MARCH 1, ST. DAVID'S DAY

Today, Saturday, is St David's Day. St. David is the patron saint of Wales (just as St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland). Our heritage is Welsh, though we were both born in England, so today we look at all things Welsh!

The Daffodil
This is the national flower of Wales.

The Welsh flag














A map of the British Isles, showing the Land of Wales
(and Flamborough Head, my true passion).



















The Leek also a national emblem of Wales.
It is something like an onion but more mild. A bowl of leek soup is wonderful!

The Welsh National Anthem
Hen Wlad fy Nhadau
(Land of my Fathers)

Welsh version
Cymraeg
Mae hen wlad fy nhadau yn annwyl i mi
Gwlad beirdd a chantorion enwogion o fri
Ei gwrol ryfelwr, gwlad garwyr tra mad
Tros ryddid collasant eu gwaed.

Gwlad Gwlad,
Pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad,
Tra môr yn fur i'r bur hoff bau
O bydded i'r hen iaith barhau

English version

Land of my Fathers, O land of the free,
A land of poets and minstrels, famed men.
Her brave warriors, patriots much blessed,
It was for freedom that they lost their blood.

Wales! Wales!,
I am devoted to my country.
So long as the sea is a wall to this fair beautiful
land, May the ancient language remain.

And what would Wales be without her sheep?...




....and the beautiful Welsh Corgi...

....and her many, many beautiful castles.

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We will continue the adventures of my sister and I tomorrow.
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Where we Went and What we Did

We went to Oceanside Harbor. It was an absolutely beautiful day.





































We explored the gift shops.....

















....but managed to resist the fish and chips, which tells you how much we had eaten in the last few days, because we both LOVE fish and chips!













At the harbor beach, the seagulls were taking a break and doing a little sun bathing.

Oceanside Harbor is one of the little known jewels of the Tri-City area.

What Have I Been Doing - Where Have I been?

I plan to answer these questions in the next couple of posts.

First of all, I mentioned my sister had been visiting us from Toronto, Canada, where they must have had ten foot of snow this winter.

Someone asked to see a more up-to-date-photo of us. Well this is us last Monday, at the Elephant Bar in Escondido, being bad girls.















How bad is that! We feel like we spent most of our time eating, but not just hot fudge sundaes.















Father and son, Glyn, (Welsh for Glen) were also there but were smart enough not to have their photos taken while they were eating their enormous desserts! At least Kay and I shared one!

We also spent some time sitting out on the patio. The sun did eventually come out after the first three days.



We also went to the Harbor, (Oceanside), and took a day out to the desert. Photos coming up soon.

Ups and Downs

Henrietta was missing for a couple of days and after the deposits on the patio we were a little alarmed. We have now decided that we are not being visited by a coyote but by a fairly large raccoon. At first I breathed a sigh of relief -- until I searched the web and discovered that raccoons eat chickens too! But I have seen her the last two days, so she is still with us. But she is pecking up seed rather nervously and doesn't stay around very long.


Last Wednesday my sister arrived from Toronto to soak up some sunshine. Of course you know what happened. It has rained every day since then. I think we have persuaded her to stay an extra day or two, since the weather is supposed to clear up. I should have some photos of her, but instead I have only one of me, which she took between the showers. Notice the plumeria in the green pot to the left of me. Just bare branches and it was so full of beautiful green leaves last summer. There are tiny shoots on the tips but I'm not sure if they will amount to anything.



Then she took another photo of me at the computer, which is, I think, my second home. (Not too flattering a shot, but there I am hard at work.)































Here we are together, taken last June while we were in England.


Here's the Man of the House picking up after what we think is the raccoon.

What Exactly is Morning Star Messengers?

Rev. Albert Sturges, first missionary to Micronesia.
circa 1850


















Islanders welcoming the Morning Star



In the 1800's American Congregational missionaries learned about many hundreds of islands, scattered north to south across the equator, between Hawaii and the Philippines. They had been badly exploited by the whalers and traders who had taken advantage of the islanders' unsophisticated ways. In addition, their culture included going to war, family or clan against clan, to claim villages and other areas of their tiny islands. The missionaries determined to reach these islands to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ and to bring peace instead of killing. It was an uphill battle since alcohol abuse and prostitution had already taken firm root. Eventually the missionaries, having settled on several islands, bought a ship to bring supplies for the missionaries and for the islanders. The ship was named the Morning Star after Jesus Christ, who is called the Bright and Morning Star in the Bible.

My book "Good News Comes to Pohnpei" documents the history of these early years of the Church in Micronesia. The stories are exciting and heart warming.

For the last 30 years my husband, among others, has been leading teams of Christians from the US one or twice a year, to help the churches in these islands. He helped establish the Morning Star Institute classes which train Micronesian pastors, who have churches on many tiny islands throughout Micronesia. When my husband retired as the pastor of the Carlsbad Community Church seven years ago, he founded the non-profit organization, Morning Star Messengers and increased his involvement in the islands. His ministry of this nature has now expanded to other countries of the world where he has been invited to help encourage other struggling churches in a number of countries of the world.

Want to learn more?
Read "Good News Comes to Pohnpei"
Revised and edited by Christine A. Jones.
You can get it on Amazon.com

This is Quite a Mixture!

First, we have the display my husband and I put together for our Missionary Conference at the church last week. There are photos on this from Micronesia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, South Africa -- and the one on the bottom row, 3rd from left is what my husband insists is a photo of a Contemporary Worship Leader !!! (Please, no offense intended! It is actually an Australian Aborigine playing a diggerydoo). Better view below.









































Next, we have two photos of the mourning doves who have been visiting us for the past week. Notice Bailey is keeping a sharp eye on them.


















This next photo matches Wanda's 'UGH!' quality for the picture of licking a pig.














OH HENRIETTA! This is the third such deposit we have found on our patio in three days. Each piece is about three to four inches long. After the stormy weather we had last week, my husband saw a bedraggled looking coyote not a block away from our house. We talked to a neighbor who lives just two houses away and he leaves for work every day at 5:15 a.m. He says he sees coyotes every morning on our street, which is just a small circle. There used to be rabbits playing in the circle, but if this is what we think it is, then Henrietta had better take care! I have hardly seen her for three days. Today she just came and hurriedly picked up the food and took off again, and is now nowhere to be seen. Bailey was highly agitated about two nights ago, and we thought he must have seen or smelled another cat. The neighbor asked us if we had a rooster and we told him no, that it was two houses behind us. He hears it crowing every morning.

My son said, "Well you wanted to get rid of Henrietta didn't you?".... Well.... yes, but not by having a coyote eating her, and I certainly don't want to see or hear it happening!!






















On a happier note, Bailey is an indoor cat, so he at least is safe.

The Little Blog Cat

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The little blog cat
Did you notice the little napping cat in the upper left corner of this page? Click on it and see what happens. If you want one for yourself, you can get it here. (You can click on it again and it will head back to the corner for another nap.)It is slow to down load, but is cute.