Making History

I wish this was a better picture, but I didn't want to ruin it by adding flash. And I only have a point and shoot, so I'm no expert photographer!

I'm sure a lot of American CDP folks are posting photos on this topic today (and perhaps tomorrow). It's a big day for us - we swore in our first black president, the 44th this country has elected. Barack Hussein Obama gave a wonderful inaugural speech this morning (which was afternoon back in D.C.), and I sincerely enjoyed being able to watch this momentous occasion. If you enlarge the photo, you might be able to make out an ear belonging to the person in front of me at the event where we watched it on a large screen on the Walla Walla U. campus.

Here's to the future of the United States of America. No one knows what the future holds, but one things is for sure: Most of us, as of this morning, have renewed hope. And will continue to pray.

Andy's Market

One of the most popular grocery stores in the WWV is the Adventist-owned Andy's Market in College Place. By far the smallest, the market specializes in health foods, meat replacements, and bulk items. Adventists are well-known for their health message, which involves not eating meat, and just inside the door down that aisle you can see shelves of Adventist-made meat replacement products, made of soy. They are quite delicious - so long as you don't expect them to taste like real meat! What makes this grocery store unique is the fact that it closes during Sabbath hours. This means that half an hour before sundown on Friday (which changes throughout the year as days grow longer or shorter), someone stands outside the door with a large "CLOSED" sign so no one else will try to shop. They don't reopen until Sunday morning. This is a "slice of life" shot...regardless of the quality. It was taken last Friday afternoon.

By the way, some of you wanted to know more history on the abandoned church I posted a few days ago. I have since learned that it belongs to the son of a faculty member at Walla Walla U. He purchased it with the intention of fixing it up as a home, but recently no work has been done to it. Speculations are that it was discovered that fixing it up was going to be a much more involved undertaking than anyone expected. It is a rather old building.