Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas!

From our house just south of the Florida-Georgia line, we send our warm wishes to all of you and to your extended families for the sweetest Christmas ever and the most satisfying year of 2015!    As the last days of this tired old year are torn from the calendar, we find that all in all it hasn’t been such a bad year in the broadest scheme of things.  We’ve had our aches and pains, our sad farewells,  our joys and sorrows, our gains and losses, but, all in all, God has been good to us.

We’ve put a fair number of miles on Ruepert (the Escape) this year starting in mid January when Barbara was in dire need of some sunshine and escape from cold, grey days.  We drove down to Anna Maria Island for a few days and relished the sunsets over the ocean even though a cold front followed us.

After spending most of February with Klep’s cataract surgery (he wasn’t released to drive for about a month) which involved a few minor glitches, we organized the annual Share Day at New Hope in March, our tenth one.  Barbara allowed as how the Lord was going to need to send her a sign if she was ever going to be involved in an eleventh one.  The day dawned threatening and drippy, but the group had planned carefully for cover for everything and by five minutes to eight in the morning a hoard of people were gathered.  After we all gathered in a large circle for prayer, Klep lifted the barrier as the bottom fell out of the skies.  Even in the pouring rain, we had the largest crowd ever and heard good stories of how people were blessed by our sharing.  We are now planning for #11 and Barbara is not asking for another sign!

This has been a year of reunions for us.  In April and October we had our biannual reunions with Klep’s first cousins while we enjoyed the quiet beauty of the holler.  After our annual VBS where we once again did crafts, we headed out In August for our annual road trip which started with the annual golf tournament for MS, Scrambling for the Cause, and continued to Branson where we took in multiple shows. Next was a first reunion with a cousin from Rogersville, Missouri (a descendent of Rogersville, TN Kleppers) whom we had never before met.  We then went on to Wisconsin where my good friends Shirley and Bonnie and our spouses got together at the Slutz’s lake cabin for a wonderful week of good friends catching up

 In October we met a few Hendrick cousins at Cumberland Falls State Park in Kentucky and got to see the moon bow. Which can be seen on full moon nights and of course the rain bows in the day time.

In November we gathered at the B & B in Mayo for a Jackson cousin reunion and had seventy for an afternoon of fun.

After the joy of family around us Thanksgiving, we prepared for our annual open house.  Back by popular demand was Klep’s Tennessee table featuring RC Colas, Moon Pies and Goo Goo clusters.  Can you believe that there are now four flavors of moon pies?

Now, we sit back and wait for the year to play out enjoying different musical events, light displays, plays, and parades,  We will make a trip to South Carolina to share Christmas Eve-eve-eve with the grand girls and their parents. .

 We never know exactly who will be here on Christmas Day, but it will be jammies and games and a casual buffet for dinner.  Our greatest gift from each other is the love we share and the time we spend together.  We’ve all (except for the children) pretty much given up on buying stuff.

We plan to finish out the year catching just as many bowl games as we can.  After all, college football season will end after the eleventh of January!

May the Lord bless you with blue skies and sunshine aplenty with enough clouds and rain mixed in to keep life interesting.

 

Reunion with Friends: Time Slips Away

Forty-seven years ago next month, I returned to Winter Park to be a bridesmaid in the wedding of one of my closest friends, Bonnie, a tall lovely redhead.  She was marrying a young man she had met just before he separated from the Air Force at McCoy AFB.  Another of my close friends, Shirley, had married the year before.  Shirley was a lovely young blond who married a man in the music department at Orlando Community College.  She was also a bridesmaid in Bonnie's wedding.  Bonnie was lovely in a long candlelight gown with a lace Bertha collar.  It totally fitted her personality and accentuated her loveliness.  After the wedding and reception at First Baptist Church in Winter Park, Florida we waved good-bye to her as she and Al left in her white mustang with red interior.  Little did we know that it would be so long before we saw her again when she left for her new home in Schenectady, New York.


