Day Trip to The Ark Encounter in Kentucky - May 18, 2017

We traveled down to Williamstown, Kentucky to see the Noah's Ark. No, they didn't finally locate it in Kentucky; we went down to see the Ark Encounter and tour the Ark Replica. This is an experience that I recommend for everyone. 

Remember, you can click on any photo and see a large version!

We arrived about 11AM, so we chose to have lunch at Emzara's Kitchen, prior to entering the ark, two by two!! Emzara's is a nice restaurant and is large with two levels. They have a good buffet line with about all you could need, including soups and salads, entrees, and even desserts.

Marilyn & Carmela

Following the meal, we entered the Ark via the Gift Shop entrance. I knew a secret that we'll share here. We immediately found an elevator and traveled up to the 3rd Level. This is the top floor of exhibits. There is one more level, but that is still restricted. It will eventually be an observation deck (and rumor has it that it will include a very nice restaurant). The original concept called for it to merely have a snack bar and observation telescopes. I would assume it would be a nice place for photography.

We chose to go to the 3rd floor and come down the ramps through the exhibits instead of going the hard way, up the ramps. The disadvantage of this is that you mess with the display sequence, but most of us are very familiar with the story of the flood and the timeline.

Exhibits included models of the animals on the ark, the food storage, living quarters, etc.

They even included some real animals both inside the ark and in a zoo outside behind Emzara's.

There were also special exhibits and theaters at the ends of the ark. Some of these were new since the time we visited a year ago. Other exhibits appeared to have been updated.

Food and Water Storage

Living Quarters and Work

Of course there was also a story to tell, so there were many exhibits illustrating the flood, and the events leading up to the flood. There were also a number of documents showing bibles and other historical documents.

 There are many stories about a flood circulating all over the world

Many people around the world tell us that the worldwide flood is just a fairy tale, not to be believed but nice fantasy for the kids! Think about the following:

And Perhaps, that God and Jesus are also not REAL.  But we know different.

I certainly endorse the Ark Encounter and recommend it for everyone, especially families with children.

Next month, we are going to actually take a boat ride. One of my favorite things to do is ride paddle-wheel riverboats. My grandfather on my mother's side of the family worked on riverboats on the Missouri River. Ride with us as we eat, and see the sites on the Ohio River, June 29.

May 2017 Luncheon - Burt Kettinger

Prior to introducing our program for the day, I played a video of the first Young@Heart Fall Trip that Nancy and I went on way back in 2007. At that time, the group was still being led by Sherm Bowser and we went to New York and Lancaster, PA. I think that is probably when I decided to join the group and ultimately take over the leadership when Sherm retired at the end of that year. The video is memorable because there are memories of so many people including many who are still here with us. I also used it to entice you to join us this year when we go to Pigeon Forge. Currently, our numbers for that trip are not good.

Today, was one of my favorite programs, with a very special vocalist. Burt Kettinger comes to us from the Chicago area, where he still sings. He has sung with some of the great Christian musicians. We've enjoyed him several other times, including one time when he came to do a concert for our church. Burt has a wonderful mellow Baritone/Base voice and is the kind of music that is really relaxing. I hope we didn't put anyone to sleep!

Burt sang both on the platform and at the piano. I enjoyed the piano best because it was more natural and impromptu but it was difficult to see him singing in that position. Perhaps we should have put the piano on the platform.

I'm also including a couple of YouTube videos that you can see to get a good sense of Burt's concert. The link here is to the complete musical audio of the program, which includes his introductions and talk. 

Following our program, we retired to the gymnasium/dining room for very good Cinco de Mayo meal.

Next month, we will feature award winning Banjo Player, Glenn Parks. Join us on June 13 for a good musical experience and nice meal.

