More fall colors, FROST, fun Sunday, good eatin'

Well, it happened!  November 3rd.  That's quite late for us to get our first frost.  When I saw in the forecast that our temps overnight would be getting down toward the freezing mark, I decided to cut all my rose blooms and bring them inside so I could enjoy them a bit longer.  And they smell heavenly too!

Even without a frost we have begun to have some beautiful color.  This frost will bring more, and I'm happy about that!  These views are from our bedroom window yesterday.  Definitely not the brilliant orange of previous years.

I took these on Sunday when we finally saw sunshine for the first time in days!

Sunday was a fun day with trick or treating in the evening.  Dick walked the neighborhood with Alex, Destiny, and Elizer.  Lori and the boys came here to do the same, as well as Lori's friend and her little girl.  I stayed here to hand out treats. 

Here they all are!

And a closer look at this precious little face that I kiss many times a day!

After walking our neighborhood we all went to the Trunk or Treat that our church was hosting.  That was so fun, getting to share our grandchildren with our church friends.   I really enjoyed being with Austin.  Can you believe he is going to be 13 in January??  

Elizer is very fascinated with the birds that come to our feeder.  

Monday was a day off for Destiny, so she cooked dinner for us - rice and beans with homemade sofrito, fried pork chops, fried plantains, corn, and avocado slices.  Alex's grandma in Puerto Rico had sent a box that included two big avocados!!  The sauce on the plate is a mixture of mayo and ketchup.  Our house smelled amazing, and the food was even more amazing to eat!!

Tuesday was another day off for Destiny.  I took her to Waffle Shop for breakfast.  She has fond memories of going there with us when she was younger, but since she works every Saturday and Sunday morning we had to do it when she had a day off.  Everything was scrumptious just like we remembered it.  Having Elizer along made things a bit interesting.  He would much rather have been standing up in his chair or running around. 

Later in the day I went with her to get her nails done.  She also got a pedicure, which she deserved - working on her feet such long hours.  I watched with a bit of envy.  I have never had a pedicure, and I just might do that one of these days!  

One last picture - this morning's sunrise!

Have a good rest of the week!

End of October weekly update

What a dreary week we are having!  So many rainy days.  But somehow we have begun getting a bit of color on the trees even though we have not had any freezing temperatures.  (I'm not complaining!)

And my yellow roses have still been showing off!!  This was taken on one of our warmer, sunny days earlier this week.  Not sure what they look like after all the rain we had yesterday.

Last Sunday afternoon Dick and I took Elizer to Discovery Space.  Most of the things were beyond his age level, but he loved it anyway.  His favorite part was the colorful pegs that would light up when he plugged them into the holes.  That held his attention for quite a while.

Here are some random pictures from our week.

It's fun to see him figure things out, like how to correctly put one Duplo on top of the next. 

On Thursday evening we watched a live interview with my aunt and uncle, David and Grace Shenk, celebrating his new book, "A Gentle Boldness: Sharing the Peace of Jesus in a Multi-Faith World."  Grace is my dad's younger sister. I remember Dave and Grace's wedding when I was a little girl.  They inspired me then and even more when they left for Somalia with their two tiny girls. Our family, and many others, made the trip to the airport in NYC to see them off.  I am so eager to read this book about a lifetime of adventure and sharing Jesus and being so respected by people, even in very high places, from every culture and faith.

On Friday evening we watched J'von's football game at Columbia High School in RAIN!!!  Pouring, cold rain!  Of course we were watching in the comfort of our living room, but Frank was there watching in person, and we could hear him yelling.  Destiny and I were cracking up!

Here's a short video to make you giggle.  This boy is SO fun and so smart, but wow!  I have never had such a daring climber in my house!  

I have a computer at last, thanks to our son Anthony’s generosity and expertise!!   It's a very big, very nice MAC.  I'm so thankful to be able to blog from a computer again!  There are a few things that no longer open on this newer upgrade, like Picasa in which all my digital pictures from 2003 - 2016 were stored and sorted by years, etc.  That's a huge disappointment.  The pictures are still in my files, but no longer easy to scroll through.  I need to figure out how to move them to Photos, which is where all my pictures are stored since 2016.  Someday!

Have a good weekend!

