With Hanukkah season ending and Christmas getting into full swing, I fill my days with home repairs and upkeep stuff. Not much for the Christmas decorations this year, with Blake gone, and no cats to fight with over climbing the tree, I just decided to put up some garland and decorate my living room window. Here are a few pictures from the Hanukkah party earlier this week and my trip to Israel. That's me and mom in the Dead Sea and on top of Mt Carmel with the Jezreel Valley behind us. After Christmas in Tennessee, I have to set about getting ready for assignments in D.C. and England which are back to back. I am sure I will enjoy both of them greatly.

back home...for now

Well, Oklahoma is in the past and I just got back from Israel with mom. Now I am just down to the business of getting the house up to snuff and then to decide what to do about it. Israel was great again and it was a lot of fun to see mom's expressions as she took in the magnitude of where we were. we worked in a few homes and did some painting and plaster repair work. It was a great expereince as it has been each time I have gone. This time it was kind of wierd because Blake was not with me, in fact he left for Afghanistan the same day I left for Israel. He is settling in there and apparently he and Mark and Mike Johnson are all doing well. Will remains in Iraq as I write this. Remember to keep all our troops and those who support them in your prayers and thoughts, especially while our government cant decide whether to support them or not. This would be a good time of year to think about sending a care package. I will post some pix soon.

There are these cool red rose shaped barite sandstone rocks, the State Rock, the Cherokee Rose with a very cool legend behind them and they are everywhere in this certain narrow gash through the state. So I went to the gash and spent a good part of the day, but NO ROCKS! Maybe it is just the way that Oklahomans have fun with tourists, then watch 'em through binoculars, looking for "the Cherokee Rose". I guess I will have to just buy a sackful instead of finding my own...what a disappointment. So I followed that up with the Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, then a visit to the Oklahoma City National Memorial, site of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building in 1995. After that, I stopped for a glass of wine and a visit with Ann and David. Ann is another consultant who is assigned with me at Vance AFB. Hopefully next weekend I will either go to the Cherokee Heritage Center (3 hours away) or a couple of state parks (1-1/2 hours away).

The wind does come sweepin down the plain!

Yes it does get kind of windy. I went out last weekend and dug for Selenite crystals on the Salt Plains. They have a cool horseshoe formed inside and this only occurs in this one spot on earth. I went with a plan to stay a little while but got addicted and rubbed a nasty blister on my palm. Yesterday I went to the Standing Bear Pow-wow with several tribes represented. That was interesting and very cool. I was wowed by the honor they placed on service members. There was an Air Force guy and a Marine who is about to deploy. They honored them greatly. They honored veterans and spent a lot of time focusing on the Flag, Military Service and when they prayed it was to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Go figure. The sunsets are beautiful and the skies are big. I think I will enjoy OK. Next week I am going to OKCity and look forward to that.

oklahoma

Now I am in Oklahoma. nothing new going on. A 30 yr HS class reuniuon was interesting and nicely put together. Spending time with Blake and jumping off a bridge (much to the dismay of my old neck) was a good time. But now, it has been rainy and damp for the 3 days I have been here. I know there is good stuff to do and things I dont see a lot of in Pensacola. The Great Plains, buffalo ranges, cowboys and indians, etc. I look forward to the next 6 weeks, but will be kind of glad to get home again and, except for the trip to Israel in November, focus on my homestead and relax. I am sure more will come over the next weeks.

Valdosta and turning 48

As I wrap up my final days in Valdosta, I realize that I have not posted but once. I also have no pictures as I have really been more obsessed with running and getting in shape than in seeing the sights of this area. Maybe because after Europe, I am kind of unimpressed, altho Valdosta is a nice town and the people at Moody AFB and the community have been great. Today I enter my 49th year on this planet and still have so much to do. My bro Mark is now safely in Bagram, Afghanistan sweating it out serving our country by supporting the troops on the ground there. As a Marine he would much rather be walking a post or rooting out the bad guys but his job is no less important to the mission. Here's his pic taken last summer. Lance Corporal Blake is in Mojave Viper (29 Palms, California) training for two more weeks for deployment to Afghanistan. Remember to pray for our troops and those who support them at this incredible point in history.

