Friends for all these years – Sherry – Cindy and Dottie – from WNY and NWPA!
Years and years have gone by – yet they stay in touch – meetups a couple times a year.
Now golfing friends and we live 40 minutes away from Cindy.
Debby – Tammy and Sherry – daughters and mother.
When we were married – Debby was nine and Tammy was four –
We combined two families with my two sons –
Vacations – sports – activities in and out of school.
I am blessed to have these two as stepdaughters!
Our oldest granddaughter – Maddy – graduated from the University of Lynchburg – Environmental Science.
Playing four years of soccer – 3rd. team all-conference as a Sophomore – 2nd team all-conference as a Junior and team Captain as a Senior – Two out of four years in the NCAA tournament.
Three “WHY’S’ we moved to Cameron Woods Community.
Warm weather – no snow or ice! Generally true!
Beaches – sand, and surf – water and surf – just 15 minutes away!
Golf – over 25 courses within thirty minutes!
Being active in our senior years – with friends and family – all family has visited and many friends!
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PAPA’S WORLD – REFLECTIONS – FRIENDS and FAMILY – living in N.C.
Funny how that remains in my mind after all these years – that home has been in our family since around 1944!
I grew up there and my mother was almost 98 years old when she passed away.
My mother Mary – everyone knew her – everyone honked their horn to her as she sat on the front porch.
Many – many people would stop just to sit down and talk to her,
That old front porch with the family I grew up with – sister Donna and her husband Bill – my mother and my brother Roger to the right.
When he left to go to college – I moved into his front bedroom when I was eight years old.
There were railroad tracks behind the house and the trains at night with their clack-clack sound would make me sleepy.
Out front was the main street and I could hear the traffic at night.
And to this day I still know the phone number and the post office box number.
Somewhere in the deep recess of my mind is the combination of that P.O. Box!
I left that house in 1967 and in 1982 married Sherry – now here we are 41 years later.
My memories of NWPA and WNY where we spent the first 50 years of our lives – remains in my memories to this day – just like that house and phone number!
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Not us! We explore – we look for things to do and things to see!
Our view from our chairs at OIB park – just a short block from the beach – every Friday night during the Summer season – a free concert for the public – this one featured BLACKWATER –
A local ( Sunset Beach) eight-member band playing classic rock and BEACH MUSIC!
The concert starts at 6:30 pm. but people start putting their chairs down long before that – here we are at 5:30 pm. it is already more than half full with empty chairs.
We managed to squeeze in this spot and saved two more spaces for our neighbors Diane and Steve.
Papa – Steve – Diane and Sherry – and behind us is the crowd – and just as significant to the right and left of us!
We can attend an open-air concert like this almost every night of the work week as most towns around us have them on different nights.
Diane and Steve danced the night away to classical rock music. Carolina Beach Music is also performed.
On Wednesday night, open-air music is at Sunset Beach Park, where we often go.
At the end – we just sit and talk letting the crowd disperse and usually only a few dozen people are left sitting!
The nights are warm and you can watch the setting sun in the western sky.
Or take a walk to the beach and sit and talk.
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SHERRY – OPEN-AIR CONCERT NEAR THE BEACH IN OCEAN ISLE BEACH, N.C.
Good day – we are close to this beach – a short 12-minute drive and then the walkway over the dunes to the beach.
The walkway is long and goes over the sand and dunes – shrubs – small trees and a habitat for all kinds of native species.
Along the way – you can see the sun beginning to dip below the horizon – many bushes line the walkway.
Looking back along the walkway to the beach houses – this is the far end of Sunset Beach – from here on it is BIRD ISLAND –
no beach houses – just sand and dunes and ocean surf!
You may find it hard to park here as it is limited and no blocked driveways and no parking allowed signs.
When you can find parking – tires are not allowed on bike paths or sidewalks.
But – when you do find one it is worth it to be able to walk this out to the beach.
Sherry and Papa at the end of the walkway and the ramp down to the beach – the sunset is fantastic, behind us is BIRD ISLAND – nothing but sand – dunes, and surf – a mile plus from here is the KINDRED SPIRIT MAILBOX which has existed for more than forty years. Google it and read the history of this historic place.
