Our 2020b Blog ⇔ (Clicking on photo galleries reveals the entire caption and often makes pictures bigger; for individual photos, “open in new tab”)

Jul-Dec (click here for 2020a)

Thanks for visiting wp.krigline.com. If you are an old friend or former student, maybe we can get “caught up” during IFM’s weekly Friday night Zoom gathering. Everything is always free, everyone is welcome, and with rare exceptions I’m participating (and often teaching). From 7:30-8pm, guests talk one-on-one with American volunteers who enjoy meeting our international friends. The meeting ID and passcode are always the same, or you can write to the address shown for more info.

Dec 31, 2020

Before the calendar flips to 2021, let me close 2020 with a few Christmas photos. And if you missed “Christmas Around the World,” over 700 have already enjoyed it, and you can still watch. In fact, you’ll soon find an updated version and two shorter video-segments on our (CIF) YouTube channel.

Beth and her family paused in front of our tree to capture this Christmas memory.

Here’s Grandpa playing a board game (Life) with Christy and CJ.

Left: we continued our Christmas tradition of taping candy canes to the doors in our apartment building. (You can read the info sheet at http://eflsuccess.com/candycane/). Right: Even 3-year-old Caroline gets to help with the Advent Calendar this year!

Left: Grandma finishes decorating our Christmas tree. Right: Grandma shows Caroline the pretty decoration a little girl (from India) on our hallway made for us.

Left: CJ and Christy use their creative skills to make personal gifts. Right: They celebrate Uncle Andrew’s Christmas generosity in the form of Nintendo Switch and favorite games.

Every year, we add ornaments to the tree that point to the year past. The left ornament includes masks, hand-sanitizer and toilet paper; the one of the right (from WhiteHouseHolidays) says “We’re all in this together.”

Dec 18, 2020

Last night, The Columbia International Festival (one of the charities I work for) presented our first YouTube Premier, called “Christmas Around the World.” It was a lot of work, but the program looked great! If you missed it, you can watch anytime on our new YouTube channel. As of this morning, it had over 300 views. It was fun to watch the “premiere” last night, and see everyone’s comments.

CIF YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtC5ZcYt_u62t5iIcvfH8Ag/featured

My Mom’s dog Oreo watched “Christmas Around the World” (with Mom and many of our friends) from Ohio.

At the last minute, our recording venue fell through…so we shot the emcee at our apartment!

Nov 29, 2020

I’ve just added several photos of former students who helped us celebrate Christmas while we lived in Asia. Tonight, two local friends came to help decorate our Christmas tree!

In 2013, we used this montage to send friends in the US our annual greeting. It shows our decoration party, Vivian’s cookie-class, and make-a-card day. We held similar activities every Christmas while in China.

Our 2020 Christmas also gave us the joy of being with students again, as these two (working on advanced degrees at the University of South Carolina) from Oman and Romania joined us.

Carolina Christmas: festive Christmas wreath hangs from a light-post, between palmetto-trees, as a few leaves try to turn brown.

Our condo came with a dryer, but it always felt too hot so Vivian doesn’t use it. Someone said I should clean the exhaust pipe; after all, decades of link caused my drain to back-up and cost hundred$ in damage. As you can see, I pulled decades of lint out of the pipe…but the dryer still feels too hot to use!

When Caroline’s kindergarten called, I said I’d again be happy to be surrogate papa on Daddy Day. Because of COVID, activities were all set up outside, and the class was divided so few of us would be present at one time. Fun morning!

Nov 11, 2020

Three photos and captions to bring you up to date.

Vivian held tightly to Thai-thai during her Oct 27 cataract surgery. (Thai-thai was a gift from Michael for former surgery in Thailand; the name also sounds like the Chinese word for ‘beloved wife’.) On Nov 10, doctors worked on her other eye. It will take a month to fully recuperate.

It’s “State Fair” time, but due to COVID the buildings are functionally closed. So, the Fair became “drive through” this year. You can see some of the outdoor exhibits, including local art. The central photo shows one of the buildings the Columbia International Festival takes place in, every April. COVID will likely cancel the Festival again next April, so we wanted to see if the “drive through Fair” would give us ideas for alternative festivities. Our grandkids seemed to enjoy the displays, as well as the cotton candy, elephant ears and corn dogs (enjoyed in a local park, NOT Grandpa’s car!).

We and/or Beth also took the kids to a couple of “Trunk or Treat” events, in lieu of any “trick or treating.” Costumes are always fun, and they enjoyed watching these dancing dinos, as well as getting candy and other goodies. The left-hand photo was a drive-through party at Vivian’s old high school.

Michael’s sister and her family gathered recently on Kiawah Island, so we drove down for the afternoon. We had a lot of fun, but didn’t take many photos! (And no, we didn’t create the sand-dolphin.)

Oct 25, 2020

Where does my time fly off to?? I try to post an update in the middle of each month, but October is almost over—sorry about that.

