Dad and I were fortunate enough to participate in the WWII Honor Flight from SC. From the orientation breakfast to the actual flight, we never could have imagined the reception that we received.

We left the Columbia airport early Nov. 7th and returned later that night. There were soldiers there as well as the general public to greet and send us off with a salute, handshake, and a thank you. When we arrived at Reagan International, we were greeted with arches of water that the plane had to drive through and US Airways people standing on the tarmac with the American Flag, clapping and saluting of the plane. Once we disembarked from the plane, we were greeted with a member of branch of the service and then when we stepped into the terminal, we were blown away with the number of people there to greet us. Young and old alike shook the hands of each vet, thanking them for their service and patting me on the back and thanking me for bringing them. In front of the bus were about 50 "hogs" waiting to escort us into Washington.

Once we arrived at the WWII Memorial, we were greeted by Joe Wilson. People all around the memorial would come up to the vets to shake their hands and thank them for their service. I was blown away with the young kids that would shake my dad's hand and thank him. There are parents who are continuing to teach the younger generation about our heritage and for that I am forever grateful.

I was guardian for dad and for another vet, Paul, who lives in Irmo. He served in the Navy too so he and my dad had lots to talk about. I was able to leave them and go off to shoot/document our day there in Washington. At the end of the day, Paul thanked me for taking care of him and my dad even tho they had to hunt me down several times that day. He was very thankful when I gave him a copy of all the pixs that I took that day. He immediately shared them with his family and children as well as being excited about taking them to Fla. for a Thanksgiving get together.

While we were walking around the Vietnam Memorial, there was a couple following us and stopped me to ask if they could take pixs of my dad and Paul. The lady had had a dad fight in the war and wanted to get a pix of dad and Paul in their WWII caps. My dad who never meets a stranger and Paul who was as equally friendly struck up quite a conversation with this couple and their 2 boys.

After spending a very long and emotional day, we returned to Reagan International for the return flight. Their at our gate was a swing dance club waiting to greet and dance with the vets. They even danced with the guys in the wheel chairs. What an experience.

Another welcome was waiting for us when we returned to Columbia. Bands, people with signs, cub scouts were all waiting to shake hands and say thank you. I kept hearing someone yell my dads name as we moved through the crowd. When I finally got dad to turn and look, he recognized his neighbors. Neither one knew that the other was going to be there.

On a funny note: When we were at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, I left dad and Paul to get ahead of the crowd to get in position to take photos. When dad walked up, he was one level below me and I kept calling his name. He would never look in my direction. Finally, I called him by the nickname I gave him while I was in my teens. Martha, Melinda, and now the boys and Anna Claire call him by that name, Pops. When he heard that name, he turned and found me immediately!

My dad and I were very fortunate that we were able to share this day together. A memory that I will treasure for the rest of my life.

Honor Flight SC

Swing Dancer trying to get my dad to dance
Dad at the Korean War Memorial
Man from Australia talking to Dad and Paul
Dad at the SC Tower of WWII Monument
Dad exchanging comments with Joe Wilson

Miss Ava

Ava loved the bubble gum machine
Pink was her favorite color
We told her to jump!
Gotta love those pink shoes
When Martha lived in Newnan, she lived next door to an amazing family. Sara and Drew have 4 neat kids. Ava was just a little younger than the boys and Jaxon one of her brothers was just a little older than the boys. The two of them loved coming over to play with the boys. We loved sharing popsicles and toys and the driveway with them. I loved just talking to Sara her mom. We always hung outside when the weather permitted it.

After getting to know Sara, Martha found out that Sara was a professional photographer. Martha always hated not having pics. of the boys when they were born and their first 2 years of life. It wasn't long before her walls were filled with pics. of the boys and her and Chris. Miss Priss has been photographed since a few weeks after she was born to just having another session last week. We love Sara's work.

During the summer when Martha and I were back in Newnan to spend a day with the friends they left behind, I was talking to Sara about my photography skills and we decided to spend a morning together. I drove back to Newnan a few week-ends ago and spent the morning with Sara. We used Ava as our model. I had so much fun and learned so much. These were a few of the shots I took. Hope you enjoy them as much as I did taking them

Sewing Projects

It has been so long since I have blogged that I have forgotten how to do it. Got into something called dashboard and have no idea what that is but it does have some of my pictures there where I tried to blog a few weeks ago.

