Waterton Trip: Monday

It was still overcast on Monday, but thank goodness the snow was starting to melt.  I live in Texas for many reasons, one of them being that I don't like snow.


We decided that it would be a perfect day to drive over to Raymond.  Barbara was born there and spent part of her childhood there, plus she has a bunch of family members who still live there.

On the way, we stopped in Cardston which is home to the LDS Alberta temple.  Here are some quick shots of my family in front of the temple.

We then drove on to Raymond and ate lunch at the one and only burger place in town called Burger Baron & Pizza.  It was small, but packed.  I had a Raymond burger.  Not bad.

We then went on to see one of Barbara's aunts and other family members.  John lasted a few minutes, so he and I went for a very brisk, long walk so everyone else could visit.

On the way out of Raymond we stopped at the cemetery where Barbara's parents are buried.

Waterton Lake

Lake

Waterton - Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

On Sunday morning, I went for a walk with my grandson Harris to check out Waterton and all the snow.

Here we are in front of the cabin.  Harris lives in Idaho Falls, so for him, snow is no big deal.

Waterton Lakes National Park

We got back from our vacation to Waterton Lakes National Park late Sunday evening. It was cool in many ways. I wasn't expecting to see snow the last weekend in May.

Check out the Wikipedia link to learn more about Waterton.

We flew to SLC with John, Russell, Sarah Jane and Victoria, and then met up with Rachel who flew in from Washington D.C. We then flew up to Great Falls Montana and then drove up to Waterton.

I was very surprised to see snow blowing sideways as we approached the park.

James, Emily and their children drove in a few hours later. It was a wonderful reunion. I got to meet my new granddaughter Anna for the first time ever. It was also great to see James. He looked pretty much like he did a year ago which is amazing considering that only a few months ago he was going through chemo.

More pictures and posts to follow.

Back Home

Things are back to normal, John is enjoying a good Internet connection again. His favorite part of the trip was his twice daily trips to the coffee shop so he could surf the web. YouTube about brought the connection to it's knees.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Dear Margo: Autism Awkwardness

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Dear Margo: Autism Awkwardness

How does a mother handle strangers who complain when her son has an outburst? Margo Howard's advice …

Margo Howard | Today 12:00 am

Autism Awkwardness



Dear Margo: My husband and I have a 9-year-old son with severe autism. I cope well enough most of the time, but I would really appreciate your advice about how to handle shopping.

My son may look like a typically developing 9-year-old, but if a loud noise startles him, or if he likes something and wants it, or maybe even for no apparent reason, he will make loud noises or say a few words repetitively, getting louder and louder. He can even have a full-blown meltdown (which is like a temper tantrum on steroids). When that happens, I try to finish my shopping as quickly as humanly possible, grabbing only the bare essentials (milk, bread, etc.) and leaving, apologizing and explaining if ...

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Malcolm Forbes

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Malcolm Forbes

"There is never enough time, unless you're serving it."

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Mitch Hedberg

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Mitch Hedberg

"I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later."

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The Forbidden Fruit

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The Forbidden Fruit

Client: Hey, just one final question before I send the deposit. Do you use a PC or a MAC?

Me: I use a MAC.

Client: That is a problem. Do you have access to a PC? I am not a supporter of Apple products.

Me: No, I don't have access to a PC, but this will have little to no effect on the work itself.

Client: I am a Christian and Apple products are sinful, I do not want our website to be created by a product made by this corrupt group. You need only look at their logo, an apple with a bite taken from it. Do you not know the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden? If I allowed you to create my website on a MAC I would be just like Adam, taking a bite of the forbidden fruit.

[Silence]

"Take my advise, destroy your mac and repent for when judgement day comes. It shall be you who is cast to hell for your sins."

Me: [Block Contact]

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If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties.

Francis Bacon, 1st and Only Viscount of St. Alban, KC (22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist and author. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Although his political career ended in disgrace, he remained extremely influential through his works, especially as philosophical advocate and practitioner of the scientific revolution. His dedication brought him into a rare historical group of scientists who were killed by their own experiments.
His works established and popularized deductive methodologies for scientific inquiry, often called the Baconian method or simply, the scientific method. His demand for a planned procedure of investigating all things natural marked a new turn in the rhetorical and theoretical framework for science, much of which still surrounds conceptions of proper methodology today.
Bacon was knighted in 1603, created Baron Verulam in 1618, and Viscount St Alban in 1621; as he died without heirs both peerages became extinct upon his death.

Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain - and most fools do.

Dale Breckenridge Carnegie (originally Carnagey until 1922 and possibly somewhat later) (November 24, 1888 – November 1, 1955) was an American writer and lecturer and the developer of famous courses in self-improvement, salesmanship, corporate training, public speaking and interpersonal skills. Born in poverty on a farm in Missouri, he was the author of How to Win Friends and Influence People, first published in 1936, a massive bestseller that remains popular today. He also wrote a biography of Abraham Lincoln, titled Lincoln the Unknown, and several other books.

One of the core ideas in his books is that it is possible to change other people's behavior by changing one's reaction to them.

