News & Notes 2025

Dear Friends & Family,

Merry Christmas!  Happy New Year!  Make it a great one – all any of us can control is our attitude and our activity.  And isn't 2025 the year that just kept on… 2025-ing?  It's a lot, and it continues to be so.  One of the things I've focused on thru the fall, helped in large part by Winston-Salem Symphony Chorus' beautiful music, is the truth of John 1:5: The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The Adventure Swopes left the continental US twice this year, both times finding places we absolutely could call home… if only seasonally.  We spent all 12 days of Christmas 2024 in Puerto Rico, and this might just be the truest pic of our entire relationship: one says "We could heel the sailboat even more!" and the other says "Or we could... not!"

Then in August we joined Piedmont Opera on an epic journey to Quebec City, a place Lisa visited on a French class trip in high school many many moons ago.  She was surprised to experience "I remember that"s all throughout the trip, some expected and others she didn't realize were old memories.

Our small herd of guinea pigs is at three these days, with the addition of Cinnamon (L) and Jellybean (C) and the loss of Lilikoi.  The resulting dynamic leaves Twix (R) as a senior citizen with a high-maintenance teenager and a high-energy toddler scurrying around all the time.  Fortunately they have a big run-around area and we've put a lot of hidey places for them to each retreat to as needed.  

 

Earl is in his second year at Collins Aerospace (collinsaerospace.com) and recently the entire org had a big office reshuffle to get everyone from two buildings into one.  

Bookmarks celebrated its 20th annual Festival of Books and Authors in September, and Lisa continues to serve as one of the OG booksellers, there since the bookstore opened in 2017.  (www.bookmarksnc.org)  With the ongoing budget issues in our county school district, one of our current projects, "Every Shelf, Every Student" has collected wishlists from all the schools, and people can purchase books at our cost to go into the schools.  It doesn't put media coordinators back in the schools (yes, they cut all of them) or rehire assistant principals or support staff for extraordinary children, but it's something we can do.  (www.AllInForOurSchools.org)

We're staying active at our church home, St Paul's Episcopall (stpaulsws.org), with Earl driving the bus to pick up seniors, on the livestream team, and attending men's meetups & men's prayer group.  Lisa's on rotation to teach upper elementary Formations class, she lectors, and sings in the choir as schedule allows.  We're also both in the Sacred Ground group this year, which is a discussion study on race and faith with readings & videos.  This year St Paul's celebrates its sesquicentennial all year (150 years)!

Lisa's singing most days, between Winston Salem Symphony Chorus and Heart of the Triad Choral Society, plus Lyric Choir at WFU.  So there were four concerts in the fall term, which is the same number as Symphony Chorus alone has in the spring term.    

If you visit us, and we'd love for you to, you'll see some visible changes to Credo and some functional ones as well.  Over the last 18mo we've gotten a new roof, a new HVAC, our deck redone, and another Kia Niro, "Inara",  when our Elantra decided enough was enough just a hair before 300k.  

All the parents are doing fine:

Betty is still living independently at Trinity House, the senior apartment complex she's lived in for 21 years.  She enjoys crafting, jigsaw puzzles and word finds, and is glad for the return to more frequent, if smaller, social gatherings and the ministers who come in and lead Bible studies.  

(The cat is Odin, one of the Cupboard Maker Books store cats – and according to the staff, Odin *never* just finds a lap and settles!)

Nancy is playing piano more recently, even if only at home.  As of this coming summer she'll have been in her home 45 years.  (Mark also still lives there.)  She's finally returning to church in person with more regularity after years of church at home ever since the start of Covid.  She enjoys lunches out with friends and goes to Toby's Dinner Theater for all the new shows.

Henry is finishing his third year at Allview Retreat, the assisted living group home about 5 miles from Bellwart.  He's doing well there and is able to join Nancy and Mark for outings to Toby's and to see some of the performers and groups they've known for years.

