A Merry Fiddler Paying the Piper

Just purchased tickets to see Mary in "Fiddler" on May 29!
Here's an interview that was just posted on her Facebook page.

I also nabbed discounted tickets just in time for the Radio Enthusiasts of Puget Sound's annual convention in the end of June.

Now it's off to think about hotels for the New England trip! [5:15pm: Yay! Boston is reserved! ... it is at the airport... and there were only three rooms left at the lowest rate... thanks, Linda for telling me to do it sooner rather than later! :) ]

Sigh

(and because I just remembered I can do this... here is the public link for my photo album of Bremerton and a different link for recent backyard pictures... for those of you not on Facebook. hint, hint... lol)

Ready for a Weekend Nap

Everything is quiet now. I'm sitting comfortably in one of the soft armchairs in the kitchen/dining room. Spiffy is laid out at the top of the stairs and all I can hear is the clock ticking away seconds. At lunch this noon I took in "Fantastic Mr. Fox" and was pleasantly surprised with the differences between it and the movie I saw just last year.

Work was crazy for most of this week. The first few days I went over to building 30 at least twice and once, three times, because there were so many MO's that were finished and ready to be reviewed. On Wednesday I reviewed 28 in 6 hours. Today was a different story though, I had almost no work, so I went downstairs and logged in samples the entire time.

In other happenings we watched a movie on Monday that's not worth remembering and on Tuesday I spent a lovely evening with Mom reading Titus and praying for our family and friends. On Wednesday evening I went to a free safety class put on by the Redmond Police Department. Besides talking about how to prevent becoming a victim, they showed us a rather frightening surveillance video from a mall parking lot in Renton. I did walk unusually carefully to my car afterwords (it was even dark), but I successfully avoided having bad dreams.

Wednesday's chat with Mike was particularly fun, each of us having seen the forgettable movie I watched. We went on and on, and I wish we both didn't need sleep. :) Unfortunately, I was tired on Thursday, but nothing was really needing my attention. After work and a quick dinner I read "The Gnats of Knotty Pine" (Bill Peet) and some more in "Mr. Midshipman Hornblower" before I went to bed. Ah, sweet rest.

Jp

Humor Me?

The sermon I mentioned on Monday is now posted!

It's the April 25th message.

It's 38 minutes... if time can be made for it sometime soon, would you?

Jp

May I Have Him?

.
Ran across this on Yahoo today.

Jp

the rest of the day

After finishing my fabulous breakfast Sunday morning, and reading in the Bible, Meg and Mom came home with the pup from getting his shots from the doctor. Meg had spotted a cute little hamster at the pet store, so after Jason came over they decided to go get it and invited me along. Frederica is indeed a very cute little black female hamster. I loved the parakeets enjoying each other's company, and I also enjoyed the guinea pigs... there was a white one with tan spots around his eyes. My legs were a little tender as I walked around, but it wasn't anything that time wouldn't fix.

I slept a little over two hours yesterday afternoon (right after lunch). It felt so good to catch up from a crazily busy and fun weekend before going to work! :) Around six o'clock, Mom and I went to my church for the evening service. If there were any podcast of a sermon I'd recommend listening to, it is this one. Unfortunately, it's not posted yet. Probably within the week.

Back at home the FC had to take off to go see family, so Mom and I watched "An Affair to Remember" for an evening together. I had always thought it would be kinda wrong, because of the title, but goodness! it had nothing to do with "an affair". I proudly shed tears just like Meg Ryan did in "Sleepless in Seattle". What a lovely movie.

Jp

35.5 Minutes

In a rash decision on Monday, when my recruiter told me about it, I decided to sign up for the Bellevue 5K run/walk held at the park near the Crossroads Mall. That's 3.1 miles... more than I like to run. The Navy had a booth, and my recruiter was there, although he did not run himself. I got there in plenty of time and warmed up as best I could with lunges and skips. The Marines from the Bellevue office had turned out en mass; apparently it was a required gathering. I was glad that it was left up to self-motivation for me. There were only three other Navy recruits, and they went much faster than I. But I didn't feel too bad about it. I'm a slow runner with a small air pipe... and I only walked off and on a couple times, and only after the first half. But I finished it, darn it! :) This was my very first organized run. What a blessing that it was perfect weather for it: mostly cloudy and cool with a bit of sun peeking through.

Upon returning home I made myself a good, large breakfast with eggs w/cheese, sausage, toast, juice and cereal. And now I have my feet up, resting comfortably under my fleece blanket.

Jp

Guess Where I Went Today?

I had been thinking about going to the Bremerton Navy Yard for a while now, and today was the best timing. Everyone else was busy and I had no plans or commitments. I took along my GPS device (especially since I was driving a way I had never been before) and it wanted to send me to the Fauntleroy Ferry, but I kept on going south to Tacoma and then went across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge (for the very first time) and then up the peninsula from there for a total drive time of about an hour and a half.

I arrived in Bremerton just after noon, went straight to the USS Turner Joy, a local historic destroyer from the 1950's. Most of the ship is open to self-guided tours and I had a grand time. The 2nd pic is me trying out one of the enlisted bunks... and you could walk all through the engine room! I was very glad of the directional signs posted to help you find your way back to the sunlight! What a maze! Also very cool was the walk-in gun turret on the ship's stern. In the gift shop I got the hat (pictured) for only $6.55, a "Don't tread on me" decal, the ship's crest patch and a navy flag. I wanted to get a USS Missouri poster, but forgot about it. On the way over to the Puget Sound Navy Museum across from the ferry terminal I saw the "Lone Sailor" statue they recently installed on the end of a pier, copying the famous one from DC.

