May – 2018

Persevere is my Word for this Year.

Looking at where I am in my life, I really don’t want to take on anything new, but I do need to deepen my knowledge and commitment to the things I am doing.

• Politically – I’m going to persist in the resistance.
  • People Power – I continue to serve on the Texting Team for People Power. That means most days I send between 200 and 600 texts to people who have signed up with the ACLU People Power. Some of the texts are invitations to training for organizing. Some are invitations to organizational meetings, and some are invitations to write, phone, or email political representatives. They are all sent individually and answered individually (thank goodness, I have canned answers available – but we individualize everything as much as possible.) Remember, the ACLU is political but non-partisan. I am one of the texting leads on this team. There are four of us who try to take some of the burden off of the folks to do the real work of getting everything set up. We also TRY to deal creatively and nicely with other volunteers who may not be very understanding or kind.
  • Wall of Us – I continue to try to accomplish the four actions requested by Wall of Us every week. For instance, this week we are asked to try to understand Ramadan, support the Muslim Blue Wave, commit to vote and ask others to commit, and build local power with “ActLocal”.
  • I haven’t been able to attend a Poor People’s Campaign action yet, but I’m still trying to clear my calendar for a day.
  • I’m also collecting signatures for a ballot initiative in Washington State, to tax carbon polluters and use the extra money to build more wind and solar power farms. It’s Initiative 1631, and I encourage all the voters in Washington who read this blog to sign the petition.

• Religiously – I’m going to really work at being Moderator of Olympia Presbytery.
  • May’s Leadership Council meeting was pressed for time, and a little fractured, but the May Presbytery Meeting was great. The theme was “Blessed are the Hungry” and everything worked out wonderfully.
    • Our preacher for worship was Carmen Pimms, the Executive Director of Campbell Farms. People are still talking about her message.
  • 
    
    • We also had workshops by churches who have community gardens, churches who started a feeding program that grew into something much more, and a nature study by the Ecology Education director at Camp Soundview.
  • 
    Also at the Presbytery Meeting, we were able to move our Kenyan Congregation, Umoja Presbyterian Church, from New Worshipping Community status, but the status of a congregation of Olympia Presbytery.
  • Interfaith community – I continue to meet with the Interfaith Ladies once a month.
  • At the last minute, I found out about an opportunity to apply to be on the Nominating Committee for the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Amazingly enough, I was accepted, and my nomination to the committee will be voted on June 22nd. I covet your prayers.
• Creatively – I’m going to try to get down to working on my family history/memoir.
  • Fill in gaps on Ancestry.com – Still working on my genealogy (I don’t think it’s ever finished).
  • I’ve started a poetry writing course here at Franke Tobey Jones. Hopefully, I’ll be posting some of my poems here at this blog soon.
  • Keep up with my knitting – I’m turning out a couple of pairs of socks a week. So far this year I’ve turned out 32 pairs of socks and have yarn for 16 more.
• Personally – I’m going to keep up walking, and try to add some resistance training.10,000 steps a day –
  • I’m keeping up with this, but not being obsessive about it.
  • 2-3 sessions of weight training a week – I finally made an appointment for a personal trainer here and I now have appointments to do strength and weight training as well as my Fitbit steps.
• Socially – I’m going to tend my current relationships.
  • Gazebo Group – The Gazebo Group continues to thrive (particularly with the younger (less than 80 years old) members of the community).
  • Maintain congregational ties – I attend weekly Bible study and try to attend whatever extra worship services there may be. In May I served as Worship Leader on Sunday mornings.

I would really appreciate it if you, gentle readers, would remind me of these intentions when you see me fluttering off after the latest cause du jour.

April – 2018

Persevere is my Word for this Year.

Looking at where I am in my life, I really don’t want to take on anything new, but I do need to deepen my knowledge and commitment to the things I am doing.

