July 2019 Update

Last month I said I hoped we’d get some heat soon, and we have!  We’ve had a couple of 90+ degree days, and we’re supposed to get more this weekend.  It will be a perfect time to stay in the pool!

Here’s the news from my family since last month.

The Mickles, Sommers, and our family took a quick weekend camping trip 6/21-23 at Hamlin Beach.  Unfortunately, I had double-booked myself and neglected to write it on our family calendar so no one knew when they scheduled the camping trip.  So while the family was enjoying the park and the beach on Saturday, I was at a barbershop conference at Hobart College in Geneseo, NY.  I spent the day singing with my quartet and getting advice from several different coaches on how we could improve.  It was very challenging and fun, and I learned a lot, and I think our quartet will truly be better for it.  I got to join the family on Friday night and Sunday morning, so I got a little camping in, but not much.  They all had excellent weather and enjoyed themselves, even without me if you can imagine it.

Hannah and Kevin hosted our Independence Day get-together on 7/3 at their house.  We could see our town’s fireworks pretty well from there, and the food, games, and fun together beforehand was great.

On 7/4, we made our annual trip to Krull Park in Olcott, NY, for the Rhodes family reunion (Krista’s mom’s family).  It’s always good to visit Lake Ontario, and the grandkids got to participate in the parade there before we met up with the extended family for lunch.  We always like to follow up the meal with a walk through the park to the amusement area where the kids can enjoy the rides, and the adults can enjoy watching them.

My sons Zach and Levi have become big fans of the Seattle Sounders (Major League Soccer), and they discovered that the Sounders were playing against the Columbus (Ohio) Crew on 7/6, and that is only 5 or 6 hours away.  So, they decided a weekend road trip was in order, and they and I and a friend of Zach’s named Lucas did so.  We left Saturday morning 7/6 and drove to Columbus to watch the Sounders defeat the Crew 2 – 1.  Zach had bought me a Sounders scarf, and he and Levi had jerseys.  I wore my Seahawks Steve Largent jersey (closest I could come), so we looked like good fans.  We weren’t the only Sounders fans there by any means.  There was a whole section of very rowdy (AKA drunk) Sounders fans there too that apparently travel from Seattle for every game and also connect with local Sounders fans in the away cities.  The stadium wasn’t too full, so to make our experience more fun, we moved to the rowdy section part way through the game.  I like the way soccer fans do a lot of singing during the game, although a lot of the words they used are not words I can repeat.  We stayed in a hotel after the game, and returned home Sunday.  It was tiring, but still an unforgettable experience.

Lucas, Zach, and Levi at the Pennsylvania Welcome Center near Erie PA

Ready for the game!

The view from our first seats

Now we're in the rowdy Sounders section

We won! But you can't read the scoreboard so...

...now you can

Post game fireworks!

Last week was VBS at our church.  My kids are all too old now (wow!), but Zach, Jem, and Levi all helped in various roles.  I went a couple of times too to lend a hand wherever I could.  We had good weather, and hopefully God used our efforts to build His kingdom in these young lives.

This month’s birthdays were 7/10 my brother, Gary, and 7/11, granddaughter Ivy’s 3rd.  Hannah and Kevin also celebrated their 6th anniversary on 7/13.  We had Ivy’s birthday party with our local family on Sunday 7/14.  Ella and Cody made grilled chicken dinner with Krista and others contributing sides, and we had cake and ice cream for dessert.  Yummy!  I really enjoy good food, so it’s very convenient for me that a lot of us live close and find many excuses to eat together.

Enjoy your summer, and I’ll talk to you all again in August!

June 2019 Update

Welcome to another monthly update from the Greg Matthews family!

The day after I wrote last was my barbershop chorus’s annual show.  I mentioned last month that four of us went on a local radio show to promote it, and I tried to get a recording my son had made to post there, but it didn’t work.  Since then, I found out that the radio show posts podcasts of its programs, so if you want to listen to it, you can go to https://www.iheart.com/podcast/the-bob-lonsberry-show-on-wham-20922208/.  You'll have to search back to Friday, May 17, 2019, and the 11:00 or fourth hour.

Anyway, the show was on May 18.  The Lyric Theater, where we had it, was a beautiful former Christian Science church.  They still had pews for seating, and the acoustics were really amazing.  The show went well, and you can watch a recording of it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A39qWNY3fiw.  My quartet sings at 30:45.

May 18 was also the 8th anniversary of when my Mom left this home and went to her eternal home.  I take great joy in knowing, without a doubt, that I will see her again when it’s my time to go to be with my Savior.  Do you have that confidence?  Ask me about it if you aren’t sure.

I mentioned also last month that I’m continuing in my job that I’ve had for the last several years at Xerox.  That’s been… interesting.  Wipro (my current employer) transitioned very few people so there’s been a lot of adjustment and learning for the new people trying to do what others had been doing for years and had perfected.  The work environment due to that feels quite uncertain, so I’ve been continuing to look for other work just to be sure my family is provided for, and I’d appreciate your prayers as I seek God’s will for my and my family’s future.

