Young at Heart Fall Trip – Washington DC – Day 2

Today, we continued our time in Washington with some serious touring of the many monuments and features of our Capital.

First, we were joined by Justin, who was a very good guide. Fortunately, he will continue as our guide, tomorrow.

The first stop was to visit the Jefferson Memorial. You could also easily see the Washington Monument, is often seen from many other memorials and monuments.

 

Of course, the focus is on Thomas Jefferson

Next, we spent time at the Martin Luther King Memorial. I was impressed with this statue and the wall with many of his quotes.

Following this, we went to the White House. We couldn’t get real near it but I was also impressed with the protests. We saw this in many places but it was never disruptive during our time here.

We planned to go to the Capital building but couldn’t get close enough with our bus because there was something going on with a cordon of police. We never discovered what was going on. Maybe, tomorrow.

Then, we visited the WWII Memorial. I was very impressed with this because it included monuments to each state and also had a nice reflecting pool. It was also a very fitting frame for the Washington Monument.

The Ohio Monument!

And Kilroy was Here!

Finally, time for dinner at Buca di Bepo

Now, we continue our touring with a visit to the Korean War Memorial. Very interesting! I saw many of the guys carrying the M1 Carbine that I had until just recently. I also pointed out the BAR that I carried during by Basic Training, and if course the old standby, the M1 Garand. I liked the sound of the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR). Didn’t enjoy carrying it, though.

Nearby, were the Vietnam Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial.

I mentioned Donna, our driver, yesterday. Thought we should at least include her photo as we end our second day!

Thank you Donna for all you do to make this a pleasant experience.

Young at Heart Fall Trip – Washington DC – Day 1

33 Young at Heart people left a little before 8AM. on September 21st for Washington DC. We had requested one of our favorite drivers from past years, Donna, and were happy to have her. As this narrative unfolds, you will readily see why we requested her.

First, the bus arrived early and we were loaded an ready to go before our official departure time. Second, as we travel, Donna is quick to suggests rest stop locations and places to eat. Both worked very well for us. Finally, for today, she suggested a stop along the way which was free and not on our itinerary.

After lunch we discovered that we would arrive very early for dinner. So, Donna suggested that we make a side trip to the Flight 93 National Memorial. We didn’t let on where we were going but kept is a secret location until signs made the people readily aware of our new destination. Until then, I think many of the people thought that we were taking a nice Fall Color Tour!

We were able to spend over an hour at this location walking the flight path and viewing the wall of names.

The flight path. This illustrated the path of Flight 93 just prior to the crash.

A boulder and flowers marked the point of impact for Flight 93.

This is a part of the wall of names for those aboard Flight 93. Notice Todd Beamer, who is the one who lead the unsuccessful attempt to re-take control of the plane from the terrorists. “Let’s Roll!” Later, Todd’s wife, Lisa, would write the book “Let's Roll!: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Courage”.

Another view of the point of impact from the wall of names.

So, as you can see, our driver made it possible for us to have a nice surprise for our first day out. This day was initially expected to be entirely a day for travel. We still arrived in time for our scheduled dinner at the Old Country Buffet and then check into our hotel at the Hampton Inn.

Great start to a new adventure!

Young at Heart Luncheon–Spittin’ Image

Tuesday, September 11, we had our monthly YAH Luncheon. However, this was far from normal. We had a few moments to remember those who gave their lives in 9/11. We also had a nice piano prelude by Fred Scheffler.

This month, we tried something very different for us and made use of the gymnasium for our entire program. We had a Cabaret style program with music and jokes by “Spittin’ Image (Brian and Blain Swabb). We sat around our luncheon tables while enjoying the music and fun. This gave them a nice opportunity to mingle with our audience and interact.

They even took the opportunity while browsing our audience to pick one of the ladies to join them on the stage. She played spoons and sang with them.

We have our own talent and people who know how to have fun. Following the “Spittin’ Image performance, Anita Krull sang a song about the apples that we had on the tables and played her guitar. Incidentally, her guitar was almost identical with one on the twins. Same thing but smaller model. Perhaps hers is the “girls” model. No, I’m just teasing.

Following the entertainment, we enjoyed a very good Turkey Salad Croissant meal, finished with a Lemon Bar for dessert.

