Category: United States

Accommodations, DESTINATIONS, Restaurants & Bars, Road Trips, TRAVEL, United States

Difficulties in Detroit

Jane Sadek

TRAVEL THERE: LOST LUGGAGE, COMPROMISED CREDIT CARDS AND OTHER DISCOURAGEMENTS

Disappointment at Dollar

OK, so after we left the Lost Luggage Office we had to find the bus to the Remote Rental Facility. At Detroit, that involved going up and down on a series of escalators, walking across a pedestrian bridge and reading a whole lot of signs to figure out that Dollar Rental customers were supposed to take the Hertz bus.

At the Hertz office we were informed that we must stay on the bus so they could take us around to the Dollar entrance. Talk about much ado about nothing. We obediently rode the bus to the other side of the building and discovered it was merely another entrance to the same space as the Hertz office. We were not amused. The counter help was merely adequate. Nothing to brag on, but we’ve certainly run into worse. Our rep told us to choose any car sitting in the 5B area.

We headed out to the lot and to section 5B. There were several black SUV’s lined up in the 5B area and Bill had a couple he wanted, but before we could make our move to enter the cars, other folks had beat it us to it. We ended up with a Chey Trax. It wasn’t the car of my dreams, but I wasn’t too concerned. Bill was devastated and he spent the rest of our vacation complaining about it.

But What About the Lost Luggage

To my great joy, Ms. Number Three had called me as we rode to the Remote Rental facility. The young man who had picked up my bag by mistake was on his way back to the airport to make the switch. I was thrilled. $3500 is a lot of money, but I just wanted my stuff. I didn’t have time to mess with shopping for replacements.

From the Remote Rental facility, we made our way back to the terminal and I went to the Lost Luggage counter. Mr. Switcheroo had not made it back yet, so Ms. Number Three was outlining my options.

  • Option One – I could wait, but they had no idea when the guy would show up and they would not compensate me for parking. Bill would not have liked that option.
  • Option Two – I could go on to my hotel and if the guy returned the bag that evening, the airline would deliver it to me sometime the next day. Well, I was checking out of the hotel the next morning, so that wasn’t a particularly good plan either.
  • Option Three – They could call me when it arrived and I could decide then what to do, including having someone else pick up my bag.

I was discussing Option Three with Ms. Number Three, because I had nephews & grand nephews arriving later that night. I thought they could pick up my bag and it would be easier to connect with them than with the airline. I might be a little inconvenienced, but it would do. I was texting my claim ticket to my niece to send on to her son or brother, when a very humble young man came in carrying my bag.

It was the first time he had traveled alone and he hadn’t even packed his own bag. He understood what he’d put me through and he apologized numerous times. About that time Ms. Everything’s-All-Right came by and looked at me as if to say, “I told you so.” I wanted to tell her just how NOT ALL RIGHT it had been, but turned her over to God instead.

I turned with my rolling bag and ran to where I had left Bill, hoping he was somewhere near by. He was, but of course, I was just looking for a black SUV. It seemed as if every car in the pick-up area was a black SUV, and I really hadn’t paid close enough attention to know what car it was that Bill already hated so much. We eventually connected and headed to the Marriott at Renaissance Center, which had been arranged for us by our niece, a Marriott employee.

The Egyptian Part

I adore my husband and many of the reasons I do can be traced back to his Egyptian heritage, however when worlds collide things can get lost in translation. In the Egyptian culture, hospitality is job one and nothing shows that more than their eagerness to receive visitors with pomp and circumstance. I have gone to Egypt twice and each time I have been received at the airport with much ceremony and courtesy. When I visit those Egyptian relatives that now live here, they are also very anxious to make us feel welcome – especially in those first few moments of arriving.

So, our niece who works for Marriott wanted very much for us to stay our first night at the famous Marriott at Renaissance Center. She also wanted to be there waiting for us in the lobby when we arrived, in spite of the fact that she actually lives and works about 45 minutes away.

I really just wanted to stay somewhere close to the airport and regroup after our flight, but she would have none of that. This was her uncle and his first night in her state had to be at what she considered the best place and she wanted to be there to great him.

In the same manner, I am a very practical person. I know travel is always a hassle and nothing ever happens as you want it to. I was having none of her driving 45 minutes into Detroit, just to say hello and then turn around and drive another 45 and report to work, when chances are we wouldn’t make it in time for her to do that. Nope, I wasn’t putting up with that, but if she insisted, I could stay at the Renaissance.

So, that was the deal. We’d stay where she wanted us to and she wouldn’t drive down to Detroit to see us for 5 minutes. Good thing, too. With the lost luggage, she would have driven an hour and a half for nothing.

GPS Woes

As if we had not endured enough that day, getting to the hotel was almost an impossibility. The GPS knew nothing about all the construction going on in the Waterfront area and even less about all the streets which were closed due to the preparation for a Grand Prix which would be the next weekend.

Now, the Renaissance Center is highly visible for miles around the Waterfront area. We could see it. We just couldn’t get there. I will save you the details, but when we did finally pull into the reception area of the Marriott we felt like refugees from some disaster. I stayed in the car and Bill went to check us in.

Parking Preferences

Then we had to find someplace to park. The Marriott lot was $29.00 for anything over 3 hours, so Bill wanted very much to find an alternative. He left our luggage with the reception desk and we zoomed off to find cheaper parking.

About a mile away in a sort of remote area with very confusing signage, Bill thought he’d found some free parking. The construction had the street partially blocked off and there were signs saying everything from “Do Not Block Drive” to “No Parking” at certain times to “No Standing” at others. We actually looked up the difference between parking and standing as we discussed whether we could leave the car there or not.