• Politically – I’m going to persist in the resistance.
  • People Power – I continue to serve on the Texting Team for People Power. That means most days I send between 200 and 600 texts to people who have signed up with the ACLU People Power. Some of the texts are invitations to training for organizing. Some are invitations to organizational meetings, and some are invitations to write, phone, or email political representatives. They are all sent individually and answered individually (thank goodness, I have canned answers available – but we individualize everything as much as possible.) Remember, the ACLU is political but non-partisan. I am one of the texting leads on this team. There are four of us who try to take some of the burden off of the folks to do the real work of getting everything set up. We also TRY to deal creatively and nicely with other volunteers who may not be very understanding or kind.
  • Wall of Us – I continue to try to accomplish the four actions requested by Wall of Us every week. For instance, this week we are working to take the blue tsunami to Pennsylvania on May 15, keep the pressure on for a free and open internet, demand that congress pass legislation to protect Robert Mueller, and make sure my senator stands against Trump’s transgender military ban.
  • (I know I asked you to fuss at me if I took on something new but…) I’m attending resistance training with the New Poor People’s Campaign. We’ll see where that leads.
  • I’m also collecting signatures for a ballot initiative in Washington State, to tax carbon polluters and use the extra money to build more wind and solar power farms. It’s Initiative 1631, and I encourage all the voters in Washington who read this blog to sign the petition.

• Religiously – I’m going to really work at being Moderator of Olympia Presbytery.
  • March took off with a bang and a Leadership Council meeting early in the month to plan a Presbytery Meeting and discuss other business for the presbytery.
  • As Moderator, I welcomed and installed a new pastor to one of our churches in April. Greg Ikehara-Martin was called and installed at Long Beach Presbyterian Church. That church is in one of the remote corners of the Presbytery. It is arguably farther away from the center than any other church, but they are a faithful, welcoming group of people. It was a pleasure to be with them for the installation. They are also located (as the name implies) in a beach community, so their membership shrinks in the winter and blossoms in the summer. Big Al and I took the opportunity to take a mini-vacation and went down a day early and came back a day after. Unfortunately the weather was dreadful, but we enjoyed our time in a hotel, right on the beach.

• • Bethany is reading So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo. I’m in a discussion group weekly.

• • Interfaith community – I continue to meet with the Interfaith Ladies once a month. This month the larger group that contains both men and women will gather for an Iftar.
  • New Worshiping Communities – I continue to serve on the Presbytery’s New Worshipping Communities Task Force.
• Creatively – I’m going to try to get down to working on my family history/memoir.
  • Fill in gaps on Ancestry.com – Still working on my genealogy (I don’t think it’s ever finished).
  • I’ve started a poetry writing course here at Franke Tobey Jones. Hopefully, I’ll be posting some of my poems here at this blog soon.
  • Keep up with my knitting – I’m turning out a couple of pairs of socks a week. So far this year I’ve turned out 32 pairs of socks and have yarn for 16 more.
• Personally – I’m going to keep up walking, and try to add some resistance training.10,000 steps a day –
  • I’m keeping up with this, but not being obsessive about it.
  • 2-3 sessions of weight training a week – I finally made an appointment for a personal trainer here and I now have appointments to do strength and weight training as well as my Fitbit steps.
• Socially – I’m going to tend my current relationships.
  • Gazebo Group – The Gazebo Group continues to thrive (particularly with the younger (less than 80 years old) members of the community).
  • Maintain congregational ties – I attend weekly Bible study and try to attend whatever extra worship services there may be. In May I will serve as Worship Leader on Sunday mornings.

I would really appreciate it if you, gentle readers, would remind me of these intentions when you see me fluttering off after the latest cause du jour.

March – 2018

Persevere is my Word for this Year.

Looking at where I am in my life, I really don’t want to take on anything new, but I do need to deepen my knowledge and commitment to the things I am doing.