Looking into the coming months, we've got a few travel adventures coming up.  We're looking forward to visiting our faire family and our cousins out in Arizona in February.  Then Heart of the Triad Choral Society is closing out its 10th anniversary season by singing at Carnegie Hall in June.  And we're checking off another big pair on our bucket list next January with a Panama Canal trip on Star Clippers (www.starclippers.com), which is a tall ship adventure with "all the tradition and romance of the era of sailing ships."

We'd love to have you visit us – our guest room is always open.  And our 18th annual EOPS (Easter On Palm Sunday) open house is, once again, on Palm Sunday.  This year that's Sunday, March 26.  You're invited!  We celebrate the family you build.  

As you go forth into whatever comes with this year, we remind you, "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." 

Hebrews 13:2 ESV

(This sculpture was at the Anglican Diocese of Quebec, just across the way from Chateau Frontenac.  It shows differently if you approach it from each side.)

Cheers, Lisa & Earl

News & Notes 2024

 News & Notes 2024

Dear Friends & Family,

Here comes 2025!  Praying for a peaceful year, in so many ways.  A lot happened in the world around us in 2024 that has long-term effects on everyone.

For starters, a quick note on geography: 

Asheville NC is 2.5h drive west of us.

(art from a tee by WS artist ThatBlondeGirlVicki)

Hurricane Helene had a negligible effect on us except for its timing – the week of Bookmarks Festival, at the end of Sept.  We have been out to visit Biltmore and some of our favorite restaurants and makers in western NC, and it's interesting to see what bounced back and what is just outright gone.  It's a little surreal that an amazing international aid organization like Samaritan's Purse, headquartered in Boone NC (home of Appalachian State), is serving their immediate neighbors.  Similarly mind boggling is World Central Kitchen, with boots on the ground in Gaza, and Ukraine, and now Asheville NC?! – one of their early distribution centers in Asheville was out of Sunny Point Cafe, which we have long considered our "Cheers" restaurant, where everybody knows your name.

Closer to home, Earl changed jobs after a year working for the government.  He's now at Collins Aerospace, designing things that go in the seat backs of airplanes.  Here's a quick video explanation.  Basically on some First Class or Business Class seats the passenger gets his/her own "cubicle" equipped with a powered recliner. Earl's job is to make sure all the pieces fit together and receive the correct power and communication.  He is enjoying the team dynamic he has at Collins and that, working once again in Winston-Salem, he can actively plug into the church activities and volunteer at Bookmarks.

We've made ourselves right at home at St Paul's Episcopal, where we got confirmed in March of this year but even before that got active in the life of the church.  Earl drives the bus to pick up seniors from a local retirement community (Lisa calls him The Pigeon – and yes, we know that's not how the Mo Willems book goes) and works with the livestream team.  He's also enjoying men's ministry Bible studies and meetups.  Lisa teaches upper elementary Sunday school but on a weekly signup, nowhere near the intensity of at our previous churches.

Things are going swimmingly at Bookmarks, where we've just finished the madness of retail December in the leadup to multiple holidays.  It should be no surprise that over 30% of the annual earnings of an indie bookstore comes between Thanksgiving and the close of the year.  2024 was affectionately dubbed "the year of Lisa" by our Program and Festival Director because some of her longtime "wishlist" authors came to town, including but not limited to "Other" Lisa Yee (a term of affection for her doppelnym), Dan Santat, Kate Quinn, and Stacey Abrams.  Then at Festival, more than a few attendees told Lisa they recognized her from online – she got to do some informational videos on "let me tell you about" upcoming events and why they're awesome and how to plug in.  Not to mention her Best of 2024 list and a memorable blooper reel in which she proved how being coachable can scare the pants off of everyone not only in the bookstore but also at the adjoining coffee shop.  Movable Feast is coming in January – you should definitely come visit us for our "speed dating with authors" style event.  

