And now from Australia

Our son and daughter-in-law live in Australia. His band Zuigia has been on tour in the northeast area of the continent. While they were there, they came across this clever frog. Looks cozy, doesn't he? Just waiting for some bug to come by looking for a flower.

When the guys got home, they were treated to a lovely sunset. This photo was taken from the balcony of the house where they live (north of Sydney). Nice digs, eh?

West Texas sky

The photo didn't turn out as clear as I wanted, but the color is right. We had a noisy rainstorm with a little hail. After it stopped, the setting sun washed the gloomy clouds with orange. I had to get my camera quickly, because the light changed in about 90 seconds back to a somber grey.
Maybe I will get around to photographing that new bumper. Maybe.

But what if I am just making it all up?

Here's yet another meme that has been making the rounds.

I am: a friendly cave, a deep pool

I want: to grow up

I wish: I paid more attention to relationships than to my own sense of morality

I hate: the greedy commercialism that so charaacterizes American life

I miss: Hawai'i

I fear: being so distracted by this world that I lose focus on God

I hear: music when the radio is turned off

I wonder: what I will do next in life

I regret: the way I have treated others when I was afraid or selfish

I am not: as clever as I think I am

I dance: with abandon (though not much recently)

I sing: bass when my throat is in good shape; baritone when it is rough

I cry: when I see good triumph, mercy win over, and gratitude spring forth

I’m not always: this reflective, but most of the time I am thinking about something

I make with my hands: cabinets, food, love (not in that order)

I write: when I think I have something to say (maybe I am deluded)

I confuse: thinking with knowing

I need: challenge and compassion

I should: do what God calls me to do

I start: all kinds of projects

I finish: very few of them

I tag: my dear readers and fellow bloggers

Some bad news, some good, and a poem

Did I tell you that the water heater at our house went "clunk" yesterday? I got to stay home this morning while the plumbers put in a new water heater. The van is still in the shop with a blown head gasket. But I did get the bumper cover delivered and put it on my car. I will take a photo of the refurbished PWT-mobile for your viewing pleasure.

A couple of years ago we were invited to a party and the hostess asked everyone to write a poem about a hat and then wear the hat to the party. Once we arrived, we had to switch hats (and poems) with someone, preferably of the opposite sex. Then we sat in a circle and read the poems. Here's what I wrote:

Air passes through it and ruffles my hair.
This hat only serves to reduce the glare
From sun at the beach or out in the yard,
Mowing grass, raking leaves, nothing too hard.
It came from Hawai'i, I think from the mall,
And now it just hangs on a peg on a wall
In a room where the plants from Oahu are.
Bougainvillea, plumeria brought from afar
Bask in the warmth of a room full of light.

My hat simply watches through day and through night,
And misses the sound of the waves on a shore,
The warm breeze, the salt air, all this and more.
But he feels no regret being on the South Plains:
He's semi-retired. During winter he feigns
Indifference to weather and bides his time
'Til summer breaks through and then he feels fine,
This straw hat of mine with band of deep blue.
I like him a lot; after all, wouldn't you?

Purty durn close

Patti guessed that the "watzat" was a Cambodian Bible. It is not, but I am guessing that the full view here will suffice to bring the correct answer in. For two years, I was an interim pastor for a Cambodian congregation in San Francisco. Most of the congregation spoke English, but they sang the hymns in Khmer. I did my first baptisms in that congregation: a little girl, her aunt, and the aunt's father. He was about 70 going on 90, a fragile-looking fellow who rarely attended services. One of the congregants recorded a tape for me that was the Khmer translation of "I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." I would listen to the tape and transliterate it into English characters. I practiced over and over saying that phrase, and my interpreter helped me polish it.

The day of the baptism, there were at least three other pastors baptizing members of their language congregations, so we had to trade out the waders. (All the congregations were Baptists, so everyone got dunked.) One group would get baptized and then the audience would sing a song while the next pastor pulled on the waders and got into the baptismal tank. When it came my turn, I baptized the little girl first--no problem, she was light and I remembered the phrase. Then came her aunt, who seemed to question my pronunciation with a look askance. Then came the old man. I was so worried that I was going to drown him, I hesitated on the phrase. He prompted me, so I hope I said the right words! Anyway, when I lowered him into the water, I leaned over so far, that water started to pour over the top of the waders. I stood up quickly, but not before a jet of water went all the way to my socks. Unfortunately, there was one more pastor waiting to baptize, and I had to hand over waders that were wet inside and out.

PWT car

Here's what the Saturn looks like at the moment. When I contacted the Saturn house in Big Flat City, they said a new bumper cover would cost around $250. And it would be another $250 to paint it. "Thanks for the information. B-bye." So I got online and found a source that would sell me the same thing for $56. Of course, the shipping is going to be about $80. But that is still a lot less than the dealer's price. Sure, it will be primer grey, but, heck, that's better than it looks now!