It's a New Year

Evelyn spent most of the day de-Christmasing the place after Jen and Matt and the kids left around 10:00 a.m. I paid bills and got the checkbook up-to-date while giving an assist here and there to Evelyn who was rearranging some of the winter-not-Christmas snowmen and other decorations. I made us big salads for lunch, and we walked after 2:00. With a temperature close to 50 degrees outside, I decided it was the perfect afternoon to take down the lights outside. It took me longer than I planned, due largely to an extension cord wrapped and tangled all around itself in the garage. It took me at least 15 minutes, maybe 30, to get it into a manageable coil that would fit on the shelf in the garage.
All the lights and extension cords and portable outlets are put away in the basement. The only thing that remains is the Christmas tree inside, which I'll tackle probably Saturday morning.
They're predicting a couple inches of snow, at least, for the morning and cold temperatures all weekend. So I'm glad I got the outside stuff done today.
It was the second holiday in a week I've spent the whole day without leaving the house. Really, t's a nice way to have a holiday.
For dinner we cooked a couple of steaks from Omaha Steaks the Aulens had sent us for Christmas. They were really good, and there are more in the freezer!

Miles and Nina posed on the streetcar
in the Cincinnati section of Museum Center. 

Today's picture was taken yesterday. We spent the afternoon at the Cincinnati Museum Center after a big pancake and bacon breakfast at home. The museum was open a little later. We left just before 6:00 and then headed to the Chinese buffet on Tylersville Road. The Johnson kids love going to a Chinese restaurant, and this one is pretty good. The place was packed, and we had a good dinner.
Then we headed home to play Apples to Apples before retiring to the family room to watch Argo on DVD (Jen had brought it with them). Evelyn made two huge bowls of popcorn for us to munch while we watched. The kids hadn't seen the movie, and I was glad to see it a 2nd time (the first time was a year ago at the movie theater). Then we tuned into NBC and watched the ball drop and wished each other happy New Year together.

Weekend Update

Friday night we went to see A Strange Brand of Happy, Joe Boyd's new movie, with Terry and Shirley Wuske and enjoyed dinner with them at Red Robin afterwards.

Our granddaughter, Nina, decorated this pot as a Christmas
gift last year. It looks nice with a pretty yellow mum
to decorate our deck this autumn.

Saturday morning I cut grass, trimmed bushes, edged the front lawn, watered, fed, and rearranged flower pots, and made a bouquet of zinnias for the kitchen table.
I took my shower at noon and was dressed just in time to help Evelyn finish up lunch for Byron and Katie Cartwright,
who were in town for a conference last week at CCU. They arrived about 1 and spent overnight with us. We laughed, ate, talked, and thoroughly enjoyed catching up with them. They took us to dinner at Wild Ginger in Hyde Park Saturday night, and we capped off the evening with ice cream at Graeter's (on Hyde Park Square). The evening was cool, and we were almost shivering as we finished off our ice cream outside and hurried back to the car.
I was "hosting" in both chapel services Sunday morning, and Evelyn attended the 9:00 service in the worship center. So we met at Panera's for lunch. As soon as I was home and had changed clothes, I started on a list of more yard work. Finished trimming the bushes in front of the house, mowed down the fading patch of black-eyed Susans, watered plants again, and repotted some maroon shamrocks that had gotten water-logged and wilty on the deck. Then a trip to the store before chicken tacos while we watched the evening news.
It was a full weekend, remarkably productive while also making time for lifelong friends and meaningful worship. The beautiful sunshine, dry air, and cool temperatures just added to the blessing of it all.

Saturday and Sunday in New York

A week ago I described our nice Friday night with the Taylors and Johnsons in New York City. We had equally fine days Saturday and Sunday.
Saturday morning we enjoyed brunch at Geoff and Lisa's favorite neighborhood spot, Cafe Henri. Then we drove (yes, I drove too; we needed two cars) to the northern edge of Manhattan to a unique museum called the Cloisters. It features many remarkable pieces of medieval art, including glass windows, tapestries, and wooden statues. Its beautiful courtyard was a good place for pictures, as well as the surrounding gardens and the beautiful park it bordered. We enjoyed the fresh air as well as the culture!

That afternoon we ate snacks on the waterfront in Long Island City and rested and visited till the Johnsons needed to catch their train back to Pennsylvania.
After resting some more, we went with Geoff and Lisa to the waterfront in Brooklyn where we had wonderful lobster rolls at a stand called Luke's, enjoyed eating them in the Brooklyn Park, watching the lower Manhattan skyline light up with the sunset.

