Mother's Day is every day

The weekend has been recorded in history and a new week becons me. We had rain yesterday. In fact, it rained from Saturday night until early this morning, but today has dawned refreshed and new with a high blue sky and hardly a cloud in the sky to mar the landscape. This storm brought some wind along with the rain and there are branches and leaves down on the lawns and in the parking lot. The park across the street from our house, with its abundance of trees, left the street in front of our home littered with leaves and branches as well. This storm is destined to pass into the merest of memories after another supposed round of rain today as the forecast is for temperatures in the eighties by the end of the week. I have a busy week and chose the six-inch mug for my coffee this morning which is about a mug and a half. I have four mugs that are mine in the cupboard in the kitchen and often Mondays require the large mug.

I had a tremendous weekend bookended by poker on Saturday night and the celebration of Darla on Sunday night. The boys and I cooked a dinner of chicken and ribs last night and we each prayed a prayer of Thanks to God for the influence of Darla in our lives. We ended the meal by Darla reading the first chapter of Genesis. It was a great time of family togetherness followed by the boys cleaning the kitchen which was heaven to Darla as she lay on the couch and relaxed after dinner.

I made enough money (about $45) at poker to fund golf and lunch on Saturday. We had ten players at this game and had to split off to two tables. Anthony joined me along with his brother and Mel came along as well. Greg Wanee, a friend from the golf club, joined me as I picked him up and we drove over to the game together. Greg just got back from ten days in Kauai and I was picking his brain over activities that he and Carla did while they were on the island. Greg stayed on the Lihue side of the island, the "sun" side as it is known. Our condo is on the Princeville side of the island or the "rainy" side. The Princeville side is also the lush, garden side of the island and it is ripe with vegetation and small rivers and tributaries. The mountain on Kauai is the rainiest spot on Earth and it rains constantly at the top of the mountain. Like many of the islands in Hawaii, Princeville receives almost daily rain, usually in the morning and it clears off by late morning. The mountains above Princeville are so thick with vegetation and waterfalls (there are over 1000 waterfalls on the island) that it creates it's own weather systems and rain is omnipresent at the higher elevations. Greg and Carla will get together with Darla and I for dinner in the coming weeks to look at their pictures and talk restaurants and activities on the island.

Golf was great on Saturday. I played with Mel and Boyd Robertson. Boyd always has a good effect on my game and again, he settled me into a groove and I shot 38 on the front side with two birdies in the first five holes. I struggled a bit on the back and had a double-bogey 5 on the par three 12th after skulling my drive into the hazard and having to take a drop. I parred the next hole and then had four straight bogeys before finishing with a par on the tough 18th hole. I shot 42 on the back for an 80, my best tournament score of the year and a net of 67. The tournament is a three-day individual stroke play championship and it feels good to be out of the gate with a good opening round score. Where was this last weekend in the Amateur championship? I lipped out three putts on the backside that could have dropped my score to a 77. There is room for improvement, as always.

Darla and I had to dodge the rain puddles yesterday to get to church. The youth were putting on the service and it's frankly never my favorite day at church when the kids get up on stage and put their fingers in their mouth and stand there not singing. The Moms and grandparents loved it and the youth pastor had a strong message about coming to God with a childlike faith. Saturday night we had the showing of the DVD from the Mexico trip. The boys were highlighted in many of the clips and David stole the show in a game called "The Russian Elephant" where the kids would lean down and form a human table and they would then stack as many kids on the backs of the lower group as the could and then run across a finish line. David made a running start and landed on the backs of about seven other kids and was at the third level. He landed like a rider on an elephant and waved his arms like he was the Red Baron. The height that he got on takeoff was what was amazing. I got to see Destinae (it's pronounced Destiny, but spelled differently to fool you), although David didn't think to introduce her to me. I also saw her father, who is about 35 and looks like one of the actors on Summerland. He has longer hair and it is bleached blonde and he plays lead guitar in the youth band. I don't think we'll be hanging out. Destinae's family is very involved in the church and her father was the lead contractor on the Mexico trip.

Jennifer called yesterday.!! Yes, my daughter called to wish her step-mother a happy Mother's day. I hadn't talked to her in at least two months and we had a nice, long visit. Jennifer has decided to skip coming home in July and cut her tour in Kuwait short by 44 days. She will be home for good in late September. Jennifer is still contemplating what to do with her life, she's not sure if she's going back to school or getting a job or both. She's not even sure that she'll be living in California. One of her girlfriends is housesitting a home in Las Vegas that is owned by the former piano player for Frank Sinatra. It is a small castle and Sara has invited Jennifer to come and live with her and her daughter there. I know that Jenn will at least go and visit Sara when she gets home. She will need to blow off some steam before settling into her work life. The nice thing is that she'll be paid by the Army through November. I suggested to Darla that Jennifer could work as a recruiter with the Army and go to school at night. She still has designs on being a teacher. As I've said before, the world is Jennifer's oyster. I think she should go up and visit Dad and Shirley in Canada when she gets home. Relax. Recharge and make some decisions on the course of her life. It's an exciting time for her.

Well, the gang is all here and I need to set a good example for the troops by hoeing into the work on my desk. I have to leave early today to get the final setting of a crown in my mouth at the dentist. I've been living with this bottle cap for about three weeks and I'm ready for the final product. Be well. Learn to approach God with a childlike faith and childlike need for security and comfort. He is the ultimate source of Love, strength and security. Ciao.