December 2021 Update

We had a great Thanksgiving with all of our local family, as well as Caitlin and Ben, here and contributing to an abundant meal and lots of fun times together.  Caitlin’s baby is due on 12/26, so they decided to come for Thanksgiving since they won’t be up to traveling for Christmas.  Please pray for a safe and healthy delivery for them, since that baby is due any day now!

 

Like most communities, we have a local community newspaper that comes out once a week.  Ours did a front page feature this past month on our library’s 25th anniversary in its current location, with a picture of the library staff including my beloved.  Back when newspapers were a big deal, it was really impressive if someone you knew made the front page.  Maybe that’s not so true these days, but I’m still very proud of Krista!

 

My famous wife

The front door of our house has been in bad shape for years.  It finally got to the point where we had to do something about it, but not having the skills myself to do so, we hired it out.  Way back in April, we had someone come and look at it and give us a bid to have it replaced, and we accepted that bid and put in a down payment.  Finally these many months later, the work was done, and we’re overall very pleased with it!  It had gotten to the point where we had to stop using the door in the between time of getting the estimate and waiting for the materials to be ready to install, but now we are back in business.

Inside view

Outside view

We went to my granddaughter, Alma’s, dance recital on 12/4.  She did a great job, and it was really fun to see so many Christmasy dance routines.

 

On 12/11, Krista and I went and got our Christmas tree.  We got a different kind than we’ve ever gotten before:  a concolor fir.  The really nice thing about it is that it smells like oranges, but it looks very different from our usual tree.  But different can be good, and in this case, it is.

Photo credit: Jem

My chorus sang at a local mall on 12/14.  I’m not sure if it’s the pandemic or advancing technology leading to mostly online shopping, but the mall was pretty empty.  We outnumbered our audience by about 2 to 1, but we had fun singing anyway, and the few people who were there seemed to enjoy it.

 

This past weekend, the Mickles, Sommers, and Krista, Jem, and I took a trip to Ohio to see David Phelps in his Christmas concert.  We stayed at a hotel in New Philadelphia, OH, and then went to see him sing Saturday night.  It was really fun, and I heard some new to me songs that renewed my fandom of him.

 

Now it’s back home and getting final Christmas preparations done.  I pray you all have a blessed holiday season, and we’ll talk in 2022!

 

November 2021 Update

It seems like this past month was sort of uneventful, so this might be short.  We’ll see as I look back and remember what happened if that holds up.

 

Once a year, our church, which normally has a 8:30 and 10:30 service, has a United service where everyone comes.  Last year due to COVID capacity requirements, we couldn’t have it, so it seemed like a bigger deal this year.  Anyway, they asked for volunteers to sing in a choir, and Ella and I did that.  It was really fun to sing in a church choir again!  I sing all the time in my barbershop chorus, of course, but there’s something extra special about singing praise to God more than singing love songs or patriotic songs or whatever.

 

We hardly ever get trick-or-treaters at our house, and this year was the same.  Other than our grandkids, we had no one.  But Levi still did a great job carving our pumpkins to make our house look festive.

 

Yeah, and that’s about it.  The Bills are basically doing well with a few setbacks, and the Seahawks are looking not so good.  This is why it is important to have two favorite football teams.

 

Next month, we’ll talk about our Thanksgiving festivities and share our Christmas card.  Now your life has purpose waiting for that!

October 2021 Update

Welcome to this update!

 

Our weather news is that summer held on much longer than expected.  It just started getting fall-like over this past weekend.

 

In sports, Go Bills!  They’re doing great and looking really good, and we Bills fans are excited after 20+ years of mediocre to poor teams.  Also in sports, my son, Levi, had his last soccer game this past Saturday when they played in the championship game for their league.  They didn’t win, but they haven’t been to the championship in many years (ever?) so it was exciting.

 

In other news, my quartet lost our bass.  He is a young guy and just started attending the University of Buffalo, and he’s finding college life too demanding to continue in our quartet.  We found another guy in our chorus that said he would sing with us, and we’re excited to start over with him, but it does mean starting over, so we won’t be singing anywhere for a while.

