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As our summer vacation trips begin with happy expectations of the best vacation ever, you load the “stuff” and you load the family to set off on this exciting trip, only to be maybe half an hour into the four-hour trip, when it starts…. “Are we there yet? How much further? I have to go to the bathroom! I’m hungry! What are we going to do when we get there? Do you know where you are going? Will you stop and ask for directions? He’s touching me!” Some typical parental responses, “Don’t make me stop this car! Johnny stop touching your sister! I’m sorry you are bored….let’s all play I Spy!” Remember the movie, “National Lampoon’s Vacation?” You remember, the family jumped in the station wagon and headed across country to Wally World. They got lost, ran off the road and were robbed, then once they got to Wally World, it was CLOSED! Sometimes our best laid plans just don’t work out at all. Sometimes we begin journeys with the best of intentions, with thoughtful planning, and still end up at journey’s end in a place we would rather not be.

Have you ever started on a journey hoping to find out who you are, why you are here, what purpose you have in life and what difference you make in the world just by being who you are? Is it possible to identify that destination?

Ask yourself, am I a journey person or a destination person? Am I the type of person who enjoys the journey, traveling in no particular hurry, stopping to see the out of the way places like the famous big ball of yarn, or do I focus on the schedule, keeping everyone organized, and racing to get to the destination? My kids would tell you, “Dad is all about getting there!”

Destination or journey? How many times have you gone on a trip where everything went according to plan? Have you taken a trip or vacation and because things didn’t go according to plan, it was the best trip you had ever taken?

Both the journey and destination are important. The real question and focus should be, who do you have with you? Who is sharing that life experience with you? It is the relationship, the experiences, and the adventures along the journey that we remember. It is about experiencing and discovering each other. It is about having fun, resting, growing, bonding and experiencing each other. Leonard Sweet says, “The very best investment you will make will not be a financial one, but rather the investment you make in relationships.” The time we have with our family and friends is crucial to our happiness, success, state of mind and spirit.

Jesus went on many journeys with the apostles and God. He chose 12 disciples who would be challenged emotionally, spiritually and physically. He took time to rest, pray and recharge. Jesus was a witness to the disciples and the disciples were witnesses for him. All along his journeys, he was building relationships. Jesus invested in relationships and so should each of us.

Getting away is important. Scripture is peppered with examples of Jesus getting away to be alone, sometimes with the twelve (and you thought it was tough just taking your two kids to Disney or the beach). I think it’s cool to see Jesus in these settings.Knowing that even Jesus, in his perfection, needed time to seek peace helps me feel less guilty that I cannot be everything to everybody all at one time. ” And He said, ‘My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.’” (Exodus 33:14).

As you make your journey, who will be a witness to your life?

In Luke chapter 9:10, the disciples have just finished a mission. “When the disciples returned, they explained to Him what they had done. He took them and withdrew into a private town called Bethsaida, ‘the fishing place.’”

Jesus knew how to stay connected. He knew they needed time away. There is time for work, ministry, self-evaluation, renewing the spirit and body. Vacation by definition, is a time when you take a break from the ordinary, enjoy your time with family, friends and embrace the journeys in life. Remember, the relationships and experiences we share together give meaning to our lives.

James Cook is chaplain at Rowan Regional Medical Center.

One problem with the parliamentary system, at Holyrood and in Westminster, is that it tends to give too much power to political parties.

The whipping system actively undermines the likelihood that MPs and MSPs will act as individuals with distinct and varied views although just that sort of independence is surely one of the principal advantages of representative democracy.

Part of me was heartened, therefore, to see Mark Pritchard, the backbench Tory MP for the Wrekin, resisting Government pressure to withdraw a Bill last week. He claimed that he had been first offered a job, and then threatened by the Prime Ministers office, to get him to drop his motion to ban wild animals in circuses. I am not going to be kowtowed by the Whips or even the Prime Minister on an issue I feel passionately about, he said.

Since kowtow as a verb is intransitive, this was a clumsy construction, but not so mangled as to render his meaning wholly opaque. We need a generation of politicians with a bit of spine, not jelly, Mr Pritchard continued, ignoring the inconvenient fact that you need a spine to kowtow, and choosing instead to stress that he was positioning himself in the vertebrate rather than the medusozoic camp.

