Oh the Pain

Helen and I were delegates to the 40th annual convention of the Diocese of Eastern Oregon. It was an interesting time – the Church is faced with some serious issues. However, let’s not address that here.
Unfortunately on Sunday we were walking in the parking lot at the hotel and Helen fell and hurt her knee (left side) and broke a chunk of bone off of her right ankle, one that she has broken before. Here are the gory details, forever preserved in the ethereal world of the Internet…
It hurts when someone you love is hurt…….

The Beekeeper

We had the opportunity to see Jennifer (also known as Jenn) and Ryan for a couple of days on our way back from KC. It was great to see them and as usual there was something interesting going on - we had our first chance to see their (mostly Ryan's) beekeeping activity.

One of the days we were there he was weed-whacking near where his two hives are located and apparently this caused one of the hives to swarm - he discovered most of them on the branch of a tree nearby. They eventually returned to the hive, but when Ryan checked the hives it was obvious that the little guys had been very busy so there was a rush to add another level to both hives.

Some photos (double-click for larger images!):


And a short video!

Ein deutsches Requiem by Johannes Brahms

Over the last three days I have had one of the most thrilling and challenging experiences in the many years that I have enjoyed singing with choirs.

The Central Oregon Mastersingers, along with the Cascade Choral and the Central Oregon Symphony performed Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem (German Requiem) in German. There where 85 members in the orchestra along with a chorus of 104 voices. What a glorious sound!

The preparation for the performance was extensive, 7 rehearsals of the choir members and 4 rehearsals of the choir and orchestra - 33 hours in all!

Brahms began this work in 1864 after the death of his mother and unlike the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass, written in Latin, the Libretto was written in German using text from the German Luther Bible. Also, unlike the Roman Catholic Requiem which focuses on prayers for the dead, the Brahms' work focuses on God as a figure of comfort.

Anyway, I don't have a recording of our performance but there are many on utube - give this one a listen, it's the second half of the second movement of the work (OH turn your volume down!):

Utube: Movement 2 part 2

Mexico - Pt3: Chichen Itza

Our visit to the Mayan Civilization ruins at Chichen Itza was a 2 hr bus ride from our hotel on a VERY hot day. Here is Ms. Helen suffering from the heat but "hot" as ever.

The descriptions here I have pulled from http://www.chichenitza.com/ I (of course) cannot guarantee their historical accuracy (can I hear a DUH!)However I can tell you it is a remarkable site, and there is MUCH more to be seen than what I have included here.

The major feature of the the site is the "Great Ball Court" (El Gran Juego de Pelota). "The Mayans were great sportsmen and build huge ballcourts to play all their games. The Great Ballcourt of Chichen Itza is 225 feet wide and 545 feet long overall. It has no vault, no discontinuity between the walls and is totally open to the blue sky.
Each end has a raised to the temple area. A whisper from end can be heard clearly enough at the other end 500 feet far away and through the length and breath of the court.
The sound waves are unaffected by wind direction or time of day and also night. Archaeologists engaged in the reconstruction noted that the sound transmission became more and more strong and clear as they proceeded.
In 1931 Leopold Stokowski spent 4 days at this site to determine the acoustic principals that could be applied to theater for an open-air concert he was designing. Stokowski failed to learn the secret. To date it has not been explained.
It is easy to imagine a Mayan King sitting here presiding over the games. Legends say that the winning Capitan would present his own head to the losing Capitan, who then decapitates him."
Note the hoop in the wall.

The Castle (El Castillo - the Kukulkan Pyramid):
" The Kukulkan Pyramid was built for astronomical purposes and during the vernal equinox (March 20) and the autumnal equinox (September 21) at about 3pm the sunlight bathes the western balustrade of the pyramid's main stairway.
This causes 7 isosceles triangles to form imitating the body of a serpent roughly 37 yards long that creeps downwards until it joins the huge serpent's head carved in stone at the bottom of the stairway."


The Sacred Cenote (Cenote Sagredo): "The Yucatan Peninsula is a limestone plain, with no streams or rivers. The region is pockmarked with natural sinkholes ( Cenotes ) which expose the water table to the surface.
One of the most impressive is the Sacred Cenote, which is 60 m. in diameter, and shear cliffs that drop to the water table some 27 m. below.
The legendary Sacred Cenote (natural waterhole) of Chichen ltza was special to the people for its social and religious significance. On occasions, the sacrifice of human life was part of the offerings made to the Water God. But, it was not as common as had earlier been imagined."

Mexico Trip Pt2 - The Animals of ....

Well I started to call this post "The Animals of Mexico" and then realized it really should be titled something like "The Animals of a Real Expensive Resort, Not Native To Mexico" then realized that there was at least one animal that was native.

