Let's watch the old year die, with a fond goodbye . . .

"One minute to midnight, one minute to go. One minute to say "goodbye", before we say "hello". . . "

[PHOTOS COMING. . . ]
Well, OK. Not exactly one minute. More like seven hours. But how romantic is that! I like Irving Berlin's version better. Christmas was wonderful. We had a nice morning doing presents. I got a whole box of old Etude magazines. They are very interesting. Took me three evenings to go through the contents of them all. I pulled some articles aside so that I can type them up for my movie and opera blogs. Even found one that has an article on Deanna Durbin's "current" film, It Started With Eve! That was exciting. I also got a Blue's Clues beanie. It is so cute. Let's see, some of the other exciting things were two Julie Andrews Christmas CDs, a glass emerald, a fantastic snowed Lilliput Lane of an oast house in Kent, and several old leaf-shaped pins.

I spent the day before Christmas Eve working on Sarah's presents. Two charm bracelets. One that has all different charms for Bing Crosby and Nelson Eddy, and another with all kinds of Cuba-themed charms. We also got her some books, an old "pin money" bank, a honky-tonk piano player planter, and this set of four very odd-looking German Christmas decorations (four guys playing musical instruments).

Dad got a bunch of fishing themed things. A cool ceramic travel mug, a decorative storage chest, pajama pants, etc. Also, a really cool set of Cuban stamps. They were fun to find. Got them at the National Stamp Show in August. It was a blast trying to keep them a secret from Dad! Mom got the usual candy and Jelly Bellys, a glass basket like her Gramma used to have, Yes, Minister, and Sarah and I bought her a bean cookbook. It isn't released until January 15th, so she has something to look forward to. It says it has 150 different bean recipes!

At noon on Christmas, we went down to Buddy and Kay's for dinner. She had her family up like usual. Always fun over there. We stayed until evening visiting. It was a lovely Christmas. Fun morning, fun afternoon. Nice to go somewhere for Christmas. All in all, we all think this was one fo the best Christmas days ever!

On Thursday, Mom and the two of us went up to Mansfield and just had a fun, easy day. Got some cat food, went to Panera. Just simple and fun. Yesterday all four of us went out. Headed to Columbus, but stopped at two cemeteries on the way. Had to take a few photos at Chester Baptist, so Dad got to see Truannie's monument! We also spent over an hour looking for some old cemetery in Pagetown (not exactly the booming metropolis!). Finally found it behind somebody's house. Managed to take photos of all the remaining stones before it really started raining. Then we headed down to Whole Foods to get coffee and milk. Ran out of organic coffee last month. Bought some coffee at Kroger which was terrible! This morning we had some nice, wonderful coffee. :o)

Tomorrow is our annual Lord of the Rings day. Every New Year's Day we watch all three LotR films in a row. Makes for a long day, but so much fun! Almost 12 hours of solid film time. This year we are going to make sure and start soon enough so that we can finish. Several times it has gotten so late that we all fall asleep. No fun to not finish. We have been doing this ever since we went to Trilogy Tuesday in 2003. What fun!

"And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years. . . " - Genesis 1:14

Christmas with the Keultjeses

Tuesday night was our annual Cuban dinner with the Keultjeses. We spent the day getting the nice dishes down and washed, setting the table and making the food. Gramma and Grampa sent a box of plantains and yucca. Plantains . . . Mmmmmmm! They were great this time. Not too green. I like them when they mush flat and start turning black. Yum! They are always a blast when they come over. Just wish it was more often. Claire and Hannah are up here until Saturday morning, and coming here was the first thing they wanted to be sure to do. :o) It was really a fun evening. Time flew by and before we knew it it was late. Good fellowship always makes the time go faster. Christmas wouldn't be the same without the Keultjeses! Actually, now that I think about it. I don't think that we've had a Christmas in Ohio without them!



