Stars Over Pittsburgh

Our Carnegie Museums membership allows us to go to the Carnegie Science Center (situated along the Ohio River and across from Heinz Field) for free. Yesterday we took advantage of that by going to see what there is to do and see there. The drive down and back is an easy one and took about a half hour each way. It's a real hands-on kinda place with four floors with lots to see and do. Kids love it. One kid was maneuvering a giant robot that could shoot a basketball into the hoop. Unbelievable!

The miniature model railroad was fun to see. (I remember going to see it when the building was in a different location.) The guide said the display measured 30' by 83', had 1,300 feet of track, 200 buildings and 100 miniature mechanical action figures. (Old friends Jack Herriott and Art McCauley would have loved it.) The design theme was based on southwestern Pennsylvania history and parts of it change every few months. Yesterday's themes included Forbes Field baseball stadium, a steel making plant, an amusement park called Luna Park that used to be in Oakland where Pitt is today, and other areas. As the overhead lights dimmed, the lights inside the houses began to come on. Neat stuff. I remembered seeing their displays as a child, but this was about twice the size now.

We also went into the Buhl Planetarium and heard and saw a presentation on the night skies above Pittsburgh. They even had a little interactive quiz at the beginning where the presenter asked a couple of multiple choice questions and you could press a selection button on your chair. You could see the tally of people's responses, then he'd tell you the correct answer. It got you involved right from the start. A good technique to focus your attention. Something for preachers to consider on Sunday mornings. The presentation was about 30 minutes long and very informative. Much of it was a review for me from my astronomy class at California Unviersity (PA) many years ago, but it was very enjoyable. I noticed from the brochure that they have many different themes presented each hour through the day as well as a laser light show in the evenings on weekends. We didn't do the omnimax theater, nor the WWII submarine tour, nor the hands-on sports building where you can do Wall climbing this time. We saved those for another day. It was nice that all those things were included in our general admission passes. We learned a lot, saw a lot and did a lot. It was nice to do that together. We plan to return again soon and see some of what we didn't see this time around.

I continue to wear the pedometer every day, and the last couple of days I got over my goal of 10,000 steps. Cool. We've been faithful to our exercise regimen. Dee selected the photos from the wedding album that we plan to scan and put on CDs. Both Walgreens and Target have great deals for doing that.

One of the things I'm noticing about retirement is that it's important to have places to go and things to do. Previously, when we worked full-time we always had to be somewhere whether it was work, meetings etc. Someone else pretty much decided our schedules and we just did those things as a matter of our routine. Now, when we really don't have to be anywhere, it's up to us to have to begin developing a routine or schedule that gives us a focus or goal for the day. A fascinating process and a challenge to be sure. And once the weather gets warmer we'll have other options to consider and include.

Building for the future

Here is the progress being made on the homes being built behind us... On Wednesday morning the gravel arrived along with the cement blocks for the foundation and the wood for the superstructure. As you can see they've started the walls.

By Thursday evening (below) the work site had changed dramatically and the interior walls have been built defining each basement and the outside wall on the left has grown immensely. You can see the workers in their black hats, blue shirts and beards hustling around to make it happen.

Yesterday was a quiet day for us, but we did get our workouts done at Contours and on the treadmill. We also took long walk together with Bonz. Later we went to Best Buy to get a "Bee Gees" cd. It seems much of their music fits the "Hustle" dance we're learning. Maybe it'll help. While there we saw a guy from Rotary who greeted us and met Dee. (This is the first time we saw anyone we knew out in the community since we moved here. I wondered how long that would take.) We also picked up a cribbage board at Target and took a break from our strenuous day at Starbucks. Dee and I used to play cribbage long ago and really enjoyed it. It'll be nice to get back into doing that again. Later we cheered on West Virginia in the Sweet Sixteen NCAA games. They came so close to winning, but it wasn't to be. Surely a let down for the team.

The image of a house being built provides a good metaphor for the Church. Where it takes a lot of people each doing what they do best to help built it. Each using their "gifts" at the appropriate time in the process, building upon the foundation that has been put in place by others. Together they are creating something that will last a lifetime; will be a blessing to others and will help them fulfill their purpose in life.

Finally, the Driving Range!

I went to the Rotary meeting yesterday and it was held at the Pine-Richland Youth Center in Gibsonia. The local Rotary Club supports their work. They catered a luncheon for us, and we learned about all their programs for children -they have about 120 basketball teams use their facility, they work with mentally and developmentally challenged youth and provide a summer education extension program for kids who need to continue their schooling through the summer so they don't get behind. The speaker did a nice job of both informing us and inspiring us with his stories and committmet to making the lives of the youth better.

Well, yesterday was finally warm enough to go to the driving range and hit some golf balls. Oh what a wonderful feeling! The Rowan range is about 5 miles from my house. I had a nice time trying to recall what I've learned over the years. Dee emptied a vew more packing boxes while I ws gone and she found two items we'd not been able to locate - a giant green crayon bank and an inflatable exercise ball. We knew we packed them, but just couldn't find them... The lost has been found, again.

