Usually I would do a Christmas blog entry, but I woke up with a beastly cold yesterday, and am not feeling tip-top today. So, Christmas news and updates will come later. It was a fabulous Christmas! On the 26th, we got six inches of beautiful snow, and it hasn't gone yet! Gorgeous, white and fluffy world outside. I couldn't be much happier.
I was just looking at some of our FindAGrave memorials, when I went onto Uncle J.D.'s. I noticed that he died 35 years ago today. Since he was brought to mind, I thought I would post the absolutely beautiful poem that he wrote. It really is a beautiful sentiment and doubly cool since he wrote it. Don't have a lot from him, and I treasure the things that we do know and have. I wish I had known him, he must have been a fabulous person.
A SINNER'S PRAYER Written by James Denver "J.D." Gillespie (1928-1977)
I went out for a walk one day on a cold Winter's morn. Then I saw a vision of Gabriel with his horn. I fell down on my knees to pray and to Jesus I did say, "Please cleanse my soul of sin, O Lord, for I repent today.
I am just a lonely sinner, Lord, who is learning how to pray. So, won't you shine your light on me, so I can see the way? I pledge my soul to Jesus, to do with what He may, In hopes He'll take me to His Father on that Judgment Day.
O, Jesus, can't you hear my plea? I put my trust and faith in you who walked upon the sea. Oh, yes, I love you, Jesus, I look for you today, Who gave His life upon the cross so my soul can be saved.
Yes, I want to go to heaven to sit by His right hand; I want to climb those golden stairs into that promised land, If I could meet my Savior, who wore the crown of thorn, Then I could die in Peace, O Lord, let Gabriel blow his horn."
(Charles Spurgeon, "The Birth of Christ", Christmas Eve, 1854)
This is His name, “God with us”—God with us, by His Incarnation, for the august Creator of the world did walk upon this globe! He who made ten thousand orbs, each of them more mighty and more vast than this earth, became the Inhabitant of this tiny atom! He who was from everlasting to everlasting, came to this world of time and stood upon the narrow neck of land betwixt the two unbounded seas! “God with us.” He has not lost that name—Jesus had that name on earth and He has it, now, in Heaven! He is now, “God with us.”
Believer, He is God with you to protect you! You are not alone, because the Savior is with you! Put me in the desert, where vegetation grows not—I can still say, “God with us.” Put me on the wild ocean and let my ship dance madly on the waves—I would still say, “Immanuel, God with us.” Mount me on the sunbeam and let me fly beyond the western sea—still I would say, “God with us.” Let my body dive down into the depths of the ocean and let me hide in its caverns— still I could, as a child of God say, “God with us.” Yes, and in the grave, sleeping there in corruption—still I can see the footmarks of Jesus! He trod the path of all His people and His name is still, “God with us.”
“Immanuel.” It is wisdom’s mystery, “God with us.” Sages look at it and wonder. Angels desire to see it. The plumb-line of reason cannot reach half-way into its depths. The eagle wings of science cannot fly so high and the piercing eye of the vulture of research cannot see it! “God with us.” It is hell’s terror! Satan trembles at the sound of it. His legions fly apace, the black-winged dragon of the Pit quails before it! Let Satan come to you suddenly and do you but whisper that word, “God with us”—back he falls—confounded and confused! Satan trembles when he hears that name, “God with us.” It is the laborer’s strength—how could he preach the Gospel, how could he bend his knees in prayer, how could the missionary go into foreign lands, how could the martyr stand at the stake, how could the confessor acknowledge his Master, how could men labor if that one word were taken away? “God with us,” is the sufferer’s comfort, is the balm of his woe, is the alleviation of his misery, is the sleep which God gives to His beloved, is their rest after exertion and toil. Ah, and to finish, “God with us” is eternity’s sonnet, is Heaven’s hallelujah, is the shout of the glorified, is the song of the redeemed, is the chorus of angels, is the everlasting oratorio of the great orchestra of the sky! “God with us”
"Behold, a virgin shall be
with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name
Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us." - Matthew 1:23
I have a little book titled "Hilltop Verses and Prayers: Collected Poems of Ralph Spaulding Cushman". It is a tiny book with maybe a hundred poems in it. But what a lovely little book. Each poem have a matching Bible passage and a little prayer to go with it. Some are just so lovely. So I thought I would post a couple of the Christmas ones. Here is the first.
Let not our hearts be busy inns,
That have no room for Thee,
But cradles for the living Christ
and His nativity.
Still driven by a thousand cares
The pilgrims come and go;
The hurried caravans press on; The inns are crowded so!
Here are the rich and busy ones,
With things that must be sold,
No room for simple things within
This hostelry of gold.
Yet hunger dwells within these walls,
These shining walls and bright,
And blindness groping here and there
Without a ray of light.
Oh, lest we starve, and lest we die,
In our stupidity,
Come, Holy Child, within and share
Our hospitality.
Let not our hearts be busy inns,
That have no room for Thee,
But cradles for the living Christ
And His nativity.
We pray, dear God, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth! But how can Thy Kingdom come until we love Thee more than we love the kingdoms of this world? Oh, let not our hearts be busy inns. In Jesus Name. Amen.
Not
every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many
will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy
name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many
wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. - Matthew 7:21-23
It is so hard to imagine that Manly is gone. I still expect to see him sleeping on my bed or on the trunk in front of the fire. He was such a marvelous cat. Actually, Sarah and I were sitting on the sofa on Sunday, just watching Manly sleeping on the trunk in front of us. I told her that of all the cats, he would be one of the two I would really miss the most. Now he is gone.
Manly was born in our dining room at 9p.m. on 15 April 2006. He was the last of the first litter of kittens. Sarah and I had been wanting an orange striped kitten, but one hadn't come yet. We had gotten a grey one, and a tortie one, and a black and white one, and a tabby one, and a black one. We were starting to give up hope, but then out popped the largest orange kitten you have ever seen! He was so big that he never had that baby rat-look. He looked like a baby kitten.
