Sunday p.m.

Last night was successful, vis-a-vis Tru. He is a real camper. He and Aleene watched a Pooh DVD while I watched NCAA BB with the volume on mute. Pretty good way to watch a game, anyhow. We ate pop corn as planned, but he announced that he wanted butter on his. So his Grammy microwaved some to pour over his pop corn. Now I want to tell you that I get good service from old Grammy, but not that good. Tru is a charmer.

We had 50 mph winds and rain last night. The MH was a snug place to be. Temp outside was about 45. Tru did very well. He slept on the bed that is normally the table and benches. Aleene slept on the bed that is normally the couch and I had the camper queen to myself. Rose hung out with the kids. We went to bed at 8:45 with Aleene complaining, "I have never gone to bed this early." That Grammy again...she will do anything for her grandson. She was pressured into telling him a bed time story...after reading to him...since telling is usually my job, but she wanted to accommodate him, of course. So I went to sleep to the sounds of Grammy telling the Three Little Bears to Tru. She does Goldilocks and the Three Bears really well.

He slept through the night and we all awoke at about 6:00 a.m. He wanted to go out with me to take Rose to the doggie run. We played a round of dinasaur cards while Grammy got breakfast...got ready for church and motored into Newberg. Champoeg was full last night, at least in the area we are in. This is spring break for the schools out here, so there were bikes and kids hanging out of campers everywhere.

North Valley Friends had an atypical Palm Sunday service. It was church in the round. Their pews are movable so when we got there they were in almost a perfect circle...the platform rounded it out. The do not use an alter-centered arrangement. They had a five piece band this morning. The presenter, Kim a friend of Amy's, did a presentation on the floor in the circle for the kids and adults sort of evesdropped. She had a traditional period of silence, which is not typical for a programmed service, which lasted about 15 minutes. That was followed by some verbal things from a few members. The speaker-like person only did the announcements. It was very moving and spirit-filled. For the unaware, Quakers do not practice sacrements...you are baptized by the Spirit, not water, and they do not practice communion...Kim mentioned the last supper in very vague terms during her presentation which is as close to communion as they get. They do not use symbols of bread and wine as the host. They talk about the ongoing partaking of food and Jesus' promise to be with us when we do that...interesting.

I have been reading about Quakerisms and have some of this figured out, but I am not the end in understanding their worship. They suggest that as you leave Meeting you refrain from saying what you got out of it, rather they say you should ask God, "How did I do?" That puts an entirely different context around worship. If you like to be passive and entertained...then you did not do much. If you sing and engage in silent prayer and connect with God...then you were successful.

We are making plans to go to the coast next weekend (Thrus, Fri, Sat) and back for Easter. We are signed up for Champoeg from next Sunday thru Friday morning (April 1)...so that means we will probably head back then. I keep watching the weather over the passes in Utah and Wyoming...snow this past week... I am not too concerned about the Cascades since we have good visibility with them every day on TV...anyway, we are finally in the mode of thinking about returning rather than traveling; that after three weeks away and about three to go...imagine that it will take us at least 5 days or maybe six to get back to Michigan the way we travel...between 400 and 500 per day. We came out here once in 2 1/2 days...but the MH does not cruise as long and as fast as my Cummins did. Also, the time difference is in your favor for long days going west, just the opposite going east. Also April 3 we Spring Ahead...another hour lost.