 

We had a fun time with my brother, Ken, and his wife Carrie back on 9/22.  They stopped by our area on their way to the New England area to see fall colors.  I’m afraid that with the unusually warm weather I mentioned earlier, there weren’t many colors to see this year.  I know our leaves are just now beginning to turn.  Anyway, they parked their fifth wheel at a nearby campground, and some of my local family went and saw their setup there.  Then later we all gathered at Ella’s house and fed them garbage plates, our local culinary specialty.  In case you don’t know what a garbage plate is, you take home fries (or something similar) and mac salad, cover that with meat of your choice (hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, chicken fingers), and then smother all that with meat sauce and any other toppings you choose (onions, ketchup, mustard, etc.).  It is completely delicious, and they loved it.  And as an added bonus, they got their annual supply of cholesterol all in one meal!  It was great to catch up on our families together with them—we talked for a long time!

 

I think that’s all of the news I have for this month, so until November!

September 2021 Update

I’ve been a fan of Bill Gaither and his various groups for many years, and a while ago I saw they were going to do a concert in Camp Hill, PA, which is about a five hour drive from my home.  Krista and I decided to make a weekend of it as it was on our anniversary weekend, and, because of COVID, we didn’t really do anything much for our 40th last year, so we did our 41st up big this year.  We got a nice hotel close to where the concert would be, and enjoyed its outdoor pool and some nice local restaurants before going to the concert Sunday night.  Apparently, there was a Little League tournament in town when we were there because we saw a lot of young boys in the pool when we arrived.  We were afraid we'd never get the enjoy the pool ourselves, but the next morning they were all gone, probably playing their games, so we had the pool to ourselves!  It was a fun and relaxing weekend, and the excellent music by the Gaither Vocal Band and other artists just topped it off perfectly.

 

Our hotel room

The view from our room. You can see the pool through the trees

Outside one of the restaurants "Marzoni's Brick Oven"

We got an xXxtreme Pepperoni pizza. It was delicious!

Our appetizer was deep fried deviled eggs with bacon.  Mmmmmm!

The Gaither Vocal Band

The view from our seats

At the concert

In order to get further hyped up for this year’s Bills football season, Kevin, his son, Alex, and Zach and I went to the final preseason game on August 28.  Our team looked really good, and, although it was really hot again like it was for the Bills training camp we went to a few weeks prior, it was still lots of fun.  We were disappointed with the results of their first actual game this past Sunday, but hopefully that will be a reality check for them, and the rest of the season will live up to our expectations.

 

Waiting for the game to start

I was very glad the Seahawks won, and the Mariners win just enough to keep me hoping before the letdown that I fear is to come.  My sons, Zach and Levi, and I still enjoy the consistent good play of the Sounders, however!

 

On August 29, my daughter, Amelia, arranged for our local families to take the Hot Wings challenge which you may have seen on YouTube done by various celebrities.  She bought each of the 10 hot sauces that go from relatively mild to unbearably hot, and everyone who wanted to participate provided their own 10 wings.  I like my digestive system intact as it is, so I only used the mildest sauce for my first wing and ate my other nine wings plain.  All the other participants, except my son-in-law, Cody, made it all the way through, although most of them agreed that the last three sauces didn’t even taste good.  Cody made it to 7 sauces, I think, so even that is way more than is good for you.  Anyway, it was fun to watch them suffer for the glory of saying they did it.  Most of them say they will never do it again, although some of my family who don’t live locally are talking about doing it at Christmas when they visit here, and some of the locals may participate again.

 

Fall schedules have started back up, with three of my grandkids starting real school:  Hazel and Alma in first grade, and Ivy in Kindergarten.  The grandkids have also started their Awana year.  Levi has started playing soccer with our local Christian school that allows homeschool students to participate, as he has in previous years.  I’ve enjoyed going to his games and watching the fun.

 

We had a Labor Day picnic at Hannah’s house for all the local families with the usual great food, fun games, and good weather.  We provided the food and games, and God provided the weather.

