Family Photo

 
Anna, Caleb, and Miller on the beach.

When you drive east on MLK from W&MC's past Morris Brown, Mercedes Benz Stadium dominates the horizon.

As close as I'll get to the World Cup: 9 am on a Monday morning.

"Atlanta" Stadium. I've heard rumors that FIFA isn't allowing photos of the stadium from above, that show the Mercedes Benz logo on the roof. Of all the stadiums hosting the World Cup, Atlanta's stadium was ranked first in both the rankings I've seen. Rumor is that FIFA doesn't allow uncredentaled media like me to use the term "World Cup" more than like two times. World Cup World Cup World Cup.   

I try hard to not be political, but dang it the crap I see on my algorithm these days sure frustrates me. I know there's a bunch of false information out there, but where there's smoke there is certainly some fire. How can people turn a blind eye to such corruption?

Some good news for a change.

Sad how elections in the United States have become so obviously corrupt.

Baby Miller Is Born!

Baby Miller Joann Schaefer was born just before midnight Monday night, April 13, 2026. 

Ten pounds 7 ounces. 

The girl like to eat. And sleep.

We found out around 12:15 am on Tuesday morning.

Anna and Miller are doing fine.

Tuesday morning we picked up coffee at Land of a Thousand Hills, and went to meet Miller in the hospital.

Ceil got to hold her first. 

A&C took Miller home on Wenesday afternoon. They had to remove the newborn insert from the car seat.

Matthew went over to visit on Wednesday evening. He'd gotten a onesie for Miller from a coffee shop in Philadelphia.

Miller has already outgrown several articles of clothing.

Thursday afternoon we took Goose back to A&C's. She wasn't too interested in the baby, but did lick miller's hands a couple of times. When Miller objected to having her diaper changed, Goose started wondering where the sounds were coming from. 

Yawn. Stretch, Sleep. Eat. 

Christ Our Savior is Born

Ceil and I wish you the most merry of Christmases. May you be able to experience and worship the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Like many of you, us Murphys had a busy but fulfilling 2025, going through events both good and bad.

In January we happened to be keeping Shivonne & Millie when a rare snowstorm hit town. We had a blast introducing them to the powdery stuff. Ceil still makes a mean snow angel.

On February 19th we were devastated with the news that Mary-Clayton’s dear dad Tommy had passed away, completely unexpectedly – a loss we’re all still mourning to this day. We celebrated his life on March third in Cartersville.

April: Mary-Clayton delivered a 4H speech in Jackson Hole, so Will flew out with her. After celebrating Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday, we ate a late family lunch at Kimball House in downtown Decatur, the Michelin rated restaurant where Matthew creates delicious desserts, pastries, and other dishes.

We spent a restful week at Pawley’s Island in late May. Winnie loved the beach. Anna and Goose joined us for the first half of the trip. Little Melina turned two in June. She so enjoys life and keeping up with her big sister, leaping headlong into everything she does, with great delight. Will and Thomas attended baseball games in San Francisco, Sacramento, LA, Anaheim, and San Diego.

July: Anna vacationed in Idaho with her college roommates. Anna caught a big fish. Dave took a week off and “worked” behind the scenes at the MLB All Star Game and Home Run Derby, helping set up and break down for the pregame ceremonies, as well as at the fanfest across the street. It was like summer camp, sweating out on the field in shorts and t-shirts all day - periods of activity interspersed with time sitting around in the shade of the dugout. A preview of my next career? 

August: we all gathered in Hilton Head for several days with the Miller and Rollins clan – 25 in all, under one roof. So much fun to be all together after a few years without a big beach trip. Back home, Ceil kicked off another school year, teaching art at the Veritas Classical School in Alpharetta. After living with us for a couple of months, Matthew moved into a rental house in Smyrna. We immediately missed the gourmet meals he’d cook for us. Instead, he took a turn as the clubhouse chef at the PGA Tour Championship at East Lake.

September: Ceil flew up to northern Virgina for a dear friend’s baby shower. We were able to be with Ceil’s beloved Aunt Corinne when she passed away. In October we returned to Jefferson for her funeral.

October: Anna had a weekend getaway to NYC with her college roommates. Will & Mary-Clayton flew the girls out to San Francisco to visit with Uncle Thomas & Aunt Holly. Shivonne turned four at the end of the month. She and Millie wore princess dresses to trick or treat with the little Norman boys.

November: Will & Mary-Clayton took the girls to their first game between the hedges. Dave & Ceil took the girls to an open house at Truist Park, where the girls had their faces painted and proudly sat on Blooper’s lap “without being scared”. Caleb roasted the turkey, and Matthew and Anna helped Ceil prepare a fun Thanksgiving dinner. The day before we joined Mary-Clayton and her family at the National Cemetery in Canton to bury her father, with full military honors.

December: Dave drove down to Macon to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his high school football team’s state championship. Mary-Clayton flew to New York City to help 4-H ring the opening bell at NASDAQ. Christmas with the family here in Atlanta.

