January 17, 2014

Books I Read in 2013

Ever since I can remember, I have loved reading books. I must have been born that way. My Mom loved reading books until an automobile accident impaired her short term memory and she could no longer enjoy this past time….a tragic result of an already traumatic event. (Now she finds audio books are easier to digest than the written word.) My older sister is also an avid reader. But my younger sister and brother are not pleasure-readers, as far as I can remember.

My first real memories about reading for pleasure happened when I was in elementary school. (I went to Beacon Heights Elementary school in Hyattsville, MD, by the way.) One memory is of my teacher telling my mother that on more than one occasion she found me hiding a book inside my desk and reading it during class. (I can’t remember which teacher or how old I was at the time, but I do remember it was almost always during math time. Big surprise that math is not my strongest subject.) 🙂

The second memory I have of reading in elementary school was discovering the “Historical Fiction” section in the school library. I LOVED reading those books! I still love reading novels set in past eras or based on history. (I also love period movies and TV shows and am an avid Downton Abbey fan!)

One of the biggest regrets of my life is not keeping a list of all of the books I have ever read. I really, really wish I had! There should be a comprehensive list of books out there that one could use to check off all of the titles they have read.

Last year I noticed on my Facebook page an option to list all of the movies, TV shows, music & books that you like. I don’t know how I never noticed that before! So I started keeping track of the books that I was reading in my Facebook “Books” section. Here’s a review of the books that I read in 2013:

World Without End by Ken Follett

I read the first book “Pillars of the Earth” in 2012 so was looking forward to reading this sequel. Although the characters in the first book were generations removed from those in the second I was quickly swept up in the story and characters. I love a good, long absorbing read!

Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley

This novel was written as a sequel to Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind. It was entertaining, but was obviously not written by Margaret Mitchell. But as one who likes to imagine what other peoples’ lives are like, kudos to Ms. Ripley for taking the time to put her imaginings down in writing!

The Dakota Series by Debbie Macomber

When I find a book full of characters that I really enjoy I hate it when the book ends. That is why I love to read series so much! Usually I don’t get to read the books in a series one after the other because we have to wait for the next one to be released. But my sister gave me this series and I read the books one after the other! Loved them!

The Lives of the Mayfair Witches Series (Book 1 & 2) by Ann Rice

These are the first two books in the three book series. (I read the third book this month, so it will fall into “Books I read in 2014”.) I accidentally found myself reading my first Anne Rice book (“Interview with a Vampire”) about a decade ago after the movie (starring Tom Cruise & Brad Pitt) was released. I hadn’t seen the movie, but I found the book at a yard sale for twenty-five cents so bought it. I wanted to see what all of the buzz was about. Well! I actually shocked myself when I started reading it and found I couldn’t put it down! I was embarrassed that I was reading a book about vampires (that was before they were popular and romantic) so I put a book cover on it so no one would be able to see what I was reading. I was drawn into the story by Anne Rice’s dark and descriptive narrative. After reading that book, every time I found one of her books at a yard sale, I bought it. (I get almost ALL of my reading material at yard sales…rarely paying more than $1 for a book. I scored big time at a yard sale last summer in that the owner had just about every title ever written by Anne Rice, and I bought her whole collection.) Expect to see more Anne Rice titles in my “Books I read in 2014” post next year!

Under the Dome by Stephen King

Because I like to read the book before seeing the movie I snatched this book up at a yard sale a few weeks before the television series aired last summer. Someone asked me what I thought about it and I replied “Well, it IS Stephen King, after all”….meaning it was creepy and suspenseful and surprising. The TV series took the grossest (is that a word?) aspects out of the book and changed the plot, but that is to be expected. While the book is far more creepier than the TV series, I liked it better. I hope the TV series airs again this summer and completes the story!

The Big Stone Gap series by Adriana Trigiani

Another series given to me by my sister and read the books one after the other…..Loved it! Would definitely recommend……

Irish Girls About Town by Maeve Binchy, Marian Keyes & Cathy Kelly

I picked this book up at a yard sale because Maeve Binchy is one of my favorite authors. I’ve read every single one of her books! This book was really three stories, each written by one of these Irish women authors. It was a fun way to discover new authors and I enjoyed reading each story.

Kisses from Katie by Katie J. Davis

If I had to choose one book from all of the ones that I read last year to recommend, this one would be it! Maybe it is because I have had the experience of going to the Congo in Africa in 2008 on a mission trip with a group from my church and lost my heart over & over again to some of the orphans that we worked with. This story about a teenaged girl who forsakes her privileged & comfortable life in the United States to dedicate her life to the poor & orphaned children in Uganda tugged at my heart and convicted my soul.

A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy

I bought this hard-back book for my daughter’s birthday and when she was done reading it she loaned it to me, because we are both fans of Maeve Binchy’s work. I was dismayed to learn that she passed away in the summer of 2012 just after finishing this book so there will be no more new titles from this talented and treasured author. I like how Ms. Binchy’s characters sometimes make appearances in several of her novels….you feel like you are visiting with an old friend each time that happens. This was a wonderful read!

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

I checked the eBook version of this book out of the library when a friend told me she heard about it & wanted to read it. I’ve never read any books by Gillian Flynn before so this was my first. I felt detached the whole time I was reading it….I never really connected to the characters. I know they are making a movie of this story starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike. Maybe this will be the time I actually like the movie more than the book.