I back Mr Pritchard and his spine. But only up to a point. Unfortunately, we need a generation of politicians with brains even more than one with spines. It is here from the occipital bone upwards that Mr Pritchard, so plausible on the back front, fails to convince.

He seems not to have thought very deeply, for example, about what it means to be a Conservative. Its a tricky question, but one need not be Edmund Burke or Michael Oakeshott to conclude that it isnt about introducing more regulation, increasing the states power, and telling people how to behave. And it certainly isnt about devoting parliamentary time, during the worst financial crisis in years, to an attempt to introduce blanket bans, especially one which would affect just 39 animals in England and Wales. (No circuses with animals currently tour in Scotland, but one has suggested it would rehouse the elephant it has owned for 50 years in Ayrshire if the ban is introduced in England.)

Above all, Conservativism is pragmatic. It takes account of reality and evidence. Separate reports, for the RSPCA and for the Westminster Government at the time of the last Animal Welfare Act in 2006, concluded that there was no evidence at all that animals kept by circuses are any better or worse off than those kept in any other form of captivity.

But it is invidious to single out Mark Pritchard for criticism. Amazingly, almost everyone who spoke in Thursdays debate Andrew Rosindell, the Tory MP for Romford, was the exception was eager to support this peripheral, illiberal and illogical motion, which was nodded through without a vote. That does not mean it will become law south of the Border, but it does put pressure on the Government to bring forward legislation.

The ovine consensus on circus animals shown in Westminster is based entirely on inchoate sentimentality. There is a logical argument to be made for animal rights, most coherently expressed by Professor Peter Singer, the Australian utilitarian philosopher whose book Animal Liberation popularised the idea of speciesism. His conclusions, based on the proposition that the differences between human beings and other animals are merely those of degree, suggest that human rights should be extended to other species, the great apes should be represented at the United Nations, farms, zoos, meat-eating and leather should be outlawed and all aspects of animal husbandry abandoned. There would be no logical basis for distinguishing between the rights of a person and those of a shrimp. One suspects that this theory doesnt have widespread support.

Of course, its not necessary to support all those ideas to oppose animal cruelty. But if there is no evidence (and there isnt) to suggest that animals in circuses are treated cruelly or, at any rate, that their treatment differs from that of animals kept in zoos, safari parks, for other theatrical performances, or in your own house, what is Mr Pritchards motion based on?

If it is intrinsically cruel to keep animals in captivity, not only circus animals, but zoos, farms and ownership of pets should be outlawed. The same is true if what is wrong is that these animals provide entertainment; I find my cat Otis very entertaining. And I like watching Westerns, which would be impossible to produce if horses were not allowed to perform.

If what is wrong is that the animals are trained, this is also true of training dogs. No doubt the motions supporters would argue that domestic animals, such as cats and dogs, are different. But if it is the wildness of the animal which is the significant factor, what makes the animal wild? Many circus animals (and for that matter, those in zoos) are bred in captivity and trained from an early age.

The very fact that they can be trained makes it difficult to argue that there is something artificial about training a tiger, but not about training a cat. Elephants, for example, have been trained to work for thousands of years. There is no rational distinction between an elephant and a Clydesdale if working animals are acceptable at all.

There is no evidence of intrinsic cruelty, no rational distinction between circuses and zoos, and no logical objection to animals being trained and performing which would not apply to animals in films or TV adverts, or your own pets. So opposition to circus animals can only be expressed (as it was by MPs) by noting the exotic nature of the animals and vague anthropomorphic sentimentalisation.

According to one report, 92%of the public agrees with this motion. If that is true then, not for the first time, 92% of the public is wrong. Mr Pritchard unwittingly sums it up when he says feels passionately. The reason the Government disliked his motion is that legislation should involve careful thinking, not just passionate feeling.