I married a year later.  The years passed as we all had families, jobs, successes, stresses, and everything that goes along with living life.  We saw Shirley and Jim a few times.  We kept in touch at Christmas and when children were born.  After the creation of Facebook, we all connected again.  Last Spring Shirley organized a little reunion for us at their lake house on Long Lake near Sarona, Wisconsin.  After all these years, we would spend a week together sharing stories, laughs, and an all around good times.  Jim acted as activities director and breakfast cook as we enjoyed rides around the lake, dinners out, a tour of the Duluth harbor,  the adventure of Wisconsin Fish Night at the Wagon Wheel near Brill, and dinner and an outdoor concert in Rice Lake.


In the midst of all the activity, we learned a new dice game, shared a lot of good meals, listened to the loons on the lake, watched the eagles soar over our heads, and marveled at the plethora of hummingbirds whirring around the feeders.  The presence of Shirley and Jim's Daisy Dog just added to the fun.  Adding a special treat was the super moon which rose quite like a ball of fire and reflected in the still lake.  All in all, all six of us enjoyed ourselves and the years slipped away.


Finally it was time to separate and leave.  It wasn't easy.  Good-byes never are.  As I lay in bed this morning listening to the faint sounds of the others getting organized before breakfast, I thought about how much I hated to tell them good-bye, but when I reflected on the week I knew that although I would miss the redhead and the blond that the farewell would be easier because of the wonder of the renewed friendship.  If a friendship is good and solid, it will survive separation.  I feel good that although we have aged ----after all, we are all grandmothers ---we are still the blond, redhead, and brunette that were good friend when we were young and we will always be friends. I feel richly blessed that God granted me these friends.  I feel good knowing that all of our marriages are good ones.  The fact that our husbands actually seem to like each other is just frosting on the cake.


We have had a wonderful week with wonderful hosts.
This was a good reunion.  I feel there will be others!

Rogersville, Missouri: Reunion with the Past

On a knoll in the rolling countryside west of Rogersville, Missouri sits an old family cemetery with stones dating  back to early last century.  The old Smith burial ground is not a bad place to sit under a sweeping shade tree in the breeze and reflect on a warm August afternoon.  I found myself there this afternoon after a crowded visit to Silver Dollar City near Branson.  Klep had called a distant cousin and was here to see where his Great-great Uncle Robert Mallory Klepper was buried next to his wife Sarah.




Robert, a brother of Klep's great grandfather, rode in a covered wagon from Rogersville, Tennessee when he was probably in his early twenties.  Looking around at the acres of rolling farmland that surrounds the graveyard tells us that he found easier farming here than he had grown up with in the hills and hollows of Hawkins County.  When he arrived in Missouri, he found a bride whose father had come from Tennessee earlier and owned all of the land that surrounded this site.  In fact, it was Sterling Smith who deeded this land for a family burial place.  Robert and Sarah had twelve children.  One of those children was the grandfather of Art Klepper whom we were here to meet.




We had never met Cousin Art before, but he had taken his father to Rogersville years ago when he did meet some of the extended family.  It didn't take long before we felt we had known him for a long time.  It is always that way with family whether you've known them all your life or not.


As we sat and chatted, the fluffy white clouds drifting through the blue Missouri sky gave way slowly to the grey of an approaching thunder storm.  We left our idyllic spot, drove through Rogersville and started our search for the evening's motel.

Branson Highlights: Road Trip 2014

Thursday morning early the crack of lightning and the roll of thunder told us that the weather had changed after we returned to our hotel from the Clay Cooper's Country Express show.   We had gotten in late and knew if the rains came for our last morning that we could enjoy a late. start.

The Branson experience has been fun.  When we finally decided to come to Branson, we spent time discussing it with our two Branson experts, Rob and Traci, who make several trips here each year for work.  They know us pretty well and could answer questions about what the different shows were like, places to stay, places to eat.....the general things that tourist who are not on the tour bus think about.  Of course the one element that a lot of people enjoy is not one of our things:  shopping.  But, we have observed and we have listened to conversations on the elevator and we have watched people toddling back to tour buses and cars loaded with bags of "stuff."  So, we feel comfortable saying that if shopping is your thing that this just might be a good place for you to come.

