Trip to Houston

Joshua turned 8 on Friday, so we took a little birthday trip to Houston. The original plan had us traveling to St. Louis, but a sudden winter storm caused us to do some more planning.

First stop was the Woodcraft store, a concession to Daddy. Had a good time looking around and talking to the people there. Picked up some crushed pumice, rottenstone, and a piece of cocobolo that will make some pretty flute accents.

Next stop was the Cockrell Butterfly Center at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. There are from 1,000-2,000 butterflies, some 60 different species, flying all about the simulated tropical rain forest environment. Lots of other insect exhibits to keep the kids' interest.



The remainder of Saturday afternoon was spent at the Children's Museum of Houston. It's well-done, the children had a blast (they even had a "tots" room for Anna-sized kids).

All of Sunday was reserved for Space Center Houston. We did the tram tour, saw the Mission Control Center. I had visited there when I was a kid and saw the "old" Mission Control, which is now an Historic Landmark. I didn't even realize there was a "new" one.

Space Center Houston is a very kid-friendly place. The boys played and enjoyed the interactive exhibits. The hightlight, at least for me, was touching a real moon rock. The vault housing the moon soil and rock specimens is on the premises, and they have one moon rock you can actually touch. Here's a picture of Mom and Anna "touching the moon."



We brought a birthday cake and candles from home to celebrate Joshua's 8th, but we didn't get around to doing the cake thing until well into the weekend, and someone couldn't take looking at the delicious lemon cake any more, so a couple pieces were missing by that time... it happens...



Happy Birthday, Joshie!!!!

Jesus and the Riddle of the Dead Sea Scrolls

Great book!! Just finished it.

I don't believe men die and come back to life. I don't believe a man can walk on water. I don't believe a virgin can conceive and give birth.

I just never really latched on to all that stuff. Well, when I was a child, I did, sure, I believed what they told me.

There's more to Christianity, or what Christianity would have, could have, should have been than the surface story in the New Testament.

Check out this book. Could Jesus have married, had children... could one of Jesus's daughters married Paul the Apostle.... could...

Fascinating reading, even if you don't believe her premise. Lots of good stuff, including the culture of the Essene Jews, the political infighting among different groups of Jews, including the Herod family, more insight into the Twelve Apostles.

Great book. I highly recommend.

Thursday Thirteen #1

Thirteen Things about Jeff 1. I've never seen Titanic and probably never will. 2. I love making Native American style flutes but I can't play them worth a flip. 3. I've never been to Washington, DC. 4. I have a degree in English, and my degree is a prerequisite for my job. Weird. 5. I love beer. All kinds. 6. I swear way too much but I don't feel guilty about it unless I accidentally swear in church. 7. I believe the basic premise of The DaVinci Code is correct, but I did not really like the book. 8. I believe Barbara Thiering's ideas on Christianity are even more correct. 9. I drive a car that's over 14 years old. 10. I once met a guy whose first name is Sutan. 11. I was frightened, really frightened, the first time I saw Teletubbies. 12. I made a bow (as in bow and arrow), and it works (then I made two more!!). 13. If I had more time, I would play more Gran Turismo 4 on Playstation 2.

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Latest Flute

I finally finished the flute I've been working on. Came out nice. The lighter wood is maple, and the darker is eastern red (or "aromatic") cedar. The pictures were taken in the quickly failing light outside, so we had to work fast. (I imposed on Natalie, the family photographer, but I couldn't offer her much more sunlight than what was naturally available.)

This flute is in the key of Gm. Turned out to be a pretty nice flute, I thought. Really sounds nice, if you don't mind me saying so!

Katrina, a Year On...

This time last year, we were hunkered down at home, listening to the winds howl and scream as Hurricane Katrina came ashore. She did her worst damage to the east of us, but, large storms that they are, her reach extended to my home, ripping off siding and shingles, uprooting trees, making a general mess of things.

We lost power in the morning and steeled ourselves to what was sure to be days or weeks without electricity in the oppressive Louisiana heat. The winds died down later that evening, and power was miraculously restored after only a 10-hour outage. We were lucky. Neighborhoods only blocks or miles from us were without for days or weeks. We ventured out to repair and clean, and to seek news from New Orleans.

