Sept. 8, Luncheon Program - Spittin' Image

Well, it’s September, so it is time for some fun times with "Spittin’ Image", the Swabb twins, Blain and Brian. They give is a great program of music and comedy this time every year.

We started with some very nice piano music by our own Grace Averitt. So, this was a concert within a concert! Grace is a good friend and always has done a great job as our pianist here at Washington Heights Baptist Church. Of course, it is also helpful when our piano tuner is her husband, Mark.
Listen to Grace

Spittin’ Image have always given us great and fun programs. We also have some of our best attendance when they are here. Brian and Blain Swabb hail from Greenville, Ohio. They have been performing together since they were wee tikes. Typically they perform somewhere around 500 times a year. Today, they had to leave promptly for another program in the Cincinnati area.

Here is a YouTube video of one of the songs that Brian and Blain performed. You can also listen to their Entire Program.
We completed our program with a very good devotional by an old friend of ours, and our church, Charles Wilkins, Pastor at Piqua Baptist Church. He talked about how we can serve our Lord, even into “Old Age”, whatever that is!

Listen to Charles Wilkins
Charlie and his wife, Caroline, were members here at Washington Heights when we were all part of our Young Married Couples Sunday School Class down in the area we now jokingly refer to as the dungeon. It is a small basement room below our old kitchen and bathrooms. It’s used for storage, these days. I think that was over 40 years ago! Charlie was also one of our star softball players, in those days.

Following this, we moved back to our dining area for a good meal prepared by Lisa and her team of cooks and servers. This time we had a meatball lasagna and carrot salad. We finished by a hot Peach Cobbler topped with ice cream!
Next month, we will be joined by another friend of Young@Heart, “Stan the Magic Man”. It has been a few years since we’ve used Stan (rumor has it that he disappeared during the disappearing portion of his act). I don’t know if that’s true, but bring someone along next month and see for yourselves! Now, don’t look up that old enemy to bring, just so Stan can make him or her disappear. Let’s be nice. Anyway, this may be the month for him to saw someone in half!


Join us and share the fun and fellowship!

John Jacobs - Young@Heart Luncheon

We enjoyed a new performer for our August 11th Luncheon Program. John Jacobs joined us to lead a singing program. We sang inspirational, 40 & 50's, and patriotic songs. John is a worship leader at his church and we enjoyed singing along with his selection of music.

Our lunch was a nice picnic prepared by Lisa and the kitchen staff. We enjoyed grilled hamburgers and lemon bars for dessert!

Underground Railroad–YAH Day Trip

Today, we did a new trip, again! This time we went down to Cincinnati to the Freedom Center – Underground Railroad Museum Exhibits.

This is a very worth while trip. It is a serious educational experience. I know that I personally learned a lot about this period of our history. There is a lot to learn. I suspect we could all learn something from this. Since it is in Cincinnati, you would expect it to tell a lot about this part of the country and our involvement in this nasty part of our US history. Fortunately, much of this involved the efforts to free the slaves. For example; how many would know that Oberlin College played a role by being the first college to integrate and and also support the abolition of slavery?

Bob Turner was our driver for this trip and did a good job of maneuvering the yellow barrels and handling the roadwork, on the way down and back. He even found a parking spot right in front of the museum, when they suggested the best place would be several blocks away, on the other side of the football stadium! Thank you Fireman Bob!

The museum covers three levels. The lower level provides for the entry hall, gift and book shop, and lunch room.

Theaters and exhibits covered the second and third floors. The second floor mostly covered the issues of slavery and the “underground railroad” to free and emancipate the slaves. It is worth noting that some freed slaves (even those who paid for their release) were later re-enslaved.

The third floor added more information about other types of slavery that continues to this day. These include slavery of workers, even as our own slavery in the past, and also enslaving women and younger girls as prostitutes. We support a missionary and agency to rescue these people. Becky McDonald heads  up know as Women at Risk, International, and was here in our church this spring.

There were also some nice balcony areas overlooking the Ohio River and into Newport, Kentucky. The second floor balcony included an Eternal Flame.

We could also look down on a reminder of another kind of emancipation. There is a section of the Berlin Wall in front of the building making up a nice garden. This is a reminder of the freeing of many Germans from the bondage of Communism.

We departed the museum for lunch. This was a change for us because we were planning to eat in the museum cafeteria. Unfortunately, it is temporarily closed. So, with Lisa’s help, we selected a Tom + Chee, north of I-275.

