My 68th Birthday

Today, October 12, is my birthday and it has been exactly one month since I wrote my last blog entry. It seems like a good time to do an update.

Tomorrow marks five weeks since I had my full knee replacement on my left knee.  The surgery went well, but the return home was difficult as I had problems with my pain medication.  Eventually, those problems got resolved and these days I am just taking Tylenol for the pain and using ice packs three times a day for 30 minutes each.  My sister Pegg lent me a recliner chair and it has been perfect for using the ice treatments. Thanks, Pegg!

I am resuming many of my traditional activities, but I don’t have the stamina that I once had.  For example, I will use the log splitter for 45 minutes and then I’m exhausted and have to come inside.  I’ve been trimming back some apple trees in our back yard and, similarly, I find I can work for 45 minutes and then I need to take a break.

The other thing that has changed is my sleep patterns.  I just can’t find a way to make the knee comfortable at night and allow myself to go to sleep.  I end up taking cat naps instead.  This morning, as an example, I was awake all night and then when it was time to go to church, I laid down on our bed for a brief nap and several hours later I awoke and realized that I had missed church entirely.

I am in my second week at the Hereford Physical Therapy Center and I have discovered several friends are there also including my neighbor’s granddaughter who is training to become a physical therapist.  They have a bunch of folks who push you to the limit, but they are very nice about it.  I go three times a week for an hour and we have seen substantial progress in the two weeks that I have been attending.

Meantime, there is the matter of the missed 50^th Catonsville High School reunion.  I really wanted to go but it took two months to get on the surgeon’s schedule and I needed the surgery.  None the less, several of my classmates did things to help me “experience” the reunion in various ways.  The biggest event was a dinner organized by my friend Paulette Geisenkotter Hammond in which she invited several other classmates who also missed the reunion.  And then there was the concluding meeting of our reunion committee which Rick Webb organized at a Hunt Valley eatery for my convenience.

These are memories that I will cherish forever.

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My left knee replacement

I normally try to illustrate my blog with pictures.  I'll skip that this time and just use words.

On Monday, September 8, 2014, I entered the University of Maryland St. Joseph's Hospital at 1:30 p.m. to have my left knee replaced.  The surgery was scheduled for 3:30 p.m. but actually occurred closer to :4:30 p.m. and was performed by Dr. Scott Tarantino.  He already was pretty special in my mind because he remembered everything I said from my first appointment until my second appointment two months later without looking at his notes.

I had injured my knee, ironically, while using the treadmill at the Maryland Athletic Club.  My knee was sadly deteriorated and the meniscus, in the middle of the knee, was in really bad shape.

Everything about my treatment at St. Joseph's Hospital went well...especially my experience in the operating room.  A long time ago, I had spent several summers as an operating room technician (scrub nurse who hands instruments to the doctor), so I knew what to expect.  I just don't remember any of it.  I went into the OR, sat the table sideways, and that's the last thing I remember before being awakened by two angels in the recovery room. It was amazing.

About 45 minutes or an hour later, I was transported to the 6th floor recovery wing and arrived at Room 608B.  That was about 8 p.m. or so.  I can't remember all of the names of the nurses and the techs who cared for me, but I remember the high level of care that I got from all of them and how many of them attended community colleges to get their degrees.  It was virtually all of them...Harford Community College, Carroll Community College, Baltimore County Community College, and so forth.  They must have been doing something right at those community college levels.

And then there was the matter of the pain. Oh, boy, was it painful but the staff did their best to keep me comfortable and I was very grateful.  One of their tricks was to run cold water over the knee to keep down the swelling and the sensitivity to pain.  They had a little pump that ran the cold water over the knee in a series of pipes in a pad. Very effective.

Two days later, after I had proven to the satisfaction of the physical therapists that I knew how to get in and out of bed, in and out of the bathroom, and various other tasks,  I was discharged on Wednesday morning at 11 a.m.  I was very happy to go.

UPDATE: the return home did not go well at first.  I was taking a narcotic for pain relief and it was making me nauseous and loopy.  I stopped doing my physical therapy. I was a mess.  Finally, my home nurse (Doug) and my physical therapist (Bob) both recognized that I needed to switch to a different pain killer and things have improved greatly.  I missed my 50th reunion, but at least I know that I am on the road to recovery.

50th Catonsville High School reunion

In just a few weeks, on September 12 through September 14, my Catonsville High School class will be having its 50th reunion. There is something really special about the 50th reunion.

Our reunion committee, chaired by Rick Webb and our class president Richards Steinboch, has had eight meetings over the last eight months to prepare for event.  The planning started when Rick discovered that Catonsville would have a home football game Friday night (against Dulaney) on September 12 and that got the ball rolling.  Where could we have a "before and after" reception, we asked?  After much serious research, we settled on Matthews 1600 on Frederick Road.  It was the first of many decisions that turned out very well.

