Day 29 - Death

It's not a part of life that is enjoyable but it's still a part of ordinary life.

A man who played a very significant role in my formative years and remained a close confidant, spiritual mentor, financial adviser,all around be there for me kind of guy has gone on to be with his heavenly Father. He was my own father's best friend and since I was raised by my dad we spent a lot of time together with his family. He was a rare gem and he will be missed.

Some of my favorite memories are meeting for coffee. J.C. had a sweet tooth and he loved his treats. Donuts were definitely a treat and he always made sure he had one and me too! He knew my favorite kind and I knew his. In addition whenever we were at his house there was ALWAYS, always, always candy, usually boxed Russell Stovers. The chocolate with nuts or caramel were my favorite and he always knew which ones those were and would tell me which one to pick. He also always had divinity candy at Christmas too. The kind with walnuts or pecans were my favorite. His sister made it, it was the best! I also remember many a chicken dinner with him, he loved chicken, especially fried. Yep, we shared many a meal over the years.

J.C. was NOT just about food, oh my no. He was about life. He was a real guy who lived through some struggles, he was genuine and honest. He told you like it was but with so much love and compassion. He was truly one of a kind. His wife often said they broke the mold after J was born. He served in WWII, didn't talk about it much, but MiB did some research and helped locate some of his citations and awards, he had the purple heart. He flew over 30 combat missions, he was a belly gunner, that's no easy job and many did not come home! We made him a shadow box with his military items, it hung in his room in the Good Samaritan home! He was very humble about his military service.

When we were in Italy, he would say if you ever get to Foggia look up my laundry lady and tell her hi! He and A had hope to make it to Italy to visit us but their health was declining at that time and it just didn't work out. He was a character for sure! He was also a vocalist. Yes, he could sing and sing well. He was the song leader in my childhood church for many years and no one could lead the song service quite like he did. The two I remember the most that he really brought it for were Victory in Jesus and Up from the Grave He Arose. Those two songs hold incredible memories for me! I know he is singing them still. In fact he was singing still last time we visited him all from memory! Truly a joy to hear!

 R. I. P. my friend...

There is so much more I could say, in fact I could go on and on and on about this man...he was truly a man like no other and we lost a good one when we lost J.C. I'm saddened beyond measure but also rest in the assurance of knowing we will meet again someday and oh what a day that will be!

Day 13 - Neighbors

Neighbors are funny things, sometimes they are pretty darn cool and other times they are downright strange, once in awhile they are more than you could ask for. We have run the gamut with our neighbors over the years. Most have been friends and we have kept in touch with many of them even if it is only the yearly Christmas card.
In OK we had upstairs neighbors in our first apartment that we had a great relationship with. And in fact with the great timewaster invention of facebook we have reconnected. They are ones we kept up with years with annual Christmas cards. Moved on to the base and had stellar yard neighbors who again we do the annual Christmas card exchange; our wall mates there notsomuch. Onto Colorado and again facebook has been the most recent way we have kept in touch with our wall mate. Our cul de sac neighbors who were LilBlues best friends we have kept up with over the years through little care packages from our different assignments and we even met up in FL for a fun one day reunion a few years back. Another one of the cul de sac neighbors that LilBlue connected with we reunited with in NE a few years ago! That's the beauty of this AF world. Unfortunately in VA neighbors were not so friendly and while we were always cordial there were no real connections made. And the connections that were made in our neighborhood we did not keep up with! Part of that was us. We were in an apartment complex and our location while we loved it did not open us up to much neighborly interaction. On to AL and we did have awesome good neighbors. They have even called every now and again just out of the blue. I think they think it's fun to track us down and get in touch and say, "so where are you now and what are you doing?" LOL

In Italy our neighbors definitely win THE BESTEST EVER award...seriously, we loved them and I think they thought we were pretty okay.

Recent reunion with Italian neighbors.

The kids!

In NE we knew our neighbors but we were not all that close. However, LilBlue did enjoy that area and is still there. It's a friendly midwestern feel and she loves it. We always take the time to drive through our old neighborhood when we go back to visit.

In FL MiB and I had one doozy of a neighbor, just think whack job. But while not a true next door neighbor we had great on the street friends who were truly awesome. They were 3 Doors Down and we spent many a Sunday evening together as well as several mandatory fun events which were made way better due to the relationship the four of us shared. Moving on to LA and we have some great neighbors once again, in fact we are surrounded by awesomeness. It is neat to know the block or curves as I call it so to speak and since we are off in our own little neck of the woods it's great to be able to reach out if needed for a myriad of things!

2nd Annual Columbus Day Gathering--even though last year it was known as the New Kids on the Block Party!

Just a couple of the curves kids :)

 

  Queen B with her Marine daddy

 Our LA neighbors at our recent block party!

Ordinary life is made way better with good great neighbors (who are also friends)!

Day + # post explanation is here.

Ohbytheway...about LENT!

I forgot to blog about Lent, I did not forget Lent.

So, anyway, I am not catholic. GASP:) I really only have a simplistic view of Lent. When we lived in Italy, catholic or not our Chapel friends gave up things for Lent. This was all kinda new for us.  I went along with it in my own sort of way and thought it was a totally cool, doable concept. And while it is much more then the words on this site, you can still peruse through the information and get a really good handle on the whole Lent thing. I like the big picture concept and have chosen to go along since Italy.

