October 26, 2008

Random News

Posted in books, family, travel at 10:50 pm by jimazing

Trip to the Mountains

Jeanie and I spent this past weekend in the Mtns of NC.  Our main purpose was just to get away and take a break from the pressure cooker that life has been lately.  This was our first time at a Bed and Breakfast and I think we chose well.  The Mast Farm Inn is an old house that has been restored as a B & B.  They treated us very well!  We used to live up there and still have lots of friends in the area, but we chose not to let anyone know we were coming.  We just didn’t know what the weekend would hold.  We did end up visiting with several good friends.  Other highlights:

• I visited my trees.  Last year I wrote about my job planting trees.   There was one particular site that was near where we lived that I have visited many times.  They have gotten rather large!  I wonder if they will be harvested anytime soon for lumber. (click the photo to see it larger)
• We have wonderful memories of hiking at Price Lake, so we took a trip around “memory trail”, which was a muddy mess in one section.  It was cloudy and cool at first, but by the time we finished, the sun was out and it was a beautiful day.
• Since the sun came out, we visited the Lynn Cove Viaduct.  I also worked on the construction of this bridge for several months, which I also wrote about last year.  It is very cool to visit something so much bigger than I am, but that I played a small role in building.
• I started reading Reaching Out, by Henri Nouwen.  I wanted a book that would drive me to reflective thought and meditation.  Nouwen usually does that well.  This was no exception.  The timeliness of this message in the place I am in life is remarkable.  It feels like Nouwen is interpreting events, thoughts and stirings that I have had over recent months and years.

Finished “A Thousand Splendid Suns”

My sister-in-law recommended this to me (and loaned it to me too).  A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini reminds me a lot of his earlier work the Kite Runner.  The setting is Afghanistan as he follows the lives of two women from different backgrounds, but who’s lives come together.  Both stories have helped me to understand a little better about the history and ways of life in Afghanistan.  If nothing else, when I hear anything about the Taliban, I now have a vivid picture of some very evil men.  I recommend both of these books by Hosseini’s.  Thanks Cathryn.

Erin’s Latest Accomplishment

I am so very proud of all of my daughters.  They are each making their respective marks on the world in huge ways and I am proud of them all.  Every once in a while, one of them just takes things completely to the next level and I cannot ignore it.  I will not belabor the point and I’m getting too choked up to describe it anyway, please check it out for yourself here.  Can’t you see me in her?

Permalink