Blooming flowers

Here are some photos from the garden this year.

Pinkish calla lilly

The first gladiola; this one was white/pinkish.

Red rose, left, next to campion

This dark pink lily is about 4 feet tall. Beautiful dark red stamen.

Not sure what this is, perhaps an aster or a carnation.  I know this flower is also a quilt pattern, but I can't recall right now. 

Campion

The above lily with three blooms, one to go and one that is probably a dud.

Thunderstorm

We were driving on the Wangan highway along the coast of the Inland Sea between Osaka and Kobe on Friday night, July 6th.  Wow--that storm was something else and dangerous to drive in.  Henry drove, I was filming, Sara commented every time the  lightening flashed. which was every minute or so for at least 30 minutes while we were on the road.  This is not a normal weather occurance here.

Father's Day 2012

Outside my kitchen window I saw at first two butterflies playing tag, then a third, and a fourth, until this little group started dancing around the field in front of me.  It was supposed to rain today, but God gave us sunshine and happy butterflies.   Fitting for Father's Day.








This amaryllis was a gift from a near neighbor.

 

And for Father's Day we had a cookout since it did not rain from the approaching typhoon.

We did thin sliced beef, hot dogs and salmon smoked in the smoker.  Also, edamame, rice and whole wheat rolls and clam chowder made by Mrs. Miura (sitting in blue under the window).  Nothing was  leftover.

Spiders

Outside on our front porch I spotted a cluster of things caught in a web.  Thinking it might be an egg sac, I poked it gently and it started to scatter.  It is hundreds of just-hatched baby spider--soo cute!  They moved in unison outward.   I do not recall ever seeing one in my life.  Sara loved it.  Henry was not so impressed. 

The yard

When we returned to Japan, the yard was a mess.  Two tress had died, no doubt attacked by a bug; they will need to be removed.  The weeds were 3-4 feet tall.  Henry took two days to cut it all down and rake it up.  A few days after that it was all burned.  We can do that here without a permit.

 One of the maples we grew from seed starting in 1999--no life on it now. 

 One of the Japanese pear trees--dead wood.

This is the back slope next to the creek.  That's a sakurenbo cherry tree. 

May 27, 2012

After the morning service at our home church, we had a dedication ceremony on the property recently purchased that is next door to the church.  It is about 10 acres and combined with the current property will be 20 acres.  The plans are to have additional parking and a sport field.  There is a house at the front which may be used for missionaries, hopefully.  It is such an answer to prayer--some 20 years actually, but it came together just in the last few months.  God is so good.

May 26, 2012

 The National Air and Space Museum is the most visited one in the world:  30,000 people a day visit this building, some 303 million in the 35 years it has been opened.  Back in 1977 when it opened I did go to see it with my friends.  While the exhibits have changed over the years,  the hanging planes are basically the same.  It's terrific.   There was the lunar module that landed on the moon and a predator drone, among all the nifty machines up there.  Highly recommended to anyone visiting Washington, DC.

May 23-25, 2012

Here are some photos from Pennsylvania Dutch country where life is a combination of the very simple and the very modern.  We ate at a terrific restaurant where many of the entrees were hand made.

We stopped to visit the Sight and Sound Theater near Lancaster; however we did not have tickets to see the current show.  The theater is extremely popular and shows are sold out for weeks.    We did get a peek at the theater during intermission. 

May 21, 2012

We drove back from Oakland to Clinton and arrived here about 3:00 p.m.  It rained all day, more of a drizzle at times, so travel was a little slippery going down the mountains.  My ears kept popping.  At one point near Frostburg, MD, I saw a jackknifed truck on a ramp.  Several emergency vehicles were there and the ramp was blocked off. 

We passed two vehicles going the other direction carrying one of those wings of a wind turbine.  Such huge things that cost way more than they are worth, and would take decades to produce enough energy to offset their production cost.  Plus, they are a blight on the landscape.  Perhaps someone would finally realize they are just not cost-effective.  At least we can hope.

One of those windmill wings

Our final meeting this time around is Wednesday night in Pennsylvania.  Joe’s friend, who happens to be a girl, comes in Friday for a few days. 

May 18-20, 2012

We had lunch with the senior adults on Thursday; a very lively group.  We had a BBQ of hot dogs and hamburgers—delicious.  Afterwards some of us played corn hole, which is another name for bean bag toss. The church had made some spiffy boards with the church logo and the hole for the corn bag.  Henry scored several points, I maybe got one or two bags in the hole.  Every time the bags hit the board, dust would fly from them.  It was fun to do. 

The weather was just beautiful the entire time we were there.  Sunny, not too hot with a little breeze.  Rain is forecast for Monday.

Friday Pastor and Kathy took us to the Swallow Falls for a hike.  It is the highest waterfall in Maryland.  You could walk out into the water from flat exposed rocks.  I did not do that.   We walked down the trail which followed the river to another smaller falls.  There I shared the gospel with a lady who was sitting on a big flat rock.  She did not get saved, but accepted a gospel tract.

 The second place we were taken to was on a mountain top where a Olympic size kayak river was built.  There was a school group going down the rapids in big boats, with all the protective gear on.  When they got to the bottom, most of them were soaked.  The water level can be adjusted to the amount of water flowing through there for training purposes. 

 Saturday at 10:00 a.m. a group got on the bus and we went to a small down about 15 miles from the church, over the mountain and right next to West Virginia.  Then teams of people went door-to-door inviting people to church.  One lady got saved!  It is a pretty town. 

Saturday evening we had the International Banquet.  I made okonomiyaki, a Japanese style pancakes with veggies and bacon served with a modified BBQ sauce.  I made small ones, cut them all in half, and every one was gone!  One of the men said he would be making that meal for the moms next mother (he is a former Navy cook and enjoys cooking).  His wife and I hit it off like we were long-time friends.  Their daughter and family are missionaries in New Zealand, so that was a connection.  We met some spiffy people this weekend.

