Holiday Reflections: Ventura Highway

We were heading to Ventura, to meet with friends who had been people my wonderful wife knew when we started dating.

San Simeon we were able to leave reasonably early as there was not much we wanted to do there or in Cambria.  Instead we headed to Atascadero where there was a bakery that produced gluten-free and lactose-free goodies.  Upon arrval my super son was asleep – he had woken too early – and he and I stayed in the car while my wonderful wife found the bakery.  Except there were no goods as they had been closed the day before and nothing was left from Saturday.

Next stop San Luis Obispo where there is a Pizza Fusion which produce gluten-free pizzas with soy cheese.  We looked at the Trader Joes while waiting for the food shops to open.  The pizza looked great for my wonderul wife.  I had subs for my super son and I and then my son decided he was really hungry, ate his lunch, ate half of my lunch and half of my next round of lunch again.  Well we are called to love one another aren’t we.

From there we went in search of appropriate power cables but had no success.  We continued to head to Ventura taking a slow drive through Santa Barbara where I used to live.  The hotel we were going to which is right on the freeway and across from the beach is also right next to a freeway entry.  So guess what – first time I am trying to get there I ended up on the Freeway again and not the hotel.  From then on I am ok.

We headed over to our friends place got a lot lost but found it in the end and they gave us a great dinner and a chat and we all rolled home.

Tomorrow – Swordfish

Holiday Reflections: Sudden Impact

In Sudden Impact is the delightful and now well known phrase – “Go ahead. Make my day.”  This is offered by Clint Eastwood in his Dirty Harry mode.  We’ll come back to Clint.

Monterey has a number of delightful areas – there is Cannery Row, the Del Monte Centre where we went to Whole Foods and the beach.  We woke up at a more reasonable time and our super son decided he wanted to go in the pool.  Which opened at 9:00AM.  We did as much as we could to be prepared, went downstairs and waited, and waited and waited.  With little clothes on – we were going into water – and towels by the pool we just had to wait until the gates were opened.  The spa was great for everybody finally getting rid of all the knots from the plane trip.

This was the day that the power on the laptop ran out  – remember I mentioned that power adaptor I left in San Francisco and we were supposed to have internet access.  I at least had got the list of lunch & dinner places before the laptop shutdown.

From the hotel we drove to Cannery Row and saw some otters but not real close.  My super son and I shared a Cinnamon roll – a family tradition from other trips to Monterey I just had to change who I was sharing the food with.  We then left for Carmel.

Carmel is a lovely town – it’s mayor used to be Clint Eastwood – it was for a long period the home base of Thomas Kinkade “painter of light” but he seems to have moved some of his operations.  We had a great lunch/brunch at Katy’s place where my super son played a game and chatted to all the hispanic bus boys.  Now remember he was still not used to American accents and has a kids voice while the bus boys were not used to much English or an accent.  It was a fun scene to see my super son be so inclusive but have no idea why people did not understand him

We then walked to one of the Kinkade Galleries.  It was best descibed as the scratch and dent section as everything was 30% off.  It seems my wonderful wife and I both got it into our heads it would be nice to purchase something of Thomas’ again.  My mother had given us a Kinkade print as an engagement gift and I got to look at all the others in the series.  We eventually settled on a picture that we both liked and I had to move the car before the sale was finalised.  All went well and the picture, framed and everything is now happily sitting on our wall at home.

From there we drove South along Pacific Coast Highway to San Simeon where we would stay again in the San Simeon Motel 6.  This time unlike when my wonderful and I were dating we did not need 2 rooms.

Dinner was a challenge – in the end the local pizza place with a salad bar for my wonderful wife and pizza for my super son and I.

And then sleep.

Tomorrow – “Ventura Highway”

Holiday Reflections: Do You Know the Way to San Jose?

It was Saturday, it was San Francisco and it was way too early to wake up.  But we were up.  We had a breakfast appointment at 8 and my super son played in the room while we tried to figure out how to get decent TV.  The Disney Channel would be found later in the trip.

