Christmas Program–December 14, 2010

Even though it was an extremely cold day for our luncheon, we were still plenty warm in the church. We had a great program and very good luncheon. This was our lowest attendance in a long time but I was happy to have as many as we had, 108. We had a great time of warm fellowship.

Our time together was started with piano and organ duets and solos by Nancy Jensen (organ) and Grace Averitt (piano). They each do a great job alone but having them together is a real treat. You can listen to the music again at the link above. Note, the recording did not get enough volume for the organ but you can still hear it, and the piano is enough reason to listen again.

Following our normal opening and acknowledgments, Marlene Williams sang a very nice Christmas Medley solo. Marlene came in from her post in the kitchen to do her music and then returned to serve us later. Click the link above to hear her.

Grace and Nancy did another duet as a special. This one you can hear the organ a little better; however, there was a audio glitch in the middle, so I won’t be making any CDs! You can listen to this music HERE.

Later, Josh Hales sang a solo about the wonder of Christ’s birth, called “Strange Way to Save the World”. Josh is our Youth Pastor, leading the teen programs and he is also involved in our recreational ministries. He is a regular with our church special music and sometimes leads the music. Click the link above to hear him.

David and Pat Warren led a time of sharing and devotions with us. I really enjoyed the way Pat used past Christmas experiences of our YAH people and Dave tied it into his speech very well. Click the link above to hear Pat and some of our people discuss their Christmas traditions with David providing a nice devotional following this time of sharing. Listen at the link above.

After our program in the auditorium we had a very nice Christmas meal in the Community Life Center. The food was very good. I had people asking me for the recipes, so I will need to have Lisa do a column in the Newsletter again, with some of her recipes.

Here is a short video clip of the meal time together in the Community Life Center. Check it out to see if you can find yourself.

Christmas Luncheon, December 14, 2010

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November 9, 2010–YAH Luncheon with Gary Lare

We had a fantastic time with our Young at Heart Luncheon program, November 9. Our program was a full one with plenty going one. We started with Piano Music from Fred Scheffler and David Brandt. Our prelude material is so good that many people come as early as 10:30 AM just to listen to that entire program.

Following the prelude we did our normal opening material including, jokes, acknowledge visitors, Birthdays and Anniversaries. Then, we review the future Day Trips. Finally, we brought on our program for the month. This month, we featured a ventriloquist, Gary Lare. This is the second year that we’ve used Gary. He comes to us from the Cincinnati area and has a very busy schedule. We are fortunate to be able to have him on our schedule with his FRIENDS.

You can view any photo in a larger size my clicking on it! Click on the backspace in your browser to return to this page.

Hmm, I thought this guy looked a lot like our former president Richard Nixon.

I also took a video of this guy and Gary to share here. Click this link to see it! After viewing this YouTube video, you can return to this page by clicking the backspace on your browser.

Of course, a highlight of Gray’s program is when he brings up a number of our people to help with the performance. Gary’s Dummies, so to speak! Gary had the group do “Old McDonald had a Farm” Of course our group performed like animals!

Following Gary’s entertainment, we had a short time of devotions led by John Coons a former pastor from Kansas. John did tremendous job in the five minutes that I allowed him. It worked well enough that I will certainly be including him again. You can listen to what John had to say, HERE!

Of course, this was a LUNCHEON program and what a luncheon it was! Lisa and the staff in the kitchen prepared an awesome meal. Turkey pot-pie in shells, sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce, green beans and pumpkin pie. I thought the sweet potato casserole was even better than what we get at La Comedia, but Lisa tells me it is the same recipe. Speaking of recipes, Lisa will have a section of our December Newsletter dedicated to some of your favorites! Look for the newsletter late this month.

Next month, we will have a special Christmas Luncheon program with Christmas music and a special friend of our church, Dr. David Warren. I believe the meal will be another special one, too! Be sure to join us.

Day Trip–October 26, 2010 - Hawthorne Hill and Carillon Park

This trip was another new one and I thought it was a great one. We visited Carillon Park and Hawthorne Hill. I would highly recommend it for anyone who missed this. It is a good mix of history and architecture. Our guide did a fantastic job of telling interesting stories about Hawthorne Hill the home of the Wright Brothers and interesting stories about the family, too.

When we arrived, we split our group in two because they limit home many people can tour the home. One group, mine, went through the park, while Lisa took the other group to tour the home.

I recommended that in Carillon Park we focus on the buildings with material on the Wright Brothers but the groups could do this anyway they wanted.

Orville Wright actually helped with the rebuilding of this Wright Flyer for the park. I had a work friend who actually knew him during that time.

These are a couple of the new additions to the park. On the left is a kitchen, and the right is the Newcome Home.

The building on the left is one of my favorites in the park. This is the Deeds Barn replica and houses some great technology displays relevant to Daytonians. The other is the original barn, and I remember this when it was located by what is now the Glengary Recreation Center in Kettering. Later it was moved to the Moraine Museum. Now it is physically inside the Carillon Park museum. This and other new buildings should be open in the spring of 2011.

Around noon, we had lunch in Culps Café in the park. They had prepared a nice meal for us with soup and a sandwich.

