July and August, 2005
Nancy and Bob Murdock, Editors - murmuse@comcast.net

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CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE: THE ARRIVAL OF TRINITY (Bob Murdock) Click BIG DAY IN MINNESOTA (Darrel Murdock) Click MAKING A JOYFUL NOISE (Nancy Murdock) Click A MURDOCK REUNION (Nancy Murdock) Click BACK FROM AFGHANISTAN (Jason Murdock) Click TIM PREPARES FOR DUTY (Bob Murdock) Click A MEMORABLE MEMORIAL (Gene Murdock) Click EVERYBODY'S AUNT TEDDIE (Teddie Doane) Click TO THE HAPPY PAIR (Nancy Murdock) Click Part 2 RSVP NEEDED FOR HOWLETT REUNION (Cathy and John Howlett) Click MASSACHUSETTS ITINERARY (Bob Murdock) Click UPDATE FROM SAN DIEGO (Marjorie Hanson) Click OUR NEW GARDEN (Nancy Murdock) Click CHECKING IN (Rickey Murdock) Click BALTIMORE HARBORPLACE (Mer Murdock) Click A GRAY DAY (Nancy Murdock) Click BOB'S THREE-CHEESE POTATOES (Nancy Murdock) Click MASSACHUSETTS NOTES (Bob Murdock) Click Part 3 MINNEOPA (Darrel Murdock) Click FINALLY, A SHOOTABLE DAY (Darrel Murdock) Click SPRING'S LAST WEEKEND, PART 1 (Darrel Murdock) Click SPRING'S LAST WEEKEND, PART 2 (Darrel Murdock) Click LAST WEEKEND IN SPRING, PART 3 (Darrel Murdock) Click MICHIGAN PREVIEW (Darrel Murdock) Click FUN WITH THE FAMILY (Rickey Murdock) Click

Muse Editors Photo by Jane McCauley 2005 Nancy's quilt, "Patapsco Valley" Quilt Gallery

ARRIVED Trinity Murdock Gallery photos Tanaya Murdock, June 2005 Gallery photo

THE ARRIVAL OF TRINITY Bob Murdock Trinity Nancy Jean Murdock was born 4:45 PM on June 4, 2005 to Minnesotans Rickey and Deanna Murdock. This was also her sister Xacara's 7th birthday, and the day of her eldest sister Tanaya's graduation from dance class. Click here for pictures in the July-August photo gallery. As you can see from the photo of Trinity at the left (taken on the day of her birth) she is going to be a great singer. Deanna said that the baby weighed seven pounds at birth with a length of 19 and a half inches. BIG DAY IN MINNESOTA Darrel Murdock Today was a big day. First we went all the way up to Moorhead, MN and watched Tanaya's dance graduation. Then we got a call during the graduation that Deanna was at the hospital, ready to deliver. We drove back rapidly over 200 miles, and as I parked the van and took the kids up the proud papa came back with the news: "It's a Girl!" Apparently he had dashed up and entered the room as his daughter's head surfaced, in time to witness her birth! A miracle indeed; we were over three hours away when the phone rang with the news! MAKING A JOYFUL NOISE Nancy Murdock June 26: Today was the last Sunday for the choir before summer recess. With a theme of God's call to us, we did a presentation of five pieces plus a hymn that the congregation could join in, while some of us waved pom-poms. Then we did another anthem as the offertory. A nice thrill at the end of the service was Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" with the organ going absolutely full blast, something we don't get to hear often, since we have some members who object to loud music. (You're right; these are definitely not teenagers! Although I don't know for sure if any of them stuck it out to the end.) Someone was trying to get the choir together for photos but we were all transfixed by the music. With the regular number of hymns during the service, I figured my voice had done well to hold up. But then we were reminded that after the service we would go to Sunday School in our parish hall and sing the ten favorite hymns from a poll of the congregation. I was startled to find that we were singing ALL of the verses of each of those hymns. I think all three of my choices for the poll were in the top ten, including "Amazing Grace." Music has been a significant factor in our church recently, as we've had other events that called for extra music. On June 12 we had the installation of our new priest, who is from Wales. The bishop was here, along with lots of priests and deacons from the diocese. We also had choir members from other churches who joined the ten of us for the anthems, etc. It was great! We sang the national anthem for Wales - in Welsh, a rather strange language. We had to learn it phonetically, like opera singers. Handel's Hallelujah Chorus was a nice addition, also. Our church has sung that three times in the past few months, starting with Christmas Eve. Everyone