What is a perfect Christmas? When God is born in your heart again? Is it perfect when you cry because you know the great joy of God with us as the candles are lit during “Silent Night”? When you have every single member of your family gathered around a Christmas tree? How often have you …
From December 2017
Six Favorite Places of 2017
At the end of every year, since I retired, I write about the favorite places we visited in the previous year. You can read the previous years’ posts here for 2015 and 2016. You can also see where we have been in a year by clicking on the maps at the top of this page. I …
Weasel in our Living History Repertoire
When Tom and I were at San Juan National Historical Park, I learned how to spin on a spinning wheel and learned the story of the weasel. A weasel is a yarn winder. It is six feet around and has a gear that makes a popping noise when it has completed 40 revolutions. Children had …
James Garfield National Historic Site in Mentor, Ohio
Last Friday we picked up Mom and Dad and two of their friends, Bev and Bruce, and headed up north to visit the James Garfield National Historic Site. The Garfield site is located in Mentor, Ohio, which is the heart of the snow belt. Tom checked the forecast and said it wouldn’t snow until after …
Christmas Traditions: Time to Bake the Cookies!
For the last several years I wrote about our Christmas cookie baking days and the posts were hits with our friends. You can read the previous posts by clicking 2014, 2015, or 2016. Notice that this post is going up after Christmas. I thought about writing about the cookies, then decided I had written about …
All Is Well and All Shall Be Well
Music moves my emotions in a way that nothing else can so Christmas music is especially important to me. Last Sunday we attended Bethel International UMC to listen to their cantata, “Morning Star.” The choir was a blend of the choirs from all the services and there was a 20 piece band accompanying. The cantata …
Butch Bandos Fantasy of Lights in Delaware Ohio
When Tom and I are in Ohio we stay at Cross Creek Country Campground. I’ve written about this place before. It is a good place to stay halfway between John and Jackie and my parents. During December it is decorated to the gills with Christmas lights. We get to enjoy the lights every night without …
Amish Adventure Day in Berlin Ohio
When we get together with my parents, we like to go on adventure days. Sometimes we go to a national park site. Sometimes we go to a place that one of us has visited and thinks will be interesting. It is always someplace where we can learn something new. On one of our days in …
Rental Car Excitement: Close Call on the Highway
One of the things Tom and I do when we get back to Ohio is have the Ram 5500 serviced. Unfortunately this trip, it was time for our 67,500 mile service, which is the most time-consuming and expensive of all the normal services. Normal service is oil change, tire rotation, and fuel filter change. The …
Interruption of Western Travelogue
I’m sure you have been enjoying our journey through Washington and Idaho. We did so many things while we were out west that I still have several weeks worth of posts to share. But we have been in Ohio to spend time with friends and family for the holidays, so I thought I would take …