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Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Origin stirs my mind in many directions
What I find most interesting about Origin is that he was untainted by the philosophy that followed him. He was more concerned about what he read in "scripture" led him. I put scripture in quotes as the Bible as we know it was not around. Origin went where his mind led him, he was castigated, not by contemporaries, but by those who came after him. They judged his work by their standards, not the standards he worked with in his time and place. It is like making an ex post facto law, then persecuting the dead for not following the law. I do not think that Origin, in his life, ever said anything that he did not first think, reflect or pray over. His students had a great love for his wisdom and his teaching skills and methods. His compilation of the scriptures and translation of the the scriptures allowed the Jerome to do his work and claim stake to the greatest single edition to history. Alas, with out the writing and work of Origin, Jerome would still be in his room, trying to gather the information needed to complete what would become, the Vulgate Edition of the Bible.
However, what intrigues me more than the exegetical work of Origin, is his thinking on souls and what becomes of them. He basic idea , and if thought of correctly, makes a lot of sense. Four things are necessary to accept if you are to follow my thinking:
1) What is in the mind of God is real, not potential. If God thinks it, it is real from the moment of the thought.
2) All creation (no matter how it came to be) is from this "mind" of God, and as such, contains that "image and likeness" of that God.
3) Creatures, with rational souls, make free choices, with real consequences.
4) Time, as we use it in common everyday usage is not the realm of God, who exists beyond time, or better yet is time itself, constant and always in the now.
If you can accept these four principles, you may be able to follow me a bit better as I use these ideas to express my understanding of Origin and "life after life".
All rational souls originate in God's mind, weather at the moment of conception (an absurdity if you think that God is dependent upon a carnal act to create a rational soul each and every time) or that they have pre-existed in his mind from all time. Being Free creatures, created and immortal, souls have consciousness from the very moment of their creation. For they would be alive in the mind of God. This is Origin's idea, and he says that at some point souls waver, fall, separate from God, not just by sin, but by degree of participation in the Divine Life. These souls, through the mercy of God are given life in human form to try and realize that there is a way back to Him. In a sense, each soul is predestined to return to the mind of God as perfected in their love for him (I will use the male pronoun as that is what is most common and easy for people to understand, but we must also remember that gender is not a trait of a spiritual being, but only of physical beings.).
If we accept this idea of the "falling away from the divine" as a reason for souls being here on earth, it makes sense then that the "original sin" was not a sin committed by an individual, which is transmitted to all humans by birth, but is the "common sin" that all souls have by their own free will, are present here on earth, for their failure to stay within the Divine Plan of being in the presence of their God. Origin refers to this as a "cooling of desire". Thus the need for "redemption" and the Felix Culpa of Aquinas. The happy fault is that we have all failed in the first level, now we have another chance to redeem ourselves (as redemption is a choice).
How we live our lives, how we try to make life better for ourselves and others. How we love and endear ourselves to others and how we seek the good in people, not the evil. How we try to emulate others in their good deeds and life styles, and above all, our desire to be back with the God from whom we have fallen from, will in the end, bring us back to that God. Now I understand that I have left out a lot of things, and many will have issues with the fact I did not mention the Church or sacraments or Bible Study or prayer or Sunday worship, but are not all of those things included in what I said we must do? You see, the road is much more clear and simple less cluttered and less road signs to distract. Simple, as Aquinas says God is simple and not complex. If those are the roads you choose, then that is the route you take. If those are not roads you choose, then you go a different way. However, all roads that seek perfection and goodness, lead to the same end. Some are more convoluted than others, some are more comfortable than others (in a personal way, not a touchy-feely way) and some, if chosen poorly do not work at all. "My father's house has many rooms."
Where all this is still confusing to me and I am still thinking and working is that, as free willed beings, souls can lose their way even after achieving the goal, and Origin does not discount the fact that all of creation can be repeated in a new age. Why would a soul, with so many life experiences not wander in thought and direction. Some may not, they stay in that eternal now forever, in fact have never left. Others, like me, wander about and lose direction often, but always come back. Why not multiple ages of man, why not multiple physical existences? Why would one deter from God the constant love he has to bring us all back. Origin goes so far as to say the devil himself (again keeping the male pronoun for linguistic comfort) could come back to God, but is there a desire to return on his (the devil's) part?
