Ye Olde Drug Store

This building is in Williams, Iowa. Up the street from here is the Methodist church where I attended as a kid. The building is currently a small store, has a few groceries, has a few antiques, plus you can buy ice cream (that much hasn't changed in 40 years).

I have a vivid memory of getting in trouble here when I was 5 or 6. I had been fussy in church and my grandmother brought me here and bought me an ice cream cone. Now, the lesson she taught me was that if I don't want to sit in church, all I have to do is be fussy and I'll get to leave and get a treat. Lesson learned...

The following week I tried out what I had learned from my grandmother on my mother... well, the getting out of church part worked, but as soon as we hit the outdoors - SWAT on my behinder!!! New lesson learned - you can get away with more with grandmothers than mothers...

A Memorable Moment

A friend of mine sent me an email this evening regarding an old Brownie Camera. It seems that the camera was 68 years old and still had film in it which when developed revealed pictures of the attack on Pearl Harbor from 1941. I was interested in both aspects of her email - the Navy history and the fact a Kodak Brownie camera could survive 68 years and still yield photos.

Her email did spark a memory regarding Pearl Harbor. Most of the time I spent in the Navy was in the Continental United States and during the first part of my career on 3 cruises to the Mediterranean. It wasn’t until my last tour when I was serving as the Command Master Chief of a Recruiting Detachment in Alameda did I make a trip to Hawaii.

I was there visiting the recruiters and made it a point to visit the U.S.S. Arizona. A commander I once worked for had an uncle entombed in the Arizona and I promised him I would pay my respects. I went with the local supervisor, a Chief Petty Officer, and we were both in our summer whites (quite a spiffy uniform)... at any rate, as we were getting off the launch after having visited the memorial a young Japanese girl, probably 10 or 12, asked if she could have her picture taken with us. We agreed and she gave her camera to her mother and stood between us and smiled... when they were finished they thanked us by bowing and said something in Japanese that we couldn’t understand, but the smiles told us they were appreciative.

As we started to leave we discovered a line, a very long line, of Japanese tourists who wanted their picture taken with 2 U. S. Sailors. We couldn’t say no to any of them and we stood there for what felt like 2 hours having our picture taken. We didn't leave until the last picture was taken. It was a moving and memorable moment...

Not An Eagle

A hectic day, busy, busy, busy!!! When I got home I was moderatly grouchy, and moody. I could offer excuses, but I won't... I didn't want to sit in the house and re-live the day in my mind so I grabbed my camera and wife (m-m-m-m reverse the order - grabbed my wife and then the camera) and set out on my Eagle Hunt.

I have been obsessed the last several months with getting a picture of an eagle and I learned recently that there may be some eagles hanging out at the Cedar Falls power plant. So off we went - When we got to the power plant I was almost "giddy" because as I looked up I saw what I thought were eagles just hanging out, sitting on a rail and visiting..., but when I zoomed in I noticed red on their heads and kind of a crooked neck - they're not eagles. I believe they are a turkey vulture of some sort...

damn... the hunt continues... As I was recovering from the disappointment of not finding an eagle I noticed the sun was setting and decided to chase it (is that like chasing windmills?). I caught up to it at a bend in the Cedar River in Cedar Falls and as it was setting the colors were gorgeous. After shooting 82 pictures (I always take a lot) we just sat and watched as the sun went down. It was relaxing and the perfect end to a day. I'll look for the eagles tomorrow...

A beautiful sky...