1. Politically – I’m going to persist in the resistance.
   1. People Power – I continue to serve on the Texting Team for People Power. That means most days I send between 200 and 600 texts to people who have signed up with the ACLU People Power. Some of the texts are invitations to training for organizing. Some are invitations to organizational meetings, and some are invitations to write, phone, or email political representatives. They are all sent individually and answered individually (thank goodness, I have canned answers available – but we individualize everything as much as possible.) Remember, the ACLU is political but non-partisan. I am one of the texting leads on this team. There are four of us who try to take some of the burden off of the folks to do the real work of getting everything set up. We also TRY to deal creatively and nicely with other volunteers who may not be very understanding or kind.
   2. Wall of Us – I continue to try to accomplish the four actions requested by Wall of Us every week. For instance, this week we are asked to support the Campus Blue Wave, call for a Town Hall in our district on April 7, sign a petition for justice for Stephon Clark and let our local police departments know his killing was NOT okay, and try to convince our Senators that Mike Pompeo is NOT okay for Secretary of State.
2. Religiously – I’m going to really work at being Moderator of Olympia Presbytery.
   1. March took off with a bang and a Leadership Council meeting early in the month to plan a Presbytery Meeting and discuss other business for the presbytery.
   2. As Moderator, I serve as one of the Trustees for the Presbytery.  The Presbytery voted to agree to co-sign on a $2.4 loan for the church I wrote about last month. They have already raised half of the money themselves with a capital campaign, and through grants and gifts from the community.
   3. Interfaith community – Last Tuesday, our interfaith community was hosted by the Temple for an Interfaith Seder. Presbyterians, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Jews, and Muslims all gathered for this ancient meal and ritual.
   4. New Worshiping Communities – I continue to serve on the Presbytery’s New Worshipping Communities Task Force.
3. Creatively – I’m going to try to get down to working on my family history/memoir.
   1. Fill in gaps on Ancestry.com – Still working on my genealogy (I don’t think it’s ever finished).
   2. I finished the course here at Franke Tobey Jones on writing memoirs. I wasn’t too impressed with the leader, but I did get a few more vignettes about my life written.
   3. Keep up with my knitting – I’m turning out a couple of pairs of socks a week. I sold 5 pairs to someone here at Franke Tobey Jones. That will give me enough money to buy another batch of yarn.
4. Personally – I’m going to keep up walking, and try to add some resistance training.
   1. 10,000 steps a day – I’m keeping up with this, but not being obsessive about it.
   2. 2-3 sessions of weight training a week – I still haven’t been regular with this (still a slacker on weight training.)
5. Socially – I’m going to tend my current relationships.
   1. Gazebo Group – The Gazebo Group continues to thrive (particularly with the younger (less than 80 years old) members of the community).
   2. Maintain congregational ties – I attend weekly Bible study and try to attend whatever extra worship services there may be. In May I will serve as Worship Leader on Sunday mornings.

I would really appreciate it if you, gentle readers, would remind me of these intentions when you see me fluttering off after the latest cause du jour.

February – 2018

Persevere is my Word for this Year.

Looking at where I am in my life, I really don’t want to take on anything new, but I do need to deepen my knowledge and commitment to the things I am doing.

