This weekend found the family scrounging their closets for pink and yellow to dress for Ada's pink lemonade birthday party. Did I mention that Ada's favorite color is PINK? The weather was cooperative as the Eide clan gathered for the occasion along with friends Craig and Jen and kids. There was food aplenty crowned with a six layer (shades of pink) birthday cake made by Marti. Ada relished the evening with its sweets, gifts and attention. Esther and I also joined my family in a birthday gathering for my mother who will turn 89 next week. She is looking healthy and her coughing has decreased. One more year and she will make it to 90.
Monday, April 23, 2012
Monday, April 09, 2012
messing about in Sacramento
The last two days of our Spring break were spent messing around in Sacramento with my sister Ellen. We spent time in historic Auburn, highway 49 (Sutter Mill - birthplace of the gold rush) Folsom Lake, Old Sac and the capital, as well as some districts of Sacramento that we had never seen. We ended our time with an Saturday night Easter service at Ellen's church before hitting the I5 for the highway grind home.
Friday, April 06, 2012
running out of fingers
Our final day on the mission trail found us visiting a record four missions. The thirteen missions that we visited this week leave us just eight more in the Bay area for another time. A couple of the missions that we visited the last day were pretty remote. We are going to spend our last couple of days with my sister in Sacramento. It's a little cool but plenty sunny!
Wednesday, April 04, 2012
One of these is not like the others
Day three of mission touring and they were starting to blend together until La Purismo. Most of the missions are now located within a town or city and the mission is operated by the catholic church. The gardens and grounds are manicured and the atmosphere is peaceful within the bustle surrounding. This is obviously not the original condition as the missions were dusty, busy centers of farming and industry surrounded by barren country. La Purisimo is much more authentic without the hustle and bustle. The mission is out in the country and is maintained by the state as a state park. We spent a couple of hours enjoying the grounds and historical sites. Tonight is in Pismo Beach.
Tuesday, April 03, 2012
mission hunting
Today was another warm sunny day tracking down missions. We did three again today. It would be pretty hard to do more than three in a day if you spent any time at each mission. They open at 9:00 and close at 5:00; and then there's travel time on clogged southern California freeways. The mission trail skirts around the outside of LA: San Gabriel, San Fernando and Ventura. Our GPS is sure coming in handy! We have enjoyed stopping in different communities that we would never otherwise visit. The missions are usually near the center of town, so we get a flavor for each town. The temperature was in the 80's at noon in San Fernando, but in the 60's in Ventura in the late afternoon.
Monday, April 02, 2012
mission meandering
Today we started the California missions tour. There are 21 Spanish missions, all about a day's horse ride away from each other stretched along the coast from San Diego to Sonoma. Since our van goes at least three times as fast as a horse, we got to three missions today. We started in San Diego de Alcala with the 'mother mission' and it's visionary Father Serra. We next visited San Luis Rey in Oceanside and San Juan Capistrano. The weather was great as we strolled through each enjoying the grounds and gardens in the bright sun light. We also found time to enjoy a little of the beach at Laguna Beach. We are in a motel in Costa Mesa tonight, resting up for a new adventure tomorrow.
Sunday, April 01, 2012
Sun at last!
After months of rain and cold, Esther and I are finally enjoying some 70 degree sunshine. However, we had to drive all the way to San Diego to find it. Northern California was cold so we kept going. After spending most of last night driving with a little sleep at a rest area, we are enjoying a motel at Point Loma. We enjoyed the lighthouse park and Balboa Park and dinner in the Hillcrest district. We are looking forward to some time in the sunshine.
Friday, March 30, 2012
A New Japanese Friend
This past week we had the delightful opportunity to host a Japanese teacher in our home. Sugako Akiyama is an English language teacher in Ibaraki, Japan. She brought 10 elementary students to the US for a cultural experience. The students were guests at Sidney Glen where they spent each morning in our classrooms and the afternoons touring the local community. Su spent the evenings with Esther and I in Southworth. We had such a great time interacting with her. She is very fluent in English and we were able find out a lot about life in Japan. A highlight was skyping Calvin while Su was with us. There is something a little awkward about listening to your son conversing with someone and having no idea what he is saying. Su was very complimentary of Calvin’s language skills. We are so thankful to have spent this week with Su and look forward to a life long friendship with her and her family.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Guess who visited Southworth?
