SPRING 2 (?)

As I eluded to in my previous blog, spring has finally arrived; albeit much later than we had hoped. 

 We have had three snowstorms and very cold temperatures in the past few weeks.  But, the grass is getting a little bit greener, the bear is awake from hibernating, and I saw blooming crocus today!
We have been at Glen Eyrie for almost three weeks already, so I am again overdue for an update.

Initially I was going to write a bit more about our fall cruise to the middle east, but that can wait for a bit. I just want to share a littlet about the flood mitigation projects going on here in Glen Eyrie.  Because of the Waldo canyon fire, the soil above Queen’s Canyon is hydrophobic.  Any significant rain will cause flash-flooding in Camp creek.  Much debris is expected to come down the canyon and the strong current could damage the castle foundations. 

 So, two barriers have been erected in Queen’s Canyon and the creek bed has been reinforced, “armored” is the term, to protect the castle foundation and divert the stream from washing away the Carriage House.
 

Crews are in the process of replacing the rocks at the creek sides and reinforcing this with concrete as well.  The final activity will be to re-sod the sloping lawn with grass.   They have made a lot of progress this month.  We have been busy hosting and helping.  I have done some educational tours, primary school children get to come here as part of the heritage of Colorado Springs, which was after all, founded by General William Jackson Palmer.  The wild life is here as usual, the big horn sheep have reclaimed TheGlen for grazing and resting.

The bear is awake and had to be chased off, he tried to climb the tree in our back yard to get to the turkeys, who nest in these trees overnight.  

We continue to share the grounds with deer, turkeys, 

 

coyotes, squirrels, and rabbits. Of course all species of birds and then there are the human visitors as well.  Life is fun at The Glen, we are blessed to be able to serve here.

Spring is coming

If you would look at my blog from October 24, 2012; you would see my bride and I working on a patio - deck at the front of our son’s house in Saint James, Missouri.
I shared a few pictures of this event during this short blog. 

Well, just these past few weeks we have had similar events as I shared in that blog.  We visited with our oldest son and his family the week before Easter.  We were able to attend both our grandsons playing in the honor band at Austin high School. 
 
Yes, they were both selected to attend honor band this year, albeit in two different bands.  

After waiting for the snowstorm to clear out we went home and packed to go to Missouri.  Our son there was expecting us to help hime finish the deck we had started last fall.  He and his wife anted to cover part of the deck with a roof.  If you revisit the blog of October, you would notice some tall posts at the front of the deck.  These were designated to become roof supports.  

We finished the project in about three days, and then focused on celebrating Easter together.

Home for one week and now we are preparing for another trip to Glen Eyrie, in Colorado Springs.  Our help was needed for more than just the month of May, so we were asked to come earlier to help out.  We gladly obliged.

TURKISH DELIGHT

 

How about a Turkish bath?  Is that a Turkish delight, or what?  (We did have some of that as well.)  On 9 October we visited the port of Marmaris on the south east coast of Turkey. This is a beautiful mountainous area.  We followed a very picturesque  access way through the myriad of islands which are here on the Turkish coast. 

At this port of call we had opted for a side tour to experience a Turkish bath.  After undressing to wear a swim suit, we joined our group in a dry sauna, where we all got very warm.  After this we went into the room where there was a large marble table in the middle.  This room was also very warm and it was humid. The marble slab was actually hot, but we were expected to lie down on it and relax.  Obviously this continued to open up our pores. 

To cool off some, we could pour on tepid water, Corrie and I did this to each other!  This was great fun!  After this the attendants came to scrub all the dead skin off the exposed parts of the body,  - so the men got a better job than the women, more exposed skin... 

After this we were expected to take a shower.  Although the water was not really cold, it was not warm by any means. Because I was really warm from all the exposure to heat, it really did take my breath away!  Felt like a cold shower by any means.

Hereafter we got a olive oil soap wash and massage.  The table became really slick, but the attendants were standing right up to the edge of the table, so that I did not slide off.  After this another cold shower!  Which actually started to feel really good.  Took a few more of those, while waiting for others in our group to get washed. 

 Once this was all done, we were wrapped in three towels and had an opportunity to replenish some of our body fluids with sweet Turkish apple tea.  Quite a great experience. 


 There was an option for a full body massage as well, at extra expense, but we were relaxed enough, so we waited at the pool side for every one to get done and took the bus back to the ship.
 

ANTALYA October 8 2012

Our middle east journey continued about the same way the apostle Paul traveled by ship to the southern coast of Turkey, called Asia minor in those days.  We made landfall in Antalya, which is very near to Perga, where Paul went in accordance with Acts 13.  Riding a bus in this beautiful mountainous area reminded us of the clean European areas, which we have visited before.  Green grass highway divide, which groomed and cared for.  Fountains and flowers along the way into town. Just a sense of order and pride in their city.  A very refreshing change from Egypt.  These are both Muslim countries, although Turkey is know for being a “secular” Muslim state.  We saw less of the traditional dress here in southern Turkey. 