gets a copy, and they can join in as they desire, with the choir leading the way. Our choir director has it programmed into our wonderful digital organ, so he can lead us through that great, uplifting anthem. One of the guests was overheard to say in a shocked voice to her companion, "There's nobody playing the organ. There's nobody back there!" A MURDOCK REUNION Nancy Murdock At the end of May we took our first trip to MA since Bob’s year of shingles in the right eye plus two cataract operations. He had finally gotten to the point of driving enough to consider taking turns on the ten-hour drive. The drive turned out to be quite pleasant, and we took a nice hiatus for lunch, not usually on our schedule for long trips. The occasion was a memorial service for Bob’s sister (and my classmate) Lennie Schlicke. Gene Murdock was the one who had the vision and got it all started, and Dotty Salminen did a yeoman job of organizing everything. At Gene’s request, I led the service. We had a good time remembering Lennie, with several people sharing memories of amusing times with her. Gene read a Peace Treaty he and Lennie had written and signed as children. We sang “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” recalling Lennie’s beautiful singing voice and her interest in humming hymns when we last visited her in the Alzheimer’s ward. We met in the Senior Center in Hubbardston, and Dotty and her crew provided lots of delicious food to sample as we visited after the service with the twenty five or so participants, including cousin Florence Murdock, one of our Musers. It was a great opportunity to catch up with several generations. Later we met at the Barre Mill, a restaurant owned and operated by Lennie’s daughter Cindy and her husband, Nick Coppolino. When we walked in and saw that we would be at tables for four, I quickly abandoned Bob and sat with three men whom I hadn't had a chance to chat with: Bob and Don Schlicke, and Gene Murdock. Feeling a little guilty, I checked a few minutes later and saw Bob had found a great spot with three delightful women: his sister Barb DiStefano and two nieces, Mary Reese and Cindy Coppolino. On Tuesday all who could make it had breakfast at Dottie’s retirement center. She and Teddie Doane offered a fabulous array of delicious breakfast and dessert items. As we waddled out of there, it occurred to me that it’s probably fortunate we live 450 miles away. BACK FROM AFGHANISTAN Jason Murdock May 23 - I just wanted to let you know that I am back from Afghanistan and I have been home for about a month. Upon returning home I was out east in Pennsylvania doing my PLDC school, which is required for Sergeants. I plan on returning to my civilian job June 1st and I am leaving for Las Vegas with some friends in a few hours for a week. I am still dating Bevin and that is going very well. She is a wonderful person, and we hang out all the time. I have a lot of pictures from Afghanistan and I am sifting through the thousands of pictures for the best ones and I feel it would be better if I just sent you guys a CD with all of the pics instead of emailing them over. I am very happy to be home and I hope you all have a wonderful summer. Thank you for all your prayers and support - it means a lot to me and I really feel like we made some excellent progress over in Afghanistan as well as saving some lives. June 7 - I would just like to report that Vegas was fun. We saw the "Blue Man Group" at the Lexor - they were very awesome. We did some golfing and I golfed with Muhammed Ali's daughter's husband, whose name was "YAYA". I'm not sure if that is spelled right but yeah it was a lot of fun and the weather was great, around 100 everyday. I just started going back to work today and it feels good to be getting back into the swing of things again. My business has changed a lot while I have been gone so there is a lot for me to catch up on and learn but it's all good, and nothing I can't handle. For Memorial day weekend my friends and I took an RV up to the North shore in Grand Marais and did some camping and hiking. We stopped and ate at Sven and Ole's Pizza which is famous here in MN as well as stopping at Gooseberry on the way back and hiking outside the safe zones. It was a lot of fun we laughed a lot and roasted marshmallows and drank beer. I am not sure if I got letters from the kids' schools in your area - there is mail