Due to inbreeding and extended labor, Manly was a bit backward. He never learned to give himself a bath, didn't really know how to play, and he would get lost if he walk up to a wall. So he would start howling until someone turned him around and he saw that he wasn't stuck. However, Manly was all love. You could practically see little hearts coming from his head. If you passed by him, or looked at him, or petted him, he would start purring away. And he could purr! He had big, rumbly purrs. He never had a bad thought or a naughty thought. He loved attention. He would gaze up at you with half-closed eyes and a completely flat head, and it was just pure love.
Everything about Manly was big. He weighted 30 lbs, and if he was sleeping on the sofa, he took an entire cushion! We had two dog beds that he liked. Some of the only ones he could actually fit in. Although, his favorite spots were on the beds or on the trunk in front of the woodstove. Sometimes, he would try and sleep in normal baskets and beds. Silly Manly. He would be bulging out all around and could barely lay his head down!
He always thought he was a little baby kitty. He loved to curl up next to you on the sofa or in bed. One time I was in Mom and Dad's bed reading, and he came right up and curled up in the tiniest (for him) little ball up against my stomach. It didn't look very comfy, but he was so happy. If you were lying on the sofa, he loved to curl up behind your legs on the blanket. He would always push himself as close to you as possible, which usually meant he was kind of propped up against you. He would purr for a few minutes and then when he finally went to sleep, he would do the biggest sigh and let out a moan. It was the sweetest sounding thing ever.
He was always a Mama's boy. Never realized that she no longer wanted to nurse such a strapping, big kitty. Actually, when she was pregnant with the second litter in September of 2006, she went into labor because Manly climbed up on the bed with her and started nursing! Silly Manly! Until the last, he always wanted his mother. Most times, if you saw Olivia somewhere in the house, you would find Manly not too far away. Both of them were soupy nuts. We would put some dry food kibbles in a bowl of hot water and let it sit a bit until the kibbles softened. Manly and Olivia loved it. They would sit at the bowl and just drink every drop of the water. Actually, Manly would go to get a drink and drop a kibble in the water bowl, then try and eat the kibble. It was funny to watch him chase the floating kibble.
Manly had a few toys that he loved. His very favorite was an old rabbit-fur muff. We had had it as long as I can remember with our dress-up clothes. However, Manly found it somewhere when he was a few months old, and we never got it back. He would carry it in his mouth and walk around with it, howling all the while. Then one day, he sat at the foot of the stairs and tore every bit of stuffing out of it. Loved it even more then. ;o) We would come home or wake up and you would find his muff lying in front of the door or in the middle of the floor. Sometimes he would take it to bed with him.
He also loved chasing his own tail. He would work himself up to wild manzies, and then catch a glimpse of his tail (which was the funniest little thin tail, with a bend in the middle and a pencil-tip) and off he would go in wild circles after it. Sometimes, if he got to engrossed in the chase, he would bang into a chair or something. Poor Cubby. It was really funny to watch, though. He also loved catnip. In his own way, he went nuts over it. He would take a toy, and plop over in the middle of the living room floor and roll around with it. He had the cutest buff tummy and the tiniest feet and legs, so when he would be on his back, it was irresistible.
If we had the door to the back room upstairs closed, he would sit in the hall and paw at the door with both paws going full speed. It was really funny to see, if you happened to be on his side of the door. He got into the habit, earlier this year, of doing it all night on our bedroom door. That wasn't so endearing. However, he must have gotten the hint after several months, that we weren't going to let him in. He was really cute to sleep with, but once he got in position, he stayed that way all night. So, he slept great, but you didn't sleep much at all. ;o)
So, now we only have three kittens from that first litter left. They are all a bit lonely. Manly left a large emptiness, which will take a while to get over. On my part, he will always be missed. Time takes away the hurt, but my heart will always have a special place for Manly. You aren't blessed with a baby like him very often! We were blessed to have him for six and a half wonderful years.
We lost Manly today. My baby boy. He jumped off the tree house this morning and broke his back leg. So he went to sleep. The house won't be the same without him. No more muffs lying in front of the bedroom doors when we wake up in the morning.
God blessed us with six and a half wonderful years, getting to enjoy our
big boy! Now he is with his other siblings, happy and smart. My heart
is crying though.
Man! Am I behind on posting! Oh, well . . . life has been rather busy, so my blog is always one of the first things to fall behind. This time it was because of books, clearing out the house, and colds. Let's see . . . where to start. After doing all these books sales this year, Mom and I looked at the stacks of books boxes waiting to be shelved and realized that there was no possible way to cram them onto the already bursting shelves. We also had a discussion about the structure of the house. So, we started going through all the books and doing a massive weed job. Scanning them and deciding if we wanted them, if we were interested in having a book on the particular topic, if we got a better replacement, etc. We are hoping at the end to get back to the approx. 10,000 volumes we had several years ago. We've done a good chunk of it already. Dad has been taking loads down to the Knox County Friends of the Library Book Sale.
We have also been going through the house and all the stuff we have accumulated over the years. The house has gotten way out of hand and we all decided it was time to get rid of a lot of stuff. We have four grown people, living in one house for many years, collecting a lot of stuff. Too much stuff. So, we decided that we are going to pretend that we are moving. If we really moved, would you really want to pack and move each thing you pick up? One day a couple weeks ago, while Mom and I did a lot of books, Sarah did the walk-in closet. Man! Is it nice! Even went through the games and puzzles!
