Amish Sing-A-Long

Who doesn’t love a sing along????

While attending the Rocky Mountain Ukulele Festival in Durango this month, we (a few members of the Memphis Ukulele Flash Mob) had a late-night jam in our hotel lobby.

Much to our surprise, while we sang a gospel song led by Pete McCarty, one by one a few Amish guests were slowly drawn into the room. Pete, who is known for his jolly personality and rich deep voice, discovered a common bond, and touched by their presence, we sang one gospel song after another for over an hour. They listened to us sing, and with big smiles on their faces, they sang along too.

These Amish singing with us were from Shipshewana, Indiana, which is the third largest Amish and Mennonite community in the United States. They were visiting Durango on vacation. They took the train to Colorado.

The Amish are conservative Christians and they believe in a simple lifestyle, dress modestly, and live close to the land and without technology. They are known for building fine furniture sold all over the country.

After we sang together, they asked if they could sing us a song. They began chanting The Praise Song, VERY slowly in high German. They sang one verse, which took over five minutes. You can hear it here in this video. It's about 1:48 minutes in.

As little as we had in common, for a few minutes that night, we were all just the people of God.

Feeding the Needy Butterflies

Each year I plant milkweed to help host the monarch butterflies on their 3000- mile migration. Today I found three caterpillars munching away. The number of monarchs has decreased significantly over the last 20 years. You can help too by planting milkweed.

On September 27, the caterpillar crawled to the top on the net and spun into a chrysalis or pupa. I have it inside netting to keep it safe from predators. By Oct. 8th, I had butterflies. I let them hatch inside their netting and when their wings were dry I released them.

'Was it worth it?' A fallen Marine and a wars' crushing end

As the American military pulled out of Afghanistan last week reporter Claire Galofaro, Videographer Allen Breed and I set out to tell this family’s incredible story for the Associated Press. Please follow the link below for the story in its entirety.

SUMMARY: Gretchen and Kirk Catherwood's 19-year-old son Alec was killed in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban in 2010. She and her husband are creating a healing retreat space, Darkhorse Lodge, for veterans. She could no longer care for her son, she said, but she to our reporter that she could care for those who made it home. She and her husband moved to the woods in Tennessee and got to work on the Darkhorse Lodge.

https://apnews.com/article/lifestyle-4e345f63b70ccd5cecacfd42d7916848

Memorial Day 2021- Remembering Our Veterans

Each year hundreds of volunteers set flags at the graves of veterans to honor the more than 18,000 vets buried at West Tennessee State Veterans Cemetery in Memphis for Memorial Day.

While I was out there this past memorial day, I was shown the grave of Brent Lee Morel who was killed in action in Fallujah in the second Gulf War. His grave was covered with mementos from people who had visited his grave. A former marine, James Lindsey, explained it to me.

When coins are left on the headstone of a military veteran’s grave it lets the deceased soldier's family know that somebody stopped by to pay their respects. If you leave a penny, it means you visited. A nickel means that you and the deceased soldier trained at boot camp together. If you served with the soldier, you leave a dime. A quarter is the most significant because it means you were with him when he died.