Blood & Tackleball

 Two more movies that are on my 1960s & 1970s playlist:

Valentine's Day Party: Middle Earth (02/10/2024)

Here are some photos and short videos from our annual Valentine's Day party. Thank you, everyone, for a truly wonderful time!

I always film my entrance, but it is, for whatever reason, too long to upload without saving to YouTube first -- and it is also 90 degrees sideways for some reason as well! So, to start it all off, a screenshot of the door will do, for now!

Videos Of Kate Hadley, Vera Benge & Erma Walker (Among Others)

My Great-Grandma Kate -- Kate Martha Warwood -- married Myron Whiteley in 1910. Grandma Vera was born in 1920. The following video is the only one I remember seeing of her, and it is nice to see them together, too. The end of the video also has my Grandma & Grandpa Walker: Erma (Winn) and Franklin Vernon Walker. There is another video of Grandma and Grandpa Walker visiting our home in 1969, along with four other old videos. Enjoy!

1968, December: Whiteleys & Walkers

Seven More Three-Minute Moldy Oldie Goldies

Seven more silent, three-minute Super 8 movies of my family in the 60s & 70s. 

I am putting these on my YouTube channel playlist called 1960s & 1970s.

1968, Fall(?): Puddle Love

Auto Biographies: Pinewood Derby Tales (November 8th, 2023)

Let's start with the coolest thing first: Esther's car's splendid slo-mo wreck:

One wheel finishes the race.

Silent Movies + A Talkie

Elder Benge helped me get started digitizing some of our family's old Super 8 film, as well as some of the Digital 8 cassettes I have yet to record. So far, I have 12 of the old Super 8 three-minute reels done, spanning 1968 to 1977. There are more to come.

Today, I uploaded all 12 videos to Youtube, and I share them here. Each one has information in the description about the time, who is in them and what is happening, so I won't duplicate that information here.

I also uploaded, as a bonus, part of our Valentine's party in 2008, where we had many wounds (especially Gideon) trying to slay a dragon. (I, the King, just couldn't stop laughing.)

1968, November: Bret's First Birthday

Alan Watson, R.I.P.

 Alan is a friend of mine.

I heard he passed away from a Facebook link from his daughter, but couldn't find an obituary. I remembered to look again this morning and found it, and I am sad to have already missed yesterday's funeral.

A Young Electrical Wire Walked Into A Bar ...

 ... so his parents grounded him. He is currently doing okay and conducting himself properly.

(Badum Bum!)

I heard this as a "dad joke" and that I could ... amp it up.

You probably saw my little Marco Polo post about Lucy and Rachel, and Lucy's participation with Excalibur at the high school. I thought I'd share the performances, in case you are interested. Measure Me, Sky! made me tear up both times I heard it! Thanks to Lucy and Rachel for recording their performances while I ran Joshua to his tournament. I was then able to be there for the Excalibur performance.

Mr. Jacobson's Extraordinary Multi-hued Prophecy Pelt

This video of NHS's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (with Rachel, Enoch and Esther) apparently only works if signed in with my Google account. But, I think I will keep it here in case we ever want to find it and watch it. I have a copy saved locally.

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly And The Pretty

I started this post weeks ago, as there seemed to be a lot of awesome things happening, and yet a lot of miserable things, too. And I was thinking about how negatively we often view the world or our circumstances. Complaining is natural. But, it may blind us to realize how good life is, and how blessed we are.

Missing Parts

Watching Rachel, Enoch and Esther were great in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Bravo!

I've had two friends reach out to me about productions I was in years ago, and I'm thankful they did, as I have something to show!

Susie and Hannah Sing on Christmas Eve

 

Joshua & The Others

There are so many rules about publishing things with children, and don't dare say a thing about the other three youth in this lovely quartet, of which Joshua is a part. The microphone on the left had really high reverb and sounded very distant and tinny, so the balance was way off. Still, it sounded good, especially for a junior high group!

Of Lice and Women

Dearest, here is an account of our family adventure this evening, with some background.

Susie felt that Esther had lice and took her to the doctor. Her head was constantly itchy and irritated. Then Rachel started having symptoms. But, the doctor said Esther did not have lice. 

I think medical professionals should take mothers more seriously.

Three Videos from Our Really Big Shew, June 18, 2022.

"Shew" is my attempt to have you think of Ed Sullivan. If you didn't think of him saying "Really Big Shew", then you are probably younger than my parents. 

On the Monday evening of June 18th, members of our stake did a patriotic show for the residents at Apple Village Assisted Living. I thought the idea behind the program was terrific. We had slides to go along with the music. At one point, slides of all the Veterans at Apple Village were displayed.

Unfortunately, many people came down with Covid right before, so our family did some extra filling in. I was grateful we could do it!

I must add that the Apple Village audience is the best audience performers could ever hope for. They shout out their appreciation for every number. Many of the residents spent time with my children, asking them questions and complimenting them and flirting with my girls. Simply wonderful!

Building On a Sure(ly Beautiful) Foundation

 I really, really like this:

The Past, Present and Future Walk into a Bar. ...

 ... It was tense.

I just wanted to share some things that I didn't want to lose.

Following are some of Andrew's thoughts about his mother on Mother's Day. Our bishop asked him to share some experiences or stories. I appreciated his thoughts and was very grateful he took the time to do it. FYI, I found one part typed up a little weird, so I edited it.

One thing that always comes to mind when it comes to Mother being Christ like, but that is probably hard to share over a pulpit is her patience while I was going through medication changes, mental health issues, and side effects of medications. We were changing medications for eight years (from third grade to my junior year) and never during that time was I where I knew she wanted me to be. As humans we always have a "fix now" mentality with problems, and I can't imagine it was different for mother while I was growing. But she was patient, and gave me time to learn and grow. Even during the hardest times she always had the faith and hope to not stop trying. Something interesting at Zone conference that was said but very true is a missionary in a talk said, "We all know faith without works is dead, but faith without patience is pointless". I know it was hard for her, but mother keeping trust in Jesus Christ and his careful handiwork on me followed Christ's example, and helped us both grow more then a quick healing would have.  

A Turtle Walks Into A Bar ...

... and orders a glass of water. The bartender complies, and the turtle takes the water out on its back. The next day, the turtle, looking stressed, again walks in and again orders water. This repeats for a few days. Finally, the bartender asks if the turtle would like a beer or something instead. The turtle snaps back, "Not now! My house is on fire!"

My dad told me that joke today. I thought it was a good one to get back into bar joke titles.

I am sending this email because I wanted to tell Elder Benge a couple of things but then realized I might want to let everyone know.

Junior High Merfolk

Rachel and Joshua were part of the terrific cast of CDJH's The Little Mermaid (junior version). Enjoy the video of the full show and some photos.

Appropriately Worried

Susie and I went to the Dr. Strange movie last week. Isaac and Sam were right: it is really a horror movie, and meant to be much scarier than typical Marvel fare.

But, Susie got a kick out of the emergency exit door:

The door was not panic-stricken. Nor was the door oblivious to danger. It was just alarmed. Well done, door!