Sunday, October 2

We enjoyed a great weekend in New York City. We went there to participate in a wedding of a close family friend. The wedding and reception itself was great, plus we enjoyed spending time with Craig and Brooke. I'll post more pictures when life calms down a bit.

The wedding reception was held at a spectacular location with great views of Manhattan.
This is the view of Manhattan as we flew in on Saturday morning.
Our first stop was at the Sullivan Street Bakery, where I met one of my baking idols, Jim Lahey. He is the founder of the bakery and is the author of a best-selling bread baking book. Those of you who have enjoyed my bread have this man and his methods to thank! And of course we ate a great variety of bread while we were there.
On Saturday afternoon we caught a matinee of "Sister Act" which was quite entertaining. We stuck around afterwards since it was pouring outside, and grabbed a photo in the gorgeous lobby.Our hotel was near Times Square and we swung through the global gathering place several times.
The wedding reception provided a great opportunity for dancing, and everyone joined in. It was a multi-generational gathering, and the oldest couple there has been married for over 55 years! The youngest on the dance floor were barely in grade school.
On Monday we had the chance to visit Jacob's favorite spot, the American Museum of Natural History. Run for your lives!
I hung in there at the museum for a long while and then departed for another famous bakery.

Friday September 30 Nancy's Drive Home

Nancy stayed late at her school this afternoon in order to get ready for our trip to NYC. So she was coming home later than usual and saw this incredible sunset behind the skyline of downtown Knoxville.She stopped while crossing the South Knoxville Bridge, which spans the Tennessee River.

Stephen receives official letter of call

Stephen opened his mail today and discovered his official letter of call to ministry! Even though we've known it's official by vote of the congregation, and we know the start date, it is a thrill to see the official document. Congratulations Stephen and Betsy!

Saturday, Sept. 24 Bloomington trip

On Friday afternoon Nancy and Stephen drove up to Bloomington, Indiana to visit Joan, her mother. They drove for about six hours, though most of it was on Interstate highways so it wasn't too bad. I couldn't go because of the HVA football game that night. Every year a huge fundraiser is held for cancer research in Bloomington and Nancy's mother plays a big role in it.

The "Hoosiers Outrun Cancer" fundraiser is in the form of a run / walk event. Thousands of people participate. They gather outside the Indiana University football stadium, listen to some speeches, and then do the event. They all end up inside the stadium.

Here's Joan showing off her very special red t-shirt. Only the very important people who coordinate the race get a red t-shirt. Everyone else's is white.

Here the crowd gathers outside the stadium. Nancy says it was cool (below 20 C) and threatening to rain. Even some members of the Indiana University band were on hand to provide music.
Stephen needs to work on his smile, while Jill has mastered hers.
Every year after the race our group moves on to the Steak and Shake restaurant and everyone makes up for their healthy run / walk with a calorie packed lunch. Sitting next to Joan, is PA Mack, her "boyfriend". Nancy's father passed away over 10 years ago. Across the table is PA's son along with his two grandsons.
Unfortunately there is no photo of Nancy since she was the photographer!

Saturday September 24

This week was "Spirit Week" at Hardin Valley Academy. This means that all week long the students and teachers had special dress up days (such as "dress tacky" or "dress like a celebrity"). All this led up to the Homecoming football game Friday night. On Thursday we had a great pep rally at the end of the day. The pep rally included all 2,000 students in the gymnasium, the marching band, cheerleaders, and the dance squad. The special ingredient was the lack of light...once everyone got in position, the lights were turned out. Completely. There were a few "black lights" and the participants in the show were dressed in white and painted in glow in the dark paint. Glow sticks, which contain a glow in the dark chemical, were handed out to the students. It was quite a scene.

Homecoming is when the students who have graduated return to visit their friends and school. It was a good to see some of our graduates and catch up on what they are now doing. Some of them commented that college is much more difficult than high school.

