February 6,2026 THE MESSAGE OF THE MONKS!!

Well it's been a very wintery week since the end of January. Snow is still on the ground as it hasn't been above freezing all this time. Last Sunday it was so bad that we didn't have church at church.Instead about 8 of us did a Zoom meeting online. Hadn't done that in a long time so needed a little coaching but finally got together. 

Yesterday our venerable fridge gave up two of its vital functions. Talked to Jeff who bought a fridge last year and he was able to help me begin to line some things up. Cathy is coming over tomorrow and we should have a new one in sometime next week. Lisa did FaceTime with us this pm. And it snowed again this afternoon for several hours. Weather is not easy to predict...snow was suppoaed to arrive around suppertime not at  4 pm. It coated the trees and made them look pretty. Our walkways didn't freeze over so I was able to get out in the car for a few errands. 

The big event in our part of the world was the Walk for Peace by the band of Buddhist monks from  their monastary in Texas! A group of some 19 men, in their saffron robes began their march/walk back in mid October, walking some 20+ miles each day. They would interact with people on their march, esplaining when asked, what and why they were doing it. Our world which is so in need of "peace" received their words with graciousness for the most part. It is my impression that their influence which now seems miniscule, will just grow as it piggy backs on the words of of our Lord annd Master, Jesus the Christ. They were accompanied by their dog, another bringer of peace to countless people who own pet dogs. 

I am slowly reaquainting myself with my computer and the tasks associated with blogging. As I've said several times, at 88 years old, my time among the living has to be short. This is just one little voice saying, "I'M HERE " and here is what I experienced of that time. I am so moved and impressed by the soft gentleness of these men as they step one foot  in front of the other, day by day, inviting the world to lay down the instruments of hate and death.

If you've landed here, I invite you to learn more of what makes me, me. Look at some of my earliest blogs where I describe my earliest days in India at Woodstock School, Prospect Point, and how I loved the Himalayas! 

Be blessed!

January 26, More on this storm....

So thankful we still have water and electricity. Have heard from a few neighbors and friends inquiring about us. Glad we can give a good report. I'm starting this one around 4:35 Sunday evening. It's cloudy and what may be coming down is still very tiny, maybe frozen fog droplets. Not sticking... so no threat to power lines yet. It's been a quiet, uneventful Sunday. Our Wilmington, DE family is vacationing in sunny Barbados this week. Lucky them.

12:30 Monday: We came through the past night with no losses. Temperatures rising to 30 degrees. YAY! Some forecasts call for low single digit temps tonight. I hope not!!! Not much more to report so will close this reportage until something startling occurs.

Jan.24, 2026 A BIG SNOW WINTER EVENT

 It's 1:30 pm this Saturday pm and the weather forecasters are talking up a humongous winter snow event. Supposed to last a few days into next week. Our church has already cancelled tomorrow's service. Yesterday I went back over to Kroger to get Lib's medication and some more groceries and liquids to tide us over in case the worst case scenarios materialize. At the worst it could last until midweek. Just a few minutes ago an area near us reported loss of electricity. 

Ir's 1:30 pm as I write and snow is not touted to arrive until around 6:00 pm. Then somewhere before midnight the question becomes sleet/freezing rain? Preferably sleet as it bounces off wires.... freezing rain sticks and causes power lines to become non functional from breakage. Our new Governor has already advised to stay off roads beginning tomorrow morning (Sunday)/if things become treacherous...... signing off at 1:45 pm until conditions change.

8:44 pm: we fixed and had an early supper anticipating snow around 6 pm. After supper we filled several buckets and waste baskets with water in case the water shut down. The temps remained at 20 degrees. It was now that   I checked and saw that it was finally snowing. Almost 3 hours after it was supposed to. One forecast called for a light snow thru the night. Hope to get some photos of this event to place here...

11:40 pm  still snowing. Temp     18 degrees. Snowing lightly. Signing out until tomorrow. We have everything working as of this time. 

Sunday 8:55 Grateful we have electricity and water. Appears we had about 1.5 inches of snow/precipitation. This was a huge system stretching scross almost all of the lower third of the nation. Temperature remains around 19 degrees. I got up several times during the night and what came down was the fine crystalline variety. Around 4 am it appeared to have ceased. 

Last Day of 2025 Dec.31.

 Dear Reader!

Well, here it is.... and Lib and I have surpassed many odds to have arrived at this moment in time.We quietly celebrated 69 years of marriage, welcomed children, grandchildren and great grandchildren into our family, and have watched as human intellect has changed the world enormously since we entered on the stage to play our parts. Our greatest disappointment is that with all the technological advances we still waste sinful amounts of our resources on wars of conquest. The lines of states and countries change at whim it seems as rulers we have installed, or have seized power change them. Without war there would be resources that would allow all to live decently which I have not described.