Not a whole lot of news or excitement, although Valdosta is fine and my job here is going well. I went to see Blake over the 4th of July weekend and it was fantastic. We had a really good time just hanging out together, seeing the touristy sites in the Cherry Point area, including a reading of the Declaration of Independence enacted in period costume with characters etc on the steps of a 1775 building, a trip to the Aquarium at Pine Knolls, and fireworks on the beach near Emerald Isle. It was a great time with a great guy. Here is a pic of Blake on the beach. Also here is an outdated pic of Will, who is deploying back to Iraq for the 3rd time next week. Remember him and all our troops who continue to go into harm's way to protect the freedoms and rights we enjoy, and to give those same freedoms and rights to others.

Okay...I love Europe

People said I would and they were right. Today on my last day I drove to Vienden Luxembourg and toured an incredible castle and rode the sky lift to the top of an adjacent mountain overlooking the town and castle and on beyond into Germany. It was amazing. I think I should maybe learn a little more French and spend more time in Luxembourg. Maybe next time. It has definitely been worth it, though. The work has been rewarding and the adventure has been a blast. I can hardly wait to see what Valdosta GA holds for me. First, though I must go home a few days and spend the 4th in NC with my Marine.

Odds and Ends

Among my favorite things in Germany are places with names like Dudeldorf, and Eifelpark Gondorf. I just like saying Flugplatz and Ausfahrt for the fun of it. My car unfortunately tops out at 100 mph and my tan is from the neck up. There are castles and castle ruins at every turn, many a thousand years old, some more, some less with great stories that I dont have room to write about. There are a lot of houses which instead of house numbers have the year built on the front. Here are a few random shots of things I have not posted yet. Next week I leave, but who knows, I may yet have another cool adventure! Check out the T Shirt on the mannequin. And HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to any fathers who read this. Last ear Blake left for Boot Camp on Father's Day. Nothing quite so dramatic this year.

Too little time...

On Friday I went to Trier yet again, but this time by train on an orientation trip. The big brick building was built by Konstantine in about the 4th century as his official throne room, before he up and moved to build Constantinople. I dont know how much time I am gonna spend cruising around by train, after all, I do have wheels. Saturday I drove to Koblenz with my traveling partner Holly, cruised on a Rhine River boat and wandered around the city downtown, ate eis (ice cream). I think it is a rule or something...ALL Germans eat eis and love it not matter how cold or hot it is. They make it a lot thicker and creamier than we do at home. It was real good! Not enough room here for a lot of pictures but the Rhine is dotted with castles all over the place, a statute of a boy that spits water every 3-4 minutes about 20 feet. Only one more full weekend left here. I am planning to check out a weinfest on the Mosel River near Cochem, so I will be getting a room. Oh yeah, and I am so popular with the Germans, they named a town after me. Check out the village name on this train station (bahnhof).

Rainy Days in the Eifel

65 years since D-Day and here I am tooling around the German countryside. I guess a lot can change in a generation. This week has been cool and got cooler all week with wind and today a lot of rain. We got up to about a steamin' 52 degrees today, but with the wind and rain it felt frigid. Not one to back off completely, I did scale back my ambition for the weekend and drove along the Mosel River starting at Burg Eltz. The pic is from Burg Eltz in the middle of the long steep walk down into the valley and followed by a long steep walk back up. No pictures are allowed inside due to the centuries old tapestries and paintings and the fact that it is still privately owned by the Eltz family after some 600 years. Burg means Castle, but then again so does Schloss. Not sure what the difference is. Check out the vineyards along the Mosel River Valley, and the castle on top of the hill in Bielstein. Yeah, all those rows of crops are grapes...there have to be trillions. Castles and ruins are EVERYWHERE. It is pretty spectacular! 2 more full weekends in Germany...I will have to come back for more, because I dont think I can see everything this trip.