1. Politically – I’m going to persist in the resistance.
   1. People Power – I continue to serve on the Texting Team for People Power. That means most days I send between 200 and 600 texts to people who have signed up with the ACLU People Power. Some of the texts are invitations to training for organizing. Some are invitations to organizational meetings, and some are invitations to write, phone, or email political representatives. They are all sent individually and answered individually (thank goodness, I have canned answers available – but we individualize everything as much as possible.) Remember, the ACLU is political but non-partisan. I am one of the texting leads on this team. There are four of us who try to take some of the burden off of the folks to do the real work of getting everything set up. We also TRY to deal creatively and nicely with other volunteers who may not be very understanding or kind.
   2. Wall of Us – I continue to try to accomplish the four actions requested by Wall of Us every week. For instance, this week we are helping Florida’s young people launch “Vote for Our Lives”, gather support for “Walk for Gun Control”, ask companies to disavow the NRA, and explore our elected representatives stance on gun control.
2. Religiously – I’m going to really work at being Moderator of Olympia Presbytery.
   1. February was a gentle month for Olympia Presbytery. We didn’t have a Leadership Council meeting.
   2. As Moderator, I serve as one of the Trustees for the Presbytery. One of our downtown churches has recently found out that their building built in 1924 is in real danger in case of an earthquake and it will cost $4.5 million to retrofit the building and make it safe. That church was down to 7 (that’s right – 7) members about 20 years ago, but they decided that they wanted to stay who they were and where they were and they deliberately started serving their community. They have grown to over 150 members and are one of the fastest growing churches in the Presbytery. They have an after-school program for two schools in the neighborhood. They run a medical clinic, a clothes bank, and other neighborhood services. The Presbytery was pleased to agree to co-sign on a $2.4 loan. They have already raised half of the money themselves with a capital campaign, and through grants and gifts from the community.
   3. Interfaith community – I continue to attend the monthly Interfaith Women’s tea and last week I went to the Interfaith conversation that is held monthly with local Presbyterians, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Jews, and Muslims.
   4. New Worshiping Communities – I continue to serve on the Presbytery’s New Worshipping Communities Task Force.
3. Creatively – I’m going to try to get down to working on my family history/memoir.
   1. Fill in gaps on Ancestry.com – I’ve done a little bit of work on this, but only in fits and starts.
   2. I’m taking a course here at Franke Tobey Jones on writing memoirs.
   3. Keep up with my knitting – I’m turning out a couple of pairs of socks a week. I took a sackful to the clothes closet at the church mentioned above.
4. Personally – I’m going to keep up walking, and try to add some resistance training.
   1. 10,000 steps a day – I’m keeping up with this, but not being obsessive about it.
   2. 2-3 sessions of weight training a week – I still haven’t been regular with this. I will try to set up an appointment with the director of the Wellness Center to establish a set day and time for some personal training (still a slacker on weight training.)
5. Socially – I’m going to tend my current relationships.
   1. Gazebo Group – The Gazebo Group continues to thrive (particularly with the younger (less than 80 years old) members of the community).
   2. Maintain congregational ties – I attend weekly Bible study and try to attend whatever extra worship services there may be. I’m not able to walk with the Thursday group, or go to Book Club, usually because of moderatorial duties. In May I will serve as Worship Leader on Sunday mornings.

I would really appreciate it if you, gentle readers, would remind me of these intentions when you see me fluttering off after the latest cause du jour.

January – 2018

Persevere is my Word for this Year.

Looking at where I am in my life, I really don’t want to take on anything new, but I do need to deepen my knowledge and commitment to the things I am doing.

1. Politically – I’m going to persist in the resistance.
   1. People Power – I continue to serve on the Texting Team for People Power. That means most days I send between 200 and 600 texts to people who have signed up with the ACLU People Power. Some of the texts are invitations to training for organizing. Some are invitations to organizational meetings, and some are invitations to write, phone, or email political representatives. They are all sent individually and answered individually (thank goodness, I have canned answers available – but we individualize everything as much as possible.) Remember, the ACLU is political but non-partisan.
   2. Wall of Us – I continue to try to accomplish the four actions requested by Wall of Us every week. For instance, this week we were asked to contact legislators in favor of renewed DACA protections, to try to stop Trump from rolling back Michelle Obama’s Healthy School Lunch program, to make calls and small donations to College Dems in Florida, and to petition to restore voting rights to people who have served their sentences and been returned to society.
2. Religiously – I’m going to really work at being Moderator of Olympia Presbytery.
   1. I moderated the installation service for a pastor who has been serving a little church for two years in a temporary assignment. The church has, under her leadership, reached the place where they are financially able to have a pastor in a permanent position. I walked with them as COM representative for the first half of her time as a temporary supply.
   2. I helped lead a day-long planning retreat for the Leadership Council and heads of the major Commissions and Committees for the Presbytery. We have plans for all the stated meetings of Presbytery. We have dates, (potential) special speakers, and activities outlined for the next year. We will be walking through the Beatitudes at Presbytery meetings.
   3. Interfaith community – I’ve been to the Interfaith Women’s tea and tonight I’m going to the Interfaith conversation that is held monthly with local Presbyterians, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Jews, and Muslims.
   4. New Worshiping Communities – I continue to serve on the Presbytery’s New Worshipping Communities Task Force.
3. Creatively – I’m going to try to get down to working on my family history/memoir.
   1. Fill in gaps on Ancestry.com – I’ve done a little bit of work on this, but only in fits and starts.
   2. I’m taking a course here at Franke Tobey Jones on writing memoirs.
   3. Keep up with my knitting – I’m turning out a couple of pairs of socks a week. I gave away a lot of them at Christmas, but I’m rebuilding my stash. When it starts go exceed the space I’ve allotted for it in the corner of the living room, I’ll take a sackful to the clothes closet.
4. Personally – I’m going to keep up walking, and try to add some resistance training.
   1. 10,000 steps a day – I’m keeping up with this, but not being obsessive about it.
   2. 2-3 sessions of weight training a week – I haven’t been regular with this. I will try to set up an appointment with the director of the Wellness Center to establish a set day and time for some personal training.
5. Socially – I’m going to tend my current relationships.
   1. Gazebo Group – The Gazebo Group continues to thrive (particularly with the younger (less than 80 years old) members of the community).
   2. Maintain congregational ties – I attend weekly Bible study and try to attend whatever extra worship services there may be. I’m not able to walk with the Thursday group, or go to Book Club, usually because of moderatorial duties.

