Christmas morning

Here are some of the highlights from Christmas morning as well as in the afternoon when Mamaw & Papaw came over. Lots of great gifts and a lot of fun watching the kids open their presents!

FLASHBACK OF THE WEEK: Summer 2000

Back in the late 90s and early 2000's I was in a Christian band called Paid 4 (there were 4 of us in it...) and we had the opportunity to play at a local Christian day-long rock fest in Northern KY called Goodstock. Here are a couple of photos from 2000, our second year in a row playing the event. We are being interviewed by a local television show covering the event. Footage of us on stage playing appeared on the show the following week but the interview went unaired. The next year we released a live CD of the concert which was interrupted twice by us blowing the stage power! For a short bit I played with no monitor and had to rely on the sound bouncing off the school building about 100 yards in front of us. That was not easy at all but the power soon crashed totally and we ended our set at that point. Fun stuff!

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Christmas Eve at Grandma & Grandpa's

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is among us and final preparations are underway. The last-minute making of ornaments by Katie Grace to add to the tree for example. The house has been decorated with blue lights as well as a pole full of white ones too in the front yard. Amidst all the running around and wrapping of gifts don't forget the true meaning of the day; celebrating the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago to become the perfect sacrifice for all our sins (and we are all sinners). What a gift! Merry Christmas!

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Christmas lights sight-seeing

Went out the other night to look at Christmas lights and took some pretty cool "action" shots. Actually, the camera speed couldn't keep up with the movement of the car and the dark conditions but it all made for some very cool photos. Check 'em out by clicking on the photos.

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Merry Christmas!

Memories of Christmases past

1973 - Grandma's was the usual family gathering spot every Christmas Eve. She would have a tree packed with presents below for all the grandkids. I remember spending hours looking at that tree because it had the coolest ornaments on it. There were photo ornaments of each of the grandkids so it was always fun to try to find your own picture each Christmas. And her front door always had all the Christmas cards she received taped to it. Here, me and my sister Mary pose with Grandma before the festivities begin!

1977 - By the time I was 8 I had discovered the Beatles and so instead of getting clothes, I would always receive a Beatle album from Grandma. Here I am receiving one of my all-time favorites, "Yesterday...And Today" which received plenty of airtime in my room in the coming years. I felt like I had made out like a bandit each year!

1980 - I was part of a Christmas play at our church. I had been in a few plays in my youth there at the United Methodist church I grew up in. Here I am playing a younger brother to Ken (next to me) with our "mom" and baby sister also at the Christmas dinner table. I remember us having our lines on the dinner table so we wouldn't forget what we were supposed to say. I can still remember the traditional hymns played on the organ by Rosida and hearing Mrs. Hurley belting out her part as loud as she could sing!!!

Just a few random Christmas memories among a whole treasure trove.

Touching base

This past weekend Melinda and I had the pleasure of getting together with long-time friends Amy & Trish as well as fellow Class of 87 grad Russ, who we had lost track of 20 years back. The last time any of us had seen Russ was when Melinda and I ran into him at the Feaste in Dec. 1987 six months after we graduated. Russ joined the military and moved around the country (if not the globe). He's been back in town for several years but until recently, none of us made an attempt to contact him. It was great to touch base again and catch up on the past 20 years! I recall telling several people during graduation that we'd stay in touch but going to college, families, travelling, work, etc. seemed to get in the way and before you knew it the year was 2007. Trish and I plan on getting a big reunion of folks we haven't seen over the years together this coming Spring/Summer. We're working on the list. With the Internet it has become much easier to carry out such a plan and we aim to take advantage of it to the fullest in tracking down "long lost" friends. It was great reconnecting with Russ and meeting his friend Kim. I hope to be able to stay in touch with more people over the next 20 years than I did the previous 20...I'm sentimental to a fault I suppose. I don't know where I'd be without the close relationships I've been blessed with over the years with Melinda (of course) as well as Trish and Amy. Thanx guys!

photos from the reunion slideshow

I recently got my grubby little hands on the 3 carousels of slides that were playing at our 20-year high school reunion and I found a few lost treasures among them. There were a few photos from the Feaste our Senior year including the only two pictures that exist of me in my Feaste costume although my pony tail is not visible nor are the white hose I was wearing. Good thing too, eh?

There was also a photo of me and Tony in the hall as well as one of us (and Andrew) in Mr. Bell's Government class.

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Lastly, a classic photo of Russ in what looks like Sociology class.

Yellow Bellied Sap Sucker

We saw a Yellow Bellied Sap Sucker the other day on our feeder. I'm not kidding! That's the real name for this bird. I never knew they even existed outside of a slang insult to humans but when we looked up this bird we saw the name and just HAD to get a photo of it if only because of its' cool name!!!

Old friends

This coming Sunday a few old friends will be getting together for dinner. Me and Melinda have never lost touch with Amy & Trish but recently I have been in contact with Russ who also graduated with us in 1987. Part of the "crowd" our Junior and Senior years, the last time any of us has seen Russ was back in December or '87 or '88 when Melinda and I ran into him at one of the chorus Feastes. Since then, we have not heard from him until about a year ago I ran across his name and threw him an e-mail. Amy, Trish, and Russ all missed our 20-year high school reunion this past summer so I thought it would be fun to get the bunch together with plans for an even bigger outdoor reunion next summer for anyone we can think of who we would like to meet up with. 20 years is far too long to go without keeping in touch and this is just a first step in trying to do just that. Should be fun.

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Mel, me, Amy, Trish, & Russ in Canada during the spring of 1987:

Beautiful sunset

Gotta love seeing something like this at the end of a dreary late Fall day... No matter how rainy a day is, there is always the hope for the next day. Red at night, sailor's delight.

John & the guitar

Now that I have been playing my new guitar, John has quickly picked up my old one and has taken off. He is still learning chords but has gotten a few songs down already and is even picking some melodies too. Having fun all the while. He's gonna probably take some lessons from a guitar player at our church. I'd try to teach him but he'd only learn all my bad habits as I am self-taught and can read absolutely no music. We'll put Katie Grace on drums and let Melinda handle keyboards and we've got a band in the making!

Gettin' the Christmas Tree ready

The kids are busy helping get the Christmas Tree decorated with ornaments old and new. John set up the large scale around the base of the tree. And with today's snowfall, it's really feeling like Christmas!

Hawk!

Yesterday I was looking out the window wondering why there weren't any birds on the feeder all of a sudden. Well, I noticed this big hawk on the fence in the back corner and that answered my question. Pretty sure it's a red-tailed hawk but it may be another type. Regardless, all the birds went into hiding until it took off. What a beautiful creature!!!

Upward Basketball - Fall 2007

John's Fall 2007 Upward basketball season has come to a close. He is looking forward to getting going again in January with another Upward basketball league. It's a mostly recreational league but they are really learning a lot about basketball fundamentals and it's been paying off with John. He's getting a lot better and his footwork is certainly better. This should help him in the Spring with his baseball. He grew tall so fast that his running is still awkward as he tries to get his coordination to catch up with his height. Anyway, here are some shots from the Upward basketball season that just ended.

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