One thing we know now from experience is that if you want to be entertained with good, solid music with all the lights, sounds, multimedia stuff thrown in, this is your place.  If you want to find a small theater where the music and the story are the center of the experience, you can find it.  We tried to get a variety of experiences and types of music within what we truly enjoy.  We have done it.

We chose the Pressley Family show for what we call the traditional country review show similar to the format of the Opry..... , lots of laughs (and the skits were funny with some corn thrown in) and a good mix of different types of songs.  We went to the Mickey Gilley Show because he is one of the very dwindling few of the older stars who are still around.  We also love his music.  His show also was well done with a good band behind him.  We enjoyed the film clips woven into his show.  We went to the Dublin Irish Tenors and Celtic Ladies because I love Irish music.  They also performed several numbers from operas, some old traditional non Celtic numbers and some dance.  From Danny Boy which was the opening number to the encore You'll Never Walk Alone.  I was in heaven.  One show that Rob told us not to miss was the Clay Cooper Country Express.  I knew the music would be good, but I had no idea how much I would laugh.   This would definitely be on my do not miss list.

During a break we ran out to the College of the Ozarks, a small college founded in 1906 on the premise that all worthy students who were needy could get a good solid academic education by working at the college while they attended tuition free.  The lines were so long for lunch that we made a reservation for early dinner, got some ice cream (homemade at the school's dairy), browsed through the gift shop, and headed to our next show.  When we returned for dinner we enjoyed the rustic old cabin feel of the logs walls and the huge stone fire place.  Our waiter was a senior from Lagos, Nigeria who was interesting to talk to and get to know a little while he very ably waited on our needs, keeping our drink glasses full and answering our questions.  The salad was so fresh, it was as good as if I had grown the lettuce and Klep the tomatoes.  All in all, this would be another of our "musts" on our recommendation list.  Since we had a little time before our evening show, we drove out to Table Lake just because several people we had met during the trip said we should.  It was a nice lake.

Our primary focus this trip was the shows, but we did find a little restaurant down close to the Branson Landing in the old part of Branson called Rocky's where we had lunch on Tuesday.  It was a hundred year old building and the food, Italian, was good.

Now we pack up the Branson bag and get ready to see a little more of Missouri before we head on to our next reunion in Wisconsin.  We've got to see the places all those Kleppers came to over a hundred years ago!

Branson: Let the Shows Begin!

Monday as soon as we were checked in, we made reservations for our first day's shows.  Since we were new to this town, we immediately took our map in hand and headed to the God and Country theater for the afternoon show that would start at two.  Right now, there are not many of the "big name" stars in town, but there are more than enough shows to keep us entertained for the few days we will be here and to give us a good taste of what Branson is all about.


We enjoy live music.  In fact, we can enjoy most types of music to one degree or another, but there are some things we enjoy more than others.  Since we both came of age during the fifties, our first choice was Rock, Roll, and Reminisce  which was put on by seven performers with basically two lead male singers and a girl singer for some numbers.  The theater was relatively small with comfortable seats and adequate leg room.  We enjoyed such numbers as Chantilly Lace, Johnny Be Good, Wake Up Little Susie and a whole lot of other good songs that represented the era well.  During intermission, we enjoyed chatting with the singers.


At five, we were in the smallest theater in Branson, The Little Opry Theater located in the Imex Complex where we enjoyed the George Strait Tribute show   George Strait has had a top ten song for 33 years in a row, so there was plenty of material for the show.  James Garret was the lead singer accompanied by Randy Plummer and Sean Pittman who plays fiddle for Rob Clark.  We especially enjoyed the songs Sean played on the hammered dulcimer which is the ancestor of the piano.  Again, the show was good entertainment.


