hiking

I always forget how beautiful the area is; my orientation being stuck in the LA experience of childhood, where almost nothing seemed particularly beautiful to me, save the beachtowns.I discovered hiking and natural beauty in the northwest and, earlier, in Switzerland.But the brown hills of So Cal turn green at times and it's pretty spectacular.

 We found the Wildwood trail, leading to a waterfall (just run-off) and inspired us to find the Malibu trails where Pepperdine students like to jump off rocks and swim.

 +++++

A couple of bowling pics of Jack's lowkey birthday this year. Jack discovered American in Switzerland at a classmate's party and was quickly hooked! I think of bowling as a strange affair, as we sit in air-conditioned, dark spaces eating french fries and Cokes and beer - a real middle-class sport. But it's fun.

Carolyn and I, earlier in our parenting days, imagined ourselves as a bicycling family, hiking family, etc, but none of it's stuck, I guess.

Jack turns 9

Jack, 9!

 "Many Jacks, but only one beloved Jack!"  Udo is very clever at drawing pictures.

 and the usual gifts - books.

as we slowly transition into a reading family. Michael turned the corner over the summer and Jack is next. Taking piano, as well as violin, brother #2 is definitely a musical kid.

Hummer

I don't have a strong memory of animals in my childhood neighborhood, but every rental out here seems to come with coyotes, rattlesnakes, squirrels, the occasional bobcat, and, at this house, quail and hummingbirds.

This unfortunate nest just outside our front door had a premonition of misfortune about it - why there? - as the palm frond sank and people scuttled back and forth past.

 Still, two babies were born and we rejoiced, until the mother flew into our house and eventually died, along with one of the babies who prematurely left its nest soon after.The third guy we fed with sugar water with an eyedropper and decided to take it to the California Wildlife Center down Malibu Canyon.A really great experience and resource, inhabited with baby deer, animals of all kinds.  Apparently, a local favorite among the Malibu fundraiser crowd who have, I suppose, taken over their natural territory.

Jack wanted to keep it as a pet, giving another reason for homeownership.  I cradled "Hummer" all the way to the center, hearing a week later he was doing fine.

Disney 2014

Perhaps the most successful Disneyland experience thus far, having finally learned the ropes: strategy, timing, attraction priorities. 

We entered CA Adventure from the hotel side and were escorted to Carsland, presumably so that no one would get trampled upon a la Walmart's Black Friday. We actually were the second car of the day!

It felt like a pilgrimage.

Enjoyed reliving a movie space, which lures the vast majority to this ride, in contrast to the Matterhorn's appeal a generation ago, which triggered the imagination sans cinema?

Though certainly Snow White & Mickey had their TV/film analog, the submarine, Main Street, autopia, Small World, etc were non-filmic in nature.

Not sure how long the boys will be captivated by rides below, but it's charming for now.

When I was a child, Disneyland was an exhausting day's event, arriving at opening and staying late, like attending a county fair. Now, many, including ourselves, turn this into a holiday and actually stay overnight.

Have to say, the food suffers, which is the one thing that has definitely lost its charm over the years, even when the park itself continues putting out fun across a wide span of generations. 

Jack Spring Recital 2014

Rochester

This year's L'Abri conference examined contemporary ideas of spirituality, using FAS' True Spirituality as a springboard,

more specifically working through Bill Edgar's excellent biography, Schaeffer on the Christian Life.

Bill was a L'Abri worker in the early 70s, one of the Harvard group which oversaw the historic lectures which became The God Who is There. Later working at the Reformed Seminary in Aix, France, teaching in Geneva, then moving to teach apologetics at Westminster - (real reason for moving being to play jazz piano!).  Much of the energy of former workers, such as Edgar, has gone into initiatives like the Trinity Forum and Veritas Forum, establishing a thoughtful presence in higher ed.

It was, for us, the best conference in years, Michael taking in John Hodges' lecture on Les Miserables, as well as Jerram Barrs' workship on Tolkien. 

It's also a reunion time and I always wonder how much longer that early generation - now in their late 60s/early 70s can hold out.

From the airport, where we experienced this famous winter, mercifully only 18 degrees for us and the boys got to play.

We also stayed at the conference hotel for the first time, along with Elle, so were more central to things.

RST is a midsize town with a nice center, kept alive by the Mayo Clinic.  The food seems better every year, as shops cater to the unusual international cluster of medical specialists.  My father worked at a turkey hatchery downtown and went under the knife to remove a chicken bone, caught in his throat!  Being a fastidious document keeper, I still have the original bill and hospital menu! 

Michael's Coming Home Day usually falls on this weekend, so we ate Chinese one night and took in his 10 year anniversary with us!

Worshipped at Trinity, a local PCA with origins overlapping with the start of the L'Abri branch, as well as a school which meets in the adjacent lot outside the city.  Jerram preached while another St Louis pastor, Zack Eswine, taught Sunday School. As we chart new ground for our new church, we were reminded of what makes L'Abri rather unusual, opening up vistas, making connections with culture, rather than shut them down. Always a breath of fresh air - although this year's theme seemed a bit ingrown and churchy a topic for my tastes?

And then there're those discovering Schaeffer anew, such as Lecrae, a prominent hip hop artist who seems to be making the rounds these days, engaging his audience to take on the cultural mandate.  (Someone needs to introduce this guy to Rookmaaker!)

There's a lot of talk these days about being "gospel centered" and "missional," so, as always, I'm suspicious, but I believe Lecrae gets it right:

"I started to dig back and got into my D.O.G.'s -- my dogs, my dead old guys. That's when I started getting into the Spurgeons, the Calvins, and my personal hero, Francis Schaeffer. I think he just got it. He totally got being immersed in culture, affecting it, transforming it, but not losing sight of his convictions of who Jesus was,"

as he digests a steady diet of Reformed literature, but most of the New Calvinist crowd seems to have adopted culture as a banner to only mean evangelism; for decades, the only activity worth doing.  A redeemed soul, the only thing worthy of concern.

The more things change, the more...

A pic of Valentine's Day at BHCA, devouring heart-shaped donuts in sunshine from Rolling Pin, while we donned our winter coats in the upper midwest.