Nothing inspires forgiveness quite like revenge.

Scott Raymond Adams (born June 8, 1957) is the American creator of the Dilbert comic strip and the author of several nonfiction works of satire, commentary, business, and general speculation.

We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be.

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (pronounced /ˈvɒnɨɡət/; November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American novelist who wrote works blending satire, black comedy, and science fiction, such as Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), Cat's Cradle (1963), and Breakfast of Champions (1973). He was known for his humanist beliefs as well as being honorary president of the American Humanist Association. He is widely considered one of the most influential American writers of the 20th century.^[2]

I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education.

Wilson Mizner (May 19, 1876, Benicia, California - April 3, 1933, Los Angeles, California) was an American playwright, raconteur, and entrepreneur. His best-known plays are The Deep Purple, produced in 1910, and The Greyhound, produced in 1912. He was manager and co-owner of The Brown Derby restaurant in Los Angeles, California, and was affiliated with his brother, Addison Mizner, in a series of scams and picaresque misadventures that inspired Stephen Sondheim's Road Show.

The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.

Ralph Waldo Emerson US essayist & poet (1803 - 1882)

 

From Wikipedia

Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882) was an American essayist, philosopher, and poet, best remembered for leading the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. His teachings directly influenced the growing New Thought movement of the mid-1800s.^{[1] [2]} He was seen as a champion of individualism and a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society. Emerson gradually moved away from the religious and social beliefs of his contemporaries, formulating and expressing the philosophy of Transcendentalism in his 1836 essay, Nature. As a result of this ground-breaking work he gave a speech entitled The American Scholar in 1837, which Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. considered to be America's "Intellectual Declaration of Independence".^[3] Considered one of the great orators of the time, Emerson's enthusiasm and respect for his audience enraptured crowds. His support for abolitionism late in life created controversy, and at times he was subject to abuse from crowds while speaking on the topic. When asked to sum up his work, he said his central doctrine was "the infinitude of the private man."^[4]

I can't understand it. I can't even understand the people who can understand it.

Queen Juliana, of the Netherlands Queen of Netherlands 1948-1980 (1909 - 2004)

 

I knew nothing about Queen Juliana until I looked her up on Wikipedia.   

Juliana (Juliana Louise Emma Marie Wilhelmina; 30 April 1909 – 20 March 2004) was Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. She was the only child of Queen Wilhelmina and Prince Henry. She was married to Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, with whom she had four children: Princess Beatrix (born 1938), Princess Irene (born 1939), Princess Margriet (born 1943), Princess Christina (born 1947). During the Second World War she lived in exile with her children in Ottawa, Canada. She became Queen of the Netherlands with her mother's abdication in 1948 and was succeeded by Queen Beatrix after her own abdication in 1980. During her reign both Indonesia (Dutch East Indies) in 1949 and Suriname in 1975 became independent from the Netherlands. Her birthday is celebrated annually as Koninginnedag, Queen's Day.

If Someone Asks You If You’re With God, You Say Yes

If Someone Asks You If You're With God, You Say Yes

(Church | Brighton, UK)

Patron: "I would like to make a complaint about God."

Me: "Pardon me?"

Patron: "I come in here all the time! I am told this is the house of God and I never see him!"

Me: "You do realize that you won't physically 'see' God in the Church? House of God means you can come here to communicate with him, or seek council from those who do."

Patron: "Is that you?"

Me: "I am qualified, yes."

Patron: "So you're in direct communication with God?"

Me: "I interpret the scriptures for guidance, and I pray. I don't have direct communication."

Patron: "So you're not with God?"

Me: "I study him and his will."

Patron: "You're not friends?"

Me: "No."

Patron: "Not even colleagues?"

Me: "No."

Patron: "Anyone around here higher up that might be?"

Me: "No more than anyone else I'm afraid."

Patron: "What about that Pope guy? He's always talking about what God said."

Me: "You could try."

Patron: "Is he around? Can you call him down?"

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The trouble with jogging is that the ice falls out of your glass.

Martin Mull US comedian and actor (1943 - )

What a blessing it would be if we could open and shut our ears as easily as we open and shut our eyes!

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742 - 1799)

 

was a German scientist, satirist and Anglophile. As a scientist, he was the first to hold a professorship explicitly dedicated to experimental physics in Germany. Today, he is remembered for his posthumous notebooks, which he himself called Sudelbücher, a description modeled on the English bookkeeping term "waste books",^[1] and for his discovery of the strange treelike patterns now called Lichtenberg figures.

Honest criticism is hard to take, particularly from a relative, a friend, an acquaintance, or a stranger.

Franklin P. Jones

Unfortunately, the identity of Franklin P. Jones is not clear. Some quotation sites on the Internet refer to him as an American businessman who lived from 1887-1929, while others refer to him as an American humorist who lived from 1853-1935. A bit of research has identified a Franklin Pierce Jones who was born on February 23, 1851 and who died in Virginia on November 29, 1935. There also seems to have been a Franklin Pierce Jones who lived between 1874 and 1953 and had a successful furniture store in Clinton, Oklahoma, after working as a farmer in Missouri.