Bill had just about convinced me to leave it there and we were actually walking away when I saw a less confusing sign which said “Towing Enforced No Parking or Standing 10PM to 6AM.” Bill still thought it might be OK, because perhaps the sign partially closing the street for construction might override everything else, but I put down my elegantly shod foot. After the day we’d had, chances were not something we should take.

Grabbing a Bite

We paid our $29.00 to the parking gods, picked up our luggage at the desk and went to find our room. It was elegant as hotel rooms go, with a nice bathroom, but a little tight. However, the view made it worth all our niece’s trouble. It really was remarkable as you can see above.

The rest of our problems solved, dinner was next. We’d seen a restaurant/bar downstairs and decided it would have to do. However, as we neared it, the noise reverberated inside our heads. We asked at the desk if that was the only restaurant and the careful answer was, “It’s the only one in the hotel.” That meant there were others, but we’d have to go on an adventure and adventures weren’t very appealing at this point.

There was one other choice, a kind of snack bar/convenience store. We ordered a turkey croissant sandwich and a half bottle of wine to share. Don’t you just love to pay $38 for fast food?

And I’ll leave it at that. Our first full day in Detroit was just a sleep away. Come back next week and see how we spent it.

DESTINATIONS, Road Trips, TRAVEL, United States

Destination: Detroit

Jane Sadek

TRAVEL THERE: THE BEST LAID PLANS OF MICE, MEN AND WOMEN ARE AT THE MERCY OF THE AIRLINES

Why Detroit?

So, with a world of destinations to choose from, why go to Detroit? The short answer is family. Another short answer would be Great Niece/Nephew Gender Reveal. My answer would be, take me anywhere, I’ll find something to do.

Anyway, our nephew and his wife in California are having a baby, most of Bill’s family have immigrated from Egypt to the Detroit area and many others immigrated to Canadian cities not far from Detroit. We do have some family here in Dallas, but we are few. Instead of taking everyone out to California, the expecting parents joined everyone else in Michigan.

Anxiety Free Departure

I love to travel, but for the last few years, leaving home meant taking along our business. The added stress before we left, and managing things remotely while we were gone, took a real dent out of my fun, but just before this trip we sold our real estate photography company. There’s a certain amount of stress that comes with travel for anyone, but compared to those days when I also had to carry the burden of the business, I was blissfully un-harassed.

The day of the trip, we discovered our flight was running about 30 minutes late, but that didn’t faze us. In fact, it gave us just a little extra wiggle room. Things went like clockwork at the Park N Fly lot and their shuttle delivered us at the terminal. We dropped off our one checked bag and strolled up to security. Things were great!

At security, something went awry and they closed down our line. They gave us two choices. One was to go outside, walk 10 minutes to the next entrance, go through security and then walk back down to our gate, which would be about another 10 minute walk. Or we could wait. They weren’t sure what the hold up was or how long it would take, but we had time and we were next in line, so we took our chances.

In less time than it would have taken us to walk down to the next entrance, they opened things back up and we sailed through security. So, we were running into some problems and issues, but they were so minor they didn’t even count. We grabbed some lunch at Smash Burger and by the time we were through, our flight was boarding.

The Real Trouble Begins

One we were in our seat, we discovered the flight was having some maintenance issues. They started with an announcement that it should be about 10 minutes before we would take up, but they kept pushing that further until we were about an hour later than scheduled. We’re not thrilled at this point. I had hoped for a little sightseeing in the Riverfront area when we got to Detroit, but we’d still be fine, right?

As we sat at the gate, Bill tries to set up the free wi-fi on his phone, so he can watch the a movie. I was a little concerned at this point. A young man behind me was helping out a couple of older ladies get their phones set up to do the same and their experience was not sounding at all like Bill’s. His connection was asking for a credit card and when the first one didn’t work, he put in another one. Very, very bad move.

Almost immediately, he gets a text from one of the credit card companies letting him know his credit card had been compromised. This is not good. It was even worse when we got to our hotel room and they informed him the second card had been hacked. While this was inconvenient and would interrupt our bookkeeping, we were OK. I had another credit card with me which I use for limited special transactions, so we were still in business and even if that were not so, we had debit cards.

The worst thing was yet to come. The message boards in baggage claim were not working and by the time we figured out where we were supposed to be, the only thing riding around on the carousel was one purple bag, but it wasn’t MY purple bag.

The Lost Luggage Saga

There were three individuals at the Lost Luggage Desk. One was a young man who had already pissed Bill off with his cavalier attitude about the deceiving message boards. We had been standing by the carousel which promised to deliver our bag, but of course, it was not the right one. Bill was not happy, at all, that we’d been wasting our time waiting at the wrong carousel, but the guy didn’t even pretend to care. In sort of a sing-song nanny-nanny-poo-poo voice he chided Bill for not hearing the multiple announcements they made. In Bill’s defense, there were some announcements, but they’d sort of sounded like, “mwah bwah napa bwah mwah nwah…” You get my drift.

The second person, a woman, pissed me off. Because all that was left on the carousel was a piece of purple luggage about the same size as mine, it led us to assume mine had been picked up by mistake. At first, the lady took several appropriate steps to contact the owner of the bag. That made me feel better.

Then she started in on her everything’s-all-right mantra. The first 10 or 12 times she tried to convince me of that, I figured it was just her job, but it became irritating. My luggage was a virtually new American Tourister bag. What had been left behind was a beat-up off-brand. When she said, “They don’t want your stuff,” I figured she had no clue. I have good stuff and whenever I do leave an item behind in other situations, it is way gone, even when I return fairly quickly. Comparing the left behind bag to mine, I thought there was a good chance they might actually want my stuff.

The third person came along about the time I was ready to punch Ms. Everything’s-All-Right. She talked to the lady whose contact information was on the bag and discovered it was her son who had picked up the wrong bag, but he was somewhere on an Uber and his phone was out of juice.

