We left Leavenworth, Kansas, for a couple of weeks of vacation time, to visit our families before we headed to Germany. Lovely time – family is best!
We arrived in Heidelberg, West Germany for Fred’s next assignment. Again, there wasn’t any housing available just at that moment, so we stayed in the “Q” – officers temporary quarters. It was mostly like a hotel room, but no kitchen or kitchenette, so all our meals were eaten out.
Guest quarters – Patrick Henry Village
Within a week – after we had gotten over our jet lag – we started looking for the Baptist church there in Heidelberg. When we had been in Wiesbaden, our church there had dealings with other Baptist churches throughout Europe, and knew there was a church there in Heidelberg. Neither Fred nor I can remember how we found out that the Sunday School part was not meeting at the church building, but were holding classes in a school nearby, then walking to worship service in the church building. In any case, we went to the Sunday School one Sunday morning, then walked to the worship service in the church building.
We did join that body of believers – Grace Baptist Church. Neither Fred nor I can remember the name of the pastor who was there at that time. But perhaps that’s because he and his family were getting ready to rotate back to the States. His three-year tour was up. More to come on how we called another pastor.
In Heidelberg, the German congregation of believers had built a building, where they met for services.
Grace Baptist Church, Heidelberg, West Germany
The pulpit and baptistry cross
Inside the church building for a service
Inside the church building for a service – this is where the adult choir sat for worship services
But as with the church in Wiesbaden, the German congregation shared the building with the American congregation. I’m sure we paid a rental fee to the German group, but that was okay. It was a lovely building, with a basement, where we held our choir practice, and special events.
When we were in Wiesbaden, the American and German congregations did a lot of “joint” events together. Not only did we share the building, but we had dinners and outings together. It was a wonderful time together. Unfortunately, we didn’t find the same cooperative feeling in the church in Heidelberg. We did “cooperate” with them, but had little-to-no events together. That was the only down side of that church.
However, I do remember early one December, the German congregation had a sort-of “bazaar” of hand-crafted Christmas decorations, and had them set out for us to look at and purchase if we wanted. I found several items that I wanted, and have kept them all these years. Some are a little “worst for the wear” but I still use them. Not only do I like them, but they remind me of Germany, and the time we spent there. They were lovely people, and we did try to incorporate them into our worship time together.
While the American congregation wasn’t too large, we were a great group. We found a family from Canada; there was a young lady from New Zealand
Stacy from New Zealand and Judy
who was touring Germany and found she loved Heidelberg, and so stayed and worked as a chamber maid in a hotel, who just wanted some time with English speaking people, and found our church. There was a school teacher who is still a good friend of ours.
One thing I especially loved about this church was that, while most of the members were military people and their families – when they walked through the doors of the church – the “rank” came off – we were all the same in God’s eyes. No one ever pulled rank or tried to be more than anyone else. It was great. Wish the American schools had the same policy.
WE….ARE THE CHURCH!
~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~
Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .
Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.
After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.
Earlier this week I wrote a long blog about the days after Hurricane Ian. I spent two hours writing it. Then the internet dropped out and the blog was gone, just gone. What happened to autosave? I decided to view it as a sign that the blog post wasn’t meant to be.
The hurricane damage and tragedies are ongoing, but as in the past, the news coverage moves on while people are still trying to put their lives together again. Sadly it will be a years long process.
We are back in the North Carolina mountains. Every year I am in awe of the vast temperature difference between Florida and the mountains. From hot, sticky and running the air-conditioning, to chilly mornings and heat. I love chilly mornings.
While we were in Florida, I discovered local roast coffee. It is so good! No need for a chain coffee shop. On my last visit to Black Cat coffee I had a cafe leche and my daughter a pumpkins spice latte that was better than the chain shop.
We don’t have local roasters in our mountain town but the beauty of a mountain fall more than compensates.
I love Florida and I love my mountains. I love my forever Florida friends and my new-ish mountain friends. I am blessed.
After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience. Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites, Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix
In addition to blogging, I work as the publicist/marketer/ amateur editor and general “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books
My 2022 goal is continue to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media.
This morning after breakfast, Terry and I headed off in search of the Blue & Gray Museum located in Decatur, AL. We found the address, but the museum had closed (another victim of Covid I guess). As we were walking down Bank Street, looking for the museum, I saw this historical marker and took a photo. It seems that Ellen Hildreth was the founder of the Alabama Women’s Suffrage Club, there in what was then called New Decatur, in 1892 and hosted many National Suffrage Leaders at the Echols Opera House which is also located there on Bank Street.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
We gave up on the Blue & Gray Museum and it was only a few blocks to where we visited the Historic Decatur Railroad Depot Museum there in Decatur. This small museum is situated in the old restored 1905 Southern Railway Depot and displays many antique railroad artifacts and memorabilia related to the early development of Decatur and the surrounding De Kalb County, dating from the early 1800s. The museum also has a model railroad layout on the trackside of the depot. The curator informed us that as many as 100+ trains still pass by the museum in any given day. Busy place!
