Birth at Sea

Blog 1301, 27 August 2017, Sunday

Dear friend,

We spent yesterday cruising Union Bay, the Ship Canal, Lake Washington, Montlake Cut, and were tourists from the waterside. The weather couldn’t have been better, the company divine, and the conversation non-stop. It was a most delightful day. The highlight was when one of the mega-yachts opened its door in the rear and launched its own launch. Said I, “It’s giving birth.” And that’s what it looked like. As we observed that birth process, and I offered the thought, “I think it’s a buoy.” That’s when they booed me.

This morning I had a private moment of anguish. Although I’m good at frequently embarrassing myself, today in church I had a moment that was, by anyone’s standards, pure Marvin. During the wonderful sermon, a deep and long view of two verses in Romans, I sort of dozed off just a little, barely noticeable, perhaps a behavior that could be considered inoffensive for someone of my age set. But then I drooled, a big and wet bit of slobber that would have made a Saint Bernard proud, down the front of my tee shirt. Great! In church, just before communion, I slobbered. They don’t offer napkins in church and I was trying to be unobtrusive, I smeared the wet spot as much as I could and then realized I had an open shirt on over the tee shirt. Discretely as ever, I buttoned up the shirt, hiding the wet spot and saving myself from a swiftly-coming revealing moment. Then we stood for the song and I realized I’d mis-buttoned the shirt. Hoping everyone was concentrating on their hymnal, I unbuttoned it with one hand, large awkward buttons. I was going through a personal moment of crisis in the midst of 300 worshippers. But the day was warm, the spot vanished, and no one knew. Oh, those private moments can be painful. Fortunately no one who reads this will remember the moment, will we?

But the day calls, the fish await me. Life continues with it’s own unique and wonderful flavor, especially in Marvin’s World. Love,
Jeannmarv

Teach Truly, Believe Boldly, Live Well

Blog 1300, 25 August 2017, Friday

Dear friend,

There is always some sort of goofy mental bump I have to get over whenever the blog number begins another 100. Today begins our fourteenth hundred set of blogs, yesterday we finished the thirteenth set.

Our social schedule is set for the weekend: tonight we’ll see the Seahawks play on TV for the first time this year, the previous two exhibition games were played while we were living in our tent in various places and we didn’t see the games. Tonight will be a pizza and pigskin night in a real house. Tomorrow we go sailing on the vast seas of Lake Union and a little bit beyond. Sunday will begin in church but not teaching, we finished our study of Elijah/Elisha and we do miss those classes. The night will end with fishing. That’s a sweet weekend planned.

Because Jean and I will be teaching Philippians in the fall, I’m hurrying ahead (I hate rushing my Bible studies) through Galatians, which the Tuesday Morning Men’s Group is reading (6:30, all are welcome, coffee furnished). The Galatians study is reading a condensed version of Martin Luther’s commentary on Galatians. Today’s gem comes from the third chapter which tells us, “Teach Truly; Believe Boldly; Live Well.” Lovely, lovely, lovely! Do you want a philosophy for life? Here’s a good one. Go Hawks! Love,
Jeannmarv

Rain, Finally!

Blog 1299, 24 August 2017, Thursday

Dear friend,

Actually, it didn’t rain but they predicted a 40% chance of rain this morning so I didn’t go walking, by 7 this morning they said the rain would stop and I could go walk at that time. Then they moved the time the rain should fall from 6 to 7, so I waited again. The percentage was then dropped down to 10% and I decided I should have gone walking at 5:30 when I was done with my morning’s work. If I’d walked then, it surely would have rained, right? But I didn’t so it didn’t rain. But, when I didn’t start early, I never started to move. By noon I’d covered 363 steps, this being the same guy who’d covered twenty-thousand steps yesterday.

In the end we drove down to Kent, teamed up with our friend Jane, and rode the Green River Trail for a couple of hours, covering sixteen miles and fifty topics. It was good to finally get moving. Interestingly, we talked about change in people’s lives. Jane says that you can divide change three ways: There are those who want to change and do change; There are those who want to change but never do; and finally there are those who don’t want to change and so don’t. I probably live permanently in the middle group. Change is possible, but it’s not easy.