Since Wednesday is our dance class lesson at BC3 we try to include several stops on our drive there. Yesterday saw us picking up the completed wedding album, eating out, going to Sears, stopping by Dee's mom's place and stopping by Dee''s sister, Ruth's place with some clothes for her son, Larry. He's about my size and I had some nice sweaters and shirts which are in good condition, but no longer use. Larry said, "Wow, this is it's my birthday. These are great!"

Dance class was part two of the "Hustle." A step we still don't get very well. But it was better last night than the first night. We even learned a new step with the hustle called the "sugar push." Next week we'll learn to do the sugar push with the Jitterbug and East Coast Swing. But we better practice or we'll have troubles I'm sure.

Russ and Kathy were there so we stayed after class and visited with them over a bottle of pop (or as they say in Jersey - soda.)We heard about their Easter, Kathy's trip to Boston to see their daughter, and their up coming trip to Hawaii in a couple of weeks. They have a 2 week timeshare there every other year. Nice. It was a great day!

A Day of Inspiration, Affirmation and Celebration!

Yesterday, Dee must have sensed that since spring is in the air, summer can't be far behind. So she said, "Let's put our winter clothes away and break out the summer ones." Pure inspiration! So, we brought the summer clothes down from the upstairs bedroom closet and put them in the master bedroom closet. And vice-versa. Sometime during that labor intensive process, I decided to try on a few things... and wonder of wonders, my Bermuda shorts ALL fit just fine. Also, I tried on my favorite suit (which I haven't worn for at least 4-5 years) and it fit like a glove! Not only that, but another suit I have and haven't worn for eons also fit! Fortunately, they're classic suits and are in style still today. What an affirmation, I couldn't believe it. So when we were all done, we went out and celebrated! Dee bought a new purse at Kohls (and saved 15% because her husband was along) and I bought a honey and glazed pecan latte at Starbucks!

What a life!

During the evening we rented a movie called "The Bee Movie" that was okay. Great animation. And I organized a file cabinet drawer of sermons and illustrations I'd been wanting to attend to for a long time. (I used to write my sermons out longhand for many years and kept them. But when we decided to move, I didn't know which ones to keep as there were 30+ years of sermons and research notes. I finally decided to keep just the ones from the Gospels and discarded the rest - a painful process to say the least. I was more interested in the research notes than the actual sermons, since they would need to be revised and almost totally redone to be relevant to today's world.) I read bits and pieces of them as I organized and recalled some of the life events I referred to long ago. An enjoyable process for me. I still have one more drawer to do, so sometime I'll have to get around to it as well.

I also received a phone call to preach a Sunday in July at a local Presbyterian Church. I said yes. I do miss preaching (It's a good exercise process for my mind to organize my thoughts.) I always try to remember what my homiletics professor said, "Are you preaching because you have something to say? OR, are you preaching because you just have to say something?" Since being retired and going from church to church on Sundays, and listening to others preach, I sometimes conclude that, unfortunately, they find themselves doing the latter.

A Downy Woodpecker Makes a Visit

Yesterday afternoon we were visited by a downy woodpecker. I quickly grabbed the camera and got this shot. Woody hung around and Even posed for me so that I could get a better shot of his red splash on the back of his head, but as I snapped the shot, the battery went dead. Hopefully he'll return for another sitting and a better shot.

Yesterday while Dee was at Contours, I took Bonz for a two mile walk around our court yard and then down to the clubhouse and back. I'm trying to get him to walk along side me with a limp leash. That makes the walk more pleasant for both of us. It's coming along. During the walk, I noticed that many of the workers on the house being built behind us have beards, wear black hats with brims and blue shirts and black pants... I think they may be Amish or Mennonites doing the bricklaying now that the footers are in place.

I finally sent our taxes off to the IRS. Glad that's done. And I had a nice call from my mother about the pictures I gave her from the wedding. She'd always wanted a picture of me in my clerical robe and there was one of her and Dee and me walking down the aisle together at the end of the wedding. She seemed to especially like that one. She seems pleased we're back in the area. I also gave her some of my clothes to alter. Her seamstress skills are second to none, and I've lost some weight so she's taking in some pants, and shortening the sleeves on 5 shirts. The shirts were ones I liked but inadvertently got them with 34-35 inch sleeves instead of 33 inches. She said, maybe this will encourage me to get back to sewing again as she hasn't done it for a long time. (She used to alter clothes for a couple of the clothing stores in town many years ago.)

Here's a picture of this morning's sunrise with two skywriters writing their blogs in the sky...If you click on the photo it will enlarge and you'll see the second writer better.

My readings yesterday were from the lectionary readings for this coming Sunday. The author of the book I use reminded me that these next 7 weeks were are in the "Season of Easter" and so the Sundays are Sundays of Easter and NOT Sundays after Easter. So the focus is on spelling out implications of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If your pastor uses the lectionary, here's a head start for you for Sunday: Acts 2: 14a, 22-32; Psalm 16; I Peter 1:3-9 and John 20:19-31. In the church we attend they usually read the Gospel and one other of the selected texts and then the preacher selects one of them for his message.

