I'm here. Really.

I'm feeling guilty it has been so long. The hardest thing is that I have so many things I want to blog about that I'm overwhelmed and don't know where to start or what to put down.

(photos available for all these)There was the work trip to Switzerland. Followed soon after by the local bull run/fiesta. Then a major, major birthday that Dar surprised me and took me to a castle to stay the night. Followed by 3 days later a team of 10 people arriving from OPAG. That was cool, but being the tour guide was very stressful for me even though everyone was sweet. The same day they left, my dad and I went to Rome. Very cool and big city. I liked the vatican more than I expected. Then a day at home and off to Casablanca for the weekend with Dar and Dad. A little lingering intestinal distress from that weekend (not not a blog worthy topic.)

Friday, we are having people over for a joint birthday of Dar and another guy. It's an 80s theme and ought to be a hoot. Someone asked me what we were going to doooo? Are we playing games or something? I felt very old - I mean hanging out, food, and friends is enough for me. I like games too, but I don't need them I guess. Do you know any 80s games that don't involve purchasing a board game in English?

Tourist shops

I read a travel magazine that inferred that tourist shops were some sort of low brow, second class sort of traveling. I was sort of disappointed to find out I was somehow substandard.

I like cheesy tourist shops with the city name on plates and such. If you go into a bunch of them on one street, you sort of discover the trademark images or ideas of a city. And you discover how much stuff made in China can be stamped with another city name. I don't generally buy all the stuff though occassionally something strikes me as my style or something I'm willing to take home.

I guess to be truly cultured in your travel, you're suppose to disdain these type of shops and only go places that display local artisans or something. Don't get me wrong, I like local artisan type shops too. It's just that I can see the mass appeal of the chanka-chank tourist places.

Also you have to keep in mind that there are degrees in these stores. I think of Florida ones - t-shirts, towels, and sea shells. Not much else. But here the big ones will have swords, ceramics, Toledo styled gold inlaid items, in addition to t-shirts, stuffed bulls, and shot glasses.

Viva la tourist trap!

What happened to July?!

I'm not really sure what happened to the last six weeks. A lot of work in July wrapping up, and then undoing and then wrapping up the Path. That went on the whole month. The boss left on Aug. 2 with a complete DVD. Whew. First two weeks of August: praying for a way to get over all the bad feelings a couple of my coworkers left me with. Lovely. I'm glad Path is done, wish I was more ecstatic. It's mainly just relief and disgust at people's behavior.

Never heard back on that story I submitted. They asked for a rewrite and then the magazine almost went under. Now it's coming back but as a pay ezine instead of a free one. I'm not sure if my story got lost in the shuffle or what. I should probably follow up, and or sign up for the paid subscription. I've re-read 150 pages of my last completed book trying to figure out where I'm at in the rewrite and who these characters are.

Discovered a paperwork error in our official finances to the tune of thousands of dollars. Fortunately an accountant type friend here came over and ran the numbers for us. Waiting...two weeks now for Springfield to analyze and agree with the new numbers which means they owe us thousands rather than we already have it. Lord, please let that work out.

I got my hair cut quite short last week. I could form it into a spikey fauxhawk if I wanted to...someone said just because you can doesn't mean you should...Probably I won't. Or maybe once as a joke. : )

We had a Romanian girl living with us for a week. She gets back tonight for a little while, but she feels bad and is going to go live with someone else. She just had to get out of her rental place for the month of August. She's really sweet and it's no big deal. She's trying to join the Spanish masters commission in September so she can learn more about God and get out of her nanny, housekeeper, poor paying immigrant job. It's almost like having a grown up kid living at home. She comes and goes on her own and eats on her own. She's also very pretty if you know any single guys interested in a nice Romanian girl who does speak some English.

My brother broke off his engagement. Big news. We'll still come home for Christmas since that was the plan anyway. My dad had a biopsy that made us all nervous, but it came back clean yesterday. Yippee.

