The Terrible Catsafterme

As Lisa and I settled into our new apartment at the Peppertree Villas on 1455 Bell Pepper Court, Apartment 203, she and I went about our business of unpacking and decorating while awaiting the arrival of Summer – not that we didn’t continue to take part in numerous activites all the while. As we attended school and worked in the front office at Kroger Beavercreek, we remained busy babysitting Ashleigh and Briana, hosting parties, hanging out with friends – and I kept involved with my Sons of the Desert tent, collecting autographs, and watching movies. The following is a synopsis of some of the memorable events (at least for me) from that time period as recorded in my little pocket planner…culminating with one massive Big Seven concert as we rolled into Summer. Read the rest of this entry »

The classic 1983 film A Christmas Story has become ingrained in my mind – and I’m sure on the minds of anyone else under the age of 40 – as a necessary staple of the holiday season… especially now that it seems to play on a continuous loop for the entire month of December. In fact if you looked up ‘holiday film’ in the dictionary, you might find a picture of the leg lamp. As part of our Ohio tour, on July 27, 2008 Bob and I visited the primary house in the slums of Cleveland that was used in the film as the home of the Parker family.

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President James A. Garfield is a name virtually lost among the United States Presidents. Having served just six months and fifteen days of office – the second shortest term of any President – he was shot on July 2, 1881 by a disgruntled Federal office seeker named Charles Guiteau. For the last two and a half months of his term, Garfield lay incapacitated until he finally succumbed from the gunshot wound on September 19. It has been argued that it was really the ineptitude of his doctors that actually caused his death, but nevertheless Garfield is considered the second of four assassinated Presidents. Read the rest of this entry »

Betty Lou Gerson was a character actress who could be seen in numerous televsion shows throughout the 1950’s and 60’s – most notably in one of my favorites The Twilight Zone, in which she starred in the episode Ring-A-Ding Girl. But Ms. Gerson really sealed her fame when she was cast to voice the evil vixen Cruella de Vil (To see her is to take a sudden chill) in Walt Disney’s 1961 animated feature 101 Dalmations. Read the rest of this entry »

Although I was starting to get used to the time zone difference (6 hours), it was still difficult dragging my butt out of bed. We had another 8am bus to catch on the morning of Tuesday, July 8, 2008. Whereas we had traveled to the northern part of Holland the day before, this bus would be taking us to the southern part of Holland. I got ready, dropped Jackie a note on the internet, and then enjoyed another great breakfast buffet – which was the exactly same everyday, but just perfect the way it was. Read the rest of this entry »