Another Visitor

Apparently, the chairs on our front porch are REALLY comfortable! Just a day or two after our other resting visitor (see previous post for that), we had another napper . . .

Now I wonder who will be next?  :-)

Back from Vacation

Back after a little R & R. Vacation. Or holiday if you're British. Walkabout if your Australian. I'll post some pictures and tell you what we did in the days to come. But all in all, a good detox from most technology for me. No computer, no iPad, though I did have my phone - though I tried not to use it very much. 

But this morning, our first morning "back at it," we had a welcome back from one of the neighborhood foxes. I've posted about them before. Here's one of the little fellas this morning:

He's just chillin' in one of the chairs on our front porch. :-)  Not sure if it's just plain comfy, or a good vantage point to watch for chipmunks! (They have a hole in the garden right under the plants in front on him.) He looked a little tired though, maybe from hunting all night. Maybe he'll get a little nap.

In Case You Ever Wondered . . .

I case you ever wondered what I would look like with hoops! (C'mon, I know that you were!) We took this picture while moving my daughter into a new apartment in Richmond on Saturday. It's almost twice the size of her old student apartment next to VCU. Her cat, Bronx, wasn't too sure he'd like it, but I think he's getting used to it . . .  :-)

Zoo Lights

While in Detroit, my father-in-law took us to the zoo to see their holiday light display. Fortunately, it wasn't too cold. We enjoyed all the lights and displays. I only have one picture of them so far, of one of the foxes . . . but it will give you an idea of how cool it was.  :-)

Christmas Pictures

We had a good Christmas at the Peasant house. Church services were good, as was the special music. A relaxing afternoon opening presents. My wife and older daughter made a great dinner. Missed having Dad around, but got a little nap after the presents in his honor. :-)  A couple of pictures . . .

Family Picture

What do you get the Pastor who has everything??

A yard of Twix! How awesome is that!

Birthday

So my birthday was this week. To celebrate we went to Nationals Park, where they had a big holiday event called "Enchant." It had a light maze, skating rink, and Christmas market. It was a fun outing, though the food court was disappointing. Since we went on Tuesday night, some of the special food booths were not open. :-( But we still had a good time, even though it was cold and rainy. Some pictures (though they do not do the light justice) . . .

A view from the entrance, walking down to field level.

On the skating trail. I didn't skate too well this night. :-(

Looking up at the large tree in the center of the light maze.

(See first picture for some additional perspective how tall it was!)

Part of the light maze was to find all of Santa's reindeer. This is one of them. You can see Ma Peasant peeking from under the head, and daughter Peasant as the silhouette in front. They were quite large, as you can see!

Just another cool light picture, and to give you more perspective on the scale of it all!

Looking down at the field from the concourse level, where the Christmas market was.

Billy Goat Trail

Yesterday my daughter had off from school for the end of the quarter, so our family went to Great Falls National Park (Maryland side) and hiked the Billy Goat Trail. And yes, there's a reason it's called that! Lots of ups and downs and rocks to climb up, down, and over! But it was a beautiful day and good to get out. Here are some pictures. The first I did not take, but is from their web site, showing one of the rock crevices that yes, we climbed up! And rest are of us. :-)

Escape Room

So I'm a little slow posting this . . . but the Friday after Thanksgiving my sister took us to an "escape room" in Alexandria. This is where you are locked in a room and have to find and figure out clues to escape. In our room there were a bunch of locked boxes that we had to figure out the clues to get the combinations to unlock them, and then find the pirate's gold. We needed a couple of hints (the people there said most groups need a little help) but then we started to get the hang of it and got it done with 3 minutes to spare! (They give you one hour to do it.) It was fun. I think she's going to try to find us another one to try after Christmas, since my wife was working and couldn't join us for this one.

Anyway, a couple of pictures . . .

The name of the place we went to.

Us with the opened chest of pirate's gold.

Oops! She Did It Again!

Went to my daughter's symphony concert in Richmond last night . . .

She was Concertmaster last year for one of their concerts and was sure she'd never get it again! We made a bet: she said no, I said yes. Now lookin' forward to the pay off . . .  :-)

You Know You Live in Washington . . .

. . . when "Light traffic in your area" means "Delays up to 29 minutes!"

(Yes, an actual screenshot of my phone!)

And . . .

. . . when walking in DC you find a store selling nesting dolls of Bill Clinton and the women he fooled around with!

Yes, They Did It Again!

