Two Corvette Chicks; Robbed; CSL Seattle; On the Bench; Ft. Lewis; Cecilia's Goat

Our good friend Elizabeth Magee from The Villages (who by the way also has a Corvette) dropped in on Saturday for a short visit. She was in Los Angeles visiting family and decided to make a quick trip up north to see Suzanne and attend her activities at the Seattle Center of Spiritual Living. Here are Elizabeth and Suzanne relaxing after her flight from LAX and discussing friends back in TV and Elizabeth's grandchildren.  

On Saturday we were unable to get a campground near Sunday’s venue, so we dry-camped (no hookups) in an Elks Lodge parking lot in Lynnwood, Washington. It turned out to be a disastrous decision. We loaded the car with all of the books and audio-visual gear needed for the next day’s events at Seattle CSL, as it would be a 0600 reveille to make a 0800 meeting at the church 30+ miles away. The car’s rear hatch was broken by thieves/druggies and all of our equipment stolen. Because they were able to reach in without opening the doors, the car alarm didn’t activate. Of note, they musn’t be very literate, because no books were stolen, only electronic equipment that could be easily fenced at a disreputable pawn shop. Most of the break-ins around here are perpetrated by crack and methamphetamine drug users...

After making the report to a very nice Lynnwood, WA, police officer, we moved on to Seattle’s Center for Spiritual Living, where we met Reverend Barbara Novak and Heather McCants, CSL’s Event Coordinator. Suzanne then gave the primary message at two services. There was a fabulous Gospel singer, Gino Walker, who raised the energy of the 500 or so congregants prior to Suzanne’s message. After lunch, Suzanne gave her Making the Connection Workshop to 40 very receptive and enthusiastic participants. Our great reception at CSL made up for the mess from the night before and the church provided the equipment we needed until we can replace it all.  What a pain. 

On a happier note, here is our smiling Suzanne, enjoying the beautiful flowers and perfect weather here in the Pacific Northwest. Every day since 27 June has been sunny and clear, with highs of 70-80 and lows of 45-55. 

We are now back at Fort Lewis, near Tacoma, WA. This morning’s big event was getting the car window repaired ($500 out of pocket, the exact deductible on our auto policy) while Suzanne did a reading for a mother and her daughter who lost a son/brother.  Suzanne reports the reading was "five bars" with new evidence and photos from his mom to share. Then a bike ride around this huge Army post. Some of the interesting sights included a truck from the Aardvark Bark Blowing Company (I am NOT making up that name.  Try to say THAT several times)...

Behind these razor wire-covered fences is a Prisoner of War (P.O.W.) camp. It is used for what the military calls SERE Training. SERE stands for Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape. These four phases of a potential POW’s life are unbelievably high stress, and not all military personnel go through SERE training. It is primarily for pilots and Special Operations personnel (SEALs, Green Berets, Marine Force Recon, and others) who operate behind enemy lines where they are more likely to be captured by enemy forces. Run by defense contractors and highly experienced military, SERE training gives you a harsh taste of what captivity might be like, and hopefully improves the probability of a service member surviving capture, imprisonment and torture. 

This “industrial” sized car wash (called “Wash Racks”) is for heavy tracked vehicles like tanks, mobile artillery, and huge trucks. It has 19 separate wash areas, and belongs to the “Triple Nickle” Brigade, the 555^th Artillery. I suggested to My Lovely Bride that she stand under one of the washdown sprays while I got an action photo, but she was not amused...

Finally, in a show of our good culinary taste, here is My Lovely Bride with Cecilia, the mobile chef in this Caribbean Cuisine Wagon on base. She opened for business just last week, and has been enjoying great success among the hungry soldiers assigned at Fort Lewis. We really enjoyed her tasty curried goat with peas and rice, which is much better that you might think if you’ve never tasted Jamaican cuisine. 

I have to tell one story on My Lovely Bride, who speaks seven languages but is not as up-to-date on international flags as Your Faithful Correspondent who was also a ship captain... as we were driving away, she asked, "I wonder what army unit that green and yellow flag belongs to... you should put it in the blog." After nearly choking, I said, "My Darling, that's the Jamaican flag." She replied, with a pained look on her face, "Oh."