Mad about the Boy by Helen Fielding

I bought the eBook version of this book when it was released so my daughter & I could read it together. I read it in a couple of weeks, but she is still reading it! (She doesn’t have as much time to read as I do since I am retired and she is trying to get her Personal Chef Business off the ground.) I enjoyed the story, even though I was not happy at the beginning to hear what had happened in Bridget Jones’ life since the the “Edge of Reason”. (Not going to spoil it for anyone who has not read this latest installment in the Bridget Jones story.)

Shades of Blue by Karen Kingsbury

This was a novel about abortion; a hard but realistic view of how a decision to abort the unexpected pregnancy in these teens’ lives was like a pebble thrown in the water and how the ripples of that decision affected the rest of their lives. Karen Kingsbury is a talented and compassionate author. I love her books!

The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins

This was the second YA (Young Adult) fiction series that I found myself enjoying. (The first was the Twilight Series. Surprise!) Just like I enjoy reading historical novels, I found I liked this imaginative series of what a future society might be like and the heroism of the young characters. (I enjoyed the first two movies, too…can’t wait for the third!)

The Thanksgiving Prayer by Debbie Macomber

I usually love Debbie Macomber’s books but this one was too much like a Harlequin story for my taste. Will she, won’t she? Does he, doesn’t he? In the end, they did.

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

This is a fictional story about a high school shooting resulting in 10 dead victims. The shooter was bullied all of his life and finally couldn’t take it any more. I found it interesting because Jodi Picoult explored how the crime affected the parents of the young man who was the shooter as well as how it affected the surviving students and their families. Tragically, it was while I was reading this book that a real-life school shooting occurred right here in my town at Arapahoe High School .

Going forward in 2014 I think I will review each book as I finish reading it. (That way it won’t take me hours to compose my “Books I Read in 2014” post as this one did!)

What was your favorite read last year?

January 16, 2014

An Exhaustive (or exhausting?) Resumé

On the first Saturday of each month we get together with friends for breakfast at Merle’s Restaurant in Littleton. (Thanks Jan & Vini for starting this tradition!) We usually sit with all of the gals on one end of the table & all of the guys on the other. I like this arrangement because while I love all of them I really want to talk to my girlfriends and it’s just so much easier than talking over and around the guys.

Sitting at the girl’s end of the table last Saturday were Jan and Jan and Lynn and myself. (I actually have three girlfriends named Jan and one named Janice, but one Jan couldn’t make it and Janice lives in IL.) We were talking about all of the different jobs we have had in our lives. Some of us have had a lot of different jobs and some had jobs that were actually careers.

Lynn did a lot of babysitting while in high school and cleaned houses and worked in the bakery while in college. (She did all of this without a car…she rode her bike everywhere she went in her small hometown near Sacramento, CA.) She studied nursing in college and worked as an RN ever since graduating from college until she finally quit to help her husband grow their business VRBO.com (which was a good move, since they were able to sell it in 2006 and retire!)

Jan G worked in various roles beginning with helping in her father’s business while in High School and through college & early married years. She also worked at two Nazarene colleges when living in Oklahoma and later Kansas. She worked for her church and then began work with the Aurora Public School district before “retiring” from the school district after 25 years to take her current job at VRBO.com/Homeaway.com that allows her to work from home.

In high school Jan R developed film & printed photos for her friends. After high school she worked for the Federal government with the Department of Defense, Army, Navy, Air Force, and FAA as a secretary. She left the federal government to work for the company that they bought the word processing equipment from and assisted sales with equipment demos & training for customers. She then moved to Dallas as a Customer Support trainer and developed training courses. After that she worked for a while as a technical writer in the telecommunications industry. While doing this job she also worked part-time for VRBO.com editing photos in 2003, and then in 2006 she began working full time for VRBO.com/Homeaway.com.

I was the one who brought up the topic of conversation because I had been musing about all of the past jobs I have held in my life. (Now that I am retired, I have time for that kind of musing!) 🙂

The Early Years

My first job was working as a waitress at Shoney’s Big Boy restaurant in College Park, MD after graduating from high school.

This being my very first job, I took it very seriously, even going to the extreme of practicing the correct ordering sequence in my dreams. I loved the hot fudge cake that was one of this restaurant’s signature desserts. (The hot fudge was thick and gooey!) This job lasted through the summer after my senior year in high school until I left home to attend Liberty Baptist College (which eventually became Liberty University) in Lynchburg, VA.

While in college I worked in the Dining Services area helping in the kitchen and dining hall.

The Altoona, PA years:

After marriage and while my children were young my priority was in being a stay-at-home mom so any job that I took was one that could be worked while my hubby was home with the kids or my neighbor could help with babysitting. Those years are a blur, but I remember my first job was as a waitress at the Sheraton hotel restaurant working the breakfast/lunch shift. I don’t even remember how many years I worked there, but some of the things I remember while working there are:

The day that Prince Charles wed Diana. I was happy that I was working in the patio that day because there was a TV at the bar and we could watch the wedding when we were not busy.
The time that I waited on Conway Twitty and his band. I was the last early-shift waitstaff on duty so was working on the patio until the first cocktail waitress came on duty and I could leave. I had taken the orders for the large party, delivered their food & drinks and had already given them their bill when I left for the day. The next day I was shocked to discover that there was no tip waiting for me! It’s possible that the cocktail waitress who was working when that party left pocketed my tip….so I’ll give Conway Twitty the benefit of the doubt. (Just sayin’……)
The de-li-cious home fries they served at breakfast. I think they used the leftover baked potatoes from dinner the night before and cut them up into cubes, then fried them on the griddle with big chunks of red & green peppers and onions. Yum! I’ve measured every home fries I’ve eaten since then against these, and haven’t found any that taste as good as I remember the home fries served at the Sheraton.
The sad day when my co-worker Connie received news that her college-aged son was found dead in Columbia, South America. She didn’t even know he had gone there! The death was drug-related, and she was devastated.
My co-worker Mark from whom I got one of the recipes that my family has enjoyed ever since – Ravioli Casserole (This recipe is stored on Google Drive, so if you can’t see it and want it contact me and I’ll email it to you!)

Other jobs in Altoona that I’ve held included:

Working at “So-Fro Fabrics” in Logan Valley Mall (Altoona, PA) which was fun. I was doing a lot of sewing at the time so probably spent more money than I made!
Working as a bank teller for Mellon Bank. I loved this job! (This was when our children were old enough to be in school for the whole day.) Ours was a small branch with only four or five tellers and one (woman) manager. Our customers were great! I remember one day when I was working the drive-through window a customer came through and had a box of kittens on the backseat of his car. When I asked him about it he said he was on the way to drop them off at the pound. I convinced him to bring the box of kittens into the lobby and Carol & I each ended up taking a kitten! Ours was black & white and we named him “Cubby” (because our youngest was in Cubbies in Awanas that year. We already had a white cat named “Sparky”. If you’ve ever been involved with Awanas, you know what I mean….Cubby lived to be 20 years old!!)

The Winchester, VA Years

In 1988 we moved from Altoona, PA to Winchester, VA. Shannon was in fourth grade and Brooks was in first grade. For the first six months I worked at another Mellon Bank branch as a teller, but I was not happy doing so because it meant I had to leave the house before Shannon & Brooks went to school and they returned home before I did. Even though their school was just one block away, we were new to the area and I didn’t have neighbors or friends to help supervise the kids. So after six months we decided to see if we could find something else that would fit our family better.

That is when we interviewed for a position at Hunting Ridge Retreat, a 360 acre retreat center outside of Winchester owned by the First Baptist Church of Winchester. They were looking for a new “hostess” who would be responsible for planning & preparing all of the meals for the groups that rented the retreat center (mostly church youth groups) and also to prepare a Wednesday evening meal at the church itself for the members who wanted to eat there before the Wednesday evening programs. This hostess was also responsible for cleaning all of the facilities at the Retreat after each group left & preparing them for the next group to arrive.

I think I got the job mainly because they were impressed with Redgie and his food service knowledge and experience. I was the actual employee, but running the retreat was a family affair! As part of my compensation, we got to live on the retreat grounds in the little house at no cost to us. Those were idyllic years, and I think they would be a good subject for another post, so I’ll save those details for later. We stayed at Hunting Ridge Retreat for 4.5 years until Redgie was transferred to Dallas, TX with his employer.

The Dallas, TX Years

The only job(s) I held while we lived in Dallas for 2.5 years was housecleaning for about 4 families. ‘Nuff said!

The Denver, CO Years

We moved to Denver, CO in June of 1996 and live in Parker, CO currently. While living in CO these are the jobs that I’ve held:

I threw newspapers for the Denver Post for about 6 weeks. I couldn’t take it longer than that. I had to be at the warehouse between 2:30 – 3:00 a.m. and I just couldn’t get to bed early enough the nights before to get enough rest. Additionally, there were NO days off unless I arranged for someone to take over my route. It wore me out. But I did enjoy the peacefulness of driving through the town when no one else was about (except other newspaper delivery people) and the quiet and the beautiful stars in the night sky. (There are some strange talk radio shows on at that time of night, though….)

[[NOTE: I’m editing the post on 2/6/14 because I suddenly realized out of the blue that I had forgotten to include a job that I held while living in Denver! I can’t remember how long I did this job, or exactly when, or even the name of the company that employed me! Growing old with fading memories is the pits….]]

For some un-remembered period of time I worked for a retailing company as (what I called myself) the “Candy-girl”. My job entailed driving around to five or six “King-Soopers” grocery stores around the area and maintaining the bulk-foods sections in those stores…..you know, all of the plastic bins are that hold stuff like trail mix and loose candy? I had to take inventory, order product, clean the bins and fill them up each time I visited the stores. I went to each store once a week. (Yes, once a week is how often those bins were cleaned.) I liked the flexibility of the schedule, and I especially liked the one long drive up into the mountains to the store in a small town called Bergen Park….the view of the Rocky Mountains was breathtaking! But after some time (probably about a year) I decided it was too much wear & tear on my vehicle so I ended my career as the “Candy-girl”.
Worked for GapKids in the Park Meadows mall for about 4 years, mostly working one to two nights per week and on Saturday.
Worked for HomePlace for about one year until they went out of business. (I probably spent more money at the store than I took home….it was a store like Bed, Bath & Beyond.)
I then worked at home for a company called “Alpine Access” which is a Customer Service Outsource Call Center. I was assigned to the “My Twin” account and I took calls from customers who wanted to order these custom-made dolls that resembled their children. I also worked for the Vermont Teddy Bear account for a few weeks before Valentine’s Day…..that was fun! And I got a free Vermont Teddy bear as a bonus! My most vivid memory of this job was the day that I was supposed to have my initial interview (by phone) was the morning of September 11, 2001. Our interview was canceled because of the terrible, tragic events of that day.
On March 25, 2002 I began the best job I ever had…..working for VRBO.com. I learned so much about the vacation rental industry and developed my skills in communication and management throughout my tenure but I loved this job because of the culture and people with whom I worked (and the fact that we got to work from home!) I “bless the day” (inside joke) that Dave & Lynn hired me, and it truly has been a blessing in so many ways. In 2006 they sold the company to Homeaway, Inc, who then became our employer and I continued with the company until I retired as the U.S. Manager of Email Support in July 2013.Now I’m retired, but we’ll see how long that lasts! After 6 months of blissful leisure time, I think I’m ready to be more productive again! I’ve already decided to start my own “Listing/Reservation Management” service, putting into practice all of my experience with managing vacation rental properties that I’ve learned over the years of working at VRBO.com.
We’ll see what the next adventure has in store!