The Morning After

Well, yesterday, Easter Sunday was very nice. I decided to get up EARLY and go to the sunrise service sponsored by the community clergy in Mars. It was outside (18 degrees). They said it was colder yesterday than on Christmas morning....burrrrr. Then there was a nice breakfast for the people who attended the service. Breakfast was inside the cafeteria of the Mars Home for Youth.

Dee and I then drove to Monongahela and picked up my mom and took her to her church for the 11 AM service. It was nice to see lots of people I knew from my youth. A couple of them I recognized right away. Most of them I vaguely remembered. A few come up to me and introduced themselves to me right away, others wanted to play "Guess my name." and then would comment "You don't remember me!?" The service was interesting. They tried to have a piano/organ duet accompaniment for most of the songs (as I've noticed in almost every church we've been in). This church added a little twist by having the mother of the pastor "lead" the hymns up front. Also, they attempted to use a large screen for announcements, words to the hymns. I felt they missed out on getting the most out of the screen with this captive audience. Although the pastor did start his sermon with a video clip of the resurrection scene from Mel Gibson movie about "The Passion of Christ." However, he just played it without any introduction. I wondered if most of the people recognized it or realized what it was from.

After that we went to the Curdies for Easter dinner. It was fabulous! The ham (my favorite meal) was superb, the scalloped potatoes and potato salad delicious, a jello salad with cream and stuff on top, and two kinds of dessert (ginger bread cake with hot lemon sauce, and a "grapefruit cake" with icing). It was nice to meet John's father, sister and brother-in-law (whose name was Casey) and John's neighbor Betty and to see their daughter Kristen again. The conversation was lively around the table and topics included among other things "stewardship practices of the churches represented around the table." A nice ending to the afternoon came when John indicated he was going to visit his mother in the hospital and that he'd be driving right past my mother's house. He offered to take her home thus saving us about an hour's driving time on the road. Both thoughtful and much appreciated.

Our evening ended with us working on the new puzzle and watching Monster's Inc. on TV. I love that movie. The animation is superb, and the plot line is fascinating... It seems that these fuzzy monsters have access to peoples homes through the bedroom closet doors. They scare people - mostly little kids - and then capture the scare energy and take it back to where the monsters live. The scare energy runs their universe. The problem is that children are becoming less and less scared of monsters. Thus creating a potential energy shortage for their world. The story ends with a new revolutionary discovery -- that their world can also be powered by "laugh energy." The monster's world is saved and they live on, only now making children laugh.

Certainly an appropriate theme for Easter. The saving of the world by a new form of energy - only we know that energy as "the love of God for a fallen world - in the form of Jesus' sacrifice, and the Father's forgiveness, grace and mercy."

Easter Sunday

Here are some Easter thoughts for reflection:

   "Easter is the demonstration of God that life is essentially spiritual and timeless." - Charles M. Crowe

·         "And he departed from our sight that we might return to our heart, and there find Him. For He departed, and behold, He is here." - St. Augustine

·        " Earth's saddest day and gladdest day were just three days apart!" - Susan Coolidge

·        " Easter says you can put truth in a grave, but it won't stay there." - Clarence W. Hall

·        " Easter so longed for is gone in a day." - James Howell

·        " The stone was rolled away from the door, not to permit Christ to come out, but to enable the disciples to go in." - Peter Marshall

·         "The great Easter truth is not that we are to live newly after death - that is not the great thing - but that...we are to, and may, live nobly now because we are to live forever." - Phillips Brooks

·         "The resurrection gives my life meaning and direction and the opportunity to start over no matter what my circumstances." - Robert Flatt

·         "Where man sees but withered leaves, God sees sweet flowers growing." - Albert Laighton

Yesterday proved to be a productive day. Dee finally decided on a door decoration for the spring season. Here's a photo of what she's come up with for now....

Also, we bought a new jigsaw puzzle and have begun building it. It's from the Chcken Soup series, and pictures a lighthouse, a dove, a Bible verse and footprints in the sand. I'll take a photo of it when it's done for the blog.

Also, I did something I haven't done for 40 years... I filled out a job application, of all things... as a "starter/ranger" at the nearby Treesdale Golf and Country Club. I've often fanticized about doing such a thing, and as I talked with the interviewer the more intrigued I became. It's a 27 hole course and the golf carts have gps on them. It's only 4.5 miles from my house. I have no idea if I'll be called for it, but they seemed to be willing to work around a potentially busy weekend schedule if I should decide to do some preaching in the future. Also, since the place is part of the ClubCorp organization, employees get to use the facilities of other golf courses in their system as well as hotels etc. that are a part of their corporation. That would be interesting. But, we'll see if anything comes of it.

We were disapointed that Pitt lost to Michigan State last night and so is out of the NCAA games. Today's schedule includes an outdoor sunrise service at 6:30 AM and worship with my mother in Monongahela.