Jonathan's blog

Saturday afternoon the boys went to watch a Northwood volleyball game.  They were down one game to Ashland when we arrived, but they dominated the next three straight games to win the match.  Then Saturday night out church had a kick-off dinner for Forty Days of Purpose.

After playing basketball Tuesday night, I noticed that my right calf was a little sore on Wednesday.  I assumed it was just a normal bruise or sore muscle.  Saturday night around 9:30 PM, I stood up and it hurt much worse.  I reached down to touch it and felt a big bulge on the side calf.  I pushed on it, felt it move like a big bubble of fluid, and a sharp pain.  I tried to go to urgent care, but it was closed, so I went to the emergency room.  They thought it was a hematoma but did an ultrasound of my legs to make sure there wasn't a clot.  I got home around 1 AM.  The next day I walked around of crutches (called "crunches" by Finn), and by Saturday I was walking fairly normally but gingerly.  I don't remember getting kicked or anything traumatic in the basketball game, but maybe it was just too much running, jumping, and landing for an old man.

On Tuesday Grandma and Grandpa B and Aunt Robin came up and went with Lisa, Elliot, and Finn to Grandma's Pumpkin Patch...

Last night Lisa and I went to see a concert by Sarah Groves (one of Lisa's favorites), Chris Rice, and Jars of Clay.  Overall, Lisa said the experience was inspiring.  All three performances were all quite enjoyable, though Lisa would have preferred a little more Sarah and a little less Chris.  Elliot and Finn stayed home with Jordan the babysitter and watched Herbie Goes Bananas for movie night.

America is not a religious country, no matter how many Americans say they believe in God. I've been in religious countries and this is not one of them. There is no Sabbath, no fasting or prohibitions, every day is a feast day. You can buy liquor on Sunday almost anywhere, find pornography in any Marriott or Wal-Mart, say any ugly, profane thing on the radio or anywhere - we're fat and sloppy and as disciplined as a battalion of cats, an impulsive, dreamy people walking around eating ice cream cones and eyeballing the girls - sweaters and dreaming of a big hit in the lottery. If God is looking for a nation to carry out His will on earth, it isn.t this one. And it wasn.t leftist professors who led us into the sins of the flesh: it was capitalist entrepreneurs. If the Pharisees really wanted to make this a God-fearing nation, they.d be taking up their cudgels against fellow Republicans.

That's a quote from p. 211 of Homegrown Democrat: A Few Plain Thoughts From the Heart of America by Garrison Keillor.  I read it during our get-away trip to the UP.  Get yourself a copy or ask to borrow mine.