Wife Appreciation Day And The First Day of Fall

September 22nd is a big day.  The end of summer becomes official and believe me when I say Mother Nature has chosen to bring fall in with a bang.

I don't know when it started but it was pouring buckets as I got up this morning.

Mia and I went to dinner last night and we sat outside to eat because the weather was absolutely perfect.  We had a seat right next to the railing as we hung over the water.  The place is called Katie Downs and we had some great deep dish pizza and drinks while enjoying the last Sun we'll see in awhile.  The view was fantastic.

Today is Wife Appreciation Day and there are no words to express my appreciation of my partner in this life.  She is everything I am not.

A sneak shot taken at Katie Downs

Years ago when I was in a world of hurt from all kinds of different issues with life, I turned towards the invisible being that supposedly has all the answers.  At the time I was Presbyterian but as I have said many times before, my mom disliked them so much after her illness that we never set foot back in their church.  I knew some folks who were Catholic and one of them sponsored me in Adult Catechism.  Basically you attend weekly classes and learn what you need to know to be a good Catholic.  Some of the teachings were strange to me and others were not.  Symbolism plays a big part in the Catholic religion.  Interpretation of the Bible seemed different to me but of course they have their own Bible that is published in accordance with Catholic Canon Law.  No reason to go into detail but suffice it to say that the teachings and rituals in the Catholic Church were quite different from any I had experienced in any of the churches I had attended up to that point.  I was later baptized as an adult into the Catholic community.

Once there, I volunteered to work with kids in a Wednesday morning meeting with teenagers from a local senior high school.  I had to study and know my stuff to meet and teach the kids.  They were intelligent individuals who often came up with questions I couldn't answer.  At the time, the priest couldn't answer them any better than I.  Some of them involved the Church's view on gays.  The kids read the teachings of Jesus who never turned anyone away and wondered why the Church chose to ignore and put them down.  I wondered myself.  The priest didn't wonder.  They just followed the teachings of the Church wether it coincided with the Bible or not.  It was an interesting time and I stuck with it until I finally dug myself out of the gutter and stop doing all the bad things I had been doing.

Then those questions started to get to me and I found myself not attending church or having anything to do with my adopted religion.  I am sure a lot of my decision came from the Church's handling of the Priest verses child issue that raised its ugly head in the media not to long ago.  It seem like no one cared enough to make some kind of law or rule within the organization that it would no longer protect these individuals.  It has finally come to pass.

Along comes a new Pope.  He is silent in the beginning.  Not causing waves as he appears to study the landscape and finally conclude that there might actually be something wrong with the way Catholics think.  So he makes a speech and sends everyone scrambling to find out if he plans to change the Roman point of view for the church and give more latitude on specific issues.  I am look forward to see what he plans to bring to the table after the controversy of this recent move dies.  I say more power to him and I hope he is able to make some change that appears to be long overdue.  A church should be a place to go and be loved and not a place that tells you all the things you did wrong and how much it is going to cost you in the afterlife.

Honey loves Saturday and Sunday mornings when I am home.  She sits on my stomach and looks out the window while I give her a morning massage.  She is starting to get some of her hair back so it looks like it might be time to trim her.  She has healed quite well from her earlier attacks.  I am really surprised at how much we look forward to seeing her at the end of the day.  She returns that by being equally happy to see us.

Yesterday the Washington Huskies embarrassed Idaho State with a 56 - 0 win at home.  It was their last tune up before PAC 12 play begins.  This coming Saturday they will meet Arizona who, like Washington, is undefeated so far this year.  It is a home game and the fans will be in their best form.   Here in Seattle it appears we make too much noise for the opposing teams and they want us to stop.  I don't think that will happen anytime soon.  What I do hope happens soon is a way to stop shooting ourselves in the foot.

Somewhere along the line the new up tempo offense appears to be having signal issues in their opening three games.  Washington gained a total of 680 yards but they had 16 penalties totaling 130 yards.  These penalties might cost them in games against ranked or better opponents.  Hopefully they will get it worked out by next week.

I am off to the store for the weekly shopping.  I could get on my soap box about the government and politics but what use would that be.

Have a great week....only 204 days to go.