Aaron and Michelle

My beautiful sister Michelle and her new husband Aaron celebrated their wedding today at the Glover Mansion in downtown Spokane. She asked me to officiate at the wedding, but I have to wonder if that was a good idea. Weddings tend to make me cry, but especially when I see my sister walking down the aisle. What a beautiful day!

Nephew Caleb as one of the ushers. 

Brother Trent, also as one of the ushers. 

The Men in Black? 

Weylin, father of the bride. 

Cary, groomsman. 

Anthony, the best man. 

Father and son. 

Michelle and the bridesmaids, Kim and Megs. 

The grandmas. 

In addition to officiating at the wedding, I took over 600 photographs. These are just a few of the ones I liked best. More to come...

The Lost Mural

This afternoon, I passed through Newport and saw that the Cain and Todd Benson mural was painted over - gone. In a way, it felt looking losing a friend, and it left me thinking, "Who destroys art?" This kind of thing never made sense to me, but then again, I also saw a real estate sign on the property, so I can only assume that the owner believed the painting was a liability. 

Well, looks like I stand corrected. Todd Benson saw my blog post and said that he was the "vandal" who covered his own work. Even so, I am sad to see it go away. 

This was the mural that was lost. 

Aaron & Michelle

Engagements pictures for Aaron and Michelle. 

They are getting married on Sunday. 

I'm very excited for them!

Yellow

I just like how this picture 

turned out with the yellow tansy 

against the yellow "Dead End" sign. 

Inchelium

Not long ago, I spent a couple days in Inchelium and slept in the Language House. At one point, I stepped outside and noticed the road was lined with beautiful white flowers that sort of resembled water hemlock. I thought it would be a dreadful thing, especially considering that water hemlock is highly poisonous and that thousands of these plants were lining the street and surrounding the local childcare center. Fortunately, I did my homework and discovered that these flowers are Queen Anne's lace, which is much less toxic. 

Mural at the Inchelium Community Center. 

Community art is important to me. 

Across the street from the community center is a baseball diamond lined with hand-painted advertisements for local businesses. I was happy to see this old sign for the Steem Uss Spaoos cafe - meaning "What is in your heart?" Sadly, they went out of business, but I always thought the name should be resurrected. It's a great concept. 

Hairspray Rehearsals

Many of my close friends know that I was cast as Mr. Pinky in Christian Community Theater's summer production of Hairspray. To be honest, I had my doubts about making such a huge time commitment, but my daughter asked me to audition. She turned fourteen this year, but she still wants to do things with her daddy. So how could I refuse? Someday I'll be begging her to spend time with me. 

Downtown on a Hot Summer Day

Tonight I'm catching up on my blog. Some time near the end of spring quarter, I had this idea that summer would be much more relaxing than it actually turned out to be. It seems that when my schedule opened, all kinds of things rush to fill it. Even so, a few things are worth mentioning. 

The other day, I had coffee at Coeur Coffee House with Larry Cebula, history professor at Eastern Washington University. We discussed some ideas for my candidacy paper at Gonzaga, and I have to say that our conversation was one of the highlights of my week. I'm feeling grateful for the encouragement. 

After a short walk through the blistering heat, I arrived at Greenstone Homes at Kendall Yards to inspect the new mural by Cain and Todd Benson. It seems like these guys show up in my blog all the time; I guess I just always appreciate their work. I feel like they do something important for the community. 

I can't decide if I like the bee or the ladybug better. In any case, I felt compelled to get some of my own pictures of their artwork. These things are transitory - they have a tendency to disappear, so I want to have my own memory of what they did. 

And of course, the obligatory self-portrait in front of their art....

I'm not sure what these flowers are called, but they created an interesting perspective of the Spokane skyline. 

The last picture as I walked back to my car. 

My Turn On Earth

My Turn On Earth was a phenomenal success! More than five hundred people packed the Bing Crosby Theater and enjoyed a wonderful show. More importantly, people were energized and inspired by the upbeat, positive message. 

The whole cast on stage. 

Barbara...

Charles...

The whole cast in the scene "My Story."

Dakota as "Charles"

Brother and sister in the same show. 

Whitney as "Gloria"

Tanner as "John"

Sierra as "Barbara"

Paige as "Pam"

McKenna dropped notes from the dome. 

Jacob stepped in as an impromptu stage manager. 

My Turn On Earth lit up on the marquee.