Fun with Boy and Jeri!

So, our fun has begun! This first picture says it all --- when they arrived at the Jakarta airport, Jeri was exhausted, Boy was in shock, and Jim was just plum happy!









Even with our ACs off, in honor of Boy, he was still very cold because the ACs had been on earlier in the day! How will he ever survive in Alaska????





We got a new toy -- Wii!! So the boys are having fun racing their cars!






We walked along the beach to one of our favorite restaurants. Here's Boy, a Thai, eating Mexican food, in a restaurant in Indonesia! What a world!





These are what we've always called "Jesus clouds!" cuz they're what we always picture will be around for the second coming of Christ --- based upon old-time flannel graphs! ;-)

A Thought-Provoking Tale

Every morning a husband and his wife sit at the breakfast table, looking out the window at their neighbor’s wash hanging on the line. And every morning, the wife comments about how dingy the neighbor’s laundry looks.

“She really should do a better job,” says the wife. “Obviously she’s using cheap detergent, or filthy water or some such thing. My own laundry is so much whiter, so much cleaner. Yes, obviously, she must be doing something wrong.”

Then, one morning, the husband gets up early, way before the wife is out of bed, and washes the kitchen window. He scrubs and scrubs, until the window is spotless.

Later that morning, the husband and wife sit at the breakfast table and look out the window at the neighbor’s wash hanging on the line.

“Oh my,” says the wife. “Look how clean and sparkly our neighbor’s wash is today! Obviously she took my advice and finally learned how to do her wash properly! Doesn’t it look so much better? So much cleaner? Yes, she’s finally doing something right.”

-source: Written in a blog I happened upon, no source provided.

82 years ago ...

On the 18th of March, a most amazing man was born. He goes by many names -- Junior (when he was a kid), Joe, Dr. Clauson, Dr. Joe, Joseph Emmanuel Clauson, ... Pops, Dadzy, ... Gramps, Grandpa, ... you get the picture. He is dear to soooooooo many people.

(For more photos, check my blog archives -- April 2008. His big 8-0 party!)

There have been quite a few times that he has almost left this earthly home -- a serious lung infection way back in 1981 that had him in Intensive Care for a time; in the past decade -- two cancers. Only God knows allllllllll of the times that were "near-hits!" I'm remembering a blizzard when we lived on O'Malley Road in Anchorage, Alaska ... tree on the power line and Dad climbing a long ladder in order to cut down the treetop with his chain saw. My memory is that the only way to get the tree to fall off the line was for Dad to jump when the whole thing, ladder and all, started to fall. God continues to graciously allow him to stay here on earth for the sake of so many of us. We are all quite selfish about this. And quite grateful.

So, Happy Bday, Popsicle! What an amazing man of God you are -- full of wisdom, patience, grace, gratitude, humor (okay, I'm not too thankful for the puns! ;-) !!!), diligence, stability, compassion, ... it goes on and on! I don't think there's a mean bone in you. Well, maybe when it comes to issues relating to the 49ers!!!

We love you. Here's a huge hug all the way from Indonesia!

In Casper, Wyoming ...

30 years ago, today, Mr. Wonderful walked into my apartment in Casper, Wyoming -- and into my life forever!!!

We're going out for the only thing close to dinner at a Mexican restaurant that we can find, here, 'cuz our first dinner date was at a Mexican restaurant.

Our first date of any sort was cross country skiing on Casper Mt. -- we can't even begin to replicate that experience within ... what? ... many hundreds of miles??!!

Jim is so good about remembering this anniversary date, much better than I!

Tea Tidbits

My sister, Kathleen, gave me a great little 2010 desk calendar with a tea theme. Everyday I learn something new about the history, science, poetry, or mythology relating to tea.

For example, did you know that:
1. Even as long ago as A.D. 780 a Chinese scholar wrote that there were already "a thousand and ten thousand teas."

2. You can give a boost to your acid-loving plants by adding wet tea leaves to the soil or by pouring some tea onto the soil.

3. There are really only 3 main kinds of tea -- black teas (from robust, fermented tea leaves), green teas (from steamed tea leaves), oolong teas (from partially fermented leaves). All come from the dark, glossy leaves of the evergreen, Camellia sinensis, which can grow over 30 feet tall but is usually pruned to bush size so that the leaves can be easily harvested! (NOTE: herbal "tea" is not tea ... but some of it still is tasty, I know!)

4. A cup of tea
A quiet nook
A cookie and
A picture book
A lump of sugar
On my spoon
Now that's a
Perfect afternoon
Eileen Spinelli

5. Britain's love of tea blossomed when Josiah Wedgwood introduced cream-colored earthenware in the 1760s. At that time, the majority of British porcelain would crack on contact with hot water.

6. But the all-time-most-interesting of all of the days' pages thus far ---
"If you are a black tea drinker, you're a forward-looking, intense person. Your thoughts are always directed toward the future. You have a fertile and active mind that is always churning."
Now, I don't know where they got this information. Maybe it's like a horoscope or something?? Maybe it is the result of drinking too much black tea and not a correlation of black tea with tea drinkers ...
Whatever, it's certainly true for me! When Jim read it, he was amazed!