Yesterday, I spent the day wrapping and working on Christmas presents. Mom and Sarah spent the day making rum balls. They ended up making four different kinds. Bourbon rolled in coffee, Bailey's and Kahlua rolled in powdered sugar, German chocolate (Frangelico rolled in coconut), and cherry brandy rolled in sugar (with a brandied cherry inside!). We wanted to give some to Hannah and Claire to take home, but didn't get them done before Tuesday. So, we ran up to Mansfield last night. Impromptu and fun. They had called Mrs. Furr and she came over too! We all ended up staying until after 9:30pm! It was sooooo fun. Claire and I probably drank a gallon of hot tea. She kept making it, until they ran out of one kind of tea bags! Mrs. Keultjes kept digging up snacks. It was really fun, especially to get to spend time with Claire and Hannah again. They don't get up here often, so it is always great to get to see them.

Today we were going to go up to Stan Hywet to see the Christmas decorations. However, I think the weather is going to be better tomorrow, so we might be going tomorrow instead. If we stick around, then I will work on that present some more today and maybe finish wrapping some more presents.

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." - Isaiah 9:6

Happy 90th Birthday, Deanna Durbin!

Today, my favorite singing star turned 90 years old! Deanna Durbin lives privately in France now, removed from Hollywood and everything that goes with it. However, there are still many fans who have discovered her beautiful voice through home video, cds, and the internet. As I have already related how I came to love Deanna (on the previous December 4th blog post), I will share a beautiful song from one of her funniest films. This winter's project (or should I say, "one" of this Winter's projects!) is to put together my Deanna scrapbooks. I have several contemporary scrapbooks of her that I have gotten online, as well as tons of photos I want to print and lots of memorabilia (magazine covers, postcards, sheet music, etc.). Actually, two days ago I got another old Deanna scrapbook. Can't wait to do all of these.

Here is a fantastic song, from her 1940 film, It's A Date. Co-starring Walter Pidgeon and Kay Francis. If you've never seen this film, you've really missed out on a grand piece of entertainment. This is one of our favorite Deanna films. Very funny! With her and her actress mother trying out for the same part in a play!

" . . . can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women?" - 2 Samuel 19:35 b

Finding Truanna

On Saturday, we headed up to Mansfield to have some bagels for breakfast. We went to Kohl's as well and got some new Winter gloves, mittens, hats, etc. Got home a little after 2pm and thought we would run down to Chesterville and find the Baptist Church Cemetery. Mom has been transcribing headstone info onto findagrave, and someone had eleven photo requests for Chester. Since it isn't far away, we decided to run over. Boy, was it fun! We took over one hundred photos!

It is kind of divided into two sections. There is a big strip of wet, overgrown area almost dividing the cemetery in half. In the back part, which is surrounded by younger trees, there is this huge monument. Before the trees were allowed to come up, it would have been overlooking the road at the edge of the cemetery. It is a beautiful lady on a tall base. Absolutely gorgeous. We were there over an hour before I saw the other section.



The monument is for "Swetland" and there is a mother and two babies buried there. One of the babies was only nineteen days old and her name was "Truannie". I fell in love with the name. Came home and Mom and I started uploading photos to findagrave. Then I started researching Truannie's family. Actually, since then, I have been researching Truannie's family.

Truannie's father is Joseph Carper Swetland, her mother is Emily Howard. Joseph Carper was a very influential citizen in Morrow County. He had almost 900 acres, raised sheep, was one of the first breeders of merinos, elected County Commissioner for six years and helped build the county jailhouse in Mt. Gilead. The two babies on that monument are their first children. An infant son and Truannie. I looked Joseph Carper up in the "History of Morrow County and Ohio" and found him in three separate volumes. He lists his children and Truannie was "Truanna". Truanna . . . such a cute, pretty name. Very different.

So, that is what is happening around here. Joseph Carper is buried in a cemetery down the road from Truanna, so later this week we want to head down and find his grave.

