The Joys of Retirement Production Company

We have had a fabulous experience singing these 4 days with the SING conference choir.  Each plenary session has a list of a dozen or so songs,  and there is 1 or 2 excellent speakers on the theme.  

This year is the 500th anniversary of Tyndale’s first publication of the greek Bible into English,  an accomplishment which so upset the catholic church,  he was exiled,  persecuted and eventually executed.  We’ve learned a lot and appreciate, even more than before,  the path our forefathers in faith tread to give us our written copies of God’s Word.  

The frosting on the cupcake has been the incredible music experience,  the sight reading exercise, the wonderful accapella singing,  joining singers like Keith and Kristin Getty,  Matt Boswell, Ricky Skaggs and Chris Tomlin and others,  singing their compositions! 

For a taste,  here is a link to a few minutes of 1 of our plenary meetings.

Just a few pics I was able to catch off a couple of the great speakers.   I was so engrossed,  I missed a few!

We planned a great 2 day stay with my Tennessee cousin Janet and her sweet hubby Ronnie near Lebanon.  We’ve stayed there on previous visits so she said post the old pics!  Just trust that we had a great visit,  very restful and quiet!

Our mission in Tennessee is to attend  Keith and Kristin Getty’s 10th SING! Global 2026 conference at Opryland convention Center.  We are part of a 550 voice choir singing with 7000 people! 

Our first plenary session and our list of music

Plenary Session 1 – Set List – WRITE IN BINDER
#251 – Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
Keith conducts

#246 – Psalm 150
Keith at the piano; Grant conducts

#175 – Christ Our Hope in Life and Death
Keith at the piano; Grant conducts

#202 – Behold the Lamb
Keith at the piano; Grant conducts

#16 – Breathe on Me, Breath of God
A cappella; Keith conducts

#22 – Cantique de Jean Racine – Fauré
J. Rea conducts

#82 – Holy Spirit / Gabriel’s Oboe
David Rodgers on piano; Fionán on guitar; Keith conducts; Kristyn sings

#171 – A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
Grant conducts; Keith at the piano

Every trip to Michigan,  we love to visit as many lighthouses as we can! 

This is the last working lighthouse with a fourth order Fresnel lens on Lake Huron, one of only 16 on the Great Lakes.

You can tour this lighthouse inside and climb to the top and see the lens

Right off the Point,  in 1905 a steamer, the Joseph S Fay sunk and broke apart.  Remnants of its left side treat on the beach still.

Presque Isle has several lighthouses.

last lighthouse at Tawas!

Just on our drives around the Lake Huron Shoreline we have had several great wildlife sightings!   We drove through Alpena the day the Viking Octantis was visiting!  We also visited Tuttle Marsh and caught some amazing sights!  Sandholl cranes!  but I didn’t have my big camera with me so they are just cell phone photos

Canada geese are everywhere!

My only aunt still with us,  Aunt Jean Foss, lives just north and west of the Big Mac, the Mackinaw Bridge near the little town of Naubinway.  We rented rooms at the local motel/hotel for the night and made there 3 hour drive.

We drove along the Lake Huron shore to the Mackinaw Bridge, and along the Lake Michigan shoreline west to Naubinway to Aunt Jean’s road

We had a great dinner together (I had to have some Great lakes whitefish!)  at the Cut River Inn, near the Cut River Bridge and delicious brownies at Aunt Jean’s for dessert!

And passed a couple Sasquatch on the way

In 1930, local lumbermen in Michigan decided to erect a monument honoring the men who are reforesting the area and include all lumberjack for their work.   We visited the monument today and several overlooks along the AuSable River

Several dams along the river give it reservoirs for recreation

We had a gorgeous day to make a climb down to one of the reservoirs for a closer view of an old floating lumber camp cabin.

Last evening the 🌎 eclipsed the 🌛.   I recorded it with 2 cameras,  first,  my cell phone camera.

And then remembered I had my Sony RX10 with me.

The eclipse was not 100%, so the brightest part still out shines the dark,  but it was interesting how the 2 took very different images of the same event.  

My little Sony HX99 made a very strange image,  the lens projecting red outside the image of the moon!  you can even see a bit of the shadow of the earth in the red images!  ok, camera / optics experts,  any ideas of what caused that?

In Michigan,  half the population has a ‘place up north’, a vacation home…. my cousin Kathy had a great condo on the AuSable River which has become her 24/7/365 home.   Emmett and I love visiting her and relaxing there. Here is the delightful view we are enjoying!

We are a short walk from the shore of Lake Huron so our daily walks are on the beach here

Kathy and her sweetheart, André. his son Tracey and granddaughter, Kaitlyn had a great dinner… I had the Lake fish Walleye!

The town is Oscoda, the finish line for the marathon 120 mile canoe race done every July

some sights around Oscoda

sunset tonight

tonight’s moon

Our stay in my hometown was simply so I could meet a very special person.   For 50 years this young lady was a mystery, but a couple years ago I received an email inquiry that introduced us!  Before that,  she was known as the baby my brother’s girlfriend had gone to Canada to give birth to,  but we knew nothing else.   Adoptions were sealed then…. before DNA analysis. 

As a scientist I had had my 23 and me DNA analysis done when it was first introduced to see if my ancestry was the same as the family research I had done…. and yes,  I’m 99.4% European!  surprise surprise!  English and Irish!   But the best surprise was when I received the email introducing me to my neice!  We became FB and Instagram friends,  communicated electronically, and COVID kept us in our separate countries when we visited Michigan last,  but Yesterday was the day we were able to really meet in person!  Patricia, Tricia Mary,  Patty, bubbly, lovely,  beautiful lady, and her great husband Jay. 

They boated over from Sarnia and met us for dinner on Black River.  I didn’t want dinner to end.   We had a great time getting to know each other and I hope a beautiful relationship is growing! 

Thank you,  Patty and Jay for taking time to spend with us!   I hope we see you again soon!

At the mouth of the St Clair River,  the foot of Lake Huron.   I love staying right on the river by the majestic Blue Water Bridges between PH and Sarnia Ontario.  When we come now we stay here at the Doubletree so we can watch the boats,  and walk along the river.

From our hotel room

Watching a ship,  the Mark W Barker come up the river,  heading north.

Visited Mom and Dad’s Graves

more ships!

And another

Thomas Edison is our most famous citizen!  His museum and statue