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| Sunflowers from under the weeping cherry |
With all the shite that's going on in the world right now, I thought I'd kick back and go through some of my old photos.
And inflict them upon you.
So here we go...
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Where the magic happens.
(What magic? Shh, pretend as if you know what I'm talking about...) |
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Once upon a sunny morning.
Both trees are, sadly, long gone. |
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Why not pair a sunrise with a sunset?
My old Dodge is the foreground, also long gone. |
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| Mid-November, 2014 |
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| General Lee's old house, Arlington, VA |
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| All your computing assets are now mine! |
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| Aviator Memorial, NAS Lemoore, CA |
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Gadsby's Tavern, Alexandria, VA.
I love eating there... |
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The Potomac River looking towards National Harbor, MD.
Alexandria, VA. |
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Near The Nuke's old residence.
Alexandria, VA. |
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Bridge Over The Pond at Chez Sarge
That too is no longer there.
(We got a new bridge, old one was rusting out.) |
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| Hooman, why are you taking my picture? |
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| Old Glory snapping in the breeze on a cloudy day in Little Rhody. |
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| Sunset. The skies in these parts are often spectacular. |
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View from a hospital bed. My hospital bed.
(Five years ago, I'm all better now.) |
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| I am Groot! |
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| Easton Beach, Little Rhody |
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| Dad. |
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A January weekend in Carlsbad, CA.
Not a bad way to spend one's time! |
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| On the way to DC. |
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| Next time I'll try to focus better. But the sun behind/between the clouds was awesome. |
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The Sarge Has Landed.
Future trips won't be to here, but to BWI instead. |
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Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge from The Chart House, Alexandria, VA.
Another favorite place to eat! (I have a lot of those...) |
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| Two of my granddogs, Kodi and Bear. |
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| July evening, 2016 |
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The other Master Sergeant at Chez Sarge
(I outrank him by time-in-grade and time-in-service) |
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The feline staff, Anya and Sasha.
Yes, they're sisters. |
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Udvar-Hazy.
There's no such thing as enough airplanes... |
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| Hurricane, that's the Enola Gay behind her. |
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Phantom, Thud, and Gomer.
(MiG-21 actually.)
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I like cats.
(PzKfw V, Panther) |
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I am smiling!
Your Humble Scribe at Udvar-Hazy. |
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| Matilda, non-waltzing variety. |
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Was I ever this young?
The Missus Herself hasn't changed a bit!
(Blurry as it's a photo of a photo.) |
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| Random old fart saluting-selfie. |
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| Wells Harbor, Wells, ME. |
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| Love that sky! |
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Favorite meal, bar none.
(Though there are quite a few which are a close second, hey, I like to eat.) |
Well, not a lot of musing, but a lot of pictures.
One problem with that last photo, not nearly enough coleslaw, not nearly enough.
Life's been good to me. Really good. Even if there's never enough coleslaw...
April is done, can hardly wait to see what May will be like...
Never enough tanks, or planes..... methinks you married up Sarge. Some good photos there, that last one killed any appetite I had for cold cereal this morn. Really miss those restaurant visits, thank you travelors to/from CCP-land.
ReplyDeleteOh I married way above my station!
DeleteThe place where I got those particular fried clams doesn't sell them anymore last I went there. Apparently the cost was high enough that most people who frequent that place won't order them. Bummer, the other place I used to get them became a wedding venue. But I'm in New England, on the coast, I can find fried clams!
They aren't hard to make, not at all. The only real skill is the correct breading or dipping batter. Otherwise, well, heat up oil, dredge clams in breading/batter, drop into hot oil, cook till done. Follow it up with some home-made french fries and that will clean out the fishy smell, mostly, from the oil.
DeleteOr you can just find a new restaurant one of these days instead of pining for the fjords.
Half the fun is going out to eat, paying someone else to do the work of cooking, cleaning, etc.
DeleteThere's lots of things I could do at home, but don't.
Nice photo gallery. We've been to a few of those places.
ReplyDeleteBridge Over The Pond at Chez Sarge. And just like that the tune from "The Bridge on the River Kwai" takes up residence in my head. Since I'm in a sharing mood, here is the "Colonel Bogey March." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfAvoELaktc
Random Old Fart. The acronym is missing from the SAP (Standard Acronym Page)and it could be one of those multi purpose acronyms you mentioned the other day. Rakish Old Fart, Random Older Fellow, Really Old Friend, and I'm sure the fertile minds of the CCC (Chant's Commenting Corps) could supply many more. I'm also thinking that in your neck of the woods, It might be pronounced Random Old Faht.
