The Weekend Roundup, 'B'

It is Friday so time for another round of a favorite meme, The Weekend Roundup, hosted by Tom. We are working with the second letter of the alphabet this week and we traverse a bit of history while doing so...

Starts with 'B', and a favorite, is Brothers. I hadn't seen my brother Chris (CP) in ages. He is USAF retired and lives in Utah and our paths rarely cross until a family wedding on June 30 where we were captured at the reception. CP is seated behind...

Of course, we Brothers were captured in the past too. Left is Jan. 1, 1983 when he completed basic training. To the right we met again at a family function, July 1992.

Another 'B' takes me back to when I was small and my dad was a travel writer for UPI in New York. An exciting job that paid little alas. However, I'm looking back to 1962 at the Berlin Wall, on the West Berlin side. My father looks so grim in these scenes. Look at the buildings flanking the wall - the windows were walled off so no East Berliner could jump to freedom in the West. A terrible era...

However, Berlin was reunified and in 1991, this sign says so. The American, British and French sectors were West Berlin (the Soviets had East Berlin). Can you guess who took this pic? It was my Brother CP! Have a great week.

The Weekend Roundup 'I'

It's been a rainy and windy nor'easter today in New England. But it is Friday, so time again for Tom's fun meme The Weekend Roundup (hope you are enjoying the Aloha State :) This week's letter took a bit of searching in the archives but examples were found...

There is Industrial. This is the defunct Ansonia Copper and Brass, closed in 2013. However, our small city owns this complex now, will be demolished, the land remediated and be open for development within the next couple of years...see the slideshow below the photos to see the beginning of an Industrial revival..

This slideshow I created showcases this old Industrial factory in its faded glory...

Another 'I' is Itasca State Park in Minnesota. Lake Itasca is the headwaters of the mighty Mississippi River that travels over 2,300 miles (3,700 km) to the Gulf of Mexico. You can wade across the river as I did in 1983 - I was walking then and I did! These pics are from 1983.

Inside. I looked around and around - and chose when I was Inside my van. Patti took it from the passenger seat along upper State Street in New Haven. 

Here are beautiful stained glass windows Inside St. Margaret Mary Church in South Windsor CT. Aloha Tom!

The Weekend Roundup 'F'

Tom hosts the fun meme The Weekend Roundup, and I am ready with a few blasts from the past to take cars of this week's favorite letter at least :)

Begins with 'F' starts with Family, this being the Villers family of East Hartford, CT. This I believe to be Eater Sunday 1969 with all seven children. (one more since 1964 and last week's post there were only six). Note the late '60s hair and with my gold blazer and turtleneck...where's the chain?

Then there is a Field where I stand in 1983. Guess where the field is? It is in Fargo North Dakota!

Another 'F' is Flat. The day was July 30, 1983, the place is the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, the flat are the two tires on the starboard side of a United Airlines 737 from Chicago. The flat occurred upon landing at MSP. I captured this as we awaited the bus...It just felt like a flat tire on your vehicle  

Finally there is Ford, this being another view of my Ford E-150 van that I had from 1998-2010. It was a great vehicle but really big and used a lot of gas. I donated it with 158,000 miles (254,000 km). It had at least another 100K miles of life in it, a very durable vehicle indeed...

Flower. Here is a flower (weed) growing through a rock. quite a feat I'd say! This is at the Savin Rock by Long island Sound in West Haven, CT.

Favorite. The always lovely Patti captured tis Blue Jay taking off from the roof. 'I'm outta here' he seems to say! Have a great week!

Friday Hunt 2017.2.16

It has been interesting week with our son in Brooklyn having a major operation to repaired fractured his hip in a bicycling accident and will be convalescing back home (he already works from home with a company supplied laptop and phone).

So happily, reality can be swept aside and I can enjoy this week’s great Meme, Friday Hunt, kindly hosted by Teresa. On to the prompts…

Starts with P. This letter has lots of possibilities. On Top, the always lovely Patti as a passenger taking a photograph. In the middle, the iconic Eiffel Tower in the city of light, Paris. Our daughter Allegra captured this on a tour bus when on a school trip. Finally, we are grilling Portuguese Bread along with Pork and dining on our Patio. This is a Pretty good selection of the letter P :)

Surprise. I did have to look around and this looks like surprise to me anyway - and to Allegra at her second birthday party with her mom adding to the surprise. Or not, perhaps this is the first time she had to blow out the candles…

Looking up. Well, true to my blogging namesake, it would be in the air. Both pics were scanned from prints from decades ago - and they are planes (another ‘p’), First is from 1983 a USAF C5-A approaching Runway 24 at Bradley International (Hartford CT). Below that was at an air show in 1985, and it is a wing walker. Naturally, I had to look up to catch movement in the sky. Great prompts this week Teresa!

Friday Hunt 2017.2.4

Friday arrives as does a favorite meme, Friday Hunt hosted by Teresa. The prompts are intriguing, and I am ready!

Starts with D. I have chosen a vehicle that starts with ‘D’: Dodge. In fact, I have owned a few, and Grandpa had many of them too. Clockwise from left: Grandpa’s 1947 Dodge with Dad and Aunt Terry, likely on US 40; My first new vehicle, a 1979 Dodge Omni late that year; my second Dodge and first wheelchair driver vehicle, a 1989 Dodge B250 4/20/1996; My current ride, a 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan with Braun wheelchair conversion. A bunch/flock/gaggle of ‘D’s...

Favorite. This is an old pic posted before that I had to capture. The scenario is sitting in the starboard side of Delta flight 674 - on 3 January 1981, about 6:45 AM between Atlanta and Philadelphia. The old Canon rangefinder captured the winter sun starting to rise. This is a bit pixelated perhaps, but a favorite of mine.

Photographer’s choice. In 1983, I captured a friendly Dog named Brandy, a nice golden retriever drying off after a swim in Big Stony Lake in northwest Minnesota. She looks to have enjoyed the water, and I am partial to the blurry canoe approaching the shore. A nice dog, day and memory!