Holiday Potpourri

   Some of you know our work-week evening schedule includes a TV viewing of Jeopardy. Included often in the question categories is one entitled Potpourri, which I take as a mixed bag of unrelated items without a common theme.

   That word describes our holiday week, Christmas to New Years, 2019-2020.

   Some were planned, some were not.

   Some were standard activities for those calendar days, some were not.

   But all were part of a Holiday collage that will stick in our memories.

   Thursday, the day after Christmas, we took off for North Carolina.

   We had two purposes in mind.

   One was to deliver some books to an organization in Raleigh, books that would be sent to prisons throughout the US to Chaplains who would use those to loan and give to inmates to further their work in leading men and women to Christ.

   (Seated left to right Sydney and Karen, Standing Sawyer, Papa, Carolyn and Dwayne)

   The other was to visit our son Dwayne and his wife Karen. They live in Cornelius and their two grown kids, Sawyer and Sydney, were home from San Francisco for the Holidays.

   From Cornelius we traveled north and east into Virginia to visit a friend of ours who had moved last year to live with her son in Yorktown. Louise McMinn had been a friend and companion to Carolyn in the years after her husband Bruce passed away in 2001.

   Louise was glad to see us, and she and my wife had a great time remembering and catching up on people and events.

   One more item in our planning came to fruition as we stopped Sunday night, on our way back toward our Tennessee home. We stopped in Gibsonville, NC to spend the night with an old friend of mine, Jim Sprague, and his wife Bonnie, who opened their home to weary travelers and then sped us on our way rested, after a good night and a homemade breakfast.

   This trip also had some unplanned events, as most do, and they stuck out in my mind as I looked back on this 5 days on the road.

   When we travel we use an app on the phone, Waze, a route mapping and travel alert application that has stood us in good stead for some time now. It is a turn-by-turn companion that we follow, sometimes even when we don't know why. We trust it to get us to our destinations and keep us out of trouble on the highways.

   But Waze sometimes deviates us from our planning and leads us on roads we had not planned to travel.

   Two incidents on this trip caused us to wonder "Why?"

   We had studied our planned trip on regular maps and figured, what we thought was the fastest and best way to travel. But, as we sped north on I-95, Waze told us to exit at a certain exit and proceed east on secondary roads toward Yorktown.

   This we did, mainly because Waze had earned our trust by keeping us from traffic tie ups on previous trips.

   As we exited the freeway, I was distracted by something and missed a turn that I should have taken on this new route. Oh well, I'll just go up to the next exit, turn around, and come back to pick up the right exit.

   There is no picture to insert here, mainly because I did not take one, so you will have to picture in your mind what happens next. As we proceeded up the ramp of the turnaround exit, we noticed a man standing at the top, with a sign in his hand.

   This is always a small dilemma in my mind when this happens. What is the right thing to do? Look the other way? Find some change to give the man? or what?

   At that moment Carolyn spoke up and said, "we have that sandwich that we saved from lunch here in the takeout box", and the dilemma was settled.

   I rolled down my window and called for the man to come over, gave him the box, and prepared to move on when the light turned green. But he had something to say:

   "God bless you sir, this food is more welcome than money."

   I made my turns to return to the route Waze had set out for us, thinking all the while, "Was this the reason I missed my turn, and was I supposed to be right here, right now?"

   Dismissing the man from my mind (temporarily it seems), I concentrated in getting back on the Waze programmed route, which turned about to be a two-lane state highway cutting east through the southeast part of Virginia.

   We saw a small sign which read "Sussex County Courthouse" with the arrow pointing east on our route. Not ever wanting to miss a courthouse, when the sign appeared later, pointing right into the town of Sussex, we left the route again.

   What did we find? An 1825 old brick courthouse, still apparently in use, in the small town. It is one of the oldest that I have found in my travels, a jewell for sure. And to think that if I had used my planned route, we would have missed it.

   An aside: when we left the area on Sunday after church, Waze took us on the freeway all the way to our destination in NC. I'm still not sure why we were directed to that state road on Friday, but if we had not turned at the courthouse sign, that wonderful old building, with all its History, would still be there waiting for us.

   The moral of this story might well be "Hold your plans lightly in your hands, God may want to break into those with a person or a place that will be a blessing, one that you would have never experienced in your planning."

   We are home, comfortably sitting on the sofa, waiting for Jeopardy, and remembering fondly the unplanned adventures we found, or more aptly, may have found us.

 

Christmas Combinations

   It is Christmas 2019 at Woodlane.

   It is colder and snow flurries filled the air the other night.

   A full moon filled the sky last night.

   A Tree, decorated with items from our combined families.

   Warm fire takes the chill off the winter cold.

   Nana's nativity set graces the coffee table.

   Carolers made music from a side table.

   Our Christmas Wish for each of you readers is for a Day filled with the Joy, and the Love of God in each life you touch.

   Oh, one more thing. We have secured the service of a bear to guard the treasures around this tree. Here is a video of Ted, sitting in his favorite rocker, in a dark room, vigilant in his duty.

Sure, the Food Was Good

   Thanksgiving is all about the Food, right?

   But it is more than Food, it is about Family.

   And when we think about Family, we focus on the Kids, the Four Great Grandkids in this case:

                                         Kensie

                                         Hannah

                                        Tucker

                                         Peyton

   Now don't think that we were not all properly Thankful for the many blessings that God has bestowed on this family, We Were.

   And don't think that we did not miss those who were not with us this year.

   And don't believe that the Great Grandmother was not thrilled with these Four...She was

   Even the neighbor's dog Dasher wanted to get in on the action.

                                        And DID

   Woodlane Thanksgiving 2019




 

Searching the World over, and then....

   We went to Wyoming in September to see Fall color.