Ceil and I so enjoy our lives here in northern Atlanta, serving and doing life with dear friends and family. We look forward to an exciting new year. In a few weeks Dave will be retiring after 38-1/2 years in the metals industry. Work hasn’t been quite as stressful this past year, thanks in part to having an understudy to train. Can’t wait for the next chapter in our lives – the calendar is already full of fun and needed things to do. Will starts a new job at Emory University Hospital, with less crazy hours than he’s had in the ER. Anna & Caleb are expecting a baby girl in April, their first.

Should be a great new year. We hope yours is as well.

Bad Santa

Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. Former coworker Bill Baldwin. Anna made the rounds in a reindeer outfit.

I love Peyton and Eli. Sure they are everywhere. Might as well strike while the iron is hot. Stretch out for 15 minutes for as long as they can. Sweet to see Eli helping his dad.

But I sure wish Peyton would stop running those old videos hos dad took of his young sons playing football out in the yard back in the day. That's what's jumped the shark. Peyton shows them on the Manningcast like every week.  Give it a rest. Where are the kiddie videos of young Arch? 

Hall of fame nominees include Jamal Crawford, Joe Johnson, and Blake Griffin. No Detlef Schrempf. The only players with more points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks than Schrempf: Karl Malone, Kobe, MJ, Durant, Kareem, Duncan, Westbrook, Paul Pierce, Garnett, Barkley, Bird, Drexler, Giannis, Scottie, Magic, Jokic, Kidd, and LeBron. Maybe I'll get those Detlief iSlides after all.

Former Texas QB Quinn Ewers did well in his first start for the Dolphins, but evidently not good enough to trend on Twitter like some other rookies. Averaged 13 yards per completion. Shedeur averaged 7.8 yards per completion. Quinn looked good in the Dolphins throwback uniforms.

Monday there was a power outage down near W&MC's house, so MC brought the girls to our house, and MC worked at our house. I think. Hard to get the full story out of Ceil. By the end of the day Ceil was worn out. I stopped by the Parkaire Kroger on the way home to get ingredients for spaghetti, her comfort meal. In the Kroger parking lot I also stopped in Dollar Tree and the library, to renew my library card. Fascinating reading, huh?

Watched another episode of A Man on the Inside. So good. Then some of the 49ers@Colts.

Tuesday morning's snowflake surprise at Chickfila: a free yogurt "parfait". Nice, but five bucks for a little cup of yogurt with a few pieces of fruit. They make a killing off these.

Worked until 3 pm. Off until next Monday. Plenty to do at work but I'm trying to get my protégé to do everything.

Bunting With the Bases Loaded?

Braves came back to win last night, despite Michael Harris (the hottest hitter in baseball) inexplicably bunting with no out and the bases loaded. Snitker was aghast.

For the first half of the season, Braves CF Michael Harris was statistically the worst offensive player in baseball. For a while he was hitting like 0.070. Swinging at every first pitch. Just read that the Braves coaches had been trying to get him to pull his hands back and use the stance and approach he’d used in previous years with much greater success. They had tried to get him to do this ever since spring training. But Harris refused the help – and he continued to be unsuccessful. With Profar suspended and Acuna injured the Braves couldn’t send Harris to the minors. At the all star break Harris finally changed his stance back – and has become the hottest hitter in baseball. Fans blame the coaches, but if a player isn’t coachable, it is the player who is really to blame.

Anna and Caleb went to the game and stayed for the postgame concert – the Braves had given away a record of one of Anna’s coworker’s songs.

Bunting – didn’t teams use to bunt a lot more back in the 1950’s? Seems like they did back in the 1920’s. Players from that era had tons more sacrifices than any player today. But since your friend Bobby Cox liked his pitchers to sacrifice bunt so much, Glavine, Maddux, Smoltz, and Niekro are at or near the top of the list for pitchers with the most sacrifice bunts in history.

Up early to golf this morning. Played like I had taken off 4 months. Kept hitting bad shot after bad shot. One of those days.At least my putting was good.

1. Mulligan was better than tee shot. Same with my fairway shot and chip.

2. Mulligan better than tee shot. Chip better than mulligan.

3. Mulligan better than tee shot.

4. Tee shot better than mulligan. One good chip out of three.

5. Didn’t hit a good shot the entire hole, out of like 9 shots on the hole.

6. Three bad tee shots. As I looked for my ball I realized that I was tired, and decided to relax and take it easy the rest of the round. It only helped a little. Hit a great 5 iron from the fairway, and a decent 7 iron. One good chip out of three.

7. Popped up my mulligan, but at least it went straight. Hit a good 5 iron, an okay 7 iron, then a good chip onto the green. Sad that it took me 4 shots to get to the green, though it is one of the longer holes. Then a good 2 putt.

8. Mulligan better than my tee shot. Flubbed three approach shots and flubbed about 4 chips. At least a walker on the adjacent bike path had tossed a couple of lost balls back on the green for me.

9. Poor tee shot. Three flubbed approaches. Four poor chips. All that and not one ball made it to the green. I picked up and went to work.