I am afraid the the end of September and all of October haven't been very fun for me. Six weekends ago, I caught a cold, right at the beginning of canning tomatoes. Well, I was hoping it was just a quick cold, but it turned out to be an awful thing. The typical flu-shot-time-of-the-year cold, but terrible. Mom ended up getting it right after I did, so we spent a lot of down time. We were actually going down to Cincinnati to visit Walt and Janice, but we had to cancel the plans and postpone the weekend. Well, I had trouble shaking of the remains for a couple weeks. Then, to top it off - I got another cold two weeks ago! I was really depressed. I mean, this isn't a banner October for me. Actually, it will be fabulous when it ends. So, suffered through some more symptoms, and sadly Sarah came down with it last Monday. Well, our plans for Cinci had been changed to this past weekend. We played it loose, hoping we would feel better by then. Then Mom sprained her back lifting books. Man! We were beginning to wonder whether it was a message about going down to Cinci. Problem was, should we go, or should we not? Well, our colds are down to terrible sounding coughs, but that is about all.
We ended up going down on Saturday. Walt and Janice had some friends over on Saturday night and we played cards. It was really fun! It was really fun to play games with so many people. Even if I was so nervous I probably looked like a scared rabbit! Ah, well . . . Terrible being shy. But, it was fabulous. Wish I had felt better, too. Sunday we all hung around and played some more games. We left after dinner and stopped at Whole Foods on the way home. Got some olive oil and coffee. It was a terrible drive, rained all the way home. However, I didn't see much of it. I slept the whole way. First time I've been able to sleep since coming down with this cold. I think I am suffering from sleep exhaustion!
Yesterday, we made some coffee in the morning and took it nice and slow. Then we went down and visited Buddy and Kay for the evening. They were home for half a day, and it might be the only time we get to see them for the rest of the year, except Thanksgiving and Christmas! They have a super busy schedule.
We have gotten some fun fan mail back these past two months. I think the first was Ann Blyth. Something happened to it, and it got wet along the way. Not just damp, but soaked! I think it was on the way to her, because my letter had been stuck to one of the photos. However, she signed them very nicely and I was able to get the paper pulp off and the photos look great! Amazing printer! They are fabulous photos and she did a beautiful job signing! As she is one of my all-time favorites, I was really excited! Here is my very favorite song she ever sang (that I've heard so far, that is!)
Next, we got back Linda Evans, who was Audra in "The Big Valley" TV show. We already had Peter Breck and Lee Majors, so she was our last "Big Valley" cast member. I really thought she did a great thing with signing, because she wrote "Love Audra" instead of her normal signature!
Just last week we got back a really fun one. From British actress Joanna David, who played Mrs. Gardiner in the 1995 mini-series of Pride and Prejudice. She not only sent our photos back signed, but a nice note as well apologizing for the delay in replying and that she included newer photos of herself, and ones of her daughter, since we mentioned we liked her, and she sent us autographed photos of her son - who is also an actor. So cute! Well, that was a surprise and a really cool success. I love her daughter (who we wrote too, as well, but haven't heard back from yet), so I was excited to get an autograph of her, as well.
Book sales are over for the year (Um . . . maybe. Mom just found another that might be good!). Three weeks ago was the largest Ohio library book sale up in Elyria. Dad even went us with us. They had approx. 70,000, and I found the book that I had been searching for all year! A nice, old library-bound copy of Pitcairn's Island, which is the last of the Bounty Trilogy by Nordoff & Hall. I was so thrilled! I have been looking at every sale! We had nice library-bound hardbacks of the other two in the set, but only an old, cheap paperback of the last one.
Throughout the book sales, I have really worked at collecting nicer (and more) Christie books. Slowly but surely, I now have 61 titles and four trivia books. Some really nice hardbacks of titles I like. Even got the movie tie-in cover hardback of Murder on the Orient Express. A nice hardcover of Ordeal By Innocence. Even found copies of Cards on the Table and N or M?. We got a new shelf for them (while we have been rearranging) and I thought it would give me plenty of growing room, but it is almost filled! Really fun, though.
Oh, before I close, I discovered a new favorite singer and favorite song. A friend down in Australia, who also likes opera, asked me about my thoughts of Anna Netrebko. Well, I had only ever listened to a few tracks of hers, so I didn't really have any thoughts. So, I ordered in four cds from the library and started listening. I liked her last half of La Boheme (Always my starting point). She was very good. However, when I heard track 13 of her album, Souvenirs, I was sold! A traditional Jewish lullaby, it is one of the most gorgeous things I have ever heard. Dad even loves it! My new favorite. Then I listened to her highlights from La Traviata album, which was so fantastic! I love highlights and this is one of the best. You never realized when they skipped sections. Very well done and beautiful!
Well, that pretty much catches up to the present. This morning we woke up to a bit of snow on the ground! It is really, really windy and cold. So, I think Winter is close! More house cleaning/sorting and book weeding is on the agenda for the next few weeks.
"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven . . ." - Ecclesiastes 3:1
Ah, life is just a mountain of books. Books upstairs, books downstairs, books on the shelves, books on the floors, books in the truck! Last Saturday, Mom and I went and spent the day with Mr. and Mrs. Keultjes, helping them go through there books. They need the space in the basement and only wanted to keep some of the books. So, Mom and I sorted and moved and sorted some more! In the end, we had pulled so many to try and sell for her, that we had Sarah and Dad meet us up there with the truck. Fourteen banana boxes full! So, I spent three days last week cleaning books outside. Finally finished on Saturday. Whew!
On Thursday, Buddy and Kay came over in the afternoon and we had a wonderful time visiting. watched a movie and solved the problems of the world.
This week we have discovered two fantastic, new films! First was The King's Thief (1955) with Ann Blyth and Edmund Purdom. What a fantastic film! So exciting! Can't watch it right before bed. :o) It is like a nice type of Three Muskateers. Sarah and I have found a new favorite. Alright, it won't win any Oscars, but it is pure entertainment and adventurous! Second was Top O' the Morning (1949) with Ann Blyth, Bing Crosby, and Barry Fitzgerald. Sarah and I have been wanting to see it for years. A friend in California ended up downloading it from netflix for us and we were finally able to see it! A fantastic film! So cute and funny and entertaining! Definitely this is a film that needs to be released on DVD!
