I have just about let November get away from me before sitting down to update our family news. I’ve got some catching up to do as we head into December.
THE PASSING OF AUNT SARA. My cousin, Sara Letsinger, has passed away at the age of 87. She actually passed away three weeks ago today which was just two days shy of her 88th birthday and just a few hours before I wrote last. We saw Aunt Sara last January when we stopped by on our way home from visiting the Jones family after Christmas. She predicted then that she would never get to see us again.
We had a time for family and friends to come and visit with Aunt Sara’s sons, Joe and Bill, and their families this last Sunday afternoon at church. Given that it was a rainy day and Aunt Sara had not lived here since 1963 we felt a nice group of people came out. She was buried in Kokomo, Indiana, next to Uncle Warren on Tuesday.
I have fond memories of the Letsingers visiting us when I was growing up, and we even went up Kokomo to visit them a couple of times. What really stands out most to me of all the memories I have of Aunt Sara is how she would stop and give me her full attention and do her best to relate to me even when I was little. There was something about the way she would engage me that made me feel very special. It was a gift she had and I saw her use it with my children when we visited her last. It’s a skill I hope I will always cultivate in myself.
SCHOOL AND SPORTS. Life has been pretty normal for us coasting in to Thanksgiving break. Nate went on a field trip to the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga on the 13th and Ben missed the last two days of school for the Jr. Beta convention.
The boys ball team now has a win under their belt bringing their record to 1-5. Their win was well earned against Jo Byrns. The last two or three games have been really good for Ben. He has not scored a lot of points, but his game has improved quite a bit. Actually, the whole team is improving a lot. Their season is half over now so it will be interesting to see how the fare when they face all these teams again.
School has really kept Jenna busy and she seems to be making the most of it. She left today for the Sr. Beta convention and will return home Tuesday. One thing that has kept her busy is her psychology class. This is a dual enrollment course taught by a professor from Vol State and he sure has kept this class busy. Jenna is getting a good taste of what it will be like to write a lot of papers in college. She spent a lot of time working on some of these assignments over the break so she wouldn’t have to worry about them Tuesday after the Beta convention. Jenna will be taking a dual enrollment speech class next semester and several more next year which should give her something like 15 hours of college credit by the time she graduates. I’m glad she’s learning how to study for college now because it was a shock to me when I started at MTSU 30 years ago.
GETTING READY FOR HAITI. Jenna, like most people who have experienced a mission trip, wants to return to Haiti. After prayer and discussion Vicki and I have given her the green light to go on a medical trip scheduled for February. Jenna has been working very hard to raise money for her expenses. To that end she is taking orders for pies--fudge and buttermilk--as well as selling chocolate covered peanuts and pecans. We’ve got pies in the oven all the time now. At least the boys are paying attention enough to what’s going on in our house that they know to ask before cutting into a pie on the counter. So, if you want a pie between now and Christmas just let me know. I’ve got connections with the chef.
Since I am on the subject of Haiti I need to mention that Kenny is leaving in a couple of weeks on a trip there and then returning in January. The first trip is so that Papa Noel can visit the orphanage that our church is supporting. Kenny has enjoyed playing Santa Claus for several years now and even bought his own costume. This year her decided to grow out his beard because the fake one just wasn’t working well. He has done this and even lightened it and his hair to look the part. I think Kenny is quite ready to shave now, but he does make a good looking St. Nick and I think the kids at the orphanage are going to thoroughly enjoy him. By the way, when Kenny returns in January he will be taking a group of farmers down there to work with some of the Haitian farmers for improved farming techniques.
OUR THANKSGIVING. I would be remiss if I didn’t tell about our Thanksgiving. It wasn’t big or fancy, but it sure was delicious. Vicki and Jenna outdid themselves yet again. They started cooking Wednesday night and then finished up Thursday morning. We took everything over to Mom’s and ate a little after 1:00. We barely got the dishes cleared away when sleep overtook us. We were all so full none of us were interested in supper but we did enjoy looking at old photo albums. We spent the next day setting up our Christmas tree. And now we have three weeks of school before Christmas break.
Joe
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Sunday, November 9, 2014
The Colors of Fall
I was very surprised when I checked and saw that I had not written in over two weeks. Now that the kids are older they don’t say as many cute things that I want to write down. Add the normal routine on top of that and two weeks can click by before I notice.
UNEXPECTED COLOR. We had such dry weather all summer that I didn’t expect an impressive display of fall colors from the trees. I guess we got enough heavy rain last month to make the colors really pop out. The odd thing is that our trees peaked later than normal this time. Right now about a third of our trees are in color, a third are brown, and the remaining third are bare with the occasional green tree trying to hold out here and there (like the maple right outside my window).
I did catch my favorite tree on its best day in perfect lighting conditions on my way home from work a few days before Halloween. Its now the wallpaper on my phone so I can enjoy it longer.
