More travel

Was in Nevada last week, Buffalo this week.  First time!  I am beat after leaving home at 5 AM but here are some photos I took of Niagara Falls this evening after the sales calls.  Didn't venture into Canada, the traffic coming back over the bridge looked terrible.

Time

Back again, three days into the work week.  Travel to Reno, NV next week and Buffalo, NY the week after.

Last post talked about time.  How time flies!  Two weeks of vacation behind me.  Fall is coming.  Then Birthdays, Thanksgiving and Christmas!.  Also back to class on Sept 13.  Where will I find time for homework?

We seem to work all our lives for money yet time is much more scarce than money.  I am constantly and consistently aware of time and how little of it we really control.  Each day, 8 hrs min of work, 8 hrs hopefully of sleep and 8 hrs for us?  Where does prayer fit in?  Does it fit?  For the past year I have been doing Morning and Evening Prayer from the Liturgy of the hours.  Alone this is 5-10 minutes twice per day.  Yet I regularly miss Evening prayer.  And on weekends, I'm completely out of it.  Why can't I find 10 minutes twice per day to pray?

Each weekday I resolve that at the end of the workday, I'll find the 10 minutes for Evening Prayer and more often than not I fail.  Why?  Time.  I get consumed - when is dinner, I need to get a few things done first, a phone call, personal time.

Weekends - two days to accomplish some resting, work around the house and some personal activities.  This weekend is already crammed - a cookout for all the Deacons and Candidates on Saturday.

Well, I've taken enough time with this post.  I hope it makes anyone reading ponder time a bit more deeply.

Last day and heading home

It's Friday and our last day at the beach for 2011.  Although we have until Saturday at 11, we usually leave Friday evening to sleep in our own bed and have all of Saturday at home getting back into the swing of real life.

Usually I use the time at the beach to reflect on my career path.  Not necessary this year.  Another reflection  I am continuously reviewing is time.  Time is one of my pet peeves and is clearly more precious than cash.  I always think when I hear someone say they didn't do something because they had no time, that what they are really saying is "it wasn't important enough for me to do it"  We seem to find the time to do what is really important or necessary.  I recognize that sometimes there really isn't time left to get to something, but if it was really important....

I think of this a lot about the lack of attendance at mass.  We got 168 hours in a week, sleep for at least 50 of them and God and His church asks us for one of those hours.  Doesn't seem so demanding to me.  One hour of worship to refuel our soul and prepare us for the coming week to be aware of God in the world and our role as members of His body.

Time - more on this when I return.  It's time to cook breakfast.

Vacation, Tuesday, week 2

Still getting LOTS of reading in, among watching DVDs, eating and some time in the ocean.  Yesterday was the best ocean day we have had.  Low tide, large waves, some sun, some clouds, water was relatively warm (for New England)  Then lightning, out of the water, beach closed and a quick, heavy shower.  Followed by God's bow over the ocean.  Of course I explained the science behind the prism effect of the water and light to my son's friend, but there was the end of the Noah story.

Coincidentally, we got our syllabi for our first two classes for fall.  We need 5 books and fortunately for me, I already own two of them and was already reading one.  So perhaps I am a bit ahead?  I ordered the other 3 from Barnes & Noble, so I can get a head start on the Synoptic Gospels.

With only a few days left to go, reality starts to set it.  This has been one of the best vacations ever for me.  The kids are older tho and made almost no use of the ocean.  C probably won't come back for two weeks and M is on edge, but it's likely we will be back.  Wish my mom and dad were here, they would have liked this place - more of a cottage than what we are used to.  The master bedroom has a slider to a deck that is not accessible from the ground and you can fall asleep to the ocean waves.  The real thing beats those ocean CDs.

OK - enough writing, off to do some reading before heading for Tripoli (the best beach pizza!) for lunch.

Vacation, Thursday, Week 1

OK, it's Thursday, the sun is out again and still enjoying the ocean and the reading.  Have caught up on work emails, called the boss and touched base with a few customers.  We're heading back to the ranch today to check on the house, pick up a guest for a few days and back to full time relaxation.  K is almost finished with Season 2 of Merlin, another of our favorite BBC shows.

As soon as vacation is done, it will be a bit of travel and then getting ready for year 2 of Formation for the diaconate.  Looking around early in the morning and late in the evening, it's humbling looking at God's creation and taking it in how insignificant we are in this universe.  We get to enjoy this beauty, but don't spend much time reflecting on it.  Instead we busy ourselves with work, family issues and realizing our "goals"  I usually come to the beach to reflect on my career, where I am at and what I need to do.  This year is the first time in the 15 years we've been coming to the beach that I am completely content in my job and instead am reflecting on my faith, my goals and how to embrace it more fully as I continue formation.

One thing - this blog will start to contain more of that.  For the most part, I have chronicled my activities but not my outlook or feelings.  I think I'll try to incorporate both going forward.

Vacation Tuesday, week 1

Our third full day of vacation at the beach.  Getting a lot of reading done.  Averaging 16 comic books per day, have already read a Spenser novel by Robert Parker and working on "The Brothers Bulger" by Howie Carr.  Got a burn on day 2 so not in the sun for a few days, which just means more reading!

Finally got an internet connection, but minimizing the time online to enjoy family time and reading.