 

My Chorus participated in two ceremonies on 9/11.  We sang “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” at both, and also sang “When There’s Love at Home” at the 2nd one.  “When There’s Love” fit really well in the service because the man who spoke right before we sang it told how he decided to change his flight on 9/11/01 so he could be home for his son’s first day of school.  The flight he would have been on was the one that went down in Pennsylvania!

 

It was a pretty full and fun month, and we’ll “talk” again in October!

 

August 2021 Update

Right after I wrote last month, we had our vacation with our three-in-a-row reunions at Lighthouse Christian Camp in Barker, NY.  We had some rain and some nice weather, but all in all, it went very well, and it was great fun seeing all of our different family connections.  There were games, bike rides, hikes, skits, and lots of good food and the joy of seeing family we don’t get to see often enough.

 

The cast of Puss N Boots, directed by Uncle Terrelle

Mommom with sleeping grandson, Gus

Sunset over Lake Ontario

On August 7, some of our local family went to the Buffalo Bills training camp at their stadium in Orchard Park.  There were lots of kids activities, and the weather was, if anything, a little too hot, but beautiful.  The team looked really good, and it was fun to see them practice and scrimmage.  We have high hopes for the Bills this year, so it’s a good time (finally) to be a Bills fan!

 

Congratulations are in order for my daughter, Abigail, who married Bernie Shaw on August 12.  As I write this, they are on their honeymoon in Hawaii, and we pray God’s richest blessing on their marriage and life together!

 

That night, August 12, the Webster, NY, library put on a concert featuring our barbershop Chorus, and several quartets, including the one I’m in.  There was a good crowd there, and they seemed to really enjoy the music from the different groups.  If you’re on Facebook, search for Webster Public Library, or go to Webster Public Library | Facebook and you can see some pictures and videos there.

 

My quartet also sang at a surprise birthday party on August 14, and then did a concert at an adult memory care facility yesterday, August 17.  Those were both pretty small crowds, but they too seemed to enjoy themselves with our singing.  It is so good to be out and singing for people again.

 

Thanks for reading these each month, and we’ll talk again in September!

 

July 2021 Update

We’re going on vacation next week:  three family reunions in a row!  First is the Wilson-Dickinson Reunion (Krista’s dad’s siblings and families), then is the David-Onalee reunion (Krista’s siblings and families), and finally is the Krista-Greg reunion (our family).  I’ll tell you about these wonderfully anticipated times next month.

 

I received lots of Fathers’ Day love this year.  Here's just a sampling.  I am very blessed.

Cai gave me this Tolkien-themed map of my home state of Washington

Amelia gave me a Pop! of my favorite Marvel Avenger

 

That day was also the first time we’ve been back to church now that COVID numbers are down.  It was great to be able to fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ again!

 

This past Christmas, our kids gave Krista and me an Airbnb weekend at a cottage on Lake Ontario near Youngstown, NY.  We finally “collected” on this gift in late June, with many exciting adventures!  We went on a Niagara River Jetboat, visited Old Fort Niagara, rode our bikes around Fort Niagara State Park and on other bike trails, had excellent meals, and beautiful lake views.  I highly recommend the Niagara River Jetboat to anyone who likes that sort of excitement.  If you like roller coasters, you’ll love it!  The Jetboat rides the rapids of the Niagara River, even going into Devil’s Hole (and thankfully, back out again)!

 

Relaxing in the yard

On the stairs down to our private beach

The cottage (view from the lake)

The corner of our yard with the stairs

Jetting!

These three shots aren't our actual trip, but give you an idea of the fun

In this video, we're doing what they called a Cowboy Spin!

After our ride, proving we survived

Lake view from our cottage bedroom

At Old Fort Niagara

Riding in Fort Niagara State Park

When we rode out on this bike trail, it was clear. When we returned a few minutes later, a tree had fallen across it!

