Memorial day again

another view of Memorial Day. Thoughtfully written from the heart. For some of my more Republican friends - you might not like part of it...

LAW

A liberal - but Garrison IS a jackass

Garrison Keillor is a true jackass. His recent opinion piece on Rolling Thunder is twaddle. Absolute twaddle!

First - most of those people (of which I am proud to say I was one!) are either veterans, families of veterans or presently serving. They are NOT " grown men playing soldier, making a great hullaballoo without exposing themselves to danger, other than getting drunk and falling off a bike." They exposed themselves to danger - maybe he should have looked at those ugly vests and seen the patches - Brownwater Navy - 1st Armored - VietNam - KheSanh - OIF - Afghanistan - Desert Storm. There were memorial tags - riding for a dead friend, a missing brother, a buried son.

Second - Rolling Thunder ended at the Memorials. The ones that he just caaaaaaaaaaaahnt be bothered with. Where those balding, ponytailed fat men cried, where the Wall was smothered in cards, medals and wedding rings, flowers, teddy bears and children's pictures.

Third - the WW2 memorial, the "bland insult" was designed by veterans, in the style that the veterans of that time understood and revered. How do I know? I asked my dad, the WW2 vet.

If he wanted to go to the National Gallery and trail his fingers in the lake with Cassat's lady - fine. But don't you DARE insult men and women honoring THEIR dead.

I am, as my blog states - a Liberal. and I LOVED MPR - we used to listen to Prairie Home Companion - although it gets a little old sometimes. This idiotic, St. Paul Uber Liberal Elitist crap is NOT a liberal speaking. Just a nasty little man, who believes his own press clippings.

Just wondering, would he say the same thing to the Patriot Guard Riders... If he does, he better run reeeeeeely fast. I know a couple of General Officers who'd love a chance at him.

LAW

Memorial Day - ROLLING THUNDER

Oh. Wow. It was amazing. We rode in Rolling Thunder this weekend. We just started riding a few months ago, and this was the first big "meeting type" ride... What a way to start!

Saturday we went over to the Pentagon - yeah we were lost, thinking that Thunder Alley was there (shopping zone for all things biker and military) Nope. But we did meet up with some great Michigan folks, who had a GPS and led us to a Harley Dealership in Maryland that was hosting the whole shebang. This was fine... then we realized that we were going on the BeltWay... Now DH has done so before and is just fine out there... lets just say the guys we were riding with asked me when we got to the site "how long you been riding with him?" they were very polite about it, but I suppose the death grip I had on the sissy bar under my seat was a dead giveaway! yikes. But going on the highway with a whole group was actually a great intro to it, after all, no moron in an SUV on his cell phone was going to actually plow into a huge bunch of bikers.. if he wanted to live, that is!

Next morning, off to the Pentagon again. The schedule was - pull out from there at noon, so we got there at 8:30... and the place was already jammed 3/4 full. We found one of the Michiganders again (the potty lines were a great gathering place!) and he said they had been there since 6:45! Met up with Vypergirl and her family.. cute kids and a neat sidecar for them - loaded with lots of Mom snacks. It was hot, but there were lots of water tents, but not NEARLY enough Port a Potties! If you waited until you HAD to... you were in big trouble. We found some shade to hunker down in.. note to selves - next year, camp chairs! Here's me.. with just a few hundred thousand of our dearest and closest friends! (It's a Yamaha V Star Silverado 1100)



Finally, at noon, the Thunder roared. We started our engine at 1:30 and pulled out a few minutes later. Guys - it was AMAZING! the sound was phenomenal, and we rode and rode, across the Memorial Bridge around Lincoln, down to Constitution, past the Memorials, past people waving and clapping. ONE obnoxious guy, with ape hanger handlebars and cored out pipes decided to position himself off our starboard side and deafened us.. At the end, we kept going and ended up somewhere out in Rosslyn! Then we went back, and found Thunder Alley, did some shopping for patches and such.. Motored home, still jazzed! We were going to go back downtown on the Metro for the Concert, but we just figured we'd declare victory and stay home.