Oh you know that march was in my head when I wrote the caption.
DeleteSigh, more grist for the SAP mill. I'll try and get that done today. 😉
Pictures are good. Each worth a thousand words? You wrote plenty. And fried clams. Yes! Or boiled in the shells, with garlic bread to soak up the juice.
ReplyDeleteEarlier you commented "(I guess I should do an aircraft paintings post, ya know, airscapes...)". Lotsa that in this book--
https://www.amazon.com/Bomber-Missions-Aviation-Art-World/dp/0760783098/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=bomber+missions&qid=1588250205&s=books&sr=1-3
One particular story comes to mind. The painting depicts a formation of 8th Air Force B-24's in the bomber stream, about to be attacked by Me-262's. It was the first time the jets had attacked as a unit. The day was bright and mostly sunny. The Germans flew parallel up the starboard side, the broke hard left into the B-24's. All the American turrets were tracking. Everybody fired. Everybody missed. They had never engaged at that speed before.
Indeed, those jets were a bit quicker than the gunners were used to.
DeleteOne of the reasons we had fighters hanging around Me-262 bases, get 'em while they're low, slow, and in the pattern!
Nice photo montage - spans the whole country. Works well on a dreary morning here in NC. Very windy overnight, mostly just rain for the rest of the morning, maybe longer.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, never enough planes and tanks. Notice you didn't point out what appears to be an SA-2 in the Thud/Phantom/Mig photo - maybe since it would have required a Boo, hiss! ?
Speaking of tanks, was just reading that the Marines are going to disband their tank battalion(s). Something about reconfiguring the force for the next war. Might be the right decision, IDK. But if so, end of a proud tradition and line of history.
With your love of fried bivalves, stop in Essex, MA, sometime. Nice scenic little town, claims to be where the first clam was made into strips, breaded and fried.
Nothing wrong with marrying above your station. I did so as well!
My eyes tend not to look at SAMs (boo hiss). That is definitely an item in that picture which could ruin your whole day!
DeleteI'm not sure what the Commandant is up to. He has mentioned something about teams of Marines on little islands interdicting sea lanes or something. The Marines do have to evolve though, the threat is different. Tanks are good for supporting a beach assault but I don't think we'll be doing much of that in the future unless it's on a very small scale, think Marine Raiders in WWII. Having the Marines as a tank heavy force got out of hand, in my opinion. Elite troops (which Marines are) tend to get overused and take on missions they were never intended to have. Or the generals try to make everyone elite and wind up with no one being elite.
The Marines have a purpose, I guess the Commandant is just trying to define that going forward. Good luck to him, he's gonna need it!
I think the concept of a tank-less Marine Corps is an idiotic idea. Traditionally, the Marines were supported by naval gunfire, like, you know, from the Navy. But naval artillery can only do so much, especially when current emphasis is on naval ships with little to no naval firepower (except big expensive missiles of one form or another, and we all know how cost-accountants will be able to justify not providing a fire mission because 'costs.')
DeletePlus, if you're going to have little packets of Marines on islands, a tank provides an already built and highly mobile gunnery platform. Learning to indirect fire with the gun might actually be a cool and useful idea to control a shipping lane.
Drawdowns in personnel numbers, reduction of capabilities, dunno. The Corps has always been billed as 'the first to fight' and having all the tools to fight, from artillery to armor to troops, is a needful thing.
Maybe I don't know what he does (duh, of course I don't) but I can see a two-tiered Corps, one with a greater Fleet Marine presence and one with a MEU presence. Both are needed, both are good. Fleet Marines are needed because so many naval positions have been drawn down on our ships that they don't have the manpower depth to provide ship security like they should, thus Fleet Marines. And MEUs are needed because, sure, not doing beach landings under fire most likely, but the need to plonk a brigade's worth of tools into a harbor or at a secured beach is a needful thing.
Not sure. World War II was a long time ago, Marines have not done any real Marine Corps type stuff since, I don't know. Not in Korea, not in Vietnam, not in Panama, not in the Balkans, not in the Persian Gulf, not anywhere in a really long time.
DeletePutting a tank on an island to control a sea lane? Waste of a tank. It's also a waste of Marines.
I have a similar picture from Udvar Hazy. Except it's a little blurry, I was hissing at the SAM and rat-a-tatting at the MiG. Mine was taken from where the foursome is in the upper right of yours. So, the SAM had missed me and I was in a tracking position on the MiG. Mrs J gave me a little strange look when I finished.