Sunday we got up early and rode to Central Park--we were there by 7:00--where we sat up our chairs, spread out our blanket, and waited till noon when the theater ticket office gave out free tickets for that evening's Shakespeare in the Park performance of Love's Labour Lost. (The long time to talk about life was a highlight of the weekend.) We ate waffles from a truck and then drove back home to grab some food and rest in our room.
That evening we enjoyed a great worship service at one campus of Redeemer Presbyterian with Geoff and Lisa, grabbed dinner at a Shake Shack, and then made our way to Central Park--in the rain. We waited under umbrellas till after 9:00 (the play had been scheduled to start at 8:30) when the rain abated and the theater opened. We really enjoyed the quality of the acting, singing, and dancing. A musical score had been added to the play; it was surprising, funny, and cool. And the actors performed like real troopers in the rain that started before 10:00. By a few minutes after 10, management called a pause. And 15 minutes after that they called off the performance because radar didn't show any sign of the rain clearing up. We didn't see the last thrid of the play, but we were really glad we had seen some of it in the beautiful open-air theater in Central Park.

New York with the Fam

Evelyn and I drove just past Harrisburg, PA last night and stayed overnight before driving the rest of the way into the city today. I had never taken the Lincoln Tunnel into Manhattan, nor driven in Manhattan before. But Geoff gave me perfect step-by-step, turn-by-turn directions, and, actually it was a breeze. The traffic on 40th Street across to Third Avenue was stop-and-go most of the way, but we weren't in a hurry, and it gave us time to soak up the city atmosphere and make sure we were in the right spot.

I  snapped this picture out my windshield stopped at Broadway and 40th Street.

We got checked into our hotel in Long Island City in time to change clothes and walk the few blocks down to Geoff and Lisa's apartment. Matt and the kids were already there, and after awhile, we walked to the subway to meet Lisa and Jen in the city (Lisa was at work, and Jen met with Orchard Group yesterday and today.) We took the subway to Central Park where Lisa managed a family photo shoot. That had been Evelyn's request--a picture of all of us since we were all going to be together. Two of Lisa and Geoff's good friends met us at the park and actually snapped the pictures of all 8 of us, using Lisa's camera. And Lisa took pictures of the smaller groups herself. We took pictures in at least three different locations, and we're looking forward to Lisa's Photoshop work to turn them into masterpieces!

 

Then we subwayed to the location for our celebration dinner. The occasion was our 40th wedding anniversary. The kids had picked out a wonderful restaurant, The Harrison, where we enjoyed a long, relaxing, wonderful dinner. Lots of laughter, great food, a very fine time. And our dessert came with a special greeting from the chef.

We walked the Highline after that and returned to Geoff and Lisa's apartment full of memories of a wonderful family celebration.

Picture Perfect

Nina painted a wooden frame and gave it to us for Christmas, and it's been leaning on a table in the family room downstairs ever since then. She painted it red, which goes perfectly with the room, and we knew we wanted to use it down there. But we just hadn't printed a picture to put inside it.
Tonight after work I went to the Kodak kiosk at Kroger's with the disk of the Johnsons' engagement pictures, because I remembered there were some in the batch just of Miles and Nina. But I didn't take time to choose the picture we would use before I grabbed the disk and headed for work.
So when I got to the kiosk, I couldn't decide which picture to use. So I printed three of 'em. These two are the ones I did NOT put in the frame! At least not yet. Maybe another day I'll take a picture of the picture in the frame so Nina can see how we're using her handiwork.
Accomplished a lot at work today. Stuck with it and finished reading the proof for our April issue (goes to the printer next week). Did some correspondence to nail down some assignments for some future issues and participated in an hour-long call with planners of the Stone-Campbell Dialogue, which will meet in Indianapolis in October.
Taking a half day of vacation tomorrow and then taking the afternoon off to work on a project that I'll write more about later.

Happy New Year!

We were up last night till after 1:00 this morning, and I didn't muster the energy to blog before I went to bed. We had Terry and Shirley Wuske for dinner. Evelyn made chicken parmigiana with green beans, tossed salad, and spaghetti (of course!). We had Graeter's ice cream and Christmas cookies and other confections for dessert and cheeseball and dip and crackers, with hot Christmas punch, for appetizer. It was a fun evening. We played a new version of "Buzzword" that Jennifer had brought and a new game Robb Faust had recommended to me, "What's Yours Like?" Then we reconvened downstairs in front of the TV to watch the ball drop and toast in the new year.

