Posted here April 15, 2022
Someone suggested Ryan Gafner, who owns and operates CMG Automotive, to fix our car. We used his services several times in this first year:
Elsewhere, we got two new front tires on December 1 and a new battery on December 6.
Joe and Elizabeth visited us from Tuesday, May 17 until Monday, May 23.
Joe, Elizabeth, and John came on Saturday, June 18. They took John home on Thursday, June 23, then returned the next day, but they hit a deer on the road, so they arrived late, just past midnight into Saturday.
Elizabeth’s bridal shower was held at the conference room in our church’s office building, from 1 to 3 p.m. on Saturday.
Friday, July 22, 2011
I was still undecided about whether to use the stage name Ummley (which I’ve used since February 16) or my own name, Charlie Petitt, for this CD and any future CDs. I stopped everyone—Wendi, Chrissy and Alex—and we discussed it briefly. All of us agreed it would be better to use my real name, especially since 1) this is for a wedding, a family event; 2) my previous CD was released under Charlie Petitt; and 3) Alex said, “The Ummamum is fine for family and stuff, but everyone else knows you as Charlie Petitt. It’s a good name.” ~ I’ve had several people, over the years, at Woodman’s (both customers and co-workers) tell me they really liked the name Charlie. To use Ummley would deny them the warm, friendly feeling that the name Charlie conveys. ~ I recently asked my Facebook friends to help me decide which name to use; only one person responded, with “Mix the two together??”
I had actually thought of doing Charlie Ummley, but 1) the spelling would still be confusing (someone once asked me if Ummley was spelled U-M-L-Y) and 2) again, the wedding and family thing: I really should use Petitt, and Petitt Ummley or Ummley Petitt would sound stupid. ~ One main reason for using Ummley in the first place, was to avoid the spelling/pronunciation problem with Petitt: people hear it and misspell it as Pettit; people see it and mispronounce it as Petite… but clearly, Ummley doesn’t solve this. ~ Long story made short: I have decided to drop Ummley altogether; eventually I will have to redesign the old charliepetitt.com website and redirect ummley.com to it.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Greg Winkler, who ran the Open Mic at Mocha Moment, had been trying to figure out what musical genre I fit into, and tonight he referred to me as a “folk crooner,” saying that maybe that was a new genre.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011.
Roxbury Church of Christ has run a monthly worship service known as “Praise Time” at Rock Haven nursing home for years. The service is informal and includes singing, readings, and a short devotional. Kathleen Cowan had led the service for 15 years and was now 93. Her eyesight, hearing and memory were all failing with age. Fred Fuller led it before she did.
With no one else to take over the ministry, Wendi and I (Charlie) stepped in.
People from Roxbury Church did the work at no charge to us. They nailed a tarp to the roof on November 14, 2010, in the area where it was leaking, to get us through the winter. Work began in earnest on June 21–22 with a group of workers. Finishing touches were completed on November 28.
Chrissy Lawrence, who had lived with us twice before, moved in here on Friday, July 15, 2011 “for a while,” paying us room and board during her stay. Nearly a year and a half later, on Monday, December 31, 2012, she boarded a Greyhound bus to Florida and moved away.
A friend gave us some tomato plants, which I planted in the back yard on Friday, May 20. At first, they appeared to do well, but once the tomatoes emerged on the plants, the blight set in and ruined them all; I discovered this on Thursday, July 28.
The video store was just two doors down from us, on the corner of the highway. It was closed by November 1, 2011. Some time later, a laundromat took its place.