   We went to Blacksburg in October to see mountains in their Fall coats.

   One mid month day in November we glanced at our home yard and found...

   Morning light filtered through the trees in the front yard with the yard full of maple leaves.

   A Japanese Maple aglow beside the drive.

   A profusion of color all around...

   Some trees were still dropping their leaves and some clinging to the last.

   Then, as we looked around our couple of acres, marveling at the beauty of God's handiwork, we had a visitor who brought his own bright colors, to admire ours.

   Just no place like home.

   And we are Thankful.
 

Two Seniors and a Truck

   When we leased our condo on St. Simons a couple of months back, we had to move all the furnishings out. All came to our home in Chattanooga, where we used the garage for storage. Knowing we could not keep all the stuff in an already full house, we asked my kids what they might like to have, and they responded with varying requests.

   Last weekend, knowing how hard it would be for Doug and family to come and get their stuff, Carolyn and I packed it in the pickup and hit the road for Blacksburg.

   In order to insure no movement of cargo, and providing a place to tie the tarp, a floor frame was built.

   Just in case, the load was covered with a tarp and it was tied to the frame.

   On a beautiful Fall day, the sturdy 4 cylinder truck, made its initial road trip, eating up the miles and delivering the goods. The chairs remained empty, as Grandy refused to sit Clampet style on top the load.

   Pictures were hung, chairs put around the table, and the dog took up his post at the front door, ready to welcome guest and impede prowlers.

   Saturday was a sports day. Carolyn got to see David play basketball, and I went with Doug and Lucy to Charlottesville to see the newest bike racer in the family participate in a race.

   Weather in Charlottesville, sunny and chilly, a perfect day to race mountain bikes in the Commonwealth.

   Enjoy a short video of the new freshman on her sturdy bike, flying into the finish.

   A working trip, a fun visit, and great time with family.

Come On Barn...

   Nostalgic Television; thats what we octogenarian viewers like to watch most of the time. We would take a show with good characters, no foul language, no explicit sexuality, and a good moral outcome each time we watch.

   The other evening, after watching Jeopardy, another of our can't miss shows, we scoured the Internet and ended up on Amazon prime videos. There we discovered all 8 seasons of the Andy Griffith Show with the 249 shows available to view. 

   What a find!

   So, we watched 2 of the early shows. Then the next night we looked at 4 more, then 3 the next night. I'm not sure how long this may last, but we do have #10 queued up for tonight.

   While reading in my before "getting Carolyn up" time this morning, I noticed a book on the shelf beside me:

   The Andy Griffith Show Book, a complete guide to the one of television's best loved shows. 

   Next year, 2020, will be the 60th anniversary of the Mayberry, NC cast of characters.

   What caught my eye right off in Episode 1 was how young Opie was. Ron Howard had 8 years to grow up, but he was a great child actor, even in those early shows. Deputy Barney Fife is a hoot, even if you have seen him multiple times.

   Episode One: Aunt Bee comes to help Andy raise Opie (and cook) after Rose gets married.

   Episode Two: An escaped convict comes to the area giving Andy and Barney a case to pursue.

   Episode Three: Andy attempts to get a local Guitar picker a chance at the Big Time.

   Episode Four: Andy and Opie spar over a runaway boy.

   Episode Five: Opie is on the hotseat for being stingy with the money he is saving.

   Episode Six: Ellie, the new pharmacist, refuses to give Emma her pain pills.

   It is fun for me to hear my wife giggle, and laugh out loud, as she watches these reruns, which she has seen no telling how many times in the past.

   They put a big smile on my face as well.

   The best thing about this whole TV routine is that we can finish supper in time for Jeopardy, answer all the questions on that show without getting any prize money, laugh through a couple of episodes with Andy, Barney and the rest, and still be in bed by 9PM.

   No way you can beat that!

   Nosiree Bob!

Small Town America

   When we travel and want to make time on the highway, we use the Interstates, but other times, when schedule is not a priority, we are "back roads" people.

   Case in point: Waterville Kansas, a city of around 680 souls, founded back in the 1860s, about 15 miles south of Marysville in Marshall County.

   We wanted to find a B&B close to Marysville where the Oregon Trail wagon trains crossed the Big Blue River. and booked a room at the Vintage Charm there in Waterville.

   The owners of the B&B were not around during our stay, but they welcomed us with a note on the door. Evidently there is little crime in the area. The mailbox was right by the door.

   We had booked one room, but there was no one else there, and we had the run of the whole house, both stories, kitchen, dining room and living room. Drinks in the fridge and homemade coffee cake sitting out on the counter for our breakfast the next morning.

   For supper we ate in the only place we found in the town, and we were the only customers.

   After supper we strolled the Main Street, no need to use the sidewalks, we just walked down the middle of the street looking at the stores on both sides in the heart of town.

   We observed 3 kids playing a game seated on the sidewalk in front of one of the storefronts. A lady coming from a building toward her car stopped and talked for a few minutes. One car moved slowly down the street, and we, being law abiding citizens (visitors), moved to one side to watch him pass by and move sedately toward the west.

   There was an opera house built in 1903 which was in use as a community theatre. This town located at the end of the railroad line, was a thriving spot back in the day.

   It was a neat town.

   We soaked up the local color and culture as we walked. We speculated on the people who had founded the town, and those that made up the local economy over the years.

   We will remember this adventure of ours for the sights and places we have visited. But for all the pomp of the Arch in St. Louis, and the majesty of Mt. Rushmore, we will have fond memories of a bunch of small towns, like Waterville, where the quiet progression of "people of the land", continue to move through the landscape of our Country, just as they have done for the last 150 or so years here in Kansas.

   Returning to our lodging, we are blessed by the sun setting in the west over fields of corn and soybeans, our senses renewed by the perseverance of small town America.