Earlier in the day, Nina and Jen painted their toes to welcome 2013. And then Jennifer and Nina (with a little help from Miles) decorated sugar cookies, trying out the new Ninja cookie cutters Jen gave Miles for Christmas.

Matt and Miles and I made a Target run for Miles to spend a Christmas gift card. And Matt, Miles, Nina, and I played a couple games of "Sequence" before I helped Evelyn get things ready for dinner.
This morning we were up at 8:00 to see off the Johnsons for their long trip home. They got away about 9:15, and Jen texted about 7:45 this evening to say they were home. Thankfully, this was an uneventful trip, unlike the journey here!
The house was quiet and empty--full of Christmas decorations, but no more Christmas. Before long, Evelyn and I started picking up, packing up, and putting away all the Christmas decorations. I ran to the store after lunch and then took down the tree this afternoon. We always leave a few of the Christmas things out till maybe February--those that look wintery without saying Santa Claus or Jingle Bells.
I'm almost ready, mentally, to jump back into the workaday routine. Our long Christmas vacation seems this evening to have been so short. But it's full of memories.
For supper we had sauerkraut and "gourmet hot dogs" from the wonderful Omaha Steaks package Ken and Susan sent us for Christmas. They say pork and sauerkraut is good luck for the new year. I said some prayers about the challenging year ahead as I was driving alone this afternoon. Lots of possibilities. Lots of challenges.
Several days ago Jennifer posted a quote I've been thinking about as the year is beginning:
"The measure of success isn't whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it's the same one you had last year." -John Dulles
Here's a challenge to me: When you're reading this blog post at the beginning of 2014, will you still be fretting about the problems that faced you at the beginning of 2013? Now's the time to deal with those problems--so I'll be experienced and able to tackle all the NEW problems of that year!

Visting, Purchasing, Eating, and Watching

Mildred and Jen have been friends for years, and I get the
impression that one was as glad as the other to see
each other this afternoon.

A good day visiting with the Johnsons. We showed up in the kitchen in our pajamas at different times and finally ate pancakes and bacon together about 11:00. Nina beat me two games out of three at Chinese checkers, and I taught Miles to play Risk on my iPod.
This afternoon Jennifer and Evelyn went to visit Verna Weber's mom, Mildred Holmes, at Mason Christian Village, while the other Johnsons and I went on a mission to spend some of Miles and Nina's gift cards. They came home with armloads of books, courtesy of their Aunt Lisa and Uncle Geoff, and Nina spent a gift card from us at Old Navy. We ran out of time before we could take Miles to Target to spend his gift card there; that's on the list for Monday.

I quickly snapped this picture just before
the lights went out and the play began
this evening.

Nina wore the new top she bought on our outing to the Twin Dragon Chinese restaurant and Playhouse in the Park to see "Christmas Carol." We enjoyed the play; it's an excellent production--the settings, lighting, and sound are as interesting as the performance itself.

Tomorrow Matt and the kids are heading to Indiana in the morning, and Jen is following in the afternoon for an overnight of various family and friends visits there. It's snowing, just in time for them to be on the roads again.
(One thing we won't do in Heaven is make plans around the weather. Come to think of it, I guess we won't make plans at all in Heaven!)

A Quiet Day, a Quick Day

By "quick," I mean the time passed by quickly, even though we weren't that busy. Maybe the fact that we weren't too busy made it all the more surprising when I looked up at the clock and realized another couple of hours had passed.
The Johnsons arrived at about 1 a.m. this morning after having left home yesterday at 9:30 a.m. (and no, there are no time changes involved from their house to ours). They were exhausted after navigating the Pennsylvania Turnpike through a small blizzard, waiting maybe two hours for an accident to be cleared and waiting another hour for the tow truck to pull them out of a ditch after they'd slid on an unexpected patch of ice.
In spite of how tired all of us were, we stood or sat and talked and snacked for another hour before finally turning in about 2:00.
Most of us slept in this morning. (Matt was up before any of us, though, for his morning run.) We nibbled on cinnamon roles and sipped coffee and visited before splitting off from the group to shower and get ready for the day. By the time everyone had finished that, it was almost time for lunch! We enjoyed Christmas ham and cheese ball and then adjourned to game playing (and a phone call from Geoff on his way to his Colorado ski trip after Christmas in Fort Collins) while Jen had a business call at 2:30. Before 4:00 we headed to our outing for the day to Kohl's and Target to pick up some necessities and bargains.

