Paul Lawrence Dunbar Home - Day Trip

April 22, 2016 we visited the home of Paul Lawrence Dunbar right here in Dayton, Ohio. Paul was a well know poet and writer during the late 1800s and early 1900s. He was a contemporary of the Wright Brothers and even used their printing capabilities to publish his paper!

We were met, and received a excellent guided tour, by one of the National Park Rangers, Greg Smith, assisted by Margaret Peters. They each did excellent jobs and were very knowledgeable and helpful.

During this tour we learned a lot about this house, Paul Lawrence Dunbar and his mother. Before Paul's death, he purchased the home for his mother and he later died here.

The house remains pretty much the way it was left following the death of Paul's mother in 1932. The state took over the maintenance and upkeep of the home a couple of years following her death.

The house was heated by coal and still has gas lighting as well as the original lead water pipes and most of the furnishings.

The China Cabnet below actually doubled as a Murphy Bed
Roll it out and the bed would drop down behind!

Nice kitchen with Stove, Hot Water, indoor plumbing. The lighting was gas.

The room below includes the typewriter that Paul used during his final years.

 Of course, Mama had a sewing room!

 And Paul had his library. He read other books and learn style.

Following our guided tour, we had a very nice lunch at the Carillon Brewing Company in the Carillon Park. This is the only brewery located in a museum. 

The food was very good and would be characterized as German.

We would recommend the house and the restaurant for anyone interested in an educational tour and good meal!

Young@Heart Volunteers Appreciation

We love our volunteers who work with us and our Young@Heart! We are blessed with a large group of volunteers who cook, serve, set up tables, clean up after the luncheons, do our calling, handle event signups, check-in our group and new comers and drive to pick them up as well as some who provide musical entertainment. We could not have a successful senior citizen program without their help.

Every year we honor this group of volunteers with a luncheon of their own, where they do not have to cook or serve. Today, we enjoyed a time of fellowship together and a very nice lunch at the Cherry House Cafe in Beavercreek! This is a photo of the group, although there were some of our volunteers who could not be with us.

Cherry Hill Cafe provided a nice room for us to eat and have a good time of fellowship.

Be sure to thank our volunteers for all of their hard work and service for our "Young People" and the Lord. We love them all!

April Luncheon - Harps of Grace

This month, we had an Angelic Musical experience! Our program was a heavenly performance by a group known as the Harps of Grace. The group is led by Leslie Stratton, who has joined us a couple of times herself.

All puns aside, the music was very good. I billed this as "A Little Bit of Heaven". It was a great experience, having music performed by 10 harps all perched on our platform.

The photo above shows all of the performers and their harps. This is a view not seen during the performance, since many of them are hidden behind their harp.

Video - America The Beautiful

Use the like above to view a short video of Harps of Grace performing America the Beautiful.

Full music program

Or, use this link to listen to the entire music program.

Following the music, we were treated to a very good meal by our cooks and servers in the gymnasium. It was a very tasty meal of Meat Loaf, Mashed Potatoes and Coleslaw, followed by a wonderful Banana Split Pie!

Next month, join us to hear the Dayton Christian High School, Resounding Joy!

Fiddler on the Roof - Day Trip

We thoroughly enjoyed experiencing "Fiddler on the Roof" at La Comedia on March 18. The musical is the best of Fiddler that I've ever seen. Even more enjoyable than the movie.

We had outstanding seats one row up from the floor level. Therefore, we had a perfect view and the sound was great. I've always enjoyed this musical but this was the first time that I heard all the lines.

We're not allowed to take photos or video during the performances but I did get photos during the closing line up.

Everyone who I talked with enjoyed the musical. There's still time to see it, if you want to do that.

Dave Harney - March 8, 2916 Luncheon

This was our first Young@Heart Luncheon of 2016. We made the correct decision to cancel January and February because at least February was a SNOW DAY!

We started with nice piano prelude music by Fred Scheffler and Nathan Brandt. You can listen to their music, HERE! The left photo is Fred and the right is Nathan.