"Only fear the LORD, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you." - 1 Samuel 12:24

In Celebration of Roy Rogers' 100th Birthday - November 5, 2011

Today is Roy Rogers' 100th birthday! In honor of this, I finally made a tribute video using Dusty's wonderful song "The King of the Cowboys". Sarah and I have been planning this for the past year and a half. So for the past month I have been downloading movies, cutting the good clips, and trying to find a smooth flow to the music. I almost made an error. For some reason I thought his birthday was the eleventh. Was I surprised on Tuesday when I looked up his birth and death dates so that I could make the title slide at the end of the video! Boy, did I rush! In the finished video, there are fifty different clips from seventeen different films and from two TV shows!

Next October 31st is Dale's 100th birthday. So Sarah and I are already planning that movie. Hers will be funnier. Roy's had to be pretty, but Dale's needs all the funny moments from their films. They were so great. Together they were unbeatable! The King of the Cowboys and The Queen of the West. Happy Trails!

THE KING OF THE COWBOYS
He's rode across your silver screen
For over forty years
He's brought bad men to justice
he's seen laughter, and he's seen tears
and I know forever, in many hearts he'll reign
As the King of the Cowboys.
There is honour to his name.

He's a kind and gentle legend
a hero is his name
Showing young folks to see the right from wrong
And he's taught me the very same
And I know forever, in many hearts he'll reign
As the King of the Cowboys
There is magic in his name

He's the King of the Cowboys, a legend in his time
A man who loves his country
Where he will always ride
Saddled up on his golden Palomino
A six gun at each side
His spurs and boots and his white hat
Walks a man with a lot of Pride

He's the King of the Cowboys
A legend in his time
A man who loves his country
Riding off into the sunset
In a western sky of blue
He has given precious memories
and Happy Trails to me and you!

Concerning Books

Yesterday was the annual AAUW book sale in Mansfield. Oh, boy! I have been counting the days! I LOVE book sales. And we have been going to this book sale since we moved up here. Can't remember a time of not going. Finally, this year, I remembered to take the camera. Well, almost. We had to turn around three miles away to come back for it. Every other year, I don't even think about it until we are there. I have been wanting to take photos of it for years. You know, I realised that by the time our kids come around, there won't be book sales like that. They probably won't get to see a sale with that many books in it. I remember the old M/RCPL sales when they closed off the entire underground parking lot and had their sale in there. It was HUGE! That's gone now. MV/KCPL used to have theirs in a big room on the ground floor. That's gone as well. Actually, books are disappearing all together. Quite sad.

There is something that is really comfortable about books. I don't even mean reading. Feeling. Looking at them. Just having them around. Everybody who ever comes to our house just LOVES the back room upstairs. Their favorite room in the house. And they all say the same thing. "It is so cozy and inviting". You could put all the same furniture and accessories in another room and without the books, it wouldn't be the same. Even if you don't know the reason, I think the books make the difference.

Gramma and Kelly came up last month for a short visit. Gramma showed me her Kindle and let me look at it. I've been dying to see one. Interesting, but I don't see how it will ever be the same as a real "paper and ink" book. No feeling. No character. Everything looked the same and it was like reading on a laptop screen. I don't think there is anything that can ever take the place or fill the shoes of books. The enjoyment and the knowledge that one bound volume can bring. To adults or kids alike. Every book holds the key to the door of imagination which nothing else can imitate or replace. Whether it is an historical novel, a biography, or a picture book - the thrill is there. Just waiting to be discovered and enjoyed.

We have reached a severe crisis point with not having much more space for the books that we get to add to the collection. I have decided to really go through my records again, because I would much rather have more books than records. As much as I like records, they aren't the same as books. I just love everything about books. The look of them, the feel of them, the smell of them. I even love having to dust them. My next step is book binding and mending! This Winter . . .

