This and that.

So many people were praying for Mt. Calvary and the near demolition of that century old church.  I know several area churches were praying.  Many contributed money so that the church could be restructured and the members could once again worship in their familiar building.

I am not sure when the church was built but there is a corner stone that says 1911.  And there was a water hole cover in our back yard, later moved to the edge of Mom's garden on the side of the house,  that also said 1911.  I didn't see that marker the last time I was in Runnemede and did my walkthrough of mom's garden, which was her successor's garden, which then became the church community garden, I suppose.

Anyway, that round cover, which has disappeared since the water hole (aka cesspool) was filled in, wasn't in use for over 50 years.  But I remember that cover, and it was made of cement and stones -- which is called pea gravel these days.  Give stones a special name and you can charge more for them.  Thus pea gravel rather than stones.

I, myself, am so very glad that the church is being rebuilt and that it is now safe enough to be occupied. 

Christmas Eve was the first service since the flood in late July took out the east lower wall. 

I know when dad was pastor they didn't have a Christmas Eve service.  He always went to the Lutheran service (and dragged me along with him, when all I wanted to do was open my gifts) and recommended that anyone who wanted to attend a Christmas Eve service should go there. 

My dad and Pastor Lott had a lot in common theologically, and dad loved that service.  He surely did.

So MCUC opens its doors again.  I pray that the church will grow and be a light on the North side of Clements Bridge Road, as Evangelical Lutheran Church is on the South side.

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'Twas The Night Before Christmas - Fred Waring and The Pennsylvanians - ...

Not a creature was stirring

It's very quiet at our present home right now, but it wont be on Sunday.  That's the day my son and his family visit us for their Christmas "DAY" with dad's parents.  I know they will probably be bored most of the time, but we're keeping the time short.  Maybe we'll play Bingo, maybe not.  It's a tradition with the grandchildren no matter what their age to play Bingo, but I'm way behind this year and I don't know whether I'll have Bingo "cards" ready by Sunday. 

Did I have days like this when I was a child?  Well, not exactly.  All of my grandparents were gone, as in passed away, so there wasn't a trip to my grandparents, but...

We did have trips to my Aunt Annie's and then later in Christmas week, a trip to my mom's brother, Joe. 

Aunt Annie's game was Chinese Checkers and we giggled our way through that game.

Then at Uncle Joe's all we cared about was eating Aunt Rita's delicious rigatoni and sausage, and her baked chicken was so good as well, and then, of course she had an anti-pasta and a mixed greens salad.  Yummy. 

I have tried to mixed both events -- games and food -- for my grands and up until this year I have had pretty good success (Alan and I had the stomach flu one year). 

Do I miss my Aunts and Uncles and cousins?  You bet I do.  We had such fun times.  At least that's how I remember it.

I hope you all have pleasant memories of Christmases in the past and that this year you will make another pleasant memory for your family for years to come.

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MCUC update

I received an e-mail from a friend in Runnemede who said that the church has been saved!  An organization in Runnemede provided help in the form of Engineers and foundation builders to get the church back onto a foundation. 

I am so glad the church will be opening soon.  There is still no heat in the building because the heater (boiler) was so damaged, but being in a cold church is just like in the early 1900's when folks brought hot bricks to church with which to keep warm (minimally) by stashing the bricks at their feet or putting them in their coat pockets.

I'm sure the Lord will provide what is needed for this tiny church that has faithfully taught the Bible above all else.

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Thanksgiving 60 years ago

The day started with a breakfast of homemade breakfast cake and milk (or coffee if one was old enough).  Then our family all dressed up in our best church clothes and went to Thanksgiving service at church. 

After service we went home and entered the house by the kitchen door to an aroma -- oh, my -- so wonderful that our mouths watered before we even got a taste of the dinner we had waited for since the year before.

Thanksgiving dinner was the best meal of the whole year.  A lot of people in the church gave us groceries that we only got one time of the year and those groceries included lots and lots of olives -- green and brown -- a large metal container of olive oil, and cans of sweet potatoes, corn, green beans and yes, even Spam.  We ate it all, not at our Thanksgiving meal of course but before Christmas, let me tell you.

Mom was a very good budgeter of our food stocks which were sometime a little lean, but she made do, and we never knew we were almost out of food.

Around 1:00 p.m. some of the family members who would share this feast prepared by my mom and her sister began to arrive.  We welcomed them all.  Aunt Annie.  Uncle Joe.  Cousin Bette.  Cousin Esther.  Cousin David.  Uncle Joe and Aunt Rita, Cousins Joan and Robert.  And sometimes we would even be surprised by a visit from our Tennessee relatives, Aunt Francis, Uncle Howard, Cousins Betty and Dan.  Some of the family came after their first dinner to have their second dinner of leftovers.

