Conference sunset
Although admittedly not a particularly remarkable sunset, this image is a reprise of another picture taken by me and posted six months previously, from the same location, and for precisely the same reason. My description of the other photo is incorporated here by reference, as whatever I could say here would be substantially the same as what I wrote that time. Suffice it to say that I wasn't able to hear a lot over the telephone, but what I did hear was pleasant and edifying. I hope to be able to attend the Madsens' gathering in person the next time it is held, in April of 2007. (This image, by the way, differs from the previous one in two respects. First, our palm tree has been trimmed since then, although it looks like it might need it again soon. Second, this photo was taken in October, with the sun a bit further south in its journey along the ecliptic.)
There are a couple of things I can add this time, however. First, while I listened in, I frequently heard birds chirping over the telephone, and for a few minutes figured the Madsens must have decided to buy a couple of cockatiels as well, following my example. After a while, however, I noticed that the Madsens' birds chirped and squealed a fraction of a second after one of our birds emitted an identical chirp or squeal. In other words, our birds' noise echoed over the telephone, although I am not sure whether Barney and the others at his end heard any of it.
The other item is this. My wife was cooking dinner while I was listening in to the post-Conference wrap-up. At one point she walked out the front door, only to return less than a minute later, which I thought rather unusual for her. Then she appeared upset or annoyed about something, and I wondered if it was my fault somehow. Later I found out that it wasn't, but when I learned what had happened, I couldn't blame her for being a little upset. She and Vanessa had gone to the store late the previous evening, which was Saturday. I went to bed while they were gone, and must have fallen asleep almost immediately because I never heard them come home. As it turned out, while in the course of preparing our meal, Sheila discovered that about $25.00 worth of meat, which she had purchased the night before, was missing. She finally went out to the car looking for it. The high temperature that day in the Phoenix area had been about 100 degrees, so she opened the trunk of our car, and -- well, the odor told her immediately that the meat was no longer edible. They had somehow overlooked it when bringing in the groceries after that little Saturday-night excursion to Fry's supermarket.
So much, then, for my Conference weekend, which as always was memorable, and a spiritual feast as well -- even though the more literal, material feast ended up being something less than it could have been.
Conference sunset
Although admittedly not a particularly remarkable sunset, this image is a reprise of another picture taken by me and posted six months previously, from the same location, and for precisely the same reason. My description of the other photo is incorporated here by reference, as whatever I could say here would be substantially the same as what I wrote that time. Suffice it to say that I wasn't able to hear a lot over the telephone, but what I did hear was pleasant and edifying. I hope to be able to attend the Madsens' gathering in person the next time it is held, in April of 2007. (This image, by the way, differs from the previous one in two respects. First, our palm tree has been trimmed since then, although it looks like it might need it again soon. Second, this photo was taken in October, with the sun a bit further south in its journey along the ecliptic.)
There are a couple of things I can add this time, however. First, while I listened in, I frequently heard birds chirping over the telephone, and for a few minutes figured the Madsens must have decided to buy a couple of cockatiels as well, following my example. After a while, however, I noticed that the Madsens' birds chirped and squealed a fraction of a second after one of our birds emitted an identical chirp or squeal. In other words, our birds' noise echoed over the telephone, although I am not sure whether Barney and the others at his end heard any of it.
The other item is this. My wife was cooking dinner while I was listening in to the post-Conference wrap-up. At one point she walked out the front door, only to return less than a minute later, which I thought rather unusual for her. Then she appeared upset or annoyed about something, and I wondered if it was my fault somehow. Later I found out that it wasn't, but when I learned what had happened, I couldn't blame her for being a little upset. She and Vanessa had gone to the store late the previous evening, which was Saturday. I went to bed while they were gone, and must have fallen asleep almost immediately because I never heard them come home. As it turned out, while in the course of preparing our meal, Sheila discovered that about $25.00 worth of meat, which she had purchased the night before, was missing. She finally went out to the car looking for it. The high temperature that day in the Phoenix area had been about 100 degrees, so she opened the trunk of our car, and -- well, the odor told her immediately that the meat was no longer edible. They had somehow overlooked it when bringing in the groceries after that little Saturday-night excursion to Fry's supermarket.
So much, then, for my Conference weekend, which as always was memorable, and a spiritual feast as well -- even though the more literal, material feast ended up being something less than it could have been.