still floating around in Afghanistan that I haven't gotten yet, but I will let you know that I did get alot of letters from kids and I did send some letters out. I don't know if I got everybody for I had an enormous amount of support from people and not always the time to properly thank someone but I am very grateful for the support and it meant and means a lot to me. -God Bless- TIM PREPARES FOR DUTY Bob Murdock As Jason completes his duty, another grandson gets ready for his. Timothy Murdock, son of Ian and Becky, will be training to be an Intelligence Analyst with the U.S. Army. He graduated from La Mirada High School June 22, and will leave July 14 for basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C. After graduating from there on Sept. 23, he reports three days later at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, for 20 weeks of intelligence training. To see what Tim will be doing, go online to goarmy.com and in the search option type 96b. Then you will be able to read about what an Intelligence Analyst does. As we did with Jason, the Muse editors will set up a pictorial website for Tim so everyone can follow his career. A MEMORABLE MEMORIAL Gene Murdock June 15 - I left Glenwood, Iowa on a Tuesday, headed for Massachusetts, loaded down with audio books and music CDs. The trip was uneventful, everything went well, and the motels I had reserved were quite good. I started two books, both of which I quit after the first tape or CD for various reasons, then settled in with "One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest" which was fantastic! It consisted of about ten CD's, for which the timing was perfect – the book ended exactly as I turned in to the Super 8 motel in Gardner! Scott had intended to fly up and join me at the motel, but he came down with a cold that made flying out of the question. So on Saturday I proceeded by myself on the route that I would have taken him on. I started out in Gardner, driving by all the houses I had lived in and past all the schools and churches I had attended, plus a few comments at the houses of kith and kin and girlfriends. Then came a trip out to the Crystal Lake cemetery to visit with Great-grandfather Emanuel Carlson Charlton and his wife Belle. From there, I proceeded to Hubbardston, locating a few of Grandpa and Grandma Charlton’s houses including the "stone house" on the Gardner road, which happens to be right across the street from a communications shack that is on Scott's list of Air Force facilities. In Hubbardston I went to each of the Murdock and Ohlson houses and visited several cemeteries, including the "bridge by the pond." I also drove out to Westminster past another Charlton residence and enjoyed the view of the brightly painted red building that still proudly proclaims the words "Westminster Crackers." Meals were no problem since the motel is right next to a Friendly's restaurant and a couple of fast food places. I needed a couple of items and searched high and low, including a Wal-Mart, and couldn't find them. I was beginning to think that there was more civilization in an Iowa Quick Stop than in all of Gardner, Mass. – until I went in to the Stop-and-Shop, and there were all the items I needed. It put Wal-Mart to shame. On Sunday we held the memorial service for Lennie and many contributed their humorous memories of her. There must have been thirty or forty people there. That evening we met down at the Barre Mill restaurant for some of Nick and Cindy's fabulous Italian food. I had told everyone that I was glad to foot the bill for the dinner as my tribute to Lennie, but to please a few protestors I said I would gladly accept donations. As I sat at the table talking to Bob Schlicke, people kept coming up and tucking bills into my shirt pocket. Egad! After a few of these I felt like a strip dancer getting bills tucked into my g-string! I wanted to laugh hilariously at the spectacle, but figured that some might be offended by my humor. I found out later that they all saw the humor of the situation and did it to prolong the fun. Even the younger kids came up with dollar bills to tuck in my g-string - I mean my pocket. It turns out that I had collected more money than the bill came to! I left a good tip and gave the rest to Dotty to offset some of her expenses. On Monday Morning Dotty arranged a breakfast at the Hubbardston House where some of us