Memorial Day 2010

My father was a Marine that proudly served during WWII...

Dad was one of the lucky ones that came home all in one piece.

Here he is with the VMSB 343 - Marine Scout-Bomber Squadrons. He's in the back row, right of center. Some of the men he served with weren't so lucky, they returned home in wooden boxes.
Mom and I went to the cemetery the other day to put flowers on dad's grave. There was a marker and a flag already there in memory of dad's service to his country.
Many of those buried around him had also served.
As a matter of fact, the whole cemetery was a sea of waving flags...

...it was quite a sight to see all those little flags flapping in the wind.

To all those that served and especially to all those that gave their lives...

THANK YOU

May our country live up to your sacrifice.

New Pool

Last week my son and I attempted to set up my old pool but the inflatable ring around the top was beyond repair. So the hubby checked out pools online and we ended up getting the one below from Walmart.
My kids and grand kids both are enjoying it.

They had been working in the yard earlier and were ready to cool off in the pool.

This pool is quite a bit bigger than the last pool. The straight sides make this one a lot bigger.

Look at my talented grandchildren....

I'll get some better pictures of the pool tomorrow.

She almost looks to be walking on water.

I'll see about getting some better pictures tomorrow.

Now I Need to Paint

He said he got tired of my nagging. Well it took long enough, he's got way to much patients. My son finally got his friend out here and finished up putting the wallboard up in my studio.
Working over your head isn't the easiest thing to do and neither is squatting on a loft.

Doesn't it look nice? Now I just need to paint and put in my selves and cabinets.

So I guess the ball's back in my park.

Thank you Son for a job well done!

Whirlybird

I was sitting at my desk last week and I hear a "whop...whop...whop..." I know that sound, it's a helicopter coming this way. When I go outside I see a helicopter setting down in the soccer field across the street. This is not really unusual, I've seen huge military choppers sit down in that same field in years past. This time it was a Life Team with a mock accident and interacting with S.A.D.D. at our local school. The rescue truck pulled up in the field shortly after they had landed.
This all started around 1pm and there was activity at field...

...then a siren from the north and one ambulance came from out of town and came down to the field while another ambulance took a turn at the highway and headed towards Wichita.

There was a spell during all this that they all went to the school and the field was quiet. Then they gathered back at the field and assembled next to the helicopter.

Around 3:30pm the helicopter took off...

...up...

...and I thought it went away.

I had to go meet the grandkids at their house because their parents were running late getting home but I saw the helicopter circle around town and I think it landed again. Maybe it was taking people on rides, I don't know, but it circled several times before finally heading back to the big city.

Stormy Weather

Getting behind in my blog posts. Over a week ago we had some stormy weather, the kind that causes our local weathermen to take over our TV stations. The picture below was snapped when the weathermen was telling our area to take shelter. If you click on the picture to enlarge it you will see that my neighbors are doing the same thing I'm doing. Outside watching the weather.
While watching the sky I notice two birds circling high in the storm...

I'm afraid I couldn't get a good telephoto shot of them, I didn't have my tripod to steady and focus, so I'm not real sure what these birds were.

But they kept circling and getting higher... and higher... till I could no longer see them. What kind of birds would fly up into a storm like that? And would they do that if there was a tornado approaching?

Mother's Nosegay

This first picture isn't a flower but I liked the way it blurred on the butterfly's glitter...
A nosegay is a small bunch of flowers, so I'm using the term loosely, having a small number of pictures of flowers. Below is the floral arrangement my brother sent my mother for Mother's day.

The next two roses are from mother's rose bushes.

No touching up was necessary on either shot.

This pink honeysuckle I bought for my mother several years ago for Mother's day.

I have fond childhood memories of sitting under a neighbor's honeysuckle vines and pulling "honey" from the flowers and eating it. Mmmmm...

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Below is a picture of my mother this last Christmas, 2009. It's sometimes difficult to get a picture of mom because she's not one to just sit around. I thought I would find a picture of her at our last historical society meeting, but when I checked out the crowd shots, she was nowhere to be found. Know why? Because she was cleaning up in the kitchen.
And the picture above, click on it and you will see she is sitting next to my camcorder. I couldn't get around the room and get still shots of everybody AND man the camcorder so mom took it upon herself to sit there and direct the camera to points of interest.

That's just how mom is, always has been. When she goes to a gathering she doesn't just plop herself down and expect to be waited on. She finds out if there's anything she can to do help. If she sees a need then she's there to fill it. A lot of times these are just little menial tasks, off to the side, but essential to keeping things running smoothly.

Mom's also the one that sends everyone cards for all sorts of occasions and buys little gifts or makes cute crafts to cheer some one's day. Mom cares for people in many ways. There's a reason my mother took the career choice of becoming a nurse, it's in her caring nature.

Mom has taught me many things over the years, but it think this is probably one of the most important, to care for others. Thank You, Mom.

I LOVE YOU!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Birthday Boy is Growing Up

It was the oldest grandson's birthday last week and his birthday celebration was Saturday. That's him sprawled out on the couch watching a movie...
He turned 17 years old. Seventeen Years Old! I remember him as a little baby in the hospital bassinet with the long skinny feet.

It was just a small family gathering. He's not much for crowds anyway.

There are only 12 candles on the cake because he didn't want the pink and purple ones from the other package.

These weren't your regular candles. They had wicks on top and some sort of flammable liquid in them which made them burn with different colors.

The Birthday Boy blew out the candles without too much effort.

And after eating cake and ice cream it was time to get to the presents...

He doesn't really get presents so much anymore, he gets money, and he prefers it that way. Any movement in his direction and his hand goes into protective mode over his loot.

The peanuts were a gift from Gr-grandma. Growing boys ALWAYS appreciate food.

Everyone had a good time getting together in celebration, isn't that right, PK?

Pre-Forrest, Return of the Sparrows & Blackbirds

I took the picture below just over a week ago. I have seen the maple trees covered with lots of seeds before but I don't recall ever having seen them "planted" so profusely before.
The little whirlybird seeds waved their flags after the heavy winds had evenly cast them everywhere.

The Barn Swallows are back. I don't know how long swallows live, so I don't know if these had ever really been here before or not.

But they found the broken down nest that hasn't been occupied by a Barn Swallow in several years. Many other birds have lived there and this last winter I spotted at least one bird finding a calm place in it out of the cold winter wind.
Then several weeks ago I looked out the kitchen window and spotted this bird...
I had never seen these around here before and had to go in an look them up.
They are Yellowheaded Blackbirds and are just passing though.
I thought I had remembered seeing them somewhere before and I had, Anita photographed them in September of 2008 at Greensburg.