarily me, and I killed my heart and the pain it brought.  Well, not for too long for Swedish Rocket Scientist, now retired called me almost instantly and told me we need to get together this week.  Interesting .....

And a text from my friend telling me to stay their friend for I am needed.  Very interesting again.

There appears to be some hope for me yet.

Yeah, Kris uncomfortably insecure?  Unheard of!  And, this is the result of the new me, now eight months old and going crazy - beginning to understand life, the universe and everything - else .....  It sucks.

Musical Saturday Morning

So hard to get up on a Saturday morning!  So, perhaps a little salsa would wake you up?

Captured off of French TV, probably a PG-21, so if you are under 21 - just close your eyes and listen a pretty song, sung in the wrong key, but then I am not so sure this singer relies upon her voice ...



Yeah, the call of Latin America hangs upon my heart ...

Train Wreck

Last night I was just hurting too much, between my heart and my jaw, so I had dinner at my favorite Mexican restaurant and was to be entertained by a train wreck occurring at the table next to me!

Guy was obviously mid forties, the girl in the course of the conversation said she was 25.  They knew nothing of the other, so I was wondering at just how did they even plan on this rendezvous?

He is married and looking for a new love interest in his life.  She is single and brought her 3 month old son along with her on the date.

They were friendly, guarded cordial, and I honestly had no idea how this was going for either one of them.  His conversation tactfully ignored any reference to the prominent child sitting in a high chair next to him and most of her attention was on fussing with her son.  She made many references to the child and never said anything concerning the father.  He made no references to his family at all.  It was weird.  I was just dying to find out how shallow could this conversation go!

Then somehow the train wreck occurred, each realizing this was just going to be a meal and nothing else, so he told her about his vacation plans for next week with his girl friend down in California and how he was looking forward to seeing her.  She ignored his entire paragraph and talked about planning a shopping trip and about child safety seats!

Yeah, you just have to enjoy a good train wreck!  You never know when they are going to crop up!

Blank

This post has been left completely blank because I am not sure what there is to say about the day, yesterday, week, year or even life any more.

Return To Life

Trying to get back into the hang of not being on vacation and finding life exhausting.

My five year old grand daughter is now in school and so I get the kids at 5 am, let them get a few more hours of shut eye, make them breakfast and then drive them to her school.  Well, grandson is now three and I get to entertain him while she is in school for a few hours - when really all I want to do is go back to bed!  Yawn!

But Tuesday they wore me out! I did okay until 3pm but then just collapsed.  At least they were watching a movie and obviously had a popcorn fight it seems while I snored away.  Might not be so bad where it not for the meds for this broken jaw socket.  Yawn!

Then I heard that my adopted father, I adopted him early in my adult life, so I could learn what being a Christian man meant, was out the hospital so I went to see how he is doing.  Just as ornery as usual.  :)  He is now approaching 90 and well, does not seem to have that many years let in him.

So I have reflected upon these last three weeks.  My old mining partner is now old and health is fragile, my mentor/adopted father is old and very fragile right now, my high school friend is just plain fragile currently and it is a bit unnerving for me.  They are all that remain on my friends list other than Dutchman.  Yeah, going to get real quiet in my life one of these days, just with the passage of time.  Sigh.

As I have been unpacking from my two trips, I have found that my checked luggage was ransacked in either Tucson or Seattle and quite a bit of stuff was stolen.  Lost my new belt knife and several bottles of meds.  Hope the guilty actually take those pills, all at once!  :)  Nothing like death by diuretics!  LOL!  I am so disgusted with Alaskan Airlines I am not likely to ever check baggage with them ever again....

And the jaw is doing better.  I can finally touch my teeth together without intense pain, the ear is working again, but I still can not open my mouth much nor chew anything other than super soft stuff.  Sigh.

If I can find my camera's USB cord I will get some photos to post tomorrow of what a rainy Arizona and Colorado looked like!