Uploaded new pictures of some projects that I have worked on this summer but couldn't get the text to go next to the right picture.

One is a diaper clutch that I created after Martha asked for something to carry only one or two diapers. So that design is what I came up with. It holds 2 diapers and a small pkg. of wipes - travel size I think. Martha loved hers and a friend wanted one so I made her one.

The dress is a knock-off of a Matilda Jane knot dress. It was so much fun putting the materials together. Martha and I worked with her 5th grade language arts teacher to put the right fabric together. Mrs. Youngner (not sure this is the correct spelling). It was not hard to sew and once I put it on Anna Claire, it was so stinking cute. Plan on making the flared leg pants to go under it and Martha has the Matilda Jane leggins that will also go under it.

The 2 skirts were so much fun to make. I actually use an alg. formula to create those skits. I finally found a use for that high school alg. I took all those years ago. What fun. I plan on selling those in the spring. The pink one was made for a photographer's daughter and I made it without Ava being here. It fit perfectly and looked so cute on her. We used her as a model when I was working with her mom on a photo shoot. That is another story....

Hope you enjoy the designs and look for future works. Also hope to figure out how to post pics and write the descriptions next to the pics.

Sewing Projects

SUMMER FUN

The Three Monkeys

Catching the Rain

Walking on the Railroad

The boys are using the stick their great-grandfather carved to use when he would help Martha peddle her tricycle.

The Orange Butterfly

Oh my, a lot has happened since my last post! I have been having fun on face book and learning the ins and outs of that program. It is great fun keeping up with friends and family. Twitter is not something that I have indulged in. Martha is forever texting someone and I often ask why she just doesn't pick up the phone and call them. In a few years we will have to add "How to Have a Conversation Face to Face" in our school curriculum!

School ended on June 5th for me and I was in the dr.'s office with an ear infection. Today is Aug 1st and I am still dealing with ear problems. It has been a very long summer for my ear - the constant ringing is getting old. I go back to the dr. on the day before school - wonderful - what a way to open the school year.

We spent a week at the beach with the Darley's and the kids loved the water, sand, and pool. Anna Claire loved digging in the sand and was not afraid of the water at all. The boys took their trucks again and enjoyed racing around the beach with them. AC even got into pushing the trucks on the beach. What ever the boys are doing, she thinks she can do it also. She loves to wrestle with the boys and will quite often start the trouble and just giggle when they come after her.

The boys wanted to come to MiMi's house and ride in her car. We had great fun with them. Melinda and I took them to the Kid's museum to see the Blooming Butterflies. The boys were excited to see them and thrilled that there was an orange one. Martha and Chris have done a great job of making sure they know the importance of orange! Melinda and I took the boys to the train tracks to take pictures, but the boys were worried that the train was going to come so it was difficult to get really good still photos - oh heck, it is always difficult to get still shots of the boys!

When I brought the boys home, they wanted to know if I was going to stay at their house for a long time. But of course! One of the things we did while the Princess was sleeping and I am not talking about Anna Claire, was to play in the rain. The boys loved it, but it took awhile for Anna Claire to understand what was happening. We were soaking wet by the time THE PRINCESS got up. She couldn't understand why everybody was taking baths at LUNCH TIME!

I had fun shooting a rehearsal dinner party in mid June. It was at the Corley Mills House and the main dish was a "cooked pig". I took shots of it and a close up of the apple in the pig's mouth and sent it to Martha's old neighbor, the one who always does the photos of the kids. Sara is a yankee through and through and I have had great fun teasing her (she right back at me) about our southern ways. Needless to say, she was not thrilled about a pig pick'n and couldn't believe that we ate it like that. When I told her that a true pig pick'n was eaten by just reaching in and pulling the meat off the bones, she was horrified.

Have tried for over a week to load the pictures of Miss O but they will not load.  Just published a pictures of SB and it loaded right away.  Hmmmm have no idea why I can't load the other pictures.