Holiday Candies (Buckeyes)

These are the candies that never made it anywhere. Buckeyes are probably Deb's favorite all time Holiday treat. They are the equivelant of home-made peanut butter cups with a very high temptation value.

The first batch of 26 yielded 7 to give away. The second batch at least stood for pictures and out of around 36, more than half made it to worthy recipients. It is a refridgerated treat, so it doesn't ship well (too bad for out of towners). It also doesn't seem to keep real well either (it all gets eaten too quickly).

Turkey Day 2008

Minneapolis, MN was the location of our Thanksgiving revelry. I had business on the Saturday after Thanksgiving in Minneapolis, so I decided to take my lovely bride and visit Farrah and her Fiance, Bo.

Farrah was so excited to show off her place and her cooking talent. It was good. Bo and Farrah shared full responsibility for the Turkey and basted it every 20 minutes (just like Bo's mother does). It came out perfect. They asked me to do the honors of cutting the Turkey. It was an amazing display of cooking talent and it was nice to see the newly emerging family in the Scott clan. Thank you Bo and Farrah for a great weekend.

This is Farrah, Bo and the dog wishing us well on our trip back to Kansas on Saturday afternoon. See you at Christmas.

Live in this Moment

Yesterday was a singular day. On 3 of 4 Saturday mornings, in soccer season (Spring and Fall), I usually referee the first 3 games of the morning. Yesterday was no exception.

It was a tournament day, with teams from all over the country. I had teams from South Carolina and Iowa that I noticed. The teams were good, precise, well trained and careful. But the weather was amazing.

On the way to the fields, I decided to drive my motocycle. It was 7 am and the temperature was about 50 degrees and VERY foggy. I could see droplets in front of my headlight. The moisture clung to my windshield, my pants, my gloves and my jacket. At the end of my 25 minute drive, my jacket and jogging pants were soaked (thankfully, not all the way through). Visiblility was so short that I found myself losing cars that we more than 1/2 block away. Signal lights were obscured from across the street.

At the fields, you couldn't see the parking lots from the soccer field or any nets from soccer fields one field next to you. And it stayed that way throught the first 2 games. Then, in the middle of the second game, one of the referees mentioned 'I love days like this'. Later I thought on how insightful this comment was.

We only have one day to live. I'm thankful for each one. On that day, I saw how important it was to focus on the moment (you couldn't see anything else anyway). I realize that I really am thankful to wake to each new day. Each day is an adventure. This moment is your moment. Live for this moment - make the most of it. It's all you get. It's all you really need.

A Temple in KC

In October conference, in the first session, in the first talk by President Monson, it was announced that a Temple would be built in the 'greater Kansas City area'. Speculation immediately took hold - where? It will be in Clay county at the Shoal Creek exit of I-435, short of Liberty in Kansas City, MO (5 minutes from Carrie and John Shaw's house - my niece). That was the revelation that I was waiting for last conference, I guess.

I'm sorry that I haven't shared more of my thoughts on this blog with you. I guess that the last entry about conference and it's meaning to me left me with a need to answer that challenge of seeing there revelation, or an incredible experience. There was revelation there, to be sure. But like most revelation, it was spoken for me - t0 my soul. Much of it could be shared, but normally not in a public way. That which is a personal sacred experience can be trivialized and sullied in public declarations. I don't want to seek after public acclaim, but I do want to live in such a way that in the day I see my Saviour face to face, I will feel comfortable.

The Big Change

There are changes here in the Scott house. Jim is moving his buisness back into our basement. We've had a lot going on with all the cleaning, packing, stocking, and throwing some things away. Pete our son-in-law did the electrical work and sheet rock and it looks great! It would be nice to have some upper windows besides one window well. Oh well, It's a basement for Heaven's sake!

LDS Conference Weekend

This is one of the highlights of my year. For many people in the church, the semi annual conference is the one opportunity to be able to escape, take a trip, go somewhere. After all they don’t have the responsibility of one (or more) Sunday callings (ie: a teacher, pianist, nursery leader, etc.). But for me, I enjoy the opportunity of sitting at the feet of prophets, seers and revelators who have prayed the I might understand the messages they give.

My wonder at their insights is akin to the wonder I believe propelled the 5,000 to sit at the feet of Jesus and his apostles all the day long until the Saviour felt moved to find them bread to eat and miraculously provided for them all. It wasn’t just the teachings of the Master that kept them there, but also the spirit they felt as they saw and heard from his lips. He fed them a spiritual feast before he fed them the loaves and fishes.