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
Terry grew up in the Decatur area and he and the museum curator, who was also from Decatur, had a wonderful time talking about old times in the area and the many things they remembered that had changed over the years. I finally pulled Terry away from the curator, so he could talk to other visitors, and we headed for one of Terry’s favorite restaurants there in Decatur. This turned out to be the Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q Restaurant, where I ordered a plate of their St. Louis Bar-B-Q Ribs with a sweet potato, coleslaw, and a glass of their ‘real southern’ iced tea. The ribs were falling-off-the- bone delicious and tender. After that wonderful meal, I still had enough left over to enjoy that meal again tomorrow night.
After that fantastic meal, we headed back to Terry’s house in Lester where I took a quick nap. That was my first nap since I started this trip, and it really felt good. We spent the rest of the afternoon talking about the ‘Good Old Times’ in Titusville, what had happened to all the friends we had worked with, and how so many things have changed. We brought each other up to date on our children, grandchildren, our lives, and the many ailments us old geezers have to deal with. We pretty much exhausted every subject we could think of until it was time for dinner. Mary had prepared a light meal of chicken Taco Salad (Tostado) and it was delicious.
After dinner I called DiVoran with my nightly update, and we spent a good hour, each taking our turn talking to her. Mary went to bed after that, and Terry and I stayed up talking about my trip plans and all the new aviation books he had read.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
So ended another great day with friends. The trip to the museum, all that good food, and reminiscing with Terry and Mary, were just the thing I needed to put me to sleep for a good night’s rest. ZZZZZ.
—–To Be Continued—–
Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 65 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing. He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville. Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.
I told Fred, while at Tyndall AFB, Florida, that he really needed to be reassigned – we had been at Tyndall for over four years, and I was beginning to put down roots – in a government duplex! So we were expecting something in the near future.
Photo credit WJHG.com
Credit Google search
And the future brought an assignment for Fred to attend the Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Credit Google Search and Fort Leavenworth website
It was to be just a one-year study. There were other Air Force personnel attending the school, and they also arrived in June, so they could “learn to speak Army,” as Fred told me, before they began their regular study.
We had never been to Kansas, and when I mentioned it to friends in Florida, most of them were going on about how flat and desert-like Kansas was. So we were quite surprised to find that Fort Leavenworth was in a hilly, grassy area, and was separated from Missouri by the Missouri River. It was a lovely area, and we enjoyed our year there. We made several trips over the river to visit Kansas City, Missouri.
We began looking for a church home shortly after moving into our quarters. There were several Baptist churches there, but I only remember attending one – the one we joined. It was Leavenworth Baptist Church.
Leavenworth Baptist Church, Leavenworth, Kansas
Credit Google Search and Leavenworth Baptist Church website
It was indeed a God-ordained decision on our part, as we became good friends with the pastor and his family. They were close to our age, and our Janet became good friends with their daughter. We have maintained that friendship with the pastor and his wife throughout all these years. They have come to visit Orlando several times in the years we have lived here.
Again, Fred and I joined the choir, and the Sunday School. Our girls seemed quite happy in their respective Sunday School classes. It wasn’t a terribly large church, but one where we were comfortable.
The pastor, Jerry, told us that he never asked all the military in the congregation who were transferring out, to stand at the end of the Spring term. He said he did that the first year he was pastor – and one-third of the congregation stood up! He was so disheartened by that, that he never did it again. He had seen God bring another one-third to the church the following Fall term, bur he just couldn’t stand to see one-third of his congregation leaving at one time!
While most of that year was a good one, there was one unhappy event as well. Turns out that the treasurer of the church was a one-man team with the finances of the church. Jerry, who had a wife and four children, was told often by this man, that the contributions from the congregation just weren’t enough to pay his full salary. Eventually, it was found that this man had been embezzling from the church. He purchased a Cadillac for himself, and other goodies. When all this came to light, many of the purchases Jerry had made (i.e. lumber to build bookshelves for his church office) were dismissed by the merchants. The church took the Cadillac as part re-payment and sold it for about half what he paid for it.
Consequently, after that experience, whenever Fred and I looked into joining a church, we made sure that the treasurer was a team of at least two if not three people. I’m sure the church people we questioned, were puzzled by this question, but it satisfied us.
All that to say that the church got back on its feet, once this man left the area, with the promise to pay back all he had taken. Jerry could feed his family again.
Better news next week……
WE….ARE THE CHURCH!
~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~
Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .
Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.
After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.
Thankful we made it through Hurricane Ian with no loss of electricity.