Lisa continues to enjoy singing with Winston-Salem Symphony Chorus, and just finished their annual performance of Handel's Messiah.  In the fall they also did a piece that Lisa has loved for years since doing it with Heart of the Triad Choral Society, Andre Thomas' Mass: A Celebration of Love and Joy, paired with Miskinis' Light Mass.  This spring we're doing Verdi's Requiem – come sing with us, or come hear us sing, on April 26 & 27.

       

The squiggs are doing… well, okay, considering.  We said goodbye to TJ in November, bringing our small and squeaky herd down to two, Twix (who has a black face) and Lilikoi (who has one rosette crown up top).  Twix is our adventure eater and will dash out any time she hears us whistle, which started as a specific food cue and now just has "hopeful" written all over it.  Lilikoi is our explorer, and every time their space gets cleaned out or rearranged, she's first to see what's where and stake out the best spots.  They are still enjoying their seasonal haul of pumpkins from friends who turn theirs over to us after Halloween.

On the parental side of things, 

Betty is doing well, still living independently, and enjoying crafts, jigsaw puzzles, and the Bible study at her senior apartment complex.  She's lived at Trinity House 21 years as of next month. 

Nancy is, as always, wishing she could play the piano more.  Once she went to the local senior center and made use of their public piano for a bit and they offered her a tidy sum of money to come and do that on the regular – which she would love to, if only there were more hours in the day.  (She also discovered one of her former student's old piano books tucked into the bench!)  She and Mark currently have the kitchen all pulled apart waiting for a renovation to come to pass, that started with a simple idea to take out a non-loadbearing wall.

Henry is closing out his third year at Allview Retreat assisted living, where he is thriving.  (Lisa's commentary: In retrospect, he and Nancy should have taken up separate residences years earlier!)  A particular highlight was Thanksgiving weekend, when with Lisa and Earl up to visit, he joined in on three days' events, from Thanksgiving dinner, which the Yees and Rushings and other friends have done together for decades, then a Chinese meal out the next day when his niece brought down 8 members of his brother Ed's branch of the family from the Philly area, and the peculiar capstone of attending Sunday worship in person at CPC for the first time since moving to Allview.  It was even mentioned from the pulpit that he was in attendance, so there was an absolute line of people he got to chat with after church service.  We're glad that the CPC family welcomed him so heartily, and Lisa particularly is hopeful that he takes up the offer from some individuals to pick him up to attend worship in person more regularly.  Livestream church is nice to have available, but church is the community.

Come visit us at Credo!  Our home got a new roof and a replacement, non-leaky, fully watertight skylight this fall.  We'd love to have guests.  Drop in, visit us specifically, use us as a waypoint en route to or from Florida, anything goes.  And our 17th annual EOPS (Easter on Palm Sunday) open house potluck gathering is once again on the Sunday before Easter, which this year is Sunday, April 13.  

(tree by Puerto Rican poet Lady Lee Andrews)

Hugs to all, Lisa & Earl

News & Notes 2023

News & Notes 2023 

Dear Family & Friends, 

We're still here! 

There was some stuff that happened this year that could have meant we were not here (like, at all), but God. 

Here is the test to find out whether your mission on earth is finished:  If you're alive, it isn't.  ~ Richard Bach  quoted in Do It! Let's Get Off Our Buts  by John-Roger & Peter McWilliams

 

The biggest news this year, and we thank you for praying for us, is Earl's stroke.

TL; DR: All is well and this chapter of our lives is closed.