One example of that uncertainty:  Xerox is closed both Friday and Monday of Memorial Day weekend, but Wipro only gives Monday as the Memorial Day holiday.  During our onboarding, they told us that lots of Wipro clients have holidays other than the ones Wipro gives, and we should just contact our manager to find out how s/he wants us to record time for those days.  So, I looked up my manager’s name, and first of all, there are two places in their system where the management chain is shown, and they show different people for my chain.  So, I emailed both of the men listed in the two places as my immediate manager to find out how to record the time.  And I heard nothing.  No response whatever from either of them.  I ended up just talking to a co-worker, and we decided together what we should do.  I’ve been on the job now for a month and have still heard absolutely nothing from anyone who is supposed to be my immediate manager.

On to happier things, the Memorial Day weekend was tons of fun, and pretty good weather here too.  That’s saying a lot because we’ve had a pretty miserable spring overall.  We’ll have an occasional nice day, but it’s preceded and followed by cold, damp weather.  But that Friday was nice, and a bunch of us went for a walk.  We have some large rocks in the landscaping of the business across the road from us.  As soon as the grandkids see those rocks, they think they are supposed to pose for pictures on them, so I obliged.

Hazel, Alma, and Ivy

Ivy, Hazel, and Alma

Then on Memorial Day Monday, Kevin and Hannah hosted a party at their house with excellent food, games, and lots of wonderful family time.

Hannah’s birthday was on 6/6, and they had a party for her about a week later.  That was the soonest we could all get together due to the medical people in the family.  Those nurses and Nurse Practitioners can have crazy schedules!  Anyway, Kevin went all out with oar dervs, horse overs, appetizers, snacks, chicken marsala, and a delicious cake for dessert.  Yes, I really do know how to spell hors d’oeuvres.  That’s why God created Google, don’t you know.

My chorus started hosting a monthly “Singer’s Night” at our building where anyone can do karaoke, or sing at an open mic, and our chorus and quartets also sing to promote our chorus.  We already got one new singer in the chorus from it, so that’s good.  Anyway, on June 7, my quartet sang three songs there, and it’s really fun to be singing more often for real, live people, instead of just practicing.

On June 13, we remembered Kortney and Mat’s fifth anniversary and sent them many congratulations.

I guess that’s all for this month.  Talk to you in July when we’ll hopefully have had some heat!

May 2019 Update

I finally know about my job situation, and it is transitioning.  I was offered a position with Wipro to continue doing the same work I have been doing for the past several years at Xerox.  It’s an answer to prayer, and I will officially be a Wipro employee on Monday, May 20.  This is my last day as an Atos employee.  Thank you for praying for me!

Other than that, the news from this past month starts with Easter.  We had a lovely Easter celebration at our church, followed by a dinner with our local family at our house, consisting of too much good food, all of which I had to try.  Multiple times.

On May 5, we remembered Cai’s birthday from afar.  Kevin’s birthday was on May 14, but we had the party at their house last night, May 16.  Again, too much good food eaten multiple times, but hey, you only live once.

On May 11, my quartet, Achording to Us, sang three songs during a break of a zydeco concert at our rehearsal hall, the Harmony House in Webster, NY.  Lots of different people and groups rent our facility for concerts, wedding receptions, and so on, because it’s a historic and beautiful place.  We are one of very few barbershop choruses that own our own building, so it’s pretty great.  Anyway, the zydeco people have been asking our facility coordinator for a long time for a group from the chorus to entertain during their break, so my quartet did so.  It seemed to be well received, and it was a ton of fun.

We celebrated Mothers’ Day in a sort of unique way.  My chorus had been invited to sing the National Anthem for our local minor league baseball team, the Rochester Red Wings (they’re the AAA affiliate of the Minnesota Twins of the MLB).  I asked Krista, Hannah, and Ella what they thought of that, and they all said they would love to go to a Red Wings game for Mothers’ Day.  I don’t know if they were lying to please me, but I think they were sincere.  Anyway, the Anthem went well, and we had a good time at the game, even though the weather was cold and damp.  I’m sorry I don’t have pictures from that.  You’ll have to use your imagination.

Actually, I only have one picture from the last month, and that’s of some spring snow here.  If you remember, we got some in Minnesota last month when we visited Kortney and Mat, and we got some here in late April.  Of course, we can’t compare them, because it was 8 inches in Minnesota, and only a dusting here, but we do what we can to be as Minnesota-like as possible.

The final piece of news was some excitement I had today.  Our chorus’s annual show is tomorrow night (I’ll tell you about it next month), and today, to promote it, four of us went on a local radio show for about a half an hour.  We sang two songs, and the host interviewed us about barbershop singing in general, and our show more specifically.  It was so much fun!

If you want to listen to a recording of the radio show, go to https://www.iheart.com/podcast/the-bob-lonsberry-show-on-wham-20922208/.  You'll have to search back to Friday, May 17, 2019, and the 11:00 or fourth hour.

 

That’s all until June!