Airplane Day

No, we are not going on a trip.  Today is the 21st anniversary of Airplane Day—the day that our family of three became a family of four.  Jonathan arrived on an airplane from Korea on August 7, 1989.  He was four months old.  It was a much anticipated day for all of us.  Well, maybe not for Jonathan!

He was one frightened baby after the  long flight from Korea to San Francisco. He cried when I held him, and stopped crying when Dave held him, but still wasn't happy. When we finally got into our rented mini-van in the airport parking lot, Jonathan was placed in his car seat next to his new big brother, Tim, age 7. Tim made faces at Jonathan and interacted with him and finally Jonathan began to relax and smile.

Tim, age 7, and Jonathan, age 7 months

Tim, 17, and Jonathan, 10, at Lassen Nat’l Park

Tim, 21,  and Jonathan, 15, at Tim’s wedding

Upcoming Live Webcasts

Dave and I have decided not to attend the upcoming Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) convention in Redmond, Oregon.  We decided that the daily cost to attend was too high.

The other reason, besides the cost, that we decided not to attend the convention in person is that four of the seminars are going to be available by live webcast.  That means we can (hopefully) watch the seminars next week from the comfort of our own home.

Click on this link, FMCA Webcasts, for more information about each  of the following four webcast seminars.

1.  Supplemental Towed Car Braking

      Wednesday, August 11, 10 to 11:15 am Pacific time

2.  Picasa (by Geeks on Tour)

      Wednesday, August 11, 3:15 to 4:30 pm Pacific time

3.   Ask the Experts (with Gary Bunzer)

      Thursday, August 12, 3 to 4:15 pm Pacific time

4.  Microwave-Convection Cooking

      Friday, August 13, 9:45 to 11:45 am Pacific time

I’ve never tuned into a live webcast, so we’ll see what happens.  As far as I know, I do not need to be a member of FMCA to view these webcasts on my computer.

Broken by the Church?

Thank you to all who wrote me a comment about yesterday’s blog.  Your thoughts and opinions are important to me.  Today I would like to welcome a new blog follower, Susan K.  I hope you enjoy reading my blog, Susan.  Feel free to leave a comment from time to time.

Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada, 7/7/01

Dave and I listened to an interesting on-line lecture the other night.  We heard Dr. Rod Rosenbladt, a Lutheran professor and minister, speak on the topic of “The Gospel for Those Broken by the Church”.  This lecture was originally given six years ago and is even more timely today. 

Many people have been broken by their churches.  They work and work and try to do the right thing, and it just gets harder, not easier.  And sometimes their church makes them feel that “if only” they worked even harder and volunteered even more, and spent even more time at church, “then” they would receive more blessings.

Wrong!  The Gospel message has nothing to do with our works.  Among other points, Dr. Rosenbladt explicitly lists the kinds of people that many of us will be very surprised to see in heaven. 

If you’ve struggled with your faith in your church because of what you’re seeing and hearing (and maybe don’t even go to church anymore), you don’t want to miss this powerful address – an unabashed analysis of the church today and what it is doing to many believers – from one who has experienced it himself.

If this topic sounds intriguing to you, listen to this 50 minute lecture.  Your mind may be opened to a new way of looking at the Church.  

New Reformation Press is offering this lecture free of charge.  Here is the website where you can listen to the mp3 audio file or download a written PDF version:  Gospel for Those Broken by the Church

Dr. Rod Rosenbladt

After listening to or reading this material, what do you think about what Dr. Rosenbladt said?  Dave and I can relate to what he says because that has been our experience with church. 

Thoughts About My Blog

Welcome to my new blog follower, Judy, a full-time RVer, who writes a blog called Travels with Emma.  The other day, Judy included a picture of Bryce Canyon National Park and challenged her blog readers to identify it.  I recognized her picture right away, because we took  the following pictures and many others at Bryce when we visited there on April 20, 2010.

When I started writing my blog in April, 2009, it was used as an update about my upcoming heart surgery.  Gradually, as I recovered from the surgery and felt better, I started to blog about other subjects, including our travels. 

In late December, 2009, I began adding pictures to my blog.  That was fun for me as well as my blog readers.  I discovered a new-found interest in photography.  You know it’s bad when I say to Dave, let’s go somewhere so I can take pictures for my blog!

When Dave and I went on our six-week Grand Circle tour in our motorhome this spring, my blog became a travelogue of our journey.  We hope to take more of these long trips in our motorhome, and in the meantime, we enjoy going on shorter trips as often as possible. 

Gradually, more and more RVers have started following my blog.  We RVers seem to be a vocal bunch, and those are the people that leave 99% of the comments on my blog.  Thank you!  It’s fun to get comments.  Yes, I’m writing the blog for my own enjoyment but, at the same time, it’s nice that strangers have tuned in, also.  And after reading their comments and reading their blogs, these people don’t feel like strangers, but online friends.  Some of them, like Margie and Bruce and Ali and Ron, we’ve even met in person!

My blog is a travel blog, yes, but it’s also a blog about me and all of my interests.  I know that if I veer off into the subjects of religion and politics, which are two of the major no-no subjects of travel blogs, I will lose many of my online RV friends as followers. 

But I can’t write about travel every day, because we are not traveling right now.  I have other subjects that I want to write about, talk about, and dialogue about.  I thought about starting another blog which would be devoted to my thoughts and ideas about Christianity, but I don’t  want to have the pressure of having to write that kind of a blog every day, either. I want to be able to write about what is on my mind each day, whether it’s travel, or music, or books, or religion, or politics, or whatever. 