January 15, 2014

A Military Mom’s Diary – Tiger Cruise!

Tiger Cruise [ty-ger krooze] noun – The Navy’s name for a very special guest cruise program. A Naval ship is permitted to embark relatives and friends of crew members (Tigers), eight years of age or older, for a Tiger Cruise. The cruise provides an opportunity for family and friends to see and participate in our daily shipboard routine.

Yes! I got to participate in a Tiger Cruise! This was an adventure that not many people get to enjoy and I was so excited to have this experience! (I didn’t know that a Tiger Cruise was on my bucket list, but I guess it was! Check!)

As mentioned here on my blog previously, my eldest son is a Navy helicopter pilot who is assigned to the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike group. In April of last year he deployed to the Middle East. He was only supposed to be gone for six months…..that is until the situation in Syria happened. The Nimitz carrier group was on its way home when they were rerouted to the Red Sea in early September as a show of force for the U.S. This situation delayed their homecoming by months.

But finally on December 3, 2013 the USS Nimitz pulled into Pearl Harbor. My husband & I had flown to Honolulu the day before and I happened to be in our hotel room when waaaaay out on the horizon we were able to see the Nimitz as it passed (click on the photo for a better view):

We were soooo excited because we knew that soon we would be reunited with our son, Brooks!

We got to spend a day and a half enjoying Waikiki and Pearl Harbor with Brooks. We were privileged to be included in a special Anniversary tour of Pearl Harbor along with some men who were survivors of the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Some of these men have never returned to Pearl Harbor until this year. I am sure their minds were traveling 72 years in the past and reliving that awful day as we stood on the memorial floor with the wreckage of the USS Arizona just below the water’s surface. Part of our visit included a “Floral Tribute” ceremony, when we were invited to scatter rose petals on the water in honor of anyone we wished. Brooks, his father and I dropped petals and said prayers for two of Brooks’ fellow helicopter pilots who were lost in an accident on September 22, 2013. (View my video tribute to those heroes in this post .)

We boarded the Nimitz aircraft carrier on December 5, 2013 and pulled out of Pearl Harbor the next morning. It was so moving to see the respect that all of the military personnel showed as we passed by the USS Arizona Memorial…..manning the rails and holding solemn salutes until the carrier passed the memorial site.

Life on board an aircraft carrier…..what can I say? Of course it was a lot different for us “Tigers” than for the men & women deployed on board. Most of the time when we tell people about the Tiger Cruise they ask two questions:

1. “What were the sleeping arrangements like?”

2. “Was the food any good?”

Because our “sponsor” (our son Brooks) was an officer, we got to enjoy the accommodations and priveledges enjoyed by the officers. Tigers whose sponsors were enlisted men or women enjoyed the same accommodations and priveledges of the enlisted ranks.

Our sleeping quarters were more comfortable than I anticipated. I was quartered in a four-bunk stateroom. My three roommates were women who were also Tigers. My husband was quartered in a two-bunk stateroom, and his roommate was an officer with the Wolfpack (my son’s squadron.) I wish I had taken photos of the room….I can’t believe I didn’t! But it was divided into two parts: one room had lockers and desks for two people, and the other room housed the four bunks, lockers and desks for two people and a small sink and mirror. The mattresses were actually pretty comfortable (but I can say that since I only had to sleep on it for 7 nights….sleeping on them for months might have created a different opinion.) Once I learned to make sure that my earplugs, water bottle, tissues, cell phone charger, book and lip balm were all within reach once I had climbed up into my top bunk, I was set!! 🙂

The difficult part was learning our way around! It is like a maze inside of the carrier, with many decks, ladders and hatches up & down and sections. Luckily they put “No Tigers Allowed” signs on parts of the ship where we were not supposed to go, so that helped us as we were navigating around the ship. For the first few days the only places I knew how to get to were my room, the closest women’s “head” (bathroom), the “Wolfpack Ready Room” (which is where the pilots are briefed before a mission & de-briefed after a mission and where they generally hang out in-between), and the Ward rooms (dining rooms for the officers.)