Evelyn took a first look at the
calendar Jen made us featuring
pictures of the Johnsons from this year
to decorate our kitchen next year.

When we came home, Evelyn and I put together dinner, starting with some yummies from the freezer, courtesy of the Aulens who sent us a big box of good things from Omaha Steaks for Christmas. We probably ate dinner after 6:30, maybe it was 7:00. When we looked up and saw it was already 9:00, we knew we had to get busy opening the packages under the tree. Actually we had just a few, except for the grab bag gifts I had bought and wrapped. We had fun choosing, opening, stealing, and admiring the fun little goodies "Santa" had brought us.
The day went quickly. But it was a relaxed day, quiet in many ways. A good way to spend  Christmastime with family.

To the East and Back

This is another example of lots to write about/no time to write it. We left the Starbucks in Newtown, PA this morning at 7:30 and pulled into our driveway a little after 6:30 this evening. Not bad, considering a stop at Cracker Barrel for lunch and thick, can't-use-the-cruise-control traffic for a hundred miles east of Columbus till we got to I-270.  This post is going to be more pictures than words.

We saw snow on the ground at the higher elevations on the PA Turnpike today, but none on the roads, and the sun was shining by the time we got to Columbus.
To recap the week:
We arrived at Newtown Tuesday evening and spent Wednesday morning exploring the little shops in the village. Wednesday afternoon we visited and ran errands with Jennifer, and Evelyn did some food prep for the next day. Then we went with Jen and Matt to a diner for dinner Wednesday evening.
We returned from our hotel to Matt and Jen's place Thursday morning to watch the Macy's parade on television and await Miles and Nina's arrival from their mom's place at noon. Geoff and Lisa (and Frankie!) arrived about 1:30, and we enjoyed a walk with the dogs through the fine neighborhood next to the church. Dinner was about 4:00, and it was a sumptuous feast. My pictures give only a hint of how tasty and abundant was the food. I did not get a picture of the spatchcocked turkey! It was as good to eat as it was fun to say!

Miles and Matt and Geoff and I played Settlers of Catan after dessert (Lisa made the cherry pie pictured above as well as a wonderful pumpkin pie.) The ladies watched the dog show Jen had recorded earlier in the day.
Friday Jen and Matt and Evelyn and I took the train to New York and the subway to Long Island City  for 24 hours in the city with the New York Taylors. It was a great time. We walked down to the East River to see the expanding park along the riverfront and enjoy the always captivating views of the city.

Soon we took the subway to Tribeca and enjoyed a wonderful dinner and then took cabs to the movie theater to see a sold-out showing of Lincoln. I started with a head cold on Thanksgiving evening and was feeling a little ragged by Friday evening, and I'm afraid I even dozed off a couple of times during the movie. It is a bit wordy, but maybe I'll watch it again when it's available on DVD.
We stayed in Long Island City that night and enjoyed a gourmet brunch at Geoff and Lisa's favorite Long Island City breakfast spot, Cafe Henri. After 1:00 we took the train back to New Jersey and then drove back to Levittown. Matt had church work to do in the afternoon. I checked into our hotel, ran to the grocery store, and then took a nap on Jen's couch. We ate yummy Thanksgiving  leftovers for supper, and had a nice visit before we headed back to rest up before an early departure this morning.

Our Second Full Day with the Johnsons

Grabbed this "Kodak Moment" in front of Independence Hall

Had a fine day with the Johnsons in Levittown and Philadelphia yesterday. Heard a good sermon Sunday morning, preached by Matt, and met a bunch of people at their church. After a quick lunch at the house, rode with Matt and Jen and the kids (in two cars, just like yesterday) to the historic district in Philadelphia. We got to tour Independence Hall and a couple of other spots and just soak up the history of the place.

Then we returned home to hang out and enjoy a wonderful dinner of chicken and corn on the cob cooked on the grill, along with tossed salads and crispy potato wedges. We laughed and talked and then adjourned to the local Dairy Delight where I enjoyed a new treat (is this unique to Philly?) a Gelati--frozen slush (but much finer than our Icees) in any one of about 12 flavors layered with your choice of soft serve flavors. I got peach Gelati with vanilla whippy dip.

Inside, where the Declaration of Independence was signed.

Then we returned home and the Johnsons taught Evelyn and me a new card game, "Butch" Rummy. Miles beat the socks off us. (I think that's happened anytime I've played Miles in a game of anything!