The museum is on the corner of the Bremerton Navy base. Some of it is dedicated to talking about engineering and ship building, since Bremerton has had a ship yard for decades. The rest of the exhibits were all about life on the USS John C. Stennis, the only aircraft carrier based there. There were short videos playing, interviewing sailors about their various jobs. I found it very interesting, even though it was so small. There was a sample bunk to lie on, and lots of information about dining, recreation, medical treatment, and various other stations aboard. It only took me about a half-hour to walk through it. And surprise, surprise, they had that same Missouri poster I wanted for a couple bucks cheaper! The Missouri used to be based in Bremerton before it was sent to Pearl Harbor in 1998.

I spent just over two hours total at the waterfront. And that's what I paid for in parking, so I decided to get lunch somewhere else. My GPS again wanted to send me to the Southworth/Fauntleroy ferry, so this time I obliged. I stopped at Sheri's Restaurant near Fernwood, had a chicken and bacon sandwich (that was grilled with a little too much butter - but it was very good), and then I kept on to the ferry. I didn't have to wait for long at all... and then we made a stop at Vashon Island (just to the south) and then made for South Seattle.

I played around with black & white photography and gazed at the crystal-clear Olympic mountains while on the short ferry ride. As we docked, I looked longingly at the "Private Beach" signs. I shouldn't have worried my head... a half mile from the ferry was a beautiful beachfront park. I walked the entire length on the pebbles, looking at the washed-up seaweed and shells. On the way back to the car I gazed at the surf and the sunshine as I walked the wide, paved path back.

What a gloriously fun time! And lots of fresh air!
Jp

Just Now

A rather pleasant afternoon with my Mom. Lunch was fabulous, shopping went perfectly and the movie "Oceans" (done by Disney, for earth day, like last year's "Disney Earth") was like swimming in a watery heaven. I met several creatures for the first time, including a silk blanket octopus! What a strange one!

I probably shouldn't say this, but I can't help it. When I first looked at that fortune, I read it with the word "and" instead of "or". LOL! I mean, why should my friend get an omen in my fortune cookie?! ***Please, no one take this seriously.*** LOL!

Jp

Dreadful Dreams

Monday morning (and Sunday night) I felt as though I was ready for taking on the week. (Must they always be "taken on"?) The feeling didn't last very long. I released documents pretty much all day! But after Monday night's terrible dreams I felt stretched thin and ready for bed right away when I got home. Got to bed by 10 or so, and woke up at midnight, right before my dreams were turning bad again. Feeling rattled, I listened to a few Psalms and fell asleep again to them. I woke up this morning earlier than normal, but stayed in bed sort of half-asleep until it was really time to get going.

We haven't had time for movies this week (yet!) because people have been busy. Dad's away on a business trip for the next couple days, and my sister is pretty sick so Mom's been helping her out. (I'm praying for you Andie!)

I'm ready for some incredibly dull dreams. The kind that make you rest completely.

Jp

Best of Sundays

I actually did the important things that I set out to do today; and I feel rested!

On Saturday, yesterday, after a big, lovely breakfast with the family, I'm pretty sure I spent some time on Facebook, or something, but then I sat down to read the Nancy Drew novel that had been made into a movie and that I had watched within the last couple weeks. And as I had been warned, the movie only resembled the book in so far that the names were mostly the same and that the same crime had been committed and that there were pigeons. Otherwise, it was rather different... and less silly. Very fun.

For lunch, Mom and I went to the Olive Garden for soup and salad and an order of toasty, cheesy flatbread to share. It was so good! We enjoyed our little treat very much. When we got back, I finished Nancy and took the dog outside.

I went out and took lots of pictures of the lilacs and whatever else, including the two very large mushrooms we have growing. While sitting under one of the fir trees while the rain was pouring for a moment I did my daily sets of push-ups, and I do feel much stronger. But my camera was hard to hold up still afterwords. :)

We also watched the first half of "Gandhi" during chat. I'm afraid I was rather distracted by it, it was so well done. Tonight we finished the last half, and I'm glad we had a break between it. It's very heavy and rather lengthy; but awesome! I enjoyed it very much.

The first thing I did today was sit outside on the front steps with Spiffy to bask in the beautiful sunshine for a moment and listen to the bird's calls. So refreshingly cool and sunny... absolutely perfect weather. I could still wear my sweatshirt, but I didn't really need it. It was right on the edge.

The thing I wanted to get done that I did do was organize my latest couple hundred and back up all 30,000 photos I have stored on my laptop. Yes, that's the actual number I've saved since 2005. LOL!!! It only took up 56 GB. So along with being stored on my main laptop, they're backed up on two different external hard drives now. One I purchased for using during my photo class and the other to store episodes of a show that my brother had downloaded in Yuma. And now I feel like I've done enough to protect my life's hobby.

Lunch was rather late today. But my sister's family came over like usual, just back from their excursion to Disneyland. The kids were acting very well for being so busy and overloaded with fun for a whole week! :)

The dog was very much animated from the baby bunnies that my sister brought over (they do a little breeding) (oh, gosh! how cute they are!), so I took Spiffy on a walk. And that was exciting for him as well because I decided to walk on the opposite side of the street that is usual, so there were all new smells. :)

And I remembered to go to church like I wanted! And it turned out that today was the first in a new series on "The True Church", a study in 1 Corinthians. He laid out all the basics (6 points) of what a true church is from just the first three verses (Paul's greeting). I am always amazed at how much doctrine the Apostles put into their salutations. :) I love it.

He talked about who the church belongs to, a detailed description about sanctification, how Christ-followers are to be holy, how the whole truth of the Bible is universal to all true churches, how Christ must be centrally important, and how true Christians have peace because of God's grace. Whew! It was so good! That last point was to me the most powerful. He quoted a proverb: "A heart at peace gives life to the body." and a note from Psalm 85: "Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other."

Oh, what a beautiful day!
Jp