by jphilo | Jan 28, 2013 | Out and About
My internal thermostat, which had no trouble adjusting to 70+ degree and sunny weather in Corpus Christi last Wednesday, is still rebelling against the 12° temps that greeted me Saturday upon my return to Iowa. On the other hand, I was able to avoid dairy products, and as a result arrived home with energy and without a raging headache, sinus infection, or any intestinal distress. Here are a few discoveries that made the dairy-free diet an easy pill to swallow:
- The Starbucks at the Dallas/Forth Worth airport carried a Garbanzo Bean/Lime Salad that was delicious. The beans were mixed with finely chopped tomatoes and onions and garnished with sweet red pepper and cilantro. The dressing was lime juice, kosher salt, and something hot that gave it a perfect kick. Yum and double yum!
- Starbucks employees will add soy milk to your coffee. Since they don’t set out soy milk at the condiment bar, you can ask them to steam the soy first. I love that extra perk!
- The mom and pop Mexican place in Corpus Christi where we ate supper one night served a soft drink called rice water. Don’t let the name fool you. This delicious drink (I had just a sip) contains condensed milk.
- Order all the shrimp and vegetable dishes you can in south Texas–and there are lots of them, almost all without cheese or any dairy products.
- Speakers often receive a gift bag which usually contains chocolate. MILK chocolate. I left the candy with a thank you note for the maids at the hotel. If anyone deserves chocolate, a hotel maid does.
- When everybody decides to go to Baskin Robbins for ice cream, go along and order their daiquiri ice. The lime with rum flavoring is good. Really good. Really really good. And it sits very light on the stomach.
So, what dairy-free food finds have you discovered while traveling in Texas or anywhere else? Leave a comment!
by jphilo | Oct 26, 2012 | Out and About
My technological skills are limited. For years, they were non-existent. Then, I mastered the garage door opener and the computer on switch in the same month. After that they plateaued for a good long time. Until Monday when my skills sky rocketed, thanks to a technological miracle.
Skeptical?
Then take a good look at the above picture. It documents the execution of a miracle deemed impossible by those who are familiar with my technological deficit.
So what was the miracle?
I connected my computer to an LCD projector, and the Keynote presentation that accompanies the time management workshop I gave at the Iowa Learning Disabilities Conference showed up on the screen ON THE FIRST TRY.
Still skeptical?
Okay, it wasn’t a solo miracle. Lots of people helped, starting with a lady iGenius at the Apple Store. She wrote down the names of two different adapters that can connect MacBook Pros to LCD projectors. I emailed that information to the nice lady coordinating the conference, and she emailed back pictures of the cord that would connect to the Apple adapter.
Getting confused?
I was too until I took the picture back to the Apple Store and showed it to another iGenius. This one was a guy, and he said the adapter required was a VGA. Unfortunately, they were out of stock, but available online. He must have recognized my deer-in-the-headlights look at the mention of online ordering, because he offered to walk me through it. Which he did without laughing even once.
Starting to believe me?
The VGA adapter arrived a few days later. I arrived at the conference plenty early Monday morning, with the adapter and my computer in hand. Another nice lady located the LCD projector and helped set it up. Then she got confused by all the wires, and left to find help. While she was gone, I plugged everything together and opened my computer file. And there it was, the first slide of the presentation on the screen. I even figured out how to manipulate the focus lever.
Can you hear the Charlton Heston miracle music in the background?
That’s when I grabbed my iPad and took a picture. Much to the chagrin of the next nice lady, who arrived to solve the tech issue. Instead she had to endure my incomprehensible babblings about miracles, my incompetence, and the need to digitally preserve the moment or no one would ever believe me.
Now do you believe me?
Thought so.
by jphilo | Oct 22, 2012 | Out and About
For more than a week, I’ve been on the road. Whether the travel’s been for personal or professional reasons, the time behind the wheel left plenty of time for this Monday’s musings.
- Being a grandma is the best job ever.
- Fall is a lovely time for traveling in the Midwest.
- Panera has the healthiest fast food (and tastiest coffee) of any franchise chain.
- My new mission in life is to explain to food service workers that “dairy-free” means more than no visible cheese, yogurt, or ice cream on whatever you order.
- Box elder bugs are taking over the world.
- Dorothy knew what she was talking about when she clicked those ruby slippers together and said there’s no place like home–even when you get home and find box elder bugs are waiting to greet you–lined up three deep on the threshold.
What are your latest travel musings? Leave a comment.
by jphilo | Sep 17, 2012 | Out and About
Sorry this post is late going up, but I’m still recovering from a most enjoyable weekend with the women above (sorry this photo’s a little blurry) and the women below.
We spent the weekend at Hidden Acres Camp bonding, worshiping, eating without having to fix the meal or clean up afterwards, relaxing, and learning about how to practice spiritual disciplines during our current seasons of life. These women were so welcoming and so attentive. They were also so not in need of being asked to keep their hands and feet to themselves while listening to the speakers.
Way easier than fourth graders, that’s for sure!
The most heartening aspect of the conference – which had many outstanding features including gifted and committed worship leaders, the best candy bar ever, excellent breakout workshops, and a dedicated planning team – was how many young women attended. The weekend is proof of a new generation of committed Christians who are busy producing the next generation of believers.