I can't believe my time here is going so fast. Work is going fine and traveling is a lot of fun but I am realizing that it will take several more trips to do all I would like to do in Europe. I went to Paris on Saturday and spent the day...not nearly enough time. I hung out with a young Airman who just returned from Iraq: Walter from Alexandria, VA. We went to Louvre but it was the last stop of the day and just didn't have time to wander around. I needed another full day, at least. We did go to the top of the Eifel Tower, cruise the Seine River and visit the Notre Dame Cathedral, and of course get lost and spend time roaming the maze of the Metro. Using most the the French I knew (sil vous plez and excusemoi) I managed to get unlost with the help of non-English speaking people. Today I went to the small castles of Manderscheid in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. Nobody understood English so instead of lunch I had apple struedel which in German is apfelstruedel. I understood that much. Waitress even couldn't understand i wanted coffee, so I let it go. Back to work tomorrow and the next weekend I have to decide between Auschwitz, Dachau or Heidelberg. Remember to pray for our Marines, Sailors, Airmen and Soldiers, and the civilians who support them who are in harm's way tonight.

One more thought this Memorial Day weekend. I went to the Luxembourg American Cemetery & Memorial near Luxembourg (City) and as you can see the Luxembourgish people do a great job of handling it. Gen. George Patton is buried there. There were actually a lot of American roaming the grounds. Then lunch in Luxembourg (City) and a short walk-around, where I learned that most people don’t speak English…only French, so ordering lunch was a lot of fun. Fortunately a French girl finally sat next to me and was fluent in perfect English and came to my rescue. Now back to work and next weekend to Paris, where I, once again, get to try and speak French.

I feel like Clark W. Griswold blowing through Europe, hitting highlights. I think I will slow down and try to actually enjoy things after I have taken advantage of some opportunities to get to places that you can't drive to from Pensacola. To really enjoy and do a lot would, of course, require much more time than I have. Yesterday I got back from a 2 day trip to Koln (Cologne) Germany and Amsterdam. I swung through Belgium on the way back, but it was because it was the shortest route. Today, Memorial Day, I am going to Luxembourg to the Lux-American Cemetery where General Patton is buried. I am keeping in mind that today is not just a third day of a long weekend. Here are pics of the Koln Cathedral and Amsterdam but I took 114 pictures. So this I hope captures it in a small way.

Germany

Well I arrived on the 14th at 7 a,m, and spent Thursday, Friday getting a handle on the new assignment, turf, people, etc. All that seems pretty good-to-go. Today I drove with my escort who I am replacing here, to Cochem, Trier and Trittenheim, all of which are along the Mosel River, best known for the superior wines that comes from here. You can look it up but the Reichsburg Cochem (Castle) is a thousand years old, pretty awesome and well restored. Trier is Germany's oldest city dating back to 2000 BC and with a Roman Gate that is still standing after 2000 years (the Porta Nigra). Some pix are attached, but I am sure I will have more to come. And I am practicing some German language skills. Trittenheim is a tiny town with huge vinyards and only one af the many little villages along the Mosel. It is all very much like you expect Germany to be. The people are great and of course driving is fun too from one lane roads to the autobahns. Stand by...more will come.

back home for the moment

I finished in Ft Stewart and returned home for a month before my next assignment in Spangdahlem Germany. I did get to enjoy some downtown fun in Savannah for my last full weekend with my buddy Nicky (a dozen big fat oysters for $6 at Fiddlers). Also I attended the Passover Seder at Mickve Israel with my friend June. Next update will be when I get to Germany, unless something spectacular happens before then.

A little more Savannah. I went to the Mighty 8th Air Force Museum. The museum was a partially guided tour with members of the Mighty 8th, who had some good stories to tell about WWII and Korea. I also spent some time downtown last weekend and visited Forsyth Square park and did my own little driving/walking tour. Beautiful town but I am looking forward to getting home too. These pics are around Forsyth Square. The church in the picture is the 3rd oldest Jewish congregation in the US (Mikveh Israel)and the only Gothic style synagogue, where I plan to go for Passover seder in a couple of weeks. That's it for now.