Happy New Year

Christmas Eve, 1968, Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William Anders became the first men in history to orbit the moon. They saw the first “earth rise” from space and they read the  Biblical story of creation from Genesis, closing with Borman saying, "And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas and God bless all of you—all of you on the good Earth."

Next year, July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon, with the uttering the legendary, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." President Kennedy’s goal of landing men on the moon and bringing them home safely by the end of the decade had been achieved. I saw this live at Boy Scout Summer Camp, Camp Betz, on a portable black and white TV that our Scoutmaster had somehow ingeniously rigged up.

As a kid in those years I was fascinated with the space program, Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. Gathering around the color, yes color television to watch launches and splashdowns was an event to look forward to.

The bedroom that I shared with my brother had the moon maps and missions on the walls. I bought model kits of the different rockets, painstakingly and diligently painting and gluing them together. I must admit though, I wasn’t great at any type of model kits, except one.

 One year for either my birthday or Christmas someone gave me a model of the USS Constitution, complete with rigging. I’m not sure how it happened, but slowly and surely over quite a period of time I painted and completed it, and it was a work of art. Oddly in our move from Chicago to Phoenix it was one of the only things that got broken. Weird, isn’t it.

Being a fan of the space program also got me into flying model rockets, Estes model rockets. I’m pretty sure this had my parents a bit nervous, probably pretty much an equivalent to, “you’ll shoot your eye out kid.”

Estes rockets came in kits of different levels. You had to order the kit and specify what type of engine you wanted and of course there was the cool, electronically controlled launch pad. Those things would take off, well, like a rocket! A drawback was they went so high and fast it was pretty hard to actually follow them. A charge in the engine would blast the nosecone off and deploy the parachute, most of the time. Some rockets drifted gently back to earth, some nosedived and some, well I don’t know where they went, Dark side of the Moon?

I was reading the other day that China landed a rover on the far side of the moon. NASA shut down the Space Shuttle program in 2011. Currently Russia now has the only space program capable of manned space flight.

My grandmother and I were watching a space flight on television sometime back in the ‘60’s. I remember asking her what she thought about it, she looked over at me and said, “When I was a little girl we didn’t even have airplanes and I’m watching men on the moon.”

I’d like to see some men on the moon again.

Happy Thanksgiving

It’s that time again, Thanksgiving.

For those who have followed these musings you may remember tales of Thanksgivings past. There was the year of the septic system back up along with related complications, a story about pies that nearly didn’t get baked for a major hotels Thanksgiving Buffet, reminiscences of KDKB’s annual playing of Arlo Guthrie and Alice’s Restaurant. 

This year we dive into dressing, or stuffing, depending on how it is prepared. Stuffing is in the bird, dressing is baked separate. I’m sure that in the past it was mostly stuffing, until our over  sensitive modern times thought that you could get deathly ill from stuffing, which is possible, if you don’t cook it long enough. Simple fix, however I digress.

Dressing in the McVeigh household was always prepared by the men of the family. This recipe, which is written down and locked tightly away was originated by my Grandmother. I’m pretty sure the roots of it were based on an Old Country Recipe. The Old Country being Carnlough, Ireland, where my grandparents hailed from.

Even as a kid my father, brother and I would work on the dressing, it was a ritual that started a few days ahead of the actual day. Bread would be purchased and laid out to dry. Mysterious spices rarely used would appear. Mom would assemble the various meats and vegetables required. But, early Thanksgiving morning the task would be turned over to the men.

We would assemble in the kitchen in the dark, cold, early hours of Thanksgiving morn. Each of us had an assigned duty, Dad  the conductor of the operation, brother and I diving into our individual tasks. It was like a symphony, individual components coming together to create a masterpiece, every year.

In the day’s of old it was stuffing that we made, literally stuffing the bird with Grandma McVeigh’s secret recipe. On completion of this Mom and Grandma would put the turkey in the oven to bake to perfection. 

A few hours later, depending on the size of the stuffed turkey, 18 – 20 pounds was normal in those days, the turkey would come out of the oven, stuffing dished out, mashed potatoes, giblet gravy, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, pickles and black olives would all grace the table for the yearly feast.

With the passing of years Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa and so many of them are gone. Left behind are warm memories of Thanksgiving.

But it isn’t all about memories. My wife and I enjoy a simple Thanksgiving Dinner with each other every year. I still make the same dressing each year, accompanied by the past, while her and I create fresh moments each year.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Next year we’ll discuss WKRP and the infamous Turkey Drop.

The Great Unwind

 

Unwind: relax after a period of work or tension.

It’s been quite the year, we’re moving into autumn, a long awaited season. Our 100 degree days seem to have broken, sun rise and sunset definitely look different, Orion and the Pleiades have made their annual appearance, which seals the deal.

We just returned from a week in Maine, halfway up the coast in Acadia National Park, Seal Harbor, Northeast Harbor, Bass Harbor, Bar Harbor and Otis. The town names have a ring to them, conjuring up images of the famous rocky coast, Atlantic Ocean, small harbor towns, fall leaves, good friends, good fellowship and meals.

 

It was just what was needed.This year hasn’t been the easiest, nor the worst either. Early this year our sweet dog Hobie got very ill, very quickly and we had to sadly let her go. It was a tough time for both of us and we still feel her loss deeply.

There has been a health challenge as well, which I am meeting head on and not letting take control of my life. It too has been a bit of an ordeal, but not insurmountable.

Work has been busy, which is good but also tiring at the same time.

All of that combined led us to our trip this year which was an unwinding that we both needed. It was a trip that couldn’t have been better.

A chance for my wife and I to spend quality time together, to let go of our day to day existence, to fully and completely relax. We spent the days driving the coast, exploring small towns, enjoying each other’s company and being so thankful for our marriage and time together.

Fortunately we have wonderful, dear friends who live on a lake just off the coast and we were able to spend time with them. My wife learned to play Cribbage, I took naps. We sat on the porch spending time in good conversation with friends.

Our souls and our bodies are recharged. Just in time for the Holiday Season!