Friday afternoon and I'm sitting by the pool at the hotel. Julie and Lisa are sitting in the hot tub and I decided to come down and do my blog. We are also waiting for Ms. Kate's sister, Karen to arrive at the hotel. The wedding rehearsal is at 1530 so everything is on track.

The weather here is cool but sunny. Unfortunately we may have to dodge some raindrops just in time for the wedding. But, if we do, it will just be moved inside. But regardless of of what happens, the wedding will go on and life will continue to be good.

California is a beautiful state and Ms. Kate and I loved living here the two times that we were stationed in the state. Having said that --- I don't think you could pay me to live here again. There's just so much traffic and noise and people everywhere. It is hard to find a quiet spot. One has to literally head out into the deserts and hill tops to get away from all of it. No thank you! Even here in the hotel it is hard to find a quiet spot. There is another bridal party here tonight. The bride and her entourage came in this afternoon. They looked like character's out of "The Stepford Wives." Everyone of them was tall, blonde, tanned to perfection, wearing their tattoos, skinny jeans and high heels or boots. No doubt in my mind they are all sorority sisters. The bride was wearing the train part of her veil and the others were wearing their smiles and giggles and haughty disapproval of all things not them. I couldn't help but think --- yeah, you might be hot in some one's world but you're still carrying a Bud Lite and celebrating at a Comfort Inn.

Ok, I was interrupted for a few hours while we attended to wedding business. By tomorrow evening  all of the excitement of pre-wedding will be over and I'm sure that exhaustion will begin to set in. Rehearsal went well. Everybody was on time and behaved themselves. The rehearsal dinner was very good. Come Sunday, Julie, Jim, Lisa, & Steph will all be getting on a plane and heading home. Karen will head back over to Las Vegas for a couple of days and then on Monday, Ms. Kate and I will head to Las Vegas for a week.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and I hope you take time to go and give God thanks for the blessings in your life. Knowing that I am performing the marriage ceremony for my daughter and new son-in-law tomorrow is such a multitude of blessings for me. It will be the highlight of my career as a pastor and and an overwhelming honor as her father. God has truly blessed me. I give God all praise and glory. Peace.

Thursday got here rather quickly. I'm certainly not in my sunporch but rather setting in Heather's outdoor patio. We left Evansville as soon as church was over on Sundaya and then stopped for the first night in Jolin, MO. The second night we made it to Amarillo, TX, but the third night we decided to push it and put in 600 miles and made it to Flagstaff, AZ. Then yesterday we pushed on inn to Menefeee, CA and to Heather's place. It was a 2024 mile trip.

The girls are all here and they are at the moment folding napkins for the reception. The sisters and Lauren surprised Heather earlier with a surprise wedding shower. It has been a constant "gab-fest" ever since we got here. I do love having all of my girls and Ms. Kate in one place and hearing the chitter-chatter between them.

We are hoping it is going to warm up a bit by Saturday. It was down-right cool this morning and at 1:00 p.m. It is only 61 degrees. The sun is out but barely. It is amazing that back home it is 78 degrees and here in Southern California we are running around in jackets.

These are just a few of the flowers that are being delivered today. So part of our job is to set and wait for UPS delivery trucks. I think Heather said that another 200 Roses are supposed to arrive yet today. 

I know this is short but I did want to reach out. I also want to take a moment to lift up all of the people who have been affected by the terrible storms in the mid west part of the country in the past few days. Indirectly affect is neighbor Dan, Some fellow didn't stop in time yesterday and far-ended their car at about 45 mph. They are sore but alright. We give God thanks for that. 

I'll try to write again tomorrow but promise nothing. Have a great day. Give God praise today and then go hug someone you love and smile at someone you don't even know. Peace. 

Cloudy, grey, and 54 degrees to begin day that had been advertised as a sunny start to the weekend. The weather fore-guessers missed it once again. Oh well, no use trumping about it; it is what it is.

