Dad's Honor Flight: Oct 18-20

Dad on his Honor Flight San Diego last Friday.

(He is the one in the light blue shirt next to the window.)

 

If you haven't heard about Honor Flights before the Government shut down here in America made it front page news, you probably have now.

I hadn't really known much about them until my Dad signed up to be on an Honor Flight.

You can read all about the program HERE.

Briefly...it is a non-profit organization dedicated to flying military veterans to Washington DC free of charge to see the various War Memorials, Arlington Cemetery etc.

They arrive, stay over night for free in a hotel (Hilton, in Dad's case), then are ferried around DC in tour buses with one Guardian (who travels on their own dime to serve in this manner) for every three veterans.

The veterans are fed, feted at a banquet, and fly home on the third day.

A real whirl wind experience of a life time for them.

First night banquet.

Dad is the one in light blue long sleeves.

There were 70+ people with this Honor Flight.

Dad being honored...I don't know yet what exactly he is being singled out about.

Out in DC on Saturday.

My Dad served with the Boy Scouts for over 25 years.

One of his troop's Eagle Scouts was John Cotton, who was my brother's age, three years older than me.

John grew up to eventually become the Secretary of the Navy (Reserves).

He lives in Virginia and made a special effort to meet up with Dad during the Memorials tour.

There are "Flights" in DC every day, coming from all over America.

Each group has its own logo.

Honor Flight San Diego, Dad's group, has a logo with a plane soaring over the Coronado Bay bridge, flanked by a setting sun and two palm trees.

I am trying to find out what the lettering says on the back of the tee shirt.

A group shot of the San Diego veterans and their guardians at the (now open again!) WWII Memorial.

A photographer was along on the Flight and worked very diligently to photograph each person during the trip.

It moved to me to see men wearing "Pearl Harbor Survivor" hats, and see the faces those who served our country during WWII, Korea, and Viet Nam.

I believe the charted flight was with US Air.

They decorated the plane for the flight home.

Dad served on a couple of ships during WWII.

He was a "Plank Owner" for the Providence, which means he was part of the ship's original crew after it was commissioned.

They had some fun with the vets on the flight home by providing word bubbles and feature masks.

They certainly gave Dad the right bubble!

(Bernie joked that as soon as the US gov realized Dad was rolling into DC to see the Memorials, they quickly decided to open them again.  They knew better than to mess with Carl Dustin!)

I choked up a bit to see that there were people who came to the Memorials to hold signs thanking the Vets.

The Flight arrived back in San Diego and walked into the airport with a band playing and dancers jitterbugging to Glen Miller Music and other celebratory goings on.

 

See a video of this Honor Flight's return to San Diego HERE

                                           See the photos of the whole Honor Flight Here.

If you know of an American vet, and particular a WWII vet or any vet facing a terminal illness, please encourage them to apply to be in on a free Honor Flight from their area.

Wheelchairs are provided; the flight, hotel and food is also provided.

 Bus transportation and air transportation is first class.

The Vets are well cared for every moment of the trip.

It really is a trip of a lifetime.

And it is our chance to honor them for their service.

 



October Catch up: 6: East Canyon three days apart.

I drove up East Canyon on Oct 5th to do wide angle photography, then again Oct 11th with Mom, then again on Oct 16 and then Oct 19.

The colors were close to peak on the 5th, and at a peak with Mom; that day I photographed only the empty bird's nest filled with two golden leaves.

Scroll through to see how the canyon changed in three days, between the 16th and the 19th.

 

The golden aspen is starting to go skeleton.

The white trunks and branches are now highlighted against brown undergrowth that used to be green or red.

They still look like they are wandering, or even marching down the hills.

And yet...to look just a bit to one's right, there are still green aspen, circled protectively by fully leafed gold trees.

Purple mountains, blue mountains, snow caps, orange, brown, olive, gold, green, yellow, gray, black.

God used all the colors in His crayon box!

I never get tired of the zig zag parade of aspens spilling down the mountainside.

Along the roadside golden flowers on dusty green stems billow and pillow the canyon edge.

Sometimes the aspen get going in a stampede!

Golden or naked bare, they stick together while they go down the hill.

Sometimes I wonder if "short brown" is a bit jealous of the showy " tall golden".

My last view as I left the canyon.

Silhouetted bird nest.

Where are the baby birds nesting tonight?

Not here.

Not anywhere near here I think.

Three days later.

The colors are thin now...

Compared to how they looked on Oct. 5th!

 

Paths are more easily seen.

Overhead a hornet's nest stands out, no longer hidden by leaves.

The aspen still march, but their color is dull now.

 

They are worn down to mere skeleton form now.

I park and walk along the roadside, looking at the smaller autumn scenes.

This is a flower.

I swear it is down, each tendril looks like a feather.

What an unimaginable flower!

As I walk, convertibles and motorcycles pass and then this vintage car comes.

Deep green.

Reminded me of a friend's old Mercury truck that in an early life had sported green paint as well.

I walked looking for a tree, an apple tree that I had seen out of the corner of my eye as I drove.

How could there be an apple tree up here?

Did I dream it?

No.

There it was, bearing the most beautiful red/green apples I have ever seen shining in the sun.

The apples looked perfect.

The apple tree grew on a slope that was nearly 80 degrees sharp.

I'd need a friend to hold a rope as I rappelled down the hillside after the apples.

Lucky deer...bet they eat some every day! 

The few still vibrant aspen groves seen through a now vibrant oak tree.

It is odd how the oak leaves often look completely dried up and dead brown, then suddenly the leaves seem to turn golden and glow after all.

Not dead.

Not dead at all!

As the sun set, the red soil caught the light and began to glow around me.

The hazy in the air robbed the scene of fine detail, yet also added a mysterious light too.

 

October Catch up: 5 : Hat Day, Tea with Mandy Day.

I did manage to stay out of the trees and such last Friday, Oct 20th.

My friend Mandy had had a birthday at the end of September.

I invited her to tea at the Grand American Hotel when she had a break in her schedule.

We agreed...hats were required!

Her cute cloche was just perfect.

Tea was from 1-3:30.

Um...we finally stopped gabbing and cleared out about 5.

We might have still been talking away if the multiple consumed tea pots hadn't changed our priorities.

We don't see each other often.

We are nearly three decades apart in age.

We met each other during a Married couple's church barbecue up in Mill Creek Canyon about three years ago (where Bernie and I were the only couple over the age of 35 ahem...)

Over hot dogs and potato salad, we discovered we were kindred spirits.

Mandy and Jill time is never fluff time.

We talk deep and long for as long as we have together.

I wore my favorite New Orleans bonnet for tea.

It is a felt, and it felt so good to be into fall and winter hats again!

On Sunday I punted and went back to straw again.

This little number was acquired in Toronto Canada, at the Lilliput Millinery shop within the grounds of the University there.

I got to watch the milliners in action, taking hats from form to finished.

One of my favorite warm fall days hats.

Backing up a bit...

Aren't these flaming bushes amazing?

They are blazing away in many SLC gardens right now; this one was planted in the parking lot of our favorite Indian food restaurant where we took Mom to lunch on Sunday October 13, the day before she left to go home.

(Catching up, in a most shockingly random manner!)

After lunch we drove up Cottonwood Canyon to Guardsman's pass, where all the Aspens had already passed their color prime.

This year autumn actually went faster color wise than usual.