Hood Ornament

 

The Blue Gate Performing Arts Center has added a room full of beautiful antique automobiles. This is a hood ornament from one of those cars.

July 25, 2026

I need you!

Today on my Facebook “feed” an advertisement for a church property for sale “popped up”. 

I think it was a sign from God.

He is speaking and I am listening.

I asked my wife if we could buy the church. She sent me back an emoji. I wasn’t sure if it was a “no” or “yes” emoji. Sometimes it is hard for me to discern these things. But I took it as a “yes” in the absence of proof to the otherwise.

If you saw the emoji you would be confused to (to as in also). It was that round face that is usually smiling, but this time it looked asleep and had some sort of steam coming from its' mouth. I have no idea what that is supposed to be. So I'm going with "yes". 

I should email the finance person who holds our pennies and nickels in a piggy bank and ask him to break it open and see if we have a lot of money in there or not. Last time he shook it real hard he estimated it to be about two hundred dollars of pennies, nickels, quarters, half dollars and some of those two dollar coins that had that ladies picture on them. Those lasted about 2.5 seconds in the world of coins.

As you know I am a very dynamic person. I am full of dynamism. I am magnetic. Full of personal magnetism. People flock to see me. This is what you need if you are gong to start a church.

I once put on Facebook that I was going to a Colts pre-season game (I can’t afford regular season tickets) and despite it being pre-season thousands of people showed up to see me. Same thing happened when I went to a Notre Dame game. Again thousands. Most of them “played it cool” and didn’t swoon or fawn. I’m sure they thought I would appreciate this thoughtfulness, but in truth a little more adulation would have been okay.

So I am pretty sure that if I started a church things would work out fine. I’d just post the service times on Facebook and that should “do it”.

This particular church is a bit off the beaten path, but looks to have “good bones”. It has pews (isn’t that a funny word… it sounds like it is something that would smell bad) and… and I forgot where I was. Oh yeah, it has pews and tables and chairs and everything you would need to get up and running.

My wife is a great person. She studies her bible every day. Rain or shine. Winter and summer. Light in the morning or darkness. She’s there at her desk. So she could do the bible things and I could do the money counting things. What a great team!

I've suggested business ideas to her in the past. She is a good cook and I tell her so. I think people would really like some of the swell dishes that she can make. So I've suggested we start a restaurant where she cooks and I count the money. I would run the cash register and say "hello" to people, and "good-bye" to people. And when she is finished cooking she could wash the dishes. But, alas, she didn't see this as a working proposition.

But I'm sure this church thing would work.

Now we just need somewhere around $700,000 to get started.

I think the first thing to do is to post on Facebook that I’m going to another sporting event like a Notre Dame Football Game and when all those people show up to see me we will pass the offering plate. If there were 60,000 people or so there and they each gave us $5 we would be about half way there. 

See how simple this is.

Can I count on you to be a parishioner? A regular? A Congregant? A part of the loyal flock?

I need you!

Please let me know at your earliest convenience.

Psalm 139:23-24

 

table in log cabin

 a picture from a few days ago.

interior of log cabin at David Roger's Park, LaGrange county, Indiana.

Black and white.

The "texture" are two pictures, one of a mushroom and the other of cracked concrete. The two pictures combine laid behind the black and white image gives the feeling of damaged. Other effects were added to give the feeling of "old".

July 2026

i helped with dishes, kinda, sorta, maybe

 

We had tacos for lunch. 

I wonder if tacos is something that Americans invented. I wonder if anyone in Mexico eats tacos. I wonder if it is what Americans think Mexican people eat, or should eat. I wonder if I think too much. I wonder what you think about tacos or if I think too much.

I was pretty sure that I helped Pam with the dishes afterwards. However I did not receive “brownie points”. This is too bad because I need "brownie points". I need lots of 'em. This (my not getting "brownie points") may be a travesty of justice. 

Or maybe not. 

You decide.

I am sure you are very curious to know what happened, and well you should be. Good for you!

We had finished eating tacos. This creates dirty dishes. When you own a dishwasher its purpose is to wash the dishes and make them clean. However most people do not want to put really dirty dishes in the dishwasher so they clean them first so that the dishwasher can clean them again, or some more, whatever the case may be.

So Pam was cleaning the dishes before putting them into the dishwasher for them to be cleaned, or re-cleaned.

While she was doing this I was watching a YouTube video of a cat playing the piano.

Suddenly, and without warning, I spotted a dirty dish that was sitting on the counter. From her vantage point she could not see this dirty dish. I picked it up and tried to hand it to her but she was too busy, to see my helpful gesture, so I said, “Here Pam”, to get her attention. 

She took the dish. It was unceremonious. One could say it was curt, or abrupt. Or even brusque. (I don’t really know what brusque means, but any word with a “Q” in it is a good word.)

Then I said, “Aren't you happy that I helped with the dishes”.

Apparently this was a mistake. I wasn’t able to see it beforehand, but looking back on it now I can see it was a mistake. And I had help seeing it was a mistake which makes it all the more clear that it was certainly a mistake. 

Apparently to “help” you have to do more that sit on your chair while a cat is playing the piano on your phone and say “here”. 

So no "brownie points".

So now I know and I’ll do better next time. 

July 11, 2026

Galatians 6: 9-10

 

Lighthouse at Sunset

 

The lighthouse at Frankfort, Michigan at sunset, July 6, 2026

tug boat

  Tug boat Frankfort, MI, July 2026

frankfort michigan lighthouse, July 2, 2026