Names...At A Cemetery

The day was perfect in many ways. The hot weather hadn't hit yet--a wonderful day to gather, and to remember. As we assembled at our parents's gravesite, I scanned the hillside, the lawn awash with beautiful colors of soft flowers and hard stones, with an occasional American flag here and there.

I took pictures.

Here are the names I saw.

Hansen and Loynd...

Welling, Stine, Springer, and Tilley...

Brady...

And Taylor...

And many others.

In my opinion, the Farmington City Cemetery is one of the most beautiful cemeteries anywhere. I am, of course, biased.

We'll return next year...where there'll be more names added to the field.

A Few Of The Flowers In Our Yard...

I've been taking pictures--and sharing the photos--of flowers in our yard, lately. And not just flowers--I've taken a lot of pictures of many things in our yard. That happens when we're home all the time. This afternoon we loaded up the car to head to the cemetery and I spotted a bouquet of flowers my wife gathered from the yard to take with us.

They were beautiful.

I don't know if it's because of the quarantine or just because we avoided it the past couple of years, but this spring we've spent a lot of time in the yard. I know, at least part of the work is influenced by the shut down. We've put in a garden--the biggest one we've planted in years. When you enter a store and see empty shelves--a first for me and my family--you think about things like growing your own food.

The daisies, the rose, the mini-irises, and other assorted flowers was a fitting tribute for my parents and my wife's father. Their graves are in our local cemetery. I know those three people loved this little town and I believe they appreciated seeing some of the beauty that's found here.

In a few weeks, some flowers will die and others will thrive. Eventually, the temperatures will cool, the daylight will shorten, and snow will blanket the land once again. But until then, I'm going to enjoy the beauty around me. And hopefully, so will others.

The National Geographic Channel's "The Mighty Eighth"...

I came across the show by accident last week, but it was almost over. So, I set the DVR to record it when it came on again. Today I watch it.

I'm glad I did.

It was the National Geographic Channel's The Mighty Eighth; Heroes of the Sky. 

There's been books written, movies filmed, documentaries made about the battles over the skies of Europe during World War Two. I watched the program with interest, you see, my father was one of those tens of thousands of soldiers who went to England and thankfully, he returned.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to ever talk to him about his experiences, and maybe he wouldn't even want to discuss it, but I think there would be some details he could tell his children about. He passed away when I was eight-years old, and a child had other things on his mind to ask his father.

The majority of the documentary focused on the problems the Eighth Air Corp had between 1942 and 1944 when they suffered huge losses. My father enlisted and was sent oversees in 1944, near the end of the war. I don't even know how many missions he flew, and being a tail gunner on a B-17, I wonder if he had any stories of engaging the enemy.

This weekend, we turn our attention to those who serve and bled and died for us. It's a debt that forever remains unpaid, because there's no way for us to repay it. Thanks Dad, for all you did, and thanks to the others who did the same.