Sherry walking down the ramp to the beach in the sunset – they sky always change here depending on the clouds!
After walking on the beach – time to head back and the final rays of sun through the foliage on the walk back.
Thanks for reading PAPA’S WORLD – livinglifedoingitmyway.blog SUNSET AT SUNSET BEACH – NATURES WONDER!
Sherry and I signed up to walk the East end of OIB during the TURTLE SEASON and report and nests we should find.
On this section of OIB – there are no houses – only sand and surf for about one mile!
A great place to walk – hearing only the surf and some birds.
We walk all the way to the point and a little around it toward the ICW side.
Just before the point, we came upon this sight – a chair with a pair of pants draped over the back – a waterproof shoe in the surf – tackle boxes all open – a battery with jumper cable hooked up –
fishing poles and a pole holder for the poles.
STRANGE – no one around!
And then around the corner out of sight – two fishing poles in their holders – bait on but laying in the sand and no one around except a boat with a man standing on it!
It was a deputy with a badge and he ask me if this was my stuff!
I told him no and around the corner was the chair and tackle boxes and more poles and I held up the shoe and said we found this also.
He told me to just place the shoe by the pole which I did and he got on his walkie-talkie to the police department.
He thanked us and said he would take care of it.
The chair and all the equipment just sitting on the beach and no one was around!
We continued our TURTLE WALK – not seeing any signs and went back to our car!
On the way back two police trucks and an ATV passed us going toward the chair and poles.
Also – our walk time is spent picking up trash off the beach and then report in what we see as far as signs of turtles!
Sherry is about to throw our trash collection away from our TURTLE BEACH PATROL!
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Our daughter – Debby and husband Mike – Sherry – papa – Ella – Maddy and Sarah – from NVA!
They came and spent nearly a week with us in Cameron Woods Community- N.C.
We had planned this for a couple months – and as always – tears when they left!
Mike – Steve – Sherry and Diane – both neighbors and friends – came along with us on the ICW!
Sherry had attended a fundraiser for the food pantry put on by our church.
She purchased $20.00 in tickets and her name was drawn twice –
once for breakfast at a dinner and the second time as the winner of a 9-hour day on the ICW
with a PONTOON BOAT!
Mike – Steve and myself piloted us down and back up the ICW stopping at the new place to eat on the ICW-
THE BLUE DRUM! We had a great lunch and fun time boating.
On the way back – we stopped on the back side of Bird Island – where boats pull up to the beach and you hang out on the beach!
Papa – Mike and Steve stand on the ICW beach and watch a very large boat that had just come up the channel from the ocean and passed where we had beached the pontoon boat!
Maddy looked out over the cove on the backside of OIB at OIB FISH COMPANY where stopped for drinks and appetizers.
We spent two days on the beach – one day on the boat and two days at the pool.
We took them on our Turtle Patrol walk at sunrise on the East end of OIB.
Papa and Sherry at our last beach day with family. Thanks for reading PAPA’S WORLD-
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PAPA’S WORLD – FROM LAKE HOLIDAY TO CAMERON WOODS COMMUNITY – FAMILY VACATION.
Our wedding day – June 25th. 1982 – starting out together after dating for 1 1/2 years!
It seems like only yesterday yet it is over 41 years ago and longer since we first started dating.
Both divorced – both had two children – her two daughters – my two sons –
We planned vacations on a budget – packing food to stop and have lunch on our way to a destination.
We had an old 12-passenger van – but fun trip.
We lived in the country – our driveway was 1/10 of a mile long – ice in winter –
It took me days to push and mow the lawn.
The early years – Sherry and her sisters. We were close to her family – often spending weekends with her parents!
Camping – tents and fifth-wheel and tag-along camper.
Our dream back then was warm weather – beach – surf and sand – vacations – wanting to stay!
We explored our states and country – sometimes by ourselves – mostly with kids –
providing what we could – money was tight.
But – we were happy – and we both worked for AOTC and DAL-TILE.
Along the way was National Gypsum, Private, Armstrong, and Mohawk.
The early years – Sherry and her sisters. In the mountains of the Kinzua Valley – Mount Jewett – Pa.
Our family was aging – the kids were gone to college and work.
