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Home » What are you doing…

What are you doing…

The New Neo Posted on by

…Memorial Day weekend?

Something fun, I hope.

As for me, I might take off for some nature-gazing, but other than that I have no particular plans.

Comments

What are you doing… — 39 Comments

  1. Live music, dancing. Social happy hour for the ski&social club. Bicycling? Live music, dancing. Recorded music and lots of swing dancing. Live jazz group, no dancing.

    The West Coast Swing club of Santa Cruz is joining up with my local dance club on Saturday. Should be interesting.

    Then my knee has sort of blown up on me. Maybe I’ll just eat a bunch of ibuprofen.

  2. Thanks to my rites of passage at Santa Cruz High School, I can and shall apply my exhaustive comprehension of the English language to writing further politically incorrect doggerel derogating such intellectual misinformation as is employed by purveyors of totalitarian measures which purport to conscript us all into their desperate battle against global warming by abolishing use of our most practical and valuable means of providing the Industrial Age with affordable energy.

  3. In our affluent suburb of Minneapolis, so many head north for their cabins that the neighborhood gets blessedly quiet on summer holiday weekends. (We never got ourselves a cabin.) Now, on these quiet weekends, we say, “staying home is the new ‘up north.’”

    We will be blissing out around home for two days, and attending the service at Fort Snelling on Monday. (Oh, and babysitting our one-year-old grandson while his parents are at a wedding—part of the blissing out, actually.)

  4. Sorry, Neo, but Memorial Day hasn’t been fun for me for years. I will be taking some time to remember my dad, who was a WWII veteran who died suddenly of a heart attack on Memorial Day weekend in 1964. It’s a tough holiday for me every year because of the coincidence.

    I will also be thinking of my uncles (one Army, one Navy, one USAAF) who also served in WWII; of the cousin who served in Vietnam and committed suicide after a head injury; of the two great-great-grandfathers who served in the Civil War (Pennsylvania volunteer regiments). I will remember them not to glorify war but to thank them for trying to preserve a country that is presently tearing itself apart. I have an obligation to them to do my best to hand on what they gave to me.

    On a lighter note– I’ll probably spend some time with friends and watch a baseball game– and I do sincerely wish all of Neo’s readers a pleasant and enjoyable weekend wherever they are.

  6. The view out my window is of a convergence zone that I call the cloud factory. Over the years I have taken at least 10,000 pictures of sunsets, sunrises, clouds and lots of rainbows. Starting last year, I have been recording the sky 24/7. A total 64 gb per day.

    Here is a recent video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzXpWQNhdDA

    Here is a new video from images recorded last year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XQDjnSqfLk

    If you are wondering about the shimmering vibrating colors, that is a physical filter created by a local artisan. A video of the process is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goo5oDgIjOI

  7. What to do. Being a confirmed introvert … stay the heck out of the way and quietly contemplate the abundance of the ‘volunteer’ gardens… really amazing this year. Stay safe and happy everyone : )

  8. PA Cat, what regiments? One of my great-grandfathers served in the 140th Pennsylvania.

    We’re going to have a washout here tomorrow and Sunday. Got the lawn mowed and a whole bunch of trimming done, filled up on groceries, and we will do inside tasks and watch the downpour from front and back porches.

  10. We’ll host my nephew for lunch, who was three months old when his Marine officer father was KIA in Vietnam in 1967.

  11. We won’t be going much of anywhere, but staying around the house, gardening, staining the new deck addition, and enjoying the beautiful PNW weather this weekend (there’s not much else to enjoy here these days…but it IS beautiful!).

  12. IS, what you said and I think I understand.
    I am going to do lots of yard work, got behind because we did a 2 wk cruise May 5 to 17.
    After reading comments, I started to think of my Dad, WWII Navy, and my Father in Law, 82nd WWII.
    I will visit my Mom and Dad’s grave Sunday. Mom was a Farm Girl from IL and worked in ammo factory in SF and Mother in Law a Farm Girl from Alabama who went to DC and worked in some Govt agency. So they too served.
    I will think of my Great Grandfather and his 3 brothers, wore the Butternut. Two died and two didn’t.
    And I will think of Virgil Williams of CO who died in VN. And others I knew that came back crippled.
    I will think of the Men and Women who have served and sacrificed to make AMERICA

  13. Kate–

    My great-great-grandfathers served in the 173rd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, which was recruited from Perry and Luzerne Counties. Most of my mother’s side of the family moved to Lancaster in the 1920s, with her older brother and younger sister staying in Perry County. My dad’s side of the family came from the southeastern part of Lancaster County– a small town called Christiana, on the border with Chester County. I must have been genetically programmed to prefer small towns and small cities to large metropolises.

    Hope you have a pleasant weekend in spite of the rain. Sunny weather is forecast here for all three days of the holiday weekend– but it’s New England, so anything could happen.

  14. Fun for me anyway. Started creating the components I’ll need for my next two paintings. Up to now it’s been planning.

    And I’ll probably take Sunday to write.

