A Time For Reflection

As the year draws to a close, it causes me to reflect on the blessings received this past year.  The year offered many opportunities, but the ones that I am most thankful for are those that allowed me to serve others.   I have finally come to the realization that my acts of service will not save the world.  Such work is best left to the young; my actions, at best shine a little light into the darkness of someone’s day.  Heck, that’s not so bad!

During the past year, I volunteered a couple of hours each week at our local food pantry restocking the shelves.  The job requires less of the mind, but a strong back is most helpful.  I arrive hours before the pantry opens it’s doors for distribution so I never see those who receive the food.  My reward for a job well done is to return a few day later to restock and replenish the nearly barren shelves.  The cycle seldom changes!

I also had the opportunity to serve home-bound senior citizens by delivering for meals on wheels.  Once again it’s a very simple task, you arrive at a person’s house and hand them a meal.  Sometimes they complain because you are either early or late but then you can never please everyone!  I am especially thankful for Mrs. Smith, she knows me only by the sound of my voice because she is totally blind.   Despite this, she never fails to greet me with a smile and kind words of thanks.  Her smile is better than any pay check I ever earned.

Finally, I was thrilled to serve at the maritime museum as a docent; during the past year, I hosted seventy-one tours which included numerous children’s educational programs.  The opportunity for service allowed me to meet people who visited from forty-six of our United States.  It never ceases to amaze from how far and wide people travel to visit our little  corner of the world.  I am also honored and very grateful for three of my fellow docents:  Mr. Ed, Carol, and Marianne.  Together, these guys made serving at the museum a real blast!

As I sit and reflect, I eagerly await the opportunities that 2011 will bring.

Hanging Christmas Lights – Oh The Joy

In a typical year, I will attempt to hand our Christmas lights the weekend of Thanksgiving so they are ready to be energized on December 1st.  This year the plan was altered by the snow and icy cold temperatures we received the week of Thanksgiving.  As much as I enjoy the Christmas light show, there was no way I was going to hang from a ladder and string light while the temperature hovered around twenty-five degrees!  Thus began the month of December!

My originally plan was to write about a Christmas long ago but the month was consumer by near endless activities which did not include blogging.   For the present, the ghosts of Christmas past will just have to be still for another year.  I will simply take this opportunity to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas.    

Always A Time For Giving Thanks

A while back I read Vernon Heaton’s The Mayflower and was reminded once again about the importance of giving thanks, regardless of our circumstances. Heaton chronicles the Pilgrim’s sixty-four day voyage as follows: “As the days drew into weeks, the weather steadily deteriorated: gale force winds blew up and the sea rose until the Mayflower found herself in the middle of a series of fierce storms. Below deck, the air grew stale, fetid and vitiated. Attempts to relieve the stench and drive out the stale air by opening the scuttles and hatches were frustrated by the rush of seawater that soaked the bedding, clothing and the bodies of the passengers. Seasickness broke out again and in the dank, stuffy … passenger holds, conditions became almost intolerable.”

About 18 years ago during a visit to Plymouth, MA, I had the good fortune to tour the Mayflower II. Obviously, the Mayflower II is a reproduction but if memory serves me, the ship builders made every effort to build a faithful reproduction. I still have vivid memories about how little space there was below deck; it was nearly impossible to stand upright and not knock your head on a beam. I can only imagine how fowl the air must have become below deck with with 102 Pilgrims living below.

Finally on November 9, 1620 “land ahoy” was called and the road trip from hell was nearly over. The Mayflower’s intended destination was the mouth of the Hudson River in New York State but the unrelenting storms had driven the ship far north. With winter upon them, the decision was made to find a suitable location to build winter quarters, finally on December 11th, the Pilgrims disembarked in what is now Plymouth, MA.

William Bradford, who was later chosen by the Pilgrims to be their first governor described their arrival as follows: “Being thus arrived in a good harbor and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven, who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element. They had now no friends to welcome them, nor inns to entertain or refresh their weather beaten bodies, no houses or much less towns to repair to …..” Still, they all gave thanks!

As Thanksgiving approaches, if you have a roof over your head and your biggest worry is whether you turkey is organic or if it lived its life as a free range bird, then you have sufficient for which to give thanks. The older I get, the more I realize that life is more or less a matter of perspective, so lets all give thanks for what we have, regardless of how little it might be!