Today I got excited again about a project I had started for work last year and basically hadn't had any time to work on it because of Path. Initially after Path I was too discouraged to start working on Women of the Bible because of what happened. God is affirming who I am in him, separate from all the garbage, and I'm catching a vision for the project again. I had a brain storm today about finding talent for it and it was wonderful and exciting. I like the discovery process of writing a project and brainstorming it. Who knows if this will fly? I've just got to focus on the vision and the details and leave the rest up to God.

Lots in this post to give thanks for. In case I wasn't clear...thanks God!

Writing again

After months of busyness at work, I'm trying to get back in the writing saddle. I've written newsletters for work, scraps of scripts, etc but not just the fun writing I do for myself. It's really been since January also since I've worked on the in depth scripts for work. I write much better when I'm in the habit and I have to jump start my habit now.

To ease into it, last Friday I edited/read outloud a short story, wrote a cover letter and submitted it to a magazine. I got a fairly favorable response already, asking for a rewrite of the ending which is much better than a flat out rejection. I had a crudy day at work and had such a hard time even facing the idea of trying to sit at the computer, much less rewrite the end of my story.

I sat down sullen and not in the mood, but there's a certain beauty to just simply making yourself do it. I think writing is 99 percent about making yourself just sit down and try, and maybe 1 percent inspiration or mood. Tonight was hard because usually I'm just lazy and making myself do something, this was actually a rough day, an uneasy state of mind to overcome.

If it's mostly about getting words on "paper" (or screen), then I managed it. I'm not happy with a couple sentences and I think it needs some more work, but there's something there that wasn't before. It may not be great but it's a place to start, or end I guess in this case.

I will have my Thursday to do some stuff for work. Again, I'm not in the writing habit, and in the case of this project, I need to do research before I can write, so Thursday may just be research. And we'll be traveling Friday so I'll probably not have time. Next week, I have to be in the editing suite again, so I don't know when my next opportunity will come. I want to get more disciplined about using evening times but I can see the challenge of today. I've used a lot of my mental energy before I can get to it. I've read lots of stories of writers who have become big -- they had to want it really badly. Getting up at 5 am to write and that sort of thing. I guess I'm not wanting it that badly yet, although I did sit down tonight and make some progress under less than perfect circumstances, so I'll take that as a good sign.

Catching up

Wow! Did you think I disappeared off the planet too? I feel like I have. The last couple weeks I have been buried in the editing suite in the basement of the offices. I'm feeling a little like a mushroom, if you know what I mean, both because of the location and the work.

This Saturday I get to work again (last Sunday there was some tweeking on a promo-video). This is the same promo video but getting it ready for a missions trip group that is here working on construction of the new building. Nevermind we have two weeks to the deadline to get the big project "Path" done. It's insane here right now. No one seems to know where all the pieces of Path are at in the production process and the left hand definitely doesn't know what the right is doing. There are several nice people who keep saying "sure I can do that" to the producer (not me). It's nice that they are willing but they need to also add - that is redoing work I've done the last two weeks - are you okay with that?

Chances aren't looking real good that we'll make this deadline. It is not the end of the world as it is for a catalog that goes to the English speaking world but it does give some kind of connections (that are unclear to me) to broadcasters too, like Australia for instance. So if we don't make it, we can be in next year's catalog, but it is a shame to be so close and yet so far. Maybe they'll have mercy on us.

In the midst of this, the energy seems to be being sucked out of everyone by the building project going on next store for the office. It's odd and tense, but somehow we will get through this in the next few weeks and then it will be time to pack for the move to the new building. Maybe, that's not on schedule either.

The next few weeks

Wanted to check in and say hi while I have a chance. We have a video shoot this weekend in a small town near where we live that will give us a good impersonation of a street in ancient Israel. Among other things, I was recruiting people to be in costume, not exactly actors, but willing victims. I think I've got 25 people coming. I'm not sure the producer wants that many. Oops. This week I'm arranging rides and details for the shoot. Picking up some replica sandals across town, coming up with some light refreshments probably from a Sam's type place called Makro. Calling a restaurant/bar in the town to arrange for us to use their inadequate toilet facilities. Arranged hotel accomodations for a guy coming in from the States. Normally he would stay with someone but everyone is swamped. Let's just put it this way, every time I get one thing done I think of something else. It's fun, but hectic.