Monday - we tried to go to Arlington - No joy there. No bags, no water bottles.. It was already hot and there were lots of folks there - so forget it. We'll go when we can actually see the stones, and don't have to stop everything because yet another VIP convoy has to disrupt EVERYONE. We saw the POTUS motorcade twice - yawn.

Went to the VietNam Memorial instead. and it did it to me again. This place - it makes me weep every time. There was a lot of emotion there today, one gentleman was sobbing uncontrollably and was alone. When he could gather himself, he looked at me and thanked me for the hand on the shoulder.. he said he couldn't handle having his family see him like that. That alone was heartbreaking! We walked around, being deafened by the whirlybird ahead of the motorcade. Then the crowds got heavier, and it got hotter, and we packed up, came home. All in all, what a way to spend the Memorial Day weekend. Remembering. and being so proud of my military family.

LAW

GI Film Festival

um... what to say here.... they really need to advertise it more! not many folks there. had fun at the MilBlogging forum seeing Miss Andi and Joan D'arc and Maj. Z... who had a great long chit chat with DH.

Attendance was awful. not many folks there at all, most of them the film folk - most of whom were there, of course, to sell their movie/idea. Capt Dale Dye was there, with entourage... it was a pleasant way to spend a weekend.

We did get some work done on the Parent's Page. It's not perfect, or any where near done, but we'll get there.

so, another weekend shot. Laundry is presently going round, and the workweek looms. Next weekend - Rolling Thunder (which is why I ordered a seat for the motorcycle, for some extra padding).

Later.

LAW

Bad Voodoo

I was able to listen to the SpouseBuzz Radio Show, and the interview with the creator of Bad Voodoo War. I haven't seen it yet, but I plan to. Her discussion about the comments she has been getting was inspiring. So if you want to, click on the title of this post, and watch. don't forget to comment.

LAW

Happy Military Spouse Appreciation Day

to all of us. My DIL and I were talking last night, she has a relative about to marry a Ranger. She was asking me my advice and what to get her. I told her about a couple of books - Married to the Military (yeah, the pink camo sucks, but the book is good) and then Help, I'm a Military Spouse and I want a Life too. DIL said " it's a lot harder being the wife, than being active" She's been both. It was a sweet thing to say, don't you think?

Anyway. Happy MSAD to all..

LAW

Grandbaby is here

My family is in town, my folks from Fla. my son, DIL and the sweetest grandbaby in the world are here. I won't go into how perfect she is now.. just to let you know I may not be on much until Wednesday.

OH - CANNOT forget. Butterfly Wife is a happy lady right now, Jack Bauer is home. welcome home, Sir. and Wife Unit - hope he and Gassy Gussy are happy and well.

LAW

Parent's Page

Is up! well, a small beginning of one, anyway. If you are a parent of a serving military member,go on over,[click on the title of this post] leave a comment and most importantly, leave us a way to get to you! If you don't want to leave an email address in the open, let us know that, and we'll figure out how to get to you. My cohort in this is VERY tech savvy... which is good... I'm not so good!

If you know that your mom or mom in law would like to participate in a meeting place for parents, please let them know it's there. Click on the title of this post to get there or on the link on the right.

thanks.

LAW

Nope- no profound thoughts again

The sun is out. and it's a lovely day. The balcony boxes are looking good, need to buy a few more plants for another planting stacker.. more herbs I think.

The FRG meeting was a bit disappointing. No - not the pizza. the fact that 25 people responded that they were coming.. and only the same old 11 or so (and most of them, the uniformed members/SGM - unit leaders) actually did. Folks - if you want a good FRG, you gotta, GOTTA, take part!!!!!!! Apathy is our greatest enemy here.

DH was out of town for a while, got back Saturday. Mandatory fun picnic today - we'll ride the bike down and hang out for a little while, but have a lot of stuff to do as well. The unit didn't ask for anyone to help, it's all being catered, which is a let down as well. wouldn't it be more fun to have some of the guys flipping the burgers, pot luck on the sides and good desserts from others? a bit more of a get together.... ah well.

Later...

LAW