Ms. Number Three acknowledged that everything was not alright and gave me a form which entitled me up to $3500 worth of replacements, were they unable to connect me with my bag before the evening was over. She suggested we go ahead and get our rental car while they figured out how to contact the young man in the Uber.

And that’s where I will leave you for now. Come back next week to discover if I actually got my luggage back or whether I went on a shopping spree with my $3500 replacement money!

DESTINATIONS, Road Trips, TRAVEL, United States

Turning Toward Home

Jane Sadek

TRAVEL THERE AND BRING IT HOME

So, I was away from home for five days and attended a Christian Women’s Conference for three of them. Sure, I discovered an amazing restaurant in Little Rock, saw a presidential library and ate the best BBQ in St. Louis (maybe the world?). But did I bring anything home with me from the conference which would change my life.

Hope

The best thing I brought home with me was hope. I confess my summer had been rough and it had shredded my hope. Just getting out of the house and away from the business was a blessing, but it was more than that.

Everybody makes mistakes. I know that, but in the day to day of it, I sometimes feel like the stupidest person alive. How exactly did I get here? Why do I keep making the same mistakes over and over? Where is my joy?

The first night of the conference Joyce faced this issue. She confessed her own mistakes in life, but also pointed out there are hidden treasures in what we may consider our mistakes.

If someone like Joyce Meyer can own up to her mistakes, then I’m encouraged to own up to mine. The next morning Lisa Harper and Christine Cline chipped in and confessed their own ability to screw up royally. Now I was feeling even better. I was reminded all us humans can make mistakes. I could leave that burden and guilt right there on the floor of America’s Dome.

Then Lisa Harper talked about the God of second chances and third chances and fourth chances – in fact, as many chances as I need until heaven comes. God’s not even counting. He created a clean slate for all of us on the day His Son died on that cross. All I have to do is get over myself and accept it. I knew that, but Satan does everything he can to keep that fact from being in the forefront of my mind. There was another burden to leave behind me.

Just in case I had not gotten the message, Christine Caine got up there on Saturday morning and told me the pandemic was over. How many times have a blamed something on the pandemic or wished for the good old days? If I don’t keep my face and my heart directed toward what God has ahead of me, I am in danger of being as useless as the pillar of salt Lot’s wife turned into. So, I left my pandemic mindset in the trashcan and headed home.

The Imagination Station also gave me hope. At the ripe old age of 67 you begin to feel as if the best things in life are behind you. I dared to write dreams on a piece of cloth and tie it to the grid on the wall. It felt kind of silly and I almost didn’t do it, but I figured I had little to lose and everything to gain. I was barely home when God gave me a taste of what He could do when I let go of wishing and turned my hopes into prayers. Lesson learned – my best days ARE still ahead; it’s not too late.

Merchandise

The most important thing I bought at the Joyce Meyers’ Love Life Conference 2022 was tickets for Love Life Conference 2023. It’s going to be in San Antonio – one of my very favorite places in the world – October 19-21 in the Alamo Dome. I bought two tickets, because this is my bestie’s birthday month and I couldn’t imagine a better present. If you’d like to come too, here’s the link: https://brushfire.com/joycemeyer/wc2023/537511.

I also bought some books. I’d never read Battlefield of the Mind, which is her classic work, so I picked it up. It is so good I think I may read it annually or perhaps quarterly. It’s not anything I didn’t already know, but everything I need to be reminded of on a daily basis. If you are looking for something good to read, start there!

Great Memories!

God has blessed me in many ways, but one of his best gifts is my best friend, the sister of my heart, Deborah Shera. We tell folks we could go to a mud puddle and have fun. The hotels we stayed in during this trip probably prove that point. Instead of being aghast and bawling me out for choosing such awful hotels, we laughed. But it wasn’t all bad hotels by any stretch. We shared great food, cherished some of our best memories, created some new ones and came home with our hearts stitched together a little tighter – if that is at all possible.

So today is Wednesday, October 3, 2022 as I write this post for Wednesday, September 7, 2023. As of today, the only travel plans I have are for Joyce’s conference in San Antonio which I just mentioned.

Will the travel gods grant me another trip before that? I have no idea, but I hope you will come back next week and find out!! I promise there will be something there to entertain you!

Attractions, DESTINATIONS, Restaurants & Bars, Road Trips, TRAVEL, United States

Sugarfire in St. Louis

Jane Sadek

TRAVEL THERE – REMARKABLE BBQ

Playing Hookey!

OK – I confess. We didn’t make it to every single session of the Love Life Conference. For instance, we totally blew off Friday night. We were praise-music-ed out. Even though it would mean missing one of Joyce’s teachings, we just couldn’t face a “CELEBRATION” and concert. Can I pay less to get less music? Or could I pay more and get less music? Asking for a friend…

We also skipped Joel Olsteen. My theology doesn’t line up 100% with Joyce, but I just overlook those places where we diverge and enjoy the rest. Anytime I hear Joel Olsteen, he’s so far down another path I want to throw things. I’ve been known to talk back to the TV when he’s sharing his opinion on something. I didn’t trust myself to behave.

What We Did Instead

So, walking back and forth between our parking lot (remember the BROWN level) and America’s Dome, I noticed a trailer with an amazing aroma coming out of it. Then I figured out that it must be the smoker for the restaurant next to it. The name of the restaurant was Sugarfire.

Deb loves BBQ with a passion, so as they prepared the stage for Joel to come out, Deb and I scooted to the streets, headed for BBQ. Little did we realize we were about to enter epicurean heaven.

It had barely turned 11 and there was already a line of locals waiting to order their ‘cue, as Sugarfire calls it. It was obvious everyone was a frequent flyer and as the server chatted with the regulars, he would do a little upselling, giving them samples of the more upscale meat choices. Then he saw us, obviously not regulars, with our women’s conference badges on. So, he gave us samples, too.

