A Time To Remember

Veteran's Section in a local Cemetery

This time of year--especially, this time of year-- I think about my dad telling of his experiences during the war when I was growing up. My grandmother called Memorial Day, Decoration Day. It was the one time each year when families went to the cemetery, cut grass, pulled weeds, planted flowers and put decorations on the markers. Over the years, each Memorial Day I usually attend a memorial service at one of the large cemeteries. Sometimes I stay for the full service. Sometimes, I wander the cemetery reading marker epitaphs. Most of the markers carry the Private or PFC inscription.

Both my dad and his brother served in World War II. Dad was part of the liberation of Paris. I can still see the old crinkled cut images of him in Paris with his buddy. After leaving the cemetery my uncle always got on the old upright piano in my grandmother's living room and played, "Under The Double Eagle". He played it in the USO facilities where ever he could find one. People liked to hear it played in those days.

Dad has his place of honor at the National Cemetery in Little Rock. As I see all the volunteers placing the American flags one foot in front of the headstones, I know that dad would be proud.
The Greater Dallas Veteran's Council do an excellent job in remembering and paying tribute to American Heroes as does all the volunteers in all the National Cemeteries. It really hits you when you see 4x4x4 parts baskets and/or containers filled with those American flags.

More than 6,800 American flags representing lives lost in Operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom and New Dawn.

 

New York Times Opinion

When you are young, you dream about things that sometimes stays with you for a lifetime. Some would say that is because no goals are set. To them, they know not what they say. They, as I call them, are the naysayers of social media and i-phones today. To them, I say: Shut up!

My goals that were set as a young boy, a teen, a college student, a young married have all been meet ten times over. I have no complaints. I have only praise.

 The difference between then and now is youth vs. old age.

 For the bible says in Ecclesiastes 3:1,

 "For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born,and a time to die;

a time to plant,and a time to pluck up what is planted;

a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time  to refrain from embracing;

a time to seek, and a time to lose;

a time to rend, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace."

From what I gather from this is that I have had my time  to be silent. Now, it is my time to speak. There were times after my divorce that I would say to my mom that she had escaped the 60's worries that moms had then with protesting kids. I was to busy working and going to school to be bothered with that stuff. "But, now--" I said, "I'm not gonna shut up!" We had a good laugh about that many times, but she knew what I meant. We had all weep together at one time and we had mourned. And now it was a time to dance. We would mourn again for my son and then laugh and dance together for the memories each of us had of him while he was with us. 

This morning, I read the most inspiring essay that I have read in a long time. It brought back many memories about dreams somewhat fulfilled but never achieved; dreams that were never meant to be fulfilled. As my uncle, The Reverend W.T. (True) Watson,would say, paraphrasing:"God will speak his wishes for your life if you will shut up long enough for HIM to tell you. Just listen to people over talk others today, from CNN reporters to their interviewees and many other media newscasters. Quickly, you see how no one is really listening anymore. 

This brings me to the topic about that essay. The essay appeared in the The New York Times Opinion Page. The essay is entitled: In Flight: Enroute from London to Tokyo, a pilot's-eyeview of life in the sky by Mark VanHoenacker, a senior first-officer of a 747 for British Airways.

Mark has published his first book: Skyfaring: A Journey with a Pilot" and you can link to his webpage at:                                               http:www.skyfaring.com

especially if you want to purchase the book direct. I would highly recommend reading the essay from the book that is published in The New York Times. The graphics are fantastic, the essay allows you to visualize on your own much of what he is experiencing as a pilot.

Anyone still young and dreaming of aviation as a career should read this essay and the book! If the good Lord wants you to fly as an aviator, He's telling you to check it out if you shut up and listen long enough (laughing).

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/05/14/opinion/14-in-flight-mark-vanhoenacker.html?_r=0

Unique Image Appears

Can you see the image in the wood?

The little bone was found in the cavity of the trunk of the tree. It appears to be a small rodent, which would imply that it had been carried there by a hawk, falcon or owl as food for either chicks or a nesting female.  The more interesting aspect of the wood, I think, is the "tiger head that appears to be coming out of the wood" just to the left and looking downward from the small while animal bone.

Quantum Mechanics and Other Topics

I am not a quantum physicist. Nor, do I ever claim to be one. But, it is a topic that has interested me since my college days and during the course of time since, actually, I have begun to understand a tiny bit (pardon that pun) of the Theory.  Not until I read an article in Quanta Magazine did it hit me just how much interest that I had in the topic and how the very laws of Quantum Mechanics have changed my life, my world, my total thinking. That is a heavy statement. It is, without reservation, true.

Yesterday, was another one of those  dark, gloomy and dingy days that I use to shoot textures and backgrounds. I don't do as much of those as I should. But somehow, I do manage to squeeze in four or five days every six months to do just that. Usually, those days fall into the dreary bin.

A few weeks back, I ran across a dumping pile for old trees and logs  that had been removed from somewhere else. A tree is good for two textures--the grain from the cut and the bark. Both make interesting backgrounds for graphic artist and web designers. Some are even becoming a focal point for the cutting-edge interior designers. So, the thinking was that if I could make one stop and get two separate backgrounds, the cost per mile would drop against any future sale.

When I got to the site, I was somewhat relieved to see them all still there. I parked the car and got out, camera in hand. As I approached the favorite piece that I had half-way chosen to be the best of the lot for texture shots, it was obvious that someone else had chosen it as well, as a pile of fresh sawdust lay on the ground and a fresh face cut was obvious that a slice had been taken away already.
Actually, the person who had come and gone with the cut, had aided me more than they knew.