A little more detail: Shortly before we went to Ann Arbor Michigan for our cousins reunion over Labor Day weekend, Earl lost a lower quadrant of his vision but we didn't realize what it meant and traveled up from NC anyways, enjoying two days of wandering on foot all over and climbing all the stairs to the top of Michigan Stadium for a football game before something minor and unrelated got him talking to our doctor-cousin, who asked the right questions to get a full story and informed us that we were going to the ER. By God's providence, not only did she act as our medical advocate, even the attending physician that afternoon was a former roommate of hers. Earl had to stay a few days in hospital waiting on tests that, were it not a holiday weekend, we could have gotten done all in one day, but we still got back to NC on schedule and with Earl's vision having wholly returned. He had a longish list of doctors and follow ups and OT and PT check ins, but he passed everything without problem including his field of vision test which medically cleared him to drive again by the end of Sept. By mid-Nov we wrapped up what we consider to be the last part of this particular adventure when Earl had PFO closure surgery, an outpatient procedure in which a plastic clamshell is inserted to close a hole between sections of the heart. This hole or flap, which everyone has in utero and which is supposed to close with the vacuum of baby's first breath, stays open to some degree in literally 1 of 4 people and in most young stroke patients is considered part of the reason for the clots getting through to the brain. Our friend Dick phrased it best: Earl's got "piece like a rivet in his heart!" 

Lisa went full time at Bookmarks this year (www.bookmarksnc.org), which honestly was not a huge shift in amount of time, but which gave her the massive benefit of a set schedule. The literary arts nonprofit is still going strong, with 15-20 author events every month, both at the bookstore & through our authors in schools program. Tickets are already on sale for Movable Feast (Jan 27 & 28), a 20-author weekend which is Lisa's favorite event of the year (including Festival) because she gets to actually meet and mingle with all the authors, unlike Festival, at which she can't get to the myriad author talks because she is busy at the bookstore tent. If you want book recs, feel free to ask – this is the fun stuff! Endcap pictured is her favorite reads of 2023. 

We put our passports to use for the first time in a long time this summer, going on our first cruise. We took the MSC Seascape and sailed out of Miami to their private island in the Bahamas, followed by Jamaica, Grand Cayman (Lisa got to pet stingrays!), and Cozumel Mexico (We loved the Cool-ture tour which included Mayan ruins, coffee, and tequila.) Would we cruise again? Absolutely yes, but on a smaller ship (so peopley!) and ideally not on a holiday week during peak season. 

Our small herd of squiggs (our affectionate term for our guinea pigs, all girls) went from four to three this year with Wendy's passing, but Twix, Lilikoi, and TJ are still happily squeaking around our breakfast nook and welcome visitors any time, especially visitors with veggies. 

St Paul's Episcopal Church (https://www.stpaulsws.org/) has been our church home for almost exactly a year now, and we're finding places we can serve. Lisa plugged into VBS and is in rotation to teach the upper elementary Sunday school and serve as lector. Less visibly (completely in character), Earl helps on the livestream team and is in rotation to drive the bus to pick up seniors from a local retirement community (this should give hope to longtime Mo Willems readers and pigeons everywhere). He also is enjoying breakfasts and Bible studies with the men's ministry. Similar groups have encouraged him in different ways and times since he used to meet with the Dennytarians, many moons ago. 

This time of year, Lisa is singing Handel's Messiah with Winston-Salem Symphony Chorus. Come hear her sing, whether live (concert this Tues Dec 12, 7:30p) or streaming (our Considering Matthew Shepard performance is available to stream for FREE until Jan 29, 2024 (www.wssymphony.org/tv/). She very much misses singing with Heart of the Triad Choral Society and would again if schedule allowed.

On the parents end of things: 

Nancy celebrated her 80th birthday in January with a lunch gathering for friends. Thank you also to everyone who sent birthday cards! She enjoys informal lunches with friends, often choosing Hunan Legend as a location. She and Mark are still mostly staying home, including making use of livestream church, but they dine out and go to Toby's Dinner Theatre, do their own shopping, and my mom still drives my dad to all his doctor appointments. She loves snail mail & is getting better with email too. 

Henry had a particularly interesting October when a seemingly negligible case of Covid (his first – he managed to avoid it for three full years) became a nasty case of pneumonia that required a multi-week hospital stay and eventually a drainage tube. Once back at Allview Retreat, with extensive PT and the goal of joining the family for Thanksgiving, he's been on an upward trend health-wise and is getting more mobile. He's now been at this assisted living facility almost two years; it's a converted residence and maxes out at eight residents. 