The sample worked and Deb was all about some French Dip style Brisket sandwich. If it’s BBQ, I want ribs, but most places want to sell me a half rack, which I can’t eat on my own, so I either end up eating far too many ribs or I just get something else, which wasn’t what I wanted. Sugarfire sells a Four Rib plate and I could get excited about that. I also got excited about the cornbread, which was more dessert than bread, and the cold beer.

Deb’s judgement? Best BBQ brisket she’d ever had. I don’t know if I’d go quite that far with the ribs, but they were pretty darned good and certainly rated up there among the best.

The Sugarfire has long community tables in the center of the restaurant and booths around the edges. If you sit at the community tables, you’ll be cheek to jowl with the regulars and as far as I am concerned that’s part of the fun.

Shortly after we were seated, huge waves of ladies from the conference began to line up for their ‘cue. Was Joel’s talk that short or are there others who have a problem sitting quietly while he’s talking? The line went all around the restaurant and then out the front door and down the sidewalk. CRAZY! Well, not so crazy. It is really good ‘cue.

I would like to remind Christian ladies they are a witness, good or bad, of their Savior at all times, but particularly when they have a huge sign around their neck proclaiming they are attending a Christian Women’s Conference at the Ameridome next door. With the huge crowds it draws, Sugarfire has numerous signs requesting patrons get their food BEFORE they start taking up spaces at the tables. As we sat having our lunch, a lady got up several times to make that announcement.

Then a Love Life Conference attendee plopped down at the table next to me with about five handbags wrapped around her arms. Thinking she may have missed the signs and/or the announcement I said, “They are requesting you wait until you have food to sit down.” Her response was not nice. I don’t think Joyce or Joel would have approved.

After lunch, it was time to head back to the convention center, because Lisa Harper was up and no way I was missing her. While we’d been in Sugarfire, it had started to rain. I have very independent hair and if it gets rained on, it begins to protest. I found a book bag down in my tote and used it as a rain hat. Not my best look, but I headed off the frizz, which would have been my ‘do, had my hair gotten wet.

Lisa was great, as I had anticipated she would be. There was another break before the evening’s “CELEBRATION” & concert, but we headed out for our second dose of hooky. Come back next week and I’ll let you know how that went!

Attractions, DESTINATIONS, TRAVEL, United States

Joyce Meyer’s Love Life Women’s Conference Words

Jane Sadek

Travel There – From God’s Mouth to Our Ears

If you read my last post about my dissatisfaction with the musical offerings at this conference, then you might expect me to pick apart the rest of it and you’d be wrong. I loved the messages delivered by the speakers: Joyce Meyer, Lisa Harper and Christine Caine.

Though I had been worn out by the drive and beat up by the music, when Joyce came to the stage she had words which were formed in her mind by the heart of God just for me. I had come looking for healing and encouragement. By the end of the first night’s teaching, I knew I had come to the right place.

Joyce started off in Genesis with our old friend, Abram. We all know his story. Abram had received great promises from God and things weren’t so bad, but they didn’t exactly match up to what God said there would be. “Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up…” She encouraged us to get outside our tent and look up.

She shared the difficult things in her life that she would change if she could, but reminded us, none of us can, no matter how much we may want to. However, she also guided us to Isaiah 45:3, “I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name.” From one of her greatest challenges, Joyce eventually received and continues to receive great blessings. She encouraged us to get out of our tents and look up, so God could reveal those hidden treasures to us.

Joyce Meyers was talking to me. I’d been so busy in my tent I’d been failing to consider God’s many blessings in my life, because I was distracted by the drudgery and the challenges in the tent. By getting out of my tent and driving for two days I found a star-filled sky. My hope for hidden treasures, riches which were stored up for me, broke through and joy seeped once again into my heart.

Joyce’s Guests

Friday morning Joyce took the stage with her speaker friends and talked about the mistakes and hard places in life with them. I loved the format and it fleshed out what Joyce had said about getting outside our tents, looking up at the stars and being aware of the hidden treasures. The time was like a balm on my heart.

That afternoon, Lisa Harper taught us with humor and Scripture about our God of second chances. She reminded me that no matter how much I mess up, I have a God who can use my mess to to be blessing to others. Since I seem to have a lot of messes at my disposal, it’s nice to know God can even use our mistakes to His glory.

Christian Caine, with her lovely Aussie brogue took one of the shortest Scriptures in the Bible, “Remember Lot’s wife!” Luke 17:32 and turned it in to a battle cry against our post-Covid doldrums. No matter what your life was like before Covid – good or bad – Covid has come and gone. Lot’s wife looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt who lost both her past and her future. She urged us to embrace what was ahead and I walked out of the conference ready to do just that. I was out of my tent, looking at the stars.

Imagination Station

During one of the breaks I went down to see why people were standing in line in a certain part of the arena. There was an area called the Imagination Station and if that wasn’t it, it was something along that line.

The idea of it was to imagine something you wanted God to do for you and tell Him about it in a tangible way, by writing the thing you imagined on a strip of cloth and then tying it to a grid on the wall.

Confession, I am horrid at goal setting and vision boards are a craft to me, not an inspiration. I tend to have hopes, not tangible goals. I can set a goal for activities, but saying I am going to sell a certain amount of product or raise my profit X%. It’s beyond me. I can easily tell you places I want to go and things I would like to buy, but translating them into measurable goals, it just doesn’t happen.

For these reasons, I was a bit threatened by this exercise. I was tempted to walk right through the display area. Then I remembered. This was between God and me. There wasn’t going to be a quarterly review. I wasn’t going to be graded on it.

I got a strip, wrote three wishes on it and tied it on the grid. Then I walked through the rest of the display area and was encouraged by the verses displayed there. Especially this one, since being in my later 60’s could be construed as a reason to go sit quietly on the bench.

