Today we all went to see Alyssa and her cheerleading friends, 
the 8-9 Orange Longhorn Cheerleaders. They cheer for the 8-9 Orange Longhorn Football team. The football team won 19-0. The cheerleaders did a dance routine on the football field at half-time. Click the video link to see their routine.Play Video
Cheers & Football!
September 4th, 2010A very Rare Bird!
August 9th, 2010We got this video today of a very musical Parrot. Enjoy! Click here to
Play Video
An Afternoon with Friends in Seattle
August 6th, 2010
Lunch, Blue Angels, Art…A nice variety of activities to spend with Friends, Darlene an Sid.
Blue Angels
We started off the afternoon with lunch at the Bell Street Diner at Pier 66. Carol and I had the Crab Salad which was well prepared and very tasty. After Lunch we walked to the Seattle Art Museum Olympic Sculpture Park about three blocks away. On the way the Blue Angels thundered overhead.
Calder, Eagle
California Poppies and 'Black Art'
The Sculpture contains modern art all the way from a Calder Eagle, to , for us, lesser known artists. We walked to a room that they have made that shows how plant-life survives in the NW. Then as we alked up the hill we walked by a piece of landscape where the artist had sprayed black paint on the the tall wild grass (Black Art????).
Victoria Clipper
The park had a great view of Elliott Bay and it was calm and peaceful to see the variety of ships that passed by, Ferries, Freighters, Tour Boats, Sailboats, Victoria Clipper.
Sid and Darlene stayed to take pictures of a passenger liner departing Seattle on its way to Alaska.
Here are some more of the pictures we took.
Neukom Vivarium
A Different Space Needle View
Two Plane Vertical Horizontal Variation III
A Trip to the Olympic Peninsula
July 31st, 2010Day 3 – The Lavender Farm and Port Gamble
A leisure morning. At 10AM we went to a lavender farm. It’s hard to believe that there are over 200 varieties of lavender. Sequim is the lavender capital of North America. After looking at some of the garden we went into the store and bought three different varieties of plants to add to the two that we already have in our front yard.
We then left for home. We stopped in Port Gamble, a quaint little village of restored homes and businesses. We had our second breakfast and then headed for Kingston and our ferry ride back to Edmonds.
We had a thoroughly enjoyable and relaxing time (if you can call driving 250 miles yesterday, relaxing). It is good to be back home.
We hope you have enjoyed the description of our three days. To see all of our pictures from this trip, click here to view the Slide Show: 3 Days on the Olympic Peninsula
Day 2 – The Hoh Rain Forest and La Push
Another clear blue-sky day! We left a little after 9 AM for a trip to the west side of the Olympic Peninsula to see the Hoh River Rain Forest. We had a leisurely trip along Lake Crescent which is 12 miles long and averages 300 feet deep. Beautiful clear blue water. When we got to the west end we stopped and had a cup of coffee and a muffin. What a calm relaxing atmosphere!
On the way to the Hoh River Rain Forest we went through the town of Forks. Sound familiar, Twilight fans? 
Yup….‘Twilight signs all over town. Businesses have renamed their storefronts to take advantage of the notoriety.
On the way into the Park, we stopped to view a very tall and old giant Spruce, over 270 feet tall, over 12 feet wide and 500-550 years old. Another WOW!
Once inside the Rain Forest, called that because they get over 12-14 feet of rainfall per year, we took the shortest trail, called the Trail of Mosses (don’t confuse this with Moses). due to the heavy rainfall all of the trees are covered in moss of one kind or another. Most of it hanging from the branches. Here are a few of the pictures.
On the way back we decided that since we were so close to the Pacific Ocean, why not 
make the 15 mile drive and see it again. When we got there it was overcast due to the conflict of the cold ocean air with the nice warm air over the land. We still enjoyed it.
We made it back to the hotel tired but hungry, so went to Dungeness, north of Sequim, and had 
another very good seafood dinner of Sole and Crab Louie at the 3 Crabs restaurant. While we were inside the fog cleared up over the Straits and we could see the lighthouse at the end of the Dungeness Spit.
Good Night! Until tomorrow!
Day 1 – Hurricane Ridge
We left home mid-morning, driving to Edmonds and took the ferry to Kingston. We drove straight through to Port Angeles, had lunch and then continued on to Hurricane Ridge.
What a sight! The Olympic mountains to the SE, South and West, capped by Mt Olympus, just shy of 8,000 feet. Words cannot do them justice, so here is a set of four pictures of the range stitched together.
There was still snow on the ground on the north side of the ridge. 
