Dale and Nancy Hanaman celebrated with their granddaughter, Adyara, for her 9th birthday recently. They visited with Adyara, her Dad, Matthew and sister, Adrianna, in St. Paul, MN. The birthday breakfast was at Perkins and they all later attended a party at Grand Slam in the Twin Cities. The children enjoyed laser tag, bumper cars and other activities and later shared pizza and birthday cake. On Sunday, Dale and Nancy attended the Good Shepherd UMC in St. Paul with  Matthew and his girls.

Kevin and Delores Blanshan of Waterloo and Kelsey Blanshan of Ames were recent weekend visitors in the parental homes of Dale and Virgene Morse and Alice and Willis Blanshan of Grand Junction.

Sweet Harmony presented a concert on Sunday afternoon in the RIppey United Methodist Church.  Pastor Deb Parkison, her sister, Pam Koso, her daughter, Jessica Yoakum and a friend, Gail Wallin make up the group.   Deb, Pam and Gail have been singing together for 26 years and were joined 8 years ago by Jessica.  The concert contained gospel music as well as music from the 30"s, 40's and 50's for the enjoyment of all attending.   Following the concert a soup, sandwich, salad and dessert supper was served.   Nearly 180 attended the concert.  

Sharon Bardole McBlain, Hamden, CT., recently celebrated her 65th birthday. Her sister, Nancy Hanaman and her husband, Dale Hanaman, sent a special gift for this time, Sharon, the Basketball Bear. Jean McElheney constructed the bear with the appropriate purple satin uniform with Sharon’s number of 51 on the uniform she used while at Rippey High School. The bear was complete with tennis shoes and purple striped socks and was holding a tiny basketball. Before the bear was sent to Sharon, she was viewed at the Rippey Public Library and other meeting places in the community.

Velda DeMoss attended a potluck luncheon at Woodward Resource Center on Friday, April 11.   The potluck honored the retirement of Dennis Young of Jamaica.   After Oscar Meyer was sold, where Dennis had worked for 20 years, he took a job at WRC where he worked several in the dietary department and later transferred to the housekeeping department.  The potluck was held at 105 Cherry where Dennis was the housekeeper for that unit as well as other units.  

LaVere and Beverly Derry, Jerald and Janet Fessler and Jerald’s sister Mary Jane McDowell of TX and her roommate Martha Wolf of Scranton along with others on the Northland Tour traveled to Jordan and Egypt in early March. It was a good trip, one with lots of exercise. The modes of transportation included twelve flights, bus, cruise boat, sailboat, motor boat, horse drawn carriage, jeep, on foot of course and oh yes, by camel. The scenery was like they had never experienced from Roman ruins, expansive valleys, to mosques, temples and something never to be forgotten, Petra, in Jordan, one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. They walked a great distance between hundred foot cliffs then into an opening where stood a beautiful temple which had been chiseled out of a tall sandstone cliff. It is known as the Treasury. There is reconstruction going on every where. They have unearthed many building sights and there have been earthquakes that left damage, all requiring years of repair. Of course the pyramids of Egypt were every bit what they had always dreamed of, only more. Tourists were able to enter two of them through low, narrow passages. It definitely was not for the claustrophobic. There was the Great Sphinx, 235 feet long, the Karnak Temple with 134 columns within, the largest in the world, sailing on the Nile River, the longest in the world and visiting the Valley of Kings and Valley of the Queens again getting to enter several of the tombs. There was a jeep ride on the desert of red, red sand. The food was sufficient with meat choices generally being fish, chicken, beef or lamb. The breads, rolls and pita bread were very good. Bottled water was plentiful and like here the used bottles are creating an eyesore. The weather was wonderful, needing long sleeves or a light jacket most of the time. Since returning home it has been very hot in those places. Cairo, Egypt is a large city so people dress much as we do but in traveling south in both countries, the residents wore the traditional clothes and obviously scrambled to make a living. After all, Jordan is two-thirds desert. The young women and girls wore black garments with only their faces exposed. Sometimes there was just a slit for the eyes and sometimes that slit held sun glasses. The vendors were very active wanting the visitors to buy and buy. There was also a charge in the bathrooms as someone was there to hand out paper. The roads were good though few main highways. Cairo is wild, though it is supposed to be the second safest city in the world. Our guide said of driving there, “The rule is: there are no rules”. Very, very few have insurance so when there is a collision a shouting match takes place and little more. On a four lane street they manage six lanes, darting so as not to leave a space. Then at night very few city drivers turn their lights on. Even the bus driver drove that way. The guides were wonderful, one for the time spent in each country. There was what was called a tourist policeman who rode the buses too. He soon learned the people on the tour and watched for their safety, telling vendors to ease off when necessary. Security was good. Even going into the hotels there were machines that bags and purses had to pass through. The ride home was long and uneventful. As New York’s JFK Airport was neared there was absolute silence then numerous sighs spelling thankfulness for the safe trip.