Electricity was restored quickly to our home, but cable television would be out for a week. We were anxiously awaiting news from New Orleans. A possible direct hit to New Orleans had been a subect of hurricane season conversation for as long as I can remember, and now we wanted to know know if our worst-case speculations through the years had been realized. But we had no way of knowing. Radio coverage was good, but incomplete. We wanted to SEE.

When we were finally able to see television coverage, it was worse than anyone had imagined. An almost 24-hour horror show played in our living rooms. We were saturated. Calls began coming in from friends in the affected area. Friends and relatives were now scattered, but alive and as well as could be expected, but what to do now?

We plan and prepare every year, my household some 100 miles from the Gulf Coast. We plan and prepare and hope that Katrina was our once-in-a-lifetime.

Our corner of the world will never be the same. Bursting at the seams, we are now home to thousands upon thousands of evacuees--not evacuees--but new neighbors. Most will never return home. They are home.

New Orleans, with its problems before Katrina, is now a broken city, as far as most of us are concerened. The city's direction a year later is still undecided, and it appears it will remain so as we move toward the second anniversary. Too many have given up and moved on.

And here we sit in the middle of another hurricane season. It could happen again. This year. Perish the thought. Plan, prepare, and hope.

Jesus is a Black Man and Drives a Lexus E 330

It's been a weird day.

Started out with a traffic nightmare this morning. Remember, we live in an area that's the new home to, who really knows, possibly hundreds of thousands of Hurricane Katrina evacuees. I welcome them and wish them the best. But all the warmest wishes ain't helping our traffic situation none. And when one major roadway into Baton Rouge from the suburbs to the east gets shut down because of an accident, the other highways into town become parking lots.

So I was out running errands with Natalie--had to go to Babies R Us, Lord help me, I hate that store--and on our return down US 190 in Baton Rouge, the Baton Rouge Police Department had turned off the traffic signal at a major intersection to instruct BRPD Academy Cadets on directing traffic the old-fashioned way. MAJOR mess! (I'm making some assumptions here, but it's MY blog... and yes, I know these officers-to-be have to learn this somehow, but man, what a traffic mess they created.) It was just the least bit entertaining, though, watching these students not yet dressed in the super-confident cockiness of a seasoned police officer attempt to manage this huge, busy intersection under the tutelage of experienced officers. Good luck, guys.

Then we saw him. We saw Jesus. (Making more assumptions here, yes.) When you see a personalized license plate on an automobile, don't you usually assume that "COOLCAT" refers to the driver, who must, for some reason, fancy himself a cool cat? And when you see "FISHRMN," you kind of figure the driver to be an angler or sorts... maybe? I saw, on the plate on this really nice, light green Lexus E 330, "GODSSON." Jesus drives a Lexus. Doesn't look a THING like his picture. You probably wouldn't recognize him without the plate to tip you off.

It's been a weird day.

Good Music

Native American flute artist Twohawks recently finished recording his second CD of Native American flute music, Changes. This is really, really good stuff. Twohawks has been playing for 15+ years and knows his way around the NA flute. He lives in my neck of the woods here in South Louisiana. I highly recommend his music--both Changes and his first, Sends a Voice, and I'm privileged to call him a friend.

Take a look here to buy and read more about the album and the artist: http://cdbaby.com/cd/twohawksmusic2. (I see now they are temporarily sold out, but I have it on good authority that this will very soon be rectified.)

Eatin' Out with the Family

Went out to dinner at the Louisiana Roadhouse Steak and Seafood Saturday evening, all five of us. Had a nice time. Our area, once very rural and quiet, is booming, with new places everywhere (even a coin shop--yeah!!!--nearby). The Roadhouse is in one of the strip malls that sprang up recently.

We've never shied away from taking the kids out. They have to learn how to act in public SOMETIME or another, why not sooner than later. And with three young kids at home, we don't always get a chance to cook, so...

Good food there at the Roadhouse. Only been there twice, but it's turning out to be one of my favorites. Informal place, with miniature tin buckets of roasted peanuts on the tables. Had the fish--GOOOOOD! Tasted Natalie's beef kabob--GOOOD! Had the chicken fried steak Saturday. WAY GOOOOD!

Try the sweet potatoes as a side. They're creamed, with lots of butter.