Another Atlantic Crossing

In my last posts, I had just returned to Madeira to cope with the added responsibilities of "househusband", since Abbie had stayed in the States to visit with Joy and Mark for a week or so, followed by a week and a half with her folks. Last Tuesday, the 23rd, I took off again in the direction of the US. Because of flight schedule changes, I was forced to spend Tuesday night in Newark before coming on to Arkansas on Wednesday morning.

Joy and Mark were at the airport and were good enough to loan me one of their cars to drive 2 hours to get Abbie at her parents' house. After lunch and a brief visit, Abbie and I drove the 2 hours back to Joy and Mark's house. That only lasted 2 nights.

Last night, Abbie and I came on over to Tulsa to spend a couple of nights and participate in a wedding. Jay, who spent 3 or 4 years playing basketball in Madeira, got married tonight. He was a blessing to us in the time he was on the island, and before he left, he was helping lead the youth meetings and was going with me to the prison each week. Professional basketball is a thing of the past for him now, as he has been youth minister at a church in Tulsa for the past three years or more. While weddings tend to be beautiful by nature, a few are like this one: beautiful because the Lord shines in the lives of the bride and groom. Jay and Lindsay will be used by God to bless many, we are sure.

Another wedding is coming up next weekend. This time it will be about 10-12 hours by car each way to Houston, where my nephew Josh will be getting married. By the time we get back to Arkansas from that one, we will only have a couple of days left before flying back to Madeira on Feb. 8: one more Atlantic crossing. Enough! I say...for a while at least.

So far, so good

It's been almost a week since I got home and began to experience firsthand the "joys" of living alone. Cooking, for example, is pretty easy: Put the food in the pan and turn on the fire under it. When the kitchen fills with smoke, remove from heat and serve. You ask if I can eat my own cooking? Of course! I just don't fix anything I don't like.

I'm still getting by on what´s been hanging in the closet or is still in the chest of drawers, so my class in Washing and Ironing 102 (you see, it won't be the first time I've washed or ironed...but almost) will probably be held sometime next week. I'll crease that shirt when I get to it. I'm thinking the rules of cooking don't apply to ironing clothes---you know, the smoke and all.

On the home front (but outside the house), the weather has turned rainy and cool. Clear down to 52º or so (11º C) the other day, which doesn't compare to the cold in the States, but without heat in the house, it's more uncomfortable.

In the church, the last of the various members who travelled for the holidays (except Abbie, of course) have returned, José Carlos and Susana having arrived from Brazil today. Marcia returned earlier in the week, looking very well. It will be good to see the Lord's House full again this Sunday.

Funchal and the Guinness Book of Records

We missed it this year for the first time in 30 years, the year it was made official: The Guinness Book of Records had a team on hand to observe the New Year's Eve fireworks display in person, and within hours had confirmed the feat. The Madeira New Year's Eve fireworks display has been declared to be the largest in the world.

In case you missed it, too, if you click here you can access a site that has posted the 11-minute video, which opens with a couple of minutes showing the highway I take to Funchal every day, plus the almost 10 minutes of fireworks display. At the end, you can hear the 8 cruise ships that were in port that night sound off. The site also includes statistics on the number of fireworks set off (e.g., 8000 per minute), but I don't know if it mentions that the cost was on the order of 1 million euros (1.3 million dollars).

Home Alone

Despite a 3-hour delay in Newark, I arrived home at the appointed hour (a little after 3 p.m. yesterday), thanks to the scheduled 5-hour layover in Porto, which meant I was still able to make my connection.

I was going to post a couple of the last pictures I took on the way to Denver, but my computer isn't accepting the card reader at the moment. Oh, well, they were just pictures of more snow and more snow and more snow. Speaking of more snow, an e-mail from Mom says that yesterday it was snowing again between Pueblo and Denver, so I got out ahead of yet another snow storm.

It was fun being with family at this time of year. Now I'm with no family at all, as Abbie stayed behind with Joy and Mark. Not exactly, "no family", I should say. The brothers and sisters of the church are family, too, and it will be good to see them tomorrow.

Meanwhile, this is not a movie. I am literally, "home alone", at least until I take off for the States again in 2 1/2 weeks.

Moving On

The page on the calendar has turned and we move on into 2007. Rachel and Chris went home Friday after the worst of the storm had passed. They have to drive across the Rocky Mountains to Grand Junction, near the Utah border, which this time was easier going perhaps. We didn't get much snow here, but the highways to the east and south were closed by the blizzard, with drifts of 10 feet (3 metres) and more closing roads and stranding travellers.

Abbie left today (Tuesday) with Mark and Joy to go back to Arkansas. The roads should have been cleared by now, but I'm sure they will see a lot of snow on the way. Hopefully the 12-hour trip won't be much longer than that. I will be flying out of Denver on Thursday about noon and should arrive in Madeira about noon the following day. This will probably be my last posting until I get back home. Here is a sampling of pictures taken in the last few days.

There wasn't a lot of snow here, but the cold that came after the storm left the trees covered with frost before the rising sun melted it off.




























































The dead, brown flowers of summer stubbornly poke through the snow and contrast with its whiteness. "For all flesh is as grass, and the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: but the word of the Lord endureth forever." 1 Peter 1:24-25

























By day the sun casts its rays through the fences, and at nightfall, the full moon rises over the same field.