I would really appreciate it if you, gentle readers, would remind me of these intentions when you see me fluttering off after the latest cause du jour.

2018

I’ve been struggling to figure out some intentions for the coming year. I gave up on resolutions a while ago. I’m taking persistence as my Word for the Year.

I read this today that suggested we should take a year to go deeper, rather than wider, and it is really resonating with me. I don’t know whether I’ll do this for a whole year, but here at the beginning, I think I’m going to try something like that.

Looking at where I am in my life, I really don’t want to take on anything new, but I do need to deepen my knowledge and commitment to the things I am doing.

1. Politically – I’m going to persist in the resistance.
   1. People Power
   2. Wall of Us
2. Religiously – I’m going to really work at being Moderator of Olympia Presbytery.
   1. Interfaith community
   2. New Worshiping Communities
3. Creatively – I’m going to try to get down to working on my family history/memoir.
   1. Fill in gaps on Ancestry.com.
   2. Keep up with my knitting.
4. Personally – I’m going to keep up walking, and try to add some resistance training.
   1. 10,000 steps a day
   2. 2-3 sessions of weight training a week.
5. Socially – I’m going to tend my current relationships.
   1. Gazebo Group
   2. Maintain congregational ties.

I would really appreciate it if you, gentle readers, would remind me of these intentions when you see me fluttering off after the latest cause du jour.

Honesty

My one word for 2015 is “Honesty.”

Let’s see how I did with Honesty in July and August. (I was recently reminded that I haven’t done much posting AT ALL this summer.)

My garden is still taking up a fair amount of my time. I’ve donated almost 40 pounds of cucumbers, squash, and tomatoes to the Fish Food Bank. That’s in addition to everything Al and I could eat. We’re eating a couple of tomatoes a day, and plenty of squash. I also supplied us with several weeks of green beans. The second round of beans that I planted around the middle of July are just about ready to be picked, so we’ll have those to enjoy. I got enough Serrano peppers to make pepper sauce, and a few small jalapenos to make pico de gallo.

It has turned cool this week (after temperatures consistently in the upper 70s to mid-80s). It’s also started to rain some (we had NONE – ZERO -ZIPPO since early June). The woods and fields were on fire all over Washington but the rains since the middle of August have helped. Folks here welcomed the early warm, sunny weather, but now they realize that we really need the rain that usually falls.

I’m still walking every Thursday morning with the group from the church, and I’m keeping up with my 12,000 steps a day as counted by my trusty Fitbit. I also continue to faithfully log my food on MyFitnessPal, although the scale isn’t moving. (sigh)

The racial unrest, typified by Ferguson, Baltimore, Sandra Bland, McKinney, and Charleston, finally got under my skin enough that I began to be more pro-active about seeking change. Another woman and I from the church curated and led a discussion on race for four Sundays in July and August. We talked about systemic racism, white privilege, white fragility, and racial appropriation. Then in August, I “attended” an online course entitled “Hard Conversations on Race.” I feel like I sharpened my antenna for veiled racial slurs, and I’m becoming more vocal about challenging them when I hear them. It probably isn’t endearing me to my associates, but I really don’t care if racists don’t “like” me. At least, I finally feel like I’m being HONEST!

