Scattered Thoughts . . .

This past Friday night, we had the grandchildren because Liza had a meeting... or so we were told...  When she returned to the house after her "meeting", she informed us that she had a surprise for the kids so Sheila and I pulled the kids into the bedroom until Liza brought the surprise into the house... within a minute or two, she called to us saying we could come out of the bedroom...  and Adam was standing in the living room! It was a very nice surprise!  And, it was a loud, screaming, tearful surprise for Sheila! Adam arranged to have some time off so he could come to the lake house with us again. This is a good sign that we made the right choice in choosing the lake house as our summer vacation each year since Adam was starting high school. Of course, Sheila and I enjoy it as well.  Needless to say, it has been a rather busy weekend while catching up with Adam and trying to get ready for our move to the lake house.  Yesterday, I shot some photos when we decided

This past weekend, we visited the cemetery to visit Dawn. When we arrived at the cemetery, it was a beautiful Saturday morning (which later turned to some violent thunderstorms)... it was sunny, warm, blue skies with some fluffy cumulus clouds.  Dawn has a fairly new bench at her grave which we had not seen yet, however, Sheila had promised Dawn that she would take a seat on this bench and view the distant mountains surrounding the cemetery. We finally had an opportunity to do this on Saturday morning. Although we see signs of Dawn around us fairly often, Sheila was happy to fulfill this promise and happy to say hello to Dawn at her resting place. A couple of plots away, is the grave of a Chief Master Sergeant I met shortly after arriving at the air defense unit here in Vermont way back in 1995. He instantly reminded me of many of the non-commissioned officers I had worked with through the years. He was, perhaps, the first person I respected at my new unit. When we first visit

Yesterday was an event we have made one of our annual Christmas traditions over the past seven years... Wreaths Across America. The Civil Air Patrol cadets of the Green Mountain Composite Squadron in South Burlington, Vermont lay wreaths at the graves of each of our fallen Veterans before participating in a dignified wreath-laying ceremony under old glory at the center of this garden of stone. Today, however, this garden of stone was decorated for Christmas. For me, this is an event filled with fond memories, visions, shadows and ghosts. Yesterday's event was no exception.  As I was shooting photos... kneeling in the snow... sitting in the snow... standing in snow up to my knees... soaking all my clothing in freezing water... I kept seeing shadows and visions of my own past as Team Chief of a special team of the Air Force Honor Guard.  I had participated in countless ceremonies and funerals in countless cemeteries just like this one all across the country. I've stood in