Now I can tell you how God works. I tied my wishes to the grid on the wall and while I fully believe that with God I can do anything, I was in no way sure my love of scrapbooking and my desire to pursue it more aggressively professionally had any interest to God.

I left the conference the next day and went on with my life. I thought from time to time about the strip I had tied to the grid, but I told myself, I left that in God’s hands, not going to worry about it. Within a week and a day, I had gotten an email, virtually out of the blue, from a potential customer who needed my scrapbooking assistance.

This new client was not magic. I had done the things I should. I am signed up as a consultant with both a traditional and a digital scrapbooking company. I have a website. I have social media to tell people I am a memory keeper. When I go to networking meetings, I mentioned it, even though Spot On Images, by necessity was the focus.. However, most days of my life all that goes unnoticed. That is until I turn one of my wishes over to God.

So that’s how Joyce and her guests impacted my life at the Love Life Conference in St. Louis and propelled us into selling SOI and making Memory Keeping my priority., but I hope you’ll come back next week, because we are going to play hooky during some of the conference’s sessions and I’d like you to come along.

ART, DESTINATIONS, Music, Performing Arts, Road Trips, TRAVEL, United States

Joyce Meyers and Love Life 2022 Music

Jane Sadek

TRAVEL THERE – LOOKING FOR THE BLESSING

The excitement inside America’s Dome was palpable. We were among the last few people showing up for the 7 PM opening session. We picked up our intro packet and stopped at the concession stand for something to eat. Minutes after we found seats the music started and I confess I was not ready for it.

Disclaimer – I am not a big fan of praise and worship music. I am on Team Hymnal. I don’t stand with my eyes closed and wave my hands in the air. If you do, that’s great, but it makes me think more about me than I do Him, so I don’t like to go there. Love Life was locked and loaded for praise and worship: Chris Tomlin, Tauren Wells, Phil Wickham and Brandon Lake. On Thursday night at 7 PM, the kickoff for the Joyce Meyers’ Love Life Women’s Conference, I was wrung out.

The musicians on the other hand were wound up. At 7 PM they blew on the stage and blew up the sound system. They were jumping and dancing and rocking and rolling, while I just needed to bow down. I knew they weren’t doing anything wrong, but for me, they weren’t exactly putting me in the right frame of mind for worship. For a few minutes I resented it and then the Lord made me aware of the fact that this was my problem, not theirs.

I bowed my head and asked for the power to worship, in spite of my preferences and my exhaustion. Almost as if I had communicated directly with the performers on stage, the atmosphere stilled. On the stage were Phil Wickham and Brandon Lake. Though I would still have preferred to turn the volume down, I could tell powerful worship was going on.

Too Much Music for This Old Woman

If I had one criticism of the Love Life Conference it would be that I felt there was entirely too much loud music. I’m probably one of three women out of the entire crowd that felt that way, but it was what I walked away with.

The opening ceremonies had been loud and frenetic. Then some crazy DJ guy would warm up the crowd before each session and you had to go early or you’d be sitting in a corner. Each performer got time during each session and then Friday night there was a concert. Needless to say, I did not go Friday night. It was just too much for this old lady. If some of that music had been quiet and peaceful, if there had been a hymn or two, if a lot of things, I might have been happier, but as it was I wished there had been a lot less music and a lot more teaching.

Is It Really Praise & Worship?

I have actually found a church in my area that sticks to traditional hymns and classical worship music for Sunday mornings. I love it. The lyrics are rich in Scripture, they profess the glories of God and the miracle of salvation. I feel worshipful and reverent as I join in with this music. I would welcome a couple of praise and worship choruses to round out our musical offerings, but I don’t see that happening.

I have also attended a whole lot of services with a praise and worship band. I watch others stirred to near frenzy while singing this music. Obviously, it moves them. I remain awkward and self conscious. I see band members who seem to only lack go-go boots and a cage to complete their performance. They’re up there waving their arms, shuffling their feet and sometimes thrusting their hips. That’s OK for Elvis in concert, but is it really worship?

I do not want to be Mrs. Morrison. During my teenaged years, occurring in the late sixties and early seventies, Mrs. Morrison was still giving lectures on the dangers of Rock and Roll. By then Rock and Roll was here to stay. I thought she was a nut case. Then during a service at what I call the Rock and Roll church, I understood why she was upset. Rock & Roll didn’t feel very worshipful to me.

I really wanted to be open-minded, but I knew I couldn’t worship when I was moments away from starting a Conga Line. As I have said before, if that does it for you, more power to you, but how about me? Are you as willing to spend time worshipping with traditional hymns and classical worship music for my sake? The resounding answer in modern churches is ‘NO!’

Since I was at the conference for spiritual renewal and what I was served was, for the most part, very loud Rock & Roll, I spent some time in quiet reflection. Had I become Mrs. Morrison?

My Conclusion

Music either honors God or it doesn’t. While I still might have turned the volume down, before the conference was over, I was a fan of Phil Wickham and Brandon Lake. Their music was all about the glories of God and the mercies of Our Savior. Their lyrics were right off the pages of Scripture.

To me, and I will confess this is my opinion, not a condemnation of the other singers, their music is not worshipful. To begin with it is very repetitive. The same words over and over and over. Matthew 6:7 says, “When ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.” Along about the 20th time I say, “I love you Jesus,” it has lost all real meaning and is just sounds I am matching to notes.

It also seems very self centered to me. As I listened it focused on what the “worshipper” wanted to tell Jesus, not on the glories of God or the salvation of Christ and it had nothing to do with Scripture. “I love You, I worship You. I bow down. I lift my hands. I serve You. I need You.” As my mom used to say, “The emPHAsis seemed to be on the wrong sylLAble. “

So, if Joyce called me tomorrow and asked me what changes I would make, I’d tell her to cut down the time devoted to music, to bring traditional music to the stage and keep away from the vain repetitions. Someone else might tell you the music was the most meaningful part of the whole conference, but this is my blog, so I get to share my own opinion.