We were thinking of transferring to within the company.
Several openings came up – but not what we wanted.
Then in 1999 – we applied for transfers and moved to NVA – still with Dal-Tile –
along the way we remained close to our friends for many years – one couple left for Wilmington, N.C. a few years before we went to NVA, and later the other couple transferred to Va.Beach.
We stayed in touch and in June of this year they all came to our new home to play golf –
FRIENDS FOREVER!
Our early years have now transformed into our senior years – now retired – and our dream came true!
We found our beach – sand – surf and warm weather – now our families come to visit.
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PAPA’S WORLD – livinglifedoingitmyway.blog OUR EARLY YEARS 6-25-82!
LIVING OUR DREAM TO THE PLUS ONE DAY AT A TIME – 2023 – OUR SENIOR YEARS BEGIN!
An early picture of me holding my niece and my little brother – both have passed away – in fact – all my close family except two nieces and two great nieces are gone that I grew up with.
A early picture in the ’50’s of my older brother Roger on the basketball team. He also has passed on.
My early childhood was spent in a little town in NWPA called Eldred.
Near the NYS border and just across the mountain from Bradford-
home of Kendall – Penns oil – Quaker State and the South Penn oil fields.
My older brother Roger and myself in The Villages shortly before he passed away.
Growing up here was like the movie “STAND BY ME”
I had friends like that – and road my bike everywhere!
Curfew for me was BE HOME BEFORE THE STREET LIGHTS COME ON”!
My brother in law Bill and my sister Donna – both gone but not forgotten. Bill was once interviewed by Larry King – he was a truck driver but also the Chief of Police and later Mayor – Mr. King found that to be a interesting story!
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WHERE FRIENDS MEET THE FAMILY
FAMILY MEETS FRIENDS!
SHERRY AND PAPA!
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Good day everyone – in late afternoon after being out and about – a neighbor posted she had an Eagle sitting up in a dead tree just up the street!
So we drove past our home and went to the end of the street and sure enough – the EAGLE was there!
We have seen Eagles here and in the surrounding areas since moving here.
What a magnificent bird!
This is one I can tell – it was only a few days ago! LOL
We have signed up for TURTLE WATCH BEACH PATROL!
We are on the beach by 6:00 AM.
We have an area a little over one mile one way in an East Direction and have to look for Turtle tracks or crawl!
We have instructions and numbers to call and we also watch for beach erosion and record and take pictures of it and let them know right away.
Sherry and another walker – we have orange shirts with Turtle Patrol on them to identify who we are – along with a parking pass in case our car is checked by the police.
We can not park illegally and must obey all laws.
Notice the bag – we also collect garbage and trash on the beach.
First light on the East End of OIB in N.C. A pod of Dolphins followed along the coast as we walked!
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SUNRISE ON OIB EAST END – WALKING THE BEACH ON TURTLE WATCH PATROL! PAPA’S WORLD!
It had been a very long time – 1999 to be exact – we had left Western N.Y. and transferred to Northern Va.
We worked for Dal-Tile ( American Olean Tile) in Olean, N.Y.
We both were able to transfer within the company and went at first to Alexandria, Va.
Eventually, we lived in Fairfax and then to Brambleton – just behind the Dulles airport.
A co-worker of both of us named Brain and his wife April became friends of ours before we left.
He had transferred in from Lansdale, Pa.
He reached out to us and said he would be in North Myrtle Beach and wanted to know if we could get together – of course, we could and arranged to meet for lunch at Barefoot Landing at Crooked Hammock!
April and Brain – he and I were supervisors and Sherry Logistics.
We golfed a lot together and had many memorable times together.
Brian has since transferred to Gettysburg, Pa. in the Dal-Tile corporation and is looking to retire in two years and now has 40 years with the company.
After lunch, they followed us back to our house and we gave them a tour to see what they could buy in our area after retirement.
Pictures of our home and we will be here two years in July!
Meeting up with friends from back in WNY – and now we are spread out to N.C. and Pa.
Thanks for reading and thanks to Brian and April for reaching out so we could see one another again!
PAPA’S WORLD my site: livinglifedoingitmyway.blog
MEET OLD FRIENDS FROM 1999 – THEN TOOK THEM TO SHOW THEM OUR HOME!