Friday is also the day we traditionally held a little golf tournament and this year, the ladies are fielding more golfers than the men!  Thank you, Barbara Sheetz Kight, for making that happen.  The main event will be a Saturday night dinner at the Rolling Road Golf Course and Barbara is a member.  But I got a little bit ahead of myself.

One of our traditions is a tour of the high school provided by the Honor Society.  Paulette Geisenkotter Hammond organizes these tours and they are always terrific...and sometimes a little embarrassing for the high school students as we tell them that this is what they are going to look like in 50 years.  It's all in good fun and we get to see our classrooms again and the library and gymnasium.  All have been kept in good condition and its a pleasure to visit.

Saturday evening is the main event, the reunion dinner at the Rolling Road Golf Club from 6 p.m. until 11 p.m.  We will have hors d'oeuvres from 6 until 7 p.m. and then a lavish buffet with two carving stations the rest of the evening.  A professional DJ is providing quiet music during the first three hours, but after our president, Richard Steinbock, has his remarks at 9 p.m.,  we will crank up the volume for the dancing.  A professional photographer has been hired to take pictures of each individual when they arrive and then lots of pictures when the reunion really gets underway. The cost of this is $100 per classmate and $75 for their guest and that's why it has worked out so well that we have multiple events at various locations and that classmates can attend many of these events for free.

The weekend will conclude with a farewell brunch at Dmitri's International Grille, also in Catonsville.  Our president, called "Steiny", is a professional graphics artist and he has put together an awesome book for the reunion that includes high school pictures and updated information about our classmates. There is a memorial section for the nearly 60 classmates who have passed away from our class of approximately 530 students.  Too many have been lost.

My role in the reunion has been as a communicator;  setting up the e-mail and US postal mail systems to be in contact with our classmates.  There are so many classmates that I have gotten to know through the reunion activity that I didn't know before.  It's been demanding, but very rewarding.

And finally there is an ironic note to all of this.  I have needed to have my left knee replaced for a long time and incidents over the last three months have caused the surgery to become imminent.  So, I'm having the surgery on Monday, just six days before the reunion dinner.  I've been warned about the pain, but I wouldn't miss the dinner.  It just means no dancing by me.

Epworth UMC Mission Trip and Baltimore County Christian Work Camp

July has been devoted to two week-long endeavors that were very much alike.

The first project involved a couple dozen members of Epworth United Methodist Church traveling to Cherokee, North Carolina in the western mountains to the Cherokee Indian Reservation to do various types of mission work including painting, cleaning, and building a deck.  We stayed at the Cherokee United Methodist Church in the heart of the reservation.

While it may not be obvious why it was necessary to do mission work, in light of the huge casino in downtown Cherokee, there are many families which do not meet the criteria for membership in the tribe and these are the families that, in the words of the pastor, "fall through the cracks". These were the families that the church identified for us to help.

My project was the construction of the 10 foot by 20 foot deck.  I found a design for the deck online and originally we were told that it would be 10 foot by 10 foot, but when we arrived the plans changed.  There was also intended to be a roof over the deck because the homeowner has contracted cancer and needed to be protected from the sun.  Another mission team, to come after us, will be building the roof.

Our mission team was inter-generational which means it was the responsibility of the older members of the team to teach our youth how to operate the power tools and how to construct the deck.  This was one of the joys for me.  These youngsters had so much energy and enthusiasm that I loved being around them.  And, yes, they constantly reminded me to "Drink water, Mr. Ed!"  It was very hot and dehydration was always a concern.

The mission trip was also an opportunity for cultural awareness and we learned a lot about the Cherokee Indian tribe...specifically the "Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation."  One of our featured speakers was this tribal elder who also gave us a lesson on how to use a blowgun.  He had dinner with us at the church hall and afterwards everyone gathered around to hear him tell stories about the early days of lacrosse and hunting for small animals with blowguns.  Later in the week, we attended a pageant telling the Cherokee history and a Pow-Wow that included fireworks and dancing.

A week after we returned, our church participated in the Baltimore
County Christian Work Camp.  Unlike the mission trip which involved going to a far away place to help people, this was an opportunity to make a difference right here in our backyard.  Because our church is particularly adept at building ramps, we were selected for three ramp projects.  Other churches, however, do other things such as painting, cleaning, plumbing, etc.

Our first ramp was a relatively small project which we got done in a day. The homeowner had suffered a fall...was in the hospital...and needed a ramp constructed so he could get around.  This project was in Woodlawn and despite some surprisingly large rocks, it went very smoothly.  I came back the second day to make some final adjustments on the sidewalk in front of the house (added sand and a couple pavers) but basically it was all done.