What then is this all about? Predestination. We are predestined, but not in our actions or our free will, we are just all predestined to return to whence we came, the mind of God. This is my response to predestination, my account of how it can be that all our actions lead us in one direction. "How many times must we forgive our brothers? 70 times 70". Why would God only give us one life, one chance one age to reach and regain what we lost of our own free will?
However, what intrigues me more than the exegetical work of Origin, is his thinking on souls and what becomes of them. He basic idea , and if thought of correctly, makes a lot of sense. Four things are necessary to accept if you are to follow my thinking:
1) What is in the mind of God is real, not potential. If God thinks it, it is real from the moment of the thought.
2) All creation (no matter how it came to be) is from this "mind" of God, and as such, contains that "image and likeness" of that God.
3) Creatures, with rational souls, make free choices, with real consequences.
4) Time, as we use it in common everyday usage is not the realm of God, who exists beyond time, or better yet is time itself, constant and always in the now.
If you can accept these four principles, you may be able to follow me a bit better as I use these ideas to express my understanding of Origin and "life after life".
All rational souls originate in God's mind, weather at the moment of conception (an absurdity if you think that God is dependent upon a carnal act to create a rational soul each and every time) or that they have pre-existed in his mind from all time. Being Free creatures, created and immortal, souls have consciousness from the very moment of their creation. For they would be alive in the mind of God. This is Origin's idea, and he says that at some point souls waver, fall, separate from God, not just by sin, but by degree of participation in the Divine Life. These souls, through the mercy of God are given life in human form to try and realize that there is a way back to Him. In a sense, each soul is predestined to return to the mind of God as perfected in their love for him (I will use the male pronoun as that is what is most common and easy for people to understand, but we must also remember that gender is not a trait of a spiritual being, but only of physical beings.).
If we accept this idea of the "falling away from the divine" as a reason for souls being here on earth, it makes sense then that the "original sin" was not a sin committed by an individual, which is transmitted to all humans by birth, but is the "common sin" that all souls have by their own free will, are present here on earth, for their failure to stay within the Divine Plan of being in the presence of their God. Origin refers to this as a "cooling of desire". Thus the need for "redemption" and the Felix Culpa of Aquinas. The happy fault is that we have all failed in the first level, now we have another chance to redeem ourselves (as redemption is a choice).
How we live our lives, how we try to make life better for ourselves and others. How we love and endear ourselves to others and how we seek the good in people, not the evil. How we try to emulate others in their good deeds and life styles, and above all, our desire to be back with the God from whom we have fallen from, will in the end, bring us back to that God. Now I understand that I have left out a lot of things, and many will have issues with the fact I did not mention the Church or sacraments or Bible Study or prayer or Sunday worship, but are not all of those things included in what I said we must do? You see, the road is much more clear and simple less cluttered and less road signs to distract. Simple, as Aquinas says God is simple and not complex. If those are the roads you choose, then that is the route you take. If those are not roads you choose, then you go a different way. However, all roads that seek perfection and goodness, lead to the same end. Some are more convoluted than others, some are more comfortable than others (in a personal way, not a touchy-feely way) and some, if chosen poorly do not work at all. "My father's house has many rooms."
Where all this is still confusing to me and I am still thinking and working is that, as free willed beings, souls can lose their way even after achieving the goal, and Origin does not discount the fact that all of creation can be repeated in a new age. Why would a soul, with so many life experiences not wander in thought and direction. Some may not, they stay in that eternal now forever, in fact have never left. Others, like me, wander about and lose direction often, but always come back. Why not multiple ages of man, why not multiple physical existences? Why would one deter from God the constant love he has to bring us all back. Origin goes so far as to say the devil himself (again keeping the male pronoun for linguistic comfort) could come back to God, but is there a desire to return on his (the devil's) part?
What then is this all about? Predestination. We are predestined, but not in our actions or our free will, we are just all predestined to return to whence we came, the mind of God. This is my response to predestination, my account of how it can be that all our actions lead us in one direction. "How many times must we forgive our brothers? 70 times 70". Why would God only give us one life, one chance one age to reach and regain what we lost of our own free will?
