LaComedia–December 20

Our December Day Trip for Young@Heart is often at LaComedia for several reasons. 1) They provide excellent Christmas entertainment 2) It is convenient enough that we don’t often have to be concerned about a snow day 3) Everyone enjoys the programs at LaComedia and these are generally our best attended Day Trips 4) the food is good!

I believe our total this month was about 30 people. Most of those rode down on the church bus but a few drove on their own.

Although LaComedia does not allow photography during the performances, we were able to take a few shots of our people before and after. I also added one performance photo from their Facebook page.

Time of fellowship and eating!

There were two parts of the performance; maybe even two entirely different performances. The first part was a children’s story about believing in Santa. The music was good and performances by the children and chorus line were good. I think Kids would have loved this part. The photo below is from this part of the program and appears on the LaComedia Facebook page.

The second part/performance was the “True Meaning of Christmas” and focused on the birth of Christ as told in Mathew and Luke. This ended with an awesome solo, “Oh Holy Night”.

After the show, there is always a lineup of the performers to greet and shake hand or congratulate. I thought I took several photos but the one below is the only one that came out of my camera!  I also shot photos of the kids and the soloist. Sorry that I cannot show them here!

Remember, you can always click on any image here to see the larger version.

Young@Heart Day Trip–November 19,2013

This month we enjoyed our “Annual Mystery Trip”. I promised everyone that we’d see something older than us and have a delicious meal! We certainly did that and I think everyone enjoyed the trip.

First, we visited the Cincinnati Museum Center to enjoy the Dinosaurs Exhibit. Generally, I prefer the Creation Museum for Dinosaurs, but found this exhibit very interesting and informative, after I learned to overlook all the mentions of “Millions of Years”. There were lots of exhibits of actual fossils and many recreations of the skeletons.

We arrived a little early to allow for a break, then began our tour at 10am. We toured the exhibits and some even had time for a coffee break until noon.

Remember: Click on any photo to see a larger view!

At noon, we departed from the Museum Center for Grand Finale. This is a favorite eatery for Nancy and I. They specialize to good food and the “Finale” is always outstanding!  Of course, this is one of their many famous and delicious desserts.

Interestingly, we spent as much time, maybe a little more, at the restaurant as we did at the museum. We had excellent and fun service. The only complaint is their skimpy parking. But our driver, Andrew Roberts, was able to get our bus in the lot and out again, later.  I think everyone truly enjoyed this Mystery Day Trip.

Next month, we are going to LaComedia to enjoy their Christmas Musical Extravaganza! Be sure to sign-up and join us.

Young @ Heart Program–November 12, 2013

We had a great program this month for Young at Heart. Great music, fun times, good music and our Thanksgiving Turkey.

To start, Grace Averitt played a nice selection of music, appropriate for this season, on the Piano. Grace is our regular Sunday Morning Pianist and plays for the worship services and for the choir.  You can hear most of the piano music HERE!

After this we did our normal opening program including a couple of very nice solos, sung by Hadley Gammie.

Hadley’s two solos are available for your listening pleasure, HERE!

We were pleased to hear from our Lead Pastor (AKA, Senior Pastor) David Kisner. He brought us a very nice devotional about How we as Seniors can Finish Well. His message is available at this Link.

This was followed by a fantastic Thanksgiving Meal in the dining area provided by our kitchen staff and served by a number of volunteers, including those from 5/3 Bank.

Our December Christmas program is going to be a very special musical and drama program. Nancy and Mark & Grace Averitt are planning this with the help of Marlene Williams for the drama. You will not want to miss this fun musical program. Bring friends, too. Of course, we will also have an appropriate meal for the Christmas Season.

Glorious Day–Young@Heart Luncheon

I always look forward to our luncheon programs because I am excited to see how God works things out. It is certainly not of my doing. I am especially happy with the program today, in all aspects!  We had a great time talking with each other, hearing from Buckeye Home Health Care, and ultimately hearing from the Glorious Day Quartet.