Father's blog is now restored and re-editted for grammar and spelling.  I have been stunned by the number of readers!  Over 950 unique readers just this week!  This blog only averages in the mid 400's!  So lots of interest in World War II it seems!  In the course of rereading it last night and this morning I have taken some notes of a few more posts to add to it, to explain something better and maybe rearrange a few of them as well for continuity.  I am amazed at anyone's interest in that tale...

Finished It

Up way to early this morning!  But wanted to put something out here for the day,  before my router overheats and dies again.  Yeah, when the room temperature gets up to 80 degrees it is all over for my little network.

But, I did get the first draft back out there for the little blog about my father.  It still amazes me the number of European and Russian readers for anything related to WWII and my father's experiences.  I just wish I had more pictures but father destroyed everything related to his past before his death.  I really would like to have gotten my hands on his repatronization card!  We did a real thorough search of his house and all papers and photos were missing.  Very sad.  But, hey, we had a dozen copies of his fictionalized tome about his life!

Kris' exciting life this week is watching two of my grandchildren and ferrying one of them to and from kindergarden!  Yeah one of them qualifies for school now, so she is very excited and I am yawning because I have to get her ready for school, breakfast and then drive her to school.  Today is day one, so will I be able to do this on time?  Guess we will find out!

Jaw is mighty painful today.  I can finally close my mouth enough that the teeth touch, very painful though.  Hearing is coming back in the left ear, though still distorted.  And the joint is still very painful to both touch and movement.  I almost managed a meal last night, chili cheese fries at Wendy's.  They were super salty, thus yummy, and did fit into my mouth - so that was good! 

Well time for tea and to think of more interesting posts this week!

Great Weekend

So, an awesome weekend - between clinched teeth.

Yeah, day seven of my shattered jaw joint and it is an interesting complication.  People give you odd looks when the side of your head is swollen and you are talking with your teeth barely apart!  Then when you tell them you broke the jaw joint, everyone wants to know about the fight!  I wonder if it is because I am so large that people instantly assume I am unpleasant and in a fight?  So much less cool to say I was telling jokes at dinner time and the darn thing shattered.  Sigh, I really have to come up with something better.  "Well, there was this house fire and I was saving a box full of kittens ..... "  Nope, no one is going to believe that one, manly men must wring kitten necks for fun.  Sigh.

And Kris does NOT like muscle relaxants!  Yeah, they knock me out cold but a whole pill I took Saturday night lasted until 4 pm Sunday!  I did make it to church, first service but was feeling so badly I went to Dennys hoping if I had something in my stomach I would be less queasy.  Then made it back to my car in the church parking lot, where an excited granddaughter grabbed me - so I had to go to the second service too.  But, I kept falling asleep and my oldest daughter had to keep poking me awake.  Maybe I was snoring, who knows?

Back home, it was straight to bed to finally sleep it off.

About 2 am on Saturday morning, Kris totally zonked on the muscle relaxant, there was this huge explosion which woke me up from the dead!  The bedroom lit up a few times and the sharp crack of thunder rumbled on.  I laid back down and thought about getting up to watch the lightening but I was just to tired.  Suddenly, through my closed eye lids, everything went white!  There was a blast which shook the entire house and literally bounced me out of bed!  I was gasping for air but only the bad taste of ozone was to be found in my room.  I stumbled into the livingroom fully knowing that one had to have hit my property!  I have several trees in the 60 foot range so when I looked out the window I expected to see one of them smoldering.  But, there was nothing on the ground to see!

This awesome picture is from a guy whom lives on the other side of the lake from me.  He had maybe a dozen shots of the storm hitting the water but this was the only one hitting the land.  Maybe this was the one to have blasted me out of bed?  And yeah, that cell phone camera is mighty awesome!  I think it is an iPad.  I might have to put one on my list for Christmas this year!

Went to the local store and was accosted by a man whom appeared to be about my age and whom also knew way too much about me - like my military designation back in 1972, which no one should know since my files were all destroyed!  So, I was extremely cautious, extremely polite and equally evasive.  He was obviously military or ex-military, so all of my bells were ringing that something was not right here.  When pressed, I just replied that my goal in live has always been to never cause harm to anyone.  He did not like that answer and eventually left me to select my toilet paper d'jour.  But, I have to admit I was wondering if he was one of the other 5 graduates from my Army class.  But, I did not recognize him and I know I look roughly the same, just twice the weight!

