Moving to Oregon

Spent several days in Roseburg OR looking for a place to live. It is a nice quiet little town. I love the green, the rain, the deer, and all of the really neat stuff that is there. Roseburg is only 90 miles from Coos Bay, there are waterfalls, covered bridges, hiking trails, and it is just a nice place to get lost in. The people seemed really nice too.

I found a house I liked and I am trying to get the financing together to buy it. It sits on top of a small mountain and overlooks the Ompqua river. No one is lending money right now so I am being very creative in my thoughts and prayers tying to make this move happen. Please keep my efforts in your prayers.

All my bags are packed I'm ready to go. Remember that song? Well it is time for a "ROAD TRIP" to Idaho with Russell for Jamison's blessing. Look for pictures soon because I am teaching Russell how to take photos and then he will start his own blog with his pictures and thoughts. I am excited about heading north to cooler weather (I hope).

Amish Flower Shop on the Eastern Shore of Maryland

I took a week off and flew back to Maryland to spend a week with Barbara and her family. Barbara had been in Maryland for a month before I joined her. Two of Barbara's sisters live on the Eastern Shore so we went to spend a night with them. While we were there we went for a drive and ended up at an Amish Nursery. The flowers were so pretty that I got carried away with the camera and have decided to share my photos with you. Just click on the flower to watch the show. Enjoy.

Emotional Chaos

Wow, just cannot figure out my feelings today.  I got a call from the Oprah Winfrey radio show and was interviewed by Dr. Angelau Maya.  Wow, what an honor.  I have read all of her poems and Russell has come to respect her and her words.  But the interview was about my military experience and what it was like to be a veteran.  All of my emotions came flooding back and the only thing that kept me together was the knowledge that war makes people do things that they normally would not do.  So to help me through this moment I have decided to post the pictures of the Viet Nam Memorial.  

I am still trying to deal with my emotions of my military experience and what the Wall represents to me.  The day I took the pictures I could not bring myself to touch the Wall.  I knew in my heart that I would cry for the ones who died and who's names were engraved in the stone.  I was overcome with the immensity of the memorial.  The way the wall grew in depth in the soil instead of in height above the lawn.  The feeling of the tragedy of what happened in Viet Nam overcame me and I wanted to run from my emotions again, but I did not.  I stood there very proud of who I was and for the first time I was not ashamed to be a veteran. 

I hope the pictures will show how I felt that day and that evening last fall.  In a couple of weeks I am returning to DC and I will visit the wall again in an effort to find myself.

The Forgotten War

Korea, the forgotten war. The design of the memorial depicts this theme. It is a haunting sight to see the memorial during the day time, however to experience the memorial you have to become a part of the memorial at night. There are no names on the memorial, just faces. As I stood looking at the wall of faces I felt as thought I was drifting into the wall myself. So many times in dreams I know that I have been here before, surrounded in the dark by faces without names. It was very difficult for me to walk through the memorial. The figures in the grass appeared ghostly and the faces were coming out of the wall for me. I found myself fighting my fear by taking pictures of the faces hoping that the camera will help them find their names.
Most of us have memories of the Korean War from a television series named MASH. The show was a comedy show with an underlying theme of how devastating the war was. The one episode that I will always remember was when the rules of war were revealed. Rule one, people die in war; rule two, rule one cannot be changed.
Death in war happens in two ways, physical and mental. Physical death leaves family and friends empty and missing someone that they love. Mental death leaves the person empty and missing the person that they were. Which one is worse? That is a question that cannot be answered by anyone except the person who has died.
Please click on the photo of the words "Freedom is not Free" to view my photos. Remember to back page to return to my blog.

Memorials to Predsidents

I think this being Veteran's Day is a fitting day for me to write about the Memorials to certain Presidents in DC. I visited the memorials to FDR, Lincoln, and Washington. The Washington Monument stands tall right in the middle of the Mall. It is the marker that everything else on the Mall lines up with. It is the beginning and the core of our history and it stands so very proudly as the base of our freedom. If you stand on the steps to the Lincoln Memorial and look back at the Washington Monument you will see the reflection of the Monument in the water of the Reflection Pool. It does not matter where you stand on the steps, the reflection is there. The many steps that ascend to the Lincoln Memorial represent the steps that were taken to ensure that the words of the Constitution were guaranteed to all. Lincoln served during a horrible period in our history and his leadership kept us on the right path with the words of our founding fathers. His great words are etched in the marble that surrounds his stoic and awe inspiring statue. The Memorial to FDR does not follow the line between Washington and Lincoln. It sits off to the side midway down the reflection pool. It represents a dark side to our American history. It represents a time when America had to find itself from deep within and rebuild itself with hardships and sacrafices. With the leadership of FDR the country was reborn, stronger and able to work together for a common good. FDR inspired individuals to work and great works were accomplished during this time. FDR lead a nation to believe in itself and give to the common good without crossing the thin line into a socialistic philosophy.
All three of these men presided over our county during difficult times. They all demonstrated the same quality of leardership, the ability to insire people to accomplish great things and the courage to stand strong until the job was done. I look at my sons generation and I am troubled by the amount of individuals that honestly believe that they do not need to work or struggle in order to have a better life. They believe that they are entitled to the best that there is to offer without the labor to achieve it. I wish that I could impress upon this generation that the best that there is in life is that which I worked the hardest to achieve. My son's generation is lacking the self dicipline to move forward and I am concerned.
Please click on the photo of the Lincoln Memorial to view the slide show. Remember to back page to return to my blog.