A whole week at home!

 I’m finally hitting the home stretch catching up with this blog!  Unless it takes me a week to get this post done. Blogging on my phone makes me want to scream sometimes.  But it does have one advantage - I’m not tied to my desk.   I do hope to have a newer MAC soon. 

What a strange Fall we are having!  My roses are loving it!  But we have almost no colorful leaves.  Believe me, I get a picture wherever I see some if at all possible!

Apparently we had strong winds during the night earlier in the week, although none of us heard them.  Dick had to do some repairs when he got home from work. He was glad for Alex’s help. 

Destiny had off work on Monday, and I was delighted to let her cook dinner for us - a genuine Puerto Rican meal of rice and beans seasoned with homemade sofrito, and Sazon fried chicken. I think Alex would gladly eat this every day!

Every day Elizer gives me numerous photo ops!  He is so daring and agile - and cute, which is a good thing, haha!  I told him he’s gonna give me gray hair.  But of course that has already happened!

On Thursday I looked ahead at the weather forecast and realized it was probably our last day of temps in the 70’s till Spring arrives.  I was so glad Destiny was getting off work at 4.  We met at the arboretum. 

On Friday I had my six-month checkup at the doctor. I was happy that some important numbers in my blood work were good and that I had lost some pounds since April.  This called for a special treat!  I braved the downtown craziness of Penn State’s homecoming weekend and went to Auntie Anne’s - finally!  How fun to see Destiny at work!  I ordered my very favorite pretzel - sweet almond with caramel dipping sauce.  And a wonderful cup of hot coffee.  I was a very happy customer!

Saturday’s temps were in the 50’s.  I took Elizer for a walk to give him exercise and a chance to see something other than the inside of our house.  I held his hand and we walked up the street!  Believe me, I held tight!  No way I wanted to take the chance of him running loose - which he would have been glad to do!  

He would NOT keep a hat on his head!  But later in the evening I wanted to show Dick how cute he looked with it on. At that point he seemed to like wearing it. What a boy. Never a dull moment for sure!

And now it’s Sunday, and I’m delighted to have nowhere to go!  I even got a break at GBRV.  Pastor Lynn’s brother, an excellent church organist from Little Rock, Arkansas, played this morning. What a treat!!

We watched Calvary’s service online after we came home. And now I’m just sitting with my feet propped up watching the birds and TV till Elizer wakes up from his nap and brings his life and antics to the house!

If you are reading this and missed my previous post in which I wrote about my brother Dick and our weekend of remembering and honoring him, I hope you will go back and read it. 

Our weekend honoring my brother

My only brother, Dick Witmer, passed away on Monday, October 11. This picture in his obituary is so good!  We sisters felt like he could have just talked to us right from the picture. He would have been making a funny remark with his dry sense of humor that we loved. 

As that week progressed we found out his funeral was planned for Sunday afternoon. Barb (Idaho) and Rose (Georgia) purchased plane tickets.  Betty (New Hampshire) had a dilemma. Their son was going to be receiving a very high honor at his college in Manhattan that day. We all assured her that being there for their son’s event was far more important in the long run than being at her brother’s funeral.  So instead, she and her husband Scott decided to drive to Lancaster on Friday evening so they could spend time on Saturday with our brother’s wife Nancy and with us sisters. Doris and Mary Ellen live in the Lancaster area, and we decided we would get together Saturday afternoon at Mary Ellen’s house.

I am a two-and-a-half hours’ drive from Lancaster, so I left home at 9:30 am on Saturday and headed for the Harrisburg airport where I picked up Rose. 

What a PRECIOUS time we sisters had together! Sitting around Mary Ellen’s table eating lunch, drinking coffee, talking, laughing, crying, remembering, eating too many chips…  Betty’s husband Scott and Barb’s husband John were with us too.  They had not seen each other in person since our dad’s funeral 12 years ago!

Betty and Scott were planning to spend time with Nancy at 4:30, and I needed to leave for home if I wanted to get there before dark, so around 4:00 we headed outside for a sister picture.  I gave my phone to Scott, and he and John seemed to be enjoying themselves a little too much as we girls tried arranging ourselves. Turned out, Scott was snapping pictures the whole time!  Here are a few of them. I won’t even post the ones of me standing backward, or worse yet, bending over in laughter. That most certainly is not my best side, hahaha!!