Volunteer Luncheon at Morgan House

Friday, April 21st, we took our volunteers on a short trip to the Morgan House in Dublin, Ohio. The Morgan House is named after Morgan's Raiders. General Morgan, Confederate Army, lead a group of raiders north into Ohio. They stayed for a night in the log cabin of the Weavers and on their land. Morgans raiders were captured a short time later. The house was moved to the current location and expanded. Today, it is a large gift shop and restaurant with several dining rooms and an extensive collection of goods for sale, including food, clothing, kitchen items, household items, jewelry, and even furniture.

Sixteen of us went on the trip, but there are many more volunteers. Our volunteers do a variety of jobs that maks our Young@Heart program possible. These jobs include cooking, serving, setting tables, making table decorations, signups for trips, registration for the luncheons (name tag table), sound system and driving for the luncheons and day trips. We could not do our Young@Heart without the volunteers. 

Andrew drove our bus over to the Morgan House in Dublin. This is about an hour and a half drive.

The Morgan House is a large multi room building. The original log cabin can be seen in the second photo.

Our group first shopped through the gift shops. These were situated in several rooms of the building and provided a wide variety of goods.

Of course, many of the guys were really just interested in eating the food. As I've heard elsewhere, if your going to make food, make it good! And the Morgan House serves GOOD FOOD!

One or our thoughts for doing this little trip was to see if it was appropriate for a Day Trip for our Young@Heart group. Because of the good number of steps between rooms and the dining rooms, we decided against this. However, I would certainly recommend  this for ladies and couples, who are up to a few steps. Check out their website for further information. Morgan House

Redeemed Quartet - April 11, YAH Luncheon

We enjoyed the gospel quartet music of the "Redeemed Quartet" for our April 2017 Luncheon. This quartet is made up of two sets of brothers aged 19 to 22. They come from Southeastern Indiana where their fathers are pastors. The quartet is comprised of lead Ben Duncan, his brother Nate - tenor, baritone Caleb Koble, and his brother, Josh - base. 

The brothers work together flipping houses, when they are not singing. This means they are their own bosses and gives them flexibility to sing on a variety of venues and different times and dates. If anyone needs a home in southeastern Indiana, their first house is completed and available!

We had lots of great comments and requests to bring them back. I will certainly see if we can arrange for that to happen again, next year.

I didn't record the program, as we normally do, because this kind of program does not work well that way. However, I did video record most of the music, so rather than just listen, you can see them! Check out the videos attached to this Blog.

Lisa and her team provided an outstanding meal. She was very short handed but the results didn't reflect that. We had meatloaf, mashed potatoes, coleslaw and finished with a banana/pineapple cream pie. I will try to include some of the recipes in the newsletter.

Now, for the quartet videos:

Day Trip - April 7, 2017 - Away in a Basement

This is our first Day Trip of the 2017 season. This was an easy trip with a short drive down to Springboro and LaComedia. We enjoy the shows at LaComedia and they rarely disappoint. A big plus is the large luncheon buffet.

We had a decent number of people for this trip with 18 going down on the bus and another 5 driving on their own. We met at the church, then boarded the bus at 10:15 for the short drive down to LaComedia.

We're met at the theater by a hostess with Cookies! However, I stash the cookies for energy on the return trip. :-)

This time we got tables a lot higher up, near the level where we enter the dining room. Actually, the only downside to this seating location is the fact that we need to carry our food up a good number of steps. Fortunately, no one tripped and all of the food made it safely to our tables (and tummies).

From the standpoint of viewing the play, I liked our location. It worked well. Nancy and I and a friend where located a bit to the side, and I found the speakers weren't ideal for this location, but the remainder of our group were located face on to the stage.

The food was great. They do a good buffet with a huge selection of meats, veggies, etc. We were served our salads prior to going down to the buffet. And our Christmas Cake after the meal. 

The play was a typical Church Basement Ladies play and musical. In fact, most of the performers where the same, except for the pastor. This time the theme was about preparation for the annual Christmas Program. The play was not a Christmas program but was about the activities of the ladies and pastor in preparation for the program, so it didn't seem like a Christmas program for us viewers. I was pleased with that. There was an interesting romantic twist to this program that was unexpected. However, I didn't feel that this was one of their better programs. In fact, I would say it  was my least favorite Church Basement Ladies play.