This year’s funniest joke in England goes like this: “I hate the new one-pound coin, but then I hate all change.” Frankly, I love change—I just wish I could control it, just as I control the weather. Hah! A short blog, with our love and blessings,
Jeannmarv

A Day for Walking

Blog 1298, 23 August 2017, Wednesday

Dear friend,

Jean lost her phone today, a traumatic event. We found it by dialing the number and listening, but if I hadn’t been walking around the house I’d never have heard its muffled ring from beneath the cushions on the couch. Apparently the last time she used it she was watching TV and it slipped away. It made us both more aware how vulnerable we are to our own foolish ways. They (some experts, somewhere) say that the loss of your phone is one of the four most significant losses we suffer nowadays, ranking with loss of a family member, job, or home.

Yesterday the high was 90˚, very rare for us this late in August. Today the predicted high was 74˚ that made it about perfect for my walking. I walked a loop, from home to Fred Meyer and then to Crossroads. I picked up a few things we needed and searched out for things really worthwhile which we didn’t ever know we needed—it’s like fishing, you never know what’s on the other end of the line until you reel it in. There are a lot of snags out there! So I trolled a dozen stores and found wonderful treasures along with our necessities, namely my 40¢ Fred Meyer yoghurt they used to sell at QFC with the Kroger label. I walked 9.5 miles; I’ll hit 20,000 steps for today before the night is done. That’s why we keep the refrigerator in the kitchen and not in my little study room, so I get more exercise.

We’re heading up to our friend’s hideaway on Lake Ki next week, time for me to finish my fishing for the year, perhaps overload our freezer with dead fish again. I heard from someone who follows lunar signs that this would have been a great week to be fishing but next week would only be So-So. “So?” I asked, as if that mattered. I’ll be fishing, that’s enough. Well, that and no rain, lots of fish, and a few trout so big the eagles are afraid of them; that would be nice. It’ll be our last week off for the year, I think, although if anyone wants to tempt us to do something else we’ll certainly listen. With that, may sweet dreams fill your sleep. Love,
Jeannmarv

Dizzy and the Eclipse

Blog 1297, 22 August 2017, Tuesday

Dear friend,

I put my shoes on yesterday, looked up and watched my reading light slide across the room to my right, and I think every time my heart beat it swung back to where it was and slid across again. It wasn’t a condition I’d experienced in 37 years and then there was a traceable reason for the room to be spinning. This time I was sober so it was something new. I stood up carefully and thought something that would have sounded like “Wooooo!” if I’d made a sound. I went over the things I’d eaten the day before (no clue), was I dehydrated (no), stroke (no), and everything I could think of. I concluded it was like Jean’s vertigo of a few years ago and thought, “Yup.” I took my blood pressure (boring) and my pulse, which was 43. That was about 25% below normal for my mornings. I didn’t walk for coffee; I made a pot of coffee. I tried to type but the screen kept sliding to my right just like the light had done.

It was the day of the great eclipse, a time I wanted to spend outdoors and be among the birds. I didn’t make it. At 10:20 when we were at our maximum moment of eclipse, I went down for the mail (hanging on to the railing), tried to take a picture of the sun without having to look up, and only got junk mail and a junky picture. Alas. By the afternoon my head was clear, though I didn’t walk yesterday. Today I awoke happy and went wandering before the men’s Tuesday Bible Study and plan to be out in today’s predicted 84˚ day. I feel I missed the eclipse. I hope you were out there in the waning light, not looking at the sun but enjoying the mystery of the event.

I have one eclipse observation. In Mel Gibson’s utter forgettable movie Apocalypto, the hero escapes human sacrifice because just as he is about to die, because the full eclipse crossed the Yucatan Peninsula and so he is spared. Later that day he flees his capturers and escapes into the jungle under the light of a full moon. Now this is about as true as I can get: you cannot have a solar eclipse and a full moon on the same day! It takes two weeks for the moon to circle the earth. Well, unless you’re Hollywood, you can’t. We’re well. Love,
Jeannmarv

Down from the Mountain

Blog 1296, 20 August 2017, Sunday

Dear Friend,

Actually you get down from a duck, we came down from Mount Rainier. Except for waking mid-cloud on Saturday and it soon cleared up, we had three lovely days camping with our church group at Cougar Rock. We were thirty with eleven kids in nine tents. People who camp have a certain toughness when it comes to dealing with the elements although that was not an issue this year. Our toughest trial this year was erecting an old tent no one had ever seen before. I thought it had only half the poles needed and two connecting pieces were missing, but in a half hour we (think they) had a tent the likes of which none of us had seen before. Oh, and it was dark, did I mention that?