'Papa and Farmor' got to take care of the girls for a couple of days. Bjorn was in Denver at a friends wedding, and Jenny took the opportunity to visit her brother and sister-in-law in Portland. That left Esther and I with the wonderful responsibility of taking care of two special girls! We read lots of books, walked to 'the candy store,' went to the beach and showed them off at church. The weekend went very well. Markus came over as well one night to enjoy his nieces. I was able to ignore my impending report card deadline and sermon prep for 48 hours. Ada is becoming very independent and Ruby is mellow and happy.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Soggy Sea Side
I suppose that you could say that we honored Presidents Day since we were in 'Lincoln City' on Monday. Esther and I took the opportunity of school free days to go to the Oregon coast. Our experience was similar to last year: one rain free afternoon, but the rest a soggy mist. Our dry afternoon was spent in Cannon Beach and Seaside. We enjoyed a walk on the Promenade and dinner at Doogers. On Monday we sludged our way down to the Lincoln City/Depot Bay area to check out Olivia Beach and Bella Beach. We were scouting out an alternative to our annual family Seabrook weekend. Both communities were not as nice as Seabrook, and given the greater distance for everyone to travel, we will probably cross it off our list of possibilities. We did get a great deal on a nice room in Lincoln City. We left our patio door ajar all night as we enjoyed the lullaby of the pounding surf. On Tuesday, we took a leisurely trip home, stopping in Portland for some time at Powell Books and the ReStore where Esther found some decorative 'treasures'.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Ruby's first birthday
The past weekend we took our chances in contracting the noro virus from the Lynden compound. The flu had run its course through the whole family by the time we got there, so we hoped we were safe. The occasion was the celebration of both Ruby and Bjorn's birthdays. Ruby turned one and Bjorn reached exactly half our age. The Whatcom Museum in Bellingham has a great children's section. Bjorn, Esther and I toured the rest of the museum while Jenny and the girls enjoyed the children's section. I 'helped' Bjorn put the finishing touches on the cool kitchen that he made for the girls. Bjorn has been enjoying his new Jambox (bluetooth portable speaker) that he got for his birthday.
Sunday, February 05, 2012
A new throne room
The past couple of weekends I worked on replacing the floor around the main floor toilet. The old tile and adjacent carpet was soiled and needed attention. We decided to replace the flooring with some engineered hardwood, curious to see how well it holds up in a bathroom setting before using it more extensively. The damage from the previous owners became more apparent as I tore up the tile and subfloor. A liberal coat of stain block and some new plywood and I was ready for the new floor. We had not intended to replace the toilet, but I accidentally cracked the tank of the old one. So it was off to the hardware store for a new commode. I did want to replace the old valve and supply hose, but no amount of wrenching on my part could budge the old valve. With fear and trepidation I reattached the old supply to the new toilet and it is holding for now!
Friday, January 20, 2012
a 'wasted' winter week
Had we known that there would be nine days between workdays, we might have taken a Southwest road trip. The unexpected Northwest snow week left us twiddling our fingers and bemoaning the inevitable summer work days. But there's no use crying over spilt milk and we tried to make the best of things. We attacked some low priority projects. Esther washed every piece of fabric in the house and redecorated most of the rooms. I painted the basement stairwell and the hearth room desk area. We also enjoyed reading and net surfing. If this was a taste of retirement, I am not interested in it any time soon.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Pete and Repeat were on the slopes
Yesterday, fellow teacher Pete Darragh and I celebrated MLK Day with a trip to Stevens Pass. It had been four years since I last was on a snowboard. The first couple of runs were a little shaky, but I soon got my 'snow legs' and was 'burning up the slopes' :) It snowed all day, so the conditions were good. The crowds weren't bad either, given it was a holiday. Pete and I made good slope mates as we progress down the slopes at the same speed; even though he needs an extra board to go down the hill:)
The snow is unfortunately not staying in the mountains where it is supposed to be. The lowlands are getting snow as well and school is cancelled today and probably tomorrow. Looks like we'll be having 'summer school' again this year.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Calvin has a new blog
For those of you trying to follow Calvin's doings, 'Big Man Japan' just hasn't been too active lately. Well, it turns out that Calvin has been quietly starting a new blog. His first couple of posts give some details of his holiday activities. You can check it out at http://calvineb.wordpress.com/ There is a link on my sidebar to his new blog. Enjoy!
