Candlelight Service at the Drummondtown Baptist Church
December 2017

A hushed expectancy settled over the crowd of nearly a hundred as the flickering altar candles summoned last thoughts of the rapidly expiring year of the Drummondtown Baptist Church in Accomac, Virginia.  Fading images of a dozen months nearly over mingled with the hallowed memories of the Christmas season as worshippers listened to the familiar Scriptures of the Christ child.  The joyous tones of the pipe organ reminded all who gathered of a night long ago when a Savior was born in Bethlehem.

As I looked out over the congregation this evening, I too reflected on many things.  I thought of the many new friends I had made over the past year.  I had quietly closed down a brief but meaningful career as a teacher in the Virginia Beach City Public Schools.  A hectic transition followed that culminated in me standing here in the pulpit looking at endless possibilities on a horizon I still did not fully comprehend.

I want to thank Mr. Robert Coniglio for sharing the pulpit with me this evening, and I want to thank all my friends at the church and community for welcoming my family to the Eastern Shore.

Christmas Eves are but portals to exciting days to come.  Join me as we take our first steps into a promising new year.
David R. Denny

Christmas Turkey
Carol Valentine carves some magic into the breast of my freshly fried turkey.  She will tell you, (if you ask her), that the whole affair was quite an adventure.  Not only did we have to figure out how to use the new XL Butterball Fryer.  We also had to monitor thermometers, oil temperature, extracting techniques without permanently scarring our skin etc.  Quite a ride.  But when it was finished, we had some mighty fine turkey!

Smith Island Cake 
Eight layers of paradise.  Count ’em.  Eight.  And each one a wonder.  Special thanks to Alice for baking me this treasure–her very first attempt at such an Eastern Shore delicacy. 

And now for two of my favorite people–Leslie and H.B. Rew.  They had invited Alice and me to the Wachapreague Island House for a Christmas lunch.  Everybody knows this is the best place for seafood and we all certainly enjoyed an assortment of flounder, oysters, sweet potato fries etc on this special occasion.
Thanks for the meal and the memories on the drive home.

Thousands of snow geese cascaded down from the heavens beside my house on Sea Breeze Drive a few days ago.  They circled restlessly above the field and then without warning drifted down like a thousand snow leaves upon the barren farm field.  They clattered and squawked endlessly, swapping stories of the flight from the tundra and then without notice lifted as one and drifted off on a jet stream to nowhere.
***Here are the snow geese that I wrote about  I tried to capture their lift off in slow motion using my iPhone.  I hope it works.  https://youtu.be/ORV1revK3lA