Hi Bear,
I am very happy to hear that your son is succeeding in life and that he has a good other half. We are thrilled with our son’s success and with his final choice of a partner. She is fantastic! (I say ‘final’ choice because there were a couple of pretty iffy prospects along the way[swg][(-D][(-D]). I wish you and your family all the best!!
Cheers!!
Dave
Gidday Dave, thanks!! Sadly, while there are far too many young people whose upbringing has been neglected by indifferent parents, I would like to think that most of us try/hope that our children do better than us.
My young bloke met his girlfriend in his last year of university and they’ve been together for 8 years, and while we are “Old Fashioned” and would like to see them married, we are certainly NOT going to interfere!!!
May they and your son and his partner have many years of “happiness”!
Cheers, the Bear.[:)]
Thanks Bear! Your kids and our kids are headed in the right direction thank goodness.
Dave
Good morning Diners. A piece of that seafood pie, Bear as left please, Flo, and a large coffee, no milk.
Kevin. Great photographs. Thanks for posting.
Cats I hate to hear of cruelty to animals. We have had cats most our married life. They gave us great joy and happiness.
6th June 1944. My family in the Military were elsewhere, Italy and Burma. Wherever they were they are not forgotten.
Children. We hope we did right with our two. The grandchildren visit and everytime they say they want to stay longer.
I must run some trains today.
Thoughts & Peace to All who Require.
David
We shall never forget:
D-Day: The Normandy Invasion by The U.S. Army, on Flickr
National D-Day Memorial in Bedford VA by Curtis Warwick, on Flickr
Regards, Ed
Good morning, everyone. Donut day!
June 6. I’ve often wondered what my father went through that day. He did not tell us anything about it. We got glimpses of his ordeal when he would slip and refer to something, so we know it was on his mind his whole life. He was one of the ‘lucky’ ones. Across the Channel, onto the beach, through France, into Germany with the U.S. 3rd Army.
His worst we found out from my mother – he helped liberate a concentration camp. He had some small pictures that I saw when I was younger, but those disappeared. We believe my mother threw them away so that he would not see them.
The people of that generation amaze me.
He grew up on a dirt-poor farm. His teen years were spent trying to find work in the Great Depression. He rode a train (not legally) and ended up in Utah to work in the copper mine. Then he enlisted. He was on guard duty at a lighthouse in Washington state the day after Pearl Harbor.
He and my mother were shipped to various forts for the next several years, and then he was sent to England.
He and his men ended up after peace was announced living with a German family for several months before coming home.
Those same men came home, didn’t complain, and proceeded to build the U.S. into a superpower. What a generation!
In the three days he was in the hospital dying, he told me more about his life than he had told me in 55 years.
He and my mother made a trip back to Germany in the 1980s. During the war, he and his men camped in tents, but the officers got to sleep in the large houses, (he called them castles). When he went back, he found one that he remembered. He had always wondered what it looked like inside. He and my mother went to the front of the ‘castle’, and the people living there (it was a private residence) invited them in. They had a great time as the family showed
I agree, John. We do owe a lot to that generation.
It was only afterwards (not that long ago) I found out my father was a child evacuee at the start of the war. Apparently he left where he was ‘placed’ and joined the Army. He lied about his age and was a ‘boy soldier’. By the time he was ‘traced’ he was already in Africa - then old enough. He was at El Alamein to meeting American soldiers in Tunisia.
Then came Italy and the hard fought battles. Anzio and onwards to Venice.
I had an uncle who fought behind Japanese enemy lines in Burma. Not pleasant tales to tell. There again they were nicknamed ‘The Forgotten 14th (Army’).
Yes. We do owe a lot lot that generation.
David
Good morning all.
Yes, we must never forget what they did.
My grandfather was not with the invasion wave, but came to France later in a support unit and stayed until after the war, mostly helping put France back together…
My father was teen, at home, helping to man the rural volunteer fire department since there were so few young adult men at home. He later served in Korea.
Great photos Kevin, interesting stuff.
Yes, Ringo was an important part of that band, and is an outstanding musician. Far and way my favorite “solo” Beatle…
For those who don’t know from my previous posts, I’m a big music fan, liking many styles and eras of music.
I have been designing and building HiFi speakers since age 16 and have over 1700 vinyl records, mostly in near mint to exceptional condition, always played on high quality equipment.
One example:
Have a nice day all,
Sheldon
Ed, seems strange to say "Sorry for your loss " for a cat which wasn’t even yours, but the loss is real and we feel for you. Intentional? It may have been spilled, or more likely this time of year leaking, anti freeze on someone’s driveway. Deadly to cats, but attractive as it apparently is sweet tasting to them. Our Penny roams freely, especially when the weather’s warm. Call me foolish, but I pray for safety from all “natural perils, and man made dangers” for her daily.
David, my only uncle, who I never met, was in the Royal Navy and died laying the petrol pipeline to Normandy. Circumstances unclear but believed to involve mistaken recognition codes and friendly fire from shore batteries.[U]
Thanks for these pics Kevin. Looks like you are finding good weather. Enjoy the ride!
