Category: Americana
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A 1921 Truck
A few weeks ago I stopped by the Hartford County 4-H Fair to see the exhibit of one of the families in our congregation. Griffin and Connor were working hard and doing great with their animals. Their grandma, Carol, a former 4-H organizer, took me around and introduced me to some of her friends. I…
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A Maple Syrupy Memory
On the last day of our recent week of vacation, my wife and I stopped at a Maple Syrup Museum on Route 7 just north of Rutland, Vermont. It was a fascinating stop for me as it brought back many childhood memories. The museum contains many artifacts from the production of maple syrup in the…
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A family memory
This antique Packard belongs to Steve, a neighbor of mine. It reminds me of a story my Mom used to tell. When she was a girl, probably a young teen, she was taught to drive a car in order to help on the farm. He father instructed her how to pull hay up into the…
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Our manger scene has a history
Our outdoor manger scene is an integral part of our family Christmas celebration. JoAnne and I originally made it while pastoring at our first church in Bentley Creek PA. Our church was having a live nativity that year. The animals were staying in the little shed/stable we had constructed on the lawn in front of…
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Washington Hill UMC Thanksgiving Eve service
Washington Hill United Methodist Church Did I mention that I love old churches? If you have driven by the corner of routes 219 and 179 you have probably seen the old brick sanctuary of Washington Hill UMC on the corner. The sanctuary is a gem of early colonial Methodist church architecture. It has never been…
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Reflections on car shopping today
Thanksgiving for my Buick In the spirit of Thanksgiving, today I am thankful first for the 7 years of good service that I have had from my 2005 Buick LeSabre. If memory serves, I purchased it late in the year in 2006 when it was a year old and had thirty-some thousand miles on it. …
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Dating at the Fair
Keeping a tradition One of the first dates I asked JoAnne to go on was to the Steuben County Fair. We remember eating spaghetti at an Italian stand where I learned how to twirl spaghetti on my fork against a spoon rather than cut it up. After that, one of our annual dates was…
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A little inside winter fun
Puzzle fun What do you do in winter when the snow is flying and the temperature is dropping? Well, among my wife’s and my favorite pastimes for winter evenings after Christmas are jigsaw puzzles. We have a collection of them and we put several together every year. Once one is together we look at it…
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The Syracuse Train Show
A couple weeks ago on the first Saturday in November I snuck out to the annual Syracuse Train Show. It is a massive display of working train sets of all gauges and vendors of all railroad hobby items from whistles and T-shirts to new engines and cars to antique parts and postcards. The last two…
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Railroad golden era reminders
It is interesting to me how you find reminders of the Golden Age of Railroad transportation in the oddest places. Perhaps they only seem odd to me because 100 years ago railroad tracks meandered into many corners of our nation that are far from any railroad today. A couple weeks ago, my wife and I…