Ive interviewed rocker legend Ted Nugent a couple times through the years on various hunting-related issues, but was a little surprised to get a call earlier this week saying he wanted to be a part of the Fishing Utah blog. The fact Nugent will be in town Sunday (8 pm at The Depot in the Gateway) might explain the call.
I havent heard him chime in on many fishing issues, but I decided to schedule the interview. Ted is hard to keep up with some times as his mind rolls quickly from thought to thought. After we talked about the typical hunting issues — reduce regulations or lose more hunters, conservation tags are a necessary evil to fund wildlife management and let the people willing to pay shoot the animals that cities are hiring sharpshooters for — I asked the man awarded the Bronze Smokey Bear Award (look it up) to weigh in on a weighty Utah fishing issue.
I explained the stream access debate and asked for his thoughts. He said he was somewhat familiar with the access issues across the county, but made it clear that he should study the Utah issue more before truly weighing in.
Nugent then surprised me.
Im a fan of the whole Lewis and Clark exploration bit, he said. People own the waterways and the rivers. I would never deny decent people the opportunity to find soul cleansing and relaxation.
He went on to say that he understood that landowners were fearful of trespassers and vandals, but you cant protect yourself from the evilest among us; invaders who will come no matter what the access is.
Ted continued:
I guess Id err on the side of freedom. Id implore the landowners to reconsider and open the waterways. This is the land of the free and one nation under God. This is about a quality of life for all of us. It is critical to have access in the recruitment of future generations of people who love the outdoors and will fight to protect it.
Nugent, a ranch landowner in Texas, said he has a river on his property, and he thinks, but wasnt sure, that he owns the stream bed to the middle of the river and he enjoys seeing people floating by, but……
They better never set foot on my land or Ill hunt them down, he said.

Violinist James Ehnes balanced fearless virtuosity and artistry of the highest order in an exhilarating recital for the Coral Gables Congregational Church Summer Concert Series.

Familiar scores by Franck and Mozart and a Saint-Saens rarity were bookended on Thursday night by folk-infused showpieces of Bela Bartok. Andrew Armstrong, a winner of the American Chopin Competition and the Gilmore Young Artist Award, was Ehnes#x2019; formidable keyboard partner.

The brilliantly gifted violinist brought fire and finesse to Bartok#x2019;s Rhapsody No.1, attacking the Gypsy rhythms with gusto. Ehnes#x2019; spot-on intonation and dazzling agility as he took the finale at a rapid-fire tempo brought cheers from the near-capacity audience.

He approached Franck#x2019;s Sonata in A Major with Gallic #xE9;lan rather than the heavy-handed angst that many impose on the score. His coolly cerebral reading of the opening Allegretto set the tone for a performance devoid of overt sentimentality.

Ehnes offered a welcome sense of visceral energy and astringency in the Allegro. The glorious tones of his 1715 Marsick Stradivarius soared in the Recitativo-Fantasia, and the lightness and singing line of the finale sparkled. Armstrong#x2019;s big-boned pianism complemented a revelatory performance.

Mozart#x2019;s Violin Sonata in C Major, K. 303 was played in an unabashedly romantic manner, recalling the era of Misha Elman and Fritz Kreisler. For all his honeyed tone and flexible phrasing, Ehnes imbued the Molto Allegro section of the opening movement with gutsy sinew.

Camille Saint-Saens#x2019; scores are skillfully crafted, aesthetically conservative and replete with splashes of instrumental color. The Violin Sonata No.1 in D minor, a typically sugar-spun confection that links the salon and the concert hall, gave Ehnes the opportunity to unfurl his full panoply of pyrotechnics.

The burnished darkness of his sound in the Adagio was prelude to a fleet third movement Allegretto, the noble secondary theme given spacious gravitas. Ehnes#x2019; light, rapid bowing and full-throttle combustion turned the Paganini-like finale into a tour de force, the high harmonics dispatched like child#x2019;s play.

Following a prolonged ovation, the program came full circle with Bartok#x2019;s Romanian Folk Dances as an encore. Alternately channeling the haunting sadness of times past and the fiery pizzazz of a Gypsy fiddler, Ehnes and Armstrong brought stellar musicianship and edge-of-the-seat bravura to the profusion of folk melodies.

Marlins Nunez certain to draw plenty of trade interest in coming weeks

Marlins closer Leo Nunez would not be surprised if hes dealt before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.

Fewer new shopping centers sprout up in NJ due to poor economy and rigid financing
Not as many new shopping centers are being built around New Jersey, a result of the economy and tough financing rules.

