Celtic Odyssey

My wife is part of a community garden group called the Greenbriar Collective .  The community garden is one of their many projects.  They rotate work weekends with the various community gardens with which they are involved.  Our gardens were the weekend of the February 17th and 18th. It was a blast!  As I am not readily involved with out-door projects (I am a geek, after all -- manual labor to me is moving computers around), I was a little hesitant about what I could do to help.  But, as they were going to be at my house and working in my gardens, the least I could do was help in some way.  And I did.  And it was great!  There is such a feeling of satisfaction when people from all walks of life come together and accomplish something.  Now, granted, I was more of a support person, but I think we all were that to some extent.  We had a lot to do and I wondered if we would be able to get it accomplished.  I would say we got about 95% of it done.  Here are some pics of the stu...

As some of you may recall, I have decided to become a vegetarian . This has been a great struggle of late. I am really having a hard time, harder than I at first thought. I am really -- I mean really -- craving meat. It is becoming increasingly harder to sustain this diet. And yet . . . Just the other day my family and I went to a chili cook-off. I know, trouble already, right? Not really. There were vegetarian chilis there too. And it was great! But the greatest bit of all was the ability to witness! I was talking with one of my friends that had cooked a vegetarian chili (which got first prize in that category, btw), and told him that I was thankful that he had vegetarian chili since I had recently become a vegetarian. Well, there was a young man in ear shot of this conversation and he gladly joined in. 'That's awesome! What made you decide to become a vegetarian?' And there it was. The golden opportunity to share the Gospel. And I did. I said: 'I believe that this ...

When they came down from the mountain, the disciples stood with Jesus on a large, level area, surrounded by many of his followers and by the crowds. There were people from all over Judea and from Jerusalem and from as far north as the seacoasts of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those troubled by evil spirits were healed. Everyone tried to touch him, because healing power went out from him, and he healed everyone. Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said, “God blesses you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours. God blesses you who are hungry now, for you will be satisfied. God blesses you who weep now, for in due time you will laugh. “What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man. When that happens, be happy! Yes, leap for joy! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, their ancestors treated the ancient prophets that same way...

Things have been going full speed over here. I am in the middle of trying to get my home business off the ground. It is a computer business and you can see an ad for it here . That is taking a lot of my time. I am hoping that I can get a sign made for my front yard, seeing as I live on a busy street, it should help bring in business. I also read a great article (or should I say letter) from Steve Jobs. Whose that? Where have you been living? Mr. Jobs is the head of Apple . The guy behind some great things like . . . um . . . oh, I don't know . . . the iPod ! Apple also makes some great computers too (the best, in my humble but correct opinion). Their latest 'gadget' is called the iPhone . It is an iPod, an Internet communications device, and, well, a phone all rolled up into one! It isn't available yet, but when it comes online, watch out! It will set the phone world on it's ear. Anyway, back to the letter . In it, Mr. Jobs has thrown down a gauntlet....