So far, I know this does not describe a great weekend, but it was.  I had fun going to yard sales and picked up only a few goodies, including a scrapbook from 1945 by some GIs whom visited Switzerland in 1945.  Since most of the pictures are of various locations in Baselstadt, I am going to be blowing them up to see if my grandparents were captured in any of the shots.  Be super cool if there were.

Also, I am resurrecting my little blog I created back in 2010 about my father.  So have been working on that, with a great many corrections, more photos, etc.  Last Wednesday was my complete melt down over my father and yesterday's work on the blog seems to have helped me settle back down.  I hope to have it done this afternoon.  Amazingly, just during the creation process there were over 300 readers (not crawlers, there were 5 of those)!  Mostly in Russia, Ukraine and the US.

Well another wave of sleepiness is coming upon me, so I guess I will head back to dream land and see if the pain will slowly go away again....

Musical Saturday Morning

A little something from a long time ago which brought a smile to my lips and a remembrance of a sunny afternoon and Giselle.....

Enjoy!

Bummer

So locked out of my account for the better part of two weeks - thank you Google for your haphazard rules and regulations, so that those without an interest in having Google know their phone number can no longer access their accounts!

My trip to Colorado was altered mightily when one of my classmates and one of two I was going to be seeing, decided to fall ill and spend the whole of my time there in the hospital.  Make no mistake, I am gravely worried for him and have been encouraging ALL of my Christian friends and relatives to be praying for him.  If that includes you, please do join us in prayer - for his healing, his body's ability to fight these cancers and maintain his will power.  For his family: strength, wisdom, faith when there is no reason for any to exist.  And then there is the problem of finances.  He was the sole paycheck and they have little, much less enough to address August's expenses, much less, this disaster.  In short, I am seeking many miracles.  He has been a friend, a brother and someone I have looked up to for decades.

The point of this post this post is to give you a heads up on an important prayer item.  I will tell you more about the trip next week, once i have had some sleep.

TMJ

What would a vacation be, without some disaster looming itself upon my body?

A week ago, on Tuesday, my left jaw started making these popping sounds.  It was weird, everyone could hear it, but it was just inconvenient.

Then my jaw started locking on this Tuesday, with significant pain but if I pushed gently in, it seemed to go away and I made a note to email my dentist back in Seattle.

Then during lunch, it make a breaking glass sound, again heard by all and it made me yelp in pain!  My face swelled up, I could no longer chew on the left side, I no longer could eat anything that was not mighty soft.  But, no more popping, clicking, or locking.  Weird.

So, went to the dentist and apparently I shattered my left side disc that the jaw bone rides on.  Muscle relaxants for a month at night, hot pads, ice, and lots of soft foods.

Nope nothing normal about me....

In Rememberance

Wednesday was my father's birthday.  I have not been back to Denver since his death, so I planned on going to his grave on his birthday.  See if there is a stone yet, leave a flower, wish him a happy birthday.

Yeah, I know.

So, I went, spent about 10 minutes trying to remember where his grave was.  Took some pictures.  Lost control.

I could not wish him a happy birthday.  Yeah, he is not there.  It is my belief that he is not only separated from this life but from God as well, for all eternity, by his own informed choice.  There is no one to wish happy birthday to.  And I lost it.

All of those years of frustration and anger at the injustices he subjected me to, all of the pain he inflicted, all came roaring back for the first time in my life - I felt something towards  him, and it was not worthy of me to have felt so of anyone.  Such is the new nature now that I do have emotions.

I reread what I wrote upon his death.  Yeah, it is still true and yet it was written by the old me, someone whom had never had a feeling in his entire life.  Today, that short memory would have been far different.....

I felt so sorry for my friend whom was with me, for I was truly a basket case.

As for the poppy, his mother's favorite name for him was Poppi, her wild flower.  More true than she ever knew.

