Last Thursday was the ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. It was a most honorable and respectful tribute to my father's service to our country as an Air Force doctor. The horse drawn caisson carried his ashes to the columbarium as the band played and the honor guard marched. The rifle salute, the playing of taps... the flag folding ceremony and lastly the placement of his urn in its final resting place. It was a moving ceremony with so much dignity and respect.




Friday was back to "normal" life with my second kitchen design consultation.. which went great and will be the design I move forward with at this point. I will have to start working on the before pictures, so I can show the transformation. That night I got to enjoy a wonderful chorus performance by AM's oldest.. Swing Time. They all looked and sounded so grown up already.




Monday was the annual charity golf tournament for the Changing Focus group that I was facilitating with for many years. This was the first year without my dad, but we had purchased a hole sponsorship sign in honor of him. I was also playing with the clubs he had handed down to me last year. AM, her usual fearless self, joined me along with Anne and Dan to make our all blogger foursome! (Maybe a first for this tournament). We enjoyed the beautiful day and occasionally hit a ball in the right direction. (I actually had a tee shot that bounced off a tree and landed behind me!) Since it was best ball, we all had fun.

And of course.. it has been a wonderful year since I met AM at this event. We have blogged through our adventures, and shared many stories, family events, injuries, and other less painful moments. ;-) I feel so lucky to have found her and to be able to share in her life with her great kids, family and friends. It truly is a happy anniversary!

It's been a long time since I posted... wondering what has been keeping me busy? Equestrian cluster ballooning! It's a new hobby of my daughters... she must have heard about it somewhere. OK, no one will buy that.. I get nervous enough when she is jumping 2 ft off the ground on that horse! ;-)

Actually, it has been more mundance. Have had several new web site clients so trying to design and architect those have been sucking up my evening hours. Of course the usual house chores and the constant grass cutting have not helped either. I have also become an occasional lacrosse fan on my trips to Bowie, that is a fun game to watch.

Oh.. and the kitchen project. I have spent about 6 hours with the Home Depot folks and have a pretty good handle on the design and rough costs. Going to work through another group in the next week or so to get a second opinion. I have only made a few aesthetic decisions so far.. going to rely on my dear one for those choices. :-)

Next week is my dad's inurnment (I did not know that was a word) at Arlington, then on Cinco de Mayo is the annual charity golf tournament that we used to play in every year. He could not play last year, but that is the night I met AM, so that is a very happy memory to take into this year's event. We have a foursome of bloggers playing.. I wonder if that will help in any way?

Off to bed.... I'm tired!

Another lovely weekend... well, it was the company, not the weather. Enjoyed dancing to the Crayfish on Friday night, a nice dinner out with friends C&C on Saturday. We went back to Jerry's seafood to partake of the crab bomb. These things are not cheap, but they are good! I was always partial to eating hard crabs, picking the meat out, so cannot say I am an expert on crab cakes.. but I have to think these are some of the better ones around. Sunday, started off with a lovely children's sermon delivered by AM. I really enjoy watching her interact with the kids and the congregation, always coming up with a creative way to make the lesson appeal to their young minds. I had to slip out early to get up to the farm for a schooling show my daughter decided to enter about the middle of last week. It was a rainy, muddy day... but she did well and tied for first in her class. Another blue ribbon for the collection!

That afternoon, the next home improvement adventure began, I spent a few hours trying to design my new kitchen with the Home Depot folks. We made some good progress.. but much still to do. I am going to be doing a work-with program I have found with a local contractor. I hope I am up for this.. it will be a big project and I am barely finding time to cut the grass at the moment (but that is more weather-related). I will undoubtably be blogging about this in the coming months. Maybe Anne will be able to commiserate ;-)

On to another work week... so probably not too much to blog about :-)

Things are getting back to normal a bit around here. Back at work for a full week this week. I have received so many cards, e-mails, comments of support.. it has been wonderful. Thanks to all of you! And a special thanks to AM for her support and compassion... she is truly outstanding. :-)

I have been trying to come up with my MiMe, or minimalist memoir. The rules are as follows:
1. Write your own six-word memoir
2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like.
3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post.
4. Tag five more blogs with links.
5. And don’t forget to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!

