19 September, 2020 - Rainbows & Old Friends

 Dear, Mom -

I saw a rainbow today. I would like to take that as a sign of good times to come after a pretty rotten year thus far.

Rainbow. It was a full one, but I didn’t have time to take a picture of the whole thing.

I got to sleep in this morning. I couldn’t believe it. Not even Elsa the dog got me up. It was 9 o’clock when I finally got up! That is unheard of in this house. Especially with a dog. It was nice, but I felt like I could have kept on sleeping, but that wouldn’t have been fair to Elsa, who needed her breakfast. I am hoping her belly is starting to feel better after not feeling so well the last couple of days. She is eating chicken, rice, and cottage cheese so it is easy on her tummy. 

I saw my friend Ian today. He is visiting from Michigan where he lives with his second family. His biological parents lived in the Caribbean for many years, but after Ian’s father passed away, his mother ended up moving to Israel. I know she is an avid disciple of the Ba’hai faith, which was founded in Persia, so I suspect that may be why she ended up in the Middle East. I find the basis of their faith interesting. It is described as:

“All human beings have a soul that lives for ever. All human beings are members of a single race, which should soon be united in a single global community. All human beings are different, but equal; there should be no inequality between races or sexes. All religions have the same spiritual foundation, despite their apparent differences.

Bahá'í religion may be unique in the way that it accepts all other faiths as true and valid. Bahá'ís accept the divine nature of the missions of Abraham, Moses, Zoroaster, the Buddha, Jesus and the Prophet Muhammad. They believe each one was a further stage in the revelation of God. Other prophets and Manifestations are also accepted.”

I just find this to be a very open-minded concept in that the belief does not condemn others beliefs ideologies. It is kind of nice to see that the faith is all excepting and think they know what is true and right. How can anyone know what the truth about God is? I feel it to be a very personal insight that no one can tell you is right or wrong. 

Kim and I had a very nice time with Ian and we plan to take a walk with him at Vancouver Lake next Sunday afternoon. He is a friend that I made by working at the cinema downtown. He would come in as one of the projectionists. He is also a filmmaker and an artist. We all get along really well and it is nice to see him after now having seen him much over the last 3 years. He is only here for a short time, then he is flying back to Michigan. He has been working at a homeless shelter. He is trying different kinds of work until he is allowed to fly to Japan where he can start work as an English teacher. He was doing this in Korea, but would now like a change of scenery and culture. We have another friend named Jarrett who has lived and taught there for years now and he will help Ian get set up with a job and place to live.

Other than that, I haven’t done much of anything else today. It is nice to have rain and sunshine in the same day. After so much smoke from the forest fires, it has been welcome weather for all Oregonians.

The bud of my Zinnia that is FINALLY starting to bloom!

Baby Sage flowers

Kousa Dogwood (Kousa means ‘dogwood’ in Japanese)

One of the prettiest Dahlias I have seen. Nearly perfect.

I hope you have had a lovely Saturday, Mom. I really miss you. To a point that I get pretty sad some days. I have to just be hopeful that I will be able to come see you very soon and that things in this world will get back to some sense of normalcy sooner than later. I love you with all my heart and can’t wait to give you a big hug!

❤️❤️❤️All My Love, Your Daughter, —-Sally Ann❤️❤️❤️

Here is a video of Elsa playing with her little, squeaky ball. She is such a sweet girl!