Come back next time and we’ll talk about what I did like. The preaching and teaching was powerful.

Accommodations, DESTINATIONS, Road Trips, TRAVEL, United States

On to St. Louis

Jane Sadek

Travel There-Getting There

Finished with the Clinton Library, we pointed Wayz to the Travel Lodge in St. Louis and hit I-30. As had been true the day before, trucks dominated the interstate. In fact, the last hour of the drive on Wednesday had been maddening. I was so glad to be off the road, even the potentially worst Days Inn in the world looked good.

Thursday started off in much the same way, with trucks all around us. The only improvement was we weren’t mired down in construction, at least most of the way. I couldn’t put the peddle to the medal though, because the trucks set the pace. Finally, when we were almost to Memphis, we turned onto I-55 and things improved. Once we made the corner, we made a pit stop for gas, the potty and a snack.

I roared up I-55 as fast as I dared and we got into St. Louis just in time for rush hour traffic. Just as had been true the day before, the last bit of our drive was the worst, but this time it wasn’t the trucks or construction. I’m convinced the engineers who designed the roadways in St. Louis must have been high on something!

The right lane was constantly an “exit only” lane, so staying in the next lane was life threatening. As people entered the expressway, they had to immediately get in the next lane, so they wouldn’t be forced to exit again.

They also love to build both entrance ramps and exit ramps on the left side of the road, so the left lane was no safe haven. And God help you if you entered on the left side and needed to exit on the right – which Wayz must have thought was a lot of fun, because it didn’t hesitate to offer that up as our route.

Because the hotels and motels in the downtown area cost hundreds of dollars a night, I just couldn’t bear to stay there. I booked a hotel about 10 miles from the convention center. I’m from Texas, so 10 miles is nothing and it really presented no real challenge – except that in coming from I-55, you had to navigate 255, 270 and 170 to get there.

Once we made it to the hotel, commuting back and forth to the conference was no big deal, but to tell the truth, after that little drive to the hotel nothing would have seemed like that big of a deal.

Arriving at the Travel Lodge, we knew we weren’t staying in the lap of luxury, but we pretty quickly knew it was going to be better than the night before. I’m so grateful Deb was with me, because to tell the truth, if I had been on my own, there was a good chance I would have laid on the bed and never climbed back in the car until the next day.

Since Deb was with me, we unloaded the car, moved ourselves into our room and headed back out for the trip downtown. The commute was easier than the road to the hotel had been, but as soon as we exited, we were in gridlock.

Instead of getting out of the car, laying down on the asphalt and having a good cry, I tried to negotiate the traffic according to the directions Deb was giving me. By some miracle we came to a garage that wasn’t very far from the convention center and the price was decent. It was undergoing some severe renovations, but we climbed up the ramps to a parking spot.

Now, when we discovered the poorly lit section of the garage we’d happened upon was the BROWN level, we thought they had probably gotten the name right – just think of something brown that stinks! At least it was easy to remember where we had parked.

The hard part was over. I’d driven 10 hours from my home to get there. Now I was going to walk into a convention center full of women who loved the Lord. No way that was going to be anything but wonderful.

Come back next week and I’ll tell you about the Love Life Conference. It was pretty darned amazing!

Architecture, ART, Attractions, Decorative Arts, DESTINATIONS, Libraries, Museums, Presidential, Road Trips, TRAVEL, United States

The William J. Clinton Presidential Library

Jane Sadek

TRAVEL THERE – ANOTHER PRIMARILY PRESIDENTIAL DESTINATION

If you follow my tags, you’ll find 19 posts about Primarily Presidential Destinations. I’ve got at least that many more on my wish list. The William J. Clinton Presidential Library was not on that list, but that’s only because I hadn’t really thought about it. I’d never been much of a fan and Little Rock was not someplace I was dying to go.

With Little Rock being about halfway between DFW and St. Louis it was a perfect stop over and I knew we’d have a few hours there on Thursday morning before we had to get on the road. I googled “Visit Little Rock” and the Library was one of the first attractions to come up. Then there was no question about it, fan or not, if it was a presidential library I was going.

Little Rock is a city under construction, but Wayz knew about it and threaded us through the detour signs. We arrived a few minutes before opening and caught up with our email and social media.

As I watched people park and head toward the building it wasn’t clear to me exactly where we were supposed to enter, because it’s one of those modern buildings where the entrance is fairly non-descript. In fact, you have to go under the building to enter it.


Women’s Voices, Women’s Votes, Women’s Rights

The ground floor is dominated by a glass-walled gift shop. You had to go through it to get to the special exhibition on the other side. The special exhibition was a series of quilts focused on women’s suffrage and and women’s rights.

The thought process of having a quilt exhibition was quite good. Quilting has always been a very female thing to do and in America women have used the quilts to document everything from family trees to stops on the Underground Railway. Quilts filled both the downstairs exhibition space and another gallery upstairs.

I found myself more interested in the modern process of quilts than I was their message. I guess I haven’t been paying enough attention at the State Fair of Texas Crafts Building. These weren’t the patchwork quilts I’ve admired during the rest of my life. Pictures were printed on the cloth and then over-sewn by machine. I’m not doubting the creativity and skill of the women who crafted these quilts, I’m just gonna be honest and say I like old-school quilts better.

Deb, the conversation starter, mentioned to someone we were headed to a women’s conference. Her new friend perked right up and wanted to know more. That was until Deb told her it was a Christian conference. Then all the perk deflated out and we were told to enjoy the exhibit. They’d obviously wished we were headed out to wear vagina caps or beat up some right to life advocates. In another gallery of the special exhibition Deb engaged the guards with a description of Allsopp & Chappele. They followed us around the gallery capturing information about the restaurant on their phones.

