IN CASE ANYONE IS INTERESTED!!!!!!!



I will be a guest on the Vic Porcellui show on Wednesday December 17TH at 7:00 AM on KTRS 550 on the AM dial. We will be discussing my seventy events in my seventieth year.

For those from out of town I believe you can listen on the net at KTRS.com. Obviously this will be counted as #68. There is also a possibility I might get a ride on the KTRS 550 helicopter for #69.

Thanks again to my friend Kathryn as I met Vic on a June Friday night at Fox2 when we were both answering the phones for raising funds for flood victims.

BREAKFAST WITH SANTA!!!

Saturday morning found us with three of our grandchilren at Breakfast with Santa at McKnight Rd. Church of Christ

Nancy read a story to about forty are more kids.

We will feature pictures with Santa tomorrow.

If you look real close you will see our three grandchildren closest to grandma on the left.

Uncle Steve made this photo at the key board.

Private reading with grandson Paul. Actually he was reading to grandma.

Paul said "this was his muscle pose."

GRANDPA and HIS YOUNGEST!!!


Spending the day with James is a belly full of laughs and fun.

I am not his coach but I am his public relations manager.!!!! Also see photo five.

You never know what might be next.

MY FAVORITE OBOE PLAYER
Our oldest granddaughter Kelsey is featured as she is playing her Oboe in her high school band on Thursday night. In case you did not notice she is playing first chair in the Oboe section. I think that is an honor to be selected to play in the first chair of a section.
I like to refer to her as the senior princess but of course grandma is the QUEEN!!!

A LITTLE KNOWN GEM IS #67!!!

Wednesday 12/10 found Nancy and I at the Saxophone museum on antique row at 2114 Cherokee street. If you have only a little interest and knowledge of saxophones you will enjoy about an hour of your time to tour the museum,see the saxophone store, and visit with the owner Mark.

The museum is located on the second floor and you view the exhibits at your pace.

The building was built in the late eighteen hundreds yet has been nicely restored. The saxophones are numerous,old,and many of them have beautiful decorations on the metal.

I am looking into a testing room for you to test out a saxophone before you purchased or one that they just repaired.

The saxophone on the left was built in the very early nineteen hundred.

You cannot beat the price to see the museum.

This is another of the gems of our area that we would have missed except for my quest to do seventy new adventures.

TWO STARS PERFORMING!!!

In the first set of four photos we see grandson Donovan performing for his school's Morris dance troupe.

An explanation from the Internet about the origin of the Morris dance follows.

Morris dancing also figures among the evidence in support of the claim that dancing formed part of the celebration of Celtic festivals. Among the earliest references to Morris dancing are those made by Shakespeare, who, in "All's Well that Ends Well" (II.ii.21), makes it clear that the Morris dance was commonly performed on May Day (May 1). That Morris dancing was associated with May Day celebrations in the early 17th century is also suggested through King James I's "Book of Sports" which permitted among the amusements to be enjoyed on a Sunday the continuation of "May games, Whitsun ales and Morris dances, and the setting up of May-poles.

I realize the next four pictures are not my best examples of my photography skills but I was further away than I would like to be.

With the purple cap on is princess Kayleigh singing and speaking in her school's holiday show.

This is the finale that included both the 2ND and 4TH grades.

A PHOTO XMAS CARD SHOOT


After church and before lunch we tried to take the four youngest grand children's picture for a grandparents photo Xmas card.

Very cute but not quite the Kodak moment that the grandparents were looking for.

We were successful on one and the cards have been ordered. The oldest two grandchildren will be included on the card as we went with a two photo card.
It seems that accept for the princess they all have different ideas on a cute smile.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING


I hope you have a great holiday and that the attached is as an encouragement to you as it was to me.!!!



Ruth went to her mail box and there was only one letter. She picked it up and looked at it before opening, but then she looked at the envelope again. There was no stamp, no postmark, only her name and address. She read the letter:


Dear Ruth:


I`m going to be in your neighborhood Saturday afternoon and I'd like to stop by for a visit.


Love Always, Jesus





Her hands were shaking as she placed the letter on the table. 'Why would the Lord want to visit me? I'm nobody special. I don't have anything to offer.'


With that thought, Ruth remembered her empty kitchen cabinets. 'Oh my goodness, I really don't have anything to offer.. I'll have to run down to the store and buy something for dinner.' She reached for her purse and counted out its contents.. Five dollars and forty cents . Well, I can get some bread and cold cuts, at least.'