The food was pretty good! (Brooks said it was better during Tiger Cruise than it had been all during the deployment, so I guess I’m grateful for that!) In the Ward rooms they had a nice salad bar, a buffet line which usually held a variety of entrees, meats, and side dishes such as vegetable & starches (usually potatoes or rice or mac & cheese). There was also a buffet line in the kitchen where you could get items from the grill or fryer. The Ward room had a beverage area which offered coffee, hot water for tea, soda and milk. One item I missed was bread….there was not very much to be had. But a few less carbs never hurt anyone, right?

One of the things that occupied us for the first few days was to complete a “Tiger Qualification Standards” packet that was comprised of a LOT of questions about the different areas on the ship, their purposes, the people who worked there and their responsibilities. To help us gain the knowledge we would need to answer the questions there was a series of six tours of the different areas of the ship scheduled throughout each day of the Tiger Cruise. Brooks, Redgie & I spent a lot of time taking the tours and interviewing the people we met along the way in order to complete our TQS. When we turned in our completed TQS we received an “official” Tiger Cruise certificate and pin. 🙂

After that experience I decided the place that I would least enjoy working was in the Fuel Pump room (where they constantly are purifying the fuel to standards needed to be used by the jets…..it was stinky down there, and dangerous) and the place where I would most like to work was for the Media department (which was responsible for all on-board movies, publications, photography, videos, social networks, etc.)

We got to tour all kinds of areas of the ship such as:

The Foc’sl – responsible for the huge anchoring mechanism including links of anchor chain that weigh 360 pounds each and two anchors (each weighing 30,000 TONS each!)
The Medical area which included a Surgery, X-Ray room, Pharmacy, etc.
The Hangar Bay where they store all of the aircraft that is not on the flight deck and also included a tour of the Fire Equipment and systems on board the ship
The Flight Control tower (“Pri-Fly”)
The control room responsible for driving the ship
The Flight Ops Center
The Brig (2 individual cells that house 1 person apiece and a “General Population” cell that could house up to 15 persons at a time.)
The Jet engine shop where they take apart, reconstruct and test the jet engines
Fuel Pump Room
Media Center
Viewed various “Static” displays of different aircraft and demonstrations

Some of the specific activities we participated in were:

On Saturday (our first full day at sea) there was an “Air Power Demo” on the flight deck. The demonstration included all of the different kinds of jets and helicopters that are assigned to the ship. It was a pretty amazing opportunity to see first hand all of the flight deck operations involved in launching and recovering the jets and helicopters. Some of the helicopters demonstrated manuevers including dropping bombs into the water & we could see their explosions from where we stood! There was also a super-sonic jet demo that startled me so much I almost dropped my camera! We had to wear earplugs because it was so loud!
On Sunday 12/8/13 at 7 a.m. Redgie and Brooks participated in a 5K “Fun Run” on the flight deck
On Tuesday 12/10/13 we watched the “Air Wing Fly Off” when all of the fixed wing planes and jets flew off the carrier to the base at North Island. They have to be off of the carrier before it docks in San Diego because otherwise they would be stuck on the carrier since it needs to be at sea & in motion in order for the planes to fly off of it. That is why as soon as we came within flight distance of North Island the Air Wing left.
On Wednesday 12/11/13 we watched all of the helicopters of HSM-75 & HSC-6 fly off the carrier to the base at North Island.

The rest of the time we spent mostly in the Wolfpack Ready room. We watched a couple of movies – Ironically the movie we watched on 12/7/13 (the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor) was the original “Final Countdown” movie starring Kirk Douglas. It was ironic because part of the movie is about the attack on Pearl Harbor and it was filmed on board the USS Nimitz!

The trip culminated when the Nimitz pulled into the port at North Island in San Diego on December 12, 2013. We could see from our position along the side rails of the aircraft carrier that there was a crowd of family and friends waving signs and American flags and cheering the return of their loved ones. I have seen scenes like this on TV lots of times but being on the other side of it, standing on deck amongst the brave men & women who had sacrificed so much in service for our country was such a moving experience for me.

I thought of those who leave home on deployment but do not get to return to hear the triumphant strains of our national anthem being played by a band on the pier as the two lost pilots of HSC-6 did, or of their families who instead of being in the crowd down below were at home missing their loved ones. I said a prayer of gratitude for their sacrifice for our freedom and a prayer of thanks for the safe return of our son, and for the amazing experience that we were so privileged to have on this Tiger Cruise on board the USS Nimitz.

(Click on any of the photos below to view larger images)

January 9, 2014

A Box Of Gifts

Here’s a post on a great blog that I enjoy….and resonates with me, especially now that I have more leisure time on my hands. I think I will follow Kirstan’s example!

January 6, 2014

The Good News & The Bad News – January 5, 2014

The Good News: I’m going to try my best to be more faithful this year in making note of the good (and maybe not so good) things that happen in my life! Today the good news is that we were able to drive up to Dillon to our lake condo. It is a winter wonderland (and f-r-e-e-e-z-i-n-g!!) up here! We are only staying one night…..I have to take down all of the Christmas decorations that we put up in November.

The Bad News: Because of our trip to Dillon, I’m missing the premier of Season 4 of “Downton Abbey” AND “The Bachelor” (Juan Pablo!) But (the other good news is) I am recording it at home so I hope to be able to catch up on those two shows this week!

January 5, 2014

My 2013 Year in Review

The video in this post is of my 2013 year in review (as seen on my Facebook page.) The music is my favorite song of the year: “Give me Jesus” by Fernando Ortega.

