Scattered Thoughts . . .

I have a library of notebooks scattered throughout the house but, mostly, on a bookshelf in our bedroom. I'm always carrying one of these notebooks so I can jot down ideas and to sketch these ideas. These notebooks are filled with sketches, lists and sometimes inane musings. Since my illness developed about 18 years ago, my mind can be a bit scattered so I found that a notebook was my friend when it comes to organizing my thoughts and remembering these thoughts. I started having difficulty remembering things and, cognitively, I was struggling with a lot of small projects. My notebooks were and have been a powerful tool in helping me accomplish a lot of projects in recent years. Truth be told, I've always kept notebooks filled with my sketches and ideas. I have notebooks from decades ago filled with sketches and notes of home improvement projects and jobs, boats, airplanes, aerospace concepts, and homes I've designed and built. Back then, these notebooks were just a p

Today was a rather slow day (poor health through the night) so I took a little time to shoot a photo of a tank car I picked up on eBay recently. There is some significance to this particular tanker though... it has the name "Gramps" written in large lettering across the car like it is a special production train car rather than a true model of a real train.  The moment I first saw one of these unusual freight cars, I thought of my own grandfather, whom we affectionately called "Gramps", and how he is one of the main people to get me interested in model railroading as a young child. Dear 'ole Gramps is no longer with us but he is in my thoughts often. Both he and my grandmother were responsible for providing piano lessons for me... for my sailboat... for my love of antique wood boats... he got me started in photography... he is responsible for my nautical knowledge and interest in boating... my grandmother is responsible for much of my cooking skills and ab