This year for Lent I gave up soda. It's pretty big for me. So far so good. I can tell you my water consumption has gone up d r a m a t i c a l l y, which IMO is a good thing. I haven't really had any real "I need a soda" moments, though there have been a few, wow, I would so drink a soda right now if I weren't refraining from drinking them moments! So it's going well. I also don't participate in the free day thing as some do, you either are giving it up or you are not IMO so I go all the way.

So that begs the question...do you do Lent?

What did you give up, refrain, fast from????

It's an interesting activity for sure. One of my friends also gave up soda,as did her husband and her son gave up M&Ms. Munsy neighbor gave up desserts. I only know this through random conversation, I did not do a poll or anything like that!

Happy Friday, it's North to MO today, so traveling prayers and happy start of the weekend to you! Looks like we are in for soggy travel time, and you know how much Ima going to enjoy that for 8 hours, NOT!

Sand Art

The Art of Sand festival was definitely a work of art!

Oh my, honestly, the pictures really do not do the artist work justice. They are very talented folks for sure and they come from all over the world to include Russia, Norway, Italy and that is just the one's I remember; and also from across the USA as well! Several from right here in Florida.

The manatees!

Go SHARKS!

The one by the Italian guy - my favorite :)

The girls in the creative pit!

We had an enjoyable couple hours which was a nice break away from all the "movers are coming" prep we have been doing! Until another break in the action I'm back to the grind!

Oh my...

yeah, well, it's not Thursday and here I am posting, you are surely as shocked as I am!

I missed last week since we were in L.A. and I wanted to atleast note we are back. Well, maybe I should clarify that "we" as in we were back and one of us has gone again...back to L.A. but not the one in California, the other L.A. the one that we affectionately call lower Alabama. That's right MiB is back in Montgomery he was there a few days before we left, and now is back. A lot of things are wrapping up before the holidays really kick in that he needs to attend. As a matter of fact if it would not have been Thanksgiving week, I would have went as well. Maybe next time :)

So the California trip was good, less jaw dropping this time since it was my second go 'round, but it was still a great time, learned some new things and got to have Sprinkles again!!!! And believe it or not the cupcake eating made me think of this lady, who is always so super sweet and pops in on me regulary with encouraging, uplifting words! Thanks Susie.

BTW I had three of those super delicious cupcakes over three days this year...carrot, which by far was my favorite, pumpkin, close second, lemon and milk chocolate, good, very good, but nothing to really get overly excited about! Whoops, guess I had four!!!! It was all I could do NOT to tear into the ones we brought home for "three doors down" Their flavors were strawberry, which I have never had, pumpkin, chocolate marshmallow and milk chocolate.

On top of that we stopped back in at this little piece of heaven where I enjoyed with my MiB a Passionfruit/Coconut swirl with toppings of blueberry, strawberry and pomegranate seeds. Oh, it was wonderfully delicious.

We also had great burgers and fries at the Beverly Hills Diner on Thursday night, which is on the corner of Santa Monica and Beverly Drive. For the middle of BH it was a great little place with just what we were looking for, nice semi greasy burgers and crispy, hot, fat fries. They also had milkshakes that looked incredibly good, but we knew we wanted PinkBerry so we passed, which was really tough cause the people behind us had one and they were HUGE.

Lunch on Friday was another treat for our tastebuds as we dined with the Bird on Italian fare. Soooo good, I was totally impressed with this place, without a doubt the best I have had since leaving Italy. DaPasquale's nailed not only the food but the cappuccino, it was fabulous! We will definitely go back if we have the opportunity.

On Thursday evening after our diner meal we also strolled down Rodeo Drive which was pretty neat. They already have their Christmas decorations up so it was very nice to take it all in with the holiday visuals and especially in the evening hours. By far we loved the penguins in the fountain with their holiday ties on the best, that was super cute! But the late breaking news is that when we went back to stroll on Friday afternoon we actually made a purchase at the COACH store...yeah, I know, I couldn't believe it either; and get this, it wasn't even for me!! MiB needed a new wallet so we came out with one that should last awhile. He doesn't get it until Christmas but so worth the wait...it's a very nice wallet.

The sad thing about this trip is that I took pictures only with my phone so I don't have any uploads, but the good news is that a new camera is on the top of my Christmas list so I think MiB will need to go shopping...

Enough from me; I am so tired and so ready to be in my jammies and do some before bedtime reading before I slip off into dreamland. It's been a long day and I am very much looking forward to a good night's sleep. Night!

Friday Flashback

Join in the Friday Fun with Candid Carrie it's always awesome!!!!

I am ready to think Spring...

This was at an Easter gathering in Italy, the games were supposed to be for the children but some boys never grow up! So they were out there giving it a whirl.

They did end up coming in last place...but they were still winners to us :)

Italy 2004

Friday Flashback

Christmas Morning 2005

Maniago, Italy

Just a nice relaxing morning. We opened gifts in shifts and stretched it out all day, it was so much fun and we did lots of eating throughout!

It's a party with pictures, you can play along! Join the fun over at CandidCarrie's!