She threw on her coat and hurried out the door. A loaf of French bread, a half-pound of sliced turkey, and a carton of milk...leaving Ruth with a grand total of twelve cents to last her until Monday..


Nonetheless, she felt good as she headed home, her meager offerings tucked under her arm. '

Hey lady, can you help us,lady?' Ruth had been so absorbed in her dinner plans, she hadn't even noticed two figures huddled in the alleyway. A man and a woman, both of them dressed in little more than rags. '


Look lady, I ain't got a job, you know, and my wife and I have been living out here on the street, and, well, now it's getting cold and we're getting kinda hungry and, well, if you could help us... Lady, we'd really appreciate it.'



Ruth looked at them both. They were dirty, they smelled bad and frankly, she was certain that they could get some kind of work if they really wanted to. 'Sir, I'd like to help you, but I'm a poor woman myself.. All I have is a few cold cuts and some bread, and I'm having an important guest for dinner tonight and I was planning on serving that to Him..' 'Yeah, well, okay lady, I understand. Thanks anyway.'


The man put his arm around the woman's shoulders, turned and headed back into the alley. As she watched them leave, Ruth felt a familiar twinge in her heart. 'Sir, wait!' The couple stopped and turned as she ran down the alley after them. 'Look, why don't you take this food. I'll figure out something else to serve my guest.' She handed the man her grocery bag.. 'Thank you lady. Thank you very much!' 'Yes, thank you!' It was the man's wife, and Ruth could see now that she was shivering '


You know, I've got another coat at home. Here, why don't you take this one.' Ruth unbuttoned her jacket and slipped it over the woman's shoulders. Then smiling, she turned and walked back to the street....without her coat and with nothing to serve her guest.


Ruth was chilled by the time she reached her front door, and worried too. The Lord was coming to visit and she didn't have anything to offer Him. She fumbled through her purse for the door key. But as she did, she noticed another envelope in her mailbox. 'That's odd. The mailman doesn't usually come twice in one day.'

Dear Ruth:

It was so good to see you again. Thank you for the lovely meal. And thank you, too, for the beautiful coat.

Love Always,

Jesus

I NEED YOUR SUGGESTIONS

I have had a really great experience in 08 seeing,doing,learning,and experiencing so many new adventures. Even thought I am not finished I am certainly in sight of the finish line at sixty six. The question is 'what to do in 2009"?

I have set some criteria that I need to follow.

1--- Certainly not as adventureous as seventy.

2--- In this uncertain economic times I need to be frugal with my expenses.

Last fall many of you helped me with ideas of what to do in 08. I treasure your input for what I could set out to accomplish in 09.

Two things I know will be on my list.

1---I want to continue by reading at least four classical books.

2--- In honor of my friend Kathryn reading fifty books in eleven months of 08 i will attempt to read twenty four books in 09. I am reasonably certain I have never read more than eighteen books in any year since age sixteen.

I welcome your suggestions for my 09 adventures.

GUESS WHO WAS 20 ON 11/14 ?

Sorry Todd it did not get published till today. I did not forget but life was a little hectic yesterday with grand parenting four at two different locations.

HAPPY belated BIRTHDAY!!! and I hope you got our card and celebrated at Sonic!!!

You could do 20 things you have never done before. Oh you could provably do that many in a month.
LOVE Grandpa and Grandma



Sorry you had to share space with your sister but it was the most recent photo.

#66 A VISIT TO THE SCOTT JOPLIN HOUSE

Today Nancy and I toured the king of ragtime Scott Joplin's St Louis home. Today the address is 2658a Delmar but in the 1900 hundreds the same street was named Morgan street.He moved here from Sedalia, Mo. where he had taken formal classes in music at a local black college.Scott wrote "Maple Leaf Rag" and "The Entertainer" that became the theme song of the movie The Sting.


Ed and Nancy are sitting at a player piano that plays ragtime as you pump the pedals.

Nancy is standing in front of a piano that looks similar to one we have in our home. It is not a piano that Scott played but it is from the era of his life.

I am standing in front of a replica of the famous St Louis ragtime honky tonk "Rosebud Cafe"

The home is lit by gaslight and furnished as if it is 1902.

Scott Joplin only lived in St Louis about five years but did marry his wife Belle while living here.