 

Betty is still living independently at Trinity House, a seniors apartment complex. She's very much a warm weather gal so winters are tougher for her. But after a few years of things being mostly shut down, the community room is in full use again, and she joins in on all the crafts, Bible studies, and Bingo. She loves jigsaw puzzles and word finds. 

 

Moving into 2024 we're hoping for a less dramatic year than the last few have been! Use your voice – VOTE whenever the opportunity arises, local and national elections. Out of area peeps, please holler if you're on the East Coast at all; we would love to see you. And, everyone, our annual EOPS open house, moving towards its 16th iteration, is once again on Palm Sunday, which this year is Sunday, March 24. Come visit! 

Wishing you health & happiness. 

Cheers, 

Lisa & Earl 

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.  Hebrew 10:24 NIV

News & Notes 2022

 News & Notes 2022

Dear Friends & Family,

2022: the year virtually everything changed for the Swopes, except for our physical address… and there were a few months there where that was a very real possibility too!  We realize that News & Notes has not gone out for the past two years (interesting times).  But all this stuff isn't "since the start of the pandemic", this is all 2022 news.  It has been. a. year.

TL;DR: 1) Earl changed jobs, 2) Lisa picked up a second choir to sing with, 3) we changed churches, 4) we had a complete turnover of our squigg herd, 5) Earl's mom made what we think will be her last trip to NC, and 6) Lisa’s dad moved into assisted living.  Also, 7) Lisa's mom is turning 80, so please send cards!

Earl's Job Change 

In the spring, Earl changed teams within TE, moving from automotive sensors to automotive electronics.  This was a great change of teams for him; unfortunately, this summer was a terrible time to work in the automotive industry.  He put out some resumes and providentially got an offer from General Dynamics on a Tuesday, right before a big layoff hit him at TE on that same Friday.  He started in Sept.

Bookmarks 

Lisa still delights in giving book recs as a bookseller with a heavy lean towards kidlit, murder mysteries, and historical fiction.  As an end-of-year surprise, she was awarded a James Patterson bookseller bonus, which means some of the Bookmarks faithful wrote in, lauding her.  Thanks!  Some of her fun projects are the Kids Club subscription program, in which books curated for each individual child go out in the mail every month, a fun way to tell kids that books mean love!, and the 4 on 4th author showcases, where Bookmarks and Winston Salem Writers host a themed group of authors for short readings every month.  Bookmarks Festival, which is where the nonprofit has its roots, pulled in numbers matching pre-pandemic attendance, and the next big weekend-long event is Movable Feast the first weekend in February – we'll have 20+ authors and, unlike Festival where you'll find me in the bookstore tent, I get to meet them all!  Come visit us – the store & us personally – our guest room is ready!  https://www.bookmarksnc.org/ MovableFeast2023

Singing

When there was one tenor at the first rehearsal of the year for Heart of the Triad Choral Society (HTCS), Lisa dropped down the vocal part, which means now she has to sing in bass clef.  It's an interesting mental stretch!  (Fortunately by the concert there were half a dozen tenors including Lisa.)  Additionally, she joined Winston Salem Symphony Chorus this fall (as an alto).  It meets at Wake Forest University and also is a community choir, but it sings more of the big choral works so it stretches her in a different way.

Church

This summer and fall was an interesting time for us as we literally have never had to go church shopping before; God has always placed us immediately.  And God is faithful.  We've enjoyed seeing the different worship styles and welcomes of a number of churches in our area, and for this season in our lives we are worshipping at St Paul's Episcopal in Winston-Salem.

Squiggs (guinea pigs)

We had 100% turnover of our squigg herd, and while we miss #WeThreeSquiggs, we now enjoy the ongoing #SquiggLife antics of Twix, Lilikoi, Wendy's and Trader Jo (TJ).  (see photo at bottom right, names are in order.  Twix has the black face, Lilikoi has one rosette crown on her head, Wendy's has a check mark on her back, and TJ has a bandana marking.)  All are girls, and they all have food names.  They live a charmed life with free range of our breakfast nook, although if you ask them, they haven't been fed lately, or possibly ever..  