Made pesto and garlic butter for garlic bread.  Food, reading, sunny weather, walks, reading and watching DVDs.  Yep, sounds like vacation.

Beach

hello,

this is chris guest blogging for my dad we are at the beach for 2 weeks. So far this vacation has been fun it's day two and i went down to the water for the first time and got sunburned great. I walked this morning to the rocks with my mom and dad. Yesterday we just sat around all day. Saturday was half of are first day we spent it like always at the center having dinner the best pizza ever tripoli's...the rest of this week will be ally coming down wednesday till friay hopefully assuming her mom let's her. then were going to caleb's birthday party saturday. he may come down next week. I'm leaving next thursday at 4. i'm hoping to leave here tanner than ever darker and getting some good solid games of catch in i like the whole playing everyday with my dad. i guess that's all i have to say so ta ta for now..

Chris

And another week, now...VACATION!

Vacation starts tomorrow.  Two weeks at the beach.  Last weekend we went on the Duck Tours in Boston with my Brother and Sis-In-Law.  Finished with a fantastic dinner in the North End.  Some photos of the time in Boston

No Duck Tour could be complete without a set of duck lips, courtesy of my sister-in-law, unsuspecting that I am taking a photo - she should know better around me!

And of course, K got to pilot the boat.  We didn't hit anything.

We survived the trip.

One of the denizens of Boston?

Ron got to hoist the cup.  In his mind.

And helped Orr stay aloft for the grand goal.

He joined the tennis greats.

And helped the Leprechaun hold the ball

Dinner in the North End

Last stop...

Another week flew by

Well, another week has come and gone.  No venturing out to a bible study this week.  I was expecting to need to fly to Michigan in support of a customer issue all week, but never came to pass.

One more week until vacation.

I've let the KofC and the leader of Eucharistic Adoration know that I'll need to give up both activities due to class schedules this year.  I'm looking forward to the shift in focus to classes in 6-7 weeks.

Also expecting a trip to the UK in early October, right after the first class session ends.  Manchester, England for a trade show and many friends, including my former boss - who love good food as much as me.  I'm sure we'll have more than a few meals together.

Only weekend plan is duck tours with my brother, although the heat may preempt that.  We were supposed to also have dinner in the North End of Boston - we'll see.

A summary of our excursion last night

My "church hopping" mentor sent this summary of our experience last night.  I thought it was better than any summary I could have written.

I sent Tom an e-mail asking if he wanted to go to this new church in Nashua I found called "" (Pentecostal) for our Wednesday night church hopping. He agreed and we went for the 7:00pm bible study tonight. The first interesting part (yes, there are a few) of the night started as we got there. The address for the church was an Indian restaurant. A friend of mine who attends the church came by and showed us the door and said the address was the same for both units.

The songs to start off the night were ones that have the chorus sung about a dozen times again and again and again and again (you get the picture). The lead singer had a fabulous voice though and did some long winded praising when the song was done.

Tom noticed there were boxes of tissues all over the place. Funny, in the Catholic Church we have hand sanitizer all over the place and no tissues? More on this later.

Next Pastor came on and started preaching up a storm. We were studying out of the 5th chapter of John. He had us bouncing all over the bible for references. He made sure on numerous occasions that we under stood Jesus didn't come to make a religion, only relationships? One statement he made I wanted to have him explain after was "Jesus to be spiritually alive, he first had to spiritually dead". Not sure what that was about.

After the night was over, a woman came forward to talk to pastor about salvation and pastor handed her a bible. As she was leaving she said, "I didn't think I should have come being this intoxicated, but I came anyway". This with make up running down her face because of the tears. Ah, now I know why the tissues and not the hand sanitizer.

Afterwards we talked with pastor for about 20 minutes. We explained we were in a the formation to become deacons with the Catholic Church. He started in that all believers need to be born again to get to heaven. Before we could discuss this another fellow from the church came over to greet us. We explained the same thing to him. He asked pastor what was his church's take on saints. Pastor said to ask us what our take was on saints. I thought that was a weak cop-out answer. I was wondering, if he didn't know we were studying at St. A's for our formation would he have said the typical non-Catholic answer. Well, as I was thinking this, the other guy says, "well, Catholics worship saints". Ok, now hold the bus there junior, that's supposed to be pastor's response. I explained that was a misconception by a lot of non-Catholics and that would be idolatry and forbidden by the church because we only worship God. Then the other guy says, "well I'm Catholic." Oh my, this roller coaster we got on tonight is going to have to end pretty soon.

Well, I saved the best part for last. At the end of the service tonight pastor was wrapping up and just stopped and said, "God is telling me there is someone in this room with back pain". I'm looking around the place and seeing all the folks in their 40's and older and thinking, there's a good change half the room's got back pain tonight. Why didn't he just pick a topic like needing reading glasses, gravity has taken over parts of your body or hair loss? He put the first person who came forward in a chair and said one of their legs was an inch shorter than the other and commanding a healing from Jesus and said the persons legs are now even. The person got up and said the back pain is gone. Two more came and he did the same thing to them.

Tom told me on the way home tonight that I was lucky that this was the fourth time he's gone out and not the first or he may not go back. This was something right out of a Jimmy Swaggart televangelist program. Tonight will go down as one of the more memorable Wednesday night session and probably not one to be repeated. Well I'm off to worship some statues and saints before I tuck myself in for a restful night sleep.