Sunday was the final day of the conference.  Henry taught Sunday School to the younger kids.  They have a spiffy room that looks like a castle complete with crowns and armor.

  Henry told the story of Naaman and the Jewish girl who told him of Elisha who could cure him of leprosy.  The kids got a kick out of it.  After church all the kids came upstairs to our display where I gave them a trinket from Japan—some were chopstick holders, some goodies from soda bottles collected over the last couple of years and assorted things I did not want to take back to Japan. 

  

After the evening service they had a graduation celebration for just Teresa, since we won’t be there when they have their regular event.  We ate ice cream cake!  Yum!   Teresa was also given a Bible signed by the Pastor. 

One young boy got baptized and another man joined the church after attending for several years.  Their faith promise for missions was about  $80-90,000; their goal is $105 thousand.  The three families there were all voted on and accepted as their new missionaries.  We are so grateful for God’s supply in this way.

May 10-16, 2012

After we traveled back to DC with Teresa on board, we took a short break from the busyness of the past month.  Mother's Day we were at our home church in Clinton.   We had a cookout with the Gills in the afternoon, all five of the kids eating with us.  After the evening service, I found a card in my bible signed by all of them--very nice   :-)


Several moms were honored for having the most children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren and for being the oldest (89).

Monday and Tuesday Henry helped fix the upstairs bathroom by recaulking the tub and replacing the faucet handles; then he scrubbed the grout in the downstairs bathroom.  Handyman he is.

Wednesday we drove from Clinton to Western Maryland where we are in a Missions Conference through Sunday.  I'll spend my 58th here on Friday.  This area is really rural, big, beautiful and quiet.  The Mountain Lake Independent Baptist Church    http://www.mlibc.org/menu/id/38/Home
is a strong Bible believing and preaching church and has been here for years.  The campus is huge,  but then so are most churches in America compared to our little one in Japan.  Anyway, we are staying in a spiffy old house on the property.
 

Graduation video posted

Here is the You Tube link to Teresa receiving her Diploma last week.  She is second to last so you can fast forward it to about 7:30 minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv2kvhMVVHc&feature=player_embedded

This is why we went out to California --about 10 seconds of a family event...just kidding.  It was a great time seeing the kids and my brother and his daughter.

Graduation 2012

 Teresa with Mrs. Sisk who was honored at graduation for being a faithful wife and missionary to her husband for over 50 years.  She has had recent brain surgery to remove some tumors. 

 Dad and Mom with the graduate.  The blue collar is for secondary education major.

Teresa with Mrs. Harris who received a Masters in Christian Education via the online course.  She was Sara's piano teacher in Japan. 

Front: Sara, Teresa, Mom, Dad.  Back: Stephen, Matthew, Cousin Stephanie, her dad and my brother Joe, and Peter.  Joe and Stephanie came up from Los Angeles. 

The graduation ceremony was all pomp and circumstance and very Christian.  We sang Crown Him With Many Crowns to open.  Pastor Chappel preached a message on being Rooted in Christ.  Then the over 190 graduates received their diplomas.  The photos I took were too blurry to determine that Teresa was getting her diploma, as we were not that close to the front.  Perhaps we will receive a CD or I could download the video in a few days.  It was a great day all around.

Sunday night there was a huge moon out--something about it being closer to earth than normal.

Today we left Fairfield and drove down Route 12 and 5 to Lancaster, arriving about 2:00 p.m.  The drive down through the central valley was one of wonder at the sheer flatness of the farming fields.  From what I could tell there were lots of almond groves and other types of nut trees. They are huge groves of trees in 3-4 stages of height:  fully mature, about 5years old, down to seedlings.   I did see several signs of protest along the way.  The Congress has cut off the water supply in the valley, therefore, crops  cannot be grown and food costs rise. 

 This one says Valley Farmers paid 100 percent of the Water allocation but received only a percentage of it in the three years listed.

The valley in many parts looked barren and dry.  When we got into the hills about 30 minutes from Lancaster, it was a bit more green.

 The start of a new orchard, top and the greener valley, bottom.

Jelly Belly Factory

 The Jelly Belly Factory is in Fairfield, CA.  It was made famous by Ronald Reagan when he wanted something to help him stop pipe smoking.  Remember?  He always had a jar of jelly beans on his desk and at meetings.  The tour is very kid-friendly, but on Saturday there were no workers in the factory, so we had to watch short videos on the process of making the beans. 

There were several portraits of famous people hung throughout the factory, each using about 10,000 beans.  This was the first one done in 1980.  

 This is one All-American, patriotic company!  Yes!!

Mr. Jelly Belly waves from the family car>.

Bird utterings

We recorded the mackaw and the other two birds in Pastor's house.  It was so funny listening to them and all the noise.  The cockateel squawks loudly sometimes while the other two sometimes carry on a conversation.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

In the evening service at Calvary Baptist church, Fairfield, Henry showed the presentation and preached about the feeding of the 5,000.  There were at least three Japanese in service, one a lady who rarely comes, so Henry gave the outline in Japanese for their benefit. 

After the service, he was signing Bibles for people.  He was also able to witness to an older Japanese lady for about an hour.  She did not get saved, but said she wanted to, but was not ready.  More watering on the planted seed. 

About 9:00 p.m. we went to dinner with a family to a New Orleans style restaurant.  I had French Onion Soup and a salad---really good, even that late at night.  Henry had a tomato bisque which was a little spicy for me, but good.  Sara ate a turkey dinner, but Henry ate her cranberries.