Ginger’s On Saturday Morning

If ever you come to Howden—We recommend Ginger’s as the place to go on a Saturday morning.  Apparently many of the local folk would say the same.  We saw many of them there.  I like the Cappuccino.  John likes the Latte.  We both liked the carrot cake.  But most of all we enjoyed watching the village come alive on a Saturday morning—mothers with their children in strollers, guys and gals out jogging or cycling, others going to the grocery store, and others out walking their dogs, and some at the butcher shop, etc. etc.  Life on a Saturday morning in Howden is like “Life on a Saturday morning” anywhere else in this wonderful world.  But not every place has a Ginger’s!

Ain’t No Mountain High Enough

Yesterday I shared the obstacles, challenges and setbacks my brother John and I experienced on our way to the United Kingdom to visit my granddaughter Katie’s family.  After being with Liam, Katie, Elodie and Rosalie at their home yesterday I really want to shout out:  “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough. Ain’t No Valley Low Enough.  Ain’t No River Wide Enough”… to keep me from visiting Katie, Liam, and my great granddaughters, Elodie and Rosalie!   Ain’t no flight delays.  Ain’t no travel woes.  Ain’t no “age” being too old …to keep me away!

Elodie will be four-years old in November.  Rosalie was actually celebrating her 14-month birthday yesterday.  I last saw them in November 2022.  There are no words to describe the “feelings” I felt in being able to be with them again.  (Awe?  Wonder? Jubilant?  Gratitude? — Nope!).  Ain’t no word big enough, or wide enough,  or deep enough, to describe the “Great Grandad feelings” of being with them.

John and I walked in Howden last night passing by the ruins of the “Minster”— and through the beautifully preserved town center with narrow cobbled streets and restored buildings—to a wonderful little Italian restaurant we enjoyed on our last visit.  As we strolled along, the words of Isaac Watts hymn, “O God, Our Help in Ages Past” kept singing within—“Time, like an ever-rolling stream…, Time, like an ever-rolling stream…”—reminding  me again how important it is to use the time I have to visit my granddaughter and great granddaughters in the UK.  Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.  Ain’t No Valley Low Enough.  Ain’t No River Wide Enough…Ain’t No Age too Old...!  

  

Crossing the Big Pond

 My brother and I set off on Tuesday morning for the UK.  Our flight from Philadelphia to Atlanta was scuttled after several hours sitting onboard with our fingers crossed.  (Fingers crossed didn’t make any difference!). Missing our first flight,  we also missed our connection from Atlanta to Manchester, UK.  But, after standing in line with the other 200 stranded passengers for several hours we were able to re-book.  We discovered upon finally arriving in Atlanta, that our newly-booked flight to London (instead of Manchester) at 9:55 PM had been delayed until 12:30 AM.  Being the intrepid travelers that we are—we readily adapted to this new development (since there was absolutely nothing we could do about it).

At 1 AM (Wednesday morning) we finally boarded our flight to London—arriving Heathrow on Wednesday afternoon at 1 PM (some six hours later than planned, and arriving in London instead of Manchester).  Granddaughter Katie’s husband, Liam, was there to meet us and drive us to our “Oliday ‘Ome” (as great granddaughter, Elodie, named our AirBnB last November).

This quaint townhouse in Howden really did seem like home when we arrived.  Katie had a dinner prepared (all we had to do was put it in the Microwave). Liam made a quick trip to the store for this morning’s breakfast needs.  Oh, how spoiled we are!  And quite content to be so!

Tuesday. Wednesday. Thursday—day three!  Today we will have lunch with Katie, Liam, Elodie and Rosalie at their home in Gilberdyke.  Can’t wait to see Katie and my beautiful “great” granddaughters.

  

 

When I Was Seventeen....

I started school early, entering kindergarten at age four.  (This was for a very practical reason.  My mother had two younger children to care for.  Three little ones at home was just too much).  I moved forward each successive year and became a high school senior at the age of sixteen.  (All of my classmates, with the exception of one, were either 17 or 18 as they began their senior year and all had their driver’s license).  