Champions again! Second time in three years. Awesome. Just wish my Dad was in a little better state of mind so he could really enjoy this too. He is a Villanova alum from way back in the day, which is why we are Villanova fans. I didn't fill out any brackets this year - just didn't have time that week, but enjoyed watching the games. (Actually, while I saw most of the semi-final game on Friday night, I fell asleep for most of the second half on Monday! I woke up just in time for the final minute and the celebration. :-)

And the future looks bright  . . .  Here's to a couple more trophies . . .

Fly Eagles Fly!

Oh Yeah!

And how about a few more pics?

I had our Campus Ministry Divine Service at Patrick Henry College yesterday, but moved it up a couple of hours so I could get home in time for the game. It was a little dicey, since we have some wintry mix falling from the sky, including some freezing rain, but I made it okay. I only missed a bit of the first quarter and got to see the rest. :-)  What an exciting game! One punt the whole game, back and forth, and no defense! Until the end, at least. They stood up and held when it counted.

I feel badly for Carson Wentz, that he couldn't be a part of it. Hopefully he'll win one of his own. Wish I could be up there for the parade this week! Oh well. Philly Philly!

Our Weekend Guest

We were privileged to have Pastor Martin Orende of the Lutheran Church of Kenya with us this weekend. He is in St. Louis studying for his STM. Since I preached at one of his congregations when I was in Kenya, I invited him to come and preach at my congregation here. Perhaps we'll be able to have him back next year as well. Here are a few pictures from the weekend . . .

At the foot of the Washington monument.

In front of the White House.

At the Smithsonian Air and Space museum.

In front of the US Capitol.

Presenting an icon of St. Athanasius after the Divine Service.

Last Night

Last night my family and I went down to Richmond to see my daughter at VCU and go to her first symphony orchestra concert. We hadn't seen her since dropping her off at school in August! We had a nice dinner together, followed by an even better concert. All the pieces were very interesting and performed very well. It was also fun watching my daughter play - she is every expressive in her playing and you can tell she really enjoys what she is doing. And that's not just true of the concert, but of her whole experience so far at school. She just seems happy. Warms a father's heart. :-)

Here's a couple of pictures. Now that I think of it, I wish I had taken one at dinner, but oh well. The close up picture stinks, but I'll post it anyway. She is 3rd stand 1st violin.

The entire symphony. Sarah is to the far left. As in . . .

Right in front of the harp.

Final Four and Easter Monday

Well, the 89 seconds I spent filling out my NCAA tournament bracket were a wasted 89 seconds of my life I'll never get back.  :-(  Granted, I picked some daring upsets (like the first 16 over a 1, cuz it has to happen someday!), but Syracuse? Really?

The good news is . . . Villanova! That's my team. My father went there for college back in the day, and we've been fans ever since. The last couple years have been tough to watch their early exits, but they made it this year. Hopefully they have a couple more victories in them and you'll be hearing this song lots more! (Sorry for the ad at the beginning - just skip it.)

Today is golf! The day after Easter I like to go out and just do something mindless for a few hours. And yes, I know, while all you golf aficionados will tell me that golf is a cerebral game, let me tell you - not when I play it! :-) So hopefully the rain will hold off, the sun will come out, I won't lose too many balls, and maybe even make a par or two . . .

Tuesday Funny

This one was sent to me by my sister: Skydiver Meets His Maker

Monday Morning Funny

One of my members sent this to me.  :-)

A retired guy sits around the house all day, then one day his wife says, “Joe, you could do something useful, like vacuum the house once a week.” The guy gives it a moment’s thought and says: “Sure why not. Where’s the vacuum?" Half an hour later, the guy comes into the kitchen to get some coffee. His wife says, “I didn't hear the vacuum running,  I thought you were going to do the vacuuming”? Exasperated, Joe answers,”The stupid thing is broken, it won't start. We need to buy a new one”. “Really”, she says, “show me - it worked fine the last time”.  

So he did (Click Here).

Pet Peeves

Pet peeves on my mind today . . .

+ Warm winters - it's supposed to be cold! (We're actually cold today and tomorrow, but Christmas Eve at 70 degrees? Gimme a break!)

+ People who hit your car in the parking lot and drive away without leaving you a note, leaving you either with a repair bill or (probably) increased insurance cost.

+ Web pages which jump around with ads while loading, causing you to click on ads you don't want, which gives the page their revenue from the ad click but causing you to go places you don't want to go!

Got any you want to share?  :-)

Birthday

Cool cake, eh?  :-)

Pastor Appreciation, Part 1

Finally got a Luther mini-fig!