Mine is

Avid collector of multidimensional mental souvenirs
(hard to get exactly 6 words) ;-)
But alas, I don't know 5 people to tag that have not been tagged already.

Now, onto funny April Fool's stuff... did anyone hear the NPR piece about the IRS today? It's a few minutes long.. but so well done it had me fooled for a while... Click to Listen or you can read the story at Public Radio's Marketplace web site.

There was also some fun stuff for sale on ThinkGeek. My favorite was the Betamax to HD-DVD converter - one defunct technology to the other :-)

The only person who played a joke on me today was my daughter.. who told me as we drove to the farm that she got a science test back today and apologetically told me she got a 20 out of 100 on it. She had me for a moment... April Fools!

I have been tagged to do a MiMe, but will have to come back to that another day. It's been a week of ups and downs. We had a wonderful few days off checking out local sites, theater events, tagging along on AM's work assignments, just general much needed relaxation.


We were on our way back from Frederick on Sunday and stopped by to visit my dad. It was unplanned and we arrived to find him having a hard time breathing and plans to go to the hospital were underway. After a brief visit, we helped get him and his stuff to the car and on his way.

We visited him that night, then again on Monday and Tuesday when he was transferred to the ICU. He was on a respirator and sedated, but able to communicate some between doses. He has always feared being stuck on a respirator, and he had been on one for two weeks a bit over a year ago. His COPD was determined to be the problem, possibly a few silent heart attacks that had further reduced his cardiac capacity, and there were impending kidney problems. Honoring his request, we had the respirator removed on Wednesday night, around 8 pm. His sister and brother-in-law, wife, myself and AM were there to give our love and support. With him comfortable and under sedation, I stayed with him until he passed at 11:50 this morning surrounded by loved ones.

I have been lucky to only have known a few people to die in my lifetime, some tragic, some expected.. but watching the end of his life, knowing how he has struggled with his illness, cancer, lack of energy, chemotherapy, and more... I saw him at peace and at rest. It was a sad, vivid moment that I will always remember, but there was also a sense of calm, knowing he had a wonderful life and that his wishes were done, and his physical battles were over.

Thanks for all you have taught me Dad.. I love you!

The taxes are done! Since we share joint custody of our daughter, we also take turns claiming her as a dependent. This is my year, so I look forward to a sizable increase over last years refund. Wonder who I can spend it on? 200 lbs of chocolate peanut butter fudge perhaps? Would make an impressive Easter basket!

Looking forward to the start of Spring Break this weekend. Going to take some time off and bounce around the area... checking out new places, restaurants, etc... should be fun and relaxing, just what we need. :-)

This past weekend, the farm (remember that place? I think I have mentioned going there once or twice before) had a dressage clinic. So was there bright and early, with one hour less sleep for DST, and several hours less sleep for finishing the taxes. So I guzzled my coffee and got a few photos. The daughter won her class and got another ribbon for the fire hazard display growing in her room.

Tonight was Living History at the school. Not sure how widespread this is, but it is a very interesting program. The kids have been working over the last few months to research, write a script, practice, and get a costume and props together. Tonight they performed for their classmates and the gathered parents. They were all nervous (mine especially), but I could see the sense of accomplishment and relief on each one as they finished. It was an informative, entertaining event. My daughter played Eleanor Roosevelt and her friend played Marian Anderson. They did great! :-)

Why do they do this? I had it programmed into my car, helping me calm down in the Washington D.C. traffic, but after 14 years, my jazz station changed formats and went to the Oldies. I must have missed the memo! Oh well.. my new to me car now has a new to me XM radio, so I can still listen to what I need to get me through those trying commutes. I am still trying to figure out my favorite stations.. which one's do you like (for those of you with XM)?

Tonight it was a delayed return, by way of the Kennedy Center. My daughter's middle school percussion ensemble was selected to play there as part of the Music in Our Schools program. It was a challenge for everyone to get there, but she had wonderful support in her performance from friends and family. While she did not seem to act like it was that big a deal, we all thought it was pretty cool. You can watch the performances from their website (My daughter's group is the second school.. the one's without guitars) You can almost see her in the photo.. ;-)


On my way into the performance, I got an e-mail that informed me that I was selected employee of the month! Not sure what special things I did in February that warranted such recognition, but it was nice just the same! Wonder what I should do with my extra day off? Suggestions?