Mothers Day, a wedding, and videotaping

We had a very good visit this Mothers Day to my mom at Symphony Manor, the nursing home and memory care facility in Roland Park where she lives.  They had a singer performing "Frank Sinatra style" music and a big reception, including finger sandwiches and raisin biscuits, in their lobby.  Our son, Matt, kindly joined Barb and me and I can't thank both of them enough for conversing with my Mom and patiently going through the usual set of pictures that I brought along to show her what is happening in the rest of the world including pictures of our wonderful chickens on the farm.  Afterwards, Matt made sure that Barb was taken to her favorite restaurant, Johnnie's in Roland Park.  We had a fine meal.

The month of May has been an astonishingly busy month for my videotaping business through Barb's TV news recordings.  I've been working for the University System of Maryland,  State Sen. Jim Rosapepe, Mosaic Community Services, and I'm especially grateful for the opportunity to videotape another wedding. This time, it was a gift from my sister Pegg to Phoebe Marie Brown and Adam Joseph Minacapelli who were married at Trinity Episcopal Church in Towson, same as Pegg and Larry. Phoebe and Adam are a beautiful young couple and the church is very impressive.

The videotaping job for State Sen. Rosapepe has a particularly sweet place in my heart.  It introduced me to the College Park Academy, an experiment in learnng with the University of Maryland College Park. The concept is called a "hybrid" in online learning and it boils down to every student getting a laptop when they arrive at the school and not having to carry any school books.  All of their lessons and textbooks are online. The school has teachers who mentor the students, but the students can proceed at their own pace.  They interact together, a point made clear by Chancellor William Kirwan who was interviewed for the project.  The students, he said, pick up so many skills that they will need in the work place including working together on group projects and using work stations (see photo above).  The computers track everything including the students' progress in learning and the data accumulated by the work stations give scientists an insight into what lessons are working and which are not. Quite impressive.

Of course, all of this busyness means something had to suffer and this year it was work on the garden.  We get the potatoes planted and the asparagus is doing great in only its second year, but the other cold weather plants such as onions and radishes didn't get planted this year. What did get done is a doubling of the size of our chicken run!  Our four hens are much happier now that they have more space to run around. Our neighbor, Art Wannlund, reports that they have a new favorite food: grass.  He scooped up a lot of it after the first cutting of the lawn and the "girls" couldn't be happier.

It is hard to believe that we are just one month away from our first trip to the Grand Canyon!

Easter 2014...best ever

Easter 2014 has been very special!

It began with our Bible study class at the beginning of Lent.  One of the things Rev. Patricia Watson does particularly well is have Bible studies that are instructive, challenging, and interesting.  Among the takeaways from this Bible study, based on the book A World Worth Saving: Lenten Spiritual Practices for Action by George Hovaness Donigian, was the concept that we didn't need to deny ourselves sometime to remember Lent, but rather we would add something by caring and not being apathetic.  Moreover, we learned that Lent, in the early church was actually a time of preparation for joining the church.

Moving forward to Holy Week.

The men of Epworth United Methodist Church were asked to perform Da Vinci's "Last Supper" for the Maundy Thursday service and each of us disciples had a speaking part. I was at the left end and played the role of Nathaniel, also known as Bartholemew (a fisherman), and it caused me to learn a lot about Nathaniel and some of the other disciplines that I had not know before. Memorization is a very big problem for me, but as I got to know the role better, the words came easier and we had teleprompters to help us along.

Good Friday was Mom's turn to perform.  We held a first-time joint service with other United Methodists from Timonium UMC and Mays Chapel UMC.  The Epworth UMC choir, under the direction of Peter Morey, was asked to perform.  It wasn't lost on me that the three pastors of the churches were all women and good friends.  I was very impressed.  They had written speaking parts for Barabbas (played by Rev. Bill Jones), Peter, and Mary.  Again, very moving service.

