Sunday with friends

Sunday morning was a rush. I was up near 7 and spent the morning writing the blog. I managed to get some coffee, toast, and a banana while I was writing. I also read the news, updated Quicken, and loaded dishes in the dishwasher. Soon, it was 9, and I was rushing, and the last few bits of the blog were done without much re-reading. I cleaned up, dressed in a dress shirt, Pride tie, black shoes, and a sweater vest; my summer church wear. Now ready to leave, I finished and published the blog.

Air Volvo, still shiny from the car wash on Friday and nearly fully gassed from Friday’s fill-up, faced surprisingly heavy and slow-moving traffic on TV Highway. I had to redirect to Farmington Road, which was nearly empty (usual for a Sunday morning), and soon arrived safely. The Pride Progress flag on the church side entrance was flapping nicely in the light breeze (Z and I replaced the older and fading Pride and slightly broken pole a few weeks ago).

Dondrea was preaching, and the music in the hymnal was easy to sing. I find that the ordained Methodist preachers, Dondrea is not ordained, often pick the most obscure hymns that include words from the sermon. Dondrea’s sermon covered the last words of the epistle of James. Dondrea leans into her Native American family roots and her recent trip to say goodbye to her stepfather and visit the holy places in the Bad Lands. She shares with us her belief (and also in the text in James) that prayer and the process of praying helps us to better connect with the universe and find peace. Dondrea reminded us of the story of Apolo 13 and that the whole world stopped and prayed. Dondrea finished with some Lakota words and translated prayer. While I know that Dondrea struggled with writing and preparing the sermon (we text often), she was not over-prepared–something I often see with preachers, and remained focused on the message. It worked, and I could see that many listeners were moved.

Here is the prayer (found on the Internet; I believe it is in the public domain):

Mitakuye Oyasin

– A Lakota Prayer –

Aho, Mitakuye Oyasin … All my relations, I honour you in this circle of life with me today. I am grateful for this opportunity to acknowledge you in this prayer….

To the Creator, for the ultimate gift of life, I thank you.

To the mineral nation that has built and maintained my bones and all foundations of life experience, I thank you.

To the plant nation that sustains my organs and body and gives me healing herbs for sickness, I thank you.

To the animal nation that feeds me from your own flesh and offers your loyal companionship in this walk of life, I thank you.

To the human nation that shares my paths a soul upon the sacred wheel of Earthly life, I thank you.

To the Spirit nation that guides me invisibly through the ups and downs of life and for carrying the torch of light through the Ages, I thank you.

To the Four Winds of Change and Growth, I thank you.

You are all my relations, my relatives, without whom I would not live. We are in the circle of life together, co-existing, co-dependent, co-creating our destiny. One, not more important than the other. One nation evolving from the other, and yet each dependent upon the one above and the one below. All of us a part of the Great Mystery.

Thank you for this Life.

After the service, some church members and Dondrea invited me to a drag show in Portland on Friday; excellent. Grabbing one last coffee, I headed home in Air Volvo. There (traffic was light), I removed the tie and the leather shoes and made lunch. I used the microwave on one of Trader Joe’s frozen dinners. The food does not seem to be over-prepared, and the Chicken Tikka is not bad (still not as spicy as I make it), but just one smallish portion. Perfect.

It was already too hot for a walk, but it would remain just around 90F (32C) and without sticky humidity. The California-style clear, hot sun would bleach everything. The deep blue skies would change to light grey blue as smoke filled the valley. While the air quality meter was good, there was something in the smoke. Hives haunted me again when I tried to sleep later. Ugh!

I had a few hours free and no wish to go outside and cough and sneeze more, so I painted more of the deck on my SMS Derfflinger 1916 model. I was able to freehand some fine details on the deck and correct some overpainting. My The Army Painter brushes make all this possible. I try to make some progress every day. This is a six-month to a year project to build this model, and the only way to face such a huge undertaking, something Michelle V taught me years ago at Nike, is just to keep working and get further every day. Just get something more done every day, and soon, you will find yourself surprised to be in the finishing steps.

I headed out in my Air Force Ones, dress shirt, and vest to a party at Dr. Ernest’s house. I stopped by Safeway and picked up a bunch of flowers to bring; Safeway has the best flowers. I was early, and this gave me time to head to the Hillsboro library to remember where it was; I now have a library card. I found a shady spot and read some emails and updates.

Dr. Ernest, who runs the Hillsboro Machine Learning and Python meetup, has a lovely house, and I was invited to a family party as a guest. Dinner was nice; we talked about AI and computers, and folks were surprised that I write Python for fun and not part of my job at Nike (before I retired). We even talked about Jenkins and CI/CD, a very obscure topic. I had a nice time.

I left at 7ish and then called Corwin after Air Volvo returned me to the Volvo Cave. Corwin was delivering food in the hot weather in his un-AC’d truck. I offered him dinner. I had a light second dinner. Soup and some lotus root with veggies at the local Chinese food joint that Corwin picked out. He had a huge soup and rice dish. I had some of the rice and veggies with soup and let him take the rest home.

After that nice break, I sneezed and coughed for just a few minutes exposure to the air outside. F**k! Once that stopped, I put on my 3X bifocal safety glasses, picked up my fine brushes, and returned to my model. I painted the decks XF-78 Wooden Deck Tan that will be covered by the thin laser-cut wood overlays. I also painted the black markings for the guns and other deck furniture (the model building name for various deck stuff you have to build or paint). Again, this is tiny millimeter-sized stuff and perfect for The Pycho and Kolinsky Masterclass brushes (the names say it all about the use of the brushes). I will have more corrections to make after the paint dries overnight. I try to make smaller and smaller mistakes until I cannot correct a mistake. When I take off the bifocals, I often can’t see the issue.

I shower (to get rid of any pollen or other irritants that might cling to me), dress in clean PJs, and turn to reading. Strategy and Tactics Quartly Fall 2024: Grant’s Overland Campaign is just excellent (you can find it in the finest bookstore magazines on military stuff). General Bell (ret.) writes an excellent story and the color drawing and plots of the battles make the text work. I played these battles against Bill years ago and can recommend Grant’s Gamble (I gave away most of my two-person wargames, but I liked this one with its simple rules and play) if you want to try your hand at this. I have read many books about them. It is hard for me to put down this issue, but this is an acquired taste if you have not delved into the American Civil War histories.

With troops moving across Virginia in 1864, I turned off the lights and soon slept. Around 1, I woke cold and climbed under the blankets. I woke again for more proof of hydration.

Thanks for reading!