Looking north we could see fog covered Straits of Juan de Fuca all the way to Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
To the east we could see the Cascades from Mt Baker to Mt Rainier. WOW! There were also all varieties of alpine flowers…
After we checked into our hotel in Sequim, pronounced ’skwim’, ( we decided to stay two nights) we went to dinner at the Dockside Grill in the John Wayne Marina just east of town. A delicious filling meal. Carol had a Salmon Salad and Werner had the Seafood Fettucine. !!!!!
Good Night….More tomorrow.
Sounders Game
July 26th, 2010
Carol and I went to our first Sounders game last night. It was an exciting hard fought game. The Sounders 
won 2-1 against the Colorado Rapids. It was also our first time at Qwest field. Very impressive. Nice and close to the field. Most of the fans stand for the whole game. We were seated on the SW corner of the stadium on the end where the loudest fans sit. The games started off with the usual ceremony. The Star Spangled Banner ended with fireworks at the north end with the Seattle Skyline in the background.
This video can give you some idea of the fan support for these home games. Click here to
Play Video
One of the Assistant Referees, Kermit Quisenberry, was a referee that I selected to attend Nationals when I was the Midwest Region Referee Administratior. He is now an International AR. Here are some more pictures from the game.
GOOOOOAAAALLLL!!!!
View of the north end after the game.
One More Soccer Fling
June 28th, 2010Werner just had to do one more soccer stint. He was asked to attend the 2010 US Youth Soccer Far West Regional Championships in Albuquerque, NM, June 21st-27th. Wisdom and maturity (???) said he shouldn’t, but . . .
His main function was to serve on the Referee staff, a task he was familiar with from having served as the Midwest Region Referee Administrator in another life. Among his duties, he set up the schedule for the tournament, something he has done for over eight years. This consisted of scheduling 228 teams for the first round on 22 fields for the first three days (116 games per day). Then he was asked to make the initial assignments for those three days. That required assigning ove 230 referees to 464 positions (one Referee, two Assistant Referees and a 4th Official) in 116 games per day. He forgot how much work that is. Luckily he had some pretty good software that made the job easier. For those of you who don’t know, Werner started development of the Tournament Administrative System almost 20 years ago and has been refining it every year. This year was no exception.
After arriving in NM, he was told that he would be used to help the Referee Assessors use part of the system to enter their assessments. Between entering the game results, Red & Yellow cards stats, exporting assessor assignments and liaising with the Admin staff and assisting in resolving numerous problems, he only saw a couple halves of soccer the whole week. On the plus side, most of his time was spent in an air conditioned trailer (95-100+ tempuratures outside).
One of the main reasons he went was to meet the many region staff workers, referees, and administrators that he has been working with remotely via phone and email for many years. This goal was more than accomplished and he was happy to put faces with names and establish new friendships. He thanks everyone and hopes to meet them again someday.
Much fun was also had during the infrequent times off. On Wednesday night he was invited to attend the Alaska/Colorado/Idaho dinner at the Brazilian restaurant ‘Toscanos.’ It was a new experience where small slices of many varieties of meat cut off of spits at your seat. Stuffed!
The following night the New Mexico Youth Soccer Association hosted all of the Referees and Assessors at ‘El Pinto’, a local favorite. They also make and sell a great variety of Salsas there at the restaurant.
The rest of the evenings were spent in preparing and adjusting for the next day’s schedule. Except for the heat, the soccer complex was outstanding. Fields were well manicured. The view of the Sandia mountains were spectacular.
Werner did experience one minor accident. On Friday night while riding the golf cart back to the parking lot, he prepared for a right turn into the parking lot not knowing that the driver, who will remain nameless, was going to make a two wheel turn into the parking lot to the left. Yup! You guessed it. He took a flyer (he calls it a violent separation from a golf cart), landing intially on his shoulder, flipping over and sliding another five feet on his knees and elbow on gravel. What a YouTube moment and not a video in site. Strawberries have a new meaning. In pain and experiencing minor bleeding and loss of skin (and dignity) he made it back to the hotel and began self-treatment for his injuries. After two weeks, he has more or less recovered. Some of the scabs have finally fallen off. He is still experiencing joint pain but will live.
Needless to say he was given a roasting at the Referee meeting that night, not just for the ‘flyer’ but for the fact that he couldn’t get into a car all week without spilling his morning coffee. I know, “Put a lid on it, Werner!”
All, in all, it was a great experience, he will value the new friendships, and hopes everyone he met remembers him in a positive light! He extends a heartfelt thanks to Christel, Kevin, Kirk, Chuck, Peter and all of the Referees, Assessors and Tournament Staff for the memories!
