Colorado July 8, 2015

In Colorado we saw these water towers.  I'll continue my collection from the last trip.  :-0

This is the baby nursery at River Front Baptist Church where we went to church tonight. 

We stayed with new friends the Gardners.  Mrs. G has a huge collection of Coca Cola memorabelia.  This is just a portion in her kitchen--lots of glasses, trays, full bottles of ancient coke, cups, holders, anything coke.  Almost a museum.  Very nice.

We got to visit my friend, Elaine, from high school, many, many moons ago.  It was good to see each other after at least 25 years.  

This Westminister water tower is close to Elaine's home, taken at dusk. 

July 7, 2015 Japan to USA

We left about 1:00 pm in Japan and went to Korea for a short layover.  Then boarded a flight to San Francisco, changed planes to final destination of Denver, CO.  All flights had a little turbulence, but that did not last long.  Good flights all around and we arrived safely on Tuesday afternoon here in Denver.  Here's some photos of the places we have been.

This little girl had the cutest suitcase in the form of a cow.  We saw a similar one of a tiger.  Made of hard plastic and on wheels.

The Incheon Airport in Korea

The Powder Room had side by side seats for parent and child

At the Denver International Airport there was a vintage display of things gone by.  I remember some of these.  :-)

 Thunderheads over Utah and Colorado

Stapleton International Airport in Denver

Today we Depart

Leaving for the airport shortly to begin our two-month furlough that climaxes with Peter's wedding to Jewel in September.  Please pray for traveling mercies for us.  I'll be posting photos and such about where we go, but not daily, so please check back.  God bless!

This and That

In our neighbor's rice field these two large birds have been seen recently.  The white one is an egret and the other is the grey Heron.  They walk delicately through the rice plants picking out tadpoles and frogs to eat. 

These are two of the many colorfully painted pre-school buses here.

My personal favorite is Thomas the Tank :-) 

Baby Aito, born Christmas Day 2014 is now six months old and cute as anything.  Here he is in church with Mom and Dad. 

Mother's Day at Bread of Life Baptist Church in Kobe. The ladies received a flower-covered tea mug. 

Night sounds

This time of year out here in rice paddy country is rather noisy in the early evening.  Thousands of frogs are singing their hearts out hoping to attract a mate.  It must work because in a couple of weeks, there are tadpoles galore in the water and soon little frogs are hopping all over the place.

Meanwhile, this is what we go to sleep by.

Accidents will happen

As I was mowing the yard along the top edge of the back slope, I ran over a tree stump that could not be seen.  The blade got stuck and bent it so the machine does not work now.

Now to wait for a replacement blade.

Then a couple of days later I was cooking something on the stove.  I needed a small bowl from the cabinet directly over the glass top, four burner stove from the left side.  The bowl I wanted was wedged between two others so as I was tugging a little, and suddenly the right side door opens and out tumbles four bowls that fell on the stove and the floor.  Amazingly, the bowls did not break, but got chipped around the edges and wound up in the trash.  Then I discovered the glass stove top got cracked around the large front burner, about half-way up.

Cracked stove top

Then on Saturday, our dependable front loader Maytag washer bit the dust after 14 years of service.  It had been making loud spinning noises for a few months, then it just gave up.  Henry took the back off and found the belt had worked its way off the drum and the exterior was rusted.

A sad day--the death of the washing machine. 

Rusted parts.  

 So we went to the local electrical shop and chose this Toshiba 7kg washer, top loader.  Japanese and American machines drain differently, so naturally, our water hookup had to be rearranged.  

 Henry got under the house and took photos of the pipes to figure out what to do.

 It took about a day and a half to get the water hooked up and now we have a new machine that is soooo quiet, I did not know the cycle was done until I heard the beep, beep, beep signal indicating it was done.   So nice.

A little garden flower show

Spring has arrived here in Kobe and the garden is in bloom.  My favorite, bearded iris, is not as abundant as in previous years, but still gorgeous.  These are lavender, but to the camera they are more blue.   The above iris is at the East corner of the house below the kitchen window. It was a good 3.5 feet tall and was starting to tip.

The same iris in in front of a hooked rug wall hanging from at least 25 years ago. 

This is a carpet ground cover called ajuba and it has a purple flower.  The yellow flowers are wild strawberries.

Since paving the parking lot, lots of long worms have crawled onto it, only to either get squished or dry up in the sun. 

Daffodils

A composite flower that's ball-shaped.

I don't know the name of this purple flower but it is abundant.

One of many types of moth, hanging on the door frame.

Then I found these Lilly of the Valley 
flowers nestled among its neighbors.

This composite flower has little bluish star-shaped blooms.  Don't know its name either. 

The Proposal

Here Peter proposes to Jewel in the Capitol Rotunda during an event called Capitol Connection.  This is where they met a year ago.  It's a bit dark and the audio is not great, though.  Jewel's dad is taping it.

This video was taken a few weeks later at their church during Talent Night.  Peter and Jewel sing "I'll Do Anything" to each other as her dad is watching them interact.  Funny and good singing.  Watch for the end of the song...

New parking lot! 2015

We f i n a l l y got our parking lot paved (took some time to save the money for it).  The company came one day to prep the space and the next day came to put down the asphalt.

Backhoe being unloaded. 

The parking lot ground was leveled and raised from back to the street, for purpose of rainwater runoff. 

 Truckload of gravel to level the ground

Backhoe working.

A truckload of dirt got stuck coming down that hill and not turning wide enough.  The back wheel lodged between the streets, suspended in air.  A large crane came and lifted it onto the street.

The path paved up to the handicap ramp. Yeah!

 From the second floor window

 This is the space between the back deck looking toward the front door steps.

 The steamroller rumbled along.  When it came right up to the house, it shook and rattled windows.  I thought it was an earthquake. Thankfully it lasted just a few seconds.

 The pavement around the front flowerbed the surface was raised about three inches and it really feels funny to be walking or driving on higher ground than before. It will take some getting used to.   :-)

Finishing and packing up to go home. 

View from the street.  Really looks so good.  My knees and joints are so grateful since pulling weeds in this area is now history!  Thank you, Lord, for your blessings.