At eight we headed out to the Shepherd In the Hills Site for the evening performance of the drama which has been occurring now for over fifty years.  There are other things that you can do at the site, but we did not want anything but the play.  This is the only place where we really felt the impact of the crowd that is here.  Actually, the crowd wasn't as large as it could have been.  There were vacant seats.  This is quite a production.  Trams pick attendees up at the parking lot and transport them to the ticket area.  Then, after being photographed, we ( and about thirty others were taken in a tram down a steep, winding path to the amphitheater where we climbed down about thirty steps to our seats which were not too far from the fence separating the seats from the performance area.  At 8:30 in the growing dusk, the action began with mounted flag bearers galloping into the ring for the patriotic opening.  The historic drama continued for another couple of hours until all the bad guys were dead and some of the good guys and true love was found and recognized.  I am glad we went because it was quite a production, but I was also glad to head back to the hotel.  By midnight we were settled into our room and making plans for the next day.

Reunion Road Trip 2014

After a futile attempt to organize for multiple destinations on our annual road trip, we basically tossed everything but the kitchen sink into the back of the Escape and headed to our first point:  St. Simons Island, Georgia for the annual Scrambling For The Cause golf tournament where we joined Rob and Traci Saturday morning at our hospitality tent on the third hole of the beautiful course complete with live oak trees and the beauty of a Georgia barrier island.


Our reunion here was not only with our "boys", but also with our extended network of "boys" that we met over the years from the KA brothers who came into our lives while Kevin was a student at VSU.  This year we were also pleasantly surprised to see that the participants had expanded to some Hamilton County folk.  The day was busy and fun with lots of laughter and lots of good old Southern trash talk between us college football fans.  There is nothing like a tee shirt, visor, and baseball cap with a team logo for a conversation starter.  That's why we bring them out every year. 


After the tournament and good-by hugs, we headed way cross Georgia, driving through small towns and acres of lush farmlands where we were pleased to see evidence that this year the rains have arrived when needed.  Shortly after sundown, we checked into a motel in Auburn territory.  The next day we started a day that we expected to end in Branson, Missouri as we headed through Alabama, into the Memphis area of Tennessee, across the Mississippi River and to the West Memphis Arkansas Welcome Center where the battery of the car gave up the ghost.  By the time the good people of AAA had jumped us off and the good people of Auto Zone had installed my 46th wedding anniversary present, we were too far behind schedule to make it to Branson Sunday evening without pushing beyond our safety limits.  Dark, hilly curvy roads, and exhaustion do not make a safe driver.  With the help of our navigation system, we found a Days Inn in Hardy, Arkansas and called it a day.


Monday we hit the road earlier than usual, taking advantage of the fact that we had changed time zones and Klep was awake earlier.  We opted to head up the road in the Spring River Area and go across the southern section of Missouri.  Our first stop was Mammoth Springs, Arkansas where we stopped at the welcome center, saw the dam and springs, and got advice on breakfast which we ate across the road at the Riverbank Restaurant overlooking the Spring River.  The food was excellent, well priced, and eating on the screen porch in the cool morning air  listening to some of the regulars talk was entertaining.  There is nothing like a good eavesdrop to get a flavor of local color!  It's a little like actually getting inside of a play instead of just observing it from afar.  We had the special breakfast which included two eggs cooked like Mama used to do them, some of the best sausage I've eaten in years, and biscuits (light and fluffy with crust outsides) smothered in really good gravy.  We decided that this was our basic meal for the day.  The cost was about seven dollars each which we considered a bargain.


After that, we slipped into the next state - Missouri, found our first back road to follow and heard the chime indicating that the fuel tank was getting low.  We probably should have paid more attention to it, but instead we headed up and down hills and around curves with views of sweeping hills, rolling farm land, horses and cattle in the field, an occasional deer leaping over a fence, rolls of hay drying in the pastures, bridges over creeks, and well maintained farmhouses before finally locating a combination liquor store, gas station, deli, gift shop, and hardware store.  We probably had another ten miles in the tank, but I'm glad we didn't have to find out!


Shortly after twelve, we pulled into the Comfort Inn in Branson, checked in, got tickets for shows, and headed off to enjoy our first one. 

Reunion Road Trip