For The Archives -- Family Note -- March 15, 2024

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Forty-seven years ago, on a Saturday, May and I were driving from west Los Angeles to Las Vegas to get married. Since then, two children and "most" of our married life in Europe. Not necessarily in time but in memories. Thirteen consecutive years overseas -- May says fourteen -- and all of it in Europe except two years in Asia -- yeah, it's hard to believe but eastern Turkey is part of Asia. In fact, east Turkey is in a world of its own.

It's not uncommon for military 20-year and 30-year veterans to have an "I Love Me" wall after leaving the service. I never did. I threw out a lot of my USAF memorabilia after I retired, keeping just the "best" memorabilia. Somewhere along the line I lost my most prized possession but it no longer matters to me. And it's possible it's still in one of the boxes in the garage that hasn't been opened. I quit posting on Facebook years ago, but occasionally I check in with the Bitburg (Germany) Air Base group that is very, very active on Facebook. Photos of USAF a/c still bring back a lot of memories. Especially the F-15, the F-111, and the B-52. I do have a wall in the Bat Cave devoted to USAF plaques and photos.

Soccer granddaughter Olivia, along with her dad and boyfriend, Will, are returning home after a week of roughing it -- camping and hiking -- in Big Bend National Park. To some degree -- but much, much different -- it reminds me of the summer after graduating from college that I hitchhiked to NYC from Williston, ND, flew to Europe, and spent two months or so walking across Europe, meeting up with family friends for two weeks in a VW bus from Italy to Portugal via the Mediterranean coast. Had smart phones been around then, I would have documented the trip a whole lot better. But fortunately I did keep a journal.  

It looks like we'll be celebrating our older daughter's birthday a few days early. 

Huge thunderstorm and tornado (?) and hailstorm in our immediate area overnight. No damage in our neighborhood, but today will be a miserable day to be outside.

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The Home Library Page

Today, I will be reading a bit from the quarterly, Claremont Review of Books, the winter 2023 / 2024 issue which just arrived yesterday. It seems 75% of the articles are just "repeats" of everything "they've" written about for years. It gets tedious. Nothing to suggest any "evolution" in thinking over the decades. No new ideas. Thomas Paine and Benjamin Franklin seem more interesting than most of what's in the Claremont any more. I originally subscribed for the book reviews, and thankfully, a couple of book reviews in this issue might be worth reading.

Max Boot's 2018 The Road Not Taken is absolutely fascinating. A must-read for those who were 18 to 28 years old back during the Vietnam War days. I guess the Baby Boomers and a few early / older Gen Xers. After that, no one seems interested. In fact, those 18 to 28 years old in 1965 means birth years betweenn 1947 and 1957 which means solidly baby boomers and not even Gen Xers. I suppose WWI is to me what Vietnam is for Sophia, age 10. 

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Word for the Day

 Caesura: think Covid. A "pause."

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Breakfast

Remnants of pie day -- 3-14:

One of the reasons grocery prices don't seem so high for me: compare what you at your grocery store to what you pay when you go out to eat.

When I was growing up, certainly until I was 15 years old, going out to eat was very, very special. I must have been twelve years old when I had my first pizza. No hyperbole. 

A slice of pie for dessert today might cost me $4.50 at a nice restaurant in our neighborhood. This lemon meringue pie gave us eight generous slices and cost $7.99 -- a dollar a slice, or 8 x $4.50 = $36 at a restaurant not including tax, tip, and other fees.