Moving forward to early this morning, the youth from Epworth UMC did the Easter Sonrise service at historic Jessops Methodist Church in Sparks.  This is a retired church with a large graveyard that is maintained by a foundation and its a beautiful place to hold a 6:30 a.m. service.  The youth created what they called a "human video" to tell the story that God is all around us if only we look...at work, at play...and not just at church. The service ended by singing "Morning has Broken".

We returned to church at 9 a.m. for the annual Epworth Easter Egg Hunt.  This is a wonderful tradition for the children.  The older kids "hide" the plastic eggs all over the church grounds. This picture shows only the younger kids who were confined to the playground area.  Part of the treat of the Easter Egg Hunt is to open the eggs and find out if there is a candy or toy inside.  Some of the eggs are empty, but many of the eggs have cool things that were donated by adults in the church.

By 10:30 a.m., the sanctuary was packed for the Easter service and the church was packed...225 people.  Peter Morey had enlisted musicians from Peabody Conservatory and together with the Epworth hand bell choir and the Chancel choir, the service was filled with awesome music. We even sang Handel's Hallelujah chorus!  Pastor Watson's sermon culminated the weeks of Lent as she moved us forward to seek Christ's resurrection as not only hope for our future, but opportunities for us.

As if the day couldn't get any better, it did!  Our son Matthew and his girlfriend, Mary Louise, joined us for an Easter dinner. Barb dipped into her culinary playbook and, again, prepared a rack of lamb.  It was awesome and it was something she had done for Gourmet Dinner in Washington, DC at least 30 years ago.  It was accompanied by small potatoes, asparagus with bread crumbs, and a fresh strawberry pie.  Matt and Mary Louise brought the wine and I was in heaven.

And then, late today, we got a wonderful e-mail from our son Robert in Portland, Oregon where he is a United Methodist Church music director: "I just got back from our Easter service, which was the formal rebranding of Pioneer as "Crossbridge at Pioneer." Christy and the church plant team did a presentation of all the new things they're doing, all the community events where they've represented the church and so on. And the musicians for the non-traditional afternoon service came to demo one of the pieces they'll be doing today, and the keyboardist and I did some piano/organ duets, which was a lot of fun for me. I took this photo because I was kind of amazed to see so many people in the sanctuary on a Sunday morning."

Best Easter ever!

Firewood

My memories of February and early March, 2014 are of shoveling snow and cutting firewood.

As a result of the ice storm on February 5, two very large oak trees came down within 15 feet of our house.

That was not the plan.  There was a dead 90 ft. oak tree that I was trying to cut down in a controlled manner.  However, the ice storm occurred before I could finish cutting all of the way through the tree and it fell in such a way that it also knocked down another large oak tree and a medium size maple tree.  What a mess!

We rely on firewood as a major source of heat for our house.  A few years ago, Barb and I had a $4000 propane gas bill and resolved that we would use the wood burning stove in our living room to be the major source of heat for our house.  We closed off several rooms and the system has worked very well.  But to rely on firewood for your heating supply requires spending the summer splitting wood...lots of it. It's really been a "win-win" for me because I get lots of exercise and I generated lots of firewood.

(Picture: these are the same two oak trees a month later.)

I was surprised when I started getting inquiries about providing firewood to several of our neighbors who live in the region.  Firewood was in short supply as a result of the cold, long winter and several people needed additional supplies. That's when my effort to cut up the two fallen oak trees really kicked into high gear.  Among the tools that I am using is my father's 40-year-old (or more) Stihl chain saw and my 27-ton gas powered log splitter.  I also own two 14 inch Stihl chain saws and a lot of other firewood paraphernalia.  I'm equipped.

Traditionally, firewood from oak trees should be allowed to sit for an entire season to dry out.  That wasn't an option this year, so I have been trying to "mix and match" firewood for my customers so they would have some seasoned, drier wood...or even pine...to get the new wetter oak firewood started.  Once you have a really hot fire, even "green" oak firewood will burn very well. The other thing that has worked out well is that oak trees have lots branches coming off of them.  Knots at joints burn exceptionally well.