We are at our daughter’s house and she has inherited the title, Head of Hurricane Preparedness. My mother was the first leader, then the post was passed on to me. I am very happy to have abdicated the job. She is much better at it than I was.
She scours mark down deals in the off season to augment her preparedness stash-battery operated fans, lanterns and a slew of candles. She also filled multiple containers with water. If only she could find a battery operated room air-conditioner! Of course it would have to be on clearance.
It wasn’t intentional…really it wasn’t, but she also is the one who stays awake and alert. To my amazement, since abdicating, I have discovered that I can sleep through a storm. I woke several times last night to make sure my fan was still running. Didn’t even occur to me that it was the weather waking me up. In case you are wondering why my husband isn’t the one to stay awake and alert, the man has always been able to sleep soundly through a storm. But oddly enough, most nights he sleeps poorly. Hmmm…maybe I need to get him a white noise machine of hurricane winds and rain.
As Hurricane Ian downgraded to a tropical storm, it shifted and the eye passed over us. I slept through it. We are still having wind gusts and rain showers and the public is being advised to stay inside. Ian is still a turtle!
The news on our south west coast is not good. Lots of damage from winds and rising water. I haven’t been able to locate actual numbers on loss of life. A lot of speculation going on but each life is precious and even one is tragic. Please remember these people in your prayers as well as those who are actively rescuing people from rising waters. Central Florida is going to experience serious flooding along rivers.
Hurricane Ian is heading north and probably west. It is a headstrong storm, In fact, the breaking news forecast now is that just off our coast, it is recreating itself into a Category 1 hurricane and make landfall at Charleston, South Carolina. I guess that is why the wind here is picking up again. If you are anywhere near the track, don’t ignore it!
Wednesday has been a long day. We are on the central east coast of Florida and Ian entered Florida from the Gulf of Mexico on the west coast. It’s predicted track would bring it across the state to exit slightly north of us. Since the hurricane was not supposed to impact us until around 6 pm, my daughter and I decided to run some needed errands. Unfortunately they were 40 miles away. And the rain was torrential. We made the trip safely but it was definitely nerve wracking.
Since then we spent the day doing some last minute baking-bread and brownies. One must have stress food and we don’t eat prepackaged ones. We filled containers with water and the bathtub as well. Later we brewed coffee and put it into a thermos. Must have caffeine if the power goes out. Speaking of power, as of 9:00 pm we still have electric power. Feeling very fortunate as some in our town have lost it.
This is a s-l-o-w moving storm. It is creeping across the state at 9 miles per hour and dropping huge amounts of rain. We have had 6 inches already and we are still experiencing the outer bands. I saw this on Facebook and thought it was perfect.
Prayers for those in South West Florida who have experienced 150 mph winds and homes flooded to the roof. If you are in Florida, I would like to hear how your experiences with Ian. Leave a comment. Well, the wind is picking up suddenly. I need to post this before the power goes.
This morning after breakfast I headed east 25 miles on I-22 to visit the Fulton Dragway located on the outskirts of Fulton, MS. This was another one of those out-of-the-way places that gave Greta (My Garmin) a hard time finding. Once we found it, It turned out to be a pretty simple track with no frills at all. I took a photo of their ‘Winners Circle’ and was on my way.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
I found my way back to I-22 where I went east a few miles and then at Tremont, MS I went north another 20 miles on SR-23, across the border again. to visit the Tifton Motorhome Factory located in Red Bay, AL. To my disappointment, the last morning tour of the factory had already left by the time I got there, so I took a photo of the Visitor’s Center and left.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
Now I headed northeast 25 miles on SR-247 to have lunch at the famous Rattlesnake Saloon, located just south of Tuscumbia, AL. I had been told by friends that this was a unique restaurant, but in reality, it is one of the most interesting restaurant locations I have ever seen, the way it is situated in a large cave with a huge overhang.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
It was at least ¼ mile from the parking lot, and then down a steep slope to the restaurant, located in a deep holler. Luckily a ride on benches in the bed of a big 4×4 truck was available for guests. I was really glad I had opted for the ride, as it would have been awfully hard on my knees to have tried to walk down that slope to the restaurant. And then there would have been the walk back up that slope on a full stomach.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
The Saloon is situated at one end of the cave (on the left) while the rest of the cave is used for the restaurant and bandstand. The menu was a list of great sounding dishes with ‘Trail’ sounding titles. I finally choose their ‘Smoked Trail Dog’ plate, which was smoked sausage and sauerkraut, with a side of onion rings.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
I understand the attraction started with the Seven Springs Lodge, that featured houseback riding and nature trails. Over the years they added a campground, the Sidewinder’s Trading Post, motorcycle events, trail riding, and chuck wagon racing events. There are also live Music and Hoedowns on special occasions. WOW, what an interesting adventure
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
After that exciting experience, I headed northeast 15 miles on SR-247 to visit the Helen Keller Birthplace located in Tuscumbia, AL. This house and grounds tell the story of Helen Keller, who was blind, and was helped to become one of American’s leading authors, a disability rights advocate, political activist, and lecturer. What an amazing story of what any person can do with their life if given the opportunity.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
It was just a few blocks from the Helen Keller Birthplace to where I visited the Tuscumbia Railroad & Roundhouse. This museum is situated in the old 1888 restored M & C depot and displays antique railroad artifacts and memorabilia related to Tuscumbia and the surrounding Colbert County dating from the early 1800s. The museum also has several restored pieces of rolling stock
It was just a short drive to where I wanted to visit the Indian Mound & Museum located in Muscle Sholes. I was looking forward to seeing the many historical items that have been recovered from this famous 3000 year old (Woodland Period) Indian Mound, but the museum was closed by the time I arrived. So, I just took a photo of their sign and was on my way.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
Now, I headed northeast 45 miles on US-72, skirting the Tennessee River part of the way, to visit my friends Terry and Mary in Lester, AL. I had worked with Terry for many years and our families had been very close. They live in a beautiful house out in the middle of nowhere and enjoy the quiet serenity of the area. We had a wonderful reunion and then went to their favorite 306 Bar-B-Q Restaurant for a great meal. The rest of the evening was spent reminiscing about our years in Titusville where our children grew up together.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
——To Be Continued—–
Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 65 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing. He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville. Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.