I got the yards all mowed yesterday and it looks nice out there. I suspect that by the time I get back home things will look pretty shaggy around here. Hopefully, neighbor Dan will be able to get out there and mow it. And, --- we are going to miss the flowers  like the Iris blooming. I hate that part because Ms. Kate does have a lot of beautiful iris around here. We've taken many bouquets to the churches over the years to decorate the altars. And -- she has given away a lot of iris to members of the church to plant in their own gardens. I think that is kind of cool because it creates a bit of a legacy between people. We have flowers in our yard that are passed down through the family and it is neat to walk around the yard and remember the person that gave this or that flower to us. I planted a redbud tree a couple years ago at St. Paul's church and it is doing well. It had come up in one of my flowerbeds here at the house and we needed to replace a tree that had died in our "Grove of Rememberaance" at the church. So, I gave it a shot and it has now taken off.

Our job today is to get the car packed except for absolute last minute things. We have the "big stuff" packed, i.e stuff we won't touch until we get to Californis, but now we need to wedge in and pack the incidentals such as travel snacks, shoes, jackets, and things like that. We plan to hit the road as soon as I finish my last service in the morning which should put us on the road by 12:30 pm. We want to make Joplin Missouri by tomorrow night. That shouldn't be a problem as long as the weather is clear and the traffic is fairly light and there isn't a lot of road construction. As you can plainly tell, we are excited about this trip. Not only are we going to see all of our girls again but we are gaining a new son-in-law who, from all we know and have seen, is just a super choice for Heather as a husband. Heather's kids love him, Gary and Jim, my other son-in-laws seem to like him as do Julie, Lisa and Stephanie. I just hope we don't overwhelm him too much. It is a first marriage for him and he has been pretty much on his own for a lot of years. The fact that I get to perform the wedding ceremony is just a blessing from God to me, and I am thrilled beyond words.

My blogging is going to be sporadic for the next three weeks so bear with me and hang in there. I'll try to keep you posted and you can travel vicariously with us across America, spend a few days with the family in California, then go with us to Las Vegas, then up through the Colorado Rockies and back home again in Indiana. In the meantime, I'll ask for your prayers as we travel and I offer prayers for you in whatever you will be doing. Have a blessed weekend. Peace.

Gosh, this is Friday already isn't it? My week that I thought was going to last forever has almost ended. Only about 48 hours until we get on the road for our vacation. And --- I still haven't finished packing, nor was I able to get my hair cut yesterday like I planned. My barber shop is closed for vacation. They could have waited a week and gone while I was gone. They obviously just forgot how really important I am. LOLOL  So, I guess I'll go to my alternate place but I don't like them near as well.

It is cloudy again this morning. We had a good bit of rain yesterday and yesterday evening. Most of the weather has moved on but now we are getting the wrap-around effect of the front. It is still too wet to mow the grass. But this stuff is supposed to move on and the sun will break out. I moved another one of our plant containers from out of the sunroom to outside yesterday afternoon and let it get some rain on it. It already looks healthier this morning. It is amazing how much better stuff looks when God waters it instead of me.

I have mostly starlings here this morning so far. The cardinals will be here soon. I did have a pair of nuthatches come in a while ago. They had their breakfast and moved on. We're just the Comfort Inn of Birdland I guess. I also had a new cat in the yard out by the south fence line. It was a huge yellow thing. If it hadn't had a long tail, I would have thought it could be a Bobcat. We have some of those in this area although I've never seen one. Every once in awhile, someone will post a video of one in their back yard, but it is always in much more rural areas than what I live in. But this cat didn't stay long. It jumped the fence and moved on south.

I re-filled the bark butter sticks again yesterday because the Pilated Woodpecker kept showing up and was looking for it. Of course, now, I haven't seen it since; --- and the starlings and mockingbirds are rapidly depleting the feeders again. They are worse than crack addicts about that stuff. What hasn't gone down too much is the sunflower seed feeders. But, by the time we get back from vacation, you can bet that everything will be empty and the critters will be picketing at the windows.