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – Though insurgents and infantrymen may never see him, Sgt. Edwardo Amor is everywhere in southern Afghanistan.

The Marine Attack Squadron 513 commanding officer’s AV-8B Harrier, numbered “01,” bears Amor’s artwork on its tail. In that sense, wherever the Harrier flies so does Amor.

The design displays the VMA-513 Nightmares’ trademark owl against a backdrop of lightning. The squadron title is emblazoned in golden-yellow lettering contrasting the moodier blue layer of the background.

The Dallas native, after getting input from other Marines and submitting sketches up the chain of command, painted the aircraft days before the squadron deployed from Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz., in May.

“That design was not planned,” Amor said with a laugh. “Basically, I just practiced on a sheet of metal, my Gunny liked it, and he told me to do it on the aircraft.”

“Sgt. Amor actually created the entire design virtually from scratch,” said Gunnery Sgt. Noel Mallari, then the VMA-513 airframes division chief and a Riverside, Calif., native. “His interest in painting the aircraft was an enthusiastic and personal project for himself.”

So, picking up an airbrush kit for nearly the first time, Amor, who serves the squadron as an airframes mechanic, set out to work on the emblem that would eventually define the squadron’s image.

“I was pretty nervous because I’ve never airbrushed before,” said Amor. “It was either hit or miss.”

A challenge, to be sure, but for Amor, that was the reward.

“I make it a challenge to see what I can come up with,” he said. “”It’s fun to be creative and draw something from my head and put it in art in front of me.”

Creativity can stem from many sources. In Amor’s case, the jagged lightning bolts, the regal typeface and the sinister owl were partly inspired by the fact Amor would be deploying with the mission to provide close-air support for Marines and their Afghan and coalition partners.

“I wanted this aircraft to look pretty cool, flying through combat and dropping bombs,” Amor said. “I wanted to make that aircraft unique. I want people to know who 513 is.”

“He poured all his pride and effort into that project, making it the best that he could make it, and in the end it was more than what anyone expected,” added Mallari.

This is not the first time Amor’s artistic talent has been recognized within the military.

“Yes, I was the ‘artist’ recruit (in boot camp),” he said with a chuckle. “I had to design a foot locker for my senior drill instructor.”

Amor’s knack for artistry is not altogether surprising. Before becoming a Marine, he studied at the Art Institute of Dallas, a natural academic environment considering his upbringing.

“It basically runs through the family,” said Amor. “My dad was an artist, and my siblings are artists. I was always in some kind of art class through grade school. I’ve done all kinds of arts.”

Evens so, Amor was looking for another canvas to paint. His reasons for joining the Marine Corps are as varied as his artwork.

“I just wanted to change my life around,” he said, “to do something different, be able to visit the world, and I wanted to work on a jet.”

Nearing the end of his enlistment, Amor said he now plans to go on to study architecture. In the meantime, he continues to support combat operations in Afghanistan, something he is acutely reminded of when he watches Aircraft 01 go on the runway.

“I challenged myself to do something and I did it,” he said. “I’m pretty proud of myself that I designed something that’s going to be around for a while and that people are going to see throughout the Marine Corps.”

Updated: June 24, 2011 9:06AM

If you are a runner or a cyclist, you know at some point in a race or a workout you catch your second wind, things smooth out and you seem to float through the next several miles.

The first hunting dog I had was a Viszla, a Hungarian pointer. The Viszla as a breed dates back to the 700s when the Magyar hordes ruled the steppes of south-central Asia and eastern Europe.

The invention of gunpowder was critical in the development of pointing dogs. Hunting with dogs, whose natural instinct is to find game, dates back to when outdoor garb included little more than a loin cloth and sticks with which to subdue tonight’s dinner.

The subsequent shift from chasing game with fast dogs, the myriad types of hounds, to flushing breeds that would put up a bird and run it down until it tired and could be pinned by a hunter on horseback.

Along came the blunderbuss, and dogs which slowly crept up on game they smelled were increasingly more valuable. The Viszla was among the first to be refined until it literally stopped when it got as close to a bird as it thought it could without flushing it and the nerve-rattling pointing of the bird enabled the hunter to dismount, step up alongside the dog and when the bird flushed, to shoot it.