At 88.5 there have been noticeable changes in our lives. We are measurably weaker which is to be expected. This observation for those approaching our age. Several faculties that still functioned well this time last year are perhaps 10-15% less efficient now. My mind still works well enough to use our electronic devices and spell checkers now even guess at next words! In normal conversation there are embarrassing  halts as a name, concept, or thought suddenly goes blank. I have succumbed to the now popular notion that substituting honey for sweetening may reverse this malady.

I plan to blog here at least monthly.... it's a good place to save my thoughts. And dear reader you are more than welcome to follow along another pilgrim's journey on this adventure called " life". There were 5 siblings in our family. I am the oldest. Now I and my youngest brother, Mike, are left. He just turned 80 and is in much better condition than I was at that age. 

So, goodbye 2025. You were kind to us.

WELCOME 2026 !!

 

2cnd snow on heels of first....

 Monday morning while it was dark I checked to see if it had started to snow.... nothing. Around 7:30 I checked again and it was a mixture of rain and flakes.Lib and I settled in, curious as to how the day would develop. Later in the morning it changed to all snow. By noon it was beginning to coat the limbs.

The temps dropped into the freezing area and serious precipitation began. We had called our heat repair because the heat pump was running continuously. They didn't answer until yesterday, but reassured us that we were probably ok as the house was where we had set the thermostat. Forcast said the night temps would be in the mid teens!

Then the excitement began around 4:45 when the power blinked once and then went off! When that happens one wonders whether a squirr

el got suddenly fricasseed or something more serious.  Dark arrives around 5:30 this time of year. Supper plans might have to change, phones and iPads checked for remaining power. (Lib and I still have the old service as a backup), other light sources located and fresh batteries installed if needed. About an hour later Cathy let us know that our power company said 20,000 were out in our area and that it could return between  6 and 11 pm. The house was beginning to feel chilly and we had cold cereal for supper. Beginning to think about donning some heavy jackets and thinking about where in our closets they might be.

A little past 6:30 pm the power returned and we breathed a huge sigh of relief.

First Snow of the Season

 Last night the weathermen were pretty sure we could expect about 3" on the ground by this afternoon. Before we went to bed last night around 11:45 pm I looked out a window that has just the right lighting to dramatically catch any snow flakes. Nothing showed. 

At about 6 am I waked and decided to check out the same window. Sure enough big wet flakes were drifting lazily down and were busy covering whatever they touched. It was beautiful and the temperature was just a tad below freezing. Lib and I got up around 8 am to start our day and we estimated there was a little more than 3" on the ground and exposed surfaces. l hope to add a short video taken through our kitchen window.

When I was a child of 8 years in Salem, Virginia snow was often on the ground by the end of November. For our adult years Lib and I expected some significant snows during each winter when I taught Strings at Patrick Henry high school in Roanoke. A few winters we had debilitating DEEP  ones!  Then after we retired in the early 2000's the weather slowly began to change. There was talk about an incremental rise in temperatures. The expectations of a "White Christmas' began to fade expecially after moving to Midlothian, Va near Richmond.

Snows often occurred in mid to late January. Temperatures could sometimes get cold, one winter I recorded a low of 2 degrees! but that was sort of an anomaly. We had a cold snap in November this year and I sort of suspect we may have an unusually cold winter this 2026, Not sure the weather scientists have a strong grip on what our sun is capable of, especially its cyclical behavior.

Lisa and Rachel's Visit...

 Yesterday we had a memorable visit with our daughter, Lisa White, her daughter Rachel Walmer, and her daughter, Ellie. Yes, that makes us great grandparents! Rachel and baby daughter arrived from North Carolina around 2:00 pm and Lisa arrived  from Wilmington , DE around 2:30. They had a shower to attend attend in the area around 11:00 and chose to stay with us overnight.

The first part of our visit was to meet once again our young great granddaughter and be amazed at how much she had grown since our last visit when she was still a neonate in proper parlance. Now she will be 9 months old on June the 30th. She stands a little wobbly and falls frequently. We have a carpeted floor so no injuries and up and at further attempts to stand. Ellie is incredibly curious about everything and has to be watched carefully.

Later in the afternoon, Jeff and Cathy, our daughter and son-in-law, Jeff  came over to visit and join in the fun and games with Ellie. After they left, Lisa and I drove out to a barbecue place and a grocery to buy the makings of supper. When we returned Lisa and Rachel assembled a tasty supper and we continued conversations.

After supper we moved to the living room where Rachel and I had interesting back and forth about AI, it's uses and potential good/evil for mankind. Rachel, our granddaughter, has a doctorate in a medical field and has some experience with AI. I just have a huge curiosity about many things and find AI a fascinating new way to  learn. We all turned in for the night around 10:30.

This morning we continued our visit over breakfast until around 10 am when they began the process to go to the next event, the wedding shower.