When we were finished posing, of course we had to see the pictures Scott had taken.  We found out later that he had taken this picture with his phone!

Here’s the approved sister photo!  Back row: Betty, Barb, Rose, Doris. Front row: Jean, Mary Ellen. 

I had a good drive home, just thinking and remembering.  I didn’t even listen to any music the entire drive.  I am so blessed to belong to a family who loves each other so dearly. I will forever treasure the memory of that afternoon.

On Sunday morning I led the music for our service at GBRV, then we left soon afterward for the drive to Lancaster County again, this time to the Manheim area where we grew up.  I took this photo of the few colored leaves we saw along the way.  This most certainly is not a beautiful Fall this year.

The family visitation and funeral service were held at Chiques Church where Dick and Nancy’s son Richard and family attend.  It is much bigger than Hernley Mennonite where we grew up and where Dick and Nancy are members. 

It was really good to see friends and cousins we had not seen in years.  There were many I did not even see or get to talk with.  COVID precautions kept me from wanting to greet and hug so many people. Darn COVID.  

I had agreed to lead the congregational singing if they did not mind if I wore a mask, which they did not.  A good friend, Frank Rittenhouse, accompanied on the organ.  Frank and I both taught at Manheim Christian for many years. Our rooms were across the hall from each other, so we had shared many a laugh together.  It was good to see him again and hear him play.   We sang “How Great Thou Art,” “Amazing Grace,” and “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.”  

I led one of the congregational songs from the piano - “Word of God, Speak.”  It had been a favorite of my brother ever since 2005 when I directed a Christmas musical which had that song in it.  It had been a combined choir from three local churches, and I was so glad he participated with his good bass voice and wonderful ability to read and hear music. 

The family sharing time by Dick’s sons Richard and Steve and his grandson Josh, as well as the message from their pastor Jay Peters,  were so GOOD  and brought both laughter and tears. 

Nancy had requested the song “Finally Home” if we knew it.   Actually, that is one I have had on my list of songs for my funeral!  I had the sheet music for it, so we ended the service with Frank Rittenhouse accompanying me as I sang it.  I just love the lyrics of the chorus:  “Just  think - of stepping on shore and find it Heaven!  Of touching a hand and finding it God’s! Of breathing new air and finding it celestial! Of waking up in glory, and finding it Home!”

After the service we drove to the familiar cemetery at Hernley Mennonite, which also borders Manheim Christian Day School which we all attended and where I taught for 20 plus years.  Another really meaningful service there, and more time to talk and cry with dear friends and family.  

I finally had time to talk with Nancy.  Of course she said she still could not believe he was gone.  My heart ached when she mentioned the bad feeling she had when they kissed goodbye on Saturday, September 25.  That was the day he left by ambulance for the hospital.  (How well I remember getting that message the day we were at my friend Elaine’s wedding.) Nancy would not see him again until the evening he died, when she and children and grandchildren were allowed to be in his ICU room until he had breathed his last. And of course he was not able to communicate with them.  That is the sad, sad reality of COVID.    

They already had their headstone in place - and a very unique one it is!  I could not get a good picture of it due to the close proximity of the blue canopy.  But I did get one and then cropped these pictures from it.  On one end is an engraved picture of Dick on a tractor and on the other end is an engraved picture of Nancy taking a picture of him!  How very appropriate!  One of Dick’s favorite hobby was restoring old tractors and then taking them to tractor pulls.  He won many, many first and second prizes, and had shelves full of trophies to show for it.  

Nancy’s favorite hobby is photography, and she is EXCELLENT!  Her photos of sunsets, sunrises, birds, flowers, trees, country landscapes, and their many travels are just incredible. And of course she was always at those tractor pulls taking pictures of Dick.  She would often post an early picture of him at the pull with the caption, “Are we having fun yet?”  How we will miss those pictures of him!

Of course, while we were there in that cemetery we enjoyed seeing our parents’ headstone nearby.  It’s heartwarming to imagine Dick in the Lord’s presence along with our parents and our sister Janet, her daughter Lori, and our stepmother Mary.  That family group over there is growing.  How we miss each one of them here! 