I’m sure you all remember because, of course, these email updates are the most important thing in your life, that last year over the July 4th weekend our local families went camping in Hannah and Kevin’s back yard since COVID (pardon my language—maybe I should start calling it the “C-word”) had closed all the campgrounds.  Well, we had so much fun doing so that we decided to do it again this year, even though campgrounds are back open.  Everyone pitched in to provide excellent meals and fun with hikes, water balloons, fireworks (both from our local town and private fireworks shows from Kevin and Cody), campfires, s’mores, and lots of cute grandkids.  Special thanks to Hannah and Kevin for hosting!

 

This past Tuesday, my quartet had our first gig in a long time, and it was so fun to be singing for people—real, live people!—again.  A local town does concerts in a park, and we did an opening set for a country-rock artist.  Big contrast between our barbershop and his country-rock, but I think people enjoyed it.  We got some good comments anyway.

 

So that’s what’s been up here, and we’ll talk again in August!

 

June 2021 Update

Jem continues to get better and better.  She started yesterday going to cardiac rehab, and that seemed to go well, so thank you all for continuing to pray for her!

 

We enjoyed Carissa’s chorus and their virtual show on May 22.  I don’t know if the show still available online, but you can find a video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXfm7suHUSU of her chorus singing “Eight Days a Week.”  She’s the pretty one here:

 

We had a very enjoyable Memorial Day get-together with the local family at Hannah and Kevin’s house.  The weather was nice, and Krista’s sister, Nanita, and her family were able to join us, so we had tons of fun with good food, water balloons, a nice fire, yard games, and even some festive fireworks.

 

I had a medical procedure done a couple of weeks ago that I don’t want to say much about.  If you’ve had this done, you know the procedure itself is easy since you sleep through it, but the preparation for the procedure is quite draining (pun intended).  Anyway, it showed I’m in good health, at least in that department.

 

I’ve been struggling with what I think is plantar fasciitis for the past couple of months.  I’ve been doing stretches, wearing over-the-counter shoe inserts and PF compression socks, not going barefoot, and taking ibuprofen to try to help it, but it is still hanging on.  I have an appointment today with a podiatrist to see if there’s anything he can do for me.

 

A couple of nights ago, we went to watch grandchildren Alex, Ivy, and Josie play soccer in their 3- and 4-year-old league.  It was very entertaining to see a clump of children chase a ball around their little soccer pitch.  They all managed to at least get a foot on the ball, and I think one or two of them even got a goal.  I’m not sure because there were no loud celebrations or knee slides after the goals, so it wasn’t as obvious as you usually see in soccer matches.

 

Last night, we went to Ivy’s pre-school graduation, followed by celebratory ice cream from a local spot.  Of course, she was the most adorable there.

 

Speaking of adorable, here's a picture of granddaughter Ansa saying "Cheese!"

So I think that catches you up on the happenings in our family for the past month, and we’ll talk again in July!

 

May 2021 Update

Starting off with our lead story:  Jem’s surgery went well.  She is slowly but surely recovering at home now after a week in the hospital.  Many of you have been following her progress on her Facebook and many more of you have been faithfully praying for all of us, and that means more than I can adequately express.  She still has a ways to go, so please keep praying!

 

In sports, the Mariners have been great!  And awful!  So, pretty typical for them.  But the Sounders look good!

 

In weather, we’ve had a lot of rain, but this week it’s finally warming up again.  Although, we did have another spring snow late in April after I wrote last.  It was sort of pretty to see the snow on the spring flowers.

 

A robin has disabled our back door by building a nest over it.  We don’t like to use it because she flies from her nest and gives us dirty looks whenever we do.  Hopefully her babies will hatch and fly away soon so we can have our door back.

 

Now that I’m fully vaccinated, I started just last week going back to my live chorus rehearsals.  We have a new director now, so I have to re-learn how he does our songs differently from our old director, but it’s really fun to be able to sing again.  My quartet is going to start practicing again this week after too long away, and hopefully we can get some performances in again soon.

 

Until June!

 

April 2021 Update

These are the times that try men’s nasal passages.  It was the coldest of times; it was the warmest of times.

 

It’s amazing how one can adapt famous book quotes to the weather.