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Rome, The Eternal City
Rome is eternal on many levels. Holding the Holy See in its center, it proclaims eternal life, life beyond this mortal shell. The antiquities proclaim the eternal desire of the human spirit to build and be better than we are and were. The people of Rome itself proclaim an eternal spirit of endurance, no matter the weather or the government. For me it is eternal in that this was the 30th anniversary of my first visit to Italy, and so many of the landmarks that I remember from that first visit are still present.
I took a left turn instead of a right when I exited the Metro at the Batitstini stop (Okay, 30 years ago the Metro did not go this far out!) when I went to Via Boccea to visit Fr. Brian. I knew (from looking at the Metro map prior to leaving the station) that either route would get me to the General House, but one was a lot shorter than the other, so off I went. It was up hill, and when I got to Via Boccea, I knew where I was, it was at the place where I used to catch the bus to go to the Vatican (the 49/, yes the slash belongs there!). So I made a quick right onto Via Boccea and started walking down hill. YES, I walked UP hill to walk DOWN hill, I told you I made a wrong choice. As I wandered down the street I saw the grammer school that was there my first visit, then I saw this Trattoria, with a green patio covering and I knew I was very close. Imagine that, 30 years after my first visit, and this place still has the same look. Better yet, think of a restaurant that you know of that has been in the same location for 30 years! Within minutes I was at the General House. Rome, the eternal city.
There was the morning I took 4 of the group shopping on the Via Borgo Pio, then took the short walk over for a cappuccino at what I (and some good friends) refer to as Guido's. And YES, Guido was still making coffee and yes Guido remembered me and the last few visits I made to his negozio (place of business). (Just to let you know, this man makes the BEST cappuccino in the city of Rome.) Rome the eternal city.
Then there are the usual landmarks that bring the tourists. That too is part of My Eternal Attraction To The City of Rome. So from the mundane memories of an old man, to the spectacular views of the Eternal City, view on.
The Piazza di Pantheon, a view from the front of the Pantheon looking outwards towards the Piazza
Trevi, always a pleasure to see, and do you know that they feed the hungry with the money they collect from this fountain. Over a 1,000 €uro a day (1400USD) is removed from here and it supports a soup kitchen for the poor in the local area! Here is one of the poor of the area.....
And here is the "Fountain"
A view from the TOP of the Spanish Steps. I thought I would let you see the City of Rome!
The Campo di Fiori, where the cattle market used to be MANY years ago. Now it is a daily market, which closes and disappears about 5PM everyday to open up the area for dinner, socializing and night life.
And for that random shot of IDK WTF this is, but it is old and there is a statue of St. Paul on top..here for your viewing pleasure.........
And, lastly, the true picture of how stupid an old man I am, how dangerously I live, this shot is from the middle of the street looking west down the Via della Consiliazione towards St. Peters...and if you know how they drive in Rome, you would know just how dangerous this can be!
There are some more pictures of Rome to come. I am working on trying to recover the pictures I lost, there is a small glimmer of hope...or it is the bullet coming at me..I am not sure..but more of Rome will be here soon. Enjoy!
I took a left turn instead of a right when I exited the Metro at the Batitstini stop (Okay, 30 years ago the Metro did not go this far out!) when I went to Via Boccea to visit Fr. Brian. I knew (from looking at the Metro map prior to leaving the station) that either route would get me to the General House, but one was a lot shorter than the other, so off I went. It was up hill, and when I got to Via Boccea, I knew where I was, it was at the place where I used to catch the bus to go to the Vatican (the 49/, yes the slash belongs there!). So I made a quick right onto Via Boccea and started walking down hill. YES, I walked UP hill to walk DOWN hill, I told you I made a wrong choice. As I wandered down the street I saw the grammer school that was there my first visit, then I saw this Trattoria, with a green patio covering and I knew I was very close. Imagine that, 30 years after my first visit, and this place still has the same look. Better yet, think of a restaurant that you know of that has been in the same location for 30 years! Within minutes I was at the General House. Rome, the eternal city.