As I look back on 2013 I realize it was a year of momentous events sandwiched between ordinary ones. We got to enjoy traveling to some new places (Oahu, HI; Hot Springs AR; Islamorada, FL; Belize City, Belize; Cozumel, Mexico) as well as revisit some places we’ve already been. We celebrated birthdays and our 35th wedding anniversary. We learned what it meant to be parents of a son who was deployed in the Middle East as a Navy pilot, and to experience the joy & relief of his safe return. We spent precious time with old friends and made some new friends along the way. My life took a big turn when I retired in July! At Christmas we enjoyed a Holiday cruise in the Western Caribbean with members of our family whom we have not seen in quite a long time.

All in all, I’d say 2013 was a pretty good year! Here’s to 2014 and the new adventures it will bring!

December 18, 2013 Aside

Merry Christmas 2013!

Merry Christmas from the USS Nimitz! Redgie and I are currently on a “Tiger Cruise” on board the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier! A Tiger Cruise is when a Navy ship that has been on deployment is on its way home and along the way friends and/or family members of some of the personnel assigned to the ship come on board and sail to the home port with their “sponsor” (military personnel responsible for their “Tigers”.) Redgie & I met Brooks in Honolulu, HI on December 3^rd when the Nimitz pulled into the Navy yard at Pearl Harbor, and on the 5^th we checked onto the Nimitz as “Tigers” and began our cruise towards San Diego. We are having a blast spending time with Brooks, learning about his experience as he was deployed with the Nimitz in the Middle East these past 8.5 months and learning a lot of interesting facts about life on board an aircraft carrier! We will arrive in San Diego on Thursday, December 12, 2013 where Brooks will be reunited with his wife Christina after his long absence.

A quick review of 2013 reveals quite a bit of change and travel for us in 2013. On December 31 we rang in the new year with our annual New Year’s Eve party at the “BBH”. A lot of friends and family (including my sister Vickie, her husband Jim & their youngest son Justin as well as Brooks & Christina who were visiting from CA) were there to celebrate with us.

Also in January I accompanied Redgie to Orlando where he had to attend a conference. We stayed in the Ritz Carlton and enjoyed a few days of warm weather (and at least for me) a few days of relaxation!

In February Redgie went on his annual Myrtle Beach golf trip with several of his buddies from Altoona, PA. The trip usually lasts around 5 days and in that amount of time they usually play 8 rounds of golf. Redgie looks forward to the fellowship and fun of that trip all year long.

March was a red-lettered month as that is when we officially finished the remodeling of our condo in Dillon, CO. Ever since we purchased it in June 2012 we had been working on remodeling the condo from the bottom up! Thank goodness for the help we received from our friends Ray & Donna Kent or else we may not have finished the job in time for our first vacation rental guests who checked in on March 7, 2013. We are very pleased with how everything turned out and our guests seem to have been very pleased as well! To date we’ve received 18 five-star reviews on our listing at http://www.vrbo.com/382 !

Also in March we spent Easter weekend in San Diego with Brooks and Christina before he left on his deployment. We were glad for the opportunity to spend some time with them before Brooks left. The Nimitz carrier strike group was supposed to return home from this deployment in October but on September 1 they were diverted to the Red Sea because of the situation in Syria, which extended their deployment until December. Christina stayed busy with frequent trips due to work obligations and personal reasons. In fact in September she went to Africa with a group of family & friends and climbed to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro ….quite an accomplishment!

In June we took a short trip to Islamorada, FL with Redgie’s company Perdue Farms, Inc. We got to stay at the Cheeca Lodge Resort which was right on the beach and very nice. Also in June we hosted a BBQ lunch up at our Dillon condo for the “Colorado Iron” biker group of which Redgie is a member.

The biggest change for me happened in July when I retired! I had worked for VRBO/Homeaway for over 11 years but finally came to the decision this year that it was time for me to resign from my position as US Manager of Email Support. Since then I have been enjoying all of my free time and have not yet committed to anything else on a regular basis. After the holidays I may see if I can find another job that interests me, but I’m not making any promises! : -)

We spent the 4th of July in Dillon again this year with Ray & Donna. Every time we get to spend some time in the condo we pinch ourselves to make sure we aren’t dreaming! The condo is so comfortable and the view of the lake & the mountains is breathtaking! Immediately following Independence Day Redgie & I flew down to Hot Springs, AR to attend a reunion of the “EnPsalms” which is the vocal group that Redgie was a part of during his years at Liberty University. Seeing all of his old friends from the group was wonderful….in some ways it didn’t feel as if hardly any time had passed since the last time we were with them. The weekend flew by with lots of laughter and good music, fellowship and love.

In August Brady experienced a big change in his life….he transferred to Colorado State University! He had decided that he wanted to experience life on a large university campus during his last years at college. While we were happy that he was going to be closer to home we were also disappointed that we would no longer be attending football games at Augustana College. We’re crossing our fingers that Brady might be able to try out for & win a walk-on spot as a kicker on the Rams football team next year. Brady is studying Business Administration at CSU.

We went RV camping at Golden Bell camp in Divide CO with Dave and Lynn over the Labor Day weekend.

Later in September Redgie traveled to Altoona to participate in the annual Precious Life Gold Tournament…another time of reunion and fellowship with his Altoona buddies.