Hunting birds– partridges, pheasant — had evolved into a short-distance game and the closer the hunter could get to the bird before it flushed the better.

What does this have to do with running?

I was lucky enough to connect with a breeder who bred field trial dogs, so my first Viszla came from stock intended to range long distances, to have an incredible nose and to point as if she were cast from concrete.

When she got into what I can only describe as her rocking horse gait, she could run for hours without tiring. That rocking style put her in a zone and she could work a bean stubble field as if she were running in air.

Until she’d slam into a point and drop to the ground. Absolutely motionless. Nothing but her nostrils quivering.

About that same time, I picked up a used 15-foot Grumman canoe that was factory painted a canary yellow and I fished from it, explored with it and became thoroughly immersed in the simple joy of paddling.

Like the sensory exhilaration of running on a horse trail through the woods or pedaling in high gear and feeling the wind in your face, paddling through a bed of lily pads and stopping to hear the buzz of a thousand insects, the “Smack!” of a bluegill sucking in a fly, of seeing huge fish slowly wind their way beside the drifting hull, seemingly unafraid yet exploding when the paddle slips into the water beside them.

There is childlike wonder in steering a canoe as the current of a small river carries you along like a cupped maple leaf. There is magic in the daredevil techniques developed as the shapes and sizes of the modern kayak have virtually taken over the sport in many areas of the country.

It’s not for me, but paddlers seek out places to jump off waterfalls, to run incredible rapids to ride white water and to race long distances.

It is good to return to things more simple among our outdoor traditions.

It’s about the experience, not about the cost of today’s remarkable equipment or about how mobility has given so many access to the most astonishing places to recreate on the planet.

Consider the Fox River. Our “backyard wilderness.”

Gary Mechanic and Charlie Zine — yes, familiar names who’ve promoted and fought to enhance the Fox Valley and especially the stretch from North Aurora to Montgomery — have been pivotal in the development of access, of legislation and of programs to restore, to protect and to return the river to the people for responsible use.

Recently, they spearheaded the Aurora Paddlesports Festival and now have opened a franchise (of Paddle and Trail, at 107 Spruce Street near downtown Aurora) which will attract more cyclists, runners, paddlers and skiers to the Aurora portion of the Fox River.

There is more to this pair of avid paddlers, however. They understand traditions and the history that tells their story.

“Long before Chicago was a real town and Illinois was a state, Fort Dearborn was the farthest outpost of the government of the United States on the wild North American frontier,” Mechanic explained.

Naturalist, Interpreter and Master Storyteller Jack MacRae will present a free lecture on “The Story of Fort Dearborn” for the Friends of the Chicago Portage at the Village of Lyons Community Center ( 4200 S. Lawndale Avenue, Lyons) on Saturday, June 25, 1-3 pm. See chicagoportage.org for more.

If you are anxious about paddling or biking or cross-country skiing, what we used to call the “Silent Sports,” as a way to enjoy the local outdoors, let your fingers do the walking first.

Rays at Astros

When/where: 7:05 tonight; Minute Maid Park, Houston

TV/radio: Sun Sports; 620-AM, 680-AM (Spanish)

Starting pitchers

Rays RH Wade Davis (6-5, 4.57)

Astros RH Bud Norris (4-5, 3.26)

Watch for

Wading in: Davis is showing some signs of improvement, winning his past two starts (five runs over 12 innings) after going winless in his previous four. His schedule has been erratic, and he faces the Astros for the first time on seven days rest.

Hey, Bud: Norris is winless in his past two starts. But its not his fault as he allowed one run total while the Astros scored none. Norris has allowed three runs or fewer in 10 of 15 starts. He faced the Rays last year, allowing five runs (four earned) and striking out 10 over five innings in a no-decision.

