We Hear Profound Sharing about 9/11

Here's Ed last Sunday in front of Los Gatos United Methodist Church, our local "church home" while in the Saratoga, CA area.

This past Sunday, our pastor invited a member of the church to share. Photo below shows Alice H. speaking in front of the congregation....
You see, Alice's grown son was aboard United Flight 93 on that fateful day- 9/11/2001. Of course, everyone on the plane perished when it crashed into a field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

He was one of the men who rushed the cockpit while the flight was enroute to Washington DC.

Alice's sharing was emotional, but profound. She included some insights that I pass along....

"I am grieved that every anniversary of 9/11 has been marked with rhetoric that has divided Americans.

This year was no exception: ...a pastor in Florida saying he would burn copies of the Koran, ...New Yorkers and others fighting over placing an Islamic Center near the site of the Twin Towers.

"I am sick of religion. I'm sick how people draw from their own religions reasons to hate and kill other people...."

Needless to say, this gives us all much to ponder... much to do...

Thoughtfully yours,

-Ed & Karen

Meeting People from Around the World!

Living in Parks gives us occasion to meet interesting people from ALL OVER this great land, even from abroad. We meet some profound & amazinging folks!

(1)
In the photo above, you see us with Jack and Els- - - Originally natives of The Netherlands, Jack & Els emigrated to California years ago where he worked for Motorola Corp as an engineering executive.

(2)
A couple weeks after they left, we could hear a family camped across from us speaking German with the children ...Turns out that “Opa” and "Oma” (Grandpa & Grandma) had brought their grandchildren here for a week-long time together.

Werner and Heidi emigrated here 40+ yrs ago and raised their family in near-by San Jose.

Two years ago, their son moved his family from Germany to California where he now works.

So now the grandchildren have become bi-lingual (German & English), and Werner and Heidi get to see their grandchildren more!
Here is grandaughter Mika with brother Moritz.

We found Mika to be one very strong 10-yr old young woman!

...She organized all the games for the week and helped the two boys settle their potential disputes.

She is going to go far in life…!

(3)
Our third family are Michael & Silke, and their children Caroline, Josephine, and Colin... they just left us yesterday morning. Natives of Heidelberg, Germany, they planned to camp here 4 nights while visiting nearby San Francisco. However, their departure was delayed... Someone broke into their rental car and stole a satchel with a laptop-computer ...AND their wallet ...AND passports (!!!).

Upon first discovering the break-in, the ONLY person on the street willing to stop with a cell (so they could call the police & credit card companies) was “a huge, sweaty tattooed black man in a ‘muscle shirt’” (God sends ‘angels’ in all guises, eh?).

God gave us the opportunity to reach out to them during the crisis and we became friends. We helped with dishes and provided a phone for their frustrating calls to the local German Consulate (slow government bureaucracies are a multi-national thing). They finally did receive temp passports after 2-1/2 wearisome and costly days.

Our dogs, Mollie & Shoshone, even had a ‘ministry’ with the three children, who soon ‘adopted’ them. Here are Josephine (age 8) and Colin (age 6) with our ‘pups’ - - -



We just LOVE how God brings these special persons into our lives!

More later----

Love,

Ed & Karen

Ed goes off to Chicago!

A couple weeks ago Ed flew out to "Chi-Town"
where he got to be with LOTS of PURKEYS!

As some may know, Ed is a native of the Midwest who transplanted himself to the West Coast while still in college. Consequently, all his own 'kinfolk' are too far away to see very often.

This summer, his cousin's daughter living in Chicago got married--- and asked him to fly out to perform the wedding!

Needless to say, he jumped (or should it be flew?) at the chance!

It was SO good to see uncles, cousins, etc. that he hadn't seen literally for decades...
Here is his 1st Cousin & Father-of-the-Bride, Bob Purkey (left), bride-to-be Susan Purkey, and groom-to-be Greg Gibson. Susan is a professional in interior design and Greg, an architect. ...Ed was especially glad to visit with his Uncle Glenn - age 94.

The Wedding was outdoors (Ed's favorite wedding venue ever since serving in National Parks), in a City Park on the shores of Lake Michigan...

However, bride Susan broke her ankle(!) just weeks before the ceremony. She used a fashionable clear lucite cane to come down the aisle, and as you see in the photo below, a crutch during the reception- - -
Her left hand displays her white gold wedding ring, and on her right hand is the historic "PURKEY RING".

This Gold band was given by her forebear Jacob Purkey to his bride, Agnes at their wedding in 1829(!). She wore it until her death 57 yrs later. It has since been worn by various "Purkey brides" at their respective weddings for years (including Karen when she & Ed were married in 1969).

BTW-- The scene of our Rehearsal Dinner is of some "Movie Fame"- - - It has been in numerous feature films including "The Untouchables", where it served as Sean Connery's character's apartment bulding.
More later!

--Ed & Karen

A SURPRISE Visitor "Drops In"!

TIME: Sunday, 2/28/2010, approx 5:45 PM, almost sunset.