If I lose readers along the way, I have to reluctantly say, so be it.  All I can ask them to do is to look at my blog and if it’s not interesting to them that day, then don’t read it!  And if you DO happen to be interested in something I write about, please send me a note or comment.  Feedback is great!  Even if you are unhappy about what I write, feedback is still valuable!

The Pillars of the Earth

Ken Follett started writing this book in the early 1970s.  The book was published in 1989.  It became a best-seller and has become even more famous now that it has been turned into an eight part TV miniseries.  And, oh yes, in 2007, a few more readers discovered this book when Oprah made it one of her book club selections.  Don’t let Oprah’s endorsement keep you from reading this book!

I read The Pillars of the Earth in March, 2008, and I read its sequel, World Without End, in July, 2008.  I thoroughly enjoyed both books, especially the first one.  The books are long, but not tedious.  The story can be enjoyed on so many levels, from the characters, to the process of building a cathedral, to the history portrayed.

As to the content of the book, I found this concise summary of The Pillars of the Earth at the Barnes and Noble website:  “As a new age dawns in England's twelfth century, the building of a mighty Gothic cathedral sets the stage for a story of intrigue and power, revenge and betrayal.”  That’s a great summary of a long and involved book.

I predict that you will either love or hate this book.   I thoroughly enjoyed the book and was scarcely able to put it down.   

As to whether or not you will like the made-for-TV adaptation now being shown on Starz, and in Canada on The Movie Network, I don’t know, since I haven’t seen it.  The first three hours are available on Netflix Instant and I imagine they will have the final five hours available as soon as they are aired on TV.  I learned from Wikipedia that  there have also been three separate board games based on The Pillars of the Earth.

Ken Follet has written many books, but these two books were a departure from his usual genre of suspense thrillers.  If you liked these two books, you might be interested in Follett’s book that is coming out in September, 2010, Fall of Giants, Book One of the Century Trilogy.

Portland Festival Symphony, Part 2

Saturday night’s Portland Festival Symphony concert included a performance by Michael Allen Harrison on piano.  The first piece he played was familiar to us.  Our son, Tim, played in Portland’s Metropolitan Youth Symphony for eight years.  They recorded one of Michael Allen Harrison’s original compositions, “Remembrance”.  This piece was commissioned by the United Nations and performed there by Michael and violinist Aaron Meyer.  This performance brought back many memories of that time.

Michael Allen Harrison

From a review:  “Remembrance” is a tribute to the 50th anniversary of Israel’s independence and to the lives lost during the Holocaust. Performed with Aaron Meyer on violin and The Metropolitan Youth Orchestra, the piece has a deeply emotional and tragic feeling, but also suggests triumph and moving forward.  Click here to listen to a preview of “Remembrance”.

Michael went on to play a medley of some of his other pieces.  After intermission, the symphony, which had opened the concert with another one of our favorites, John Phillip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever”, went on to play Dvorak’s “New World Symphony”.  This symphony is another one of our favorites, and was one of the first pieces that Tim played with the Metropolitan Youth Symphony (MYS), when he was just 10 years old.  Lajos Balogh is also the music director of MYS.

Every Portland Festival Symphony concert ends with a playing of Haydn’s “Toy Symphony”.  Children are invited to come up and get a free instrument and play along with the orchestra.  Yes, it’s chaotic, but it’s a pleasure to hear those children excited about being part of the concert. 

Maestro Lajos Balogh with some future musicians

Portland Festival Symphony (PFS) is one of our favorite orchestras.  PFS, founded by conductor, Lajos Balogh, has been giving free concerts in various Portland parks since 1981.  Maestro Balogh grew up in Hungary where classical music was familiar to everyone.  When he moved to the United States, he wanted to provide the people here with that same musical familiarity.  So he started PFS and it’s still going strong. 

Saturday night’s concert was held in Cathedral Park.   I learned this about the park: “The site which now bears the name Cathedral Park is steeped in history. It is believed to be one of the 14 Lewis and Clark landing sites in the Vancouver-Portland area: William Clark and eight men camped there on April 2, 1806. This spot had been a fishing and camping site for many area Indian tribes.

In 1847, the founder of St. Johns, James John, settled on the site and operated a ferry to Linnton across the Willamette River. In 1931, the St. Johns Bridge was built on the site with 400-ft towers and a main span of 1,207 feet. It is the only steel suspension bridge in Portland and is designated as an official historical landmark.”

I enjoy listening to classical music any time, but it’s especially nice to hear it on a warm summer night outdoors in a park.  We take a picnic dinner with us and sit out on lawn chairs.  No need to dress up for these concerts! 

A historical site and great music to listen to…what could be better!

Portland Festival Symphony, Part 1

Last night, Dave and attended a free, outdoor concert at Cathedral Park in Portland.  Every year the Portland Festival Symphony, started by Lajos Balogh thirty years ago, plays free concerts in Portland area parks.  We’ve been going to these concerts for many years.  They are always held the first three weekends in August.  The crowds of people don’t keep us away because we know the reward of hearing live classical music is worth it!

Cathedral Park is located underneath the north end of the St. John’s bridge.The symphony

Many thanks to my online friends, Roberta, who has a blog called Our RV Travels, and Rick, of Rick & Paulette's RV Travels for sending me the instructions about how to embed a slideshow into my blog!  Click on the arrow to start the slideshow.

Dave and Carol and the rest of the appreciative audience at last evening’s Portland Festival Symphony concert.

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Today’s challenge was to embed the slideshow.  In tomorrow’s blog I’ll tell you more about the symphony, the music we heard, and the park.

Stay tuned!