Hide the Decline. . .

Just found this, I think most of you will like it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEiLgbBGKVk

Our Lady of Pochiev

Several months ago (August? September?) an icon of the Theotokos called Our Lady of Pochiev was brought to Canada, the first time in about 400 years it had come out of Ukraine. One of the stops was in Vancouver, BC and some friends of mine decided to go to venerate it, and I tagged along.

This is the church it was brougt to, Holy Trinity Cathedral

This is how packed it was, absolutly no way for one to move in and out of the church. There were people packed into the church, the nave, even out into the street! And many were young people, under 35 or 40, with their kids.

They had a balcony where the choir usually sat. I managed to force my way up and get this snapshot. Again, hardly even enough room in there for the priest to swing a censor.

Finally, some Christmas pictures

OK, so after almost a month of inactivity, I've finally decided to post some pictures of my Christmas Vacation to Alaska. And yes, I've finally figured out how to post pics.

Joachim, playing with his Star Wars toys.

Macrina, and the answer is no.

Mom, a little shocked about the extra kid that showed up at her door.

Just one pic from the drive up to Anchorage. Would have had tons more, but my camera ran out of batteries.

It's a good thing we stopped in Girdwood for batteries, because we ran into these at Potter's Marsh.

The Family Christmas Picture. I'm the good looking guy in the gray T.

I have to say, I had an absolute blast, from beginning to end. At the begining, Joe and Macrina didn't really know what to make of me, but they warmed up real quick. I got to beat Mom several times at scrabble, have some good talks with everyone, and got to eat Mom's cooking again. Also saw a bunch of friends I hadn't seen in years. The only bad thing about the trip was that it had to end so quickly.

I'll have to do it again sometime.

Christ is Born!

Glorify Him!

Last night, most of the family was gathered in Homer, AK. Only James and his fiancee Nichole (couldn't afford tickets and saving dimes for a wedding), and Naomi and her family (Disneyland) were missing. Well, Technically it was this morning, because Dad and Cyp were driving down from Anchorage and didn't get home until after 1 AM, and the Midnight liturgy didn't get finished until about 1:30. So we were all together at about 2.

Joachim was by that time passed out and went straight to bed. The rest of us, including Macrina, stayed up for an hour or more eating a meat and cheese laden breakfast casserole Mom made. YUM! Then we all went to bed.

Now, all of us are up, we've opened up the stockings and Mom is making bacon and eggs for breakfast. After that, we get to open presents!

Merry Christmas, everyone.

What I got Mom for Christmas

Well, I pulled it off. As most of the family knows, I decided to surprise my mother for Christmas. There were some complications, of course. I stayed at my brother Ben's house for a couple days, then we all drove down to my parents house in Homer, about 5 hours south of Anchorage today. My sister, Cyprianna was supposed to come up the day after me, but her flight was canceled, and she is flying tonight into Anchorage. Dad drove up to pick her up, and they will hopefully get back in time for our midnight liturgy.

So it was just Ben, Kari, Joachim, Macrina (Ben's wife and kids), my other brother John, and me. Mom was shocked, almost speechless for a few moments when she saw me. Ben got a great picture of her that I'll post once I find my chord to the camera.

Christ is born!

Glorify Him!

North to Canada!

There is a couple at my church, Bill and Lynn Day, who host a gathering of young single people once every other month or so from all the Orthodox churches in the area. The people from St. Joseph the Damascene's in New Westminster, BC invited everyone up to their church last Sunday.

I decided to go, not least because of the mention of a falafel feast. So I woke up a bit early last Sunday and left my house at about 830ish. Church started at 11. I figured that that would give me plenty of time to get through the border, and probably get there for Matins.

From my place its about 15 minutes to the border crossing in Blaine. I got to the border with no problem, until I realized that I forgot my passport on my desk. So I turned around to get it. On my way home, I stopped at the post office (its on the way) to pick up my mail. I got home, took the mail in and grabbed my passport. Turned around, and headed back to Blaine. Got back to the border, and realized -- I took my directions in with the mail.

So I head back home. I left the first time at 830. By the time I actually got to talk to a Canadian border guard, it was almost 10! And I still had an hour's driving ahead of me. Of course, they pulled me over for additional screening. I finally got out of there at about 1020, and started booking it toward New Westminster. Of course, once I got off the main highway, I got lost, and had to ask directions three or four times. The upshot of it is, I got there just in time for the English Epistle reading (St. Joseph's has a large native Arab population, so they read the Epistle and Gospel in both Arabic and English)

It was a good service, and while the Arab tones were different from the Russian, Kievan, and Byzantine tones I am used to, it was very pleasing.

And the Falafels were out of this world amazing. There is truth in the saying that Arab Lenten food is better than their non-Lenten food.

While I was driving around looking for the church, it had started to snow. I think the most we got was about 2 inches, maybe three. On the drive in, I was going about 140 kph in a 100kph zone. On the way out, because of road conditions, 30 kph on the same highway. It was slicker than snot the whole way home. But I made it home safely.

I'm now looking at getting a Nexus card so I don't get stopped again.

Cold

I moved from Alaska partly to get away from the cold. Back in Eagle River, it regularly got to 25 or even 30 degrees below zero (F). Down here in Everson, it rarely gets below 30 degrees.

The last three days, and probably the rest of the week are an exception. We got a huge wind from the Canadian Rockies moving in, bringing the air temperature down to 14 degrees, wind chill brings that down to 5-10 below zero! To make it worse, my house is drafty. The door leading outside from my bedroom won't shut all the way, so I have a dresser in front of it to keep it from blowing completely open. The window above my bed is SINGLE pane, and poorly installed. There is no insulation under the floor.

So I've spent the last two days with the bedroom closed off, all the taps running to keep my pipes from freezing, and sleeping on the couch next to the furnace.

And they call this global warming.