The leftovers were just that.  Whatever was left over from the dinner was set out on the dining room table along with bread and sliced cheese and people could munch when they got hungry or not munch at all.

It was a noisy crowd and we laughed until our sides hurt hearing some of the tales my mom and dad and other family members  told of their growing up and schooling.

I guess the most memorable event at every Thanksgiving was dad's grace at the beginning of the meal.  He knew how hungry we all were -- chomping at the bit sort of -- and he started his prayer by reciting a Psalm -- one of the longer Psalms, then because I was peaking I noticed he looked around and if most of the eyes were shut we would go on thanking the Lord for everything he could think of.  And I have to save he was very sincere with this prayer.  Well, after what seemed like an hour-long prayer some of us started giggling -- I think Aunt Annie got us going and we could not stop until we heard a rather loud AMEN meaning "dive in folks, it's finally time to eat."

After dinner we played board games.

I remember plucking at the purple grapes.  We rarely got grapes and I was piking them and mom told me it was rude to pick at the grapes and she cut off a small stem of grapes for me and when that stem ran out of grapes she cut me another stem.

It's funny you know what you remember.  Imagine loving grapes at Thanksgiving and doing with out them the rest of the year and then being so thankful for them again the next Thanksgiving.  Mom also always had a mixed nut tray with a nut cracker and the adults seemed to enjoy the exotic nuts she had rounded up along with Aunt Annie.

So I say to all my family who never knew this joy of Thanksgiving be Thankful in everything for God has given you what you need, which is maybe more than you want.

NOTE:  I mentioned the can of olive oil because EVOO was expensive and mom rationed that can to last six months.  Remember she was an Italian cook and EVOO was a staple for her cooking.


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It's amazing to me that I can write a BLOG in my head and I can even type it on my stomach as I'm thinking about what I intend to write, then bang! it's out of my head already. 

I was thinking of a new subject for a BLOG just this afternoon, and now I cannot for the life of me remember what it was about. 

Oh, yes, now I remember (10 minutes after the first two paragraphs were written). 

Some of us (myself for one) have can recall things that happened early in our lives so what I'm relating today was way back when -- in MY history of Runnemede.

First, I recall my father running me down to the post office.  I was on his shoulders, and I must have three.  At that time Runnemede had about 3,000 residents.  I recall asking him what was on the other side of the railroad tracks (the west side) and he said more house like the one we live in.  At that time the train came through town twice a day and it was pulled by a steam engine, the kind that put out black smoke.  I love that train and I would sit on the stoop near the sidewalk in front of our home and watch for that train.  I could just see it from there.  That was two plus blocks away from me, but I could see the smoke and see the cars.  If my mom would let me out, I would sit on that stoop in all kinds of weather just waiting for that train.

Dad would every once in a while take me down closer to the tracks so I could see the train close up.  I know, I know, it was a boy thing to do, but I loved trains. 

At that same approximate time, Third Avenue ended about a block from Bingham school. The new neighborhood (the split levels) had not been built or plotted yet.

I am one of the few people left that remember when Runnemede was truly a small town with no "Cinderella" homes (they were the homes on the South side of Clements Bridge Road that started to grow up about a block from CBR on Johnson, Knight, and Lindsay Avenues.  I thought it was the coolest thing that there was a sidewalk that went through from Johnson to Lindsay, running parallel to CBR about 1-1/2 blocks in the "Cinderella Homes" development.

Then in the mid-50s new homes were constructed at the end of Third Avenue and we affectionately called them the "Split-Levels".  And at that time we had a bunch of new people come to church and Sunday  school.

Some things remained the same -- three churches in the town; two schools (Bingham and Downing) in town, and were over crowded so that the churches had to house some of the classes; no A&P; no CVS (but we did have one outstanding Snow Cone shop); and a wonderful town attitude during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons.

That's what I was thinking about this afternoon -- the growing up of Runnemede from a very small town to just a plain small town, population at that time about 5,000.

There have been other neighborhoods developed within Runnemede since then, but they are the ones I remember.

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A girlhood friend

• She was one of my best friends, and she was one of my best competitors. 
• She played the piano.  She had long fingers so she could play Rachmaninoff.  I have short fingers so I could play Bach. 
• She played tennis.  I won a trophy for best tennis player (female) in high school between my junior and senior year.  She placed a little lower. 
• She was smarter than I.  She became a doctor.  I am who I am.
• I played the organ, piano, and violin.  She played the French horn and piano.
• She attended Mt. Calvary Union Church where my father was the minister.

Her name was Kathy Kenders. 

She went to be with the Lord yesterday. 

I shall miss our e-mails, though frequent, and her Facebook page.

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