  15. SHIREHOME–

    Your father-in-law and my dad served in the same division in WWII– the “All American” 82nd Airborne. I have a photo album that includes pictures of my dad taken at Fort Bragg, then Camp Claiborne, and then Camp (now Fort) Hood before he shipped overseas to North Africa in 1942. He was older than most of his buddies– he turned 30 in September 1942– but he looks so very young in those photos. He was only 51 when he died.

  17. My father died of lymphoma in 2019. I was surprised to see his radiation related medical claims were handled by the DOJ rather than the VA. He was on a SAC select crew on a B-36 (the last B-36) and took fallout samples after some of Operation Redwing nuke tests.

    Redwing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Redwing

    The last B-36 http://www.ub88.org/researchprojects/b36peacemaker/thelastb36/the-last-b-36.html

    They played three pieces of music at his funeral.
    ‘Taps’ of course. ‘Off We Go Into The Wild Blue Yonder’ and because he was former SAC ‘The Air Force Takes Command’

    This the only version I have found in YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkjDaVvYS_Y

  18. Please consider the meaning and moment of this “holiday”..
    Take a moment to find a poem written by Maj. Michael O’Donnell titled
    “Letters from Pleiku”..
    For me on many levels this is the reflection that is so often overlooked..I will as always remember my fallen Brothers in arms.

  19. Not much, but I’ll be riding in the Vermont Thunder ride, which is the state version of Rolling Thunder, down in DC.

  20. Taking my kayak down the Snohomish River to the sea, then taking my lady wife out to dinner.

  21. A couple of coworkers and I have decided on the location of our Memorial Day hike. I hope to get caught up on journaling otherwise.

  22. We have son’s and dil’s children (two girls, 11 and 8) tonight through Sunday while their parents attend a very close friend’s wedding. The weather looks amazing here in southern Maine so we will likely spend some time at the beach. Memorial Day parade Monday then golf in the afternoon.

  23. Dear Neo-

    I suggest that you attend a local commemoration of some sort where you see the veterans, hear a speaker, and listen to someone read the names of those local boys “who gave up their tomorrows so we could enjoy today.”

    That’s what I want to do: 1. It’s been a while; and 2. I miss my father, my uncles, and my cousins who are no longer with us.

    And here is a story about my dad:
    I once received a call from the lady who cleaned his condo. She told me he was crying as he talked about a soldier who died in Korea. I asked, “Did he jump on a live grenade?” She said, “Yes.” I responded, “He does this every once in a while. Sgt. Donald R. Moyer was a good soldier that Dad knew in his unit. After Dad rotated out in May 1951, Sgt. Moyer led an infantry assault on a well-defended hill. As they carried the hill and took a breather, an enemy soldier threw a grenade right into the middle of the squad. Sgt. Moyer died there.

    Sgt. Moyer’s family in Michigan received his Medal of Honor. Dad rarely talked about combat and seldom spoke of death, but he would mourn Sgt. Moyer and never mentioned another casualty by name. For Dad, Sgt. Moyer represents all the suffering and death of that terrible war. All the sadness is compacted into one name and one event.

    Your blog has meant a lot to because we love many of the same things.

    May the Lord bless you and keep you….

  24. PA-CAT, my Father in Law was also 30 in 1942, born May 2, 1912. He was from PA too. He was in the 504th Parachute Regiment. Old Men doing a young mans job. Richard Long. He died in 1999, age 87. My Wife has some of his kit, an a few souvenir’s from the war.

  25. AesopSpouse and I, along with our mission cohort here at the Wyoming Mormon Trail Sites, will spend the week-end finishing preparations for the opening of our Trek Season, after which we will be ready (we hope) to host the youth groups coming up to experience a small taste of what the pioneer emigrants faced coming west pulling handcarts.
    We will run up to 4 groups of 150 people a day, 4 days a week, until the end of August when they all go back to school.
    Gonna be even busier than the last 6 weeks of training and bringing the facilities up to par after a very long, snowy winter, and I’ve been long out of the habit of working so hard! Some of our trails are still under-water, so we are hoping the snow-melt will end soon, and the rains will be moderate for awhile.

    @ James > “All the sadness is compacted into one name and one event.”

    What a poignant observation about your very tender story.

    Our family was fortunate not to lose any near relatives of my parent’s generation in WWII (and thereafter: my FiL flew fighter jets in the next two wars and lived past 90, which kind of negates the old saw that there are no old, bold pilots), but they never talked about any of their experiences to us kids. I strongly suspect all of them witnessed something similar to your Dad.

    I appreciate your reminder to reflect on the reason for the coming holiday, and honor those “who gave up their tomorrows so we could enjoy today.”

    I would also like to add a heart-felt “ditto” to your blessing on Neo and this blog-space, which helps keep me from totally freaking out about the state of the world, and the country.

    With so many good people around, the situation doesn’t seem quite so dire.

  26. We are getting a puppy! Our beloved Miniature Schnauzer, Scooter, died on February 10 from liver cancer, just a few weeks short of his 15th birthday. So, we go Sunday afternoon to select a new one.

