"Force of desperation"

These are the words our new Swiss friend, Theo, used to describe how he made it up the 5.11 climb that I couldn’t even do the first moves on. I found the words excellent and hope to incorporate them into my ever-broadening climbing lingo. We have climbed another three days at Smith and did the classic multi-pitch Zion last Friday. We climbed some sport routes on the Phoenix wall with Theo last Thursday and it rained on and off that day. We had him over to the Rialta for Indian cuisine and a slide show of the areas that he might be hitting on his North America tour. He is very well traveled and interesting to talk to as well as having an excellent sense of humor, so we are very glad to have made his acquaintance.

The weekend was spectacular weather wise, but we had already scheduled our rest days for the weekend to avoid the busiest climbing days. We ended up having a great time in Bend filled with balloons, bands, art, and, of all things, church. We spent several hours at the Balloons over Bend festivities in the Old Mill district listening to live music and being tempted by food reminiscent of the Canfield fair. They ended the evening with fire dancers which didn’t quite live up to the show Derek put on last fall at the Red, but were good non the less. Also, they had four or five hot air balloons inflated that they intermittently fired up which created a big glowing balloon in the night. We thought the balloons were taking off from that same area the next morning and so we slept in the parking lot (in the Rialta of course), but awoke to find the place empty. The balloons were supposed to take off around 6:30 am, so we figured out where they were and headed that way. The school grounds were covered with young happy families and lots of dogs. The kids are so cute with Brutus and it seems like he misses little David, maybe he’s expecting some green beans or cheerios from all little people.

So it was 7:30 on a Sunday morning in Bend, we had seen the balloons and we were planning on resting that day, so I suggested we go to church. I’ve been thinking a lot more on the subject basically just because I’m ready to have a little structure to my spirituality and some community involvement at the same time. Obviously we are not moving to Bend, so this is just a test balloon to see if Jay can appreciate some of the aspects of a non-Catholic Christian service. We were looking for a simple non-denominational church, but Jay hadn’t ever been to a Presbyterian service and their church looked bigger, so we tried it. We got cleaned up and went to the contemporary service at 9. It was good. The sermon was about letting things that are going on in the world upset you. The pastor spoke of torture and hunger and violence and that we shouldn’t let ourselves numb to these things. After the service there were the standard Presbyterian cookies and coffee, which we participated in, and then there was a lecture on Kenya and the violence that has been going on there. A retired History Professor gave a lecture on the history of the country and the government and we briefly discussed what we can/should do about it. There were about eight other people that came to the discussion probably all over 60. Really, would I have taken the time to go to this if I wasn’t unemployed “resting” yesterday? Amazingly, after the Kenyan discussion group, they had a lunch with a slide show and lecture from some members who just returned from Bolivia. Free lunch, we’re in. We ended up spending four hours at the First Presbyterian church of Bend, OR. Many of you reading this are probably amazed right now. I know, I know, I’ve been down on organized religion for many years. And, there are aspects of it that I am still very conflicted about, but all in all, I liked it. I want someone to make me aware of things and then ask the questions that should follow Fox News 10, what are YOU going to do about this? Even if the answer is nothing, because I don’t know enough or it’s not my place, at least we don’t just chalk it up to it’s over there, it doesn’t matter. And, I hope that it also makes me more aware of what is right here, where I am relatively educated about things and I can do something about it.

So, I am in the back of the Rialta finishing typing this and getting car sick. I’ve gotta go climbing now.