Our Family 

Three Generations: Me, Grandma, Mom 

Me Playing The Piano For Grandma 

Mother's Day

We arrived in Portland, OR. on the evening of the 7th and took 15 minutes to change and make ourselves presentable before seeing my Grandparents. My Grandmother was diagnosed with cancer some time ago and she was in Portland for surgery. My Mom knew what an awful Mother's Day it would be for Grandma spent in a hotel with none of her children around, waiting for surgery. So my parents decided we would surprise them by simply showing up. They had no idea we were coming! When we knocked on their hotel room door, we could hear them inside saying "Who could it be? Why would anyone knock on our door?" Then Grandma opening the door and was so shocked she just stood there staring at us. Then she screamed! :) She says it's the only time she's ever screamed by being surprised, which I don't doubt. Grandma is a very calm, quiet sort of person...despite the fact that for most of their lives my grandparents have been avid disco dancers. *LOL*

It was a wonderful Mother's day for her. My Great Uncle Ken, Grandma's brother, met us at the nice restaurant in the hotel. It was wonderful just being together with them all and after a lovely buffet breakfast, my Mother noticed a beautiful baby grand in the corner of the restaurant. Fortunately for us the young waiter, Matt, knew my grandparents and was kind enough to give me permission to play. So I played several selections especially for my Grandma and I even coaxed Mom into singing a rendition of "Edelweiss" with me. (I didn't feel up to carrying the song alone with the cold I had.) She was embarrassed but all the people in the restaurant applauded afterward. We celebrated my Grandpa's birthday later on that day. All in all we had a wonderful time.

My Hello isn't working on this trip so I'm going to have to put the pictures on later.

Who's blowing me kisses?

Okay, I guess I should start with my friend Devon. She works at Arby's. I wanted to stop and drop off some literature and a note card for her graduation before we left town on our trip. Dad agreed and said he'd meet us there after returning some library videos. Mom and I went to Arby's and lone and behold, she didn't work there anymore. I'm glad for her, her hours were crazy. She gets up at 5, goes to school, works one job from 12:00 to 4 and immediately transferred to Arby's to work until midnight... 7 days a week! Poor girl was running ragged. Having to support yourself when you start out with nothing is like trying to row a boat backwards up a fast moving river. You might do it, but you sure get...well...kicked.

"She's working at Connie's now" The girl behind the counter said.

Off to Connie’s. Devon took the things and thanked me. She smiled brightly even though she looked worn out. I wished there was more I could do than just wish her well.

Outside, Mom and I pulled up to a corner down the street from Arby's. I looked out of the window towards fast food joint. Dad wasn't there in the parking lot. Suddenly, my attention was distracted by a girl who was wildly waving in the small, junk of a car stopped beside us. It was packed full to the brim of teenagers. She caught my attention and began blowing me kisses and waving. I glanced at her and suddenly thought perhaps she was the friend of Devon's that I had met briefly while attending the local high school production of Shakespears "As You Like It" at the Panida theater. Blowing kisses...that in girl world... is interpreted as a spontaneous expression of a much talked about and ultimately very superficial, "you're my best friend I love you" devotion.

For some reason though, I couldn't quite place her, there was something not quite right. However, never being one to turn down expressed affection no matter how superficial it's origin, I hesitantly threw a kiss back, smiled brightly and waved excitedly thinking "Where have I met these people?" The entire car erupted in motion. Everyone was waving now, and some of the guy's in the front seat and the girl in the back were yelling for me to roll the window down. Was our tire flat? Did I have something in my teeth?

"Wow, I must have made a good impression at the theater" I thought "She must have thought I'm really cool". I was surprised and now beginning to wonder if they had mistaken me for someone else. I jumped for the window push button to find out what they were yelling from their windows. It was dark and I was in my Mom's car where the window button is located differently than in the one I drive. I couldn't find it but I desperately groped in the darkness, still wondering if it was the same girl.

"WHAT do you think your doing!" my Mother exclaimed in a tone that denoted she thought I'd gone crazy.

