Back in June of 2011 my boys were 12 and 8, and I was a stressed-out mom trying to be a better parent. Yelling had become my default mode of communication when the kids were acting up, and I hated that I had let myself become that way. So I made a commitment to tell my kids something I loved about them each and every day of June. And I posted those words on Facebook and encouraged everyone to try something similar with their own children. I don’t know if anyone else ever completed the challenge, but I was glad that I was able to. And when June came around…
-
-
310th SquadronFlight B. Aug. 1, 1942 My Dearest Virginia, I just received your letter about ten minutes ago, and was certainly glad to hear from you. Your letter was transfered from Ft. Niagara to where I am now. Darling I feel the same way toward you, as you say you do about me. I miss you an awful lot, more than I could ever tell you. I love you darling, “for keeps.” I hope you have received the other letters I sent previous to this one. If the suspense of waiting to hear from me, is as great as waiting to hear from you, I know how you must feel. Well…
-
So I’ve had a lot of weird stuff going on in my head the past few months. I’ve had this stabbing pain in one specific spot. It started as intermittent but a couple of weeks ago is was all but constant, and that combined with a bunch of other strange stuff resulted in a trip to the doctor which ended with me getting a referral for a CT scan. Of course between then and now I’ve spent too much time with Dr. Google and have come up with all sorts of scary diagnoses, including a brain tumor. The rational part of me knew that the odds of that were fairly…
-
310th squadronFlight B. My dearest Virginia, Here is the end of another day, and a beautiful southern moon rising over the Gulf. I sure wish you were here, we would take advantage of that moon. Hope you’ve been a good girl. I certainly have been a good boy, haven’t even looked at these women down here. Although there are a lot of them. What would you say if I went to an aerial gunners school, instead of mechanical? That would mean a machine gunner on a big bomber. A little more dangerous, but a lot more exciting. Gunners School might bring me up north. I might get to see you soon.…
-
Back in 2001 I decided I wanted to do a Big Crazy Thing. At that time I was on Weight Watchers and had been quite successful (that progress was brought to a screeching halt with pregnancy #2). My exercise of choice at the time was walking, because I couldn’t quite picture myself in a gym. At some point I learned of the existence of the Breast Cancer 3-Day walks, put on by Avon in cities all over the country. I was intrigued. At that time I did not personally know anyone with breast cancer, but I liked the idea of having a cause to contribute to. And so my thirty-something…
-
Pvt. Harry D. Powers310th SquadronFlight B. My dear Virginia, Here I am at the end of another hard day. We had examinations most of the day, and are they tough. The math test was the most complicated I’ve seen yet. Boy, if I ever pass that it will be a wonder. How are you darling? Miss me? I sure miss you. I wandered into the main theatre last night and the Vox Pop program was being broadcast. Maybe you heard it. One of our fellows was married on the program. Later, the(y) started for New Orleans for their honeymoon. If I take up aerial gunner I will be shipped [CUT] other base. Probably…
-
A few weeks back, we Marriners continued our summer of lighthouse excursions. This time we headed north, and it was a gorgeous day for a road trip. Our first stop was in Port Ontario, NY, at the Salmon River Lighthouse, which just about everybody calls the Selkirk Lighthouse. Built in 1838, this gorgeous light sits at the mouth of the Salmon River (hence the official name). This lighthouse is privately owned, but the owners are fine with people walking around the property and taking pictures. I was completely charmed by the stonework on the house, and that red tower. A classic lighthouse look. Fun fact: the Selkirk lighthouse has one…
-
As I was perusing the headlines looking for this week’s news roundup, I noticed that there has been a lot of nature-type stuff going on recently. So here I present you with my very first themed edition of News of the Week! Note: Starting today, News of the Week is moving to Saturdays. A trip to the UK brings us our next story, also featuring creepy-crawlies. This time the critters are…earthworms? And people are trying to get them to come out of the ground? Has the world gone mad??? This week the town of Cornwall hosted its third annual Falmouth Worm Charming Championships. Third? Was this not silly enough the…
-
July 26, 1942, 7:30 P.M.Squadron 310-Flight-B. Army Air Forces Technical SchoolKeesler Field, Mississippi Dear Virginia, Well here I am, way down in Miss. and right in my glory. This is certainly a wonderful place. Our air-base is practically a city in itself. I would dare say it is larger than the city of Oswego. There is no need to go off the post for anything. We have all our hangars, schools, stores, restaurants, beir gardens, dance halls, bowling alleys, ball park, and theaters right here. There are approximately 75000 men here and quite a few women. But they don’t bother me any. I get a kick out of listening to…
-
A weekly look at all of the silly stuff I download to my phone and then never look at again…
-
One of the things you should know about me is that I tend to get a little bit obsessive about whatever interests me at the time. I’ll be all in for one activity or another, I’ll do only that one thing for a while, and then I’ll pretty much never do it again. Especially when it comes to time-waster games on my phone. Candy Crush? I got bored when it got more challenging. Tiny Tower? Started taking way too long to add floors so I bailed. Royal Match? Kinda fun but I lost interest. Mahjong tile games? These tend to be my fallback games when I’m tired of everything else.…