 

We’ve had almost 80 degrees, flowers and trees budding, and then snow again.  Krista says all of our flowers are early, which is nice to see, but then they’ll be gone too soon.  Today is sunny and should get up to the 60s, but we could have snow again within a couple of days.

 

This was two days after a day that was almost 80

On one of the warmer days about a month ago, Krista and I went to the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge, which is about an hour’s drive away from us, and took some really nice walks there.  It was too early to see much wildlife or plant life, and we definitely want to go back when things are blooming and critters are more active.  We saw a wild turkey as we drove in, but other than a few birds, that was about it.  It all looked pretty brown still from winter, so we’re hoping if we go again soon it will be more alive.

 

We met last month with the surgeon who is going to do Jem’s septal myectomy next week.  We all really liked him, and he comes highly recommended, but there, of course, is still a bit of anxiety going into major surgery.  She goes in on Tuesday, April 27, for an angiogram, then spends the night in the hospital before her surgery on Wednesday, April 28.  Please pray for Dr. Park and the rest of the medical team, and for Jem and all of us, her family.

 

Jem has received both of her COVID vaccine shots now—she was eligible early because of her heart condition—and Krista and I just got our first shot yesterday.  So far, I haven’t noticed any strange results from the shlj1nk alji109  asf98b7  aeoijfai.  Just kidding.  I just have a little soreness like someone punched me in the arm.

 

Again, thanks for supporting us in prayer as we go to this surgery next week!  Lord willing, we’ll have good results and recovery to report next month!

 

March 2021 Update

We had a fantastic time in Philadelphia with the Wilkinsons and Updegroves.  We held Milo, celebrated Caitlin’s birthday, played with Ruby, and held Milo and played with Ruby some more.  Also, really special, my brother, David, told me after last month’s update, that his daughter, Nina, was in Philly now and put us in contact with each other.  She and her boyfriend, Asher, came over, and we had a nice chat with them.  It was very cool to get to connect with a niece I haven’t seen for many years.  Carissa, Caitlin, and Nina are hoping once Covid craziness calms down, they can get together sometime.

 

Here are some pictures and one video of our time in Philly.  There’s a good portion of Ruby craziness here, but if you like 3-year-old humor (which is surprisingly, or not surprisingly, a lot like old man humor), you might enjoy them.

 

Ruby playing

Grandpa and Ruby craziness

Caitlin, Ben, me, Carissa, Asher, Nina

Same with me and Matt swapped

Caitlin's birthday party. She made a delicious cake!

Milo and Grandpa

More Grandpa and Ruby craziness

Our weather has warmed up enough that all the snow has melted and some spring flowers are starting to pop.  Thankfully, spring allergies haven’t started yet, but by next month, I’m sure I’ll be sneezy and wheezy again.

 

I guess that’s all for March, so until next time!

 

February 2021 Update

We’ve had a pretty quiet winter up until recently, but February decided to try to make up for lost time.  We have over a foot on the ground right now from a couple of storms.  Here are two snow pictures, if you want to see the beauty of God’s handiwork.

 

We’re pretty used to adapting to storms.  The biggest impact of the one earlier this week was that Zach and Amelia, who had been in Minnesota visiting Kortney and her family, couldn’t get back home.  They made it to Chicago, but their final flight from there to home was canceled because of weather.  They ended up spending the night in a hotel in Chicago and flew home to Buffalo instead of Rochester the next day.  They, and we, were very thankful for Kevin, who helped them find the hotel, and Cody, who drove all the way to Buffalo to pick them up and get them home.

 

Even with that, they had a great time visiting Kortney, Mat, Daisy, Bea, and Gus, and came home with lots of fun stories of their time there.

 

I guess other than the weather, there really hasn’t been much going on this past month.  We’ve had our usual birthday get-togethers here, and we’ve all just been surviving/enjoying the western New York winter.

 

Krista, Jem, and I leave tomorrow morning to meet our newest grandson, Milo, and enjoy time with Carissa, Matt, and Ruby, and Caitlin and Ben in Philadelphia, so I’ll tell you about that next month, Lord willing.