"I'm going to roll the window down" I replied still trying to find the button.

"No you're not, Seanna those guy's are whistling at you!"

"Oh I know that girl, she wants me to roll dow..."

"Seanna! That's not a girl, that's a boy!"

I looked back out the window at the girl who was still furiously blowing me kisses. The guy's in the front seat were yelling crazy and beginning to blow me kisses as well. Then I realized "she" was wearing a baseball cap and mouthing the words "I love you" between kisses. It hit me all at once, "she" was a "he" and he was flirting with me. My face flushed up red and it something like surreal shock I stared for a moment.

"Oh my... !"

I went from shock to humor mixed with embarrassment and began laughing at my awful mistake. I couldn't look anymore. And to think I encouraged them! Normally, such advances are met by my signature ice queen "drop dead" look. Unless I have special compassion and just ignore them completely. I was so humiliated!

Then upon further consideration, I figured I should take it as a complement that a bunch of 15 and 16 year-olds still think I'm worth the effort despite my advanced and decrepit age of 20. I voiced something of this opinion to my mother and was surprised by her exclamations " Seanna those boys were definitely older than 16! Some of them might have been 16 but not all!"

Miserable children. I shook my head and looked away.

What could I say? After all, I've never been a very good judge of age.

...And thus began our trip.

The Garlic Chronicles: Adventures in the land of herbalism.

Today the battle continues with a new chapter added on. Thanks to forethought on the part of my mother in buying a whole chicken at the butchers, and a little help from a recipe made by my gourmet' friend Kressant, I made chicken soup with a few alterations. We've been adding garlic to everything from eggs, to sandwiches and now to the soup and of course eating it raw.
All this garlic reminds me of some of my first experiences with alternative medicine as practiced (or should I say "attempted") by my Mother. Poor Mom... or should I say poor me?
I was ten. I had a cold and a simultaneous ear infection. The remedy? My ears were filled with olive oil and stuffed with cotton balls. Mom had heard how great garlic was. So when the oil didn't work, garlic cloves were placed in my ear. They wouldn't stay put so Mom came up with an ingenious idea.

Masking tape.

Hmm...why am I suddenly reminiscent of Red Green? Oh yes, "Duck Tape... the handyman's favorite tool". I think in Mom's case I could safely change that around to "Masking tape... the herbalists favorite accessory".

She taped those garlic cloves down from ear to face. I was miserable partly because I was so sick and now because some of the tape was in my hair. When she stood back to admire her work, she couldn't help laughing at me laying there miserable, under my puppy dog comforter, with garlic cloves taped to my head. In fact, she thought it was so funny she ran to get a camera!

Her brilliance for natural health didn't stop there. Next came the Echinacea.

My first experience with Echinacea, came not from my mother but rather was prescribed and administered by a boy only two years older. I was playing at the house of some friends. Nathan and Aaron the two oldest boys were both close in age to me. The three of us were running around the kitchen and living room having a towel fight. (We were supposed to be washing the lunch dishes.) The parents found out, we were reprimanded and Nathan, the older and more responsible one was pulled aside for further correction.

Suddenly, Aaron the younger and more mischievous one, decided this would be a wonderful opportunity to pull a prank on me. He pulled me into the kitchen and asked sweetly if I had ever had Echinacea. I shook my head. What was Echinacea? He smiled and explained it was this wonderful tasting stuff their mom always gave them. I was skeptical. After all... this was Aaron. He assured me it was really great and tasted wonderful. He wanted to know if I would like to try some. I shrugged. Sure... why not?

I will always remember how the brown glass bottle looked with the eyedropper top. Aaron untwisted the eyedropper and told me to close my eyes and open my mouth. I did as I was told. The next thing I knew my mouth was filled with a horrible taste like I had never had before. I coughed and ran to the sink to spit it out. Nathan, the nice one, came into the room just then and began chastising Aaron. "What did you do to her!?" Aaron looked meekly on.