In November Redgie traveled to Lynchburg VA to attend a football game at our alma mater Liberty University.

Then we celebrated Thanksgiving at the BBH with family and friends. (Dave & Lynn were in California so they were not able to be with us on Thanksgiving.)

And so we are back to the beginning of this letter where Redgie & I are on the Tiger Cruise for another three days. We fly back home to Colorado on December 13 and will be home for exactly one week before we have to leave again! This time Redgie, Brady & I will be flying to Ft. Lauderdale where we will meet up with Brooks & Christina, my Mom & Dad and my sister Vickie, her husband Jim & their youngest son Justin. We will all be boarding a Royal Caribbean ship (the Liberty of the Seas) for a Holiday cruise that will stop in Belize City and Cozumel before returning to Ft. Lauderdale on December 26, 2013.

Unfortunately, Shannon & Robert are not able to join us on our holiday cruise. Shannon has spent this year developing her Personal Chef business. She has a couple of regular clients (including Dave & Lynn at the BBH for whom Shannon cooks on a weekly basis.) She is hopeful to be able to acquire a few more regular clients. She & Robert still live in Parker not far from us.

As always, at the close of this letter we send our love & wishes to you all for a wonderful and blessed Christmas holiday. May we always remember the Reason for the Season, the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Redgie, Valerie, Brady (& Bebe!)

USS Nimitz took an 80,000-mile world tour (heraldnet.com)
Nimitz Back in U.S. Waters (myeverettnews.com)
U.S.S. Nimitz brings sailors home for Christmas (examiner.com)

October 23, 2013

Pre-WWII Love Letters – Chapter 3

Postcard of Shoshone Falls in Glenwood Springs, CO dated Sep 17, 1939 (1 cent stamp)

It has been quite a bit of time since my last post on this blog. I must admit to being quite affected by the helicopter accident that claimed the lives of two Navy pilots on September 22, 2013 that I wrote about in my last post. This accident hit too close to home….Although I did not know the young men whose lives were lost I am sure that my son did, and it could have so easily have been my son involved in such an accident.

However, I am back working on my “Walt & Gertie” project….the collection of pre-WWII letters that I found in a box of craft items that I bought at a yard sale years ago. (See the post Pre-WWII Love Letters: The best yard-sale discovery I ever made! for background…..)

I have made some progress documenting and scanning all of the letters that were not dated. Most of them were written when Walt was a student at the Colorado School of Mines. I believe that he was a junior in the year 1938.

Today I began to document and scan the letters that were dated. I am beginning with the year 1938. The mystery deepens because these letters are dated beginning in March 1938 when Walt should have been finishing his junior year at the School of Mines. But instead it seems he is working for the US Geological Survey in New Mexico on a job that lasts from March – April 1938.

His supervisor’s name is “Mr. Walker” but he also mentions the “big boss” who is related to the job. Walt is staying in a 3-room apartment at a “Cottage Camp” in Carlsbad, NM. He is rooming with Mr. Walker, his wife and two young sons (Charles & Bob). The Walkers are charging Walt $1/day for his room & board, but Walt is happy to pay it because if he rents a room on his own he will pay $36-$40 a month for room & board. (In his words “Boy prices are high!”) An excerpt from his letter dated March 6, 1938 says:

If I got board and room some place else it would cost between $36 – 40 a month. I told Mr. Walker that if my living with him was putting him out that I would find other accomadations. He said that it wasn’t, and that if I could stand the kids I was more than welcome. Because he is boarding & rooming me so cheaply I have been helping as much as possible. Such as helping washing dishes, setting the table, etc.

At this point, I don’t know if Walt has dropped out of school and gotten a job instead, or if working for the US Geological Survey is perhaps some kind of internship. I hope to be able to go up to Golden to the School of Mines Library sometime soon to see what else I can find out about Walt’s tenure there as a student.

In the meantime, I thought I would publish the letter that Walt wrote to Gertie on March 16, 1938. It is particularly “newsy” and has some good material giving us a picture of his life at the time. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did!

(NOTE: All punctuation and spelling are copied exactly as Walt wrote it.)

3-16-38

Dearest Gertie,

What a screwy time I have had the last three days. Monday we had a nice (?) high wind with a dust storm. We couldn’t work so layed around the house. I took the kids back + forth to school, and the rest of the time placed rags in the doors + windows. Tuesday was fairly decent and nice and warm. Just after we had started to work I nearly got rid of a years growth. I was walking to the next point whistling and having a good time when I nearly stepped on a rattler. I don’t know whether the snake was scared, but I sure left the ground. I yelled to Mr. Walker, and then tried to kill the rattler. I couldn’t kill him before he went in a hole. He didn’t get me, didn’t even strike, but from now on I will sure watch my step. We ran across another one about 40 ft from there in a sink hole. He also got away from us. I promise you that I will be careful and won’t go out of my way to meet them.

Again today we didn’t work due to more dust in the air. Mr. Walker transferred some of our traverse onto the main sheet while I worked on the truck. During the past few days the boss has been feeling rather low due to the dirt in the air. So far I haven’t been bothered by it, and don’t think I will.

Monday I bought three airplane glider kits (5¢ each), and then made one over. At least it will give me something to do on week ends.

Tonight up until time to do the dishes I helped Charles with his arithmetic. After the dishes were finished I started to write this letter (?).

