Trick or Treat...

Tonight was Taco Tuesday. Every week (at least that is the goal), Christel and I will meet up with Taylor, our daughter and her husband, David, and Hillary if she is available and we make tacos, or if time is pressing we eat out. We have been doing that since Taylor and David got married in December last year. Great way to keep in touch, especially during a pregnancy.

We met tonight at their new house and watched the Halloweeners trick or treat. First off, I am not a fan of Halloween. I have heard too many stories of the "dark side" of Halloween and what it does to a friend to sit back and enjoy it. I do eat the mini-Snicker and Baby Ruth bars.

Kids came up to the front door all dressed up in their ghoulish costumes except one kid who was dressed up in a carpenter's outfit. In fact he looked a lot like David, except he had a bag of candy. All the kids have been well trained to say "Trick or Treat," but very few of them said, "thank you." The little ones in the gorilla, Tinkerbell, butterfly, nurse, pirate, green hulk, hippie, costumes were very cute and one little cute-cute was adorable as King Kong, the dad had on a matching masks, but was wearing slippers. NO CANDY FOR HIM! Right after the little Kong came a group of high schoolers. TOO OLD. Come on! Get a job and buy the candy yourself. Grow up!

Churches crack me up because they think that they shouldn't celebrate Halloween but then they really do. I think that just because you are changing the name of Halloween to A Harvest Festival that it is still celebrating Halloween. There is candy, costumes, etc? Halloween. Doing something on October 31? Halloween. Reality Houses instead of a Haunted House, where they do tableaus of suicide, smoking pot, dirty dancing, abortions, traffic accidents, hell, etc... still Halloween and it freaks the kids out which makes it very Halloween maybe even more Halloween that Halloween. Next thing you know we will be doing something in the spring to celebrate the Spring Equinox fertility rites.

Ummm. Ignoring it is a good way of not celebrating it. Or what the heck celebrate it.

I live in a Reality House. It freaks me out. Come to my house and look in the bathroom and see where the hot water heater leaked and damaged the carpets and one wall. See where I have been waiting for plumbers and carpet people for the past few weeks trying to get them to come out when they said they would; then go into the garage and see my Montero, the SUV from hell with a blown engine; go out into the backyard and listen to our neighbors playing teenie-bopper music all day and night long (stop the madness!!); look in the living room and see Sierra the Golden Retriever, who we are going to have to put to sleep pretty soon because of bad kidneys and losing her hearing (or is that me?) and not to mention the cat that drools; Look on the desk and see the bills for the Montero, hell car, from two years ago and last summer. Then enter the twilight zone of light bulbs that burn out for no reason, milk cartons being put back in the refrigerator empty, toilet seats being left up, socks mysteriously missing from the dryer, and my wife coming into the living room and finding me fast asleep on my barkalounger with Die Hard 3 on the TV turned up at full volume. It gets curiouser and curiouser.

I really didn't have anything to say, just wanted to vent a little about Halloween and work off sugar high from the nine Snickers that I ate...

The Alternative...

The lies...

Time...

...to lose weight.

I would love to lose the weight again. I did it about five years ago. It took a lot of mind over pancake batter and other delicious treats. It was then that I hurt my back. And my stamina was greater and now it seems weak and discouraged. I eat as a way to enjoy life during stressful times. I like to cook and then eat that which I like to cook. It is great for conversations. But the short stick is that it is not good for my health and my mental health.

I would desire your prayers as I begin to ask the giver of Life to give me the mind and heart to tackle this feat.

I do love peanut M&Ms...

David and Taylor's new house...

This is the house that David built...

There is something about being at the right place, at the right time, with a camera...

Napa was good to us...

We had a great, quiet, few days in Napa. We were able to spend some time with Simon and Natasha, read some novels, be quiet, eat some great soups. No cars to worry about, issues that warranted our attention other than where do we want to eat. We ate at ZuZu's, a downtown tapas restaurant; La Taquiza, for some great fish tacos; Angèle and Napa General Store, two nice restaurants within the Napa River Inn, the hotel where we stayed. We had French Onion soup and a potatoe and turnip soup which were very good at Angèle and a vermicelli and meat salad at the Napa General Store.

A few days away can clean out many cobwebs, change some attitudes and decisions, and hopefully give us some perspective to that which lies ahead.

Mellow, very mellow...

On a holiday...

Christel and I are taking a few days in Napa after a couple of ugly weeks...

A Surprising...

I spoke at a men's conferences this weekend, for 1st Presbyterian Church, San Luis Obispo and Community Presbyterian Church, Cambria, at a conference center called Camp Ocean Pines in Cambria. Small intimate group of men, mostly engineers and other highly developed left side of the brain and what I also found was a highly developed heart.

I loved these guys and they loved me. Not sure they knew what to do with me at first but conversations around the dining table and to and from the meeting rooms were soul quenching. I am always anxious at men's conferences, might be because of some past issues and scars, but each time I gather and allow myself to be vulnerable I find them willing to open up and give me a place in their circle. I heard some of their wonderful stories during the small group times which followed my talks.

These were good men, many retired, ready to laugh, ready to hang out, and very open to the spirit.

I thought I would love to hang out in their churches, then realized that I am sure there are some excellent men at my church, if I would just give them a chance.

It was especially great to see Brian, Scott, and Josh from CalPoly, who I got to serve with this summer. They came to the conference as gave me a lot of encouragement. They are always a blessing to me in their encouragement, hard work, they're funny and extremely bright. Deep faith and love for the Savior and the church. Thanks for being there guys and for the photo...

Just bought a pickup...

I had to buy a new car after my Montero Mitsubishi bit the dust. So I bought a pickup. 1996 Ford F150, no bells, no whistle, just AC, AM/FM. Very spartan...