Touring the Permanent Exhibits

Even though I wasn’t a big fan of Bill, I was impressed by his Library. There’s all the usual obligatory Presidential Library stuff – memorabilia from his presidential campaigns, a replica of his Oval Office and an orientation theater. I was surprised to learn in the film how important his saxophone was to him and that it was almost the career path he chose. Would the world be a better place if Bill Clinton had been a professional sax player? In the film he said political activism won out over the saxophone, but I have a sneaky feeling that was due more to Hillary Rodham, who he met about that time, than it did the actual political activity.

One of my favorite parts was a timeline that dominated the second floor. It combined important achievements of his presidency with world events, so you are reminded of their historical setting. Around the timeline were alcoves focused on various themes of his presidency and letters from famous people were displayed, sometimes with Bill’s reply.

In comparison, in the George W. Bush Library, the first two galleries are given over to “No Child Left Behind” and 9-11. While Bush sees the education agenda as his crowning glory, I see it as his biggest failure. Any reminder of 9-11 is upsetting to those of us who lived through it. So by the time I get to the rest of the exhibits I’m not in the mood to celebrate his other successes. Points go to Mr. Clinton.

I will admit, Clinton accomplished many of his goals. My problem with him is that I see a direct correlation between what he “accomplished” and many of the troubles we have today. I believe his intentions were good and sincere, but like many good and sincere people, he didn’t look down the road and consider what the results of his good intentions would be.

And then there’s Monica Lewinski. I wondered if they’d even address it in the Library and I have to give them kudos for having the guts to do so. However, I found humor in the way they chose to present it. It wasn’t Bill admitting he’d sinned, it was some commentary over whether his actions were actually impeachable or not. Evasive into perpetuity. He’s not the only bad boy in the presidential line-up, but will any of us ever forget “I did not have sex with that woman,” and the blue dress. Oh, and the meditation on what the word “is” might actually mean.

The primary reason I am not a fan of Bill is that I disagreed with what he was trying to accomplish – no surprise! He’s a Democrat and I am a Republican. But the whole Sex in the Oval Office thing was an embarrassment to our nation and as always, the coverup was worse than the sin. When are our leaders going to learn to step up, confess their sins and move on. Instead we have to have months/years of investigations, which in the end just spend money we don’t have to promote the political careers of the incumbents. I am so tired of it!

The third floor was like dessert, because it contained the gifts to the Clintons from other world leaders and countries. The presidential gifts are always my very favorite thing to see. There was a table setting from one of their state dinners, something the libraries always seem to have and one of the Frist Lady’s evening gowns, another presidential library staple.

And speaking of the First Lady, I was very impressed by the low key role she played in the library. Of course she was there, including her efforts to fix health care, but her presence was not overpowering. I jokingly call Ronald Reagan’s library the Nancy Reagan Library, because I left knowing more about her than I did him. Her stamp is on every single exhibit. Not so with Hillary Rodham Clinton, who actually played a larger role in her husband’s career than Ms. Nancy did. Points go to Mrs. Clinton.

So, I enjoyed my visit to the William J. Clinton Presidential Library. I heartily recommend that you visit when you can – and of course, that you eat at Allsopp & Chapple, but don’t stay at Day’s End.

There are other activities on the campus of the Library, but we needed to get on down the road. The Love Life Conference would start that evening, so we needed to be in St. Louis in time to attend. Come back next week and we’ll be on the road again to St. Louis.

DESTINATIONS, Restaurants & Bars, Road Trips, TRAVEL, United States

Breakfast in Chicago?

Jane Sadek
Photo by Julian Jagtenberg on Pexels.com

TRAVEL THERE – GOOGLE MISDIRECTION

Google had been very, very good to us on Wednesday night, so rather than spend an unnecessary moment at our horrible motel, finding out how they interpreted “breakfast included,” we googled “best breakfast downtown.” Apparently, overnight Google had forgotten where we were. We’d been researching restaurants with great ease the night before, but for some reason, it thought we wanted to go to Chicago for breakfast. You’ve got to love the SEO and algorithms that dreamed that up.

So, we tried again – “best breakfast downtown Little Rock.” It responded with Down Home, less than 10 minutes away. That was more like it, but it still wasn’t in downtown. We ended up backtracking a few exits and then when we got there, the restaurant wasn’t keeping its sites up-to-date, because the restaurant had a big McClard’s BBQ sign out front. “Down Home Catering” was further down and in smaller print.

At first, we weren’t sure whether they were closed for remodeling, because we thought the pick up trucks around the restaurant might belong to the construction crew. About that time we saw two great big old boys coming out rubbing their bellies in delight. We had arrived.

McClard’s BBQ / Down Home Restaurant and Catering

The restaurant was neat as a pin and you could tell everything was recently refreshed. The décor was early flea market with an emphasis on the USA, Hollywood and Christmas. We were led to a seat and given menus.

Our waitress was chatty. She and Deb discussed the sign, Google and the Christmas tree. In true flea market tradition, Deb’s coffee cup was a Christmas mug. The menu was fairly basic, nor surprises. We both got the same breakfast, but with different choices for meat and eggs. I like my eggs DONE, over well, hard enough to bounce on the floor and I told them to hold the gravy on my biscuit. Deb was over easy, she had bacon instead of sausage and she did want her gravy.

Our first reaction when the plates arrived was laughter. They serve toast with their biscuits. That cracked me up. Then I cracked into my egg and it was over easy, maybe more solid than Deb’s, but still runny. Our waitress picked my plate up before I could even say anything. It came back out in a few minutes over well, DONE. I was a happy camper.