I’m looking forward to this weekend’s spiritual feast.

The Incredible Shrinking Man

Since November 17th, I have embarqed on an exacting diet to get rid of excess weight that has accumulated over an extended period of time. My target is to get to the weight that I had when I graduated from college. I enrolled in the torture program associated with 'Slim4Life' (tm).

Here are pictures to show the progress

Pic 1 is April 2007

Pic 2 is May 2007

Pic 3 is Aug 2007

Pic 4 is Christmas 2007

Pic 5 is Jan 22, 2008

Pic 6 is March 22, 2008

Tell me what you think (no, I did not get contacts)

Seattle Trip - 5 Tea Party/Tickle Monster

Our last day in Seattle was very pleasant. Tara created a grand breakfast. Benny and I watched his train videos. Alexandria put together a very proper tea party for Grandma Debbie.







Alexandria even served her brother, Benny and made him feel welcome to her special tea party.


Later they invited Grandpa to become the 'dreaded' Tickle Monster.






Being a Tickle Monster is a limited term engagement. Eventually everyone is 'tickled out' and the kids run away. Finally even the dog turns on you.


What a wonderful visit. Thank you Ben and Tara. And thank you Alex and Benny. We love you all.

Seattle Trip - 4 The Zoo

Going to the Zoo is a perfect grandparent event.

Notice how good the kids look in their cages!





Sometimes the kids are kept in caves instead of cages. Here they've taken up residence in a wolf's lair.


Eventually they get out and follow you home (to their parents' home).




Here are pictures of some of the real animals we left behind.

Seattle Trip - 3

The trip from Spokane took us through actual climate changes. Spokane sits on the west of the Rocky Mountains, at the edge of the long rolling high plains of central Washington. We cross the Columbia river flowing north and south and into the mountains again that overlook Seattle. This is looking into those mountains approaching Seattle.

Snow at the top of the pass

deserved some documentation.

This is the Snoqualmie pass, about an hour from Seattle. It's amazing.

Seattle Trip - 2

As part of the trip, Deb and I went on business to Portland, Oregon then to Eugene, Oregon, then to Spokane, Washington and back to Seattle. On the way, we were able to drop off and visit my niece, Anne Scott.

She was the sweetest hostess. We didn't stay long, but we came away hoping to be some of the first people to read her books.

Oregon also made an impression on Debbie as we went out of our way to drive by the Portland Temple. It was a thrill.

The setting in the forest sets this temple apart.

Later down the highway, while we were motoring past the Columbia river, we stopped at Multnomah falls. Another thrill of nature. The water falls 620 feet.

From here we went through southeastern Washington up to Spokane, the home of the Spokane falls. This is both sides of the falls.

Reports from Seattle - 1

Well we finally made it. Benny, Alexandria, Tara and Ben greeted us on Saturday last. We also got to meet the dog, Sire.

We went to run the first day on my first 5K run.

It was also Alexandria's first 5 K run. She came in with an astounding 25 minute time at the side of her father. I came in with a much more liesurely time, but at least I finished.

Here's a picture of the finish line. Over 22,000 people participated in the run.

Trip to Seattle, etc.

>We're at the airport waiting to get on the plane. So I thought I would take time to add to the blog. Debbie and I are taking a vacation / business trip to the Northwest. We'll keep you informed. We'll see Ben and the family and then off to Oregon for a couple of days. We expect to see Anne Scott and 3 credit unions and then return to Ben's family for a couple of more days before we launch back to the midwest.

Give it Up for JRS

Well the final blog entry about the cruise has to be about the finals in the Karaoke contest. On the second night of the cruise, they had a Karaoke event to select finalists for the last evening. I qualified by singing 'Copacabana' by Barry Manilow. It's very lively, very quick but has 58 measures of empty space to be filled in with Dancing or re-runs from Jay Leno. 4 contestants qualified that evening. On two other nights, 4 more qualified. One wisely dropped out before the final performance in the main auditorium 'The Paladium'. I was the first of the 7 remaining participants.

It was obvious that each of them 'loved' their music. Mine was just a passing fancy by comparison. Deb filmed a very complete view of my pain. I started out just under the key for the music, then adjusted into the right key over about 4 phrases. Not one to hide, I continued and finished up to the 58 bars of non-lyrical music. That's where the video starts. At least in the last part, I was in key, although winded. So winded in fact, that I had to leave out some words. 'So let's give it up for Jim' as the MC announced:

The 1st place winner was incredible and Deb filmed him too. I think you'll agree, he deserved #1. So please give it up for Baron.