Sunday, January 01, 2012
Closing out the old with a first
By 'first' I don't want to insinuate that there will be a second. On the final day of 2011, I joined hundreds of others in running the half and full marathons in the 'Yukon Do It'. Last year, I ran the half, so this year I wanted to attempt the full marathon. The first half felt real good at two hours, but at about mile 18 the serious PAIN started. My pace slowed to a crawl and only stubborn determination enabled me to finish in 4 hours 26 minutes. I was rewarded with a cheering family including granddaughters. My legs are suffering from the after effect. In hindsight, I think that I rushed my training a little bit and would have enjoyed it more had I taken more time to train.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Norwegian kjøttkaker
Yesterday we enjoyed Norwegian holiday dinning with Esther's cousins from Tacoma and Norway. Anna and Touren put on a scandinavian feast with kjøttkaker (meat cakes) as the main dish. Uncle George and Aunt Kirstin were also there along with Mike and Marti's family. It was good to catch up with the Norwegian family news. Esther has two uncles and an aunt still living in Norway, all in their nineties. (and with sharp minds :)) Anna gave me some tips and encouragement for my upcoming marathon as she ran the Seattle Rock-n-Roll this summer.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Christmas 2011
After listening to Esther lament the school district's schedule for this year's late vacation dismissal, the holiday burst upon us with Bjorn. Jenny and the girls coming to Southworth Wednesday night. We enjoyed a couple of days with our granddaughters (and their parents) until Markus and Steph joined us for a gift exchange Friday night. Ada loved helping everyone open their gifts. Bjorn and Jenny left Saturday morning for Oregon and we enjoyed a relatively quiet Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with Markus and Steph. A couple of trips to the church helped give the sacred feel. We ate at a Thai restaurant in Gig Harbor on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day, Ellen joined us and we made the trek up to Lynden. We met Jack, Sue and Rebecca at the Courtyard to visit Mom. It was a bit shocking as we had not seen her since she started her violent coughing. Whenever she tries to talk, she explodes with a forced cough. It is very hard to watch, but it was good to be there with my sisters as we sang carols to her. Christmas dinner was excellent as usual at Mike and Marti's. On Monday we enjoyed the reception for Brian and Kate and the Bulthuis gathering at Aaron and Jenn's. We are back in Southworth for a few days with Ellen before another trip to Lynden for the New Year.
Thursday, December 08, 2011
Calvinistic Christmas Lights?
Over the years I have taken a lot of teasing about my roofline Christmas lights. Some have dubbed my straight white lights, ‘the Dutchman lights.’ But this week I heard a new one. A friend came over for our weekly small group, and called them ‘the Calvinistic Lights.’ He proceeded to say they were straight and predictable. You can analyze them any way you want, but that’s the way I like them. And since I am the one bundled up battling the freezing north breeze, pounding in my reused galvanized nails, I’ll put them up the way I like them.
Speaking of Calvinistic, we have been making a big deal about our Jesse Tree tradition this year. Bjorn and Jenny took up the practice using our family set of ornaments. This past week Esther shared the tradition at a ladies meeting, and we indulged a little Jesse sprouting in small group. For those of you unfamiliar with the Jesse Tree, it is much the same as an Advent calendar. Daily Bible readings trace the promise and foreshadowing of the coming of Christ. An ornament corresponds to the daily reading and it is added to the branch each day. We find that it is a wonderful way to remind ourselves of the amazing plan that God has to save the world, and how it all culminates with the coming Messiah. If you are interested in more resources about the Jesse Tree, Ann Voskamp has a nice download on her blog. Another site that has good children devotionals and provocative parent devotions is here.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Eides in SK for Thangsgiving
It has been a long time since I posted on Southworth Sailor. It just seemed like there was nothing to report. I did preach a couple of weeks at our church's new Sunday evening service geared for the twenties crowd. Thanksgiving brought Greenwood down to Lynden. Bjorn, Jenny and the girls left for Chicago early the next day so as long as they needed to be here, we decided to celebrate it with the Eide family down here. It had been a while since we had a Thanksgiving here. We of course missed Calvin and Bria, but the rest of the family was here. Steph went down to Trout Lake, so we missed her as well. A new addition to the Thanksgiving dinner was oyster stuffing. Only the hearty norsks indulged and I think that they only pretended to enjoy it. It was fun having the house full after the two of us have rattled around in it for a long time. On Friday the weather was great, so we went to Esther's park (Bremerton Harborside) and enjoyed a little sun. Then we drove up to Poulsbo to check out an art school that Bria is interested in. Today I ran fifteen miles in preparation for the Yukon Do It race at the end of the year. I still have not decided whether to do the half or full marathon. We shall see how the next few weeks of training go.
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