Peacocks and Guinea Fowl all over the place, and the peacocks are LOUD - especially when they start yakking at each other at dawn...

The one native species, these are Coati, they look like a cross between a raccoon and a cat!

There where a LOT of feral cats hanging out close to the beach, here is one that was begging food at dinner time:

Mexico Trip - Pt 1, Horseback Riding

Some of you are asking - what do the IN tourists wear for horseback riding? Well the answer is clear from this photo:

Notice that the other tourist in the background looks on with interest!

For the more tradional look - you have Ms Helen and myself, trying to set a good example for the more traditonal riders.

In part 2 - The Animals of Ibaerostar Resort

The Trip to Crater Lake

Last year we purchased snow shoes with the intent of Getting Out There. We did OK last year but with the exception of Helen going on the Park Ranger snowshoe at Mt. Bachelor we haven't done that great this season. In our defense it hasn't seemed that much like winter around here, at least not like the winter or 08-09.

So we decided that we should go and take the Ranger-led snowshoe at Crater Lake National Park. Since the lodge at the park is closed this time of year we (I) did the Internet thing and selected lodging at "The Wilson's Cabins".

According to their website:

"The Wilson brothers began construction on the cottages in 1937. Everything from the wood shingles to the furniture was made by hand from trees harvested on the 135 acre property. The quality of their craftsmanship has withstood the test of time.

Annie creek, which originates from a spring inside Crater Lake National Park, flows through the property. It offers a mesmerizing, tranquil retreat amid the tall pines and one of the oldest Quaking Aspen stands in North America. Come and enjoy lodging at a truly unique and beautiful place located next to Crater Lake, one of the natural wonders of the world."

When you where a kid, if you ever visited a place like the Lake of the Ozarks and stayed in the cabins there - a similar place. We where the only ones there, they don't get much traffic during the winter. Very rustic, but clean and good beds to sleep in.

Here is an album of some pictures of the place:


Crater Lake
Almost 2,000 feet deep, the lake is the seventh deepest lake in the world, and the water is amazingly clear. On weekends the park offers free snowshoe tours with a park ranger and they even provide the snowshoes. The snow base was 119 inches and they had 24 inches of new snow the night before.

The tour lasted about 2 1/2 hours. we started out by walking down the slope away from the lake and ended by climbing back up to the rim of the crater to see the lake. Absolutely gorgeous!

Here is the slideshow of the photos:

It never rains in California

It never rains in California – isn’t that what the song said? Well if you’ve been watching the weather reports the last several days you know it has rained a lot in California. And so on Thursday we left Bend along with Robert and Diane to go to Palm Desert for the yearly meeting of our LLC.

The view out the front window of the car in SUNNY California:


Fortunately yesterday when we go up the weather had changed from rain to simply cloudy and drizzly. Then by afternoon mixed sun and clouds – so off we went to the Joshua Tree National Park. Here is a slide show of some of the park – totally awesome place. Click on the photo below and it will take you to the photo album. Once you get there there is a SMALL button at the top left of the first picture to let yo view larger images in a slide show format.

Joshua Tree National Forest

Do Ya Wanna Dance?

We have seen many interesting things looking at the wildlife out our kitchen window, but... well see for yourself. These little guys where newborns in the spring, how things change.

Note that this video IS SUITABLE FOR GENERAL AUDIENCES!

The Fountains

A couple of months ago we were invited to go on a trip to Newport Oregon with Robert and Diane. Newport sits almost in the center of the scenic Oregon coast. One of the most interesting attractions there is the Oregon Coast Aquarium - but more on that in a later post.

While we were there we were in a store and saw metal tanks that had been converted into fountains. Basically they were inside tanks from water heaters that had been cleaned and very intricate patterns cut into them so that a light mounted inside would display the patterns at night. The artist used the pipe that goes up the center of the tank and exits the top at the tanks center to route water out of the top of the tank to spill down the sides. The tanks where then powder-coated to finish them off. They were VERY cool.

Well Robert had the idea to make our own fountains as Christmas surprises for Diane and Helen. Robert rounded up two old water heaters from a local plumbing company and we stripped the outside and all of the misc hardware from the tanks.

We then struggled with designs for the tanks. Realizing that we probably did not have the necessary skills or the equipment to do the level of detail that we had seen in the “professional” product we settle on relative simple designs.

Robert cut the patterns into the tank one cold, rainy day; while I stood by watching to make sure that nothing caught fire (including Robert!).

We decided to let the women make the final decision on finishing the tanks off, so unveiled the interim product to them on Christmas day. Here are a couple of pictures of the final product.

Thanks again to Robert for the idea and all of the help!