The breakfasts were good and our conversation with the waitress continued. We told her where we were headed and I think she really wished she could just walk away and go with us. I wish we could have made that possible. Were I rich, I would have asked her what she made a week, written her a check for it, paid for her trip and the conference and squared her absence with her boss. That would be the best part of being rich – doing outrageous things for other people.

We also told her we were headed downtown to see the Clinton Library. It didn’t seem as if she was as excited about that. To tell the truth, I wasn’t either, but I sort of collect presidential libraries and homes. We were in Little Rock and it was too, so I wasn’t going to miss it. We paid our check and headed downtown.

Come back next week and visit the William J. Clinton presidential Library with us. I will admit is was better than I anticipated. You might be impressed enough to visit yourself, even if, like me, you aren’t a member of his fan club.

DESTINATIONS, Restaurants & Bars, Road Trips, TRAVEL, United States

Allsop & Chapple Restaurant & Bar

Jane Sadek

TRAVEL THERE AND EAT HERE!

I don’t care why you’re in Little Rock or what your budget is, you need to eat at Allsopp & Chapple. I’d love to tell you some great story about me researching restaurants in Little Rock and digging up this hidden gem, but the truth of it is that we googled it after we got there.

I wasn’t sure exactly what time we’d get away from DFW, so I didn’t want to be disappointed. If we ended up getting out of town late and just grabbed Mickey D’s along the way, I wanted to be happy about getting away, not feeling deprived by missing some great restaurant. So, we googled from the un-luxury of our room at Days Inn and lucked into one of our favorite meals ever.

Historical Significance

Allsopp & Chapple used to be the name of the premiere bookseller in the state of Arkansas. It’s located in Downtown Little Rock in the Rose Building, which was built in 1900 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. For six decades A&C was THE bookstore in Little Rock, indeed the entire state. Perhaps the young Bill Clinton, who lived in Little Rock up to 1964 bought a book from there. By the time he was governor, the bookstore was gone.

The Modern Version

Even though it was a Wednesday night, we decided to go ahead and make a reservation, which was a good thing. The place was hopping! Patrons at the bar chatted over bespoke cocktails and most every table in the room was full.

During our first visit, we didn’t know about the complimentary valet, but now you do, so let them park your car. Instead we parked in a nice multi-level lot which was all of $2 and walked to the restaurant, but it was less than 1/2 a block away.

The vibe is good. We were wearing our travel clothes and fit right in. Some people were in suits and dresses, obviously there after a work day, but a pair of jeans would not be out of place. Please don’t show up in your pajamas or your active wear. It’s not that casual.

The dining room and bar are both in the same room and it’s a cozy room. That’s why you make a reservation. The décor is sleek and modern without being cold, and there’s a nod of the head to its previous existence as a bookstore.

The menu is varied but not expansive. I hate when they hand you a book that you have to wade through to find something to eat. There was a little of anything, from soup and salad to steak and seafood, but the choices did not go on and on and on. The wine list is extensive, but not daunting. However, what caught our eye first was the Cocktail Menu.

I’m usually pretty boring when it comes to drinks. Wine, a margarita or a beer are my usual choices. I’m just not that crazy about most hard liquor drinks – no old-fashions, Manhattans, gimlets. martinis etc. They usually look expensive to me and when I get them, I wish I’d just ordered up the usual.

Deborah is the adventurous one of us. She can talk bitters and liqueurs with the best of them and she’s more willing to splurge. When she does, she’s usually happy she did.

This time the Cocktail Menu looked good to me and the prices were reasonable. It also nodded its head to the previous bookseller of six decades. I chose the Don Quixote, which was a blackberry margarita and Deb had Much Ado About Nothing, an old-fashion infused with vanilla and oranges. Both were great. I loved mine and Deb gave me a sip of hers, which was also good – almost like a spiked Dreamcicle.

Amazing Food

So, the drinks were good, the atmosphere was pleasant and the décor lovely, but what about the food? Pull out your list of superlatives and use them all. The food was out-of-this-world good. I had the pork chop, which was cooked to perfection and had a great sauce, but lets talk about the mashed sweet potatoes.

Roasted banana sweet potato mash! The banana and sweet potato were perfectly blended and very smooth. I’m guessing they also had cream and butter and other good stuff in there, but whatever they had in it, it was the best mashed sweet potatoes I had ever had.

Deborah, in the meantime had the Redfish, in Pontchartrain Sauce with fried okra. I had a bite of the redfish and it was delectable. I don’t interfere with anybody else’s fried okra, because I don’t want anyone trying to score some off of me.

We’d observed very generous pours in other wine glasses, so we changed to wine with the meal and were happy as, in my mom’s words, dead pigs in the sunshine. We were so full we didn’t even have a dessert.

The Return Trip

It was so good…how good was it? It was so good we went again as we went back through Little Rock on the way home. Now the restaurant’s area has several nice looking eateries in it, but my pork chop and the drinks had been so good, we only had one destination in mind when we hit Little Rock and that was Allsopp & Chappele.

This time we ventured to other cocktails and while I can’t remember the name of it, this time I had their version of a daiquiri. It was smaller than my blueberry margarita and a lot more potent. I could have drunk several, but I wouldn’t have been able to walk.

Deb did get the pork chop, but I think they’d cooked her longer than they had mine, so she was a little disappointed. Perhaps it was catering to the busy Saturday night crowd that kept the pork chop on the grill too long.

This time the Gouda Mac with Mushrooms looked good to me and I had it with grilled shrimp added. Warning, no one could eat all the mac & cheese with this dish. If you get it split it, but also get it with the shrimp. Very excellent! This time we did share a piece of ricotta cheesecake. It wasn’t Junior’s cheesecake, which we had loved in New York, but it was yummy.

Do not miss this restaurant when you go to or through Little Rock. It’s a great experience with stellar food. Come back next week and we’ll suggest a place to have breakfast.