  27. Lots of thoughts, lot’s of viewpoints in the comments. That’s good.
    Remember.
    Enjoy.

  29. History of US wars:
    1776-1781-just
    1812-just
    1861-65-unjust. More Americans died in that needless war than in all other US wars combined. There were other solutions. The South was stupid to fire the first cannon and start the conflict which it could not win.
    1898- unjust but profitable.
    1916-18 World War I ; unjust. We had no dog in that fight.
    1941-45 World War II: just
    1950-53 Korean War: just, but MacArthur was reined in by Truman, a presidential error, allowing communist China to survive.
    1955-75 Vietnam War, won by N. Viet communists via US propaganda, not military means; just
    1983 Grenada (invasion, not war): just
    Finally the Iraq and Afghani Wars (just, but mismanaged), which I need not tabulate. Nor the domestic Indian Wars.

    It offends me that our seriously injured vets need special housing built for them by a private foundation. Great Federal gratitude.

  30. desertowl
    In our affluent suburb of Minneapolis, so many head north for their cabins that the neighborhood gets blessedly quiet on summer holiday weekends. (We never got ourselves a cabin.) Now, on these quiet weekends, we say, “staying home is the new ‘up north.’”

    My west-central Illinois grandparents had two vacation options for Memorial Day through Labor Day. 1) A cabin on a creek several hundred yards from the Mississippi. My grandfather built a catamaran for cruising the Mississippi.
    2) Minnesota North Woods. The house trailer my grandfather built (nearly state-of-the-art back in the ’30s) could be taken up to the Minnesota North Woods, though most of the time they rented a cabin.

  31. Memorial Day is my day to remember and honor the men I knew who gave their lives in service to the nation.

    My uncle Larry was killed while flying bombing missions over Germany in WWII.

    Four squadron mates and three close friends were killed while flying in Vietnam.

    For many years I felt guilt that I had survived. Over time I learned that my job as a survivor is to remember and honor the memory of them as long as I live. Along with all the hundreds of thousands of others who died serving this great nation, they mean a lot to our history. I will fly my flag, think about each of them, say a prayer of remembrance, and give thanks that we have patriots who are willing to serve and fight for our rights.

    It’s a very special day for me. I hope it is for all Americans.

  32. My mobility is very limited anymore (86 next birthday) so I never got to try to find my great uncle’s grave. I had plans to find it but never was able to go. Here is his last letter.

    A letter to his wife by William Kennedy May 22, 1863.
    Floating Hospl Nashville
    Near Vicksburg
    May 17th 1863
    Dear Wife,
    I take this opportunity of writing you a few lines to inform you of my health. I received a wound in my left arm but it is doing well and I expect to go home as soon as the rush is over, they are not taking any up the river now but the worst cases, you need not worry about me for I am in a good place and when I go up the river I may have to stay at week or two before getting a chance to go on home. I received two letters from you while on the Black River on Sunday night and on Monday we established our lines around Vicksburg, we had them completely surrounded before there was a gun fired. The action commenced on Tuesday and had been kept up ever since. Sometimes very hard fighting and sometimes light. I was wounded on the 22nd while getting supplies to the Regiment. I was sent to this Hospital by way of the Yazoo and arrived here the night of the 23rd with about 350 others, the rest of the Lasalle boys were all safe the last I heard from them hoping these lines may find you in good health I bring this to a close from your absent
    W.J. Kennedy
    P.S. do not worry or fret about me for I am doing well and will go up the river in a few days

    He died June 2nd, 1863.
    His wife was informed by a letter from the sister of the man in the next bed. It rained the day he was buried in Memphis and his name was washed off the casket. He is in an “unknown” grave there.

    The last attempt to take Vicksburg by assault was May 22 and that was the day he was wounded. Grant then settled down to a siege which ended with surrender on July 4.

    I had hoped to look for an “unknown” grave with the date and his unit, which was the 55th Illinois Volunteers.

  33. Mike K, so many died in hospitals or in makeshift surgeries. Our own family lore has it that my great-grandfather, wounded at Petersburg, by then a captain because of the attrition in his unit, acquired a pistol, smuggled in by his men, in the battle surgery. The surgeon approached to cut off his leg; Capt. Linton pulled the pistol and said, “You start cutting, I start shooting.” The surgeon shrugged and passed to the next patient. The captain survived and served through to Appomattox.

  35. Thanks, Mike K. — And besides military hospitals, just think of how many women died following childbirth before the procedure of having midwives or doctors wash their hands before delivery became common!

  36. Remembering Gerard, do we know what finally happened with his kitty? I am sorry to be distressed by lack of closure, on such a solemn point of the year…

  37. Thank you @AesopFan. Our town dedicated a Huey helicopter from the Vietnam War as part of our Veterans Park. The speaker featured five local men who died on helicopters. Lots of vets were there. I wore Dad’s 25th Infantry Division shirt.
    Sgt. Moyer, and all the soldiers, airmen, sailors, and Marines who didn’t come home alive, Requiescat in pace.

  39. Another H/T from Powerline blog (on a roll, as per usual): a masterful book review of what is described as a spellbinding military history of the final battles of the war in the Pacific and the defeat of Japan.
    “The Price of Victory;
    “REVIEW: ‘To the End of the Earth: The US Army and the Downfall of Japan, 1945’ “—
    https://freebeacon.com/culture/the-price-of-victory/

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