We said our good-byes last night about 11:00 and then were up and out by a little after 7:30 this morning. After a quick trip to Starbucks for coffee and snacks, we hit the road and stopped once in the morning for more coffee and gas, once for a late lunch at a favorite haunt from Jennifer's college days, Eat'nPark, and once more for gas in the evening. We were home by 7:00. It took us a little longer than going because of the leisurely lunch stop. But we were still glad to get home early so we could get unpacked and organized for tomorrow.

We plan to watch "Major Crimes" at 9:00 and eat popcorn before going to bed.

It was a good weekend!

A Day with the Johnsons

Evelyn and I drove 10 hours from Cinti to Levittown yesterday, in time to go see Matt and Jen at their home and join in a rousing celebration of Wii with Miles and Nina. Today we visited in the morning and had a wonderful lunch of chicken salad and egg salad and other lunch treats. And then we drove to Longwood Gardens where we enjoyed each other's company amid the stately gardens, beautiful landscaping, and amazing conservatory there. The day was capped with what Evelyn called the best fireworks show she's ever seen--rising up above the Gardens magnificent dancing fountains and choreographed to the music of Swan Lake. It was a great day!

Memories of a Wedding

Dave Faust and I were exchanging e-mails last week, and he told me, "The wedding days of my daughters were the most exhilarating and exhausting of my life." The two words come close to my experience yesterday. But all the memories of the day will be positive.
Miles rode home with me from the reception, and he said, "I think my favorite part of the ceremony was the vows."
"Really. Why was that your favorite?"
"Well, they were so meaningful."
He's right. In addition to the traditional vows Jennifer and Matt exchanged, Matt and Miles and Nina had brainstormed together a list of family vows they would make to Jennifer.  They included promises to try everything she cooked, to be quiet in the morning and not bother Jen till she'd had her first cup of coffee. They spoke of their anticipation of their life together: concerts and ball games and graduations and grandchildren.
And Jennifer wrote her own vows to the family she was joining. One line sticks in the memory: "Miles and Nina, I wasn't there to see your first steps, but I will be with you for every future step in our life together."
Jennifer's quivering lip as she read her vows, and as our "adopted daughter," Wendy Wagoner, read the Scripture ("Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!") and the big tears rolling down sweet Nina's cheek at the end of the ceremony--those were moments that touched everyone's heartstrings.
Afterwards, I pondered what we all know, that marriage is not to be entered lightly, and tears are appropriate for a commitment as big as all of them were making. But so was the laughter that punctuated lighter moments in the ceremony and the happy banter--the mood of celebration--that echoed through the rooms of Memorial Hall during our happy reception.
There will be much better pictures than mine posted here. I imagine some have popped up on Facebook already, and believe me, the photographer captured every moment 15 times. But here are a few more I snapped for this diary/blog. Each is simply a reminder of a day whose memories will be exhilarating for the rest of our lives.

Thursday of Wedding Week

Today, the hottest day of the year, and two days before our wedding, I mowed the lawn. Actually, I planned to mow just the green spots around the trees we had watered. But by the time I was done, I had probably run the mower over 3/4 of the lawn. It wouldn't have taken much longer just to run over all of it. 

And then I edged the lawn and the flower beds. I hadn't been done for weeks, and I was waiting to make it sharp just before we have extra company this weekend.

After lunch, the ladies went on an outing to get pedicures, and Matt and Miles and I took two cars to the Thunderbird Car Wash where Ryan White treated us to freebies and upgrades. Thanks, Ryan! Then  I went to the store to buy groceries for the rest of the weekend, including extra soda for the rehearsal dinner and our post-wedding afterglow, protein and other sustenance for lunchtime at the church, between the photographs and the ceremony, food for dinner tonight, and other assorted necessities. I hadn't eaten enough lunch, so when I got home, I foraged for a snack and got beaten in Chinese checkers by Miles. Then they and Wendy went swimming in the neighbor's pool while I worked on flowers for the wedding reception. 

I had found a flat of salmon vinca with maroon centers. I transplanted them into 4-inch terra cotta pots; they'll decorate the food tables. While Jen was gone I lined all the travel cases with black plastic.
 After supper from the grill (hamburgers and asparagus; Evelyn made potato wedges in the oven), Jen and I assembled the centerpieces, and really, we're quite pleased with the result.

We got done in time to meet Dan and Cindi Cooper at the Cone, and then Matt and Miles went home with them to spend the night so we have a bed for Geoff and Lisa who are driving here from NYC even as I write this and will get in sometime in the wee hours of tomorrow morning.