The Family Letter

As visitors just recently commented, when you’re hiking in this area, especially up in the Spring Mountains, you’d never know that you were less than an hour from Las Vegas.  Today’s trip was more proof of that and, for a change, I’ve remembered to upload some photos…

Enjoy!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/family-letter/sets/72157627219024678/

After church today I went to my first movie of the season.  It isn’t summer yet, but I think this is the beginning of the summer movie season.  There are a few super hero flicks out this year, and I always try to catch those on the big screen, starting with Thor.

It wasn’t great cinema, but it also wasn’t all that bad.  Simple story line but then what do you expect, since the whole point of the film was to introduce the character Thor so he can appear in the Avengers film coming down the pipe.

But the visuals…  Absolutely stunning.  And even more so because it was a digital projection theater.  This is the first time I’ve been to see a film that was digital in this way.  And… WOW.

The ads and promos at the front were regular projection, then it switched.  They played the “please silence your cell phones” thing twice, and the second time it was digital.  It was like watching your TV go from regular broadcast to high-def.  The picture was several times clearer and more vibrant and the sound… At least five times better.  You could hear more nuances, and the surround effect was clearly evident.

Again… WOW!  Not bad at all, and the same cost as I’m used to for a movie.

I’m still not brave enough to try a 3D film.  I’d love to see an IMAX version, but they were all 3D today, so maybe next flick.

Back to work tomorrow after a week in Virginia at a conference/retreat of Episcopal chaplains.  If you’re an Episcopal chaplain and you weren’t there, you missed a good event… Hope to see you next year![1]

1. The Bishop WILL pay for travel, btw! [<--]

…the Lord is Risen Indeed, Alleluia.

It was an odd sort of Holy Week.  Well, an odd sort of Lent, all things considered.  I don’t think I really took up a discipline this time around.  I got the news that I was moving just before Ash Wednesday.  I got back to Oklahoma from house hunting out here, having picked a new place to live, just days before Ash Wednesday.  So the whole process kind of felt interrupted.

Then I get here and… No responsibility for worship services.  So Holy Week was, from the view point of my job, just another week.  My first week in the new job.  So things haven’t reached a routine yet, I was in processing the new base, learning my way around… Taking it a bit slower.

And not planning services.  No bulletins.  No sermons.  No seemingly endless set of services that blur together until Sunday afternoon when you collapse at home in the fetal position.

I did attend Maundy Thursday services at an Episcopal Church.  I meant to go to Good Friday service in the evening, but got distracted by a phone call.  There was one at my new base, and I took some of the readings[1] so I guess I made a service that day.

Saturday I found the local blood bank and got started donating platelets here.  Then ducked over to Nellis to do some shopping…[2]  Then to Toyota where they graciously took back the front license plate bracket that I don’t actually need, and sold me a wheel cover for one that vanished sometime in the past few weeks.

Which brings us to Easter itself.  I decided to try something new and different… I took it completely off.  I went to the Easter Vigil service last night, then did nothing at all churchy today.  In fact, I slept in[3].  Did some things online…  And then went hiking!  It was wonderful.

I went back to Red Rock Canyon.  It is going to be a long while before I explore the whole thing, there are tons of trails.  This time I tried Ice Box Canyon.  2.5 miles each way, 300 foot elevation gain, and lots of great scrambling over boulders and such.  There’s actually a stream in this one, and standing water.  Not much, but it made for a trip from desert environment to more lush surroundings with trees, bushes, and wildlife.  Very cool.

And, predictably, I took too many pictures.  Please feel free to enjoy.

I tooled around some more after (in the car), did some grocery shopping, and am relaxing at home.

It was a different sort of Holy Week, but a good change considering the frantic pace lately.

Blessed Easter to you all!

1. And, unexpectedly, the benediction.  The chaplain in charge announced, “And now Ch Juchter will give the benediction and we will depart in silence.”  Good thing I’m fast on my feat. [<--]
2. Thank goodness I get paid this week, I’ve been spending way too much on setting up a new household. [<--]
3. Okay, okay, 0630.  Still that’s more than an hour past my normal wake up time. [<--]

I had a dam good time today.  After church, of course.

That is, I spent it going more… Ahem… In depth at the Hoover Dam.  There’s more to see, and hiking to be done, but for now, see what I saw!

Well, yeah, I know… Duh.  But it is also Springs.  Enjoy the photos from Saturday’s trip to the Springs Preserve.

More photos very soon…