Next week, it will be the same only it will be organizing a shoot of 40 people who will act out a battle scene in a field near here. I'm up to about 18 people for that shoot now. Tomorrow I will go to the Catholic church with some flyers and see if they are interested in bringing a group to be in the video. It's good for my Spanish to try anyway! Anyone want to come be in a video??? Also a couple people from France are flying in for that shoot and will stay at our house. We shoot on May 5 so I'm doing all this recruiting for 5 de mayo - kind of funny it has nothing to do with Mexico.

At the same time, somehow we volunteered to do some things for the All Europe Retreat. We are released to go down and help with that - we are leaving May 7. We need to have a dog/house sitter that week. Hopefully I'll arrange that tomorrow with a girl that cleans the office. The retreat will be nice once we get past the work stuff we've volunteered to do. Do you ever wonder how you get yourself into stuff like that? We know the area because it is where we went to language school so we are more used to that area than most people would be. The retreat ends the day before our anniversary, so we're going to take that Monday as a vacation day. Hopefully we will find relaxation through or after the retreat. It's a hectic three weeks ahead. Not bad stuff, just a lot!

Easter Weekend Review

We drove about five and half hours north into the state/province of Galicia, still Spain but they have their own language too. The area is known for being rainy, like BB's northwest, and for seafood and for the pilgrimage of Santiago de Compostela. We lucked out and had sun and very pleasant weather minus one loud but pretty dry thunderstorm. Dar enjoyed the loud, midwest style thunder.

Because it's rainy up there it was very green and many of the ancient buildings had moss growing on them. It is such a different look than the dry, dusty area we live in that we really feasted on the green.

The church of Santiago.

The church is the image on the one cent coin here.

We feasted on the seafood too. They are known for pulpo de gallega, which is octopus Galician style. They cut the tentacles into round medallions and saute them in butter, garlic, and paprika. Pretty taste really if you can get past the suction cups. The skin (and thus the suction cups) are fatty, so I don't always eat the skin. The inside is meaty, white, like a scallop. They throw a few small tentacles on the plate too. We let Dar eat those. We also ate sardines, shrimp, and fish.

Santiago de Compostela is the town we stayed in and the main attraction up there. The story is that James (as in St. James of the Bible) came and ministered in Spain for 10 years. For some reason he went back to Jerusalem and got himself killed. His disciples brought his body back to Spain to bury. In 800 and something AD, a monk followed a course of stars and discovered the remains of St. James. Thus the city is named St. James of the star course. Then people all over Europe for a thousand plus years walked the Camino del Santiago. Mostly it is from Paris to Northern Spain. The pilgrims arrive all day long and look weary but relaxed. Several limped. Today it seems like most people go from the border of Spain and take about one month to walk it. You have to walk 100 kilometers (62 miles +) to be a certified pilgrim of St. James. We didn't walk it but I am fascinated by the idea of stepping out of life, unplugged if you will, for a period of time like that. Me and Tiff with an old geezer wearing old fashioned pilgrim wear (for photos), a bit cheesy but he did say he walks it every year.

We drove a little of the coast on the way home and then headed for a very long drive home. Turns out there was a 100 kilometer traffic jam that added a couple hours to an already long drive.

3 shoots, 3 weeks

March has been hectic. What do you say if the entire month is a lion? There is a chance it will go out in a lamb like manner. The first 11 days of the month we had house guests. They were nice and are likely coming back soon as coworkers. It just changes the rythem of your days and your habits.

While they were here we had a video shoot. This was the one indoor shoot. I arranged for the location (our church), and the 10 actors, well, volunteers, and a bunch of other details. One of my big jobs is to sort of run interferance between the techincal crew and the director/producer as well as to channel his energies where they need to be focused at a given moment. I also watch the video carefully as it records trying to catch mistakes, errors, or mismatches between shots. This has been harder for me than it used to be and I'm not sure why. Dar had to do basically three sets for these scenes plus a fourth sudden blue screen set up outside.