Veterans Day – Let Us Give Thanks

 

 

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.  ---  John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Planned Spontaneity

As a couple, the lovely wife and I could be described in many ways, but being spontaneous is clearly not one of them!  So it was a great surprise that with little planning we made an overnight trip to the Columbia Gorge to visit the Maryhill Museum of Art.  Several weeks ago I read that the museum was hosting a display of graphic novel art, aka comic book art, and as a librarian, I thought that my wife might enjoy such a show.  Since the museum is over three hours east of us, it’s not exactly a quick trip.  It was a surprise to the both of us that we actually found a date that was mutually acceptable; for us, that’s spontaneous! 

Since the Maryhill Museum is located sort of “on the edge of no where”, you have to drive through the length of the Columbia Gorge Scenic Area.  With the hardwoods in full fall color while being illuminated by rapidly changing storm light, life doesn’t get much better.  

When I think of the gorge, two things always come to mind,  rock and water.  While passing through the gorge, your eyes are constantly scanning the spires of basalt that tower above or the multicolored waters of the Columbia River below.

 

As you travel from west to east through the gorge, the annual precipitation decreases rapidly and so do the trees.  By the time you exit the gorge and enter the Columbia plateau, the vegetation is predominately grass and sage brush.  The color pallet is reduced, but there is landscape is still incredible beautiful especially when sun’s rays hit the earth at a very low angle.

 

In the past few years, wind turbines have begun to spring up in nearly every direction.  I could have stood for hours and watch them slowly spin had it not been for the cold west wind powering the turbines.

Before ending, I suppose that someone reading might be interested in the graphic novel art show.  Apparently, mythological figures and super heroes are all the rage in comic books these days.  I viewed over three dozen drawings and honestly understood only three.  The work of the artists was first rate but I just failed to connect at any level.  I guess all of this should come as any surprise when I tell you that my favorite comics are BC and Blondie.

Storm Light At The South Jetty

As I sit and write, I hear the unmistakable patter of the rain as it pelts the southwest side of our house.  Weather wise, yesterday was a much more interesting day because one minute the wind was howling and pelting rain.  Then twenty minutes later, it would clear for as long as thirty minutes and it would be just beautiful.  During one of the short lived periods, I made a fast run to the beach and returned with a couple of images that depict a bit of the storm’s intensity.

 

The waves from the Pacific ocean that pummeled the South Jetty could best be described as agitated and angry!

 

  

The dunes were hammered by near constant winds which were clocked at 30 miles per hour when the image was made.  Notice the bend in the antenna on the left side of the photo.

As always, the storm light was brief and the rain and hail soon returned.  I can’t wait until June!

Ugly Weather On The Horizon

 

As is my custom, I check the National Weather Service’s forecast for our area each morning.  It came as no surprise to read the following in the special weather statement:

THE UPPER RIDGE WHICH HAS GIVEN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST SUNNY AND
WARM FALL WEATHER WILL SHIFT EAST THURSDAY AND THURSDAY NIGHT.
THIS WILL ALLOW AN INCREASINGLY STRONG WESTERLY JET STREAM TO
IMPACT THE NORTHWEST OVER THE WEEKEND.

THE FIRST STORM IS EXPECTED TO IMPACT THE COAST THURSDAY NIGHT AND
FRIDAY WITH A GLANCING BLOW TO NORTHWEST OREGON. RAIN AND WIND
WILL BE MOSTLY ALONG THE NORTH COAST.

The “ugly weather season” begins in earnest this weekend so I decided it might not be a bad idea to take a hike.  I have been wanting to explore more of Cape Disappointment State Park in Washington, so on a whim I grabbed my boots and hit the road.  After considering all the options, I choose to hike to the  top of McKenzie Head; I figured that if it was good enough for William Clark in 1805, it would do just fine for me today.   In 1805 it must have been a struggle to reach the top, but today it’s little more than a leisurely stroll.

During the second World War, the site became part of the harbor defense of the Columbia River, the site was also known as Battery 247.  Many a cold night was spent atop of the head by the soldiers who manned the battery’s six inch guns.  Today, the guns are long gone and the battery is slowly crumbling, but I returned with a few images of a nearly forgotten installation.

 

A portion the battery’s command post which is slowly crumbling as the forest vegetation encroaches

 

 

 

A view from the bunker where the gun’s ammunition was once stored