There was the morning I took 4 of the group shopping on the Via Borgo Pio, then took the short walk over for a cappuccino at what I (and some good friends) refer to as Guido's. And YES, Guido was still making coffee and yes Guido remembered me and the last few visits I made to his negozio (place of business). (Just to let you know, this man makes the BEST cappuccino in the city of Rome.) Rome the eternal city.
Then there are the usual landmarks that bring the tourists. That too is part of My Eternal Attraction To The City of Rome. So from the mundane memories of an old man, to the spectacular views of the Eternal City, view on.
The Piazza di Pantheon, a view from the front of the Pantheon looking outwards towards the Piazza
Trevi, always a pleasure to see, and do you know that they feed the hungry with the money they collect from this fountain. Over a 1,000 €uro a day (1400USD) is removed from here and it supports a soup kitchen for the poor in the local area! Here is one of the poor of the area.....
And here is the "Fountain"
A view from the TOP of the Spanish Steps. I thought I would let you see the City of Rome!
The Campo di Fiori, where the cattle market used to be MANY years ago. Now it is a daily market, which closes and disappears about 5PM everyday to open up the area for dinner, socializing and night life.
And for that random shot of IDK WTF this is, but it is old and there is a statue of St. Paul on top..here for your viewing pleasure.........
And, lastly, the true picture of how stupid an old man I am, how dangerously I live, this shot is from the middle of the street looking west down the Via della Consiliazione towards St. Peters...and if you know how they drive in Rome, you would know just how dangerous this can be!
There are some more pictures of Rome to come. I am working on trying to recover the pictures I lost, there is a small glimmer of hope...or it is the bullet coming at me..I am not sure..but more of Rome will be here soon. Enjoy!
Monday, May 25, 2009
Too long of a wait!
Well yes, I am alive and doing well, and so is Cathy and the rest of the families. It has been a busy few months between school and "other" things. We have been busy with a lot and the end of the school year is upon me. I have only 8 school days left and then after that 4 days and I am off to Italy. But those pictures are yet to be taken! Below are some that have been taken since I last posted for Seattle. SO, lets start with Sacramento and Cathy and I in the Capital Park:
Then wishing we had the cash to enjoy buying one of these!
This was taken in the koi pond at the State Capital Park:
Then there was another "home improvement project" with Bob. We don't need no stinking directions!
And the proof of our work is the finished project!
Then April came and it was our 15th anniversary. We went back to Monterey and had the BEST weather you could ask for! Here is one from the ride over:
Here on 17 mile drive:
And the same place we took our honeymoon picture. I need to scan that and get it in here as well:
and of course MULTIPLE dinners with Friends and Family, but here is a shot of a center piece from the yard and the bar tender for the events!
Sorry about the long wait, but what can I say besides I don't get paid to do this. At least not yet! Enjoy and I will have more to post when I return from Italy! Ciao!
Then wishing we had the cash to enjoy buying one of these!
This was taken in the koi pond at the State Capital Park:
Then there was another "home improvement project" with Bob. We don't need no stinking directions!
And the proof of our work is the finished project!
Then April came and it was our 15th anniversary. We went back to Monterey and had the BEST weather you could ask for! Here is one from the ride over:
Here on 17 mile drive:
And the same place we took our honeymoon picture. I need to scan that and get it in here as well:
and of course MULTIPLE dinners with Friends and Family, but here is a shot of a center piece from the yard and the bar tender for the events!
Sorry about the long wait, but what can I say besides I don't get paid to do this. At least not yet! Enjoy and I will have more to post when I return from Italy! Ciao!
Monday, February 16, 2009
3 days in Seattle WA
As many of you know, I am a "buckhead". I live with my 'venti 2 equal latte' a day from Starbucks. So here was my chance to actually get to Seattle and see the ORIGINAL Starbucks store. While we were walking about the public market on Pike Street, we purchased a nice piece of "art" for our travel wall. The gentleman was very kind and told me about the Starbucks, down the street, was the original one. Well, sort of the original one. Seems the first Starbucks store had an issue with fire, and burnt away, the second had a fate similar, but not with fire but with being removed by public domain. So what is left on the Market Front is the ORIGINAL store that was sold and became the major corporation known as Starbucks today. So here for your view is the "Original Starbucks"!
and with entertainment as well!