Good morning
This is the first year I was out of town for Memorial Day and didn’t visit my Dad’s resting place amongst the sea of stones. I will be following up with that later this week as he and all our people of service will always be remembered.
I was saddened to hear about Oscar/Thor Ed. I would rather believe this was an unfortunate accident than an act of hate which is harder to make sense of. I’m sorry that happened Ed
My phone got quite useless near and through the Badlands. One of the tourists told me this can be quite typical amongst the larger hills and rock formations bouncing the waves around. I’m sure you can understand I quit sending pictures as I grew tired of the frustration.
Here’s to catch you up on some postcards. A few pictures in Deadwood
The stagecoach we rode in front of our hotel
A while back in Keystone.
I’ll catch you up with what I have of the Badlands later[:)]
Enjoying your vacation photos as well Kevin[Y]
TF
Good evening all. Wall to wall sunshine.
TF Great pictures. I like the stagecoach. [:)] Thanks for posting.
der5997. I feel for anyone caught in ‘friendly fire’.
Sheldon. Great looking speakers. Well done.
I did not manage to run trains. I am caught doing some housework and working on my two new model army tanks. Maybe tomorrow I shall run trains.
[dinner] A Thai Curry and a fruit surprise to follow.
Stay Safe.
David
Sorry to hear about Oscar/Thor as well. Our cats stay inside. We had outdoor cats when I was younger. One got run over, but the other lived to be about 19. Where I grew up, we had no predators. Where we are now, there are foxes and large raccoons much bigger than the cats.
I used to live very close to Westford, and actually worked there for 15 years. Where is the meeting going to be? I used to work at Haystack Observatory, an interesting place to drive around. There are a couple of nice small music clubs in nearby Concord. It’s a region full of history. You can park across the street and walk across the rude bridge that at arched the flood and walk up to the famous Minuteman Statue. The bridge is wood, so this is a replica, but take a picture for TF just in case.
Incidentally, Ringo from the Beatles actually played the part of Mr. Conductor on Shining Time Station, a kids’ TV show.
Good afternoon … Honoring D-Day heros today.
Ed … I’m sad to hear about Oscar/Thor. Picture of him is very cute. I also would prefer to think it was an accident, but people should be careful with dangerous substances.
Mr. B… Like you, we keep our cats indoors. We did have one get in the driveway several months ago. I went out to get her just barely in time because I saw very large bird (possibly an eagle) fly low overhead as I did that. I suspect the bird saw me and change its mind about taking our cat.
Sheldon … 1700 is a lot of records.
TF … Thanks for your latest pictures of Deadwood and the Badlands area. Enjoy the rest of your trip.
Kevin … Thanks for your trip photos so far.
Everybody … Have a good day.
Afternoon fols!
The convention will be at the Westford Regency Inn and Conference Center. I did find out that there are V3 Tesla Superchargers (The monster ones) about 4 miles away so charging the chariot won’t be a problem even if the Hotel doesn’t have a charger. Will have to stop and charge twice on the way up and on the way home. No problem as I will also need rest stops and lunch, etc.
73
Good afternoon,
Well the heat wave is over and I’m glad! We hit nearly 100F. We had a few thunderstorm last night and are a more normal 75F today.
Ed, sorry to hear about Oscar. We had a white Persian when Iwas growing up Snowy lived to 21. She was old when I got my Afghan Hound and just avoided him in the house. She didn’t go outside then which is a good thing as Afghans were born to chase and bring down prey. In the open a cat wouldn’t have a chance.
We are back to planting this afternoon but will need a couple more days. I expect we will hit the usual 75 pots.
Good to honour those who fought on D Day. Dad was in England but his squadron in Bomber Command wasn’t involved.
Time to start planting. I fulfill the role of fetch and carry as directed.
CN Charlie
Well, yes I guess it is, started buying them as a teen, bought a lot of radio station promo copies when they all went digital.
1700 record albums requires about 35 running feet of 13" x 13" shelf space…
At the old house we had a built in entertainment wall I built with shelves just for them, well, most of them. The upper two shelves here:
At the new house, most will be on some shelves under the new layout…with 60 plus years of MR and RMC…
Sheldon
Hello gentlemen.
Ed, sorry to hear about Oscar. I have to believe it was accidental.
TF, glad to see you posting pictures again. Looks like an enjoyable time! [Y]
Kevin, do you recall where you were when you took the salt & pepper ballast picture? I’d like to try to determine what line it once was. In my neck of the woods, the ballast is all light gray. Former Pere Marquette rails.
Glad to see us remembering D-Day. My grandfather was in training in the Army Air Corps when this took place. He never was sent over. Grandpa always downplayed his time in the service. I think in his mind, he didn’t deserve any special honor for what he did. The men who went overseas did.
Put gutters up on the garage today. Most of the house has gutters now. I’ll get to the rest, eventually, I guess. Not in a big hurry, if you can’t tell! [(-D]
Hope everyone has/had a nice Sunday.
I know it well. A hockey friend of mine got married there. He hired Rene Rancourt, the guy who used to be the Boston Bruins National Anthem singer, to be his wedding singer. Since both families were Canadian, he was a huge hit. How many weddings have you gone to where the singer was asked not only to do two National Anthems, but to repeat them?