Seriously, about every third woman below 35 was either pregnant or caring for a baby.
Thanks so much for allowing me to speak at your conference. Special thanks to Jessy who invited me way back last October, to Rachel who put together the yummiest gift basket ever, to the worship team for all your practice and equipment hauling, and to Sandy for making sure I didn’t go longer than 45 minutes. Most of all, thanks to all of you for making time in your busy lives to attend the conference and for making me feel so welcome.
You were a gift from God all weekend long!
by jphilo | Jun 18, 2012 | Out and About
Today’s post was supposed to be a summary of the Cedar Falls Writers’ Conference – the conference I arrived at a day late, once Hiram was out of the hospital and safely ensconced at home – last week.
I planned to talk about the importance-of-editing-and-proofreading discussion encouraged partly by the How to Be Your Editor’s BFF workshop I presented Thursday and partly by an advertisement one of the conference attendees found. The ad touted a pizza joint by describing one of their menu offerings as “topped with barbequed white children.” (Either the ad meant to say “chicken” instead of “children” or some Iowa pizza joint is giving Fanny Flagg’s Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe some serious competition in the “it’s all in the barbeque” category.)
But my plan to pass along that humorous anecdote, and many others, was thwarted by two unforeseen events.
- Camp Dorothy went into action Saturday afternoon through Sunday evening due to an unexpected weekend trip by my brother and his family.
- A pregnant friend (with 3 other children and a husband on a business trip until Wednesday) was diagnosed with mild pre-eclampsia and is on modified bedrest.
Therefore, my weekend was busy running Camp Dorothy, with no Wheel of Fortune due to the U.S. Open Golf Tournament, which put someone’s nose out of joint. Today I’m taking my friend’s three kids to the pool (the ultimate sacrifice on a hot, sunny day) and delivering supper to them.
So there’s just not time to tell you about the aspiring writers at the conference.
Or about several people who’ve been published since the last conference.
Or about how pleasant it is to teach people who know how to share,
who don’t need reminders to keep their hands and feet to themselves,
and who always say please and thank you.
There’s no time because Camp Dorothy put me a little behind on the weekend’s work. And today, instead of dedicating the entire day to writing, I’m busy digging out my swim suit, beach towel, and sunglasses. And the sunscreen. My yes, the sunscreen for me and the three little ones, too. Lots of sunscreen. Cause there’s no way I’ll deliver three barbequed white children to my friend’s house for supper.
That just wouldn’t be write right.
by jphilo | Jun 15, 2012 | Out and About
This week’s been an out-of-the-frying-pan-into-the-fire experience. Once Hiram was home, on his feet, and fairly independent, I hit the road for the Cedar Falls Christian Writers’ Conference. I arrived one day late, but in time to teach three workshops, reconnect with old friends, and make new ones.
But the frying pan/fire scenario doesn’t leave much time for new blog posts, so today’s is a recycled one written the first year I went to the conference, which is held at the same church camp I attended as a child. Enjoy!
“‘He who believes in Me’, as the Scripture said,
‘From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.’”
John 7: 38
I squirmed like a ten-year-old as I drove under the sign, “Riverview Bible Conference Center.” The name was different, but I felt at home in the place I hadn’t seen in 35 years – my childhood church camp.
I arrived the night before my writers’ conference, so as soon as my bags were stowed, I walked the grounds. I located the tabernacle, a barn of a place where an old maid chapel director taught 200 wriggling kids every verse of How Great Thou Art. Every day, when she freed us from our prison of song, we ran to the pool where we recited the day’s new verse as the price of our admission.
The pool was as I remembered it, and I remembered how up-town that cement pool seemed in the 1960s. Moving on, I found the cabins I’d stayed in different years. I recognized the old craft center, Missionary Hall, which would serve as our conference headquarters tomorrow. My biggest disappointment was not locating the campfire pit and the cross that stood by it.
One thing puzzled me as I tramped around. Why had the camp been named Riverview? In all my church camp years, I’d never seen a river and couldn’t find one now. Darkness fell and the bugs had sucked me dry, so I went back to my cabin still wondering.
The next morning, I searched for the campfire before the conference began. A road I’d missed the night before dead ended in a grassy bank, but I climbed up a few steps. There it was – the campfire, hemmed by benches on three sides and the cross on the fourth. Once, a minister explained the greatness of God’s love to us as we sat on those benches. “He loved you so much He died for you,” the pastor said, pointing to the cross. “He died so you might live.” Sitting there I had accepted Christ, blinded by His love, unable to imagine life beyond what He’d already given.
Now I approached that cross, neon pink in the rising sun. Light peeked between tree trunks and through a chain-link fence that ran along a little ridge a few yards behind it. Curious, I walked beyond the cross, looked over the fence, and gasped. A river flowed far below me, surrounded by trees and cabins, docks and boats, teeming with life.
“You’ve grown up, Jolene.” A still, small voice whispered in my heart. “You’ve matured enough to see what was always there.”
Thirty years ago, I was too young to comprehend God’s simple truth. But this day I know His promise is true because I have experienced it for three decades: that beyond the cross flows a river of life!