Oh well... despite Aaron's early medical bent... Nathan was the one who ended up deciding to be a doctor.

So, after having that experience, you can naturally understand that I was hesitant to take Echinacea from my mother. I think I even cried when she tried to give it to me. Thankfully, Mom is not so easily deterred. She is a very creative woman, and decided to use an idea that I think can be found in any good veterinarians book on to give a dog a pill.

Hide it in it's food.

...and I wondered why my apple juice always tasted strange.

Viruses

No, not the digital kind. I've got a cold. A really nasty one that's gotten way deep down in my chest. Not good since I'm supposed to be embarking on a multi-destination trip tomorrow that will have a duration of about a month. This is definitely not a good way to start it off.

*This part in brackets is for those interested in the logistics of my virus. For the rest of you who aren't, don't bother to read this because you won't miss anything. Just pick up where the * ends.

Now knowing of course that I'm an herb junky, you might also be interested in knowing that... I'm pouring Samento down me (not lit. pouring! a few drops is all you really need... that stuff is strong!), rubbing myself with thieves oil and taking lots of vitamin C.

I tried Virogen at first, which is really great for kicking flu's but it just didn't seem to work on this thing. So I switched to colloidal silver and eating raw garlic -Whew, that burned! That definitely helped but I could tell I needed something stronger so I switched to Samento, better known as "Cat's Claw". That coupled with zinc lozenges, and vit. C really seems to have kept it from getting out of hand. My brother also came down with it and he's had a much harder time since we weren't quite sure what would work at first and he doesn't like strong herbal medicine. *

Oh well. I'm keeping in mind the fact that this will be gone in a week or two. When you think about it, all in all, that's not too bad.

Getting sick like this reminds me how fortunate I am to be well most of the time. Two years ago I began a battle with Lyme disease (after being bitten by an infected insect). For those of you who don't know, Lyme is a vicious bacteria that attacks and wrecks all kinds of havoc on the central nervous system. It was a really rough two years where I was literally fighting to live like a normal person- and at times... just fighting to live.

The Lord used it in an amazing way to teach me about Himself and to learn lessons about life that I would not have learned otherwise. One of those lessons was that everything happens for a reason. It's the message behind Romans 8:28. Behind every seemingly bad thing, there is a good purpose that will come from it. That has become the defining motto of my life.

Last year I was pronounced officially "negative" and we began celebrating. I'm really lucky, it only lasted two years for me, some of my friends still have it and having been battling it for much longer. I will have to tell you about them sometime. About sheer, human will in the face of overwhelming circumstances, about learning to adjust yourself to an almost disabled lifestyle that most people would buckle under, and about learning to have faith in God despite an unending cycle of constant suffering. When I stop and consider their daily distress, I remember...

What's a cold... after all?

Thought for today

Character is like a tree, and reputation is like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.

-Abraham Lincoln

The Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts.

1 Chronicles 28:9NIV

Signs You've had too Much of the 90's (or should we say 00's?)

Signs You've Had too Much of the 90's

1. You try to enter your password on the microwave.

2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.

3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of three.

4. You e-mail your buddy who works at the desk next to you.

5. You chat several times a day with a stranger from South America, but you haven't spoken to your next door neighbor yet this year.

6. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends is that they do not have e-mail addresses.

7. You hear most of your jokes via email instead of in person.

8. When you go home after a long day at work you still answer the phone in a business manner.

9. When you make phone calls from home, you accidentally insert a 9 to get an outside line.

10. You've sat at the same desk for four years and worked for three different companies.

11. Your company's welcome sign is attached with Velcro.

12. You have your CV on a diskette.

13. Your biggest loss from a system crash was when you lost all of your best jokes.

14. Your supervisor doesn't have the ability to do your job.

15. Contractors outnumber permanent staff and are more likely to get long-service awards.

16. Board members salaries are higher than all the Third World countries annual budgets combined.

17. It's dark when you drive to and from work, even in the summer.

18. You know exactly how many days you've got left until you retire.

19. You see a good looking, smart person and you know it must be a visitor.

20. Free food left over from meetings is your staple diet.

21. You're already late on the assignment you just got.

22. There's no money in the budget for the five permanent staff your department is short of, but they can afford four full-time management consultants advising your boss's boss on strategy.