Well, we have another booksale on Friday and Dad leaves for Florida on Saturday. So, we are trying to get ready. Sarah's computer went on the blink yesterday, so it goes into the compie shop. Sad.
The weather is cooling off a bit and getting much nicer. Sarah and I are getting ready for winter and hobbies. We got some fanmail replies last week. From Mary Costa, David Suchet, and Jane Powell. So fun! So we are wanting to do some more. :o) I'll write another post soon about some of the cool books we have found in the past month!
What happier topic is there than books? Simply wonderful. I love books. No, I LOVE books! Well, this weekend we spent two days surrounded by books. On Friday, we drove up to Wooster and went to their library book sale, which is in the basement of the old library building. We got two whole boxes of kids books, including Aunt Eater's Mystery Christmas and Wagon Wheels. Two Step-up readers that have been on our 'to get' list for years. After that, we went to Books In Stock, the bookstore that we have grown up going to. It still looks like an old bookstore. Just rows and rows of books in an old two-story building. We got some really fun ones. Another copy of the Roy and Dale bio that we absolutely love, a cool book on the liberation of the French Riviera during WWII, a really swell 4-stories-in-1 Yogi Bear storybook, Sarah even found a 1940 paperback movie edition of Gone With The Wind! However, my special find was a 1922 copy of Lorna Doone. It is the 'Madge Bellamy Edition', which was released along with the silent film. It has a picture cover, and has many illustrations and photos from the film inside. I am so excited! I actually weeded my collection of Lorna Doone.
Saturday dawned very hot. (What's new?) We got up early and had our coffee first, then all four of us headed down to Worthington. Went to their library book sale, which turned out to be bag day. So, we came back with eight large bags of books! Some kids books, but mostly adult non-fiction. Lots of WWII ones. Happiness. I even got a couple Christie hardbacks. Really nice ones, too. We were there probably close to three hours. :o) Then we went to another book store just down the road. We used to go there when Sarah had a violin teacher right around the corner. This is more like a book warehouse. Rows and rows of book shelves and about three feet of boxes and stacked books all along the base of every shelf and wall. I got a really cool hardback of Christie's Ordeal By Innocence. The find of the day, however, was a piece of sheet music that Sara dug out of a stack. The theme song from the 1954 film, Woman's World, showing all seven stars on the front! Sarah and I love the movie and the song, but we never knew there was sheet music for it. So, this is fantastic! Sarah also found a nice piece with Dan Duryea on the cover.
So, all the books got carried up to the back room upstairs so that I can work on them. Yesterday (Monday), I spent all day sorting and cleaning. I worked until 7pm and got about 2/3 of them cleaned. I'll finish tomorrow. Got some really nice books to fill out parts of the collection. Added to some sets, replaced beat up copies of a bunch of books, filled out many topics. The job will be finding places to put all of them when they are all cleaned! Ah, well . . . that has it's fun points too. ;o) I cleaned so many ink stamps off of the laminated library binding, that my fingers are still black! All fun, all fun. Books make me happy, and in this terrible heat, that is a good thing. It is very grey and heavy today. They are saying thunder and rain, but so far nothing has happened. I fell like Atlas, except I have the weight of the world on my chest, not my shoulders. I can't wait for Winter! In the meantime, though, the book are calling.
How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation, and says to Zion, 'You God Reigns!' - Isaiah 52:7
Sunday, it was so hot. We decided to go to the Cleveland Museum of Art. We have been wanting to ever since we met Jennie there back in February. The traffic was awful. The museum was great fun and this time we took the camera and got photos of some of our favorite pictures. They had a cool exhibit with sketches and etchings by John Taylor Arms. Most were done between the nineteen-teens through the thirties. They were really exquisite. Works of art, every piece. All buildings. Really amazing. Here are our two favorites.
That is me standing next to a painting of Yosemite National Park by Albert Bierstadt (my newly discovered favorite painter) and Sarah ais standing next to a painting by Joshua Reynolds. The two little girls are actually distant relatives of the Eliots, the British family Sarah is studying. They also have a portrait by John Singer Sargent. I really like Sargent. Theirs' is of a lady who was an heiress to the Colt firearms fortune.
Before heading out to get something to eat, we decided to run into two Cleveland cemeteries to take photos of some Grandparents graves. First went to Riverside Cemetery and got photos of Mom's Great-Great-Great Grandparents and their daughter. Then we went to Lutheran Cemetery and got a picture of Mom's Grandparents.
We also took photos of a bunch of others. I found several little children, so I spent a long time yesterday putting them on FindAGrave. Got too hot walking around in the sun, so we decided to go find something to eat. On the way, we went and saw both of Mom's Grandparents old houses. Then we found a Chipotle and had dinner. Came home and settled down for the evening. Mom tested blood sugar on all four of us and I had an 89! That must have been a fantastic meal for me! :o)
One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD And to meditate in His temple. - Psalm 27:4
Our birthday dawned . . . hot. As always, the predicted temp was one of the hottest of the month. This time it was a melting 98F, which turned out to be entirely correct. So, we decided to stick around and keep cool. So, we watched some of our birthday movies, had ice cream, ordered pizza in for dinner and got our presents in the AC. What a surprise! Mom and Dad gave me a throwing tomahawk! I am so happy! I am working on making a sheath for it now. It is going to be green and black and I beaded a medallion for decoration that has a shamrock in the middle! Ah, well . . . who cares if the Indians didn't decorate in the Irish motif. ;o) Speaking of Irish - We watched another birthday movie after dinner. Luck Of The Irish with Tyrone Power and Anne Baxter. It is my new favorite. Gramma gave us Amazon giftcards and I really wanted to buy Luck of the Irish, but it only comes in a ten-movie set. So, I finally decided to get myself a frivolous present and that is what I ordered. Man! Am I happy I did! How much fun to just pick stuff I wanted, regardless. :o)
We had plans to go down to Columbus and see Laura on the big screen on Friday night. Sadly, a super storm appeared two hours before the movie. Half an hour after it came, we lost power. At 5:18pm (like the good detective-in-training that I am, I figured this out by deductive reasoning. That is, with a little help from my little electric clock that stopped. heehee ) We sat around in the back room upstairs and did a few crossword puzzles and I managed to work on my beaded medallion a bit more before it got too dark altogether. We went to bed at 9pm, still in the dark and hot. No power or telephone when we woke up in the morning. At least we had pulled several gallons of drinking water and a few containers for flushing the night before. However, no water is really rotten. We all got dressed and went up to Mansfield and ate breakfast. Took a nice, leisurely time about it. Even got to have coffee! Then we went grocery shopping. Since everything in our fridge and freezer was probably fighting for it's life, we got stuff to make for lunch, dinner and breakfast that didn't need chilling or could last in the cooler.