Fabreeze

Oh what a horrible dream!

I woke up at like 2 in the morning unable to breathe!  Gasping, gagging, trying to draw myself up and away from the odor!  I was terrified, because it had been in a dream:

I dreamt that the lady I was staying with, one of "my girls" from my youth ministry back in the 1970's, had decided to poison me.  So, she had grab a bottle of Fabreeze and was pouring it over me in hopes of softening me up.  In the dream I passed out and awoke in reality, in the prior paragraph.

Now she doesn't even have Fabreeze that I am aware of, probably did not want to kill me that I am aware of, and yet this was so real.  I really smelled that product on the air surrounding me!

Too weird!

Wolverine

With one of my friends in the Denver area, we went to see Wolverine.  In short, pretty good movie.

The Good:
One of the only film depictions of an atomic bomb drop on Japan.  Very well done, very powerful in its impact.

Best train battle of the year.
I like it when women are portrayed as independent, strong, with a slight evil streak, especially with sharp implements.
Story is entertaining.
Strong side kicks.

The Bad:
Not very historic since the bomb's ground zero was dead center on the Allied POW camp, as an act of mercy.  The scientists theorized what the effects would be of the blast.  So, yeah, Wolverine has to survive but really - miss the actual real target by miles?  Oh well.

His only memories of his great love are all of her in bed ...... yeah, I could have lived without every single one of them, it could have been done so much better and interestingly.  I have no idea whom the actress is, and not going to waste time looking her up, but honestly, girls were cuter in junior high than what we were forced to view, and I am just guessing, but there are men somewhere whom think she is hot?  Yeah, not impressed, and sorry if you think she is hot.

And I guess, we have to have Wolverine behave just like the stereotypical male - instantly in bed with any willing female.  In this case, the daughter of a man he had called friend - okay, strained relationship, but he did save his life at the beginning of the movie and what better way to say thank you than bed his daughter? (this space contained what I think of stereotypical males!)

Recommendation:
Over-all a good entertaining film. 
Mostly teen friendly, since all films seem to require the hero to appear in bed often.
Hugh Jackman has to bare his butt, probably a statement to the director's ability.
Any language appears acceptable.
Action, adventure, mayhem, Japanese violence requiring Godzilla whom was not given a part in the film.

Musical Saturday Morning

Well, first Saturday of the month and it is time for another 1980's music video!

In order for complete disclosure, NO hazardous drugs known to modern pharmacology were NOT taken before, during and after this video. (remember: double negative is a positive!)  Just be glad your mind is far less damaged than this one ...

Insert Foot

Well, you know me, if it is going to occur then it will happen to me!

First off Google locked me out of my account because my ISP changed!  Well, duh, people do travel.  Of course all I had to do was give them my cell phone number and then they would text me a new password.  I don't want a new password and I know you Google types well enough to know that you want a cell number so you can sell it!  And I was not going to use my friend's number to get into my account!  Which by the way was not at Starbucks, where I had hoped to blog from.  So locked out.

Of course not much else went well either.  My luggage never made the flight, nor the next flight, nor the next nor even that day nor the next!  I was a little tired of my underwear by the time my luggage did arrive!

Then picking ever so gently, I managed to find out what has stood between my mining partner and God - his mother.  When he was 16, he went with some friends down to Almagordo to see the atomic tests.  While he was gone a bottle of whiskey was found hidden in the church and one of the kids told everyone it was his.  So, his mother went to the board of elders and had him thrown out of the church!  Mind you he had to come home to hear any of this.  60 years later, it still bites him that the church he had grown up in had killed him with no opportunity for defense.  So my task before he dies appears to be to teach him about forgiveness - yeah, good luck with that one!

So, he was so upset I took him to see the Lone Ranger.  Uhm, he was livid.  To say the least.

Attempted recovery at El Corral, his favorite steak house, where they had a display of Monty Montana memorabilia.  I was excited, but my friend exploded - seems he personally knew Monty as a child and it did not go well.

Yeah just quite a vacation.....