Thank you to all who made this great program possible:

• Lisa and the cooks
• 5/3rd Bank employees and our volunteers who served
• Fred Scheffler at the piano
• Set up crew for the set up of the room – much more this time with moving piano, setting up stage, etc.
• Drivers
• Dish washers
• Floyd Rietveld for his contribution through the design of the sound improvement panels and engineering work.
• “Spittin’ Image”, Brian and Blain Swabb (they let me use their sound system, too)

Prior to the program, I announced that we wanted feedback on how well you like this format. I got mixed reactions. Several, thought the sound wasn’t up to par with the auditorium, some preferred the padded seats in the auditorium but in general, the reaction to this change is positive. We will do this again, with some changes, but we will not do it on a regular basis since we do not have an appropriate sound system or stage of our own. But, you can be assured that we will do  it again. I am planning to get seat pads for the chairs to improved that part of the experience. However, the cost of sound equipment for the gym is certainly much more than our budget can handle at this time, so we would need to rent or borrow equipment each time we need it.

Next month, our own David Darkow will be speaking to us about the many changes to our Healthcare Benefits System (Medicare, ObamaCare) and how they might affect us and our long term health. You won’t want to miss this program. Dave worked many years for Social Security. Now, he has his own consulting business and regularly does information programs for employees who are nearing retirement.

 

Young at Heart Day Trip–LaComedia–Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming

September 6, 2012, we went back in time to 1945 and enjoyed a good musical production at La Comedia in Springboro.

This is the third in the series of Smoke on the Mountain Musical Plays and was produced in 2006. The story takes place in the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in 1945. The boys are home from the war and Mount Pleasant Baptist is undergoing some changes. Reverend Mervin Oglethorpe is giving his last service and is preparing to move to a new pastorate in Texas. He has already purchased his 10-Gallon Hat and is leaving with his wife who is eight months pregnant with their first child. His wife June is part of a prominent family in the church with a a brother and sister who are twins. Her sister also have a set of very active young twins.

Following this service, June’s brother, Dennis, will take over as their pastor. The family are very much musically inclined and perform many good old down home songs through out the service (and our play). They sang many favorites such as: Leaning on the Everlasting Arms; Gloryland Boogie; Everything You'll Need; I'll Never Die; Royal Telephone; A Little At A Time; Children Talk To Angels; Standing on the Promises; RIVER MEDLEY: (Shall We Gather at the River?; I'm Going to Canaan; You Can Swim; Far Side Banks of Jordan); I Am Ready To Go; Come Around; I'll Live Again; Round-up in the Sky; I Love To Tell the Story; Jesus Savior Pilot Me; PROPHET MEDLEY: Daniel in the Lion's Den; Ezekiel Saw The Wheel; Jacob's Ladder; Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho ); Just Over in the Gloryland; Unclouded Day; Do Lord. I have to admit to wanting to sing along on several of the different numbers!

I was impressed by home many different instruments the actors could play. One time you would see one playing the guitar and another time the base or piano. I also enjoyed June. Her job in the church was to Sign for the Deaf people. Her signing was hilarious and there were no people in the church who could understand her, because no one was deaf. I guess that would mean she doesn’t need to be replaced after leaving for Texas.

I was also impressed that all of the music was from the performers. None was from a soundtrack. Overall, I was very impressed with this program and enjoyed in immensely and would readily recommend this to anyone. This was the first day of this production at La Comedia and you would have never know it from their performance. The play runs through October 28, 2012 at LaComedia. Checkout LaComedia for show times and costs.

As always, the performers joined together in the foyer to greet everyone!

Young at Heart Luncheon–August 14, 2012

We had a great luncheon program with better turnout than anticipated, even though on of our regular groups from a Retirement Home did not attend.

This month we featured a fantastic piano concert by Amy Anand. Amy is a piano student of Grace Averitt, who also plays for us.

Our program featured Gary Lare the Ventriloquist. Gary even introduced us to a new character this month. Granny is new to us. Of course we also enjoyed the antics of Ralph and Agnes. I discovered this month that not all of the characters are wood carvings. Some are plastic. And even a few are “HUMAN”! But, a dummy is a dummy.  LOL

Of course, one of my favorite part of any performance is to have our people involved. This time he involved a number of people, including me! Fortunately, I couldn’t take a photo of me.

Remember, you are only a click away from a larger photo!

I closed the program in the auditorium with a short devotional, prior to moving back to our dining area. I gave an illustration of a man who watched helplessly as a number of birds flew into his big window during a major storm. He tried to redirect them into his barn but they were afraid and paid him no heed. He wished he could become one of them so he could explain the danger and safety of the barn. We tied this to how God became like one of us as Jesus, so he could give us new life.

Next month, our program will feature our favorite performing twins! No competition for me since my twin brother DOESN’T perform. Spittin’ Image will join us September 11. We’ve recently made some significant improvements to our gymnasium where we do our meals. Hence, we plan to do the entire program in the gym. There are still a few wrinkles to work out but the sound capabilities of the gym have improved significantly. So, we hope to have a Cabaret style program. Be sure to join us!