Came home, still no power. So we rushed into the fridge and pulled out a bunch of our meat substitutes because Mr. House had room in their chest freezer. We spent a bit of time outside picking up some of the debris in the yard. Branches and twigs everywhere! But, I got overheated and came back in. No way to cool down since there wasn't even cold water. Dad drove down to the lake and filled twenty more containers for flushing water. We all mainly hung around all afternoon and evening, trying not to get hot or drink a lot. Went to bed a soon as it got dark. Too hot to really sleep, so Sarah and I talked a lot. Around 3am, the phone rings! It was the power company telling us that they thought our power was back on. It wasn't. Back to bed, but this time we inspected the countryside from our windows. Two neighbors had power. Promising. An electric company truck drove by, shining a spotlight at the tops of all the poles. Then around quarter to five, the little light I have hanging next to my bed flashes on to half power. Just glowing yellow. Our mini ceiling fan is also turning slowly. This show real promise! So, I got up and turned off all the lights upstairs that had been turned on accidentally. At 5:10am, it came back on! The AC units beeped, the fan started up full swing and lights came on. We all made a bee-line for the bathroom and I filled a gallon jar with cold water. Then we all went to sleep for two hours with the AC on. Sarah and I woke up about an hour before Mom and Dad, so we took showers, did all the dishes, refilled the jars of water (just in case) and even did a load of laundry. Then we all got dressed and drove down to Columbus to get some groceries. (Funny, isn't it? We stayed at home when the power was off and went out when it was on. ? ) They were saying more storms by 4pm, so we came home after lunch. Weren't home long when Mr. and Mrs. Keultjes showed up! What a surprise! They had tried calling, and figured we didn't have power (or phone. It was still down), so they came down with a birthday desert for a visit! She also brought some of the most beautiful flowers in a little blue and white creamer. OH, were they lovely. I managed to keep them until the following Saturday, before they really looked poorly. I washed up the creamer and am going to bead the flowers so we can put them in our bedroom. It was a really nice visit. Always wonderful when we get to see them.
Or phone didn't get fixed until yesterday (13 days later), but we have only had a few power blips during the following week. God really blessed us with the power only being out for 36 hours. Some people had it much longer. Now we aren't quite taking for granted the privilege of flipping a switch and light comes on, or turning a faucet and getting water.
"There will be a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and protection from the storm and the rain. - Isaiah 4:6
Sarah and I were blessed with the opportunity to go with Buddy and Kay down to Charlotte, NC to see him record his new CD of Noah's Ark songs. We have been wanting to go with them the past couple of times, but our schedules never worked out. I have always wanted to see behind-the-scenes of music recording, and it certainly wasn't a let down!
Wednesday, 13 June 2012 Mom drove us (and the luggage, although we didn't over-pack this time!) down to B & K's and we left their house at 8:00am. They have a little Subaru station wagon, and with the four of us, luggage and some instruments, we were pretty loaded down. We made a quick stop at a Tim Horton's in Zanesville. After that, we only made one stop, and that was in Beckley, West Virginia. They had a squished penny machine in the plaza, so Sarah and I each got one with the WV capitol building pressed into it! Sarah and I had packed veggie burgers and Goldfish crackers to eat in the car, so we didn't even have to get food out.
Drove for a couple hours on the turnpike, so it wasn't really built up. Actually, the lack of traffic was pretty amazing. The trip from Knox County to WV was beautiful and we hardly had any other vehicles on the rode. While on the turnpike, we went through two huge tunnels that go under mountains. At the end of the second was the Virginia border. Sarah and I absolutely LOVE WV and VA. They are such beautiful states that you can really understand the pride of Virginians during the Civil War. We drove through a small section of Jefferson National Forest, and you have never seen anything like it! Just green tree tops for as far as you can see! Simply breathtaking! Once in North Carolina, the scenery/greenery became somewhat flat and scrubby. Rather dull really. We arrived at the hotel at 4pm and decided to unpack and wait a bit before heading to dinner. The hotel was really nice! Much better than either of us had expected. It the Staybridge Suites (Arrowwood) in Charlotte at Exit 3 of I-77.
We were at the way back corner of one wing on the second floor. Right across from the back stairway, way far from the elevator (Yay!). You entered into the living area which had a kitchen with a full-size fridge/freezer, a dishwasher, mini sink, two-burner stovetop, convection & microwave ovens, cabinets and real dishes; dining area with a four-seat table; and a living room area with a couch, armchair, and an entertainment center with a TV and DVD/VCR unit. To the right was a room with a king bed, closet, TV, conference table, dresser and a full bath (B & K got this one). To the left was our room with two double beds, dresser, TV, closet, and another full bath! Really swell.
