I tried to call my father this afternoon to wish him a Happy Father’s Day but ended up having to leave a message on his answering machine.  Even better than that, Jamey left a Happy Father’s Day message on our answering machine for Mark.  I hope Dad gets as much pleasure from my message as Mark got from Jamey’s!

Another coincidence today was that my pastor in Sturgeon Bay mentioned Elisabeth Elliot in her sermon.  For those of you who haven’t heard, Betty Elliot passed away this last week.  I don’t know how many of you will remember her as an author, a radio personality, and most especially as the wife of Jim Elliot.  Jim and four other missionaries tried to reach the Auca Indians in Ecuador in 1956, but due to a misunderstanding, the Aucas killed all five missionaries shortly after they made contact.  Later the sister of one of the missionaries who was killed went to the Aucas and spent her entire life translating the Bible into their language and building a church amongst them.

Anyway, my father had gone to high school with Jim Elliot at Benson Polytech in Portland, OR and when Jim was killed there was a memorial service for him at the Civic Auditorium in downtown Portland.  My father spoke at the memorial service and was also interviewed by Betty Elliot for her book about Jim, Shadow of the Almighty.  Dad and Jim worked together on the school newspaper and Dad was impressed with Jim’s convictions even then.  My mother was pregnant with me when Jim was killed, and Dad always said that if I’d been a boy he would have named me after Jim.  Since Dad had three daughters and no sons, I named my son James Elliot in honor of Jim and to fulfill my father’s desire for a namesake for him. However, my son’s nickname is Jamey.

When my son was born nearly 31 years ago (as of the 28th of June) I contacted Betty Elliot and told her who my father is and what I’d named my son.  She put me in touch with her’s and Jim’s daughter, Valarie Elliot Shepard.  Valarie also named her son James Elliot.  I think we wrote one or two letters but then lost touch.

So in honor of my dad, for my son, and for the passing of Betty Elliot, I took these flower pictures today:

Blue iris

I’m not sure, but I think this is Columbine. Correct me if I’m wrong.

Can you see the bumble bee on this spiky flower I also don’t know the name of?

These clusters of tiny white flowers are on a tree, but again, I don’t know the name of the tree. I really need to get some sort of field guide to flowers and trees!

These are growing all through our woods here. They also come in white. Anyone know what they are?

Yellow lady’s slippers

Technically these aren’t flowers, but this is the woods near us where I sometimes hear a chorus of frogs at night.

And now a shout out to my number one fan in Wisconsin, Judy Boldt.  Yesterday she gave me the location of a barn she thought I might like to photograph, so today on our way home from church Mark and I found it.

I can’t tell if it’s a barn, part of the house, or a beautiful garage judging by the road leading up to the door.

This is a close up of the mosaic on the left wall.

And here is another barn quilt.

Thank you for the tip, Judy!