Here is a photo of a section of the non-fiction tabe. At every book sale there are at least two ( or more!) copies of "Iacocca". I don't know what it will be like when these are all gone.! ;o)

We got two boxes and my biggest library duffel bag filled of books at the sale yesterday. Pretty good for us nowadays. We used to get a thousand or more books every year at this sale. The numbers have decreased over the years. (Oh, man! I don't know where I would find the room for a thousand books all at one time now! ) I got a few new Christie books and some historical fiction to try. Bunch of kids books, some Landmarks, Sarah and I got a big stack of sheet music. Really cool stuff.

We stopped at the main library after the sale so that Sarah and I could browse through the stacks to find books that we didn't know the titles of. (Internet catalogues are wonderful things, but, unfortunately they aren't any good when you don't know the title of a certain book and only recognize it by sight.) Here is a photo of Oliver resting on one of Sarah's. He found the book very tiring . . . hee hee. Actually, Sarah is really enjoying it. It is the story of "Gone With The Wind".

All in all, it was a very fun day. I was so excited last night that I had trouble going to sleep. Book sales do that to me. They are energizing, unlike anything else. Books, books, books . . . It can't get much better.

"Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine." - 1 Timothy 4:13

The Babies Celebrate Five Years!

Happy Birthday to Samwise, Aramintie, and Frodo!

Today the babies turned five! Hard to believe that it was five years ago today that the three little babies were born in the dining room closet. They are all pretty irresistible.

Catching up on the Summer

Well, well . . . it has been a long time! My computer broke, so we had to take it to the repair guy. It stayed there for several weeks. He found out that it had overheated and burnt out the fan on the video card, which overheated itself and just burnt up. Poor thing! So, I now have a new video card and my computer is not making that awful noise anymore! Yay! Now, to catch up on our very busy Summer . . .

First - the State Fair. We ended up going the Wednesday they opened. Dad got second and third place for his woodcarvings and Sarah got first, second, and Best of Show for her wool people. She entered Her pair of Commedia Dell 'Arte figures and her new gnome with the squirrel, Pat and Mike.BOS went to P&M. The fair on a whole, though, was very low on entries. They only had as many as an old Tomato Show used to get. Cool, but I don't think I would go again for a while.

The Sunday after, we did go to see The Adventures of Robin Hood. It was swell. Even Dad liked it! The reels were probably the best quality ones we have seen yet. You can see and experience so much more of the film seeing it on the big screen. Fantastic! The Sunday after that we saw the last movie of the season (for us, anyway). Walt Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. How cool! Huge! The reels were in poor shape, but it really made you feel like you were in a submarine. The squid fight was impressive! Such a fun movie.

Monday, Mom and Sarah went to Columbus to pick up the State Fair entries. I decided to stay home since the upcoming two weeks is a lot of out and people. It was nice to have some alone time. All the cats went to bed, except Oliver. ;o)

The APS Stamp Show was Thursday through Sunday. We went all four days. Dad went the weekend. How exciting. So fun. I don't think I have had so much fun in ages. Really worth waiting for. We met some really nice dealers. Got some fantastic stamps and things! It was at the Columbus Convention Center, which is absolutely huge! You walk and walk and walk . . . In the food court (which was on the opposite end as the Stamp Show) was a Subway which we ended up eating lunch at every day. That was fun too. We would get our subs and before eating we would mark off the lists all the stamps that we had gotten that morning. Show each other the really swell finds, etc. It was just so fun! Then back to the show for more looking. God really, really blessed us with some fantastic deals and finds. Sarah got some stamps that she never thought she'd get, really. I got so many Monaco stamps that I can really see the finish line. I never thought I would get this far. I even got the cool Jules Verne set. On Sunday, I went to a dealer and bought a Deanna Durbin fan mail cover. He got so excited. He had never heard of her until he got those covers and he had looked her up online and fell in love with her singing. He loves to sing along with her and, so far, his favorite is Nessun Dorma. In the end, he gave me another Deanna cover and money so that I could mail him some Deanna stuff! He is from Austin, TX. So fun to find someone else who likes Deanna! I'll post more about the stuff we got and photos in another post.

