People

Karlee and Dorothy

At Ocean Isle Beach there is a church service on the beach each Sunday morning. We’ve meant to go before but this year we actually did. I took this picture of Karlee and Dorothy shortly after the service ended. It was a good way to start the week. Karlee has been to the beach with us every year that we’ve gone since the summer after she and Dorothy were in fourth grade together. We didn’t go in 2007 because we were in Greece and in 2009 we were in Boston for Steve and Maya’s wedding, but all the other years since 2006. Karlee has been to family reunions and actually knows Dorothy’s second and third cousins about as well as Dorothy does. She is definitely one of the family.

Up River Cemetery

Those of you who follow my postings on a regular basis know that I sometime get a little behind. Sometimes that is due to the busyness of life and try as I might, I just don’t have time to sit down and process photos or write the little stories that go with them. The recent radio silence is not so much because of the busyness of life but rather because I’m not sure what to write and I’m having a hard time with it.

My cousin passed away on Saturday evening. Technically, he was my first cousin, once removed (my mom’s first cousin). It wasn’t completely unexpected. He had been poorly off and on for quite a little while. Still, it isn’t easy when the time actually comes. It’s harder still when it is someone you admire and respect. Clinton was a kind and gentle man, well liked by acquaintances, well loved by those who knew him. He will be missed.

That’s all I have to say here.

Nate, Hannah, Dorothy, Sara, Anna, Shelly, Suzy, Miranda, Barry, Katie, and Henry

All that was left for us to do this morning was have some breakfast, pack up, and clean our housing site. Once that was done, the group posed for a few team pictures, including this one that includes me (there was a handily placed wall where I set the camera). It was a privilege to work with this team and I’m extremely proud of all of them for the effort them put in this week. It is true that in the larger scheme of things, we didn’t do a very significant amount. On the other hand, I think we all came away with a little better understanding of some the needs in a city like Philadelphia. Thank you, Miranda and CSM, for putting up with us, including our silliness and sarcasm.

Prepared to Serve at Manna

We started the day at the camp again, as we did each day this week. We had lunch quickly and then left to go to Manna, a non-profit organization that cooks and delivers nutritious, medically-appropriate meals and provides nutrition counseling to neighbors who are battling life-threatening illnesses such as cancer, renal disease and HIV/AIDS. The team packaged over 1,000 meals as well as putting together English muffin sandwiches and various other tasks. I don’t know the name of the woman on the right, but our team is (from left to right): Suzy, Anna, Shelly, Katie, Sara, Hannah, Dorothy, (and in front) Barry and Nate.

An Evening Off in Philadelphia

In the evening, we had a little free time. We went to a little pizza parlor in downtown Philly and enjoyed fresh pizza while watching that last 20 minutes of so of the Argentina vs. Netherlands soccer match. Unfortunately, neither team was able to win, so they flipped a coin and it went to Argentina.

After dinner we went to a miniature golf course in Franklin Square. Here, part of our team poses on a replica of the famous Philadelphia LOVE sculpture in the golf course. From the left, Hannah, Dorothy, Anna, Suzy, and Katie at the bottom.

Anna and Shelly with Water Balloons

I took more pictures today than yesterday but didn’t get a lot that I was happy with. I was also distracted by a fall that I took while playing with the third graders at camp this morning. It hurt a bit, but I didn’t think much of it until about two hours later when I noticed a bit of blood in my eye. Since it was similar to what happened after my first cataract surgery, five years ago, I knew what it was immediately. I didn’t do much the rest of the day, taking a few pictures but mostly just sitting while the others worked.

Our afternoon was spent at a Salvation Army site, doing odd jobs. They included organizing a few storage rooms, which needed it pretty badly, as well as filling this small wheel barrow with water balloons for an upcoming event.

Cooking Burgers and Dogs

Each morning in Philadelphia we worked at a summer camp for little kids (across the river in Camden, actually). Each afternoon we had a different opportunity to serve in the city. Today we visited the Mary Jane Home Enrichment Center, run by Mrs. Williams. She had us set up a grill and table from which we served hamburgers, hot dogs, and sausages to anyone who wanted them. I enjoyed chatting with a few local men who stopped by for a meal.

In this picture, Nate took over the grill for a little while (so I cold take pictures). Shelly was in charge of getting buns ready and passed on to the others, who served them to our visitors. It doesn’t look too busy, but it got going shortly after this was taken. We fixed about 40 burgers and at least that many dogs and sausages, putting some chicken on at the end, because there were still people there asking for food.

Anna, Fiona, and Kimia

As mentioned in yesterday’s post, I took the youth group camping (along with some other adults, I’m very happy to say). On Saturday we had a pretty leisurely time, canoeing, fishing (and a few folks learned to clean and fillet a fish), swimming, walking, etc.

Anna and Kimia took the canoe out with Fiona in between them. It wasn’t long after this that people started swimming. At that point, the canoe was upside down most of the time. But this is before that, when it was being used for it’s advertised purpose.

