the "GRAND" daughter

Riley is visiting for two weeks. She is our #1 favorite Granddaughter. We are so lucky to have this time with her. Today wew went on my regular Saturday walk. We went by a place where I have taken Mike's picture a number of times. This bronze buffalo is pretty cool and is a great place to take a picture.

Daddy

Fathers Day is for Dad's I suppose on the other hand everyone had a Father somewhere along the line. My dad was a good man. He did his job's well and never gave up. I admire many things about him. I miss him.

Around "this" town area or neighborhood

This is not the picture I took today. This blogger tool is a joke. The day by the way if fine but a lot of other things are not. You can go on to register a complaint and all that means is that your on a list of thousands of posts that I suppose people actually read. I guess ranting on a blog about posts that  you wonder why people in their right mind would read is sort of the ultimate delusion. It is almost as ridicules as wondering why I am centering each line and any logical way of taking that function off and fixing it is just as unlikely to be discovered by me as I type this as figuring out how to tell whoever is in charge that they have lost their mind if they thing they improved "blogger". The only improvement that I can see is the cleaver little tricks you can learn about how to make money by using this blog. If everyone who has figured out the new tools would send me a penny then I wouldn't worry about getting any money. The other day I was wondering if our cat, still with us by the way, was the smartest critter here? Well for sure she is smarter than the folks who created this wonderful new blog ..................the picture I took couldn't be posted because this blogger fool thing turns it on it's side so I found another one. 

Saturday June 9th

The cat is moving out. MJ too. In a couple of months ZJ will be moving out. Things change. The few people that read this mostly know this stuff anyway but in the interest of finding something that sums up today and perhaps this last week I will find a few things to write down. Especially interesting was KN/s blog about their trip to DC and NY. Great pictures were posted. What a great trip. This last week I have worn a pedometer each day and kept track of steps. Things change. I used to kept track of miles and now I keep track of steps. I am not sure if I ever read the book "Uncle Tom's Cabin". Yesterday for lunch I went to Barnes and Noble and looked around and decided to buy the book. I read a few chapters yesterday. I know from a lot of experiences that a good book, when I find it, can get read from page one to the end in a day or two. This one will take a lot longer. It isn't that it is not a good book it is well written and tells a compelling story. The problem is that the story is so sad and upsetting that I just think I will take it a little at a time. As I sit here deciding how to finish this I am reminded of a couple of things. Harriet Beecher Stowe's writing style surprised me a little as I read the first three chapters. She stopped and made reference to the reader? I have always been fascinated with an author who can do that effectively. I am not far enough into the book but what an interesting observation that she stopped and engaged her readers directly. If you were reading this you needed to be in partnership with the author because it pulls you the "right direction" in to just not liking the story. The story was published in 1852. My great grandfather was born in 1831 and my grandfather who I knew was born in 1871. Both lucky men to not have been where slavery was present.

something different

...............................................prickly-pear-cactus-flowering is something I would not have thought much about before moving to the Southwest. Today when I went for my run walk I thought that I would try to find something "different" to take a picture of. I suppose different depends on what your used to. Even so this cactus is different.

B.T.

Middle of the week. Short post. Looking for something worth saying. Conclusion........................Be Thankful

no picture of a catcus here..................