We are just about at the end of our firewood this winter and I look forward to splitting more firewood for next winter.  All of the firewood that was on the parking pad in this picture (picture on left) is already gone.  It was split and taken to one of our best customers.  Barb and I are just down to the final rack

Spring can't come soon enough!

Trials of Hex

My family hasn't many touches with fame but one incident in late 1928 will live in infamy.  It involved the murder of Nelson Rehmeyer from my grandmother's side of the family and it led to the so-called "Hex Trials" that were intended to put an end to the pow-wow or hex culture in York County, Pennsylvania. I am currently reading J. Ron McGinnis' book about the trials and I'm surprised it hasn't been made into a movie. This is the way the Philadelphia Inquirer reported the story on December 1, 1928:

"A pow-wow man and two boys today unfolded the story of a cruel and barbaric murder of a farmer Tuesday night as they tried to get a lock of his hair to banish the malignant devils of witchcraft.  They told their weird story completely, in its sordid and horrifying detail, to District Attorney Herrmann; told it as they would an ordinary neighborhood happening, calmly and coldly and obviously without fear or terror, without a scintilla of pity or a trace of remorse.
      John Curry, 14, stood placidly before the District Attorney and recited the gruesome tragedy in the farmhouse of Nelson D. Rehmeyer, 60, in North Hopewell township, 19 miles from here, and of the brutal murder of the elderly farmer.  He had no scruples against naming his two associates, John Blymire, 32, of York, a reputed witch doctor and "pow-wow" man, and Wilbert Grandwill Hess, 18, who lives on a farm with his parents south of York.
     It was late Thursday when Rehmeyer's beaten, bound, and burned body was found in his home.  A braying, unfed mule gave the sparsely settled township its first inkling of the brutal killing and subsequent discovery of the body.  A few threads were tied together by detectives---threads of a belief in witchcraft that has been handed down from generation to generation since pioneer days, and of the mythical hokus-pokus of the "pow-wow" men and women and their impish powers of subtle wonder.

    Curry was the first one arrested and he included Blymire--the "pow-wow" man who had received a $10 retainer from the Hess's family to lift the yoke of trouble he was having with his neighbors with his physic charms, provided they got a lock of Rehmeyer's hair.
    Blymire blamed Rehmeyer for bewitching the Hess family for causing sudden disappearances of the chickens in Hess's hen houses, and for sundry and diverse things that contributed to neighborly discord.

(photo shows three suspects at the top and Rehmeyer below)

"One of the perplexing angles of the fiendish murder, as District Attorney Herrmann views it, is the sudden departure from their purposeful plan after they got access to Rehmeyer's home.
Instead of contenting themselves with a lock of the farmer's hair after they beat him unconscious with clubs and a chair, all of them confessed to wielding their weapons like barbarians until they were sure he was dead, and to make certain by strangling him with a stout rope, and then ransacked his pockets and house for money.
   Hess was unmoved by the recitation of the part he took in the cold-blooded crime.  If there was anything to disturb him it was a questioning bud in the back of this head that Blymire "gyped" him in dividing the money they stole from Rehmeyer's dead body and in the house.

More pictures of Rehmeyer Hollow today and the home of Nelson Rehmeyer and the other members of the family can be viewed under the Rehmeyer section of our family website at www.fishel.us.

Deep Freeze

Each year, Barb and I go to our timeshare at Canaan Valley, West Virginia in early January.  It provides a wonderful change of scenery and a welcome respite from the busy Christmas season.  It's a time for calm and relaxation.  This year, however, has been a little different because it got cold.  Really cold.

The thermometer in our car read "minus seven" degrees at 11:30 am on Tuesday, January 7.  I was lucky the engine caught quickly and started because the battery didn't have much juice left in it because of the cold weather.  I let the car engine run for several minutes to warm up before moving.  This question is often asked: "How does it feel when it gets that cold?"  To me there isn't much difference between "minus seven" degrees and zero degrees.  It just feels cold.