And yes we saw more that JUST the original starbucks, we had to see the famous Space Needle. It has been there almost 50 years now! (48 actually)
As well as the famous Public Market with the Pikes Fish Market, known world wide for its throwing of fish about the counter:
there is really much more there besides fish.....
And what would a blog be without a picture of Cathy and I by some strange piece of art on the waterfront.
AND YES..I went to every session of the NEA Conference I was in Seattle for as well seeing all this and more!
and with entertainment as well!
And yes we saw more that JUST the original starbucks, we had to see the famous Space Needle. It has been there almost 50 years now! (48 actually)
As well as the famous Public Market with the Pikes Fish Market, known world wide for its throwing of fish about the counter:
there is really much more there besides fish.....
And what would a blog be without a picture of Cathy and I by some strange piece of art on the waterfront.
AND YES..I went to every session of the NEA Conference I was in Seattle for as well seeing all this and more!
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Joey, the zookalator
I received a message from Classmates.com, to get on Facebook.com from an old friend from seminary. (Thanks Paul!) When I got on Facebook, he mentioned that another friend from Seminary had posted some pictures from his stay with the Oblates. So off I went to make sure there were NO pictures of me with derogatory statements or participating in illegal activities! (NOT that I would ever have done any!) Thank god I was behind the camera a lot (I was the historian and photo taker for most events, really). Thanks David for NOT having any pictures of me posted.
David had a picture there (which without permission I downloaded and have now up loaded here) of Joey. Joey was a mutt of a mutt dog. You could not have asked for a more faithful and loving dog. He was great. Whenever you took off down the Mount in Loomis, Joey was with you. Every day Br. Vincent Paletta (see my March 21, 2007 post on Brother Vince) would take a walk down the "hill" and walk down to the stop sign and back. Br. Vince swore that it was Joey who saved every tree on that hill in the drought we had in the late 70's. Joey would stop at almost every tree and leave his "mark". When we were in chapel, Joey was right outside the door on the mat, waiting for us. He never came into the chapel, even if the door was open. At nights when we would watch Saturday Night Live (the first cast!) he would lay in the TV room under the coffee table and sleep. When it was time to go to bed, he would lead us out and take his place on a bench outside where he would sleep. I remember Fr. John Keehan, when it was really cold, would allow him to sleep in the front office of his room. But 90% of the time, Joey was outside and "free" to go and come as he please.
In the spring, when the time was right, Joey would be gone for 2-3 days. Seems he had a girl friend he would visit annually. Bro Vince would say he was, "Down at the pool hall with the boys.", and sure enough, he would be back for the rest of the year in a few days time. It was after one of these "nights out with the guys" actually it was a bit more than a few nights, it was almost a week, Joey came back. I saw him walking up the stairs onto the front walk and he looked skinny and beat. From the other side, which I could not see, he was covered in mud and blood. He had been hit by a shotgun and had laid in mud for a few days before making it home. We took him to the vet, and being a "country" vet, he said very quickly, "I will take care of him this time, but the next time I will put him down." What it was, is simple. Joey was chasing either livestock or chickens and a local "farmer" had tried to spare his herd or flock. The vet would not or could not allow a dog to be running about doing that.
It wasn't Joey's first visit to the vet either, he had been there before after his first encounter with a porcupine. Having never seen one, he went up to it, sniffed and then tried to bite. Needless to say it was painful. They put him out and pulled all the quills from inside and outside of his mouth. It was the LAST time he ever did that. There was also the time we were down at the canal working around the pump house or gathering blackberries (my memory fails me why we were there) and Joey took off in the blackberry bushes only to come RUNNING out faster than he had gone into them. A few seconds later we knew what he had seen as the scent of skunk waifed in our direction. Good thing Joey was fast, the skunk missed him and he only had a "slight" oder attached to him for a week or so.
After the shooting however, Joey stayed close to home. He would go with us for walks, but not on his own. A year or so passed and Joey wasn't there one morning. The old, "He's off to the pool hall" lines were said, and we waited. Joey didn't come back. We never saw him again, and this is the only photograph of him that I have now. Thanks for posting this David. It brought back a lot of happy memories and the people who surrounded me at that time.