We were home for a few days and then on Friday we flew down to Florida. The trip that has been in the planning for months - and almost canceled more than once! - finally took off. Flew into Orlando, rented a car, and drove to Gramma Gail's. She took us to dinner at this really cool restaurant. Non-chain. Pizza Gallery and Grill. Second only to The Vegetable Garden. WOW! Dad and I got up at 4:30am the next day (Actually, Sarah and I were so hot that we woke up at 2:30 and didn't really go back to bed!). Dad had charted a fishing guide for half a day on the Banana River, so I thought I would tag along for wildlife sighting. The drive was cool because it was black night still and the road was so flat and straight, with all the lights it was neat looking. We had a little trouble finding the dock. Florida has no signs. Turns out there was an algae bloom, so you couldn't see anything unless it was out of the water. At one point I though we were really deep, and when he finally moved the boat to a different position, he said it was only a foot and a half deep! We saw some dolphin dorsel fins, and a manatee stuck his nose out for a second right next to me. Dad didn't catch anything. For the first four hours, it was overcast and not bad, but then the sun came out and I was pretty miserable for the last two hours. It wasn't great. I didn't really like the guide. Saw lots of cormorants and some pelicans, though.

We went back to Gramma's house and showered and then the others came home. Gramma took the three of us (Dad did a project at home) to see the base and we stopped at a little cigar store. I got several different cigars for my cabinet. I am so excited! Went back home, packed and headed down to Ft. Lauderdale. Met Aunt Lori, Uncle Jack, Brien, and Kelly at Villa Rose for dinner. Ended up staying until the restaurant closed and then until 11:30 in the parking lot! Probably the most fun time ever with them. Really a blast! Kelly is so grown up! I still think of her around two years old. We went to the Garcia's house. We went to bed really soon. I ended up staying up over 22 hours! I always wanted to know how it felt to stay up for 24 hours. Getting so close, I realize it isn't all it's cracked up to be . . .

Sunday wasn't very good. We had a blast with Benny and Tia Ela and Clemente! They are so sweet and cute! Benny is really nice. I really like him. So friendly and happy. Got to see Leilani too. She is so big. So cute! Monday morning we did laundry and Mom and the two of us then went shopping to get something for Jennie and go to lunch. Found this nice new Subway. We ate and drank a lot of tea. Stayed there for 2 1/2 hours. Irained and rained and rained. We left during a lull. Rain down there is so funny. The drops are huge and warm! So much rain that it was flooded when we got to Gramma and Grampa's house. There parking lot is so low. Mom dropped us off at the ramp, but we had to walk through four inches of standing water in canvas shoes! Then I decided to see if Mom could get back from the car, and remembered that there is a very dry way from the parked car to the building if you don't mind walking on the grass along the base of the building. Anyway, by the time we got under the roof, I was so soaked that it was running down my face. We all just changed clothes. Rain was done by the time we did the last laundry. Dad and the two of us went to visit Leonore. She looks swell! She is so cute and sweet. She loved the doily I crocheted for her. She told us all about the ones she had in Cuba. Actually, she and Dad taalked about Cuba and the religion/politics that was the downfall, and the similarity of America and Obama. She is so wonderful. Aunt Elena, Uncle Manolito, and Patty (with Leilani) came over for pizza and the evening. Mom and the three of us talked to Patty in the bedroom for a long time. Leilani is so cute.

We left for the airport really early. Sat around the terminal for almost three hours. The flights home were really rough! On the first one to Orlando, the turbulance was so bad that one of the air stewardesses was thrown into an empty seat next to a guy. Boy, were they both surprised! We ate at a Pizza Hut on the way home and then we got to see the kitties! Cute little babies! I always miss them during trips.

Well, let's see . . . since FLA we have been canning and freezing. We froze peppers, onions, green beans, wax beans, and zucchini. We canned potatoes, salsa, tomato sauce, beets - pickled and plain, pickled onions, pepper jelly, three bean salad, edamames, etc. I want to try pickled eggs! Yesterday we made and froze Pesto! Mrs. Keultjes sent us her recipe and, after all these years of loving it when we go to her house, we made it! Boy, is it fabulous! And it is really healthy for you!