In August, my team at Bethany hosted a neighborhood night out and the annual Church Picnic. At the picnic we packed school bags for Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, and Church World Service. (Sorry, I was busy enough that I didn’t get any pictures taken, but you can see photos from the last couple of years here, and here and here.)

Big Al and I are getting excited for our big 50th Anniversary trip. We leave Tacoma on Sunday, September 27th and return on Saturday, October 24th. We’ll take Amtrak from here to Vancouver, BC, where we’ll board VIA (Canada Rail) and ride to Toronto. We’ll spend the night in Toronto, and then take the train to Montreal where we will spend two nights before training to Quebec City and boarding the Queen Mary II for a cruise up the St. Lawrence, around Newfoundland and down to Boston, Newport, RI, and New York City, looking at the autumn leaves (hopefully). We’ll spend a couple of days in New York, sightseeing and visiting Harriet and Robert, before we board the Jersey Central RR for Philadelphia and a quick visit with Marianne. We’ll take the train from there to Washington DC where we’ll spend three nights sightseeing (we’ve both been to DC as teenagers, but we haven’t been back). Then we board Amtrak on the Capital Limited for Chicago where we’ll have a one-night layover before catching the California Zephyr, bound for Sacramento. We’ve traveled the Empire Builder so many times we know the route by heart, so we decided to see the central Rockies this time. In Sacrament we’ll catch the Coast Starlight and home to Tacoma.

I’ll be posting pictures from the trip on Facebook, and, possibly Stellar, but I’ll be sure to put a link here to those posts.

Don’t be surprised if I don’t do an HONESTY update the first part of October, but I’ll promise to do one in November. See you then.

 

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

Great Block Party at Bethany Presbyterian Church last night.

 

 

 

Honesty

My one word for 2015 is “Honesty.”

Let’s see how I did with Honesty in June.

Lunch Bunch was a trip to the Clubhouse at McCormick Woods Golf Club, in Port Orchard. Good food, and a lovely setting overlooking the 9th tee.

The main thing that happened in June was our 50th Wedding Anniversary. Both of the boys and their families came and we really enjoyed having them here.

Ray and his wife (and step-daughter who is being camera-shy).

There she is after all – Katie Meers.

Bill

Erika

Ian

and Kate Watters.

While they were here they went to Seattle and saw the sights. Big Al and I stayed home (why get on I-5 if you don’t have to?)

We also had a picnic at Owen Beach on Puget Sound and Bill and Kate tried their hand at kayaking.

We went up Mt Rainier to Paradise…

…rode around the Olympic Peninsula where Bill spent most of his time looking for Big Foot. We stopped in Port Angeles for lunch and looked across the Strait of Juan de Fuca at Canada…

…saw Crescent Lake…

…drove through Forks (no vampires visible). Then we stopped at Ruby Beach on the Pacific Ocean.

They all left on the 13th and 15th, and Big Al and I have had a fairly quiet rest of the month.

My garden is still taking up a fair amount of my time. The squash are taking over the joint. I had green beans for lunch today that I grew, the peppers are making nice little peppers, and the onions are getting pretty big. I’m pretty sure I have some cucumbers under the big tepee, but I can’t get to them for the tomato plants. I have more little green tomatoes than I can count.

The spring onions were great!

I’m still walking every Thursday morning with the group from the church. (Actually, I’m still walking every day – although the weather is pretty hot – even for someone from Dallas – over 90 deg. today.)

We went to see a baseball game at the local AAA ballpark – the Tacoma Rainiers played the Reno Aces. We lost unfortunately, but it was a good game.

I’m going to see the Seattle Mariners next week!