This week I went to San Antonio and Austin. Of course that has nothing to do with the picture above but I can tell you that I would have liked to have posted a picture of a catcus. I took a picture of very interesting catcus a couple of weeks ago but I can not get it to post any other way than on it's side? I also had a picture of a entryway to a sporting goods store in San Antonio that might have been postworthy. It had a large stuffed Steer with very large horns, standing on a ledge above the door. For various reasons I decided not to post that picture.  The reason I had the Steer picture is because Thursday evening while in San Antonio were driving around looking around in the Northwest part of San Antonio and we went into a nice shopping center and went into the huge sporting goods store and looked around just for something to do. This was a fun experience by the way. I was told that the Northwest part of San Antonio was the nice part of town.  The area was named Stone Oak  and was as said already,  especially nice, but then part of the reason it was nice was because some of the "Spurs" live there I was told? I put a ? after that last sentence because I am not sure who any of the Spur's players are anymore, not to mention that I am not sure why that makes any difference.  Guess being rich is what they meant about why this area was nice. We spent most of Thursday before getting to Stone Oak, drving around Austin. One thing about Texas (for the purpose of this sentence I felt that Texas needed to be bold and underlined) is that there are several versions of it. Austin, San Antonio, Houston and Dallas each seem to be a different version. El Paso is of course a whole different version but they usually don't get billing along with these other places. ...........................................Austin is the best if you ask anyone in Austin by the way.
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All of this driving around was "market research" and we were checking out food locations and different food concepts. In theory I was suppose to have been eating hamburger, fries and sampling the shakes in these locations. I did sample a Sea Salt Shake with carmel and whipped cream on top. I figure when you put whipped cream on top of a shake your sort of ashamed of the shake to start with and are hoping that it will be valued more with the fluffy top.  The Sea Salt Shake with carmel was a little different but nothing to write home about. Putting a little Sea Salt in your mouth (yes the sea salt is just little crystals of sea salt sprinkled on top)  is of course different than the sweet you expect but I am not sure if it is worth it since you stuck with the whipped cream, and the ice cream is not all the rich. The idea of getting paid to do this type of significant market research is an interesting subject. More interesting ,as a overall subject that is blogworthy, and more than sampling Shakes in Texas would be should be an easy thing. For example I have a friend and cousin who spent some of the last few weeks in Wales. That would make for a more interesting blog. On the other hand if you are reading this blog and actually know me then you at least have some clue as to what I did this week. Even so this exicting tale only covers three of the days.  I read an article last week in a magazine about books. It was sitting in KJ's special room and was easy to read since it was on a pile especially close to where I go in and sit for a few minutes each morning. The article said that one could always cheer up or feel good or better by reading something and it sort if indicated that it didn't matter what it was? The implication of this article is that even reading a blog could serve a purpose.  So I use that as justification for writing this today. Perhaps it doesn't matter that it isn't about anything.  Course I am heading out for a run walk right now.

"the" Mom

It is Mothers Day. I posted about my Mom on Friday because I wanted to save today for the Mom that has the most impact on my life. These pictures show a couple of our kids, MJ and ZJ, and both of Katie's. I picked the pictures because they some of my  favorites. Three of them are of the "two of us". Each one of those, in a way, are spontaneous. The one I like best is the one that we are both spontaneous.  I especially like the one of her as a "little girl". Her brother made it into the picture but it is Kathy that I love about the picture of course.

Mom

I suppose we learn to love in a lot of ways, but the most important way is by "how we were first loved". The scriptures tell us in John 4:19 that we love the Lord  because he first loved us.  We learn something about the Lord in and from  that process. He didn't need our love in order to love us. Our mothers in a similar way taught us the same thing. The Lord reminded us of this when he answered the lawyer's question. "Which is the great commandment?" The answer was "Thou shalt love the Lord they God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy mind." When I look at this picture I see a lot of things. I see a shirt that might have been silk like? I see pants that may not have been what I would have picked out. I see hair on my head that of course I wish I still had but I am at least glad that it wasn't hanging down below my ears. I see those things together as being how my Mom must have wanted me to look like at that time and I see pride and love in her eyes and smile. I am so glad that I was a point of pride for her. I am thankful for that and for her and for the other Moms in my life.

4 1/2 on a Saturday still is a good thing

Yesterday I started out on my regular Saturday run which is really a walk now and went towards teh mountains. I turned to the North. Unlike a lot of Saturdays I decided to head West and to go to a neighborhood that has a green park like area along side an Arroyo. I ought to remind me of the old Portneuf river that runs by the house I grew up in. That river, way back then, had natural banks and overhanging trees and was a very interesting place to grow up by but then today it is just a cement arroyo that the river runs through. In our area the water runs off of what is sort of a long bench area extending from the Mountains and it will build up into a fast moving stream with quick heavy summer rains so a cement arroyo is the answer. All that said the particular one I wanted to take my run by has a park like area built around it. It is indeed unusal to see this much grass. After reaching that destination I headed back home. The run/walk totaled about 4 and 1/2 miles or so. Very different from Saturday runs of years past. .

new blog is not easy to use

could be the a lot of years of blogging could end if this new blog doesn't become more clear on how to use...........

Daily choices have a big impact on our progress in life. How we look at a choice can make a lot of difference. One way to look at our choices is would be as a summary of what we have done. Sometimes it appears as though others have done more than us. It seems like what we have done is less important that what we could have done. A better way to look at our past list of choices is to consider instead of what our choices were but to consider what those choices have lead us to be.  Who we are is more important that what we have done. The same choice can have a very different result on a person depending on the persons attitude, motive or desire. Tonght in FHE we were considering why prayers were not answered unless we had faith that they would be? Why do you need to know you will get an answer before you will get an answer. Why does motive or real desire or attitude matter? Apparently it is more than just the choice it is why we made the choice.