Travel

The extended Yee family called together some gatherings this year, so Lisa went to Phoenix in the spring to join with a dozen Yees: aunties, cousins, a niece, and a nephew.  There was a group trip to Arizona Ren Fest (the direct sister faire of Carolina Ren), and a small group went to the Grand Canyon (it snowed!).  Lisa even got to go to Tucson Festival of Books – unlike Bookmarks Festival, where she can be found working the book tent, she got to go to author panels and hear TJ Klune, Victoria Schwab, Craig Johnson (Walt Longmire series), and meet her very favorite illustrator, Dan Santat.

For Earl's birthday (#50YearsofBigFrog) we took a quick Broadway getaway and stayed right in the theater district, across the street from the Winter Garden, where we saw The Music Man with Sutton Foster (although not Hugh Jackman, because God has a sense of humor).  Broadway Tourettes is real, but we restrained ourselves from singing along *loudly*.  We fortuitously went to Come From Away on the very day it became the longest running show at the Schoenfeld Theatre, and we're looking forward to seeing it touring again in a few weeks at DPAC.  

From there we went directly to Ann Arbor MI for another Yee gathering, with a dozen uncles, aunts, and cousins (50% overlap from Phoenix's Yee gathering) for a UofM focused time full of family heritage stories and visiting places that sparked other memories.  Let's Go Blue!

Our Parents

Earl's mom Betty came to visit us this summer for three weeks, and we took a lovely trip to Atlantic Beach with her for one of those weeks.  She told us, though, that this was likely her last trip to NC, that the travel is just hard.  It's not easy getting older!  She is still living independently, and we are always infinitely grateful to Earl's sibs, especially his sister, for being there for the daily stuff, from grocery runs to doctor's appointments.

Lisa's dad Henry moved to assisted living in March.  It's a good fit for him, and he's eating better, has lost a significant amount of weight (mom says he's back to his college weight), and is walking better and relying less on his walker than he was this time last year.  If you want to reach out to him, his cell is 443-251-9312 and email is henryyee@umich.edu.  He's in a residential home that's been converted to a group home for 8 residents; it's about 5miles from mom.

        Lisa's mom Nancy, freed up from being primary caregiver, is learning all kinds of things that she never had to before, like getting the taxes paper- work together.  We're all grateful for the support she has from church and neighborhood friends.  

Also, Nancy is turning 80 on Jan 21.  With her ongoing love of snail mail (even though she finally has a smartphone and is happily emailing people directly (nancy.yee5@gmail.com)), please send cards, notes, kidart, old photos, and if you happen to have any, mom loves rereading old personal correspondence if you happen to have saved her old letters!  9073 Bellwart Way, Columbia MD 21045-2302  Earl and I will be up that weekend to see them and we'll celebrate at Toby's Dinner Theater with Something Rotten, a show that we've seen touring twice and are looking forward to introducing them to.

Looking Forward

For 2023 we trust in God.  We are hopeful that there will be less upheaval than this past year, but we are glad to rest in him.  One of the books that impacted us this year, Out of Chaos by Jessica LaGrone, reminds us that back in the beginning, when the earth was formless and void and darkness was over the face of the deep, God was there, and God made us out of that chaos.  Like it or not, we should expect some of it to persist in our lives!

As ever, if you wander in our general direction, let us know – and within a few hours is fine, any excuse to go to Asheville or Roanoke or Raleigh/Durham, or come stay at our place!  We'd love to see you and catch up in person.

Love, Lisa & Earl

NOTE: We have obviously redacted contact info for the blog, but if you know them (or us) and want to reach out to my dad or be involved in mom's card shower, feel free to reach out to me.