Yes, these are twins! The beautiful young ladies go to our church and have been faithful members of our Sunday School class. One was running for Homecoming queen and the other was an escort for one of the king candidates. Both are seniors. In our continuing series of "painted up" pictures, here are two friends who coordinated their face paint. They've got the H and the V but I can't see the A.
At halftime of the football game all the candidates were announced and escorted onto the field. Many had a father, mother or brother as their escort, while others chose a friend. Then in a suspenseful moment, the winner king and queen were announced. All the students voted on the selection.
There were many candidates for the title of "king" and "queen" of Homecoming. Here is a couple that stopped for a picture.
After the football game it was time for the "rave", the student dance. The atrium was decorated with chains of helium filled and balloons and there were hundreds of students there. I should add that it was almost pitch dark in there, the camera flash lightened up the scene considerably.
This is a sight that makes a Father's heart feel good. Nancy, our normal mowing crew, went to Bloomington, Indiana that weekend, and assigned Jacob the task of mowing the front yard. And here he is, hard at work!

Friday, Sept. 16 West High football game and marching band

West High played Farragut, a town just to the west of Knoxville, on Friday night. Since the Hardin Valley Academy team was playing out of town, I had the chance to come see Jacob play with the West High marching band. Jacob agreed to pose for one or two pictures in his uniform.The band plays from the stands during the game. Jacob is in the third row from the bottom, directly under the first tuba.
The band plays a variety of short, catchy, upbeat songs meant to inspire their team to victory.
At half time of the football game the bands perform out on the field. Unfortunately it is dark at that point of the evening and parents are not allowed to wander out on the field and take pictures. That's why this picture isn't so clear. But Jacob is standing just to the right of the "30" yard line marker.
Band members not only play their instruments but also march around in patterns, twisting and turning and somehow not running into each other.
After the half time performance the band members discussed their plans for the second half.
West High has a mascot based on their nickname of "Rebels". I don't think he can hear or see very well and it took a bit of prodding to get him to stop and pose.
Here's the West High stands with the band playing right at the kickoff of the second half. Note the young men with the red body paint. They are lined up to spell out "West Rebels".

Saturday, September 10 Vols Game

Nancy and I had a nice treat today, thanks to the generous offer of our friends, Tim and Leigh Ann, to join them for the University of Tennessee football game. They have special tickets for the games for "club level" seats, which means you are treated like royalty throughout the game. Not only are the seats very comfortable, but you are served food and drink, as much as you want. Plus there is popcorn and some really great ice cream. That was the toughest part of the day, deciding which ice cream to have first! The weather was perfect, cool but sunny. The game was very entertaining with lots of offense, including long running and passing plays, and plenty of touchdowns. UT ended up winning by several touchdowns, enough that we didn't get too upset when the referees made some questionable calls in the 4th quarter.

The day started with a tailgate party. Everyone parks their cars outside the stadium, puts up tents for shade, then enjoys snacks and drinks before the game starts.
We walked around the outside of the stadium, which is huge and seats almost 100,000 fans. At the far right of the stadium is a glass section that pokes out. The pictures that follow of us sitting outside are taken on a porch at the top of this glass section.
Waiting for the elevator to take us up to the club seats, we bumped into this young fan. Not only was his face decorated in orange and white (Tennessee colors) and football drawings, but his nose also featured glittery sparkles.
Here we are relaxing and enjoying some food on top of the glass section, high in the stadium overlooking the road and the crowd below.

Nancy checks out the scene from the porch. You can see many cars parked below, surrounded by fans who are tailgating.We enjoyed the luxurious buffet of food and drink served in a beautiful room separated from our seats by a glass wall. Nancy is very happy because she has a Diet Coke and popcorn is on the way!
Our seats were extremely comfortable with plenty of legroom, soft cushions, and cup holders. Thank goodness it was an exciting game, otherwise we might have relaxed in those nice seats and fallen asleep. The fans sitting around us was extremely polite and almost everyone was cheering for the right team. You can see the huge video screen which displays the game as it is played, and then shows replays after each play. The fans for the opponent, Cincinnati, are dressed in red and you can see some of them sitting in the top rows of the stadium.
The UT marching band is quite good. They spell out various words as they play. Here they are spelling "VOLS" which is the shortened version of Volunteers, the nickname of the University of Tennessee.