Well, we almost squeaked by experiencing a hurricane while we are in Florida with our daughter. We planned to return to the mountains to enjoy fall on Thursday and Hurricane Ian is set to arrive to our part of Florida on Wednesday.
I have lived in Florida more than 50 years and have experienced more storms than I can remember. The earliest hurricane I do remember was hurricane Donna in 1960. I have a memory of rocking in an old wooden rocker, listening to the wind, and my parents assuring me that we would be just fine. And we were.
Now as hurricane Ian approaches I am concerned for the thousands of new Florida residents who are newbies to hurricane season. I’m going out on a limb here to share my life experience observations. To be clear, these are my thoughts on coping, not official advice. There are multiple excellent sources of advice on how to prepare for a hurricane.
As I write this on Monday evening, September 26, we are supposed to begin experiencing tropical force winds and rains as early as Tuesday evening. At this time, our location on the east coast of Florida is not expected to face hurricane force winds. But Ian hasn’t cleared Cuba yet. And hurricanes are wonky storms, especially if they slow their forward movement or worse yet, stop moving. Then its anyone’s guess. I remember in August 1992 we went to bed expecting to wake up to Hurricane Andrew. Instead, Andrew made an abrupt beeline for South Florida. We felt very like effects from it but South Florida was devastated.
Fill your gas tank a couple of days before the storm’s expected arrival. The gas lines can be insane.
Should you choose to evacuate. From experience, if you even think you might want to leave, make a hotel reservation NOW. And if you are not required to work up to the day before the storm, hurricane prep your home and hit the road. Trust me, evacuation traffic jams are not a picnic. I think we only evacuated twice in over 50 yeas.
Don’t count on the weather channel for your hurricane information. They will scare you!
When/ if the power goes out, you will still want to know what the storm is doing. Since the storm is coming from the west, we will be on the east side to the storm and that side is notorious for throwing out tornados. Find a local TV station with a weather person you like and download their app. In central Florida I like WKMG, website clickorlando.com. Their app is News 6 pinpoint weather.,
Sandbags. County agencies are giving out free sandbags. If you have seen water collecting near your house and or doors during a summer thunderstorm, take advantage of these free bags. They can prevent water from invading your garage and home doorways. (Yes, life experience here.)
Cell phones don’t always work well due to tower damage. We downloaded the Zello app. It is not perfect but it helps to keep in touch with family and friends. I did see that Zello has a business version, my version is free. You can use any push to talk app. Just make sure you set it up with those you want to stay in touch with before the storm.
NewsOn- This news channel app plays on devices like phones, tablets and streaming devices. The search function allows you to choose a state, city and TV station. Family and friends can keep up with what is happening in your location.
Charge your devices! If you have power banks charge them too!
Fans. It is going to be hot once the storm passes. I don’t like being hot. Thankfully our daughter has a couple of battery powered fans that are used for camping. These are not necessary, but they do help.
I hope this was helpful to our new Florida neighbors. We will make it through this storm together and afterwards, we will clean up together. Just be careful with those chain saws and power clippers!
2016 Hurricane
After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience. Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites, Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix
In addition to blogging, I work as the publicist/marketer/ amateur editor and general “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books
My 2022 goal is continue to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media.
(C) Copyright 2012-2024 Old Things R New All rights reserved. This website is an Amazon affiliate and the income from sales helps to defray the cost of running the site.
Old Things R New 