Reflecting on my parent's past

I've been watching WW II in HD. I have wept a lot. It is gruesome to watch, yet I feel like I am seeing first hand what my parents lived through, especially my dad as a B-17 navigator and bombardier. I am amazed at the stories told and photographed by the people who lived to tell them. My dad flew 50 missions over Italy, north Africa and Europe. I tried to see if any of the planes were El Diablo but I didn't see the name. Later I decided to google it and actually found a book that mentions El Diablo. I found a couple mentions but not the 347th squadron which my dad was in. I also found The 99th Bomb Group Historical Society. More serching and I just found some basic history of the 347th. My dad used to tell a lot of interesting stories. Too bad no one ever wrote them down.

My dad standing in front of the B-17 El Diablo

Been awhile...been busy

I'm always busy after the conference but that work is done now. The weather has been very mild for November. Today we cleaned the carpet. The weather was still mild enough to open the windows for awhile and hang a few items on the clothesline.

My son-in-law in Australia bought me some books! "Learning PHP5" and "JavaScript". They are both O'Reilly books. I'll never be a serious programmer like John but I am having fun adding some functions to my PHP forms. Eventually I hope to understand how to work with MySQL database, which is also included in the PHP book.

Back to normal

We got home yesterday. The kitties were SOOO happy to see us. They keep checking up on me to make sure I'm still here. Last night Sophie jumped on the foot of the bed, ran up along my side and meowed in my face, just one meow, then she left. It was so funny! Still trying to figure out what it meant. Do pets think their people got out and ran away?

This morning I picked up our dog, Trixie. She stayed with my daughter so she brought Trixie to work with her and I met her there. So now that we have eaten home cooked food gotten a good night's sleep we feel back to normal.

Now for some pictures:

The balcony outside our room

Looking toward the Inn

Saturday from the conference room---the sun peeked out for a few seconds

Sunday morning---fog on the lake

On the pier looking back at the Inn

One of four lakes at the Natchez Trace

Clouds reflecting in the water. So blue!!

And clear

Moss garden

Beaver work

Postcard perfect lake

Monday morning fog

Dad getting ready to leave.

We enjoyed the fresh air and quiet. The scenery was so beautiful!

Vincennes

We're staying in a better place this time. Also found a decent Mexican restaurant, La Fiesta. Home tomorrow. I miss my kitties!!!!!!!!!!

Natchez Trace State Park, TN

I started this post on Thursday the 15th. It's now Sunday, the 18th and we're still here! The weather for the conference was disappointing, chilly, damp and cloudy. Of course Sunday, the day everyone had to leave, was sunny and gorgeous. So...we didn't leave. I took lots of pictures but I'm not sure if I can edit them until I get home. I didn't install my editing software.

Back to the 15th:

We are here, tired, and about ready to grab something to eat. I hope it's sunny tomorrow so I can get a nice picture before my head is buried in all the conference work (didn't happen).

The drive down was rather unremarkable. Western Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee don't have the spectacular rock outcropping and cliffs. I saw field after field of corn and soybeans. We saw cotton in parts of Kentucky and Tennessee. The most unusual thing we saw was long, covered conveyor belts for moving coal to the railroads in western Kentucky. They undulated up over roads and down through farm fields for miles.

Thursday night the boss, vp and I sorted out all the shirt orders and stuffed the gift bags. Friday morning I set up the equipment area in the conference room. It was a long day so we crashed early and planned an early start on Saturday. The weather was cold and gloomy.

Dad and I finished all the equipment in time for dinner with the employees. We enjoy their company and honestly would rather talk than work. But that's "my marathon" I call it. I cleaned, checked and updated 19 laptops (I think---my list is packed) and printers. Dad cleaned all the inventory calculators.

Sunday (today) morning we packed up all the conference related stuff and decided to stay. We took several walks and ate yummy pizza from Sparky's in Lexington, TN, only about 10 minutes drive away. It's time to post this and head to bed. We must start home tomorrow!

An early Merry Christmas or...

...a late Anniversary gift. Either way, I was to the point that my carpal tunnel was driving me nuts, so I was either going to have to give up using the mouse, or stop using the computer. Guess what won.

Here it is---my new Wacom Bamboo. I have wanted a tablet for years.

In other news, Macey (left) and Murry say "Hi, don't bother us we're sleeping."

Aren't they cute. You can see Macey's extra thumbs.

Happy Anniversary

To dad and I---40 years!! Seems more like 20. I don't know how on earth we could have gotten to that number. Must mean that white-haired lady I keep seeing in the mirror must be me??? Well, I don't feel old, so that's what counts. Dad grilled steaks and we had baked potatoes with sour cream. I made onions and mushrooms sautéed in butter (the healthy stuff, not real butter LOL) to serve with the steak and blue cheese. Yummy.