Back in the mid to late 80s – we were youth group leaders for our Lutheran church in little Portville, N.Y.
One of our trips was to a retreat just outside Clarksville where this man once stayed for reflection – Thomas Merton.
He had a deep connection with the Franciscans at Saint Bonaventure University just outside Olean, N.Y.
At that time we went there – the University was maintaining the retreat – they may still be doing this.
Our pastor Dan – who married Sherry and me – was deeply involved in the youth group – so much so that he and I and a doctor of the congregation – took FOURTEEN YOUTHS – 7 to 12th. grade – canoeing on the Alleghany River as a trail run and later a whole week in the Algonquian Park in the far north of Canada for a week.
We went to the retreat to perform a blessing in each room marking the sign of the cross on the beams and headers of the doorways in charcoal ash.
Our purpose for those kids in the youth group was to teach love for all humans.
Looking back on each and every one of them in their now adult life – I think what we wanted to get across to them was a success.
Thomas Merton spent some of his time in this area reflecting on life and left a lasting impression on all of us that went to perform that blessing.
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TEACHING LOVE AND RESPECT TO OUR CHILDREN IN THEIR YOUTH!
In the center of this picture – Ella to the left and Maddy to the right – Ella will be a junior at Randolf College – and has started every game in her two-year career in college soccer – Maddy – who just graduated from the University of Lynchburg –
Played four years of soccer – third-team all-conference as a Sophomore – second-team all-conference as a junior and team captain her senior year – twice in four years going to the NCAA tournament and in her senior year winning the ODAC conference.
Ella at mid-field and Maddy at striker on the left side.
Now we have Bode – in the black attacking the ball and taking it away from the player in white!
He plays the left-side striker like Maddy.
He will be the next to go on to become a very good soccer player and he loves also playing Hockey!
Here he makes a pass down the sideline to a teammate at which time he raced ahead toward the middle and took the pass back from his teammates.
He took the pass and dribbled in among four players and broke free!
Breaking free he goes straight to the goal and scores the first of his two goals and just missed a third one!
Here he caught up to a ball in the air and knocked it down to dribble on toward his second goal!
Here he is just before the ball went into the air and he knocked it down and scored his second goal!
He is only eight years old and already has the sense of playing soccer much like his two older cousins!
Bode – our eight-year-old grandson who I think will follow in the footsteps of his father and his two older cousins in soccer!
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BODE AND HIS TWO SISTERS – CASSIDY ON THE LEFT AND TAYLOR ON THE RIGHT!
TAYLOR “NOW’ our horse-loving granddaughter – growing up!
TAYLOR AND HER MOTHER – “THE LITTLE THINGS IN LIFE – LIFETIME MEMORIES!”
We gather memories in thought and pictures – lifetime events that seemed small back then but turn into LIFE!
Life is full of little thoughts – but practice in life turns into positive happenings!
Many years ago – the four of us – friends – neighbors – decided to golf – fun times – laughter and friendships!
Today – living a mere 35 minutes away – we try to get together once a week or two – golfing in our senior years!
We were neighbors – back in WNY – and we decided to try and get the girls into golfing – they wore gloves because their hands were cold – laughing at us as we washed our balls –
Now – we are senior golfers – playing mostly scrambles guys vs. gals and they mostly win!
A LITTLE THING SUCH AS GOLFING HAS TURNED INTO A BIG THING FOR US TO WITH ONE ANOTHER!
A “LITTLE” bit of humor to bring a “BIG” SMILE! HGD!
A LITTLE TRIP AND A LUNCH – BEING TOGETHER IS PART OF OUR BIG SALT LIFE!
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My step father John – my mother Mary and my brother in law Bill.
John was a decorated WWII hero – with the purple heart and numerous other medals.
He captured a castle and a Nazi officer out of uniform – there is a story in a military journal
that is in the WWII museum in Eldred Pa.that chronicles that event.
He took from that officer a automatic machine gun pistol – vintage WWI – that also resides in the museum
and is worth upwards in the thousands of dollars. They keep it locked away as it is so valuable.
He was wounded several times and went back into action.
