History finished

I have finished reading The History of Runnemede, New Jersey by William Leap. The book is available from Amazon, but it's expensive, I guess because it is rare.

The book had it's boring parts, but since I do enjoy reading history, the book for me was mostly interesting. I only wish the maps were more legible. Reading the book brought back some memories and throughout the night, between waking and sleeping I thought of several things about which I wanted to write reminding my family of things that occurred when I was growing up. Alas, I cannot recall what I was mulling over in my mind throughout the night. Perhaps the events I wanted to recall will come back to me. But for now they are in the deep recesses of my mind.

Mr. Leap's book is about one-half pre-1900s history and the rest is history of what happened in the town after 1900. That part of the book was more interesting because he wrote of actual interviews with people who had lived the times written in the book. And there were pictures of those times -- photographs.

I have searched the web for other pictures of Runnemede, but have found only a few, and those are very recent photographs. So, in a few days, I'll be posting the websites I did find that gave me more insight into the history and development of Runnemede, items that have become available since Mr. Leap wrote his book.

Today is Sunday, and mentally, I'm in church -- Sunday school class with Mrs. Wise, or children's church, playing the piano for the kiddies, then heading upstairs to listen to my father's teaching. Notice I said "teaching" not "preaching". Daddy rarely preached. He was a teacher and would take a few verses or a chapter or a book from the Bible and then pull it apart, and put it back together again, tying it together with other verses, chapters, and verses. He was good at that.

It is now about time for Sunday-afternoon naps. This was a habit occurring only on Sunday -- taking an afternoon nap, that is. I hated it as a youngster, but by the time I was 13, and went through that teenage "sleep" stage, I was happy to take that time to snooze.

After nap time, I would head over to the church again, to practice with other musicians in the church (mostly peers) so that we would be prepared to present some "special music" to the congregation on Sunday evening, and then thinking ahead and practicing something for Sunday morning service.

After practice, we would have our "youth group" meeting, which included a time of Bible study, prayer, and music. That was following by the evening service. Sunday evening service was less liturgical than the morning service and generally just a time of singing hymns and a short sermon.

So I recollect Sundays. After church there would always be a few people who would come over to our house for a small repast -- crackers, lunch meats, and some sort of dessert. Mom always stretched what she had to accommodate those who were invited.

Well, enough about Sundays. I hope I recall what I was thinking about in the wee hours of the morning.

ttfn