Since Kyle moved into the bunk house with James, saving him from being kicked by Titus in the middle of the night. I helped Mami with the dogs early this morning. Imagine, if you can, me in sneakers, a terry cloth robe and a hat in 30* weather trying to convince, one by one, poodle to doodle in the the crisp frosty grass. The new RV is very warm and even keeping the Gas heaters on low the place stays quite warm. To save on the uber high prices of LP gas we also have a couple of space heaters (little ceramic ones) and it is amazing how well they work. On alone keeps our modified bnk house very toasty.
Needless to say I was back under the covers before you could say, "Bob's your uncle."
A couple hours later and we were all up, fed and off to church. We had hoped to meet CC amd Miles there but only Miles made it today. So he won the opportunity to come back to the RV to have sushi. The Sermon was about "Sloth" and our service as Christians. It was very good. I loved one line that I think is lost on so many of our faith. It's from the Scottish catechism, "Our purpose is to to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever." hat I think is the deepest thing one could strive for and one of the hardest things to explain or teach; it has to be experienced. (The last part is my commentary and so is this...) yet it is the easiest thing to do, we just keep getting in our own way.
After some songs service opened with the baptism of a young man. Like many churches there is a large tub like pool like thing built at the back of the stage and it is there that most people are baptised. Bastor wore his black cassock and the boy wore street clothes. He was dunked and raised in what was a very wonderful ceremony. A funny question came into my head as I watched. Does the past run off somewhere in the back and change or will he come out wet when he began preaching. There were still a few songs to go so he had time to change. Well, just before his preaching started my coffee decided it wanted to finish its journey through my body and I went to the rest room. There hanging on the stall above the drain in the bathroom floor was the cassock, with a full pair of fishing waders sewn into them. I wonder if they all do it that way.
After church, as I said Sushi at the Rv then Kyle, Vic Jr, Amy, and Olivia and I went on our quest to the Richmond Battlefield, a significant win for the south though short lived. On the way we found signs to a Pottery place, museum, gallery, I don't don't they are called. We just kept driving and driving and finally we found it, but it wasn't the one we were originally searching for. This one is called Spinning Wheel Pottery just outside Berea. The couple who run it are from the west coast but met at the same college my kids go to. They started the shop a few years ago and they have some great work. But there was this one little item that I needed and actually could have used early today. It was a little square flat bottomed square like bowl that Japanese use to put small dabs of soy sauce and wasabi in when eating sushi. Using it you get just the right amount of soy sauce and not waste. I have been using a big plastic bowl all this time and ended up wasting almost the cost of this little bowl in soy sauce and wasabi on this trip alone. The owners then took us into their work shop and let maelia and Olivia "throw down" and try to make something. Each of them had a great time. We video taped the whole thing and in about a month you will see it. You don't get to see it no because we need the finished product to give it a conclusion. It will take a week to dry then when they have enough stuff to put in the kiln they will fire it then ship it to my folks in Cali who will take a picture and send t to use....then the video will be complete.
Next we made it to the first pottery place we were aiming for. It seems this family had been doing it longer and the shop had a different feel. Nice, kind, but not heart-touching or, hmmm, its hard to explain. The young man there was knowledgable, kind (in fact when he didn't have enough money to make change for my $20 he offered to give me the little cup for free, but I found four ones in my wallet (it was $6).
I want to drop a point that even though we are in financial tough times these folks can't be doing much better. As souvenirs go you can't beat these....not made it China, they have a story behind them, made where we bought them, and stays in the local economy. And if after the time they spent explaining things to us, letting us do things, etc went unpaid in some way then shame on us. What would JC do? (JC Dunn) ((I mean what would have done after squeaking his nose and doing magic tricks????)
Well, we finally made it to the battlefield. Here too we made a video to appear here later. Victor Jr Hosts. It was freezing. The thermometer said 41* but the wind made it at least mid 30s. Sad part of this historic area is developers have build luxury homes and a golf course right up to the back door of the old church that was used to treat the fallen soldiers. Over 5353 Union soldiers died or injured in the battle. We walked on ground that was once soaked with the blood of thousands of men fighting for what they believed. (And as I have learned more about that war I discovered that, and id you know this, most of the men fighting that war for the south had no slave, nor were very interested in that issue. They fought that war for the same reason a hundred years earlier Washington and the boys fought England. (((don't get me wrong slavery was part of the reason for the war since it was wrapped up in the economy of the south but no the primary reason.))) You see the industrial north and their cronies in Washington had made it almost impossible for southerners to sell their raw materials to foreigners without high tariffs. So at rock bottom prices they sold to the north. They in turn made the items into manufactured goods and sold them at premiums to the south with high taxes. No the politics of it all get muddled more with the unusual election results that least to Lincoln's win, and a whole bunch of other stuff. But I just thought I would lay a little bit of the record straight. (((((By the way slavery bad...period.))))
We still have some footage to shoot for this video to so please be patient.
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