Looks like the electrical problems with 97 Charlie have been fixed and I'm flying again. Cause for celebration. Unfortunately this good news is counterbalanced by the fact my fiancee has had to head back up north and prepare for the coming school year which starts next week. She's only a couple hours away by car--45 minutes by aeroplane--but might as well be on the other side of the world. This summer was to be an experiment in our tolerance for one another. Some may say you need more than a summer, but I don't. We spent a lot of quality time together and really got to know each other well. I'm happy to say I've hit the jackpot. My condolences to all the suckers who blew their chances with her. You lose, jags.
All kidding aside, we really did want to see if we'd get sick of each other. Not that we were necessarily looking to, but we wanted to live like a regular dating couple for a while and see if anything changed. Lots did. I ended up proposing and fell deeper in love with her than I ever thought possible. No, we're not the perfect couple but we're perfect for each other. February won't get here soon enough for me.
Nuff bout that . . . for now.
I watched some of the Gaza strip evacuation on the news this morning. Simply heart rending. I don't think you have to take sides on the issue to simply be moved by the scene of young Israeli soldiers having to forcibly remove their countrymen from what had been their home. I know the soldiers had to be torn in two. You could see them earnestly pleading with the demonstrators to come along peacefully as they were being pelted by trash, water and fists. I watched one gently help an elderly protester re-tie his prayer box (I think that's what it's called) before removing him. You could see the respect in his face for the old man, who was pleading with him, but he had his orders. I saw other soldiers take blows to the arms and head but never lash back in anger. Some of them may have returned a shot, but I never saw it happen. In some cases you'd see them weeping with the demonstrators as the took them out. I sincerely hope this whole thing was worth the price and bears some fruit on the road to peace there.
Finally, do any of you know if The Great Raid is coming to Champaign? I'm anxious to see this movie after reading Ebert's take on it. I was pretty sure it would be good from what I saw in the trailers and I'm somewhat familiar with the story. Plus I like Joe Finnes. I think he's a fantastic actor. Most remember him from his portrayal as the Gwyneth Paltrow shagging Bard in Young Shakespeare in Love. His best performances, however, were in Enemy at the Gates and Luther. The later is a fairly condensed version of Martin Luther's life but it is extremely well done and will make you want to learn more about this monumental figure whether you're a Christian or not.
I leave you with a few pics from adventures with 97 Charlie in celebration of its return to flight.
Stripey Plane, Stripey Shirt, Real Pilot--Your New Wallpaper
Profile Shot
Short Final at Morris
Mighty Mississip'
Copilot Curt
Copilot Clay
Downtown St. Louie
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5 comments:
Those are some of the cutest co-pilot pics I've seen! :) But the pilot is the one who is oh-so-cute! Sorry to make people gag, but what can I say...I love this guy!
Yep, I'm back in teacher-mode, but I did get told tonight by two former students that I'm "awesome" because I'm engaged to Larry (who I'm not sure they've ever met, but they've seen him fly over their houses before b/c they live by the airport). I considered all that to be a compliment & getting a compliment from a student who is no longer sucking up hoping for a better grade doesn't happen every day! I'll take what I can get! :)
In other news, will those of you down in Champaign take LD out for dinner & drinks from time to time to make the time between now & February fly by for him? Thanks!
Hey Uncle Lar!
The boys will be thrilled when I show them their pics on the 'puter in the morning! Maybe even as excited as they were when they saw you in that training video on-line. ("Wook at Warry's head popping up there", said the little one!) Pretty Cool!
It sounds like we will be doing mom's & Joe's b-days on the 28th @ mom's. The young VdW's should have a new baby by then, too. Will we see you up here that weekend then, too? Maybe, huh?
Anyway -- Cool blog. I watched some of that same Gaza footage this morning and it choked me up, too. We cannot even imagine that kind of reality, can we?
(BTW - they are called tephillin [prayer boxes]) -- I don't know why I know that. Must've picked up something in college -- nothing to prepare me much for what I am doing now (raising little men) -- unless one of them needs to do a report on Judaism for school. And, then he'd probably just "google it" before he asked me, anyway. ;)
Have a good weekend! :)
Hey Dar (and boys-that includes you Joe),
Don't know for sure if I'll be up the weekend of the 28th but I probably will since I'm sure Laurie will want to be up there for the festivities. Tell Joe my shoulder was sore for a week after our little celebration of 2nd Ammendmant rights the other weekend. Also, I've got a couple more pics of the boys from that trip out to your place. I'll try to remember to email them.
See ya' soon . . .
i'm impressed with redfreckledmom's jewish vocab!
The picture of downtown St. Louis is great!
-Libby
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