You Can't Go Home Again

Last summer my wife and I took a trip to Portsmouth, New Hampshire where I had lived from ages 10 to 14.  We arrived in the rain and, unfortunately, it didn't stop until the day we left.

Our first stop was to see the house I had lived in at 3 Pinecrest Terrace.  Here I am standing the the driveway.  The house was torn down a couple of years ago.  Was it Thomas Wolfe who said "You can't go home again"? It was our second home in Portsmouth.  The first home is shown below.

This was our first home in Portsmouth.  It was fifty years old at the time we lived here and is now over one hundred years old.  The current owners were kind enough to take us through the house.  My bedroom certainly looked much smaller than I remember it.  That seemed to be the motto of this trip -- "I don't remember this being so small."
 

The One True God

I was watching an episode of Robin Hood in which Robin's gang was about to be destroyed.  The Saracen girl decided that they should all confess their feelings and truths.  Everyone did it except Robin.  He just wanted a few minutes to himself and he promised that in the next life, he would tell them his secrets.

The Saracen girl indicated that in the next life, she would be in a different heaven that the rest of them because she was Moslem and they were Christians.

So, if there is a Moslem God and a Christian God, how did we come to be in the same place here on earth?  Wouldn't it be more likely that the Moslem God would create one place and the Christian God another?  Or did they hold a meeting to divide up who would do what?  If so, what is the purpose of this shared earth if we are going to be separated later?

And if someone converts from Islam to Christianity or from Christianity to Islam, do they get a whole new God?  And that leaves out all the other religions in the world.  So, how big was this planning meeting, anyway?

When I was a missionary in Brazil a man told me that all religions are good and they all lead to the same place.  Although I believe that most religions help people to be better, I do not believe they will all take us to the same heaven.  To say that all religions (Gods) are true is to say that none of them are.  This lends strength to the athiest argument that all gods are made up by man.   Indeed, much of organized religion is made up by man.

The truth is that there is only one God.  There is only one creation.  It is our business to find out who He is.  There are plenty of clues.  And we will be held accountable for what we found out.

Update on the garden

Here are the berry patches as of May 22nd, 2010. Quite a difference from last year.

The wedding.

The happy couple and the parents.

Last year I mentioned our son's upcoming wedding. This will let you know that it happened. We were thoroughly exhausted after the reception, but very grateful and excited that he found such a wonderful young woman to share his life.

Here is the sign welcoming Olesya and her mother.

OK! In order to get this right you have to start reading 2 posts down. This one is the conclusion.

#1 The current result. Dale, the 4 rhubarb plants are in the next-to-the-top row.
#2 The secret of my success. I hauled 8 of these loads of horse manure. 3 to me, 3 to Becky and 2 to the rentals. Compared to politics, I like this a lot better.



























#3 The rocks I took out of the raspberry patch. I thought I had way too many until I started using them for pathways in the garden. See #1 by the fence. Now I may not have enough.
#4 The coolest little garden wagon dumper. Good for hauling rocks, manure, misc. garden debris and grandchildren.

Richards Memorial Strawberry Patch

Wow, this is confusing! I have to put the pictures in backwards to make them come out frontwards.

Here is the Silas & Elizabeth Richards Memorial Strawberry Patch. 115 plants going gang-busters.

Garden Report - Star Date 13 May 2009

OK. Dale-Oh-Mon called last night to say that he has been working in his garden (in anticipation of bringing home a new bride). I thought, "Working in your garden?! You don't have a clue what 'working in your garden' is!" (My dad can beat up your dad!)

So, here and in the following posts is a report of our garden as of this date.

#4 is the raspberry patch along the front of the garage.
#3 is a photo of the English Ivy that will provide the green in place of the boxwood bushes that were torn out.
#2 is the mystery plant. Trying to figure out if it is really a raspberry. Does it look like the plant in #1 to you? Take the poll.