Those campers who came early arrived early; those who left late arrived late. As obvious as that sounds, the late arrivers had to deal with southbound traffic, much of it heading to Oregon for tomorrow’s eclipse. Those with jobs and kids took twice as long to get to the campsite as the old retirees who could leave early. A year ago when we planned this weekend we had no idea that an eclipse would be a traffic factor.

The eclipse in Seattle will last from 9:08 to 11:30 tomorrow, we’ll have 92% coverage and I plan to be out walking in the changing conditions but not looking up. In the darkest times I hope to be in the woods somewhere, it’s an amazing thing to suddenly have the birds start singing their “goodnight” melodies in the morning, then a few minutes later break into their morning song. You can almost hear protest in their voices. They’ll probably be crabbing about how little rest they got during that night’s sleep. By the way, for those of you who worry about such things, banging pots and pans together to scare away the dragon who’s swallowing the sun is a technique that has always worked.

We’re home for a week now. We’ve spent three nights out of the last two weeks in our own bed, now for the next seven days we’ll be in it. It’s not as exotic as waking in the tent but it certainly is comforting. And yet, for all the adventure, it’s good to be home. May God’s love fill your life. Love,
Jeannmarv

Rain-Making Mariners Fans

Blog 1295, 17 August 2017, Thursday

Dear friend,

I don’t know what to do, the Mariners won in a game I attended. I have so very little experience at this. Of course I did see our closer walk the first three batters he faced and then, two outs later, hit two batters in a row until it was a one-run game without giving up a hit. If the fans hadn’t left early, they were a part of that “everyone” who stayed to watch the pitcher unravel. Even when the game ended, there was not a rush to the exits; we sat there exhausted. There were eight Baltimore Orioles batters in the top of the ninth inning and no one got a hit. It took me twenty minutes after the end of the game to admit we’d won. I don’t know why I let sports do that to me but I do. It wasn’t as bad as a misplay in a Super Bowl a few years ago, but it was getting into that intense realm.

This weekend we’re bringing out our sure-fire rainmaker equipment again. It’s a foolproof system to make it rain, here’s how we do it: First we spread a tarp on the ground, then we pitch our tent over the tarp, and finally we crawl in, zip it up, and go to sleep. That’s when the rain starts, and the rain gets more intense if you have to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. It’s a system that works wherever we pitch the tent, be in Africa during a drought or beneath a starry night in the North Cascades. It’s more accurate than any weather station. For super intense rains, we need to invite our friends, the Jacobsons in Tanzania, to be with us. We’re going with our Saint Andrew’s group, thirty of us, to Cougar Rock, a campground on the way to the Paradise Ranger Station. On Sunday Jean will be the liturgist and I’ll be preaching on Matthew 15:21-28, “The Faith of a Canaanite Woman.” If I’m preaching, obviously we hadn’t reached Paradise.

It should be a good weekend. I love being with the people of Saint Andrew’s. At church we seldom get time to speak of things that are personal and the most meaningful, but when we camp we have time. That’s a gift we all receive. With that, blessings and love to you all,
Jeannmarv

Jean’s Family

Blog 1294, 16 August 2017, Wednesday

Dear friend,

I’ll write this blog, get Jean’s permission to send it, and if you don’t get it she probably said “No” and so I didn’t send it. If I did send it and you didn’t get it, meaning you’re one of the 323,148,567 people in America (of 323,148,587 as of the last July 4th) who don’t get it, it is still available at jeannmarv2013. By the way, the percentage that does not read my blog is, amazingly, the same percentage as those who don’t get my jokes.

At the latest “Wahlstrom Event” this last weekend, Jean’s brother and his wife were there, two of their three kids (one in Thailand) and six of their seven grandchildren (one in Thailand), two of the three in-laws, his sister Jean and her Finnish-American husband, and the parents of their son-in-law. Five of the seven grandkids are currently in college, one has graduated, and two more will be there soon. That should total sixteen people, four of whom arrived late and one who left early.

My side of the family doesn’t have such gatherings. If we did we’d have my sister and myself, her one daughter, her daughters husband and their three kids. That’s seven. We could meet in our Kia Sedona. Also, I don’t think I could come up with any activity (besides eating) that we could all enjoy if we were together.