The whole of this area seemed much more relaxed, prosperous, affluent, and catering to the visitors.  Any port of call is innately oriented toward tourism, but we certainly experienced less of this in Antalya. The obligatory souvenir shops are here, just like elsewhere; but the urgency of the vendors was much more subdued.  Their wares we on display and we could in all quietness look and decide.  The complementary hot sweet tea was a welcome diversion during our browsing experience.  The inner city has a plethora of mosques, some traditional some more subdued.  We were able to visit one of the more obscure ones in the old part of town.  


A local “guide” had joined our small group of three, and he shared that he had spend many years in Berlin as a Turkish guest worker there.  He must have heard Corrie and I talk in Gronings, which is close to German, because he addressed us in German.  The third person in our group was from New Zealand, however; so I got to practice my German and English translation skills.  We had a great time and a wonderful tour, seeing parts of town we would not have ventured in alone.  Obviously, he expected some compensation and we obliged.  Our guide had left us the edge of the old inner city pointing us into the direction we should go.  Fortunately we had a good map of the city so we could find our way back fairly easy, once we knew where we were. Going back to our pick-up point following the more touristy-route we stopped off for some coffee and pastry.  We made our way back through relatively civilized parts of the old city and made it back to the rallying point where we caught a bus back to the ship. 

 The weather was very nice, warm and dry.  I must confess, “ It was as expected.”  We are conditioned by the glossy brochures and video clips to expect the best in beautiful weather all the time.  I can share with you all that we were blessed to have beautiful weather in all our ports of call on this trip.  No need for umbrellas, except for about a 10 minute spell of light rain in Katakolon, Greece.  A small port we visited on October 12, 2012.  But that is another story.

JAMAICA - MISSION trip

We have been back from our mission trip to Jamaica for two weeks already.  The trip to and fro was uneventful.  This is a very good thing when you are flying.  The Children’s home is located on a mountain top, so we rode up there in a small bus.  The driver had done this trip many times before, and we were happy to know that, because the road was a one lane dirt road with many pot-holes.  We were literally shaken up when we got to our destination.  The next few days we worked on the campus, doing a variety of tasks.  Some who had teaching experience, worked directly with the children.  All of us interacted with them after school hours. 

  I build some shelves   in the newly constructed paint and gasoline storage shed, while Corrie did a lot of reorganizing.
 
The last 36 hours we were able to unwind and relax at an all inclusive resort. 

All in all a very good experience for the whole group.  We bonded well as a group. We shared our meals and helped with clean-up.  There was a lack of warm water and we even ran out of water one day, due to the drought which plagues the island.  Our showers were cold water only, but with the high temperatures during he day, this was not a significant problem for any of us.  When we got back to Des Moines, the temperature here was only 10° (F),  well below freezing.  
 Quite a shock from the tropical temperatures in Jamaica.  Yet it has been good to be home.

Israel Continued

 
It has been over two weeks since my last post, so it is time to do another one.  We left off in Jerusalem about a month ago.  My post was December 12, to be exact.  Our next port of call was Haifa.  After our Jerusalem excursion, we had a tour into Galilea.  

This included a visit to the traditional site of  the baptism of Jesus the Christ by John the Baptizer. 

Here it was very quiet and peaceful; quite a change from our visit to the Jerusalem area.   After enjoying this stop we skirted the Lake of Galilea via Tiberius to the north where we visited the site of the “Sermon on the Mount.” 

This place also was very beautiful with gorgeous gardens and well kept places for mediation.  The edifice on the site was very tastefully done, without the plethora of icons, censers, and lamps.  Some other remembrances are depicted here as well.  Like the miraculous feeding of the 5000 and the restoration of Peter.  

  

We then visited Peter’s house in Capernaum, where we also visited the ruins of the synagogue. 

 

 

 Our lunch stop was in Nazareth, where we also visited the Church of the Annunciation.  This is also a more modern edifice with Marian art from all over the world.  They were preparing for a wedding while we visited there, just another small extra event to enjoy.  
 
We walked through ancient Nazareth digs and had a restful trip back to Haifa, where we saw the Bahai Gardens all lit up.

 







My bride and I are getting ready to go on a short mission trip to Jamaica on January 15.  We will be supporting the “Robin’s Nest orphanage for about a week.  As you may know, we usually go a little bit longer, but this church sponsored trip is designed for people who still work and have limited vacation time.  After our return, l will update my blog 
 again. 

Christmas Eve

't Is the day before Christmas!  
Although I never dream of a white Christmas, we got one anyway.
The first snow came with a vengeance on December 20.  It shut down most of our state and the roads stayed treacherous till Saturday.  The weather has stayed very cold, so that we are assured to have a white Christmas.  

I wish all who follow me in my ramblings:

a very blessed Christmas!  

May the Joy of the Christmas Child fill your hearts, 

May His Light fill the darkness of winter, 

and may His Hope brighten your Future.