The last contestants were based on a petition write-in vote, not sanctioned, yet they helped to fill in the time so the judges could make their final decisions. Here is the dark side of Karaoke, Mike and John:

Mom was very kind to indulge me. We went to all 3 Karaoke events and sang in them all - 'Always on My Mind' by Willie Nelson was the second night. It was fun, it was enchanting, it was embarassing and now its over.

Dinner on the Cruise

Here we are at our table in the back, table 68 that we shared with Lee and Susan from Michigan.

Dinners on the cruise were overwhelmingly wonderful. I have been on a diet since mid-November and it was completely abandoned after one afternoon and as I sat to the music of the chef and magicians that served at our table. Desmond was our head waiter and had 'suggestions' from the menu for every meal. Every night there was 2 menus, one for salad, soup and entree, and one for desserts.

We had the 8:30 pm late seating for dinner. If you chose not to wait until your dinner, you could go to the dinner buffet and THEN go to the late dinner seating. On two of the nights the wait staff entertained us with music and dancing. They balanced cakes on their heads using rolled up napkins and lighted candles. Here's a video part of one of the presentations.

The song has a chorus 'Cent, 5 cent, 10 cent, Dollar' and you'll see them do hand motions to the chorus line. You'll also see a lighted jacket and one of the waiters in a King's crown.

Progresso - Chichen-Itza

The second day on land for the cruise was stopping at the Yucatan Port of Progresso, 2 hours from the famous Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza. Chichen Itza has been recently designated as one of the 7 wonders of the world. How can you miss the opportunity to see that?

Our ship sent 7 or 8 busloads of tourists to the Chichen-Itza ruins. This was a day of crowds and tour guides during the 2 hour stay.

Here you see the famous Mayan temple to the Sun God on the right with the smaller Toltec temple to the warriors on the left side. The Mayan temple survived the later Toltlec domination because the Toltecs believed in the same sun god, Quetslquatl (sp) represented as a plumed serpent. This large temple is actually built on top of a smaller temple of the same shape (and intact) which is completely covered by the larger building. The temple lines up perfectly with the Summer and Winter solstice, has 364 total stairs with an additional step on the top (for the 365 days of the Mayan calendar) and has a convenient place on top for human sacrafices.

The temple on the right side has the famous sitting area on top where people were placed during the sacrificial process. This Toltec temple is part of the 1,000 columns complex in which each column represents one of the Toltec warriors that conquered the Mayans.

This picture is to prove that we really did go there and that these photos did not come from Chris's trip. This is the backside of the Mayan temple. You can see the plumed serpent heads at the bottom of the stairs on the right side of the photo.

We also got to tour the ball field where they came together to play games. The captain of the winning team was always sacrificed as part of the honor of winning the game.

Conveniently located next to the field is a small platform for sacrifice. In the Toltec warrior

culture, they viewed themselves as being black jaguars or eagles. As you can see from the picture at the right. Both the Jaguar figure (in the bright square) and the Eagle figure (in the square to immediate right of the Jaguar), are having their favorite lunch, a human heart fresh from the sacraficial alters - yuck!

In addition to lots of stories, there was lots of vendors. This vendor was one with lots of colorful blankets, pottery and other souveniers from Pier One imports.

At the end of our tour, it was back to the bus with a box lunch and a 2 hour siesta (for those that could sleep).

This was one of our guides. The spoke English well and were well versed on Mayan, Toltec and other central american histories.

Cozumel

What a glorious day arose on Wednesday. We docked about 7 am with disembarkation by about 7:45. Here's the view of the ship from the dock.

The temperatures were in the low 80's, a little cool at first, but the water was warm enough and clear to easily see 15 - 25 feet without distortion. We had signed up for clear kayaks and snorkeling. The beach was deceptively beautiful. The sand that you see is made of crushed coral which is very gritty and hurts bare feet quickly. As you get to the water, the sand is even coarser and they actually provide steps out to the boats with sandbags sunk in the water as stepping stones to the boats and from coming back from snorkeling.

Because the sand is so coarse and heavy, it stays on the bottom and makes the water VERY clear, so that coral formations, fish and plant life are easily seen as you skim upon the surface breathing through a tube. We saw brain coral, fern coral, orange, blue and red coral. Fish of many colorful varieties - blue, orange, purple, etc. Deb also saw a Sting Ray. I was snorkeling too much on my own. It was a great adventure.

The is a picture of Gringo Jim with our guide, Roman.