I won the virtual race to the border by several days (remember, several of us were counting steps to see who could walk 150 miles first – the distance from Tacoma to the Peace Arch on the Canadian Border.)

I’ve gotten a FitBit for Big Al, and he is still walking a little. Maybe he will reach his goal of walking a mile. He could do it if he would try. His physical therapist released him today, so we’ll see if he will keep it up.

Until next month’s report on HONESTY you can follow along with my daily pictures.

 

 

 

Honesty

My one word for 2015 is “Honesty.”

Let’s see how I did with Honesty in May.

Lunch Bunch was a trip to the Tanglewood Grill in Gig Harbor.

I think I told you last month couple of months that the church is doing a capital campaign to raise money to bring the facilities up to ADA standards and to do some needed repairs on our 80-year-old building. We have commitments for just shy of $300,000 to meet our goal. That’s a pretty big goal for a little church of less than 100 members, but we are very healthy, if aging, and are committed to living out our faith with our pocketbooks.

The new activities director at FTJ took us to Watson’s Nursery and I was able to get some lovely red and white columbine that are going a long way to minimizing the dying daffodils (you have to let them die down if you expect to get blooms next year).

I also got two more foxglove, since the ones I got last year look so pretty (and the deer really don’t eat them).

They finally had a Joe Pye Weed (it doesn’t look like much now, but it will spread and cover the whole corner by the steps to the porch.) It smells divine when it’s in bloom.

Finally, I started dividing the ground cover that is in the bed at the base of the porch. I had the yard men dig out the old stuff that was in half of the bed, and I’m getting this to “expand”. The runners I transplanted have taken root beautifully and are beginning to put out new runners of their own.

I’ve started walking every Thursday morning with a group of folks from Bethany. We walk on the waterfront for about half an hour and then we drink coffee at a new coffee shop in the new construction.

Two Town is mostly a bar, but they have decent coffee, tea, and pastries in the morning and we are the only ones there.

FTJ has begun taking the bus down to Owen Beach a couple of Friday afternoons a month so a group of us can walk on the paved path and look at the sound.

A group from FTJ went to see the Georgia O’Keefe exhibition at the Tacoma Art Museum.

We also had a talk by a biologist who studied the wild life and repopulation of Mt. Saint Helen’s after the eruption in 1981. You can see pictures here.

I have a little raised garden plot in the FTJ garden that has been taking up a fair amount of my time. I am growing green beans, crowder peas, tomatoes, yellow squash, cucumbers, Serrano and jalapeno peppers, and onions (if they ever do anything). I gave up on the purple hulls, and put Walla-Walla onions in their place. I also got two artichoke plants to try out.

The squash and cucumbers are blooming and setting fruit, and this weekend, I spotted a couple of blooms on the tomatoes. The green bean plants are getting enormous, and the black-eyed peas have started trying to climb. Sorry I don’t have any pictures of the whole garden recently.

The Wellness Center had a “healthy” potluck lunch on Senior Fitness Day, Wednesday, May 27. My team won first place in the Fitness Jeopardy game.

I remembered my one word, HONESTY, when we were eating lunch in one of the dining rooms here. (It was Memorial Day and they were having barbecued ribs.) Anyway, one of the old men at the table was blathering on and on about how awful Obama Care was, and how awful Obama was, and I finally stopped him and “tactfully” told him that he didn’t know what he was talking about. He tried to keep on, but I finally said, “I just don’t want to talk about it.” He kept on, and kept on, and I finally said “I said, I don’t want to talk about it with you. I’m obviously not going to change your mind, and you FOR SURE aren’t going to change mine,” and we got up and walked out on him, sputtering.

A group here at FTJ are doing a virtual walk to the Canadian border (almost exactly 150 miles). We’re keeping track with FitBits or other GPS devices. I’m in the lead with about 60 miles since the 27th of May. I’ve gotten a FitBit for Big Al, and his physical therapist is making him walk. His goal is to be able to walk a mile. I told him he would have to be able to do that if he expected to have a good time on our trip/cruise this fall.

Until next month’s report on HONESTY you can follow along with my daily pictures.