The next project involved part of our team working with a handful of people from another church and the effort went very smoothly.  They were delightful to work with and, again, our youth...now highly trained...were a big asset to the project.  There is no replacement for youthful energy.  This project was in Middle River.

The final project, however, was very complicated and took three and a half days to build. This was a ramp that included two "switchbacks" (sharp turns) to construct in the limited space we were given.  The good news is that we got it done and it turned out really well.

One other aspect about the Baltimore County Christian Work Camp that is very important to mention.  We began each day at the Hunts Memorial United Methodist Church in Ruxton and we ended each day at another church.  These meals (and the lunches) were provided by the church volunteers and we can't thank them enough for the difference they made in our lives.

Grand Canyon and Sedona vacation

It's been awhile since I posted anything and I need to catch up!  Barb and I have had an extraordinarily busy couple of months and we have much to report.  First, I'm going to write about our vacation in Arizona in which we took a train to the Grand Canyon south rim and later visited Sedona (red rocks) and Phoenix.  It is important to note that our niece (http://thedestinationdesigner.com/) Mackenzie Melfa had a major role in booking the trip and finding out about Sedona which was a wonderful surprise for us.

This tale actually begins a year ago when we took AMTRAK across the country to visit our son Robert in Portland.  One of the couples we met on the train, Tom and Carol Lee, told us about this wonderful train from Williams, Arizona to the south rim of the Grand Canyon.  They wrote the information on an AMTRAK table napkin and we kept it in a folder until several months later when we decided we wanted to go.  We still have that napkin.

We booked an early morning Southwest Airlines flight to Phoenix on Sunday, June 8.  That's Barb in the airport shortly after we arrived. We picked up our rental car and started driving four and a half hours to Williams, Arizona to the Grand Canyon Railroad Hotel.  It was the biggest thing in town; a source of many jobs.  This hotel is the former Sante Fe Railroad hotel built circa 1908 and it is said that as many as five U.S. presidents have taken the train to the Grand Canyon.  It certainly is the most fun way to travel.

Prior to our 9:30am Monday morning departure, we and hundreds of others were treated to a cowboy show just outside the hotel and adjacent to the train.  There were the usual bad guys and "the Marshall" who had to keep order.  This would be a recurring theme throughout our trip on the train and on the return trip when the bad guys would rob the train and the Marshall would have to come to our rescue.  We suspect the actors trade the roles to keep it fresh. It was a lot of fun.

Arriving at the Grand Canyon, we were greeted by several tour buses which were part of our package (including very good meals) and we were immediately taken to the rim of the Grand Canyon.  I'm sure you've heard this before: it's impossible to describe the enormity of it all. It's huge.  We were at 7,000 feet on our side of the rim and it rises another 1,000 feet on the other side of the rim.  We elected to spend a night in the Maswik Lodge at the canyon rim so we could catch that late evening and early morning light.  My sister told me that was a "must".

My sister was right. The color is dramatically different in the evening and in the morning. (That's the crack of dawn in the picture to the right).  You really begin to see the various trails leading down to the bottom of the canyon and the astonishing number of people who are trying to make their way down.  One thing you must remember:  take a lot of water. Everywhere we went, there were reminders to re-hydrate yourself.  The national park provides many sources of water, but they don't sell the water bottles.  You must bring your own.  Now, on to Sedona....

This was the view outside of our hotel balcony in Sedona, known for its fabulous red rocks and mountains.  In some ways, Sedona is more "approachable" than the Grand Canyon which simply overwhelms you because it is so big.  You can't take it all in.  But Sedona (named for one of its earliest inhabitants) sweeps you off your feet with its beauty and history.  We stayed there two nights, but it easily could have been a week.  We took the famous "Pink Jeep" tour to the Indian ruins and saw artifacts from the era 1,000 AD to 1,200 AD.

These are the remnants of Indian housing built adjacent to a stream which was their source of water.  These houses were built with stones and mud against a mountain wall.  Pink Jeep offers many tours and this was just one of them, but we were so glad that we picked this tour.  You can still see the drawings on the walls on the back side of their housing.  The sun was a frequent subject of their paintings so we suspect it had a role in their religion.  As mysteriously as the Indians appeared, they disappeared 200 years later.  Possibly the water dried up.

Our final stop was in Phoenix which some have described as "low rise and 40 miles across".  We found very few high rise buildings and the town seemed to empty out on Friday night, so this seemed to be accurate.  That left us free to roam the light rail from end to end on Saturday and visit the historic Heard Museum (picture left) which is dedicated to preserving southwest U.S. culture and artifacts.  When we visited, they also were featuring a "Lego" exhibit; hence the statues in front of the building.


In short, we loved our Arizona adventure.

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!