Keep this under your hat, but its really funny. Mr. Walker has a farm back in Illinois. About all he does during his spare moments is read the Sears & Roebuck Catalog. His wife & I kid him every once in a while by asking him the price of some article. He just laughs, and then quotes the price.

We finally got two new tires + tubes for the truck so now we have a spare tire. Thank gosh! I didn’t like the prospects of walking 14-18 miles into town.

I suppose we will spend the rest of our time in this same Cottage Camp. The Rio Vista Cabins are all taken and paid for two weeks in advance. Rio Vista has fridigaires while this place has a common ice block. If there is an opening we may move, that is I hope we do.

I had a letter from Balvin and the pressure caused by final week must have warped his mind. He wrote the darndest crazy things. Sounded like a nut on a spree.

At the rate we are going this work should be finished about next year, but I think the last week or two in April will be a case of lay around + loaf. We can’t turn in more than 12 sq miles per month. So far we have 2 sq miles filled in and about 20 miles of control traverse run. By the end of this month we could finish our part of the work. If we did that though it would be working ourselves out of a job. So all I can do is let the boss worry about the situation.

Well darling it is almost 9 P.M. so I will have to hit the hay as tomorrow is another day. There is exactly 45 more days until I will be out of here. Each day I draw a line through the day that just passed. Just like a convict waiting to get out. Sometimes I almost feel like one. Please write when you have time as I wait for your letters with all my patience. Remember I love you with all my heart.

With loads of love,

Walt

(Bunny Duck)

September 25, 2013 Video

A Military Mom’s Diary: Tribute to HSC-6 Screamin’ Indians

Today we learned the identities of the two lost pilots in Sunday’s terrible accident aboard the USS William P. Laurence. They were Lt. Commander Landon L. Jones and Chief Warrant Officer Jonathon S. Gibson, both married with small children.

I created this tribute to them and the HSC-6 “Screamin’ Indians” and hope that the photos, sentiments and the lyrics of this song will ease the hearts of their friends and families and all Americans who join in mourning their loss & sacrifice.

(To view my original post about this accident click here .)

Names released in Navy helicopter crash (utsandiego.com)
Search ended for 2 in Navy crash (utsandiego.com)
Two Still Missing After Sunday Knighthawk Crash (news.usni.org)

September 23, 2013

A Military Mom’s Diary: “Safe and Sound”

MH-60S Knighthawk

Yesterday I received the best email I’ve ever received in my life. In the span of about 60 seconds I experienced the emotions of fear, joy, guilt and grief:

FEAR – Something bad has happened…are they involved in hostile activities?

JOY – Thank God my son is safe!

GUILT – My son is safe! But five other mothers’ sons are not…God help them!

GRIEF – Lost at sea…if they are alive they are probably hurt and afraid. Will any of them be found? Will any of them survive? Lord be with them and hold them in Your hands!

The email that I received was from my son Brooks who is currently deployed as a Naval aviator assigned to the USS Nimitz strike group. Brooks is a pilot and a member of the HSM 75 Helicopter squadron “Wolf Pack”. He pilots the MH-60R Seahawk. (I wrote about the experience of Brooks receiving his Naval Aviator “wings” in this previous post .)

Brooks’ email (Subject: safe and sound) was received on Sunday, September 22, 2013 10:11 AM and said:

“Family,

I can’t respond with any details but if you read the news I just wanted to calm any worries you might have and let you know that I’m okay. Please keep our sister squadron in your thoughts and prayers.

Love you all,

Brooks”

A quick search on the internet revealed a news article that reported the crash of a MH-60S Knighthawk helicopter while either taking off or landing on a guided-missile destroyer, the USS William P. Lawrence. Five crew-members were on board the aircraft at the time of the crash. These helicopters are flown by the “Indians” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 6, sister squadron to Brooks’ squadron (HSM 75 Wolf Pack.)

At the time we viewed this article originally, all five of the crewmen involved in the crash were still unaccounted for. This was very concerning because the crash happened six hours earlier, but we hoped the delay was just in the reporting of the events. Later in the afternoon the article was updated to report that three of the five crewmen had been rescued and were in stable condition and that search and rescue operations were being conducted for the missing two crewmen.

Sadly, this morning at 11:50 am EDT this Navy News article reports “Search and Rescue Efforts for MH-60S Aircrew Suspended.”

As the mother of an active-duty serviceman who is deployed in the Middle East I have had to learn how to live each day without being consumed with worry. It is not easy but my faith in God helps me trust that Brooks is always being held in His hands. Even so, I am realistic enough to know that bad things happen all of the time and no one is exempt from that possibility.

I saw this slogan on the USS Nimitz (CVN 68) Facebook page: “One Nation, One Navy, One Family” and it is so true. Two families are being informed that their sons (brothers, husbands, maybe even fathers) were lost at sea. My heart is so heavy with grief for them and I know that it could have so easily been my son involved in such an accident.

Joy > Guilt > Grief….such a dichotomy of emotions.

Lord in Heaven, I pray that you will be with the families and friends of the two crewmen who were lost yesterday in this terrible accident. Please envelop them with Your comfort and peace and give them the strength to bear this realization of their greatest fear. Be also with their fellow crewmembers that experienced this tragedy and those who helped with the search and rescue operations. Give them the comfort of knowledge that they did all that was humanly possible in the situation. Help them stay strong and courageous during their mission. Please bring them all home safely and soon.