After our time of announcements, etc., we heard from Jeremy Collier about Buckeye Home Health Care. Jeremy is someone who I’ve known since he was a child and is now grown up as the Vice President of Business and Development for Buckeye Home Health Care. Buckeye provide home health care services that allow people to continue longer in their homes without the need to move into a nursing home. We are old friends with this company through many contacts; they provided an exercise class for us, made presentations about Medicare, etc. On a more personal basis, they are still caring for my mom who is now 94 years old and still able to care for herself in her own apartment. There are many companies who provide comparable services. We have a number of their brochures in our information rack in the Library. Check them out and take a careful look at each of the options. You can also learn more about Buckeye at their Website.  Or you can contact Jeremy at: JCollier@BuckeyeHomeHealthCare.com

Next, we heard a great gospel musical program from Glorious Day Gospel Quartet. This group is lead by another old friend, Jim Landers.  I was impressed by their voices and God given talents.

As you can see, the group includes to men and two women. Rather than give you a test on names, I  provide them below their photos.  As always, you can click on any photo to see a larger version.

Mike Avery      –      Cindi Hodges      –      Marcelley O’Hair      –      Jim Landers

We received many very good comments about this group, so we will be sure to put them on our schedule, again.  You can listen to the music portion of our program at this link as a Washington Heights Podcast. Also, if you are interested in contacting this quartet, you can reach them at: GloriousDay.SG@GMail.com

Next month, we will feature an inspirational talk by our Lead Pastor (my boss) David Kisner. We will also enjoy some special music.  Be sure to join us for a great Thanksgiving meal and good fellowship.  Bring FRIENDS, too!

Young@Heart Luncheon–September 10, 2013

We had a full, but very good, luncheon program, September 10. To start we had a piano duo during our Earlybird Time, when people came in and greeted each other. Following this music, I did our opening program, jokes, etc. Then, Spittin’ Image joined us for some great music and fun. Finally, we closed out the program with a very nice devotional by Frank Kisner.  Now, for the details and photos!

Fred Scheffler and Lexi Harbaugh were our music prior to the program. We have a lot of people who come early just to visit and the music is a nice preamble to the program. Fred is Lexi’s piano teacher. This arrangement for our prelude works out very well for all of us. We get some good music and the students get some exposure to playing for an audience.

Teacher watching the finger work of his student, Lexi Harbaugh. And…Lexi said that Fred Scheffler did OK, too! 

You can hear their music (often accompanied by the chatter of friendly people), right HERE!

We always enjoy having Spittin’ Image here with us. In fact, I get calls if people think I’m leaving them off the schedule. The twins, Blain and Brian, provide some great music and comedy.

Do you know which is whom?  Blain is on the left and Brian is on the right. You can tell them apart because Brian is the youngest, by less than 30 minutes! They have been performing professionally for over 40 years.  Yes, they started as small children.

They also included one of our ladies, who played along with her spoons. Jean did a great job and added to the fun.

You  can enjoy the Spittin’ Image music and comedy HERE!

To end our program, I asked former pastor Frank Kisner (from Wisconsin) to give a short devotional. He did a fine job. His son, Dave Kisner, would be pleased. Actually, Pastor Dave Kisner is our Senior Pastor and my boss!

Listen to Frank’s talk HERE!

Next month, we will enjoy the music of the Glorious Day Gospel Quartet. Be sure to join us for some more great music!

Young@Heart Luncheon with Bill Corfield

This month we tried another new performer and we were pleased with lots of requests to bring him back. If you listen to our recording below, you will see why!

As normal, we started with our Early Bird Prelude. This month Grace Averitt played the piano with Nancy Jensen playing the organ. I must say (with prejudice) that they did very well!  You can hear the last couple of their songs HERE.  There is some background chatting as everyone enjoys talking with their friends. The purpose of our Early Bird is to encourage everyone to come into the auditorium and visit. It works!

