Monday Morning Thoughts

The Beacon is having a contest featuring interesting Christmas ornaments. Pictured is my entry. Wish me luck.
The Taylor tots came to see us over the weekend. Thanks, BJ, for bringing them all the way from PA. It is fun to have an early morning breakfast with the grandchildren. Their parents always seem to miss this activity.
We attended the Community Thanksgiving service last night. One local pastor played God Bless America on the trumpet, and another played the clarinet during the offering. They both did a great job, and I told them so. It must have been National Pastors Playing their Instruments Day.
I finished my Christmas shopping for this year. Almost every gift is coming from the Willis gift closet. So if you happen to be on the list, I apologize for the strange things you will be receiving. I must have liked them once.
D joined FaceBook. Can you believe that.

Bonus from the Church Archives

The Stow United Methodist Church is celebrating its 50th Anniversary in 2010. I am a member of the Archives Committee. When we meet, we go through old papers, pictures, etc. What fun it is. I am not a Charter Member, but have been attending the Stow UMC since the late sixties. I borrowed a couple pictures to scan. They show Elizabeth, Marie, Katherine, Nancy and Tom on their Confirmation Days. We have barely scratched the surface of all the materials, so there will be more to come. Part of the challenge is to label the pictures. Anyone who would like to fill in names for me on these pictures would be greatly appreciated.

Veterans Day 2009

Thanks for my father's love of music, I have a way of celebrating Veterans Day. I honor all the members of my family who served in the military. When I started making a list, I realized there are a lot more than I thought. The God Bless America sheet music has a 1939 copyright date, and the American Patrol copyright is 1942. I will try to play both songs today.

Some on Saturday

1. It was a beautiful day in Stow. We dealt with the leaves for the fifth or sixth time. We are almost done for this year.
2. The neighbors, also doing yard work today, told us there were four deer in our back yard last night. Their dogs barked to tell them something was up. I wonder if they were the same ones we saw last winter.
3. The Buckeyes knocked off Penn State today. Go Bucks. We will be there next Saturday to watch them play Iowa.
4. I beat Richard at Nerts tonight. That was a first. He must have been operating in slow motion.
5. We went to the Hudson Library yesterday afternoon. They closed at 1:00, so our plans had to change. How sad that public libraries have lost so much funding.

Alice's doll

Aunt Alice had a doll. It was a family treasure. She eventually passed it on to my mother, so she could play with it. This morning the doll escaped her box, and made a trip to the public library. I took her on this field trip so the antique expert could take a look at her. According to the expert this doll came from Germany between 1890 and 1900. That would make sense as Aunt Alice was born in 1893. The doll had her hands replaced at some point, but still has her original feet and shoes. Here is a picture of the Stewart family doll.

Notes on a Game Day

1. It rained all the way to Columbus. The rain stopped as we pulled into our favorite parking lot at 7:00am.
2. We wandered around in search of breakfast. The only one we found was at the Blackwell. It cost $18.95 per person, and I think you had to be staying there to even have permission to eat. We left hungry, but did rub elbows with Jim Tressel as he was leaving for the St. John's team visit.
3. We noticed four buses with Wyoming license plates parked next to the Blackwell. Did the New Mexico team come on these buses? Did four busloads of people come from Wyoming to see this game? I guess we will never know.
4. Our food search caused us to sit in the balcony of St. John's for the Skull Session. The band had some great arrangements for a unique Halloween show.
5. We left for home during the 4th quarter. We had another fun day in Columbus on football Saturday.

Filling a Request

I had a request to post the rest of the house pictures I took in Ashtabula County. We did not live very long in the two houses on East 44th St. The first one belonged to Uncle Lawrence and Aunt Austa. My parents rented it from them. The young Watson family purchased the second house on East 44th St. We sold that one to Alan and Dorothy Sheppard. The third house is in Williamsfield, a small town near Andover. The 4th house, a red one in Jefferson was also a rental. We lived on the first floor, and the Postmaster of Jefferson lived on the second floor. When I was about three, I decided to go find my father by myself. He found me crying on some street corner later that afternoon. It just shows to go that one never knows what children will do.