Seattle!

I am in Seattle, which is much warmer than Calgary. My good friend DJ picked me up at the airport and now has taken his two dogs for a walk, leaving me with a computer that allows me to log on to my blog--yay! The one that I got to use sometimes in Calgary usually did not let me log on to blog or to make comments, but then there wasn't that much time to spend on the computer, either.

It is much warmer here than it was in Calgary, though not as warm as it currently is in Texas (80s F.). The weather was quite nice for most of my stay in Calgary. What was interesting was that when I arrived the trees were full of bright yellow leaves, but by the time I left, most of the leaves had fallen. Temperatures drastically fell yesterday so that it even lightly snowed, with nothing sticking. Last night it got down to -3 degrees C. (26.6 degrees F.) and was expected to stay around 5-7 degrees C. (41-45 degrees F.) for the rest of the week.

I had a wonderful time and will write about my trip when I return home on October 14 when I can also download some pictures.

DJ and wife TFJ (my friend since high school and who accompanied me to our 40th high school reunion in August) are always gracious and hospitable. DJ is retired, and TFJ still works. DJ has offered his car to me for my entire four days. Although when I told him how much I dislike Palin (when he proudly showed me McCain/Palin posters in his house windows), he teased me and said he didn't know if he'd let me use his car. . . .

So I am driving over to Ballard around noon to meet my daughter AE at her apartment. We'll go out to lunch and spend the day together. I've brought her a book about Canada (Canadians: a Portrait of a Country and Its People by Roy MacGregor, because she is always talking about emigrating there. Though I'm supposed to have dinner with TFJ tonight, I am enticed by a lecture AE told me about that will be at the University of Washington tonight--how religion is affecting this presidential election!

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But now at 5 pm, it's 50 degrees, and I'm cold. Maybe I've turned into a "Texan" after all. No lecture for me tonight, so the book may be added to my reading list for the future: The God Strategy: How Religion Became a Political Weapon in America.