Among the victims of the bitterly cold weather are the wildlife.  I found these two geese at the pond outside of "Big Johns Restaurant" in the heart of Canaan Valley.  It's a landmark and the porch of the restaurant is adjacent to a pond that is populated with lots of hungry fish and a few birds.  These geese were keeping a small hole open at the pond and you will notice how they have their heads turned back and inward to shield against the strong wind.  Normally, Canaan Valley is populated with lots of deer, ground hogs, and bear, but none of them were to be seen today.
Too cold.

The other creatures that were missing in this cold weather were people. Last night, when the recorded temperatures in nearby Davis, West Virginia dropped to "minus 15 degrees", the Canaan Valley State Park closed their ski lifts.  There was only one car left at the facility. Probably a maintenance person to keep an eye on the lodge.  And the town of Davis was empty at Noon today when I drove through.

Yesterday, we visited Blackwater Falls. This is what we found:

First eggs

Our neighbors, Barb, and I have had a lot of fun this year with our four hens that we raised from chicks and it has prompted us to learn a great deal about chickens.  But the payoff always was the eggs.

What would they look like?  Would they be misshapen or fragile with thin shells?  Would they be brown as we had hoped? Which hen would be the first? How soon would they start laying eggs?

Yesterday came the first eggs!  Both smallish (as we had been told they would be) but both with strong shells and a nice brown color.  The only question would be: which hen was responsible?  And since we got two eggs in a 12 hour period, was it two hens that laid the eggs.  More questions. More mysteries.  I can only report that the Buff Orpington (Buffy, as Art likes to call her) was particularly vocal yesterday morning.  I rewarded them with sunflower seeds and adult chicken food. This morning, all of them were up on the roof of their coop or on their roost bar which is five feet off the ground. They are big girls now and we can't wait for the next eggs to arrive.

What a neat Christmas present!

Volunteering fun

I have been helping my high school class find missing classmates in preparation for our 50^th reunion next year (see www.catonsville1964.com) and I discovered that one of the classmates uses the name “volunteeringfun” in her e-mail address.  What a wonderfully appropriate description of what I have been experiencing this year.

It’s been said many times that you “get more than you receive” when you volunteer and that certainly was the case when my Cockeysville church (Epworth UMC) sent 24 volunteers to the annual Goodwill Thanksgiving dinner to help serve.  John McGucken was again the perfect “Santa Claus” and he was helped several of our youth who were “elves”.  In part, it was fun because it was multi-generational.  The energy and vitality of the youth brings a little livelier step for us older folks.

I’ve been doing a lot of other things for my church this year including

construction of a new office, going on a mission trip, and even painting several of the exterior doors to the church to give them a consistent dark green color.  I also helped paint the storage shed and that’s when I got to learn about the new HVLP latex paint sprayers.  Very ingenious.  I’m also the “sign guy” who changes the message in front of the church and now I have been tapped to be the chair of the Staff-Parish Relations Committee.  It’s a lot of work, but its fun.

The Hereford Community Association needed my help this year with representing them at the Baltimore County Police Community Association meetings.  This was a particularly good fit for me because of the many years that I served on the Washington, D.C. Police/Media Relations Council.  It was a place where police and media officials could discuss their problems without being in the heat of a crisis and an opportunity to build trust.  In the 60s and 70s, trust was a big issue separating those groups.  I found that trust can still be an issue today when people don’t know how they feel about devices that automatically scan their license plates at shopping centers and create a record of where they have been.

The Baltimore Public Relations Council is another place where I volunteer (I’m their treasurer) and except for a snafu concerning our tax –exempt status, it also has been a lot of fun.  It’s an opportunity for me to keep my hand in media relations, hang out with a lot of people that I truly respect, and even get a free meal once in a while.

Volunteering fun.