When, I had the shots that I wanted, I walked over to the car and went into the little wood wine box that I carry little props and tools in for the tripod. Don't you see the entanglements and tensor networks going on here? It's quantum physics at work people!  Quantum entanglements--the glue that holds things together, including those tensor networks of the universe. They are all working together. That's why there are 1,000 parts on an Airbus A-380 that are made with a digital 3-D printer. Think glue baby, think glue! 

Now, think about how many years this tree was alive and of the history that passed over it; below it; through it, or within it. Time and Space. That tree is time and space. Somewhere in another dimension, that sawdust on the ground is still on that tree trunk. That's what Dr. Stephen Hawkins believes. Who am I to disagree?

54-inches side-to-side cut

The lesser diameter trunks and limbs

Logo Celebrates Birthday: M Line, New Track

The M Line Trolley alongside the new Richards Group Building in Uptown. Wow! That was a perfect location for the architecture!

Our Logo is already celebrating its 8th Birthday.

If you haven't ridden the M Line Trolley in a while or you haven't been paying attention to the construction of new rails in the pavement on the south side of Woodall Rodgers Expressway, be sure to check it out. You can now ride from City Place Uptown Station downtown and go to either side of Klyde Warren Park. The new track goes within a block of DART's stations on Pacific.

World Turtle Day Coming Up.

It has always amazed me how discoveries are made while doing mundane things like errands. I first noticed this on my trips to the cardiologist after my surgery. Then, I would discover things new and unexpected while picking up prescriptions at my local Walgreen's. Soon, my visits to the doctor began to become a seedbed of projects to photograph, I began to log them. Then, I began to track the images that were sold by my agent and stock houses. There was a direct relationship to the discoveries and sales for sure. Now, even when I go to the grocery store, I work my project list and save the grocery store to the last stop on my errand list. Why? I do not like soft ice cream when I take the lid off the container! And---before you ask---yes, I had a half-gallon melt before; not a pretty sight.

National Turtle Day: May 23,2015

The local 501(C) (3) is a 17-acre facility in Melissa, Texas. That's a bit north and east of McKinney.
North Texas Tortoise Sanctuary and Conservation Center.
The American Tortoise Rescue organization is in California. 

So, if  you are a fan of the number one pet in the world, don't forget to observe National Turtle Day this year. 

Herb and Gary Have Learned Well From Tom Braniff

Dallas has been lucky to have been the home to so many great airlines. Braniff International was a landmark at Love Field. American Airlines became the King of Dallas International and of course there is Southwest Airlines founded on a napkin by Dallas Attorney Herb Kelleher and a buddy. Braniff is gone now, but the old corporate offices at Love Field on the Lemmon Avenue side continues to be a part of the changing growth at Love.

Now that the brief history lesson is out of the way, it's time for the political flight to take off. I was just a kid when Braniff started painting their aircraft in wild, bright and eye-catching colors. No one had done that before. It was the talk of the town, so-to-speak. But, I know what an impression it made on me and being an old marketing guy, I've always remembered those days.

After American Airlines filed for bankruptcy, it was only a matter of time before the old AA eagle had to go. With  its fleet of old MD-80s  being the airlines workhorse and  badly needing to be  replaced, a new livery was on the horizon for American Airlines. 

The air begin to fill with excitement as to what the new livery would look like. American even set the first one down in Victorville, that no-mans land in the south of the Mojave Desert near that fairy-tale town on Apple Valley in California. Most aviation geeks set off the alarms almost the moment the wheels touched the runway and for sure by the time it parked on the tarmac. The word was out. "Ugly!";" It's Ugly! " the geeks cried. And--- no one paid any attention. The new livery  would, however, welcome the new American out of bankruptcy. Doug Parker rumors were that the new livery would only be a transition livery while American was merging with US Air and hope once again rose like a victory bonfire's smoke and shimmers of heat.Dud! It was a dud!

Even though Southwest had some colorful colors on it's planes, The ghost of Love Field rejoiced that color had returned to the runways at Love. At least one air line had once again painted the sky over Dallas with it's colorful planes. Tom Braniff must have been looking down on Love Field with a big smile on his face. Herb Kelleher had answered the call once again.

It became a new breath. Color had returned  with blues, oranges and reds. Not so much one color from  nose to tail but three! And Love Field's new upstart began to grow, and grow, and grow. Then, there was the  political roadblock to stop the growth because  DFW was the new wonder child. And that it was. It made a star of Dallas air routes. The need to bring back the focus to Love had an opportunity and splash some paint once more. This time with big orcas on the side of the plane or some other theme like the Texas state flag. And after being let down by American, Southwest and  Gary Kelly, being a CPA, knew how to charge off paint and make it pay. And it did!  Time and time again. People were talking again  about the color in the skies over Dallas. Then came the new livery for Southwest and every parking spot in the parking garage was filled at Thanksgiving and overflow lots were filled at Christmas, too. Love Field was alive and well and new terminals were under construction.

Now some folks will say that it was more than a paint job on an airplane. And I would have to agree that it was all true. Southwest is known to be a happy bunch--even when they work a picket line now and then. But deep down inside, we all know that the sky is filled with more color once again and it makes those that had seen Tom's planes start a revolution jump to the other side of the field  in the house that Herb built, paint shop and all!

The State of Florida and click on image to see a better view.