We unpacked before heading out to dinner. There was a Ruby Tuesday right down the street and Buddy had been thinking of ribs all day, so that was chosen. Sarah and I had salad bar and sides of onion rings and french fries. Usually sides of those are teeny-tiny servings. Man, were we surprised when we got huge platters full of them! We ended up taking a bunch back to the hotel for later. We sat around in the living area for a while, talking about Buddy's family and his cousin, etc. Went to bed a bit after 9pm and Sarah and I plugged our little travel DVD player into the screen and watched about half an hour of an Audie Murphy western before hitting the snooze den.
Thursday, 14 June 2012 Due to the strange beds and excitement, Sarah and I were up before 6am. We all went to the lobby for breakfast. A really nice continental breakfast. The typical juice, coffee, bagels, English muffins, pastries, and fruit, but they also had hot stuff. Bacon, eggs, grits, oatmeal, and waffles! Really nice. Didn't have to be at the studio until 10am, so we went back to the room and We talked to Mom for a while. Buddy wanted to take doughnuts to the studio, so we searched for a doughnut shop, eventually finding a Dunkin' Donuts. We got to the studio on the dot and settled in. The musicians started arriving after we did and by 10:30 they began recording. Mark, the bass guitarist, came from Nashville, TN. Danny, the pianist, came from SC, and Tony, the drummer, and David (who plays everything else) were from NC.
Musicians:
Danny Crawford (Piano and Keyboard) Tony Creasman (Drums)
David Johnson (Guitar, Various Acoustic Instruments) Buddy Davis (Vocals) Mark Fain (Bass Guitar)
Buddy wanted this CD to have the 50s/60/70s Country style sound, so they would listen to the demo of each song and then decided what particular style they would do each song in. They started recording at 10:30 and didn't stop until lunch break at 2pm.
We sat in the room with the sound guys. There is a listening area in front of the sound boards and a huge glass window that showed the entire recording room. Tony and Mark sat in the room together. Mark's guitars were plugged directly into the board, so all you heard if you were sitting in the room was the sound of the metal string. Tony's drums were surrounded by a dozen microphones. There are two little sound booths in the two far corners of the room. The left had the grand piano and that is where Danny played. The right is where David played. He is amazing. On this CD alone he plays Acoustic, electric, and steel guitar; dobro; harmonica; violin; mandolin; octave mandolin; and dulcimer! Right next to the sofa in the sound room where we sat is a little sound booth where Buddy sang. While the guys recorded all the tracks, Buddy sang a scratch vocals, but the real vocals were not recorded.
Some of the songs were finished in twenty minutes! The guys were really amazing. At 2pm, they broke for lunch and we all went to an Italian restaurant called Villa Antonio which looked nice, but was super expensive, had terrible service and every single thing had meat! Definitely not the place for vegetarians. So we ate a really poor salad bar. It was nice to get to talk to the guys though. Turns out that Tony, the drummer, has always dreamed of going to Monaco to see the Auto Rally. We were telling him about stamps and stuff and he was so interested. I am going to send him some of my extra Monaco stamps.
They recorded 13 songs, in the order they will appear on the CD. They did seven before lunch and then the other six. They ended up working solidly until 8:30pm. The four of us were really tired and didn't feel like going out to dinner, so we ordered pizza into the room. Sarah and I ate some more of our onion rings, too! :o)
Friday, 15 June 2012 Got up early on Friday. We all ate breakfast in the lobby again. Sarah and I had oatmeal and waffles. Then we took some juice and a bagel and english muffin back to the room and hung around for a bit. We were all a bit tired, so Sarah and I finished watching Ride Clear of Diablo. Got to the studio at 10am and were back in the same room. We spread out in the viewing area and Buddy got into the little sound booth. Buddy recorded all the songs in reverse order, because he thought that the last two were going to be the hardest to sing. He only got surprised when the second to last (second on the cd) was in a different key than he thought and was really low for him.
Kay was lyric police and watched to make sure he said everything correctly. Sarah and I were the 'peanut gallery' and gave our opinions as well. Wade, one of the interns and the two of us had a great time. All in all, Buddy doesn't really make many mistakes. One song he did, he only did one take with no punch-ins! His voice all day was really good and each song sounds wonderful! He actually finished at 5:30, so it wasn't even too late.
For dinner, we drove right over the border into South Carolina and went to a Cracker Barrel which was right across from the entrance to CaroWinds amusement park. It was really fun. We each had a salad and shared pancakes and biscuits. We also bought a couple things in the store. A little plate with a fish on it for Dad, and a repro bendable Gumbie, like Mom and Dad have always had! Back at the hotewl, Sarah and I packed everything except what we would need. Kay wanted to leave at 6:30am, so that really means 6:00.
Saturday, 16 June 2012 Sarah andI woke up at 5:25am! (Yikes!) So we got dressed and finished packing. We did have a bit of trouble closing one suitcase. I had Sarah push down on the lid and I pressed the two latches in and she let go and . . . Bingo! The lid popped open and the clothes fell right out onto the floor! However, with a bot of clever rearranging we managed to pack everything in a way that it would arrive home. Sarah and I loaded the car. Kay was busy on facebook, so we figured we would get the loading done. It was funny, the hotel lobby was still dark ad only a couple staff members were there. They didn't start breakfast until 7am, and Kay wanted to leave, so Sarah and I figured we'd eat peanut butter sandwiches in the car. We left a bit before 6:30 and stopped at a Starbucks across the street so Buddy and Kay could get the first coffee of the day. Buddy also bought a Johnny Cash cd, so we listened to that on the way.
The ride back was pretty uneventful. I took a few naps throughout the day. We stopped at a travel plaza in West Virginia, and while Buddy and Kay hunted up coffee and milkshakes, Sarah and I bought some postcards and two really nice quartz pieces. A purple one, and one that is green and looks like a raw emerald. We also got a big iced tea at Burger King. Yum!
Made it back to Buddy and Kay's house earlier than we thought. Only seven and a half hours home. Must have had a tailwind! Mom and Dad came to pick us up about twenty minutes later and then we headed home for dinner and some rest!