This month we did a little catch-up with birthdays and anniversaries. So, we celebrated three months of birthdays and anniversaries. There was a good number of each.

Of course, everyone came to hear Dave Harney and he didn’t disappoint. Dave always gives us a great program with music, stories and his  jokes.

I added links to a couple of YouTube posts that I did of his music. 

Of course, these are only a couple of the songs that he did. If you want to hear his entire program, you can listen, HERE?
Following the program, we had a great meal. A number of people asked for the recipes of the Brockley Chicken Casserole and the Pistachio Cake. We will provide those in a future newsletter.

Next month, we will be welcoming a little bit of heaven with the Harps of Grace. We will have the platform full of harps playing Heavenly Music for us. You will not want to miss this one. Be sure to invite friends to join you!

Christmas Luncheon Program with Leslie Stratton–Harpist

Wow, just WOW! This program was absolutely outstanding. Leslie Stratton is the Principal Harpist with the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra. We enjoyed her Harp music once before, with our own Charlie Pagnard and his trumpet. She will also return in the spring with “Harps of Grace”. After hearing this, I am really looking forward the next harp performance! She will also be playing again this coming Sunday in our morning services at Washington Heights Baptist Church with a few other members of the orchestra.

I Know you want to see her play, so here are a couple of videos from her performance for us.

 

4 of “6 Noels” and “I Wonder as I Wander”

 

Harp Christmas Music

 

I know some of you probably just want some CD quality Harp Music for playing during this season. So, here’s the entire Harp Music Program.

We finished our day with a very nice Christmas Meal, prepared by Lisa and her staff in the kitchen and dining room. We enjoyed a Christmas Ham, Green Bean Casserole, Fruit Salad and Peppermint Ice Cream with home made Chocolate Sauce.

We Wish You all a Blessed Christmas
and Happy New Year!

Thanksgiving Luncheon Program

This month we enjoyed a great program featuring piano and organ music and our own Lead Pastor, David Kisner.

Grace Averitt and Nancy Jensen played a Piano and Organ duet for both the prelude time prior to our program and then a special number just prior to Pastor Kisner’s talk. The organ did not come through well because of the way we handle the piano and organ in our sound. The piano is amplified through the soundboard in the balcony and the organ has it’s own amplifier and speakers behind the platform. Hence, when recording, the organ does not pick up, unless we record from the room, instead of the board. I have done that with some programs, but there are problems with other sounds such as audience talking and other room noise coming through, too. Since, our purpose of the prelude is to provide background music while you visit with friends prior to the program, recording from the room has it’s problems.

You can listen to the music HERE

Pastor David Kisner is our Lead Pastor. You will note, during his start, he discussed the age of our staff. That was because of the way I introduced him by emphasizing my title of Senior Adult Ministry Pastor. We’re adding more young guys and two of our other pastors recently retired. So, now I’m the old guy and Pastor Kisner is close behind in the number two (by age) position. The other two guys were older than David but younger than I.

All that to say, Pastor Kisner did not preach but told stories about how the Lord led him from politics into ministry. Initially, he thought he should go into politics. We here at Washington Heights are thankful that he was led to the ministry. You should listen to his program to understand all this.

   

Listen to Dave Kisner’s talk HERE

Lisa and the kitchen staff prepared a Thanksgiving meal for us with Turkey Pot Pie, Sweet Potato Casserole, Cranberry Salad and Pumpkin Pie. I’ve asked Lisa to provide the recipes for our December Newsletter. I think the pot pie and fixings will be something nice to use for Christmas and for your Thanksgiving Leftovers.

Speaking of our Newsletters, watch them for announcements of upcoming programs and trips in 2016.

Next month, we will enjoy some great Christmas Music with Leslie Stratton and her harp. She played for us one other time with Charlie and his Trumpet, but this time it will be primarily Leslie. We will also be using Leslie and Charlie for a Christmas Musical in our church in December. So, you can have two opportunities to listen to some great music. Join us in December.