After lunch the groups were to switch with my group going to Hawthorne Hill and Lisa’s group touring the park, with an emphasis on the Wright Brothers. However, while we were loading the bus for the home, a tornado warning alarm sounded. The group touring the park would be drenched, if not blown away to Kansas. So, they decided to return to the church. I continued on to Hawthorne Hill since we would be in out of the rain and this place is as good as any to hide out during a tornado. It is a very sturdy structure. As it turned out, the threat was pretty much over in less than 1/2 hour. There were trees down but no damage other than wind damage and we all survived.

The tour took about an hour and a half and was very well worth the visit. Our guide pointed out many unique features of the home and told interesting stories about the Wright family.

This is a trophy given to the brothers in France for achieving a flight in excess of 60 feet (or was it meters) anyway, they beat the goal handily by flying 90 feet above the ground in controlled flight. The trophy illustrates the brothers under the wings.

I think everyone would agree that this is a trip to recommend to friends and family.

Luncheon Program - October 12, 2010

We had a program for October. Hmm, actually all of them are very good but this one was outstanding.

We started with a half hour prelude of Piano and Organ music by Grace Averitt, at the piano, and Nancy Jensen, at the organ. Listen to it HERE. There is some background sound during this portion of the program because this is prelude time with people coming into the auditorium. Following this we did our normal routine of things such as acknowledging guests, birthdays and anniversaries. Of course, I also tell a few stories and jokes and also introduced our Day Trips for October, November and December. October is sold out and the other two are almost sold out.
Then, we had an excellent "Trip Down Memory Lane" featuring Burt Kettinger with his baritone/base voice. Burt sings at a large variety of events all around the USA and also speaks at some. He is a featured vocalist on the "Songs in the Night" radio show from the Moody Bible Church in Chicago. This part of the program was truly a trip down memory lane with songs by Stewart Hamlin, George Beverly Shay, and Thomas A Dorsey (not the one of band fame). These were all songs that we would remember from the churches of our youth. You can hear his program HERE.

Finally, we moved into our Gymnasium/Dining Room area for a very nice meal provided by our ladies and men. I heard many complements about the good food.

Next month, we will feature Ventriloquist, Gary Lare.

Cape Cod Trip - Day 7

Saturday, September 25, 2010.

This is our final day of travel. Last night we stopped in Buffalo, NY and began our trek homeward again in the morning.

Along the way we had some activities on the bus, sang and watched videos. Of course, we made our normal stops for lunch and rest areas.
One thing of interest and worthy of a photo via my Smart Phone, was this rest area along the Lake Erie. This was a very nice rest area structure but was also a nice area. There were vineyards all around us and you could smell the sweet smell of the grapes. Behind the vineyards was Lake Erie in the distance.

Cape Cod - Day 6

Friday, September 24, 2010. This day we departed from our motel on Cape Cod and traveled to Plymouth, MA to see the Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower II.

We arrived at the rock and were able to park very close. However, the bus had to move before we returned! Most of us rushed to see the rock and get our photos taken under the sign.

Click the photos once or twice to see larger views.
The largest views could be copied and printed.

It is interesting to note that there is no record of any of the pilgrims actually stepping on the rock, as legend would have us believe. So, actually, this rock has little, if any, significance. I guess the significance is that it is getting lots of tourists to come and buy souvenirs! A number of our people also took the time to quickly tour the Mayflower II. I remember when this ship sailed to America.

All along the way this week we saw buildings with these white chimneys. The significance is the white and black chimney signifies a "Safe House".
This was our final day in New England and we left with anxiety to be home but also regret because there is so much more to see. Our trip was fantastic with perfect weather. Cool but not cold and sunny. The only rain we had during this trip was at 3AM.

Cape Cod - Day 5

Thursday, September 23, 2010 we headed for Martha's Vineyard!

We drove over to Falmouth to meet the ferry across to the island. We arrived at the dock to meet our ferry the Island Queen. I enjoy boats and really liked this one. There were three decks. The lowest was fully enclosed from the elements, the next deck was a combination of enclosed and open and the top deck was all open except for the wheel house. I spent most of my time up there because it was the best location for photography.

Remember: You can click any image to see a larger view
and maybe even click a second time for a full size view.

There were a good number of fantastic yachts and nice homes to look at as we moved out of Falmouth toward Martha's Vineyard.


Nancy and Clara took time to visit and enjoy the fresh air during the crossing. Everyone enjoyed the ride.


We arrived at Oak Bluffs on Martha's Vineyard after about 40 minutes on the water.


We walked about for a bit and had a nice lunch. No! Not at Nancy's Restaurant!
We met our local buses and took a very nice and informative tour of the island. Our bus dropped us off and went back for another group while we did a walk-about (and shopping).
We went into a small Congregational Church with very nice Stained Glass windows.


There were plenty of shops such as this one, because I liked the sign. The store that we enjoyed most was the Black Dog. But everyone enjoyed ice cream at Mad Martha's.


Finally, it is time to board the Island Queen again for the return trip to Falmouth.


We finished the day with a meal at our motel, the Town Crier.

This finishes our final full day on Cape Cod.