In February of that senior year, I celebrated my 17th birthday and finally got my driver’s license in April.  The license didn’t do much for me, because we only had one car, which was used daily by my Dad to go to and from his work.  

My goal was to attend college.  I applied to four different schools and was accepted by three, in spite of my average grades.  My older sister was in college at the time. My older brother had enlisted in  the Navy two years before.  My parents urged me to join the military, because they could not afford “two” in college.  (By that time, they were the parents of seven kids!)

The National Defense Education Act of 1958 (student loan program) was just getting off the ground.  In fact, my sister, was enrolled in the program, and I figured I could do the same.  However, there was also the Selective Service, better known as the military draft.  Young men of 18 years of age, who were not farmers or college students, were  subject to being “drafted” (involuntarily) into the Army for two years.  Even Elvis Presley, in spite of his fame, was drafted in 1958 and spent two years in the Army.  

I graduated high school in early June.  I tried to find a job (without having any skill, or a car to get to and from a job).  Everywhere I went, I was encouraged to get my military service out of the way first.  No one wanted to hire an unskilled 17-year old, who would probably be drafted in a year!   My parents were urging me to do the same.  Unable to get a job, discouraged about finding the funds needed for college,  I finally ended up at the Air Force Recruiting Office.

Sixty-three years ago, today, July 11 (1960)  I was on my way to Texas and basic training…when I was 17!  When I retired in April 1999 as an Air Force Reserve Chaplain, my father told the Base Commander:  “I don’t know what would have happened to Harold, if it hadn’t been for the Air Force.”

Happy Birthday to Austin and Nick

I am “Grandad” to four grandsons and two granddaughters.  What a joy it has been, and still is, to be a grandad.

Last Saturday I attended Austin and Nick’s birthday party.  They were born on the same day—two years apart.  They are Paul and Helen’s sons.  Now, in my mind, Paul and Helen are still in their 30’s, even though Austin is now 27 and Nick is 25.  I know that doesn’t compute, but I was never much of a mathematician.  

Paul, Helen, Austin and Nick

Grandma and Austin

Grandma and Nick 

Happy Birthday, Austin and Nick.  

Independence is Dependence

 "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men (all races, creeds, genders, ages, etc.) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed..."

My "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" and your's is dependent upon our seeing and accepting all persons as created equal..."endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights."  My independence, your independence, and the nation's independence is dependent upon securing "these truths."

In order to attain "these truths" for all people, we have instituted a government "of the people, for the people and by the people."  This government derives its "just powers" with our consent.  Such government is dependent upon us (or is supposed to be...)...and we are dependent upon that government to ensure both our own unalienable rights and the unalienable rights of all our citizens are honored.

While It Is Day: What Do You See?

 “Hope is a form of faith and tends to produce what it sees.  Despair is a form of faith and tends to produce what it sees.”  (N. Gordon Cosby)

What do you see?  The ancient prophet recorded God saying, “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18).  But just what “vision” do you see, observe, or perceive?  Is everything going to hell in a bread basket?  Is the future anything to look forward too?  Despair feels that it is useless to attempt to change things.  Our best efforts to make this world a better place will come to nothing.  What’s the use of trying?  “Despair is a form of faith and tends to produce what it sees.”

Vision, in the biblical sense, is the capacity to see that which ought to be but is not yet.  What do you see?  Do you see “Love” at the heart of things?  Do you see a world in which brothers and sisters, regardless of differences, live together in harmony?  Can you perceive what most Christians pray for through the  Lord’s Prayer?  “Thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.”   Do you believe such a vision—so different from what is—is real? This vision is not about some “pie in the sky” afterlife—it is about God’s kingdom coming here, where we live, work, play, and suffer.  “Even now it is breaking forth from the bud.  Can you not perceive it?” “Hope is a form of faith and tends to produce what it sees.”