Making Plans

Yesterday was a day of phone calls and making plans for Dee's mom's funeral. Fortunately, Dee and her sisters had met with the Funeral Director several weeks ago and made all the important decisions then. That made yesterday run much smoother. It was decided to have the service on Saturday at 2 PM with the committal service right at the Young's funeral home in Butler. We went out to breakfast and then Dee eventually met up with her long time friend Kathy G. and her granddaughter and they spent time together in the area.

On the other hand I went to Rotary and then played 9 holes of golf. There was a nice breeze in the mid 70s and I wasn't rushed with people behind me. It was relaxing. I'd taken my camera along so I could take some pictures of the beautiful course surrounded by magnificent homes. Here is one of my favorite holes. The drop from tee to green must be over 100 yards downhill! You can see the homes along the course. Very nice spot to stop and think.

When I got home, I read some of a book I'd been wanting to read for a long time "What Ever happened to Grace" by Phillip Yancey. I interspersed reading with bird watching. I saw several yellow-bellied sapsuckers and brown-headed cow birds. I still marvel at being able to see them flying by at eye-level, or being able to look down on them as they fly by.

When Dee got home with Kathy and her graddaughter, Heather, I showed them the woodpeckers through the binoculars. They thought it ws cool too. Bonz was so excited he welcomed them with the usual "pee on the shoe" welcome on the deck. After they left we spend more time on the deck enjoying the nice weather and talking.

This fourth of July weekend will be a busy one as Kerri will be home later tonight, then I work 8 hours tomorrow (the 4th) and then the funeral on Saturday and I preach on Sunday morning at Franklin Park Baptist.

Home with the Lord (and Bob)

We received a phone call early this morning that Dee's mom had quietly gone home to be with the Lord about 4 AM. She was 93 years old. Although plans haven't been finalized yet, it appears that a viewing and memorial service will be held on Saturday afternoon at Young's Funeral Home in Butler, PA. Then, a private burial will be at the cemetery at Summit Presbyterian Church.

Happy Anniversary !

Yesterday was our 37th wedding anniversary. Dee went to see her mom at the nursing home and did her exercises at Contours. Then, later in the day we went over to the community center where I got permission for the Bogmieisters Barbershoppers to place a large temporary sign along Rochester Road for the up coming "open house." Then we went shopping for some odds and ends at Walmart and had a delicious iced coffee.

Since it rained off and on, we decided to go home and get some things done there. We heard from Jan and she plans to fly to Pittsburgh on Monday the 7th. We'll pick her up at the airport and bring her to our place. Eventually we'll take her to Monongahela to stay with our mother for a few days. Mark will drive through after about a week and pick up Jan and take her on to their place in Philadelphia. It'll be nice to see Jan again, even if it's only for a little bit.

For our anniversary Dee wanted to go to the Springfield Grill for a nice dinner, but since I had Barbershop practice at 7 PM we decided to go to Smokey Bones for a casual dinner and do Springfield Grill later in the week. As it turned out the Smokey Bones meal was great and they gave us delicious desserts honoring our anniversary. We had the same waitress that Dee had when she ate there with the group from Contours.

Afterward I went on to Bogmeister practice. While there I visited with Dee's mom briefly. I showed her my Qchord and had her strum it a bit. She was tired so I didn't stay long. She seemed to like the music and the sound of the chimes. I'll take it back for her to see and strum again. When I first went into the room, I didn't recognize her as she'd lost some weight since I last saw her, and she was tucked into bed.

Old Friends

Yesterday was a busy one. We drove to Aliquippa where I preached for the morning service. We saw an old friend and his wife. Ed had retired from the ministry about 12 years ago. He looked great. The church sanctuary was a long one with cushioned seats and a carpet down the middle aisle. It seemed as if all the sound was absorbed and thus didn't carry well. Also most of the people sat way in the back of the sanctuary so it was hard to make eye contact and feel you were connecting with them. They could help their pastor be a better preacher just by moving up near the front. I tried to keep the people engaged in the message and with the text. Afterward they seemed to indicate that I connected with them. God is good. I'd used the same sermon that I'd preached at Monroeville the week before with a few tweaked changes. That's the first time in my career that I preached the same sermon two weeks in a row. (Interesting expereince.) But the message was relevant to both groups. However, I'm planning something different for Franklin Park since they use AV equipemtn for their service. I plan to use a video clip as part of the message then.

Dee and I commented on the way there that finding these churches from our home in Mars isn't always easy. We follow maps I print out, but sometimes the roads aren't that well marked, and thus there's more stress getting there than preaching when I get there. (But, next time I'll know the way better.) However, we made it there in plenty of time.

When we left there we went to Trader Joes in East Liberty. Dee has been wanting to go there for some time. It was a very nice market and since it was enroute to Dan Fisher's High School graduation party near Edgewood this was the perfect time to stop there.

We arrived at Dan's party on time and were among the first to arrive. Tom and Eleanor seemed so proud of him and welcomed us with open arms. The Fishers were members of our Wilkinsburg Church when we served there as pastor. It was great seeing them and their boys Dan and Dave. Dave graduated earlier from Temple University and is now job hunting. Here's a pic of Dan that I took with my cell phone.

It was a great party. We met a lot of Tom and Eleanor's friends and neighbors. Dee knew a lot of the people one gal knew from Butler. She'd graduated about 3 years after Dee, but lived on a street where some of Dee's friends lived. They had plenty of food as well. We saw the Skeers arrive at just about the time we were leaving. The weather was beautiful there. But as we drove home, we came upon some rain, and then it rained the rest of the evening.

We finished out the evening watching TV and thoroughly enjoyed our new surround system with it. It really makes the sounds pop and come alive. It is a whole different experience watching TV now. Amazing.

Surround Sound at Last!

Yesterday was a quiet day. We had breakfast out at a place that j ust opened on Freedom Road. It's called Freedom Station Diner. It was quite good. Then we stopped at Costco to pick up a couple of things and to sample their wares. Donnie called and said he could come and hook up the surround sound speakers for our TV. We spend the afternoon with him at the house doing just that. Finally, it's done and he was able to use the wires already in the walls for the rear speakers. Sounds great!

Later it we sat on the deck and watched the birds (saw a Baltimore Oriel - awesome bright orange color - noticeable with the naked eye at quite a distance.) and read. We were playing cribbage, when the rains came. So, we went inside and watched and listened to our new sound system on the TV. Nice. Toward evening we decided to go to Brusters for some ice cream. We sat in the car as it rained and listened to the rain on the car and ate our cones.

Dee was able to talk with her friends Sherron and Lisa during the day as well as Kerri. As I say, it was a quiet day, but we got a lot accomplished when Donnie came. Today will be a busy day.