Friday night comes just in time.

Good evening friends and family,

I'm just in from picking up Jason's Subaru from Borden Junction, my go to car repair place.  I was prepared for a message of the tranny is trashed or something like that, so was Jason but the Good Lord smiled on us.

They discovered that a tube that extends from the automatic transmission to the radiator, passes through the bottom the radiator and then back to the transmission had rubbed against something which caused it to start leaking and since the fluid was being pumped under pressure it leaked out onto the hot engine and started the white smoke contrail behind the car.

So they replaced the defective tube with a new one making sure it is safely distant from any rubbing point, gave the transmission a full service, took it for a test drive and it behaved perfectly.  All for a mere $200.  Now that's a bill I can handle, I was expecting the worst and we got the best news.

Having just driven it from Borden Junction garage for the 4 miles to my house via Safeway and a fuel fillup it is driving perfectly and there is no automatic slippage at all.  The heater, radio and the seat warmers all worked on my way home.  This is a totally good news story and is a relief for Jason as this car needs to last awhile longer until law school is over.

Tomorrow Kallie and I are coming to Sabbath School, not sure yet about Keanna who might be doing a sleep over with a friend.  Steve is not feeling that great right now, dealing with allergies and related breathing challenges.

Tomorrow afternoon I'll go with Jason and Jo and family to the Grace Cathedral Christmas concert.  Its at 3 in the afternoon and there really is nothing like the Grace, well there is Notre Dame or St. Stephens.  We will hear boys choirs, chamber music and other choirs and the music will roll over us due to the 9 second reverberation in the church.

When I was in college at PUC I sang in Pro Musica and we often performed in the Grace since our choir director knew someone there and got us in.  What a huge experience!

Today I encountered terrible traffic again.  A normal 1 hour trip to Milpitas to see a house ended up taking 1 hour and 50 minutes.  It was no problem but still I become stressed when I can't keep an appointment.  The second house proved to be just a few blocks away in San Jose so I managed to catch up.  Then it was lunch at the Great Mall at the Olive Garden, soup and salad.

It has been wonderful today driving the little green beetle.  The new axle solved the shaking and shuddering that I've put up with for about a month.  The car is a pleasure to drive and today refueling yielded 39 mpg.  Not too bad.

Wishing all of you happy shopping, happy family time and warmth.  My warmth will have to wait.  A needed part that Sean has determined will solve the furnace issue is on back order and will be here on Monday so until then it will be fires and I'm so thankful to Jerry for the wood he brought when he visited last spring.  Wow has it been a life saver.

Sending love to all,


Tim