August 2019 Update

Well, I saw my physician’s assistant recently, and she said I’m in excellent health, so praise God for that!

On July 21, I celebrated Edgar Martinez Hall of Fame Day by wearing my Mariners jersey with his name on it.  We Mariners fans have to celebrate the greatness of our past players and hope for the future since the present is pretty bleak.  Similar to the way we Bills fans do it.  I’m getting too much practice, although I must say I’m excited to see the Bills this year.

Happy Edgar Martinez Hall of Fame Day!

We actually did see the Bills first preseason game on August 8.  They have an annual “Kids’ Day” at one of their home preseason games, so all of us local families went and enjoyed great weather and football.

Josie, me, and Alex at the Bills game

My granddaughter, Ruby, celebrated her 2nd birthday on July 25.  Krista and I sent her some summer essentials, and we can’t wait to see her use them.  We’ll be able to do that soon because our whole family is going to Outer Banks in North Carolina during Labor Day week.  I’m really looking forward to that, and I’ll tell you about it in next month’s update.

Pictures Carissa sent us of Ruby practicing with her beach toys

We also celebrated from afar for my daughter-in-law, Amy’s, birthday on July 31, her and Cai’s first anniversary yesterday, August 18, and my son-in-law, Ben’s, birthday on August 12.  August 18 is also my parents’ anniversary—this year would have been their 69th.

On August 16, my true love celebrated her birthday.  All the local family came over for dessert and singing as we celebrated her and our love for her.  I am truly blessed with a wife who is beautiful and loves the Lord Jesus!

A former member of our chorus is now in a nursing home, and we went and sang for the home on July 30, both the whole chorus, and my quartet.  It was his and his wife’s 60th anniversary (she’s in the same home), so part way through, he subbed into our quartet as the bass, and we sang two traditional barbershop love songs to his wife.  It was a very sweet time.

On August 11, our local family went to Seabreeze, our local amusement park, and enjoyed the sun and the rides.  I still enjoy the roller coasters, but the best part is seeing the joy of the little ones.

Me, Ivy, and her Kitty on the carousel at Seabreeze

This past Saturday, August 17, was an intense barbershopping day for me.  Both my quartet and our chorus had signed up with a barbershop expert who was in town for some coaching.  He coached our quartet for two hours in the afternoon, then he spent four hours with our chorus.  I learned a lot of good techniques and things that can help my barbershop singing as both my quartet and chorus prepare for our annual competition at the end of September.

My quartet with Eddie, our coach, in the middle.  I'm amazed we still looked happy after 6 hours of coaching!

That’s our news for now, so tune in next month!