Staying BUSY

Well, we have been staying busy, Tonight was our Church's turn for the Thursday "Stone Soup Supper" and Dan and Ginny and Anna Mae and I whipped up a nice meal of Scalloped Potato's and Ham, corn, green beans, fresh made bread and plenty of deserts. We started out setting up and had a couple come and help this morning and the rest of the day it was just the 4 of us working, our committee has shrunk down to mainly the 4 of us. BUT "We-got-er-done!!!!!!!

We cooked the potato's and cut up the ham and then mixed them together with some Onion powder, whole milk and let them cook for 5 hours adding just enough milk and butter to keep them so they were not soupy but not like paste. We started feeding at 5PM and fed 86 people and there was just enough left so the 4 of us could eat and NO LEFT OVERS!!!!!

We got many compliments and also a lot of phone calls during the afternoon because were were getting SNOW and lots of WIND and it was bitter COLD but we cooked it and they came out in the storm to eat it. It snowed and blowed all day but they were a lot of happy people coming in all bundled up to enjoy the meal and thank us for having it during the storm.

Hey Jack, *(Shipslog) Dan Durant was on the USS Independence, 59 -63, Gunners Mate. Also Glen Sweeny who was an "Airdale"!!!

Wednesday night, our group, "The Friend's of God" played at the Country Manor, Nursing home, we got enough together to play and had a good time, Karl who usually plays got called into work again, Karl drives the big "SNOW-PLOW" to keep the roads open so us dummies could get out in the storm and get to where we just had to be. I didn't know the guitar player on the far left in white or the Bass player behind Roger in the hat but 2 quick phone calls and they showed up to help play.

Sitting in the crowd, listening to us play was my Cousin Barb, and many people of the community who I have watched age old over the past 20 some years I have lived here, sad to see where ones life line takes them but we all get there to "Old Age" sooner or later!










This "Young Lady" above came in with her "Walker" and sat until the music started, we did a Hank Williams song, "I Saw The Light" and up she got, pushed her walker out of the way and man oh man could she ever do a mean "JIG" ! Her name is Minnie and she sure did love the music which makes it all worthwhile.

There are several of this group above who are friends from church, they were once up and about, helping do Chicken Bar-B-Q's at church, singing in the choir, sitting in pews around where we sat and now they live at the Nursing home, We stopped in and visited with my wife's cousin, we call him Uncle Jim and he is suffering from Pancreatic Cancer, I asked him if he needed any thing and he said "Yes", he said Gary, "I would like to get real drunk", "then I would have a good reason for feeling so sick"!!!

We even got one Young Lady up to do a little singing and Dancing, the lady on the right in the yellow shirt is Rogers wife Peggy who is kind of the Boss of the outfit, she keeps track of where the Band plays, the dates they play and helps her husband and others carry in all the equipment and shes a great gal!!!




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On a sad note I close this entry, we attended calling hours on Sunday from 2 to 6PM after Church for my Wife's last surviving Uncle, Abe Astafan, Then we attended Mass at 11AM on Monday for his funeral.
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All my uncles passed on my mothers side and I adopted her Uncles as if they were mine, Uncle Abe was the last of 5 brothers, to pass away, Abe's parent's, Shahieen Jacob Astafan married Anna Nojiem and came here from Lebanon as Immigrants, they had; Shahieen Jacob Astafan, Abraham Shahieen Astafan, My wife's father, Libnan Shahieen Astafan, Jacob Shahieen Astafan and Romeo Frederick Astafan and a girl, Bernadette Astafan who married "Big" John Tanoury, also a WWII Veteran.

NEVER FORGET, REMEMBER OUR VETS!!!

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