Charbonneau News: July 2006

Heritage Sunday at Ascension

Today was Heritage Sunday for our Church. This event was started about 20 years ago as "Gospel-Sing Sunday" for singing all those hyms and songs that are so much a part of most protestant churches except the Episcopal Church ( we tend toward non-swinging, no hand-clapping type music - a pity!). We enjoyed our Sunday song-fest so much that it became a annual tradition and we eventually renamed it "Heritage Sunday". The majority of our church members have come from various protestant backgrounds and we felt they "missed" the old music. As a matter of fact - I LOVE the old hymns and gospel songs and I didn't grow up with that tradition as an Anglican/Episcopalian.

After our church service with the wonderful music, we had an old fashioned picnic suited for South Mississippi summer weather ( 98+ degrees ) ............... inside the parish hall! Hey - it's the only way to have a picnic in July in this part of the world. Below are a few pictures of us gathered for the inside picnic.

Church of the Ascension

Melissa McCarty and Marty

Melissa and I go "way back" . She was a Library Science student at USM when I was at Cook Library - Seems like 100 years ago.

Laurie Ryba and her mother Mary Ellen Stainton

Laurie and Mary Ellen are old friends who were also on the Anglican Pilgrimage with us last summer.

Ken Garbee with his daughter Meagan

Meagan has a special honor to attend a leadership conference in Washington, DC this fall. Paul and I will be the special "cooks" for a benefit dinner in late August to help Meagan raise money for the trip.

The Rev. Susan Bear with Jeanne Garbee & Madalyn Decker

Madalyn is our newest church member at 12 weeks.

AXO HOUSE

For Janna and Pat - I found this picture of the sorority house at UGA taken ? I have no idea. It

did bring back memories.

HOT, MUGGY SATURDAY

It's hot - it's steamy- it's miserable - typical July weather for us. There is little incentive to do anything outside. We do what we have to outside early in the morning - then read or go shopping during the heat of the day. Paul and old friend Mike spent a little while on the back patio this morning chit-chatting before the temp began to go up.

The two old men - Paul and Mike

Future "Nana" and Mom-to-be

Sonia had a check-up today with the OB Dr. and she's doing great! The Dr. is looking to deliver the twins either on August 11 or 14. Now we hurry up and wait.

101 - That's what it topped out today! [ For the Welsh and Brits - The Woods & Lees - that's 38.33 celsius ]. The small, pitiful bit of vegetation you see is being kept alive by daily watering. South Mississippi is now in draught mode and it will probably continue until early fall. The slightly green grass you see is our start at repairing the backyard after all the tree loss from Katrina. Hopefully we will be able to create something of a yard next spring. We pray for rain !

CHECK OUT OUR NEW BLOG !

Well - I guess old Paul and Marty are testing the waters of the 21st century. Patrick and Sonia have helped us create this blog-spot so our friends can see what we're up to. Now the trick will be to see if we can enter pictures and other things correctly so it won't look like a mess.........We'll see ! Interesting things computers can do ..........especially with a little help from the grown computer-literate children. While visiting our site - check out Patrick and Sonia's site at the link to the right. They are expecting twin boys very soon ( maybe as early as mid-August) and we are all very excited.

We hope you enjoy viewing some of the things that we're doing in retirement. Please feel free to leave comments - we love hearing from you.

Paul and Marty Charbonneau

July 4th Weekend

We had a great very long weekend over the 4th. We had a nice visit Friday & Saturday with Kate & Gareth in Niceville, FL - then drove over to Alligator Point ( about 3 hours away ) to spend Sunday through Tuesday with John & Ruth Robbins at their beach house. The Robbins' daughter, Paige, and her family were also at the Point at their beach house - and we enjoyed being with them and the children, Hunter Marie and Blaine. Alligator Point is where you go to let your mind float free - we love it. Ruth and I caught 18 blue crabs ( 3 mamas we had to let go ) and we combined these with some jumbo shrimp for a really great July 4th meal. We had fireworks on the beach for 2 nights - and also went to the neighbors to see their fireworks display on the bay. It was a terrific 4th !!! Maybe we'll be invited back next year !?!

Paige and Paul

John, Paul & Rick (in the UGA chair)

Ruth has orders to find me a Georgia Chair since

I can't find one here in Mississippi !

Paul, John and Ruth enjoying the beach to the max !

Short Visit with Gareth & Kate

We stoped in Niceville for 2 days to visit with the "kids" on the front end of the July 4th weekend. They are enjoying being in a house for the first time. Kate is trying to beautify the yard with plants and also trying to keep everything watered during the extreme heat of summer. Gareth is a manger- in -training at San Destin Resort - about 40 minutes from home - and Kate commutes to her job at the Eglin AFB hospital - about 4o minutes in the opposite direction. They live about 4 hours from us - so we will be able to see them frequently while Kate is stationed at Eglin.

Kate and Gareth - Niceville, FL

Gareth and Lola in her new "digs"

Gareth & Kate in front of home

Visit to Ft. Worth

We left the second week in May to visit with Chris, Angela and Zona before striking out on our Western trip. Zona celebrated her 3rd birthday while we were with them - AND - she had her first haircut! We're looking forward to spending a little vacation time with them in Destin, FL this fall.

Zona turns three

First haircut

All Done

Wild West Trip

We took a wonderful 3 week trip out west in May. This was a much needed vacation as we hadn't really been anywhere since "Katrina" hit our area last August. We managed to avoid all the crowds by going early in the season - it really made driving enjoyable. We toured the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone and managed to see the last remnants of snow. Our next stop was Devils Tower, SD - a really impressive piece of rock and also the very first National Monument created by Pres. Teddy Roosevelt. From the Tower we toured the Badlands of SD - very interesting landscape, sort of moon-like. Leaving SD, we drove through S. MN to Spring Grove to visit with Janna and Len Myrah, the sheep, and Cleo ( the dog who visited a pig farm !). Our last stop before heading home was Kiethsburg, IL to visit the grave of Paul's great grandfather, Louis Napolean Charbonneau. We had a safe and wonderful holiday and are already planning another spring trip our west to new sights next year.