We got our route back home planned out yesterday. I really hope we have good weather because it will be a beautiful drive coming through the Rockies and the Denver area. I'm also hoping the desert areas have had some good rain because when that happens, the desert comes alive with wild flowers. We have been lucky enough to see that a couple of times and it is overwhelming. God does such marvelous work with creation.

Ms. Kate is fixing breakfast so, I'm jumping out of here. I pray you will have a most blessed day. Go out and surprise someone with an unexpected hug today.  Peace.

I know it can't be bright and sunny everyday and all of the time. If it were we would be living in the desert. So these light April showers this morning are fine by me. As long as we aren't having severe storms or flooding issues like they are having in Houston, Texas, it's all good. I pray for the folks in Texas. Several lives have been lost due simply because people drive into what they think are puddles and they end up being washed away. I've heard our weatherman say a thousand times; "Turn around -- don't drown." But people think that bad things can't possibly happen to them and they lose their lives over their bravado.

My Pilated woodpecker was here again today and the bark butter feeders are empty. When the showers quit, I'll go out and fill them up. It's been around here enough now to earn a name and I think I'll call him "Mr. Longbeak" It is amazing how he can twist his head and neck around to get food from the feeders. God seems to have given each and every creature the exact abilities they need to maintain themselves. Human creatures are the ones that seem to waste their special God-given abilities the most. That's what happens when you exchange instinct for thought. Since the bark butter feeders were empty, he decided it was fine to eat from the seed cakes that they make specifically for woodpeckers. The poor thing.

The bird baths are busy again this morning despite the rain. I guess sometimes a shower isn't enough and a bird just has to have a bath. At least the robins and the starlings seem to think so. They have been in and out of all three of the bird baths this morning several times.

Ms. Kate and I got our trip out to California all mapped out yesterday and the motel reservations made. Today we'll plan out the trip back but since we are taking I-70 home I don't think we'll make the hotel reservations just yet in case the mountains get a lot of snow. We have seen deep snow as late as June on some of out trips.

We had choir practice last nigh and it went very well. We only have one last time to sing this season and that will be on May the 22nd. The song we are singing is short enough and easy enough that I suggested that they can skip choir practice while Ms, Kate and I are gone. There were no complaints about that.

My pink azelias are pretty well bloomed out and now the red ones are coming along fine and beautiful. The it is are starting to bloom as are the poppies. The front of our house is lined with red and white azelias and a pink dogwood  and a white dogwood. Everything is blooming and it looks beautiful. It has been am amazing spring.

Time to refill the coffee cup, then get ready to go to the barbershop. I've se here and loafed long enough. Take time to snif some flowers today and maybe do an April walk in the rain showers. It's only water you know, and I didn't say you couldn't take an umbrella. Go on -- go out and touch the face of God!

Happy Wednesday! It has been a battle of the "sharp beaks" this morning. The starlings, the mocking birds, the woodpeckers, the bluejays and for good measure, a brown thrush have all been at one another this morning fighting over position on the feeders. By and large, I think the starlings won because they gang up on the other birds and run them off, and then they fight with each other. They are like Appalacian clan folk; "it us against them, and then me against you." And through it all, they have just about cleaned out the bark butter sticks AGAIN !!!! The cardinals and the other birds just kind of sit back while all of this fussing is going on. Then when it is all over, they will come on in.

I had to change out the water in the birdbaths yesterday; or al least what was left of it. They had all gotten full of those flying Maple tree seeds, and there was hardly any water left in them. So, I scrubbed them out and refilled them with fresh water. This morning I'll need to do it again because the starlings, robins, and cardinals have all been in there splashing and taking their baths. They are fun to watch as they splash and flutter out there. Seeing the cardinals do that is a new thing as I told you last week. I'm sure they always have, --- I've just never observed it.