So, to close, it was a wonderful experience and a pretty fun trip. The hotel was lovely, the recording was fabulous and the drive was beautiful. Could you ask for anything more?
Well, since I have been meaning to write an entry for the past couple of weeks and haven't, I have some catching up to do! To start . . . two weekends ago, we went to a bunch of garage sales. On Saturday, we went to the Mt. Vernon fairgrounds for "Ohio's Largest Garage Sale" or something like that. Really fun, actually. I got 11 new Agatha Christie books, four of which I really wanted my own copy of. The highlight of the day, however, was the cutest little Josef statue of a cartoon mama kangaroo. Mom dug it out of a $0.10 box. Man, did I fall in love with it! It is the cutest thing! So, we come home after a few hours and I start washing everything we got. Mom looks this kangaroo up on eBay and finds that she originally had a little joey that laid in her pouch. Well, we decided to run back and check the box to see if it had fallen out. So, back in the car and get there an hour before it closes. Sarah and I run ahead and, guess what!? There was the little joey in the bottom of the box, not even chipped! It is even cuter! Sarah took this really cute photo of it in the cabinet upstairs. The other really fun thing we got was a table lamp that is a china statue of a rooster. It's new home is the end table between the sofa and recliner upstairs. It really makes a wonderful addition in the TV room! I wanted to name him, but Mom said absolutely no naming a lamp! The week was extremely hot and Dad even put in the AC units in our bedroom and the back room. We spent a few days in the air conditioning. Got some Hogan's Heroes and Dick van Dyke Show DVDs from the library, and we have been really enjoying them. I started making a scrapbook with all the photos and letters of Uncle JD. It is really coming along. On Sunday (27 May), Mr. and Mrs. Keultjes came over in the evening and spent a few hours with us. We went upstairs with the AC and just had a nice visit talking. They are always fun, and we don't get to see them so much anymore. Memorial Day dawned hot and yucky (that means sunny). I came down first (!?) and closed all the windows so it wouldn't heat up inside too soon. When I got to the window over the victrola, I thought a baby bird was on the ground. Squeak, squeak, squeak. Couldn't see anything, so I dismissed it. Probably just an annoying young grackle, they make such a fuss. Dad went out and spent the morning doing trim work and weeding. I did dishes and tried to keep somewhat cool. About 1:00pm and the squeaking got really loud. I go to the window, look down and there is a tiny tuxedo kitten screaming under the deck. So, I get some shoes and head out with a pan of water and some moistened kibbles while Mom gets in the car and drives around to all the neighbors. Pussy-Pussy (I christened it "Pussy-Pussy" because I spent so long calling it) was so lonely and frightened. Unfortunately, we live on the Mid-Ohio racetrack (just kidding - maybe) and every fast, loud car, truck and motorcycle that went by made Pussy-Pussy run back under the deck. I spent an hour and a half trying to coax it out. No deal. It would come out and rub against the bush and it sat on a protruding foundation block and frenzied. But it wouldn't come out to me. So, I start getting really hot and decide to go inside for a bit. Maybe it would get lonely for me. So, I leave a little can lid of milk out there and go inside and sit for a little while with a cold towel. Drink a little hot coffee (What?! HOT coffee when I am overheated? Don't ask . . . ). I feel bad, so I leave the coffee and head back out. The minute I round the corner of the house and emerge from the lilac bush, Pussy-Pussy starts screaming and walks right over to me. How cute! :o) So, Sis came out and we petted it and tried to see if it was a little Max or a Maxine. Couldn't tell. We got it drink most of the milk. Well, it didn't belong to any neighbor, so it was probably dropped off by someone figuring we were in the country and it was early on a holiday morning. Little Pussy-Pussy wasn't over six weeks old. So, Mom got a hold of a lady who lives down the street who runs a private cat shelter. She agreed to come and take it that afternoon. So, Sarah and I made Pussy-Pussy comfy in a carrier in the front room (doors to the rest of the house closed, of course!). It curled up on an old towel and went to bed. Sarah and I went up and showered and changed and then the lady came over and took Pussy-Pussy (who turned out to be a little girl). So that was our holiday! Tuesday was hot and we weren't going to do anything big. Until we started picking random stuff up in the front room. We ended up putting the new sheet music cabinet in place, shelving all the sheet music, putting stuff away in the trunk next to the piano (even dusting behind it!) and totally cleaning off the top of the piano! I am so, so, so thrilled! One of those projects that is always on the list, but never seems to make it to the top priority! Very satisfying. So, now my piano is totally clean and I even opened the top yesterday morning to play it like a baby grand should be played! First time in five years (because of the cats)! Ooooooooh! Friday, Buddy and Kay came over for for the afternoon. We discussed the new CD and watched a fabulous new western. Silver Lode with Dan Duryea and John Payne. Probably one of the top westerns we've ever seen! Really a must-see! They ate dinner with us and stayed and watched Sgt. York with Gary Cooper. Yesterday, Dad worked around the yard while Mom and the two of us went to some more garage sales in Danville. Beautiful day for a drive. I was feeling great! The weather cooled off Thursday night, so it is much nicer. The sun was shining, and I was feeling really good. No headache, even! Didn't find many garage sales, but the one we did find was fabulous! I finally got a little monk pepper shaker. There is this set of monk shaped things (Salt and peppers, sugar, creamer, jelly jar, etc.) made by a German company. I have wanted a piece for years and finally got one yesterday. He was really dirty, so I haven't taken a photo of him yet, as he is in the dish drainer drying. He is really cute, though. Mom and Sarah dropped me off at the house so I could do some dishes while they ran to Wade and Gatton nurseries to look at hostas. Today, after Church, Dad and the two of us went to the bike trail. First time we have been biking in three or four years. Dad filled all the tires yesterday, so we were all set. Get there and head out. Sarah and I had some nice discussion about Leighs. Just as we were approaching the 3 mile marker, that familiar hissing sound came from behind us and Sarah and I were already pulled over and turning around before Dad really realized what had happened. We couldn't believe it! He had another flat tire! Before he got this new bike, he had a flat tire every time we went riding. Sarah and I have walked more miles on the Knox and Richland County bike trails than we have ever ridden. The last time with his old bike, Mom dropped us off and then drove to a stop seven miles ahead to pick us up. She hadn't been out of the parking lot 30 seconds before he had a blow out. We had a nice seven mile hike. Well, we thought that was behind us. New bike, new tire, mountain tire. So, we walk three miles back. I don't know what I would do if we actually biked all the way out and back! Ah, well . . .