October has been an especially busy month for us. I’ve decided that it is my civic duty to be a poll-worker, and that required several hours of training before I work Nov 3, helping registered voters exercise their right to vote. On that day, thousands of citizens like me will work from 5:45am to an hour or two after the polls close at 7 pm. Vivian and I did this in Ohio several years ago, but this is my first time in South Carolina.

In addition, I’m teaching a weekly class on stewardship for a church in Ohio (by Zoom). My Mom is one of the students, so this class has been a particular joy. Vivian also participates, unless she needs to be taking care of our grandchildren. At present, they attend school in-person only twice a week (short days), which means lots of supervision by Grandma five days each week. But the public schools have announced that they will expand to four days in November.

On top of that, I’ve had an especially busy month, doing things connected to the HK charity and its US partner, for whom I still work part-time. Meanwhile, I’ve created (and taught) two new lessons about Columbus Day, which are posted on my other website (EFLsuccess.com).

My grandkids and I created this “Columbus Day” art project, to use in my new lessons (see above, or EFLsuccess.com).

Oct 1 was the Mid-Autumn Festival in China. In Xiamen (shown here) we got to participate with other teachers in a regional dice game called “Bo-Bing.” (For the rules: http://www.krigline.com/bo-bing.htm)

Vivian and I taught our grandchildren how to play Bo-Bing. Even little Caroline loved participating “with the big kids” (though she didn’t seem to want to let go of the dice!).

Every morning, I take a walk in nearby Maxcy Gregg Park, listening to a book. I highly recommend these two excellent books.

Trying to broaden my perspective on race issues, I’ve enjoyed this new weekly podcast with Gianno, who is also a “contributor” on the news.

While with the kids at the park recently, I snapped this beautiful butterfly. I’m amazed at the beauty and design in God’s Creation, and especially in the “engineering” involved to get anything to fly.

Left: CJ runs past me, sporting his new haircut. Right: Vivian snapped and captioned this photo of our our 3-year-old grandchild, who seems to have “had enough” for one week!

After native Americans came up in a lesson, Vivian took the kids to a local (Cayce) museum to see some native American arrowheads and other artifacts.

Maxcy Gregg Park is a nice place to go for a walk (or take a family photo). You can see our apartment building in the background.

Caroline does not like to sit still for photos, but we promised “bubble fun” if she cooperated!

WOW! We were actually all in the same place for a few minutes, with a camera. We haven’t paused long enough for a “family photo” for over a year!

Sep 12, 2020

Vivian made the local news tonight. The Babcock Center, an historic State Hospital where one of Vivian’s relatives passed away ages ago, caught fire overnight, and was basically gutted. When Vivian heard about the fire, she went to see what she could see, and she said she wasn’t alone. Apparently, many people will miss seeing the iconic tower of a landmark that’s been in Columbia since 1857. While she was looking around, Vivian was interviewed by two media outlets.

Until Fox takes the report down, you should be able to watch Vivian on the local news by clicking below.
https://wach.com/news/local/some-in-columbia-community-saddened-by-babcock-building-fire?jwsource=cl

With students back on campus at the University of South Carolina, Michael enjoys meeting internationals on Thursdays, when the Baptist Center near campus offers a free lunch (observing “social distance” of course!).

Aug 21, 2020

In early August, our grandkids got the opportunity to be in “day care” (school) for a few days. After months at home, they were happy for a change in venue! This gave us the chance to drive to Ohio, to be with Michael’s Mom as she recovered from eye surgery. I’ll say more in the captions….

Before we left SC, Vivian celebrated her birthday with the grandkids. They get lots of “birthday cake” in August because Michael’s BD falls at the end of the month too!

Before we moved into our apartment last fall, we replaced worn-out carpet with Select Surfaces Laminate Flooring. With a “lifetime warranty,” we expected this “luxury” product to serve us for many years. Sadly, water from the air conditioner quietly spilled and got under the floor!

You can see how the edges of the flooring planks got swollen, so we had to hire a contractor to locate the leak, and another contractor to replace the flooring. Water damage is not covered by the warranty. We now think that choosing this flooring was an expensive mistake. Such are the trials of home-ownership.

The drive from South Carolina to Ohio takes about 9 hours, but it includes several hours of beautiful hills, particularly in West Virginia. (Drivers pay a total of $12 in West Virginia, but the rest of the trip is covered by our taxes.)

I saw Oreo around Christmas as a puppy; here I get a very enthusiastic greeting on Mom’s front porch! Oreo is a black “Golden Doodle” with a white patch on her chest.

At the bottom of the street where I grew up, there’s a hill where we used to go snow-sledding. No houses are built there, because a lake forms in “the basin” when it rains. One day, walking Oreo, I spotted three deer, who quickly dashed away.

While Mom recovered from her successful cataract surgery, Vivian and I took care of Oreo and did a few things around the house. We were grateful for the chance to be of help.

Oreo isn’t a year old, so she is FULL of energy. I had to keep saying “Love with your tongue, not your teeth!” But she is smart and affectionate, and makes a great pet for Mom.

Dogs have long been important to us. Here are the St Bernards I grew up with (the smaller one is the mother!). You can also read about “Gimli” at http://wp.krigline.com/xmas_dog/.