Karen looks out our Motorhome window and sees THIS ...

She calls out, “Ed! Look! There’s a big hot air balloon coming down!”

Putting on jackets, we run out to a spot several hundred yards into the field west of us--- Below is Ed, running towards it----

Balloonist: “What land are we on?”
Ed: “County park land.”
B: “Do we have permission to land here?”
Ed: “Well, seems to me you’ve already landed.”

It was a Hot-Air Balloon Tour that had taken off from the County Fairgrounds eight miles away.

Balloonist: “We almost came down in the woods over there."
Ed: “Coming down in those woods would’ve created problems. That's city open-space preserve-- no roads.”
B- “I don’t want to be on city land ...is this city land?”
Ed- “No, like I said, this is county land.”
B- “Good, I don’t want to go on city land.”

Here is the Gondola with happy Balloon Tourists. The Balloonist is the one concentrating on his equipment---

Soon, a melodrama unfolds! ---

-The Ranger from the neighboring CITY Open Space Preserve shows up to issue them a Citation for landing on city land…
-The Balloonist strenuously objects (“...we're on county land!”)
-The City Ranger’s face hardens (“...you landed first on city land.”)
-The Balloonist even more strenuously objects...
-The City Ranger grimly threatens to impound the balloon (by now collapsed & rolled-up).

The Balloonist calls his boss...
...His boss calls their lawyers....
[By then, we’d called our own COUNTY Ranger, who's now also involved.]

...Needless to say, we’re staying clear of further involvement...

WOW! ...What a "neighborhood"!
We wonder who (or what) will be our NEXT Visitor to "Drop In"?

A “Neighbor” Comes to Visit!

Upon returning home from church today (see previous post), we saw that our Neighborhood Egret had come by for a visit!


Karen quickly grabbed the camera, but she needn’t have rushed...

Our Egret calmly walked around our motorhome

(in the background) for about 5-7 min.

Eventually it walked out our front gate,

then took flight over the green field by our place.

We say 'our' Egret because we’ve been spotting her/him around here for the past several days.

At first, we thought it was a Snowy Egret.

...However, we saw that it was too tall and (as you can see yourself) has a yellow bill instead of black...

We know now it’s really a Great White Egret.

It stands three feet high --that's half the height of a man.

It is magnificent to watch as it serenely takes flight!



As you can see from these photos, we truly enjoyed its visit to us today....

Indeed, we love it when our neighbors here come to visit us!

...and how many people do you know who can make that statement with such confidence?

---Ed & Karen

San Diego Storm, Part 2

January, 2010
We continue our full week of RAINS & HIGH WINDS here in Southern California, and the rivers & streams are swollen!

Know that we are doing just fine, thank God --MUCH better than tragic victims of natural forces elsewhere.

Where we live & work as Caretakers at Los Peñasquitos Historic Ranch House Park, the normally lazy Peñasquitos Creek has crested at 8+ft over flood level.

Right now (Thurs-Fri Jan 21-22) nobody can get in & out of the Park.
Why not?? ...Well, just take a look back the down road towards the Park Entrance:

The water is nearly three feet deep between the fences in the middle of that "puddle".

So while we're stranded here for a few days (hopefully), we're actually doing OK. We prepared for this by laying in lotsa food, propane for heat, and a good supply of library books & videos!

Yesterday during a break in the rain, we put on high boots and walked around our area. What a sight!
Here is Karen standing at a nearby trailhead in the Park.

The trail goes off thru the break in the trees to the left, crossing a footbridge (see sign).

Obvious, isn't it?
No trail...
No footbridge...
And THIS is the way we walk out of the Park!


Below, Karen is surveying (w/ some dismay) the Fruit Orchard planted last year in a field nearby. She won't need to irrigate these trees for a long while, eh?
Below she is in the large open field nearby ...Look carefully, you can you see her standing in the distance, off to the right ...

Only now the field has become "Alonzo Johnson Lake"

(we named it in honor of the pioneer who built the Ranch House in 1800's).

We're happy to report that our Motorhome is dry, cozy, warm, and on high ground. And that's not by chance:

We're closeby to the historic Ranch House; and those "Californios" of the Mexican period 200 yrs ago knew exactly where to build the Adobe: in one of the few areas here always ABOVE the floods!

San Diego Storm, Part 1

January, 2010

We have had a full week of RAINS & HIGH WINDS here in Southern California, and the surf is up!

(However, even the “normally insane” local surfers are not venturing out in THESE waves!)

To see how the wind was blowing, check out Ed’s jacket & Shoshone’s face!



Wed, Jan 20, we were able to drive to the San Diego Ocean Beach area to see the surf whipped up by the storm.

Dozens of waves simultaneously dance like porpoises at play on the ocean.

The wind blows the breaking waves into lace.

The power of God’s creation shows us our “true place" in it all.”

At the Pier, the waters pound against (and over!) the structure.

No one is walking out there today…!

Note on scale:
Can you read the large "CAFE" lettering that fills the building wall at the end of the Pier?

...What about in the photo below?