But the most amazing part of her family is they all like each other! They played together across the generational lines; they all talked to everyone. Over the weekend they played golf, badminton, baseball, and about ten different card games in addition to swimming, water-skiing, hiking, biking, and eating every meal together except lunch, and that only because we were all scattered. As one who married into that clan, I am expected to participate in all activities even when they are far beyond my comfort zone. I do what I can and then withdraw; they tolerate me wonderfully. They add to the fullness of my life. They bless me with their expectations of me. I thank God for them all. Love,
Jeannmarv

A Wahlstrom 5-Day Event

Blog 1293, 15 August 2017, Tuesday

Dear friend,

I thought I could write and send blogs from the Maple Grove campground just south of Randle, WA. I couldn’t, I couldn’t even get phone reception. We spent five nights in our tent while the rest of the family roughed it in their two travel trailers and two rented cabins (one being a yurt). I played my first golf of the year: nine holes, par thirty-one, and I shot a 38 with only six mulligans (taking a shot over, not allowed in the PGA). Jean, mulligan-less, shot a 42 that round. And our nephew Dan shot a 31, two bogeys, two birdies, and five pars. I don’t mind making people look good, but not that good!

I rode my bike 28 miles along US-12, great shoulders for bikers. Jean joined me on one of the rides, and if we go back that way we’ll definitely take our bikes. Interesting, because of the hills, we could ride eastward toward Mt. Rainier but not away where the hills got steep quickly and frequently. We’d have ridden to Packwood, 16 miles, but then we’d have had to ride back and decided against it.

We got rained on twice; it rained lightly on Friday night and much harder Saturday night. On Sunday, in the spirit of the disciples, three of us went fishing. It was a fishing I’d never done before. I’m used to sitting down in a canoe and dropping a line down until I got the level for fish, or when fishing with worms in a river I’d let my line drift downstream into a hole or hollow. This time we’d cast out and the flow of the water would carry my line down to where they were casting. There was no depth adjustment. I tried a bobber but I had no sense of depth. I’d cast, and it would drift by me; I’d reel in, cast, and it just drifted by. They caught four; I had no bites.

Final thought for this day: tomorrow I go to my first Mariner game in Seattle. It’s a day game against Baltimore. I’d guess we have five ex-Ms on their team. Blessings, and love,
Jeannmarv

Maple Groving

Blog 1292, 10 August 2017, Thursday

Dear friend,

It’s actually Maple Grove, but we’re going to be there just south of Randle, WA so I de-gerunded the noun and made it into a verb. Now, it’s not really called de-gerunding, it’s called bad grammar. I’m just trying to be funny this morning. I’ll be with Jean’s Washington side of the family, only seven members of this gang of 15 still bear the name Wahlstrom, they are still the majority. We’re bringing bikes, golf clubs, and swim suits—this is not a working event. I suspect the blogs will be lacking this weekend. It’s amazing how easy it is to skip a day or two; but after a few days I start to suffer from withdrawal in my unique form of tattletaler’s remorse.

There has been a trend in book sales I want to report. This is only from one sampling (me), but more than half of my actual, physical, and real books are being sold in Great Britain and none of those sales over there are e-books. It’s as if the Brits are hanging on to their paper copies whereas Americans are happier with their Kindles, etc. Interesting. Also, and I have no idea who this is, but Amazon keeps track of my book sales and also the numbers of readers who use their Kindle-Prime accounts to read my books for free. Someone, God bless them, has been reading bits of one of my books (I have no idea which one) and over the last nine days appears to be reading one of the collections of short stories, one story a night. I don’t mind, it’s free to them as a Prime person and also, when the number of my “free” read pages hits 100.000, Amazon will send me a check for $1,000. The down side of that is that at the current rate my books are being read on Prime, I won’t get my first check until somewhere in the 2050s. But, know this, it is hard to dampen the spirit of someone who has faith.

This weekend at Maple Grove we’ll be just off US 12, halfway between Packwood and Morton. US 12 is a highway with broad shoulders and almost painted bike lanes. I hope to rack up some bike mileage for our “Walk to Wittenberg” that our church is conducting. We’re currently in fourth place of the nineteen teams. There’s no way we’ll catch the three teams in front of us unless I ride 500 miles this weekend—and that’s NOT going to happen! We have a month to go. And we’ve already made it to Wittenberg and are about half way home again. As a group, the 19 teams are over 100,000 miles; maybe next year we can go to the moon. With that thought, here’s another: Love,
Jeannmarv