Oh..the name "Zukalator" was one of a few nick names that Brother Vincent gave to Joey. There was Zuk, Zukey, Zukalator and "The Zuk". I believe he took the name from zucchini, of which thanks to Brother Baldi we had a LOT. Again, the picture is from David (and it is scanned) but here is Joey.
David had a picture there (which without permission I downloaded and have now up loaded here) of Joey. Joey was a mutt of a mutt dog. You could not have asked for a more faithful and loving dog. He was great. Whenever you took off down the Mount in Loomis, Joey was with you. Every day Br. Vincent Paletta (see my March 21, 2007 post on Brother Vince) would take a walk down the "hill" and walk down to the stop sign and back. Br. Vince swore that it was Joey who saved every tree on that hill in the drought we had in the late 70's. Joey would stop at almost every tree and leave his "mark". When we were in chapel, Joey was right outside the door on the mat, waiting for us. He never came into the chapel, even if the door was open. At nights when we would watch Saturday Night Live (the first cast!) he would lay in the TV room under the coffee table and sleep. When it was time to go to bed, he would lead us out and take his place on a bench outside where he would sleep. I remember Fr. John Keehan, when it was really cold, would allow him to sleep in the front office of his room. But 90% of the time, Joey was outside and "free" to go and come as he please.
In the spring, when the time was right, Joey would be gone for 2-3 days. Seems he had a girl friend he would visit annually. Bro Vince would say he was, "Down at the pool hall with the boys.", and sure enough, he would be back for the rest of the year in a few days time. It was after one of these "nights out with the guys" actually it was a bit more than a few nights, it was almost a week, Joey came back. I saw him walking up the stairs onto the front walk and he looked skinny and beat. From the other side, which I could not see, he was covered in mud and blood. He had been hit by a shotgun and had laid in mud for a few days before making it home. We took him to the vet, and being a "country" vet, he said very quickly, "I will take care of him this time, but the next time I will put him down." What it was, is simple. Joey was chasing either livestock or chickens and a local "farmer" had tried to spare his herd or flock. The vet would not or could not allow a dog to be running about doing that.
It wasn't Joey's first visit to the vet either, he had been there before after his first encounter with a porcupine. Having never seen one, he went up to it, sniffed and then tried to bite. Needless to say it was painful. They put him out and pulled all the quills from inside and outside of his mouth. It was the LAST time he ever did that. There was also the time we were down at the canal working around the pump house or gathering blackberries (my memory fails me why we were there) and Joey took off in the blackberry bushes only to come RUNNING out faster than he had gone into them. A few seconds later we knew what he had seen as the scent of skunk waifed in our direction. Good thing Joey was fast, the skunk missed him and he only had a "slight" oder attached to him for a week or so.
After the shooting however, Joey stayed close to home. He would go with us for walks, but not on his own. A year or so passed and Joey wasn't there one morning. The old, "He's off to the pool hall" lines were said, and we waited. Joey didn't come back. We never saw him again, and this is the only photograph of him that I have now. Thanks for posting this David. It brought back a lot of happy memories and the people who surrounded me at that time.
Oh..the name "Zukalator" was one of a few nick names that Brother Vincent gave to Joey. There was Zuk, Zukey, Zukalator and "The Zuk". I believe he took the name from zucchini, of which thanks to Brother Baldi we had a LOT. Again, the picture is from David (and it is scanned) but here is Joey.
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Thursday, January 01, 2009
The Day after Christmas 2008
On the day after Christmas, Cathy, David Hernandez and I took off for a four night stay in Las Vegas! We were a bit worried about the weather, as fog was bad on Christmas as well as rain and snow in the southern part of the valley and in the passes. But The morning was clear and bright, but C-O-L-D! Well at least in California terms it was cold, it was 32-35°F. The road was mostly clear, wet and with a bit of ice as we went over the snow capped Transverse Range in the Tehachapi Pass. As the following show, it has snowed a bit in that region, more so than normal and had even spread to the eastern desert side!