The new chairs for the back room that we had ordered, ended up not working. Long story. They weren't what they said they would be. So, we got a refund. However, we had already sold the loveseat in prep for the new chairs. So, we decided to look for a nice used chair that might work. That was Tuesday. On Wednesday, we went to the auction house and there was a really nice black, leather recliner. Solid metal frame and thick leather. We decided to try for it. Also, at the auction was a nice sewing end table that matches Sarah's and another end table that Mom liked and - best of all, really - there was a box of Nancy Drew books. a set of titles 1 -55! They were beautiful. Like ones we would buy. I would love to have a set for me, so we decided to go for that too! Dad dropped Mom and Sarah and then we met them over there at 8:30. They got the Nancy Drew books for $40! Yippee! Actually, they got all four things. The whole night cost less than half of one of those chairs and a lot better quality! I cleaned the chair and the next night we carried it up and rearranged the furniture. In the end, it looks really nice and Mom and I are happy with the recliner and the sleeper sofa for watching and hobbying. We also found the perfect curtains for the back room at a rummage sale. Old heavy drapes that have old British village scenes on them. The room finally is looking almost done and wonderful!

Sarah and I went to Buddy and Kay's week before last to help them set up their new 18-track recorder. Sarah and Buddy talked while Kay and I read through the instruction book and by 5:30 we had recorded Buddy doing a 40 second section on four different tracks and had a finished cd! It was fun. Buddy and the two of us played some songs, we made dinner and solved the problems of the world. They took us home after 9.

So, I see this is a very long entry. That is what happens when your computer breaks . . . you get behind!

- To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven - Ecclesiastes 3:1

Summer Movies at CAPA

Last weekend we went down to the Ohio Theatre in Columbus for the first movie this year. "The Sound of Music"! Wow! I was so excited when I found out they were going to show it! We left earlier because we dropped off Sarah and Dad's entries for the State Fair. We also went to a really fun Mexican store. Looks like something out of FLA. However, the best part of the day was the movie! They got a bigger screen this year, so the widescreen movie filled the stage. The reels were really good, not to scratched or anything. It was wonderful! One of my very favorite films we've been able to see on the big screen! Even Mom enjoyed it. She didn't remember the story at all. I love the movie. (Julie Andrews reminds me so much of Mrs. Keultjes. Hard to watch her sometimes!) The only sad part was that it was over too soon! It was fantastic!

Today we went and saw "Gone With The Wind". Wow! If ever a film was made for the big screen, this was it! It was great! Sarah has been reading the book and just finished it last night. She has been telling us all about it and what is different in the movie. Sounds like they did a really good job.

The crowd was rather odd. They laughed at a lot of things that you shouldn't laugh at, and they rushed out as soon as Scarlett said "Tomorrow is another day"! Couldn't even see the end. Really rude, actually.

On the drive home, we got caught in an absolutely horrible storm! The highway was flooded and you couldn't see two cars in front of you. It was awful! God brought us home safely. I didn't like it.

I am really, really enjoying the movies at the theatre. We are thinking of going to see "The Adventures of Robin Hood" next weekend. We saw it in Cleveland last year, but it was so great on the big screen that we are thinking that it might be fun to see it again!

4th of July at Buddy and Kay's

We went to Buddy and Kay's for Independence Day! She had her family for their usual lunch. Buddy took some of them on a tour of the dinosaur shop and the red barn, so Sarah and I tagged along and explored. Even went up in the loft of the barn. Still as dusty as ever! In the evening, Buddy showed Dad his whip tricks. Even blew a candle out! I got to try tomahawk throwing! I have always wanted to try and he had a log all set up. It was sooooooo much fun! I really like it. Got to get one and set up a place to throw here at home!