Gwen and Her Serious S’more

The youth group went on a camping trip this evening and, as far as I could tell, everyone had a good time. We got to our site in Pennsylvania in the late evening and got all the tents up before dark but it was dark by the time dinner was ready. After dinner, most people roasted marshmallows and made s’mores of various descriptions (some foregoing the chocolate, some the graham crackers, etc.).

Gwendolyn made the s’more to end all s’mores, with seven marshmallows, two chocolate bars and two entire graham crackers. Fortunately, she is young and fit and can afford the calories.

To answer the question you are thinking, yes, she ate the entire thing.

Abbie and Dorothy

It was the night of the annual Erick’s Hope benefit dinner this evening, at Mama Lucia’s. It’s a pretty good excuse to have a nice meal and the fact that we get to see a lot of friends doesn’t hurt. Normally we have our youth group Bible study on Wednesday evenings but I decided to encourage the youth to support Erick’s Hope, along with their families (and a lot of them did). This was the first time we’ve actually met Dorothy’s friend, Abbie, who joined us for dinner and shared this awesome pizza with Dorothy.

Dorothy and Hannah

Dorothy’s good friend, Hannah, came over this evening to pick up something she had left in our car over the weekend and I took advantage of that and got a few pictures of her with Dorothy.

Cathy’s Soccer Team

It was an absolutely beautiful day today and we did our best to spend some of it outdoors. Dorothy and I visited a few of the yard sales in our neighborhood. Every year a local real estate agent organizes a community wide yard sale so there are dozens throughout the neighborhood. Dorothy and I bought a few small things. Then, we went to see the end of the first half and all of the second half of Cathy’s soccer game. After the game I took a few team pictures. Cathy has been playing on this team (or some version of it) since before we were married, which means for more than 30 years.

Carol and Andy

Today was the big end-of-year award ceremony at school. While there are awards for the entire middle and upper school, there is a significant focus on the seniors. with honor awards of various kinds. The senior with the top thesis presentation gave a slightly shortened version of that (and Dorothy was thankful that wasn’t her “honor”). There were also departmental awards. Although they could go to anyone, the senior class tended to predominate. I won’t embarrass Dorothy by telling you how she did, except to say that she was embarrassed enough on the day.

I took pictures throughout the ceremony, as well as a few short videos (and one almost 10 minutes long). Most of the pictures are nice in terms of memories for us, but not particularly great photographs otherwise. A person walking onto the stage and receiving a piece of paper. Someone standing at the podium. That sort of thing.

After the award ceremony was over, I took a few more, but not a lot. Cathy took some of me with my mom, which was nice, but of course, my aim here is to post a picture that I took, not just something taken with my camera. The final picture I took is this one of Carol and Andy, grandparents of Dorothy very dear friend, Hannah. I hesitated to post this one, because the lighting is so harsh, but it’s a cute picture of a cute couple. So, here you are.

Cathy

It’s been a little while since I posted a picture of Cathy, so, here you go. Usually when I post another picture of Cathy or Dorothy, I wonder “aloud” if I’m being too repetitive. This time, I won’t even mention that (oops!). Instead, I’ll say that I’m fortunate, indeed, to be married to such a woman as this.

We’re coming up on 30 years of marriage and in fact, have past 30 years since I asked her (and she agreed) to marry me. That’s a pretty good while, but we aren’t done yet. Of course, no one knows how long he has before he shuffles off this mortal coil (as Hamlet might say). While we need to look to the future, we also need to think back on the past, both with thankfulness and with humility. Thankfulness for all that we’ve been given. Humility in light of our misdeeds, sins both of commission and of omission. Nevertheless, we live in an amazing time, a time like no other in the brief history of mankind. And while there has been and continues to be war and strife throughout the world, we have been blessed with relative peace and prosperity the likes of which has never been seen. I could go on about the abundance we share, but today, I’m thankful for this one person, Cathy, who has been kind enough to live with me. And for as many more years as we are given. Thank you.

“Winter” Retreat (Spring Edition)

As I was making plans early this year for things to do with the youth group at church, I decided that in addition to our summer trip, it would be nice to have a winter retreat, something close to six months opposite, in late January or early February. Unfortunately, because I was making this decision in late January and early February, it was a bit late. I decided that I didn’t want to wait 11 months for our first winter retreat and I also wanted to include this year’s seniors. So, we had our first “Winter” Retreat on May 9 through 11 (thus the “Spring Edition” part of the name). This picture is of some of our youth, sprawled around the meeting room Friday evening, at Covenant Village in Pennsylvania. If you’re looking for a place for a retreat or camp, you should give Covenant Village a look. We found it perfect for our needs and I’m pretty sure most had a great time.

Katie, Jessie, and Dorothy

I took a bunch of pictures at church this evening and as usual, I had a hard time deciding which one to post. Some of them were not very flattering, so were easy to eliminate. I don’t mind having unflattering pictures of people. They come in handy once in a while, and they are good for a laugh years later. But for posting here, I would rather pick flattering pictures, or at least not-unflattering pictures. This one is pretty nice. It is Dorothy with two of her friends, Katie on the left and Jessie in the middle.