We had a lovely breakfast with a friend of my wife’s, our wonderful appointment was someone who met my wonderful wife 20 years ago or so and they have remained in touch.

Afterward our friend drove us to Union Square and then walked back to the hotel to check out, drive to lunch at Ike’s Place, see the Golden Gate  Bridge, drive Lombard Street and then head to Monterey.  Ike’s Place does incredible sandwiches including gluten free and was as crowded as the website warns you.  The drive aroud the Bridge was lovely but I can’t show you any photos as the USB cable for the camera is elsewhere.  My super son was not impressed with Lombard Street saying it was quite straight – wait till he drives it in 20 years – he may have a different opinion.

So then we headed south. Towards San Jose.  We planned to make one other stop along the way  Walmart – to buy all the cheap stuff we required.  Except remember the early start to the day?  Turned out we had an early meltdown of my super son so we did not accomplish all we wanted to.  We had a new child seat and had seen cheap luggage.  I purchased some clothes and shoes but not as much for my wonderful wife or not so super son at the time.  The meltdown was so bad in fact later that night he said to his mother “I can’t cope! I need to go home to Melbourne.”

We arrived in Monterey a little later, found the hotel, found the Whole Foods Market for dinner and went to bed.

Oh did I mention I left the power adaptor in San Francisco – so maybe I did not leave my heart but an essential part of the trip was there.

Tomorrow – Sudden Impact – “Go ahead. Make my day.”

Holiday Reflections: I Left My Heart In San Francisco

It was crazy we flew Melbourne->Sydney and then Sydney->San Francisco.  That was the only way we could book the frequent flyer flight so that was the way it was.

We picked up a rental car at San Francisco airport – do not do this if you can avoid it.  I could have and probably should have.  The place was a zoo.

I drove us to Whole Food Markets at Potrero Hill.  They had a salad bar and we sure needed lunch.  We shopped and looked and then ate.

I drove us to a nearby Safeway (I can tell I was still in Northern California until these became Von’s in Southern California) found a AAA and picked up sone maps and then to our hotel.

We stayed at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco.  This is the second time in my life I stayed there.  This was a better experience than previously but the sticker shock in the cafe in the hotel still put me off eating there.  So a family of three jetlagged strong willed and tired people went in search of an early dinner.  In the end my super son and I had mexican from a no-brand place a couple of blocks away and we went back to our hotel, fell asleep until too early in the morning and had to figure out what to do.

So  did I leave my heart in San Francisco?  A little – I was struck yet again at how many people are begging on the streets in San Francisco and how much I do not stop to help them.  Its probably more correct to say that I did not respond to my heart in San Francisco but more of the tale and asking “do you know the way to San Jose” tomorrow.

Returning to Writing – Holiday Reflections: Preludes

I admit it has been a while since I have been writing for this blog regularly.  Since I have been busy I put it at a lower priority.  Funnily enough in the work of the urgent someone has asked for me to write more and so having intended to start I have now posted this.

I have just returned from two weeks holiday in the US.  That is a story in itself but lets just say our frequent flyer balance is now much closer to zero than it has been for a long time.  Our bank balance is very much in the other direction but more of that story in about 2 weeks.

It is my intention to write the posts about the trips as a series of reflections entitled by movies or songs invoked by the places we visited.  You can let me know how corny these are. The reflections are as much for the extended family to hear about the trip as well as for me to write down what was happening.

A couple of important facts need to be mentioned before we start so that later comments make senes. We left on Friday June 19.  On Wednesday June 17 my wonderful wife was told she was lactose intolerant.  Considering the test had made her bed ridden this was not a surprise but threw out some planning as we now needed not only gluten free but lactose free food for her.

We also travelled with our now five year old super son.

Return tomorrow for “I left my heart in San Francisco”

Tuesday Time: Absent Posts, New Friends and Other Stuff

I have been really busy lately and trying to figure out where I had time to blog – I have not really found the time but tonight due to technical difficulties beyond my control I have a window of opportunity.

I expect posts will return on a more regular basis in June/July to include holiday insights but no guarantees.

