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.

January 2021 Update

Welcome to 2021, and along with everyone else in Western New York, I have to say GO BILLS!

 

If you aren’t a football fan, you may not have known that the Buffalo Bills are in the AFC Championship for the first time since 1993, and all of us fans are very excited!

 

We had a very nice Christmas celebration with our local families and Caitlin and Ben who made the trip from Philadelphia.  We missed the rest of our family, but we had a virtual Christmas Extravaganza (annual family talent show) with them all, so we got to see their talents virtually and enjoy them that way.  We also remembered my son-in-law, Matt’s, birthday on Christmas Day.

 

For New Year’s Eve, we had a pretty low key party with a early countdown so little kids could get home to bed, and snacks, and decorations for a simple family party.  Most of us that live here managed to stay up to see in 2021!

 

The biggest news of this past month was the birth of Milo David Wilkinson to Carissa and Matt on January 5.  He is our 11th grandchild, and all of us, especially Carissa, Matt, and his sister Ruby, are so happy to welcome him!

 

I guess that’s all for now, so until next month!