Key matchups

Rays vs. Norris

Reid Brignac1-for-2

BJ Upton0-for-3

Ben Zobrist1-for-3, HR

On deck

Sunday: at Astros, 2:05. Sun Sports. Rays Jeff Niemann (2-4, 4.82); Astros JA Happ (3-9, 5.33)

Monday: vs. Reds, 7:10. Sun Sports. Rays Jeremy Hellickson (7-6, 3.09); Reds Johnny Cueto (5-2, 1.63)

Tuesday: vs. Reds, 7:10. Sun Sports. Rays David Price (8-6, 3.51); Reds Mike Leake (6-4, 4.19)

Wednesday: vs. Reds, 12:10. Sun Sports. Rays James Shields (8-4, 2.29); Reds Edinson Volquez (4-3, 5.77)

Marc Topkin, Times staff writer

Hunting for an excuse? Upton gets his rest

CF BJ Upton decided he was too tired for his first hunting experience and didnt join bench coach Dave Martinez and equipment/home clubhouse manager Chris Westmoreland on their Thursday crossbow shooting, hog-hunting expedition. Fatigue, Upton said. I needed rest. I didnt chicken out. I really needed to rest. And they said they walked like 12 miles. Im glad I didnt go. Martinez, who shot several hogs (and Westmoreland a deer), said of Uptons decision: I was a little disappointed, but I wasnt surprised.

Getting his kicks

LHP David Price plays a lot of video-game soccer. And he was thrilled to discover Wednesday that the US team, playing a Gold Cup semi in Houston, was staying at the same hotel as the Rays. He shared an elevator with goalkeeper Tim Howard (who knew who he was) and talked with Freddy Adu. It was sick, Price said. I was pumped. I think I was a little overgiddy.

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LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Turtle: The Incredible Journey, made by veteran wildlife documentarians under the direction of Nick Stringer, follows the life and underwater travels of a single creature of the sea, a female loggerhead turtle, which has a one-in-10,000 chance to survive its journey. This journey, as is the case of so many wildlife documentaries these days, offers the opportunity for the filmmakers to make a plea on behalf of endangered species and to explore ecological issues, in this case whats happening in the earths oceans under threat from over-fishing and global warming.

It looks like this film has taken its own arduous journey on the film festival/market circuit, where the odds may be only slightly better than that of the loggerhead. The film took two years to make and the print screened for review bore a 2008 copyright date. The film is now getting a modest release June 24 in Los Angeles, New York and near three primary SeaWorld locations via SeaWorld Pictures and Hannover House.

Since a Russian distributor spent the money to convert the film to 3D, the US release in some locations will be in 3D. This review is based on a conventional print.

A loggerhead turtle is born literally buried alive in sand. Digging itself to the surface of a beach in Florida, the tiny creature must scramble for the water a few meters away across a war zone where prey such as ghost crabs and pelicans close in to devour these newborn.

If the turtle makes it to the water, strong currents carry the baby for up to three days before she reaches the Gulf Stream. (The filmmakers have a heroine since this will better illustrate the circle of life for these turtles.)

At this point, survival rate is about 50 percent. Things get worse.

She drifts at no more than five-miles-per-hour in sargassum weed, a plant that floats in the ocean, on her journey north. This film imagines she drifts seriously off-course, out of the Gulf Stream and into the doldrums of the Sargasso Sea. Here she is caught for five years.

Eventually, the movies heroine relocates the Gulf Stream, swims the north Atlantic for years from the freezing north to the Azores, then heads back to the Caribbean, 9,000 miles guided only by instincts inherited from ancestors going back millions of years. Hazards include blue sharks and jellyfish but also man, whose fishing nets and long lines catch and kill countless loggerheads.

The crew headed by cinematographer Rory McGuiness captures the hatchlings emerging on that Florida beach along with rare footage of juvenile turtles in the Azores and a brilliant shot of two turtles in a mating embrace. Adult turtles were filmed in the Florida Keys and the Caribbean but many scenes were filmed with rescued turtles in a specially built marine studio. Shots of the tiny turtle hitching a ride in the sargassum weed were recreated there as well.

So the film features amazing cinematography both underwater and on the ocean surface. But it does suffer from a treacly narration and overly dramatic music that pitch the movie more to young school children than interested adults. At least the filmmakers forgo giving their heroine a name, which another recent wildlife doc did with its wildlife characters.

The loggerhead turtles journey is indeed incredible. But you would rather the narration, delivered intelligently by Miranda Richardson, didnt feel a need to remind you of this fact so frequently.

(Editing by Zorianna Kit)