My new look

Some folks here at Mt. Dora feel that I have fit in quite well. They wanted to do something for me that would make me fit in even better. They gave me western boots for Christmas. You can see for yourselves just how western these boots are. Of course we will have to call them southern boots since we are on the east coast. Anyway, now I really look like the "crackers" of Florida.

My Accent

What American accent do you have? Your Result: Boston You definitely have a Boston accent, even if you think you don't. Of course, that doesn't mean you are from the Boston area, you may also be from New Hampshire or Maine.
The West
The Midland
North Central
Philadelphia
The Northeast
The Inland North
The South
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

I was exploring other blogs and ran across a link with a quiz that tells you what kind of accent you have. Apparently I have a Boston accent. Let's see if I can explain this. I was born in Colorado, raised in 5 states (Colorado, Texas, Washington, Kansas, and California), schooled in Los Angeles (2 years), lived in San Diego (1 year), schooled in Texas (2 1/2 years), lived in New Jersey (28 years), married to a Texas gal who also lived in Burlington, Massachusetts (outside of Boston for 6 years) - okay, I got my accent from Pat (my wonderful wife of 30 years)! She lived in the Boston area for 6 years, developed her accent, and then gave it to me. Seriously, I wonder if the Boston accent includes people from Northern New Jersey. I hope no one tells the folks here in Mount Dora, Florida that their new preacher has a Boston accent. They might wonder where I've really been for the last 28 years. I was sure that I would have been a more neutral accent. So click the link and take the quiz and tell me what kind of accent you have.

Aiden Robert Mackey

Even though Lisa has posted a picture of Aiden Robert Mackey, I thought I would do the same just to keep in practice of uploading pictures. Kevin was born in California and his two kids were born in North Dakota. Here is Aiden's big sister, Alexis. The first is obviously taken when she was born. The second is a more recent photot. She's a cutie. One of these days I may get to meet her. It's hard to believe that my youngest sister, Andra, is a grandmother - twice over!

Tis the season to be jolly

It's that time of year again. Pat loves the Christmas season. We just finished putting up the lights around our new (rented) house. We've had a couple of traditions in the Bliss household. The first began in Northern New Jersey, On the second Saturday after Thanksgiving (oftentimes the first Saturday in December) we would get up early, make some hot cocoa, put it in a couple of thermoses, and drive to a tree farm in Pennsylvania. On the way we would count the number of cars coming back with trees. Maybe we would sing some songs or listen to Christmas music (usually everyone else but me, I focused on driving). Once at the farm we would begin our search. Sometimes it would be very cold, sometimes rainy, and sometimes slightly mild. Sometimes we would argue over which tree and sometimes we wouldn't. Sometimes it would take us hours to find the right one and sometimes we would find one in a relatively short time. Once we moved to Southern New Jersey we found a tree farm within 10 miles. We kept our tradition alive. But once the kids began to go off to college, our trips to that tree farm grew less and less. We finally we went to the farm stand about 1/4 mile down the road. We usually found a good tree so we were happy. Pat discovered icicle lights and talked me into climbing onto our roof and stringing the lights. So we've been hanging those icicle lights ever since. And we have continued the tradition right here in Florida. I put up a little fuss over doing it but I'm happy to make Pat happy. So we are jolly this season, even though it was 75 today (and probably will be on Christmas day).

Weird is as Weird does

In the spirit of faddishness, here is my list of weird things about me (I was able to use a zip compression program to do 2 months of prayer and research in about 2 minutes).

1. When I dress, the buttons on my shirt, the buckle of my belt, and the button on my pants must all line up. Don't know where I got this from. I remember seeing Roger Moore in a James Bond movie and all three of these were not lined up (yes I noticed it!). I thought, that looks bad. To this day every morning I make all three line up.

2. I want to wear my hair long! How long you ask? Long enough to have a ponytail. I thought my retirement job could be as a tour guide for a historic site where long hair would be a plus - I would look authentic.

3. I get up early (5:00 AM) every morning (all seven days) and go to bed late (usually after 11:00 PM). I don't want to miss anything.

4. I'm nervous about flying. In the 80s I used to lay awake the night before a flight and sweat bullets. When my Mom's Mom died (Grammie) I let my fear of flying get the better of me. I've always regretted not flying out, mostly for my Mom's sake. Pat and I flew almost once a month since November of 2005. I actually think I'm a little less fearful these days.

5. I hate to sweat in nice clothes. Even nice causal clothes. I will avoid doing anything that will break me out in a sweat while dressed this way. But if I can go change to jeans and a t-shirt, I don't mind at all. In fact, I enjoy sweating when properly dressed.

6. I tend to play the devil's advocate in Bible study (not always but occasionally, okay more often than I am willing to admit). It doesn't matter where I go. If I'm in a conservative congregation I tend to play up liberal ideas. If I'm in a liberal congregation I tend to play up conservative ideas. I don't rock the boat, I just jiggle it some to make sure everyone is holding on tight.

Well that's my list. Pat you are now tagged if you haven't already thought of this. Of course your list will be short (yes I do know how to score points with my wife of 30 years). I won't tag my son (Trey), because he's dating right now and I'm sure he doesn't want the young lady he's dating to know that he's got anything weird in his personality. Of course he should keep her away from his family's blogs so she won't find out about all our weird stuff. Who knows how she might react.