Quote of the Year

"When Jesus takes your hand He keeps you tight. When Jesus keeps you tight He leads you through life. When Jesus leads you through life He brings you safely home." --Casper ten Boom
as quoted at the end of "In My Father's House" written by Corrie ten Boom

NW bashing

I'll admit that I am in the category of thinking Crocs are a funny looking shoe but oh so comfy! I wore my mary-jane bright red Crocs to Bible study one day and with a tone of incredulity tainted with disdain Mink asked, "Why are you wearing those?" I felt the need to defend my shoe choice - they are super easy to clean after slopping around in the mud which is my back yard. The New York based author of this article revels in her dislike for the Crocs and makes no guises of her viewpoint but did she have to dis the Northwest along with my beloved shoes? I did find it quite interesting to get an east coasters opinion on the Northwest. Obviously she won't be wearing Crocs anytime soon or visiting the Northwest. And maybe we are the better for it, we can blissfully stay in our happy green counter-culture bubble.

clipped from www.slate.com Comfort and function were always the main Crocs pitch. The shoes' original home was Boulder, Colo. The early Crocs customer was probably a Pacific Northwesterner who liked to boat or garden—this was a niche shoe, after all. He or she was drawn in by the "no slip" grip on the sole, by the aerating holes, and by the featherweight heft of the thing (a pair weighs a mere 6 ounces). The clunky look was not a drawback (this is the region, after all, that brought us grunge), and many customers were pleased that the shoe was made of a proprietary nonplastic resin formula (known as Croslite)—it was, as one testified, "vegan." Because the material is soft, bacteria-resistant, and has a strangely "natural" feel, the Croc fits in with the Northwest's typically green and mildly counterculture ethos. Soon nurses, doctors, cooks, painters, and other workers who stand on their feet all day had discovered Crocs and found them to be life-changing.

The Prodigal Son

This painting is by one of my favorite artist - Liz Lemon Swindle. If you've been to my house you know that I love art and have seen one of her other paintings - Hold On Tight, which is Jesus giving a piggy-back ride to a child. Besides the subject matter what I love about her artwork is her ability to portray, capture, and conjure emotions. I had big tears well up in my eyes when I saw this picture and thought about how it represents God's acceptance of me.

clipped from www.greenwichworkshop.com

Weather woes

I can't believe how hot it has been! What I really can't believe is how I bemoan the lack of sun for most of the year and now that it is hear I am holed up in my home or someplace inside with air conditioning hiding from the very sun that I crave. In a feeble attempt to keep my house cool I have an absurd routine of getting up around 6:30am to turn off the fans that I have strategically placed around in different windows and close the shades so that my home feels more like a cave blocking out the rays that will simultaneously heat my home and brighten my outlook. So now that the NW actually has sun I'm going to great lengths to block it out. And when the temperature cools down next week and window shades can be left up again - then rain returns. There is no winning!

When did July get here?

Well, it has been some time since I've posted anything - borrowed or original. I hope you all had a great 4th of July. I had an interesting experience. I celebrated Independence day with some newly sworn in Americans. How odd to be celebrating independence from Britain with a British couple who are now Americans but still sound very much English. We had a lovely dinner together and then everyone took off to a baseball game at PGE. I could not be cajoled into going but instead stayed at my parents enjoying the coolness of the AC and a working TV. I felt a twang of guilt as I drove home at 11pm that I was being quite un-patriotic. I didn't even bother to go to the end of the cul-de-sac to see the neighborhood kids light off their fireworks. Less then that I didn't even flip channels to see any of the televised fireworks. I sat inside in an anti-social slump. What makes it even worse is that is was really nice weather! The joke always goes - when does it stop raining in Portland? July 5th! But this year the weather couldn't have been more perfect and I was a non-participant. Shameful! But I got to wondering as I drove home about the immigration problem we have in the US and wondered why is the US so popular? And I also am wondering why we have such a huge problem with illegal immigrants when, according to Carolyn's first hand experience, it is cake walk easy to become a citizen. Or rather the "tests" are easy peasy, maybe the paperwork and background check before you can take the test is what excludes many people from becoming legal. As we celebrated our national holiday I got rather contemplative about the future of this country. There is no telling where we are heading.