As you know, Wednesday is generally our day at the churches getting things ready for Sunday and then having choir practice. I also had a pre-marriage counseling session scheduled for this evening but the groom is wrapped up in planting corn etc and that means we will reschedule. and, since we are caught up and ahead with our bulletins, we don't have to go up until this evening for choir. I had planned to get a haircut today but then I remembered that the barber ships are closed on Wednesday. So --- now what??? It isn't like we don't have any work around here to do. It is just a matter of doing it. But, I think we need to get the maps out and finish our trip planning today and maybe make some reservations. We know that one of the stops we hope to make on the way out is Gallup, New Mexico. We stayed there on a trip out west once before. I don't remember the motel, but I'm sure it would have been a Choice Hotel chain motel; anyway, --- we found a resturant close to the hotel that served an Indian Fry Bread burrito. It was delicious and we hope to be able to do that again. I know it sounds silly to plan your trip around a burrito --- but hey; --- that the kind of thing we do. We had toyed with doing our return trip on I-80 just so we could go through Laramie, WY and go to a certain steakhouse that we love. When I eventually retire --- there are a lot of resturants in this country that are just waiting on our arrival. Somewhere in our future is a trip to Nova Scotia because I've read they have the biggest and best lobster to be found outside of South Africa; --- and that's too far to drive. LOL
The bucket list is still long even with all of the traveling that we have done in our lives.

My second cup of coffee is about gone so I need to get out of my recliner, quit watching the birds bathe, and get busy. Life is abundant and God is so good. There are Roses to be smelled out there and I'm wasting time. Have a blessed day.

It is a brilliant start to a brand new week. It is 64 degrees already this morning and going to the mid-eighties. The cardinals are looking brilliant in the sunlight with their red coats on. They are flitting back and forth from feeder to bird bath to feeder again. There looks to be maybe six or seven this morning. It is often hard to tell because they move around so much. Two squirrels have joined the mix this morning already. And then, we have the starlings that are rapidly depleting the bark butter from the feeders, along side of the downy woodpeckers. I must go to buy suets and bark butter and bark butter bits today as I am totally out of all of it. Say good bye to my $100.00 bill.

We had a really good weekend. Church was as well attended as I expected it to be considering that corn planting has started. Folks will be tending to that business for the next few weeks. So as they head out the door early each morning I offer up a prayer that their season will be a good and safe season while they get the seed in to ground. We all know that these guys tend to work too many hours a day until they get the seed in or the harvest out. Tired bodies and fatigued minds cause accidents.

This is packing and planning week for Ms. Kate and I. We have stuff that needs to be taken to Heather's house and I'm not sure yet how it is going to fit in the car. I don't think it is all that much but some of it is a bit bulky. Since some of it a small furniture, we need to keep it from rubbing against each other. Taking this stuff out is the reason we are driving instead of flying. Although we do like driving across the country. I just wish the trips weren't rushed. We are doing the trip in four days each way and that does make for some long driving days. I know some folks would do it in less but we don't like to do more than 450 miles a day and that won't cut it, so we're going to stretch that a bit each day. I think today we need to go to AAA and get a trip-tik done as well as a bunch of other stuff.

Our azelias just continue to be more beautiful each day. The pink ones are huge along the west fence and the red ones back there are now stating to blossom out too, Unfortunately, I don't think a couple of them are going to do anything at all. There is too much shade where they are and I think they have died. I need to get those dug up and out of there sometime this summer. Our Rhodadendrum has finally died out too. Last year it was so beautiful but this year it hasn't started to even look the least bit green. I'll let it go until we get back and if it hasn't done anything by then, I'll take it out. I think though it just reached the end of its life span.

So, I need to refill my coffee cup and get busy. I hope your week is full of God's blessings and I hope your week is full of God's peace. Stop what you are doing and go hug someone you love. It will do you good. Peace.