After a week with Mom, we spent a night near the Virginia/North Carolina border, and then enjoyed a few hours on or near the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway before driving back to Columbia, SC.

The Blue Ridge Parkway was built in the 1930s as part of the government’s “conservation” projects, that dealt with Depression-era unemployment by hiring men to make roads/parks/etc, while sending their pay home. [Vivian’s dad had this job for a while; she remembers stories of him planting cherry trees in Washington DC.]

The Parkway is a two lane road, with almost no buildings, built on the top of a ridge. It has many “overlooks” and a few rest/picnic areas, like this one. North Carolina’s morning mist looks great in this photo.

This photo shows our Corolla in the mist. One side of the ridge was pretty clear, but we could see nothing on the other side!

Here’s a nice view at the Air Bellows Overlook. The sign talks about farming “then and now”; now, many Christmas Tree farms are in this valley.

We left the Parkway to go visit NC’s Stone Mountain. Population is sparse, but it was nice to see buildings again.

Local residents have probably lived here for generations. I liked the American flags at this rustic hill-top home.

The inset shows how Stone Mountain looks on a clear day; but as you can see, we could see NOTHING in the valley below!

Once we arrived at the state park, we hiked up to see a waterfall. Apparently someone had built a cabin here, and it looked like the area was destroyed by fire ages ago. This left-behind chimney stood as a testimony to those who created it, long after all other signs of their influence were gone. (See my related note below)

A nice photo of us in front of the Stone Mountain (NC) waterfall, just days after our 31st wedding anniversary.

Stone Mountain (NC) waterfall. Apparently, there’s an even better view at the bottom of the falls, but we didn’t have the energy for that hike!

I liked this view, showing the falls disappear over the ridge, with a distant Blue Ridge mountain in the background.

The view as we left Stone Mountain state park; we think that you can see the mountain above this field on a clear day. Maybe next time!

When looking at the left-behind chimney shown above, it struck us that a few bricks upon each other were clear evidence that “intelligent” beings had built here, while most visitors are blind to the remarkable evidence in the trees, reforestation mechanisms, DNA all around them, and order in Nature that also point to an intelligent Creator. As Paul put it: “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.” (Rom 1:19-20)  Click here for a related article (and book) on CBNnews.

July 19, 2020

I stay busy, working from home, while Vivian continues to care for our grandchildren. In the past month or so, I’ve participated in two Zoom conferences, and I can’t even remember how many Zoom meetings. But we also have a “local” life, so let me show a few photos.

You may recall that we replaced our clouded windows in January. We’re so glad we did, especially when we get to see a nice sunset or rainbow like this one.

I attended an online conference for people who work with international students. I loved this poem, which someone shared during the meetings.

The hardest part of this work is saying goodbye. But our friend Ann completed her Master’s Degree, and I took her to the airport recently, to move to the next part of her life. Fortunately, we can stay in touch through Zoom!

COVID-19 has made several deliveries S-L-O-W, but we waited and waited for a new mattress to arrive (in May). Because of Covid, the SAMS delivery guys were unwilling to use our elevator, so we had to get it up to the 7th floor ourselves.

Soon after the new mattress arrived, we spotted this grimey headboard in the trash. It took me a few hours to clean it up, but now it looks great.

As a member of our Home Owners Association, I’m on the list of people who can help the fire department when a careless cook creates too much smoke. It happens about once a month (including today!).

The highlight of this past month has been VBS: Vacation Bible School. Normally, VBS is a BIG church event, with music, games, stories, displays, and much more. But with COVID-19, churches could not invite children to a normal VBS program. Fortunately, we were able to log in and enjoy an online VBS this year. My work schedule didn’t allow three consecutive days, so we spread the fun over three Wednesdays. Normally, kids would be with others their own age, so it was sometimes a challenge to include the whole range from age 3-9, but I think everyone had fun and learned valuable lessons.

I helped with this VBS a few years ago. As you can see, it is a BIG production, and kids love to participate. This year, we were stuck at home.

The online VBS had an entertaining introduction and Bible stories, while also suggesting games. In this game, the kids had taped-up fists, and had to try to collect small items within a set time.

The whipped cream we bought didn’t “stick” very well, but the idea was for the other kids to attach crackers to your cream “beard.” Even Caroline figured this one out and played along.

More games! 1. Lay still while others stack checkers on your forehead. 2. Use a sponge to move water between two containers. 3. “Race” with cards between your toes. 4. Run around the house without damaging the whipped-cream mountain on your hand (and then eat it!).

Each day, we “raced” up to the main street for exercise. You can see me with Caroline in the distance. The older kids ran extra fast this day; maybe they were anxious about the coming rain storm!

Caroline loves her dolls. Here, she wanted to be sure “Baby” didn’t miss the Bible story.

Coloring pages went with the story each day. And the kids could earn a prize for memorizing the verses.

Another favorite activity was a video-led origami challenge.

Caroline enjoyed watching, but couldn’t figure this one out. But here you see the beautiful paper hearts that the older kids made.

(click here for 2020a) (click here for 2019 blog)

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