Having used Lasvegas.com in the past, I again resorted to them for the room. We stayed at the Sahara four and a half years ago for my 50th, and we were pleased with the rooms. Alas, this was NOT the case this time. I had reserved "Deluxe" rooms with a king bed, we got 2 double beds and if this was the "Deluxe", I would HATE to see their "Standard" room. To witness our displeasure, behold the following:
I think this is from a murder victim:
This is the dressing area, note the dressing tabletop:
The entrance to the room was a thrill, you could see it in many of the rooms as you walked down the hallway, tuffs of carpet sticking out from under the doors!
But we did have a nice view from the window:
and at night it was nice as well:
While there, I did some giving of money to the casinos, no betting allowed, I just handed it over and saved them the trouble of even spinning the wheel..just take my money.....
We did see the Cirque du Soleil's rendition of LOVE with all the music being the Beatles. It was a GREAT show and I recommend if you do go and see it, pay the cheaper price for the balcony seats, you will see a lot more than the those who paid more!
We also hit the outlets in Las Vegas as well as in Primm, as well as The Cloud and at the Venitian and Palazio. The sales were great and some of the bargains were super.
And what would be a trip to Las Vegas without the "Tourist Picture" shots?
Cathy and I in the middle of Las Vegas Blvd, better known as "The Strip":
A picture Cathy took from the truck:
And I cannot forget another reason why we go to Las Vegas. My favorite (or as I told her this time, my ONLY) Aunt Helen. She has had a rough few years with surgery and hip and back issues, but she was standing and walking on her own this year and I am so very grateful to see that!
She was in great spirits and I also saw my cousins John and his wife Judy, Charles and Rosemary. We took Aunt Helen out to dinner Monday nigt to Bautista's Hole in the Wall for Italian food. And the obligatory nephew and aunt picture as well:
So on Tuesday we headed back home, most of the snow was melted, the skies were again clear and there was no ice on the roads over the pass. The fog in the valley did not start until Fresno, and was not bad at all coming down the stretch to home. Las Vegas in December is cold, but it is sunny and bright! I hope you all enjoyed!
Having used Lasvegas.com in the past, I again resorted to them for the room. We stayed at the Sahara four and a half years ago for my 50th, and we were pleased with the rooms. Alas, this was NOT the case this time. I had reserved "Deluxe" rooms with a king bed, we got 2 double beds and if this was the "Deluxe", I would HATE to see their "Standard" room. To witness our displeasure, behold the following:
I think this is from a murder victim:
This is the dressing area, note the dressing tabletop:
The entrance to the room was a thrill, you could see it in many of the rooms as you walked down the hallway, tuffs of carpet sticking out from under the doors!
But we did have a nice view from the window:
and at night it was nice as well:
While there, I did some giving of money to the casinos, no betting allowed, I just handed it over and saved them the trouble of even spinning the wheel..just take my money.....
We did see the Cirque du Soleil's rendition of LOVE with all the music being the Beatles. It was a GREAT show and I recommend if you do go and see it, pay the cheaper price for the balcony seats, you will see a lot more than the those who paid more!
We also hit the outlets in Las Vegas as well as in Primm, as well as The Cloud and at the Venitian and Palazio. The sales were great and some of the bargains were super.
And what would be a trip to Las Vegas without the "Tourist Picture" shots?
Cathy and I in the middle of Las Vegas Blvd, better known as "The Strip":
A picture Cathy took from the truck:
And I cannot forget another reason why we go to Las Vegas. My favorite (or as I told her this time, my ONLY) Aunt Helen. She has had a rough few years with surgery and hip and back issues, but she was standing and walking on her own this year and I am so very grateful to see that!
She was in great spirits and I also saw my cousins John and his wife Judy, Charles and Rosemary. We took Aunt Helen out to dinner Monday nigt to Bautista's Hole in the Wall for Italian food. And the obligatory nephew and aunt picture as well:
So on Tuesday we headed back home, most of the snow was melted, the skies were again clear and there was no ice on the roads over the pass. The fog in the valley did not start until Fresno, and was not bad at all coming down the stretch to home. Las Vegas in December is cold, but it is sunny and bright! I hope you all enjoyed!
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