 

This is the cover of the folder given out at the family visitation.  A great picture of Dick taken by Nancy, of course. 

Below is his obituary which I copied and pasted from the funeral home’s website.  I don’t know how this will turn out. I usually have trouble doing that here on my blog. I really hope you can read it.  

J. Richard “Dick” Witmer, 75, of Manheim, PA, went home to be with his Lord and Savior whom he loved and served on Monday evening, October 11, 2021 at Lancaster General Hospital following a brief illness.  Born in Rapho Twp., he was the son of the late Paul M. and Mabel K. Myers Witmer.  He was married to Nancy J. (Myer) Witmer with whom he shared 55 years of marriage.  They loved traveling together and visited most of the 50 United States.  They also enjoyed exploring the mountains and trails of Pennsylvania.

 

Dick attended Hernley Mennonite Church his entire life and was an active and faithful member.  He served the church in numerous capacities including as Elder, song leader, and adult Sunday school teacher.  As a young man, he volunteered two years in 1-W service in Boston.  In 1971, Dick realized his dream by starting his own business. Fifty years later, Witmer Automotive Service is still serving the Manheim and surrounding communities.

 

Dick remained fit by walking at least 12,000 steps per day.  He and Nancy could often be found hiking the local rail trail.  He also loved to garden and every year planted far too many tomato plants!  He also restored three antique Oliver tractors and found great joy in taking part in antique tractor pulling events.  His three shelves of trophies attest to his tractor pulling prowess.

 

In addition to his wife, he is survived by two sons, Richard, Jr., husband of Jennifer M. Lehman Witmer, of Manheim and Steven, husband of Beth Bechtold Witmer, of Garland, TX; five grandchildren, Sarah Giangiobbe (Joseph, II), Joshua Witmer (Ellie), Emily Witmer, Laith Witmer, and Timothy Witmer; two great grandsons; a great granddaughter to be born in January; six sisters, Mary Ellen Witmer of East Petersburg, Jean Stauffer (Richard), State College, Doris Fahnestock (Dale), Lancaster, Barbara Brubaker (John), Buhl, ID, Elizabeth Kepnes (Scott), Merrimack, NH, and Rose Wichterman (Robert), Powder Springs, GA; and six step brothers.  In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his step mother, Mary Zimmerman Witmer, and a sister, Janet Peifer. 

 

 

Our first week back home

 Our vacation ended with a bang!  The very next day Bianca and Jenn were in town for a Penn State field hockey game. Bianca’s coach graduated from Penn State and brought her little players to a game!  I love it!

When Jenn had asked earlier in the week about staying over Saturday night I told her that would be great if sleeping on the couches would be ok, which of course it was. 

They got to our place late afternoon.  They had been taking selfies each place they’d been that day.  This was their selfie at our house.  How adorable are they?

Bianca got creative with a pack of M&M’s.  She made an M&M man, then a lady, and then a flower. A certain little boy in this house reached up to the table when no one was looking and ate some of the man’s foot, hahaha!!  She was not too happy about that!  It was a bit of an adjustment for her to have a little person here, haha!

On Sunday morning Bianca went with us to church.  She loves to bring along some of her favorite stuffed animals and introduce them to everyone when we arrive!  This time she also had a tiny purse with four tiny pumpkins in it. She arranged them on my piano!

Our service is over around 10 am, so there was plenty of time for her to work on some crafts while I prepared oven BBQ chicken and roasted garlic potatoes for our Sunday dinner  

Two pictures of myself that day. On the left I was wearing the necklace that Natasha and Brennan had given me on our anniversary out in Portland. I took the selfie on our way to church so I could show it to them. 

The one on the right I took to send to Destiny at work later in the afternoon. She works really long hours at Auntie Anne’s and we miss her. Of course they love her there. She is a very take-charge worker, just the kind they need when college kids quit the job on a regular basis. 

Below are pictures I took throughout the rest of the week. We’ve had a very, very warm Fall so far, so the flowers are still blooming. There are not many colorful autumn leaves. 

Elizer brings us no end of photo ops and entertainment!  

 

Monday night of that week was when I got the very sad text message about my brother’s death after his three-week battle with COVID.  In my next post I will share about him and our weekend.