I whole heartedly recommend this museum. It is a very good educational experience. Bring your grandkids and make a day of it. I think they would like Tom and Chee, also.

Don’t forget, you can click on any image to see a larger version!

Buffalo Bill Cody

Yes, you are reading this correctly! Buffalo Bill, also known around here as Stephen Hollen, joined us for our July luncheon program.

Our program started with a beautiful piano and organ musical interlude. Grace Averitt, at the Piano, and Nancy Jensen, at the Organ, entertained us for the prelude period, immediately preceding our program.

Following our introductions of newcomers and birthdays and anniversaries, I introduced Stephen Hollen as Buffalo Bill Cody. We’ve enjoyed other programs by this talented storyteller: Mark Twain and Appalachian Tales.

I noted that one of the featured performers with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show was an Ohio native from Greenville. She was with the show for 17 years, I think he said. I also noted that people often mistake him for Wild Bill Hickok because of the name and era. Actually, Buffalo Bill did use Wild Bill in his show for a year.

In addition to his family and his life, he talked about Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane and Sitting Bull. I thought the program was as informative as it was entertaining.

I’ll also include a link to a YouTube video of part of the program. This is where he talks about Annie Oakley, her husband, and Calamity Jane. I also liked the story about Sitting Bull and the riverboat ride from Cincinnati to New Orleans, but you need to see the live show to get that part.

Here’s the link to the video. You are welcome to share THIS LINK. Of course, you can also share this Blog post with your friends.

It couldn’t be a luncheon program with a fine meal (not provided by Buffalo Bill’s Chuck Wagon) by our own Lisa Poe and her talented team of Cooks, Servers and other staff. It was a great meal of salad, baked breaded chicken, baked mac and cheese, and a big home made cookie! That went very well with a good cup of coffee!

Notice that few kids joined us for this fun program

Remember, you can always click a photo to see the larger version

Next month, we will enjoy a musical program from John Jacobs. This will include a nice variety of gospel and popular music. We will also feature another fun and fine eating experience. Lisa will be preparing grilled hamburgers and the fixings! Don’t miss this one!

Day Trip – The Wilds

Today, June 18. we traveled across Ohio to the Zanesville area, where we visited the Wilds. This place is a beautiful animal sanctuary. It includes many animals that are not native to Ohio or the USA. In fact, the only American wild animals that I noticed were Buffalo. There were whole herds of Buffalo. There were also a number of African animals including wild horses, Cheetahs and many others. One beauty of this place is that they are reproducing and continuing the species! Some may even eventually be placed back in their homelands.

I will show a number of photos without attempting to name them, because I know I’ll be wrong in many, maybe most, cases. I do know Buffalo (because I lived near their homeland of Custer, SD) and Cheetah, because I have seen them in zoos.

This photo shows an Ostrich but this wasn’t really my purpose, here. There were two kinds of transportation through the park. One was on open bus type vehicle as seen here behind us. And the other was enclosed. Both had disadvantages – the open vehicle was subject to heat and rain. The enclosed vehicle avoided this because it was enclosed and air conditioned. Unfortunately, our A/C generated a lot of moisture which rained down on those of us in the rear of the bus. A huge disadvantage for the enclosed bus was restriction of shooting photography through reflective windows. You may be able to detect some of this on my photos, here.

This is an up close and personal view of an ostrich. They liked our bus – it appears that they think we are their food or perhaps we’re bringing food!

I was also interested in the buffalo/bison. There was a huge herd of them on the hillside! But they were very mangy in appearance. Our guide was very knowledgeable and explained that they are in the process of shedding their winter coats. So, there is a lot of loose hanging fur. I especially wanted to include the buffalo photo because, our next YAH Luncheon will feature Buffalo Bill Cody (aka; Stephen Hollen) who will act the part and tell Wild West Stories. Buffalo Bill got his fame and name by shooting about 1600 buffalo in a short time period to provide meat for the railroad workers who were opening the west.

It also appears that this is the mating season for the deer. This one looks terrible to us but he apparently thinks he’s attractive to the females. He is also wearing his “cologne”! It must be date night!

This is a photo of our group from inside the bus.

Of course, we took time to eat a late lunch before returning to Dayton. Fortunately, the day was pretty much dry, until our ride home.

Lisa arranged to purchase nice boxed lunches from DLM for our meals.

I would happily recommend that any one visit The Wilds. We will probably take our grandkids some time. But, I would recommend using the open buses, if you can endure the heat and there is no threat of rain.