A California Family Gathering
June 3rd, 2010We all gathered together for a Memorial Service for Mom on Friday May 28th at Clayton Valley Presbyterian Church (CVPC), Clayton, CA. We experienced a wonderful service officiated by Rev. Gail Doering. Music was provided by the organist, Dale Scovill, who knowing that Mom’s favorite music was Bach, played Bach for the prelude and Postlude. With the choir, Carol and I sang Bach’s ‘Komm, süsser tod’, Ingrid and Grete sang a duet in German, ‘So nimm denn meine Hände’ and Norman Therkelson played “Arioso” on the violin based on a Bach Piano Concerto. The Service was followed by a grand reception where many memories were shared by all. Thank you to the preparers!
Dad, like a trooper, participated in the service by relating memories of Mom and Dad’s 72 years of marriage and their forty years at CVPC, ten years as pastor and 30 years in attendance. I say, ‘like a trooper’, because the day before we left for California, he had a mini-stroke, overnight in the hospital and at least two more after we arrived. His hosts, Grete and Gordon, were gracious and patient the whole time. Ingrid and Grete favored the whole Henn Family with dinner on Friday evening. We want to thank Lou Pulis for the wonderful pictures of the family during the reception, especially of the Great Grand-kids. A frameable work of art.
After the reception we went up to Mt Diablo and had a wonderful view of the surrounding Diablo Valley.
On Saturday, we went to San Francisco and did all of the touristy things, Fisherman’s Wharf, Cable Cars, China town and Golden Gate Bridge, Lombard Stree (the crookedest street). After looking at the seals, we took a tour of the sailing boat, Ocean Watch, that is just returning from a trip around the Americas. For more information, see: http://www.aroundtheamericas.org/. We then watched some street performers, acrobats from England. On the way home we went over the Golden Gate Bridge, tried to find Muir woods. Ended the evening with a good Italian dinner in Walnut Creek.
On Sunday, we all went to church. Even though Dad was weak he gave the Benediction. We all went back for hamburgers in Clayton at Ed’s Mudville Grill. Then went and saw Dad and took the above family picture. mark and his family said goodbye to Grandpa.
On Monday, Brian and the kids said goodbye to Grandpa and we took them to the airport.
Tuesday, we left about 9 o’clock, got into Eugene after 6PM, ate Chinese in the room. We got home at 1 pm on Wednesday and Dad went directly to noon dinner.
What a great time we had with the family and friends from decades ago. Dad really felt he was back home! For a slideshow of all of the pictures while in California, click SlideShow
Haydn’s “The Creation”
May 23rd, 2010Carol and I sang in two performances of Haydn’s “The Creation” on May 21 and 22, 2010 with the First Presbyterian Church Chancel Choir and Festival Orchestra. Both performances were all but sold out and very well received. I hope to add some clips of the performance at a later date. To hear two clips of movements that we sang on Sunday May16th, click here.
It was really heartwarming and gratifying to see the number of people that visited this websitein response to the emails sent out last week, especially the Chancel Choir page, to obtain information on the concerts, listen to the Sunday Anthem clips and link to other websites to purchase tickets. Since last Monday (5/17) we have had a total of 456 visitors to the website and 1,343 pages viewed. including yesterday and today. since music is our love we will continue to add music related events and audio and video clips. So, feel free to come back any time to listen and watch what interests us in the world of music. We also do other stuff that we enjoy showing off.
To view a video clip of our preparation of “The Creation”, click this link:
Play Video. Not only do we work hard, but we have fun doing it!
This timeless masterwork features brilliant young nationally acclaimed soloists and a 125-voice choir in music that inspires the seasoned concertgoer and is accessible to the newcomer to the world of classical choral repertoire.
Haydn’s work is filled with vivid musical “pictures” of nature, depicting the Biblical story of creation from the beginning of light, through the creation of earth, moon, stars, and all living things. Two evenings of brilliant arias and powerful choruses. Two evenings of beautiful music that anyone can enjoy!
These evenings of great music feature soloists Morgan Smith, baritone; Teri Richter, soprano and Ross Hauck, tenor.
Conducted by Scott Dean and sung by the Chancel Choir with Festival Orchestra.
Mendelssohn’s “Elijah” Videos
May 23rd, 2010We were pleased to see that videos of our May 2009 performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah were posted on You Tube. I have uploaded four of those videos to our Seattle Pro Musica page. I hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed singing them!
FPCB Ensemble and Good Friday Tenebrae
April 15th, 2010The March 21st and May 2nd music clips of the Ensemble and the complete Good Friday April 2nd Service have been added to the Our Church menu.