Do dogs look at us and say, "How do they do that?"

I got back home about 5 p.m. Saturday from my visit with my folks in Seattle. I had to go almost immediately in to set up for this morning's Easter service, then back home for supper. I was in bed by 8:30 which is why I didn't write a post last night. Well, there's more to it than that, but we'll get there in a minute.
First I thought I'd show you a portion of my folks' house. These two pics are of the living room. As you can see, my mother has a pretty good eye for home decorating. I think her style could be described as "elegant." (click to enlarge in order to do this room justice)

I took a pic out the windows that run all along the wall on the right of this photo but it didn't do justice to the view so I'm not posting it. It would be unfair to the incredible view. Their house sits on a hill facing west and looks out over Puget Sound with the snow covered Cascade Mountains in the distance. I think they should post a sign on the deck that says, "It's OK to stare."

My dad grows things. His vegetable garden yields picture quality produce. He's equally good with orchids, fuchsias, or anything that produces a beautiful bloom. I had to walk over to this Amaryllis to make sure it wasn't fake. It wasn't. Four nearly identical blossoms.
I called my folks on the way home from church today to see how dad's doing. Thankfully, his arrhythmia ended last night. It began about midnight Friday night just as we were getting ready to turn in after the Good Friday service and then the requisite second serving of dessert. About 45 minutes later dad was in enough distress that we called 9-1-1 and the top-rate responders transported him to the hospital. We spent the next four hours in the ER while they looked at EKG's, chest X-rays and blood work. The dr. determined he did not have any cardiac episode (heart attack or similar) and that his arrhythmia didn't pose any immediate life-threatening risk. So they discharged him with instructions to take an aspirin each day (clotting is a risk with arrhythmia) and to see his cardiologist on Monday. Once home we got him into bed where he fell soundly asleep. He was very weak!
You can understand that I had very mixed feelings about leaving Saturday morning. I wanted to be home for our Easter services at Pathway, but leaving my parents with dad in that condition was tough. So I was grateful to hear this afternoon that his heart rhythm was back to normal (T'ank you, Fadder!) and he's feeling much better.
Now they need to find out why this happened and how it can be prevented!

So I got up Friday morning, stayed up through Friday night at the ER, and got back to their house in time to get about 90 minutes of sleep on top of the bed before getting ready to fly back home. By the time I got to 8:30 last night writing a blog post was out of the question.

Some quick notes from my trip:

• My high school choir & chorale teacher attended the Good Friday service. I hadn't seen Mr. Bune since graduation. Good man, and the choir room was the one place I felt adequate.
• My dad drives a Buick with handicapped plates. He's ready for Sun City!
• We went to Arnie's, the nearby restaurant where dad and I shared an order of muscles as an appetizer. It made me think that Phoenix, at least the west side, has lots of restaurants but not much dining. Scottsdale, maybe, but that's too far away and WAY too expensive. The vast majority of restaurants here are casual. Arnie's is not fancy, but very nice, and qualifies as dining. I enjoy dining.
• Alaska Airlines is so far ahead of the others that given the option I'll always choose them.
• My home church (Berean Bible Church) has an outstanding choir. That was the first time in over a year that I've been in a service I wasn't responsible for and didn't preach at. Refreshing!

You may be wondering why I haven't written about this morning's Easter service at Pathway. It was great! But I had the above "unfinished business" from my trip. So tomorrow night I'll tell you about church this morning.

We have sweet rolls and donuts left over from our post-service fellowship time.
See you here tomorrow night!