Two other coworkers were also running late, so Angie goaded Eric into letting me pick up Chickfila biscuits for the team. Got me a delicious bacon egg cheese chicken biscuit, that really hit the spot. And my cold Coke Zero was also extra satisfying. At lunch I ran out to run my car through the car wash, and hit up Wendys for a BOGO sandwich.

After work yesterday I picked up $1 nachos from Taco Bell plus ten free boneless wings from Hooters. Came home and watched Mad About You. Supporting character Richard Kind steals the show. He was also courting Meemaw in Young Sheldon, and wore an eyepatch in Only Murders in the Building.

Question of the day: what was the first radio show you listened to? My first in Atlanta was Gary McKee, with Yetta Levitt and Willis the Guard.

Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me. - Jeremiah 9:23–24.

JOE JACKSON hit .408, .395, and .373 in successive seasons, but never led the league. Babe Ruth said, “He was the most natural and graceful hitter who ever lived,” and modeled his own swing like Joe’s. Ruth gave praise like this to no other player. Jackson is the only player with 25+ tiples and 225+ hits in the same season. In 1912, Jackson had 26 3B & 226* H. 

1911 Joe hit .408, Ty Cobb hit .419

1912 Joe hit .395, Ty Cobb hit .409

1913 Joe hit .373, Ty Cobb hit .389

Jackson ranked 9th, 2^nd, and 5th in the MVP voting. 

1911 behind Ty Cobb, who won the Triple Crown that year;

1912 behind Tris Speaker & his tremendous output on offense;

1913 behind Walter Johnson who had a career best 15.2 WAR.

Beach Week

Tuesday morning C drove Winnie to Cumming to be boarded. Winnie will receive some training while we are gone. Didn't leave until after 11:15. Traffic through town wasn't bad until we got past Morrow. Then a slow 30 minutes.

In Macon we stopped to eat at Andersons Country Cooking Diner on Eisenhower Parkway. I was trying to meet up with my high school teammate Jerry Anderson, whose family runs the diner. I missed connecting with Jerry but got to chat with his baby brother Dexter, who played on the 1976 team with me. My old classmate Johnny Hollingshed runs the diner at night.

The diner serves all sorts of soul food, including oxtails and other delicacies. C got the baked chicken, okra, and mashed potatoes. I got the salsbury steak, macaroni and cheese, and collards. Our meals were served with a cornmeal pancake. A quick meal that broke up our long trip nicely.

Then back on the road, through the rain on I-16 east and south to 95 north, to Hilton Head. Picked up some good pizza from Giuseppi's Pizza in Sea Pines. W&MC rented a treehouse like AirBnb. Watched the Broadway musical Oklahoma.

Wednesday: a good long day. The girlies got us up early, not long after 7 am. Puttered around the little cabin for awhile, before packing up and heading out.

Ate brunch at a little place in Sea Pines. Two fried eggs, skillet cooked potatoes, bacon, and a biscuit. Then the gang went bike riding: Ceil, W&MC, and the girlies in a little trailer. I drove to town to get my tire checked out - on the drive down I ran over a piece of a tire. Guess there was no damage.

I had forgotten the girlies were going to a park. I finally caught up with them while they were looking at ponies, horses, llamas, and goats. Later we went down to the southern tip of the island to get ice cream. Good stuff.

Then we met up with the Jefferson crowd at the ten bedroom house on the beach. Unpacked the car and hung out with the crowd. Shivonne and Millie went swimming out in the little pool on the back deck. I helped supervise. More Guisepi's Pizza for supper.

The crowd: me and C, W&MC and the girlies, C&A, and M. 

Ceil's brother Rusty's fam: Rusty Kelly Ben Lisie baby Kit Katherine Joe Jordy Ted.

Ceil's cousin Phil's fam : Phil Teresa Zane Laura Beau Victoria.

24 in all, I think.

Thursday: another busy day. Folk were getting up around 7 am. I made it downstairs by 745. The girls at work sent me a message... 

Rusty and Phil were nominated to cook breakfast this week. Grits eggs toast bacon sausage.

I went out to the beach in the first wave, with Will, Laura, and the girlies. Others soon joined us. Pretty cloudy but eventually the sun came out. I hadn't brought a book or umbrella or my phone. Eventually all 24 had come out to the beach at one time or another.

W&MC had taken the girlies in for a nap, so Caleb took it upon himself to bring in W&MCs beach chairs. Later A&C paid for Will's putt putt. After we came in, Caleb and I were out at the pool by ourselves, and we had a good time of sharing. He's so good for Anna.

All us Murphy's ate out together at Hudson's, a seafood place on the water. M got the burger but I got the chicken tenders, which turned out to be three huge pieces of chicken, almost like 3 chicken breasts. Later they brought me out a slice of key lime pie. Millie didn't want to leave.

It was late. Will took MC and the girlies home, but the rest of the us went to play putt putt.

A fun time.

I went first and made a hole in one on the first shot of the evening.

I had a couple more hole in ones, but Will had the lowest score.

 

I faded on the back nine, allowing Caleb to claim second place.