What's This Blog About, Anyway?

Some 40 years ago, give or take a few, Good Pope John convened the Catholic Church’s second Vatican Council. The Council pressed on for a few years, and at its end, several changes took place.

1. Most Catholic churches either turned their altars around or built small altar tables in the front of their sanctuaries.

2. Priests turned around, faced their congregations, and celebrated the Mass in the local vernacular: English, French, Spanish, Polish, Farsi, whatever.

3. Lay men and women began to take an active part in the liturgy, reading the Holy Scriptures or …gasp!... actually helping to distribute communion. Until then, only the consecrated hands of the priest dared to touch the Eucharist.

In those days, new music developed in our church. One song of celebration I remember began, “You fill the day with Your glory and Your power.”

I couldn’t help remembering that song last evening as Suzy and I sat outside after dinner. Thunder was rolling and booming near and far, lightning was flashing over the northern and eastern mountains, and overhead was a mosaic of black, gray and purple clouds still showing some of the lighter evening sky behind them. There was an occasional flutter of rain drops I knew the song was wrong; it should have said “You fill the NIGHT with Your glory and Your power.”

Then the downpour came and we returned to the snug cover of our trailer. The drumming of rain on the trailer roof and on its aluminum patio awning was constant, and we felt protected. The rain continued until well after we retired to the land of nod. Usually we have the windows by our bed open for a delightful cross breeze, but not with a rainstorm going.

This morning it was downright chilly when we awoke. The temperature had dropped to 64 degrees outside! How delightful as I made my way to the casita to raise our nation’s flag, one of my regular morning pleasures.

Suzy’s doctor has told her that she should sleep with the head of the bed raised a bit. That means me too. To accomplish this, we purchased a chunk of 4X4 and some plywood, but to fit the 58” width of the bed. Because the edges of this tilted platform would come in contact with our bedding, we decided to encase the project in a heavy vinyl sheathing. Here’s the finished product. Because the plywood may someday begin to sag, I suspect we’ll brace it with a 2X4 fairly soon.

Here’s the sloping bed, all dressed and ready. The side windows are open for today’s cool fresh air.

One more picture. Our rainy season is definitely upon us, and our friend Rick’s recent blog featured some drizzly day pictures, reminding me of this picture of ours.

To visit Rick's blog, click on the underlined text above. To return here, just close the new window.

We took this picture at the mining ghost town, turned tourist attraction, of Barkerville in British Columbia, as we were on our way to our Alaska trip in 2005. I took a few liberties with my photo editing software, removing a garbage can and two people from the picture, and rebuilding the stairs where the garbage can used to sit.

We call this picture “Looking Back into History.” Suzy took full advantage of her mobility scooter that day.

Click on the picture to see it larger, then return with your back arrow.

Suzy’s angry with me this morning.

She loves to work Jumble puzzles while I’m on the Internet.

Jumbles require you to rearrange a group of letters into words, then go on to solve a final Jumble at the end of the page. Occasionally she will ask me about her guess at a word, and usually she is correct. This time she asked whether a fisherman would be an “angler” or an “anglar.” When I replied “angler” and she was silent, I knew that the other letters (with the second “a” instead of the “e”) were what she was faced with. I quickly responded with “raglan,” using the letters from “anglar.”

Oooooh, did I get a glare from my lovely lady. The reason she was angry? I had just recently done the same with “siege.” She had been trying to make “geise” with the letters, when she was actually thinking of the word “guise.” I guess I’ll have to be a little slower in my responses!

And that's how it is today in ... Our Life on Wheels.