How

The blogger info is new and after all these years I just don't know how to post anything using this?

home on the river in Phnom Penh

Our friends the Synders blog each week. They left to serve a mission in Cambodia in July of 2010 and are on a a 23 month mission so I think we will see them soon. Many of the homes along the riverside in Phnom Penh they say are like this. They rise with the water.

Us reflected

I like pictures that are shadows of something else. I see myself in the reflection and I am reminded that how I see myself is probably different that how others see me. It could be KJ and me reflected on the wall. It could be me looking back in yesterdays post.

who we are, rewritten

Some thoughts about

"Yin and Yang"............ a symbol that is used to describe, among other things, how contrary forces are connected. Put another way the symbol is a way of expressing that opposites only exist in relation to each other. For the purpose I have used it today the symbol is more of a representation of a whole that has complicated parts that struggle with each other..................The symbol itself is interesting. Maybe the whole is made up of two complimentary halves but I suspect that it takes a lot of work to become complimentary to each side.

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I recently heard a talk about the "soul of man". A persons "soul" we were told consists of the body and the spirit. If you look at it this way you would have to conclude that we may have been incomplete before we gained our body. If gaining a body completed the entity then are the two halves opposites, or contrary forces, and how does the struggle impact us?

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Since it is the bodies appetites and desires that create so many struggles it seems clear that the spirit is the "better half". Hopefully the day will come when the halves are equal.

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This might be a odd post. A rambling group of thoughts about our soul hardly fits into a blog of pictures of daily observations and events. Taking a moment to think about how really hard it is to master the body is one perspective on life. It just never really changes a lot. On the other hand if you look back and look at the memories of life you can see growth rather than just the struggle. You can see how far you have come.

A day to be Thankful for.............

To the left are some friends that we know from Church. They are serving a mission in Cambodia. Each week they send a blog link and we get to see their weeks activities. This one is a side trip they took because they got a couple of days off when their daughter came to visit. It is always interesting to hear from them. A few days back I posted a picture of a man named Tom who was an older man who was part of our church group for a while. I was thinking about him today, Easter, and thinking about the fact that in serving him I really grew to care for him. Serving others gets us to love others. These friends in Cambodia are serving others and each week express their love for the others. I was thinking about what service is. When I served Tom it often was a lot of work. You get to know others when you serve them. I suppose you learn about their weaknesses too. Since today is Easter I thought about why Christ might love us? Why He might have cared about us enough to pay the price for our sins. I thought about these little examples of service and note that our Cambodian friends are getting to know those they serve and Tom was someone I got to know. Christ, having paid for each individual sin that each of us, and myself in particular, has committed would have in doing so enabled Him to have gotten to know us more than anyone else ever will. It is hard to imagine that every single wrong thing I have ever done would have been known to Him and He would have paid the price for it. There is no hiding who I am or who we are from Him and maybe that is what helped Him love us.............................

hbtm a day early

Mike's birthday is tomorrow. I told him this morning on our walk that if he would find a wife and have a little boy sometime in the next couple of years when he was my age he could be out walking with a young man the same age as he is now..............................

HP Guys

Tom is the guy with the white hair sitting down. This picture was taken about a year ago. It was the last Sunday before he moved to Washington DC area. Felt some prompting to take the picture, glad we did. Tom went with his son and their family who had to move and this last week he passed away. He was in our ward for a couple of years and went through a lot of health issues. Most people are interesting. Older folks can be very interesting. Tom was from Canada. His wife was from Australia.

"Stands by Buffalos"

For a few years up to a few years ago I watched the movie
"Dancing with Wolves" many many times. I suspect I will watch it a few more times eventually. A lot of things appealed to me in that movie. I liked the Buffalo scenes. The "majesty" of them and the impact they had on the earth as they moved across it. I liked the final scenes as "Stands with a Fist" and "Dances with Wolves" leave together and above a wolf calls out. I liked the individuality I saw in the Lakota Indians.

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On our Saturday walks we often walk by a bronze buffalo. I have taken a number of pictures of it. Many many times in fact. Like watching the movie it draws me in and it sometimes becomes part of my day. Today was no exception. Today MJ served as the reason for the picture. Something about land in New Mexico that has some attraction. It seems to be from another time in a way.

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