DeleteShe seems to do that a lot.
You too?
Delete(Hahaha!)
My old science teacher in junior high was a Marine tanker in Korea. He kept a picture of his tank in his wallet. Can't remember her name today, though.
ReplyDeleteNice pictures. Thanks for trip through the archives. Very good stuff. Except for that last one. Kinda looks like tripas, they sell that down here. Not menudo either, the real tripas. Only no fries, usually beans and rice. I like my fried food, but the chunks need to be bigger. And should come off a critter with hooves or horns, preferably both!!
We New Englanders eat what comes out of the sea, whether it looks good or not. Definitely NOT tripas. Fried whole-belly clams. Delicious, a Guinness goes well with these!
DeleteWere we ever that young? Excellent trip through nostalgia. Gives me an idea for my blog!!
ReplyDeletePhotos Coffee Man! I look forward to that.
DeleteLooking at the fried clams reminded me I haven’t had them for a long, long time.
ReplyDeleteI’m remembering the days when Friday nights were all you can eat fried clams at Howard Johnson.
Ah yes, Howard Johnson's clam strips. They weren't whole-belly but the next best thing!
DeleteI miss Howard Johnson's, for a number of reasons.
Howard Johnson's used a roll for their fried clam sandwich that I didn't see anywhere else.
DeleteWhich is why it's called a clam roll in these parts. Google "New England-style hot dog bun," which is the proper "bunnage" for both clam and lobster (lobstah) rolls. Also check out this, looks to me like HoJo's used the "correct" roll.
DeleteNice trip down memory lane. Only wrong thing was the name of that bridge, being named after the worst president ever before LBJ, maybe FDR.
ReplyDeleteInteresting how most candidates for WPE seem to come from one side of the fence, no?
Name for what bridge?
DeleteAs to the candidates for WPE? No surprise there.
D'oh! Oh yes, THAT bridge. I didn't know what it was called until I looked at a map. Why name a bridge after him? Who knows?
Because it cost too much, made a lot of noise, and only made the road situation worse?
DeleteOr political pandering.
Or both.
Actually it's a pretty nice bridge and a very convenient way to get over the Potomac to National Harbor in Maryland.
DeleteSo my money is on pandering.
Big smile producing post Sarge. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks Shaun!
Deletehttps://youtu.be/lsR222oBInc
ReplyDeletejust gonna drop here an episode on the plane that was mainstay of French Air Force during Battle of France...
interesting little bird ,even if not up to standards of Spitfire and 109
Yes, I mentioned a French pilot who flew one of those the other day.
DeleteThanks for the link though, as it is about the M.S. 406.
Very nice photo gallery!! And fried clams--always use dipping batter, never breading for Yankee fried clams!! And yes, HOJO's clam roll!! Yum. But my favorite way to do claims is steamers. We used to go out on the sand bars on the CT coast and dig them up. Great fun, and yummy. Then Long Island Sound became too polluted and we were not allowed to dig clams anymore. :(
ReplyDeleteNot to pick nits, but in your first picture isn't that a Jerusalem Artichoke? I mean they are in the sunflower family, but are not typical sunflowers...they are pretty though...
Jerusalem Artichoke? Could well be, they kinda look the part.
Delete(Those were planted by birds, or so The Missus Herself claims. And who am I to doubt her? She has the green thumb, I just move heavy things.)
So Im scrolling through the pictures...King Street...yeah yeah lotsa fun years ago...Smithsonian and airplanes...hohum.. and then I come across the Missus!!! Heels click and I salute you sir!! Well done.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea what I did to deserve her. Seriously. I mean I do look kinda dashing in my mess dress, but not that dashing!
DeleteNice pictures. Couple comments/questions:
ReplyDelete1. Love the one of you and the missus- serious babeage!
2. Eaton Beach- is that near the seaside restaurant we at at?
3. Udvar Hazy- still on the list, if this COVID ever ends!
4. What's that hat you're wearing there- the brown one?
Nice to see all those photos. That reminds me of all the old photos in various boxes and drawers around the house. I really need to get those scanned and digitally saved. They cover most of my career up to maybe the last few years, my kids' youngest years, and a lot of good memories. Thanks for the trip down memory lane, I just need to get out of the express lane.
1. Look who's talking!
Delete2. The very same.
3. I highly recommend it. Though they don't have a War Hoover. 😕
4. ONI, The Nuke's last job in the Reserved.
I need to do that with a bunch of old photos too.