Following our announcements and jokes, etc. I introduced Bill Corfield. We’ve been successful so far in bringing in some new performers for our luncheon programs and this is another example.  Bill is very active in entertaining in many different venues such as at Retirement Homes, Senior Centers, Wedding Receptions, Parties, etc. Last year he performed about 420 different times. He will complete 17 years of performing in the Miami Valley, this month. He plays a huge variety of different music styles. These included; Country, Popular, Big Band, Gospel and Hymns.

If you would like to hear his program, listen HERE!  Also, some asked for his contact information. I know, you plan to give his name to the competition! Frankly, that is fine. I like you to have a variety of good entertainment, even if it is elsewhere. So HERE is his Website at BillCorfield.com.

I can assure you that we will be inviting Bill Corfield back again in 2014.

Following our program, we moved to our dining area in the gymnasium. The ladies and gentlemen served a very nice meal. Several asked for the recipes; so we will include those in time for you to use for Thanksgiving. You can invite me over anytime to have some of that delicious dessert!

I always like to include some of your photos here and in our newsletter. This time I selected some of you in the dining area. Let me know if you recognize yourselves.

Remember, you can always view the larger images by double-clicking on any photo

NEXT MONTH, September 10th, we will enjoy our OLD favorite twin singers, comedians, guitar, banjo and harmonica players. Be sure to join us for our program with “Spittin’ Image”!

Johnson Farm & Indian Agency Day Trip

Today we enjoyed a great trip to Piqua to see the Johnson Farm and Indian Agency plus a piece of the Miami and Erie Canal on the backside of the property.

John Johnson became an Indian Agent, using his farm as a place to work and trade with the Indians. Construction of the farm began prior to his appointment but he and his wife did not move there, from Fort Wayne, until his appointment.

The farm was constructed in the early 1800s and was initially a log barn and home but included a fine brick home, quickly.

Our tour began in the home. It was a very large home with multiple fireplaces, Two upper floors and a lower level Winter Kitchen as well as a number of out buildings, including the Summer Kitchen, and barns which were also used for storage of the trading items.

We had a couple of great guides (they split us into two more manageable groups). The family was large and included a master bedroom, rooms for the girls and also some for the boys. Girls helped with the house work, cooking, sewing, etc. Boys did their studies and helped around the farm.

Master Bedroom

Boy’s Room with Table for Study. I thought it was interesting to see the booklet on “Good Manners”. Perhaps  it would be good to use, even today!

Girls Room with their Spinning Wheel and Dress Form.

Winter Kitchen (lower level of home)

Summer Kitchen (outside)

Indian Agency office with a few Trade Items (lower level of home)

Garden and Fields

After seeing the home and agency we had our meal (provided by Dorothy Lane Market), and then walked down to the Miami and Erie Canal. They had a nice boat, two mule power and we took a nice slow ride with the help of the two mules.

The kids on the boat seemed to enjoy looking for fish in the water as much as they enjoyed the ride. We were pulled a way past the farm then turned around to return. As we turned around we saw another boat that wasn’t so fortunate. It seems that is sprung a leak and was abandoned.

The building behind the sunken Canal Boat is actually a garage over part of the canal where they can keep the boat during the winters. The canal was shut down during the icy season!

Now, we see the mules doing the other direction and we could see the farmhouse in the distance. It was interesting that Johnson became a Canal Commissioner and a piece of the canal went through his property!

After our ride on the Canal we had a little time to visit their museum, prior to our return home.

There are only small areas of the canal still in existence and most of the canals started to go into serious disrepair in the early 1900s. The 1913 Flood pretty much finished the job for this discontinuation in the Dayton area. I thought this rendering of an Aqueduct for a canal crossing of the Mad River north of Dayton was very interesting. There were several others of these across the state.

Our trips wouldn’t be possible without the help of our drivers. This time we had too many people and too much supplies to use just the bus, so we had a second vehicle mostly for the food and water.  Thanks to Bob Turner for driving the bus and for Lisa Poe for taking the van.

I highly recommend anyone visit this site and see the farm and canal. Check it out on their Internet Website!