I have found two great new blogs in the last couple of weeks.

William Willimon has a blog – one of the most inspirational preachers in the US has a blog.  It can be found here and I recommend all bible college students, seminarians and others read his articles on ministry as Between Two Worlds and Advice to New Pastors part 2.

On a very different note is the Biblical Studies and Technology website.

Other stuff – you may see postings about some of my studies at Macquarie uniuversity but I am not sure yet where they will end up.

Blessings

Friday Fan: Fridays

It has been a busy week of work for the first week of classes.

It has been a great week and a lot has been accomplished.

Now to get a few more things done.  For that reason I am a fan of Fridays.  A chance to catch up reflect on the week and then move forward to a weekend with a UK friend coming to stay.

Monday Marking: Getting Ready for Class

This week classes start and I figured I need to get on the computer and get everything up and online that I need.

Now if I can just find it all.

This semester I have picked up some staff, an intern, more work, more responsibilities and less sleep due to my super son waking up too much in the middle of the night.

So this week will be regular introduction to units, writing lectures and dealing with last minute admin.

Such is life.

Midweek Melbounre: Mature Movie Meltdown

Saturday was the hotest day on record in Melbourne.  It was also the start of the greatest disaster in Victoria with the bushfires around.  Currently the numbers are ovber 170 dead.  More are missing including acquaintences of friends of mine.

After that heavy note some details of what we did to beat the heat.  We decided however to try and avoid any tragedy that day and went to the movies and then church with a nap in between.  Coming out of church we found the cool change had come and things were much better for us.

However the movies themselves were an experience.  This was the first time we took our 4.75 year old super son.  Most of the time he sat and watched Bedtime Stories which was a fun movie.  However the start of the time in the cinema was rough.

We had purchased tickets with what we thought was a special voucher for all of us.  It turned out to be for a single ticket.  We sat in the cinema and just about the previews started.  Bedtime Stories is a G rated movie meaning any one can see it.  The previews were not.  They just got worse to such a point that we and the mother in front had our hands over our children’s eyes.

At some point I realised there was some mistake and went to tell the ticket collector.  He said something like “Yeah, someone threaded the wrong film in that cinema.  See the manager and you will receive some complementary tickets.”

So I went down to the manager, had to find her and then complain.  I asked for a full refund as I had a kid complaining about one of the images.  She said, “mistakes happen”.  This frustrated me.  I replied “I don’t think you are taking this seriously.  You are risking the reputation of your company and I will never be able to trust your company again.”

She started to realise this was a more serious error than she suggested and said she would get complementary tickets for me as well as the refund.  While this pacified me I am still concerned about how little care happened concerning young children, especially the first time for us at the cinema.

You know I would say the name of the cinema chain but that would just be derogatory.  However I would have preferred to have a good experience than excuses.  Makes me aware of ways I need to avoid making excuses too.

Tuesday Theological: Thinking to Thank

Victoria is suffering its worst natural disaster with the bushfires that have raged through the central parts of the state.

One Sunday my wonderful wife was in our backyard and she said “Look at this mess in this yard.”  The wind which had fanned the flames had caused some tree branches and leaves to fill our backyard.  I replied “We should be thankful we have a backyard still.”  It caused my wonderful wife to stop and think.

What has surprised me is the reactions to this tragedy.  I receive emails from different groups and people with responses varying from the need for leadership, the need for compassion and this is God’s judgement.

I am not going to enter into a theodicy instead I want to consider what does it take to wake us up to be thankful.  I realise this disaster shows us how hard it is to be thankful.  You see we seem to need to be pulled up short, and stopped to think to be thankful.  To live lives that are truly grateful, thankful for what God gives us is something we need to be woken up by and seem especially woken by tragedy.

This seems wrong to me.  If we are truly living in God’s presence why are we so unthankful?  Why does it take tragedy to make us realise the blessing of a backyard, a school, a police station, a car, an unburnt house and our lives?

While being self-absorbed seems to be what we are soften I pray that God turns our hearts more to him to be a people who are thankful for all the good that God gives.