I took a number of photos prior of the play. We are asked not to take photos during the play and I comply. Lighting is terrible for photography but I think I got some decent shots, although some were a bit fuzzy. Check them out below.

As always, you can click any image to see a larger version!

March 14, 2017 Luncheon - Dave Harney

This is our first Luncheon Program of 2017. A few years ago we decided to discontinue the programs during January and February to avoid issues associated with the winter weather. God had other plans for this year. Our dates for January and February would have been OK but today we are snowy and cold. Fortunately, we didn't have a significant accumulation of snow. So, we still have a decent turnout of around 100 people plus our volunteers.

We started the program with a nice piano duet by Chad Brandt and Fred Scheffler. Fred teaches piano and Chad is one of his students. Nice job, guys. I always enjoy nice prelude music so we can visit with a good musical background.

Following the piano program I opened with our traditional activities then turned the program over to Dave Harney. Dave has been a part of our luncheon programs for longer than I have. He introduced some of his CDs and T-Shirt products.

And Dave is so much better than I am at telling stories and jokes. Maybe he has a better writer!

Of course, our program with Dave wouldn't be complete without some of his good old down home Gospel Music. I have a couple of examples here. "Beulah Land" and a medley with "The Brush" and "Something Beautiful". First, the medley!

I thought some of you would like to read the words of this song:

·    Life started out like a canvas, and God started painting on me,
But I took the paintbrush from Jesus, and painted what I wished to see;
The colors I painted kept running, and the objects were all out of size.
I had made a mess of my painting, my way now seemed so unwise.
So I brought my painting to Jesus, all the colors, all the pieces, so wrong,
In the markets of earth it was worthless, but His blood made my painting belong.
He worked with no condemnation, never mentioned the mess I had made.
Then He dipped His brush in the rainbow, and He signed it,

"The Price Has Been Paid." 

When I gave the brush back to Jesus, when I gave the brush back to Him.
He started all over life's canvas to fill,

When I gave to Jesus the brush of my will.

and "Beulah Land"

After the music we went to the gymnasium (our dining room) for a nice Irish Meal and a delicious dessert.

Next month, we'll enjoy more music by a Gospel Quartet from Southern Ohio and Indiana - "Redeemed". Be sure to join us April 11 for another great musical program.

Carillon Brass Concert - December 13, 2016

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We had an awesome Christmas Luncheon Program and meal, in spite of the snow! Unfortunately, the weather did impact our numbers, so instead of a record turnout, we had about 100 brave soles. So, now all of the rest of you will have to make do with this blog!

To start, Grace Averitt played the Piano for our prelude. Grace will be leaving for Florida soon, so we are going to miss her around here for a couple of months.

Carillon Brass is a subset of the brass section of the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra. They regularly perform in schools to build an appreciation for music in our students. The Carillon Brass comprises five top musicians from the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra: Charles Pagnard, Principal Trumpet; Alan Siebert, Second Trumpet; Aaron Brant, Principal Horn; Chad Arnow, Trombone; and Tim Northcut, Principal Tuba. We were also pleased to have Claire Northcutt (Tim's 14 year old daughter) sing for us.

They performed a very good selection of Christmas music, some familiar and some not. Actually, they have a way of making some familiar music sound unfamiliar!  LOL (I mean that in a good way, of course)

You can enjoy the entire music program HERE,

 Aaron Brant             Alan Siebert              Charles Pagnard

Chad Arnow           Tim Northcut

The Carillon Brass

Claire Northcut

Thank you Carillon Brass for a fantastic Christmas Concert!

After the concert, we adjourned to the gymnasium for our Christmas meal. Lisa and her staff of volunteers prepared and served a very good Christmas meal of Ham, Sweet Potato Casserole, Baked Apples and Cheese Cake!

We will not have another Luncheon Program until March 14, when our old friend Dave Harney will sing for us. So, Happy New Year!  And keep warm and dry,