This past Saturday was the second annual olive harvest for D’Oliva! It was a great deal of fun to have friends and family come out to help. D’Aun did a great job of coaxing 282 pounds of olives out of the grove in a very complex year.
Here’s a link to the story with more pictures: D’Oliva Olive Oil Second Harvest!…
Jesus spent a lot of time in an olive orchard this week. What is often called “the Olivet Discourse” was probably a Tuesday evening discussion with His disciples, sitting together in the orchard as they viewed the Temple and busy city of Jerusalem across the valley.
Gethsemane is a spectacular setting and has one of the most photographed views in Israel. I was first there in 1975, staying in a hotel atop the Mount of Olives. A few years ago I returned again with my church. Though bustling with tourists and over developed to handle the crowds, the setting is …
I have several links for you to click today…trust me, you’ll have fun with this…
A lot of people who read this blog were supporters of my son when he went to Thailand last year. Jedd was there to create a video for The SOLD Project, which combats child prostitution in that country. Well, here’s the awesome news: Jedd was given the Volunteer Service Award by the Bay Area Professional Videographers Association!
What this means is that his work was so good it deserved recognition. And it means that those of you supported him are seeing great dividends because …
The first house D’Aun and I bought was a rickety old home built in 1913 that had a most un-californian feature: a basement. After our first wine experience in Bordeaux I built a small rack and collected my first bottles of wine. Eventually we moved and lost that fun basement, but I still kept collecting.
A few years ago the kids moved out and we became an empty nest. Our home had a laundry room in the most ridiculous place — near the dining room in the front of the house. I reasoned that with the kids gone we didn’t …
Happy Thanksgiving to you all! I thought I’d share something that I recently read … it struck me as unnervingly appropriate given the season that D’Aun and I have had. Truthfully, I’m not even sure I fully understand it and wish I knew more about it’s origin. But it’s still striking in it’s own way, and may it find a way to bless your time of giving thanks. If not, then consider it my blessing … Happy Thanksgiving!
The Gathering of Joy and Pain
To the singing of the harvest-song goes the life of a year, or of all the …
So it’s over. The month of October flew by fast and my sabbatical break from work and ministry is finished. A few folks have asked how I feel about that, and I must say that it is good to be back at work. Loved the break, but I’m eager to reengage with the many fun things that I have going.
Would I do some things differently? Yes, of course. The email fast was just a bit too long to be pragmatic. No fast on web surfing was a mistake. Next time I want D’Aun more involved, and next time it’s …
We made it home! Now that I have a real computer in front of me, here are a few photos from the trip. D’Aun will post more on her Facebook page when she gets a chance.
Here are some of my favorites … mostly non-tourist shots because you’ve seen the Coliseum a million times.
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The night before the trip, Sadie knew we were leaving and jumped into the suitcase as we packed.
Our first morning in Rome, so I tried a cappuccino at (reputedly) the best coffee place in city. I was hooked for the rest of the trip.…
Ciao from Italy! Wish I could post photos but WordPress seems to hate iPads. But trust me, we are seeing great stuff!
D’Aun and I spent the first few days in Rome overcoming jet lag and touring the city. Our tour guide, Angelo, was great and created special events that we’ll remember a long time. For instance, the first day we headed out of town to an olive mill that his brother-in-law owned … and along the way we stopped at the bridge just outside of the old city of Rome where Emperor Constantine had his vision of the cross …