Something else really fun happened. Yesterday, in the mail, was an envelope from a guy who sent me Harold Swetland's Individual Deceased Personnel File. It has the list of his effects, his height, weight, hair and eye colour, date of enlistment, even his shoe size! This is really exciting. It also listed two Air Force Bases that he was stationed in 1940. This morning I found the one base on the 1940 US census and paged through, looking for Harold. I finally found him on page 47 of 100 (after doing the first 11 pages and then working from the back ). He is on line 22. I have been waiting for the 1940 census to come out and I was so impatient while they work on indexing the states. So, I was thrilled to be able to find him! Now I am trying to find Uncle JD. Both my "uncle" heroes. :o)
Yesterday was such a beautiful day (and cool!) that we decided to drive up to Cleveland for a little excursion. Beautiful day for a drive. Ran into a couple of teeny sun showers, but nothing that lasted longer than five minutes. We went to an old cemetery in the middle of Columbia (in Lorain County). Man, was it gorgeous! Well taken care of for one o old. No new burials, just old monuments. Didn't stay long, as we were only looking for a couple and then it started a little shower, which sent us scurrying back to the protection of the car. Then we headed to a Cuyahoga County public library branch to get a card. Mom and Sarah found some cool online databases available from some Cleveland libraries if you have a card. Online newspapers mostly.
However, we drove right through North Olmsted and Historic Olmsted Falls. Well, we made an unplanned detour . . . passed directly infront of Sunset Memorial Park, the cemetery where Uncle JD is buried. So we got to go visit him again! I was so thrilled. Twice in a month! The cemetery had raised and leveled his stone, so now you could see all of it. I think this was the most exciting part of the day. Totally unplanned and very nice.
You know, Uncle JD has been my "adopted" uncle ever since I can remember. I used to love looking through Mom's large photo album, full of all the old family pictures, and find all the pictures of Uncle JD. "JD" is short for James Denver. James Denver Gillespie. He was born 1 March 1928 in Smith County, Tennessee. He was the youngest of Mama and Papa Gillespie's children. Gramma Chaffin (his sister) always said that JD looked exactly like their cousin Stanton Henry. We actually found a photo of Stanton for the first time the other day, and she was really right. Obviously, he looks like the Henry side of the family (His siblings don't look like him).
JD joined the Army in 1946 and served in Germany. While there, he met and married Aunt Margaret (whose full name was Anna Margareta Elfriede Wacker). They came back to the US when he was discharged, and in 1951, they moved to Cleveland where he was the second man hired before the opening of the Ford Factory (Cleveland Engine Plant No. 2) in Cleveland. He said that he would have been the first except another man pushed ahead of him. Grampa Jim said that JD was an excellent mechanic and loved to work on cars. They never had any children. Mom says that they lived in a modest little house that was pretty immaculate. On 30 December 1977, he came home and laid down on the sofa to take a nap and never woke up.
Aunt Margaret remarried and lived in Tennessee. I have spent hours over the years looking online for a death notice for her, as we could never find out if she had died. When Gramma was still alive, she told Mom that Margaret married a man named Paul Minke. How many times have I tried looking for "Minke". Mom talked to her cousin Duwayne last month about Aunt Margaret and it turns out that she married Paul "Mencke"! What a southern accent can do to a name! She passed away last year, and I was able to find her obit, make a FindAGrave memorial for her and someone took a photo of her grave marker!
Going to visit his grave, I was sitting by it thinking how sad it is. He had no kids. They lived away from his family, so he is buried by himself. Who'll remember him? How many stones are like that? People that have no direct relations to remember them. I think that is very sad. So I am remembering my very special Uncle. Sadly, I never got to meet him, but I feel like I know him. And I know that one day in Heaven, I will finally get to meet him. The great-great uncle I never knew. Oh, what an exciting day that will be!
Here is a fantastic poem that he wrote. I think Mom got this from Aunt Lucille (his sister). What a fantastic piece to leave behind.
A SINNER'S PRAYER
I went out for a walk one day on a cold Winter's morn. Then I saw a vision of Gabriel with his horn. I fell down on my knees to pray and to Jesus I did say, "Please cleanse my soul of sin, O Lord, for I repent today.
I am just a lonely sinner, Lord, who is learning how to pray. So, won't you shine your light on me, so I can see the way? I pledge my soul to Jesus, to do with what He may, In hopes He'll take me to His Father on that Judgment Day.
O, Jesus, can't you hear my plea? I put my trust and faith in you who walked upon the sea. Oh, yes, I love you, Jesus, I look for you today, Who gave His life upon the cross so my soul can be saved.
Yes, I want to go to heaven to sit by His right hand; I want to climb those golden stairs into that promised land, If I could meet my Savior, who wore the crown of thorn, Then I could die in Peace, O Lord, let Gabriel blow his horn."
Usually I would do a Christmas blog entry, but I woke up with a beastly cold yesterday, and am not feeling tip-top today. So, Christmas news and updates will come later. It was a fabulous Christmas! On the 26th, we got six inches of beautiful snow, and it hasn't gone yet! Gorgeous, white and fluffy world outside. I couldn't be much happier. 
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