when I'm 64

What's it like to turn 64? It's kind of like the Beattle's song, but not much like it.

Here's what you do. Have lunch in Skippack with your family and open gifts.

Here we've made it to dessert. Son Joel is sipping his coffee and I'm contemplating devouring the pudding in the chocolate cup beside the caramelized banana slices.

Beside him you can picture Stephanie. Opposite end of table sits Ryan. Then, Sarah. Beside me, Dorcas.

Will you still be sending me...birthday greetings bottle of wine...will you still need me, will you still feed me,When I'm sixty-four (big YES)...I could be handy, mending a fuse (qualified yes)...You can knit a sweater by the fireside ('fraid not)...Sunday mornings go for a ride ('fraid not, I had just played a service at Zion,mostly music older than this schmalty song)...Doing the garden, digging the weeds,Who could ask for more(yes)...Every summer we can rent a cottage,In the Isle of Wight (how about Long Island?)

That's how you turn 64. And you thank your daughter for the photo.

new recorder

Church music requires recording for rehearsal, checking performance, teaching, and composing. Here my new recorder sits on the floor of our house. Floor boards were put in by my Dad as a sub-floor. Woah, more history coming.

I remember a reel to reel tape recorder sitting on that floor, close to the base of the steps, in about the year 1955. My Uncle Titus Sensenig and Aunt Edna had brought it along on one of their visits. Titus loved new gadgets.

Now this new gadget can do a bit more. Maybe I can figure out how to play something on the piano (southeast six feet from this photo) and put it on the blog. The recorder itself is an H2, the item that looks rectangular.