gathered to offer further memories of Len and converse amongst ourselves. I had a couple more outlying cemeteries to visit, so after an hour or two I reluctantly bid my farewells to all. On the four day trip home I stayed at the same motels and traveled the same route, except that from Milford, PA to Wheeling WV I went across the northern part of Pennsylvania instead of the southern and it was much better driving. This time I read (listened to) two long books on the life of Theodore Roosevelt – an amazing man, and some great listening. By the time I neared home I was pretty tired of traveling and couldn't wait to unpack and settle down to my usual activities. As I unpacked, I found myself mentally repacking and planning my next trip. It's in my blood. EVERYBODY'S AUNT TEDDIE Teddie Doane June 3 - Mom and I catered an "after funeral coffee" for Sylvia Tammi this afternoon. Now that that is over things will calm down for a little while. But then....................Viki has surgery on the 20th of this month and Mom's has been changed to the 21st! I will be very busy taking care of the two of them and Viki's two boys! Randy and Penny will help too, of course, but I'm the only one who is around all of the time because I work for the fence company and my boss (Billy) is quite lenient. I sometimes wonder how people get by when they don't have family around! I even thought of starting a business where I would be available for others and call myself Everybody's Aunt Teddie, but I don't have time! :) June 24 - Viki's surgery (lady stuff) went very well on Monday. She came home on Tuesday. Her 4 boys (and Shawn's girlfriend, Amanda) have been taking very good care of her. She came off the pain medication after only 2 days and today I took her and the two boys up to see Mom. Then we went out to lunch and she went home and made a fruit salad and potato salad for the weekend! The boys enjoyed pushing her around in the wheelchair at the hospital. She had a little fear in her eyes as Scott wheeled her down the decline ramps. Fast! ! :) Mom's knee replacement surgery on Tuesday also went well. She did have a LOT more pain this time for the first two days. Today she was transferred to the rehab unit within Heywood Hospital. Her pain level had dropped to a 5 on a scale of 1-10. Yesterday and Wednesday it was about a 15! She may be in rehab for anywhere from 7-21 days. She hopes, of course, for 7. She is in room 284. Any cards sent to her home address will be delivered to her daily. Keep cool! June 30 - It's been 9 days since the knee replacement. After a few tough days of pain she has been doing much better. They didn't waste any time getting her up and about and she's on the CPM machine several hours a day. That is the machine that is placed under her leg that automatically bends the knee repeatedly to whatever degree she can manage. She is up to a 72 already! She's calling for pain medicine much less frequently. On Tuesday the "powers that be" held an assessment meeting and gave her a tentative release date of July 18. These meetings are held weekly to reassess. Due to her spunk and desire to get home she is pushing harder to speed her recovery. She had only been in the rehab unit of the hospital for a few days before the assessment so they didn't really have much on which to base their decision. I'm no doctor, but from the daily progress that I'm seeing I believe she'll be home at least a week earlier than what they've predicted! Thank you for all of the cards and well wishes. She really appreciates them! TO THE HAPPY PAIR Nancy Murdock Thirty-five years - Can it really be- 35 years for P and C? Doesn't seem real To Bob and me- 35 years for C and P. They're much too young And full of fun - 35 together - really? "I do" they said In '70, I read- 35 years ago, golly gee! At their young years There's plenty more- 35 more may be the score. We wish them well And now we'll yell "35 more would now be swell!" 6/13/05 June 14: Thank you so much for the wishes and the terrific poem. We had a nice weekend in Maine to celebrate the 35 years. Of course we had a tag along, Clyde, as we had 2 kids tagging along on our original "honeymoon" in Maine. Looking forward to seeing you in July. --Polly and Carl Click here for Part 2 of the July-August 2005 Muse. Any comments? Contact the Muse editors at murmuse@comcast.net

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