Stewart Family Redmond WA

On June 24, our pastor announced to the church council that she has accepted a call to be the Campus Pastor at Waldorf College in Forest City, Iowa. I was part of the call committee that enthusiastically recommended calling Charlene Cox to serve at our church in September 2002. In my opinion, time has shown that decision was a mistake. Pastor Cox's personality was not well-suited to our congregation, and our recent history of conflict was not a good match for her inexperience. I think she will be much happier in her new call, and despite the fact that she and I ultimately did not get along, I wish her well.

Our church faces a tough road again. There is a great deal of polarization in the congregation right now. We lack direction and focus. There are a lot of hurt feelings. Undoubtedly, the news of her departure will cause some people to leave our church. Now the work of rebuilding begins…

What else is new?! The Mariners continue to struggle. A recent four-game winning streak (against some bad N.L. teams) aroused some faint hopes, but the M's followed that up with a disasterous road-trip to Texas, losing all three games to the first-place Rangers. Their main problem is the inability to score runs, and I don't see that changing this year. Oh well! It's still fun to go to the park and watch a big-league ball game! (In fact, Pete and I went to the game last night, and the M's lost to San Diego, 3-2, but they lost creatively. Freddy Garcia pitched a dominating complete game, but the first four batters he faced all reached base, and by the time five men had come to bat for the Padres, there were two outs, none on, but three runs in. The Padres didn't come close to scoring for the rest of the night. The M's, on the other hand, should have scored the tying run in the bottom of the ninth when the Padres' first baseman bobbled a throw with two outs, but Hiram Bocachica hesitated half-way between third and home, then was thrown out trying to get back to third, and the game was over.)

Today is Cassie's birthday! It's not her real birthday, which is sometime in March, but it was two years ago today that Cassie joined our family! She is a sweetie! Just looking at her cheerful face makes us smile!

Carol

Ray

Pete Jr

Pete

In the middle of May, Carol and I had a nice little getaway to Silverdale, and we took a day to visit Lake Cushman and the Staircase Rapids Trail inside Olympic National Park near the south end of the Hood Canal. (Pictures below.) My current Silverdale project is to finish finally the exterior painting I started in September 2002. All that remains is the deck and the trim on the west side.

I went to visit my mom in Cherry Hill, New Jersey for eight days around Memorial Day Weekend. We had a good visit, and we put nearly a thousand miles on her car. First, we went to Ellicott City, Maryland, where we spent the night at my brother's house and then went with him to Washington, D.C. to the dedication of the World War II Memorial. It was a very nice ceremony, though we couldn't actually walk through the Memorial itself. That will have to wait for another trip. We saw President Bush speak with his—ahem—usual flair, but he was only about a half inch tall from our distant vantage point. Next, Mom and I went to Troy, New York to visit my dad's grave and to see a couple of Mom's old friends. Finally, I helped out by fixing odds and ends around Mom's house. She'll be eighty this December, so climbing on rickety ladders to tack up sagging insulation is not a job she needs to be doing herself!

We have a new roof on our house here in Redmond. The original cedar shake roof was totally shot after a mere fifteen years. The new roof is—(gasp!)—asphalt shingles! Believe it or not, this was a controversial choice in some quarters of our homeowners' association. Of course, this roof is warranted to last fifty years, so I have a feeling we'll see more "tacky" roofs popping up in our neighborhood over the next few years. There's a picture below, so you can see for yourself how "horrible" it looks.

Carol and I went with our friends, Rob and Gale, to see Karrin Allyson at Jazz Alley last Wednesday evening. She did a tremendous 90-minute set. She really is our favorite jazz singer. Her new album is good, too.

I am finally trying to lose weight. No, I'm not doing Atkins! I've cut out between-meal snacking, non-diet sodas, and I am trying to watch my portions. So far, I've lost about ten pounds, but I still need to lose—gulp!—thirty-five more! I'm also trying to ride my bike again, but I've been lazy for the past few weeks.

June 26, 2004

May 2004