Bill was a vet of the forgotten war – Korea – he seldom talked about it but while I was growing up –
he gave to me his sleeping bag that he used in the cold winters there.
I admire his stamina as all it was is a wool blanket inside a canvas liner!
I would get very cold while sleeping outside on the ground in it!
He was more to me than a brother in law – he was my friend and like a brother to me.
One time I was out with him on patrol in the cop car – he was the town cop –
We drove down across the tracks and out past the old pipe building –
he saw a woodchuck and said to me –
“Do I get him”? “Sure I said”!
He pulled out his gun and from the front seat shot that old woodchuck –
I almost went deaf from that gun going off!
I said ” JESUS CHRIST BILL” and then we both just burst out laughing!
Lesson – never fire a gun from inside a car – you can barely hear for like 10 minutes!
John and Mary ( my mother) holding pies that she made from scratch!
Mom was known all over the town and county and into NYS for her baking.
She would bake rolls – bread – pies and cakes. Sweet rolls and sticky buns.
There was not anything she could not knead and bake and all from memory!
She did not need a receipt – she just did it after almost 85 years of her life baking!
She baked as a child learning from her mother who passed at 85 years old.
Mom was next to the youngest of 11 kids and was almost 98 years old when she passed.
She supplied pies and cakes and rolls for a diner in town.
She was so kind and loving – warm and gentle – but she also was a strong women – way before her time – she believed in equal rights and taught me that – she would come up with these sayings that made me laugh – ” You are as useless as a two petered billy goat”
Or she would say ” You are as useless as teats on a boar hog”! She had me in stitches –
she also played the accordion my father the spoons and sang and my uncle jack the wash board.
They would do this at family picnics and if the beer was free – at social events.
When she was young – she traveled with my grandma in the logging camps of Pa.
Making breakfast – lunch and dinner as a way to make money in the depression.
My father passed away in 1969 after a long battle with cancer – leaving mom a widow and my younger brother just entering H.S. After about ten years she met John – and they remarried – both of them.
They were together until he passed away at age 81.
She called him “JOHNNY BOY” and he was so good to her – just what she needed after ten years losing my dad.
He could fix anything and construction was his forte.
His cars and trucks immaculate even though they were ten years old – showroom condition.
He fixed up and remodled the house which she had kept going all those years .
That same house today is still in the family after almost 78 years –
my great niece lives there today.
Mary ( Mom) and John ( her Johnny boy)
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WHERE FRIENDS MEET THE FAMILY
FAMILY MEETS FRIENDS
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Just another memory of my family gone but not forgotten.
If you are interested in good health and nutrition –
We have a walking group that meets every Monday and Friday at the park across the street. You walk at your own pace and usually do two complete loops – just over a mile each and then once around the track.
This in total would be 2.30 miles!
Then during the day, we will get in the rest of our 10,000 steps – my heart doctor has told me just to “MOVE”!
Growing up in the 50s-60s and 70s – the generations that wanted love and peace – still has a place in my heart today!
We have adopted a healthy choice lifestyle – I do not drink soda or milk anymore – or fast food!
We live just a few miles from the beach – often going there for our walks – sun – sand, and surf!
We try to golf once a week or every other week – usually with dear friends of 35 years.
Just being out in nature – and yes – we get STEPS in that way!
Our dear friends – golfing – having dinner together and making plans for fun trips!
SENIOR YEARS – living one day at a time and living life to the plus – LIFE WITH US –
Our grandaughter Taylor with her mother – soon to be a teenager – she has grown up riding horses!
A beautiful young lady to be – she would clean stalls and groom horses every day if she could!
It all began with her – she could barely walk – yet she knew what she wanted and today she rides so gracefully – here her mother helps to steady her on her first ride!
Now she is a regular at the riding stable and volunteers to groom and take care of the horse’s stalls!
Tall in the saddle – little Taylor does not need any help – becoming an accomplished rider.
Her dream is to someday own her own horse – she is so graceful and an easy learner.
LITTLE TAYLOR LEARNS TO RIDE! PAPA’S WORLD – my site: livinglifedooingitmyway.blog
Taylor and her MORMOR ( Swede for grandmother) walking hand in hand – PRICELESS!
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