Last Saturday we had the second shoot. I had scouted a location, 2 hours away. The director had never had time to see it and was going strictly on my pictures. I had coordinated with two men to use them and their horses for this scene. I was filled with nerves taking our small convoy across the highway to the countryside. The shoot turned out well, but it was hard getting everything set up for the crew with the director not having seen things before. It was a bigger challenge than some of our shoots are at the set up point. We got the shots needed though. Dar was in costume and on horseback. His horse liked girls better than boys, so at one point I was sweet talking Morro, the horse, down the road to where we needed him to be.


One more shoot this Saturday. I've been working very hard for a couple weeks to come up with 20 fit, male volunteers to be Herodian soldiers. With about 36 hours to go I've got 17 and about 8 more possibles hanging out there still. Not to mention all the details of getting them rides and coordinated with costumes and make up. The makeup person fell and was injured after the first shoot, so we've also had to operate short handed. It's amazing what gets done when it has to and how God manages to help us through the chaos. Dar was busy doing a gold finish on 20 sets of grieves (Herodian chin guards) today, and shields the last couple weeks, besides the special effects graphics for completed segments.

I'm exhausted and ready for this third shoot to be past. We have about a five week break then two shoots in a week, large ones. Then all the scenes for this series of video will be in the can as they say. After that it's just post production. I'll be ready for a slower pace next week that's for sure.

Signs of Spring

Spring is popping up here - and it's just February 28. I have lived many, many years in a climate that has a much longer winter and this is a really wild sensation.

I still have all my sweaters out. Our winter was so mild there are two heavy ones I never wore. I think the winter here has the potential to be colder than it happened to be this year, but it ends much earlier that's for certain.

We get most of our rain through the winter, so the usually brown hills around us are greening up. The pansies in our yard never died during the winter so they are popping up with flowers. The early blooming trees are sprouting white and pink petals. It's hard to believe it's so early.

I feel a little guilty about enjoying this since everyone has had such a hard winter. I have to remind myself to get out and enjoy it now because it will get really, really hot later.

Another sign of spring is strawberries. My favorite fruit. Last year I missed them because I thought it was some weird hot house aberration last year when they came in February. I'm learning that things disappear after they go out of season, so you have to enjoy them while they last.

Not sure if this will show up very well, but tonight we had a brief shower and a very strong rainbow with the beginning of a double. The end of the rainbow was out in the wild lands behind our house. First on a power line poll which is kind of funny because that is a pot of gold for someone. Then the end of the rainbow moved to the rabbit warren we can see, hmmm.

The long weekend

We went to go skiing about an hour away from home. When we got to the hotel we found out the snow was gone. So we went site seeing instead.


Kerry and our car by a Roman church, waaaaay out in the country.


A medieval town, Sepulveda where we ate lunch at Casa Paulino.


Yes, that's an egg in my soup. Along with chunks of bread and meat somewhere between bacon and ham. Tasty actually, especially on a cold day.



Madriguera, a red village. Nearby are also black villages. The earth was drastically red and so were the buildings. It was a surreal place. It felt like another time and place in the world.


This must the home of the people who like animals in Madriguera. Cats were everywhere around this place.


Ayllon, another medieval town with a Roman church further to the north. Sunday, no one around and only the restaurant/bars were open.

We raced from Ayllon down to an appointment to go through a cave. It was a guided tour, in Spanish, and pretty interesting. Some of the formations were multi colored, red, black and white due to minerals in the ground water. We went from there to a gas station to buy a bottle of water. Then our car wouldn't start. This is when we made friends with the gas station attendent, the tow truck driver, and a taxi driver. Because I left the keys to the hotel in the now towed away car, we had to sit for two hours in a bar and wait for the hotel owner to come back. We were the only guests so he'd locked up and gone to visit his dad in the hospital. We were tired to put it lightly.

Monday we took a taxi back home, yes an hour long taxi ride. That's what the insurance company said to do and they will pay us back. I sure hope so as it was over 100E. The car is at a garage in Madrid now, after a lovely language snafu on my part. A blow to my confidence language-wise. Now we are waiting to hear what's wrong and hoping it is covered by the warrantee.

Not dull, you can say that.