23. Vacation time is something you roll over to next year.

24. Every week another brown collection envelope comes around because someone you DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WORKED THERE is leaving.

25. Your relatives and family describe your job as "works with computers".

26. You read this entire list, and kept nodding and smiling.

27. As you read this list, you think about forwarding it to friends that you send jokes to by e-mail.

Summer vacationers enjoying the water at City Beach!

Local Scenes

Thought you all might enjoy pictures from my hometown. It really is beautiful here. Enjoy!

We get lots of rainbows! 

Local Color 

a sailboat on the water 

Snowmobile jumper- a local sport 

Which One Are You?

Which one are you?

A certain daughter complained to her father about her life and how things have been so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and she wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed that just as one problem was solved another arose. Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen, filled three pots with water and placed the fire on high. Soon the three pots came to a boil. In one he placed carrots, in the other he placed eggs, and the last he placed ground coffee beans. He let them sit and boil, without saying a word. The daughter sucked her teeth and impatiently wondered what he was trying to do. She had problems, and he was making this strange concoction. In half an hour he walked over to the oven and turned down the fire. He pulled the carrots out and placed them in the bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them in the bowl. Then he ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her he asked. "Darling what do you see." Smartly, she replied. "Carrots, eggs, and coffee.”
He brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. Her face frowned from the strength of the coffee. Humbly, she asked. "What does it mean Father?"He explained. Each of them faced the same adversity, 212 degrees of boiling water. However each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. But after going through boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg was fragile. A thin outer shell protected a liquid center. But after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The coffee beans are unique however. After they were in the boiling water, they became stronger and richer. Which are you? He asked his daughter. When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean? Are you the carrot that seems hard, but with the smallest amount of pain, adversity, and heat you wilt and become soft with no strength. Are you the egg, which starts off with a malleable heart; a fluid spirit? But after a death, a breakup, a divorce, a layoff you became hardened and stiff. Your shell looks the same, but you are so bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and heart, internally. Or are you like the coffee bean? The bean does not get its peak flavor and robust until it reaches 212 degrees Fahrenheit. When the water gets the hottest, it just tastes better. When things are there worst, you get better. When people talk the most, your praises increase. When the hour is the darkest, trials are their greatest, your worship elevates to another level. How do you handle adversity?

Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?

Memories

I suppose I should say something hilariously funny to officially open my blog. Unfortunately I can't think of anything hilariously funny so (unofficially) I'm just going to go for the uncreative, boring everyday. I live in a resort town. We have a world class ski resort and one of the largest lakes in the country. I might add the most beautiful. The water is so clear you can see 15 ft. down into the water. When you swim it's like swimming in purified water.

At one marina, which happens to be centered around what is known to the locals as "the floating restaurant", I can sit on the edge of a dock that stretches out towards the peninsula, dangle my feet in the water and watch the fish swimming deep below me. That dock reminds me of my 15th summer. The summer I almost drowned. The summer I made peanut butter ice cream in an old wooden ice cream maker and ate worms and dirt mingled with mountain dew. It reminds me of bears, forest fires, cherry trees, boating and the smell of DEP in my hair mingled with "Bottled Emotion". That was the summer of my baptism, the time when I found out the meaning of life, and learned a lot I didn't know about people- specifically the human make-up.

*Worms and dirt by the way are sour worms and oreo's over vanilla ice cream.

For twenty I have a lot of memories and a lot of life experience. When I think about what strange times and interesting adventures my life has held, I can but wonder about the elderly woman who sits in the back pew at church. What has her life been? What silent memories are wrapped up in her seemingly uninteresting exterior? Then I wonder, what will have been my experience when I have arrived at that age?

And...will anyone care?