TRUNK OR TREAT. Speaking of Halloween, we had our Trunk or Treat at church a week ago Saturday evening. We had a lot of kids to come through, but not as many as we’ve had before. I think our having it the night after Halloween had something to do with it, but we scheduled it that way to avoid a conflict with the high school football game. Besides, the wind chill on Halloween night was pretty rough on all the little spooks around here.
Jenna and Vicki dressed as Mary Poppins and Bert this year. The boys decided not to wear costumes and I wore a sweatshirt that Vicki painted to read, “HTTP ERROR 404: Costume not found” (a play on the error one gets when trying to access a web page that doesn’t exist). It was cold enough that I kept my coat zipped up the whole time so I can reuse my “costume” next year.
BASKETBALL ACTION. The East Robertson Middle School boys now have two games under their belts. They’ve lost both by five points, but they sure did make their opponents earn their victories. Ben has been starting as the center. He played really well his first game but got into foul trouble early in the second game which kept him on the bench most of the time.
This team is very entertaining to watch. There is a lot of raw talent on the team. All of them really stand out in their own way. I hope they can figure out how to play to each other’s strengths before the end of the season.
THE RETURN OF DADDY CAT. It has been about three years now that Jenna and I stopped by to see Mom and Aunt Mar and heard cats crying in the corn field behind the house. We finally located two kittens and an old tom cat that we coaxed up to the house. (He was so shy we assumed he was the mother cat at first.) If I were a betting man I would have placed money on the guess that the old tom cat would not last too long. He looked ragged and beat up with a ragged ear to boot. He also walks with a limp due to arthritis.
This cat, whom we call Daddy Cat, is the only survivor or the three and any cats who have appeared at Mom’s house since. He must be a really tough customer. The summer before last he would disappear for days at a time but last winter’s cold weather kept him close at hand. As a matter of fact the cold weather made him so stiff I wondered how he would survive. When the spring weather hit Daddy Cat disappeared and stayed gone for weeks. He turned up in mid-summer just skin and bones. We fed him and he disappeared again. Well, Daddy Cat knows who his benefactor is and has made his appearance once again. He’s not staying at Mom’s house full time, but he’s frequenting her door enough to let us know we need to put cat food back on the shopping list. If I were a betting man I think I might now place my money on him outliving all of us.
Joe
UNEXPECTED COLOR. We had such dry weather all summer that I didn’t expect an impressive display of fall colors from the trees. I guess we got enough heavy rain last month to make the colors really pop out. The odd thing is that our trees peaked later than normal this time. Right now about a third of our trees are in color, a third are brown, and the remaining third are bare with the occasional green tree trying to hold out here and there (like the maple right outside my window).
I did catch my favorite tree on its best day in perfect lighting conditions on my way home from work a few days before Halloween. Its now the wallpaper on my phone so I can enjoy it longer.
TRUNK OR TREAT. Speaking of Halloween, we had our Trunk or Treat at church a week ago Saturday evening. We had a lot of kids to come through, but not as many as we’ve had before. I think our having it the night after Halloween had something to do with it, but we scheduled it that way to avoid a conflict with the high school football game. Besides, the wind chill on Halloween night was pretty rough on all the little spooks around here.
Jenna and Vicki dressed as Mary Poppins and Bert this year. The boys decided not to wear costumes and I wore a sweatshirt that Vicki painted to read, “HTTP ERROR 404: Costume not found” (a play on the error one gets when trying to access a web page that doesn’t exist). It was cold enough that I kept my coat zipped up the whole time so I can reuse my “costume” next year.
BASKETBALL ACTION. The East Robertson Middle School boys now have two games under their belts. They’ve lost both by five points, but they sure did make their opponents earn their victories. Ben has been starting as the center. He played really well his first game but got into foul trouble early in the second game which kept him on the bench most of the time.
This team is very entertaining to watch. There is a lot of raw talent on the team. All of them really stand out in their own way. I hope they can figure out how to play to each other’s strengths before the end of the season.
THE RETURN OF DADDY CAT. It has been about three years now that Jenna and I stopped by to see Mom and Aunt Mar and heard cats crying in the corn field behind the house. We finally located two kittens and an old tom cat that we coaxed up to the house. (He was so shy we assumed he was the mother cat at first.) If I were a betting man I would have placed money on the guess that the old tom cat would not last too long. He looked ragged and beat up with a ragged ear to boot. He also walks with a limp due to arthritis.
This cat, whom we call Daddy Cat, is the only survivor or the three and any cats who have appeared at Mom’s house since. He must be a really tough customer. The summer before last he would disappear for days at a time but last winter’s cold weather kept him close at hand. As a matter of fact the cold weather made him so stiff I wondered how he would survive. When the spring weather hit Daddy Cat disappeared and stayed gone for weeks. He turned up in mid-summer just skin and bones. We fed him and he disappeared again. Well, Daddy Cat knows who his benefactor is and has made his appearance once again. He’s not staying at Mom’s house full time, but he’s frequenting her door enough to let us know we need to put cat food back on the shopping list. If I were a betting man I think I might now place my money on him outliving all of us.
Joe
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