Browsing Category

D’Oliva Olive Oil

Holy Week Reflections – Olive Tuesday

Jesus spent a lot of time in an olive orchard this week. What is often called “the Olivet Discourse” was probably a Tuesday evening discussion with His disciples, sitting together in the orchard as they viewed the Temple and busy city of Jerusalem across the valley.

Gethsemane is a spectacular setting and has one of the most photographed views in Israel. I was first there in 1975, staying in a hotel atop the Mount of Olives. A few years ago I returned again with my church. Though bustling with tourists and over developed to handle the crowds, the setting is …

Book Reviews, D'Oliva Olive Oil, Family, Random Thoughts, Uncategorized,

Family, Blogging, and Links

I have several links for you to click today…trust me, you’ll have fun with this…

A lot of people who read this blog were supporters of my son when he went to Thailand last year. Jedd was there to create a video for The SOLD Project, which combats child prostitution in that country. Well, here’s the awesome news: Jedd was given the Volunteer Service Award by the Bay Area Professional Videographers Association!

What this means is that his work was so good it deserved recognition. And it means that those of you supported him are seeing great dividends because …

D'Oliva Olive Oil, Wine Reviews,

The Laundry Room That Became a Wine Cellar

The first house D’Aun and I bought was a rickety old home built in 1913 that had a most un-californian feature: a basement. After our first wine experience in Bordeaux I built a small rack and collected my first bottles of wine. Eventually we moved and lost that fun basement, but I still kept collecting.

A few years ago the kids moved out and we became an empty nest. Our home had a laundry room in the most ridiculous place — near the dining room in the front of the house. I reasoned that with the kids gone we didn’t …

D'Oliva Olive Oil, Family, Random Thoughts,

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! I thought I’d share something that I recently read … it struck me as unnervingly appropriate given the season that D’Aun and I have had. Truthfully, I’m not even sure I fully understand it and wish I knew more about it’s origin. But it’s still striking in it’s own way, and may it find a way to bless your time of giving thanks. If not, then consider it my blessing … Happy Thanksgiving!

The Gathering of Joy and Pain

To the singing of the harvest-song goes the life of a year, or of all the …

D'Oliva Olive Oil, Goble Properties, PathLight, Sabbatical, Uncategorized,

The Conclusion of the Matter

So it’s over. The month of October flew by fast and my sabbatical break from work and ministry is finished. A few folks have asked how I feel about that, and I must say that it is good to be back at work. Loved the break, but I’m eager to reengage with the many fun things that I have going.

Would I do some things differently? Yes, of course. The email fast was just a bit too long to be pragmatic. No fast on web surfing was a mistake. Next time I want D’Aun more involved, and next time it’s …

D'Oliva Olive Oil, Sabbatical, Uncategorized,

Italy Photos

We made it home! Now that I have a real computer in front of me, here are a few photos from the trip. D’Aun will post more on her Facebook page when she gets a chance.

Here are some of my favorites … mostly non-tourist shots because you’ve seen the Coliseum a million times.

————————————————————————————-

The night before the trip, Sadie knew we were leaving and jumped into the suitcase as we packed.

Our first morning in Rome, so I tried a cappuccino at (reputedly) the best coffee place in city. I was hooked for the rest of the trip.…

D'Oliva Olive Oil, Family, Sabbatical, Westmont,

Ciao from Italy!

Ciao from Italy! Wish I could post photos but WordPress seems to hate iPads. But trust me, we are seeing great stuff!

D’Aun and I spent the first few days in Rome overcoming jet lag and touring the city. Our tour guide, Angelo, was great and created special events that we’ll remember a long time. For instance, the first day we headed out of town to an olive mill that his brother-in-law owned … and along the way we stopped at the bridge just outside of the old city of Rome where Emperor Constantine had his vision of the cross …

D'Oliva Olive Oil, Sabbatical,

October Update

Since it’s a third of the way through the October break, it seems time for an update.

The first few days were spent working on D’Oliva Olive Oil projects. Obviously the big accomplishment was getting 125 new trees planted on October 2nd. But there were “behind the scenes” projects that D’Aun had me working on before that.

On Sunday the 3rd I was so tired from the tree planting that I slept in late. That evening D’Aun, Jedd and I joined friends and went to a great dinner at the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture in San Francisco. …