Lunch with our new friends!

Today we attended a luncheon at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts honoring the recipients of this year's Kennedy Center awards. Because Boeing was a major sponsor we were given free tickets! WOW!!!

This year's recipients are: Morgan Freeman,George Jones, Barbra Streisand, Twila Tharp, Roger Daltry & Pete Townsend

Morgan Freeman George Jones Barbra Streisand

Roger Daltry

And other notable guests, Glenn Close, Tom Skerritt, and Barbra's husband, James Brolin!!

Thanksgiving Blessings

We had a wonderful trip to Dad and Mom Zuspan's in Texas for Thanksgiving! All 5 of the kids were able to meet up with us there and Cindy came home early from Malaysia so that she could be a part of it. What a jam-packed weekend we had!! Here are just a FEW of the pictures we took!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Time for Indoor Sports

Brrrrr!! With November came colder weather, so it was time to stop sightseeing outside and make it an indoor sport! So on November 22nd we made our first visit to see the inside of a local site, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. We enjoyed it very much, but there was way too much to see in one day. Not to worry, though, because we know some of you are going to want to go there when you come to visit, so we'll get back there again. We have far too many photos, but here are a few of our favorites...

We have to start with the Wright Flyer - the actual machine that Orville and Wilbur flew at Kitty Hawk over 100 years ago.

And a collection of classic airplanes in the "America by Air" gallery.

On to the space gallery, we found the lunar lander:

Last but not least, the Gemini IV, the capsule flown in 1965 during which the first manned space walk took place. (How would you like to spend a week in this little can?)

Well, that's it for this post. Hope you can come out soon so we can show you the Smithsonian in person!

Coming soon to a Blog near you: our wonderful Thanksgiving.

Wild Kingdom

Our property here in Virginia backs up to a county park with expanses of natural woods. We see our fair share of wildlife from day to day, mostly deer, fox, woodchuck, and birds. Barb calls it our own little wild kingdom. Here is a view from our back door just a few days ago. Hope you enjoy it!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

More pics, with less words

In a break from the past few posts, this will be one of few words. Just more sights from our exploration of DC a couple weeks ago. Hope you enjoy.

Here is Union Station, the main rail station in the district. It has some beautiful archtecture:


Here is a beautiful autumn shot of the capitol building:
Chinatown, seems every city has a China district, and so does DC:

but how many cities have a Chinese Starbucks???

And finally, some neat old churches ....

I know there are people out there looking at our blog - post a comment will ya?

Honor Flight

How do we honor those who gave so much so that we can have our freedom today? I confess that it has been all too easy to take what I have for granted. But with each passing year, I realize more and more what they have done for us. And as our kids grow, and perhaps grandkids will come some day, I am even more thankful .... for those who did so in the past, and for those who are doing so right now in the middle east. So how can we honor them? By flying our flag on Veteran's Day? By thanking them when we can? How about this .......

Recently we learned of a non-profit group called Honor Flight whose mission it is to bring WWII veterans to Washington DC to see the WWII Memorial, which was built in their honor, and other war memorials while they are still able. Honor Flight raises funds so that the vets do not have to pay a thing, as many of them can not afford it anyway. Last Saturday, the weekend just prior to Veteran's Day, we were visiting the Memorial to the US Marine Corp, also known as the Iwo Jima memorial, in Arlington. This statue is a well known replica of a famous WWII photo, taken as the Marines raised the US flag on Mt. Suribachi during the battle for Iwo Jima. As we were taking it in, a bus arrived and began unloading many, many elderly men, most in wheel chairs. This, we learned, was an Honor Flight from Dayton, Ohio. We watched as they proudly checked out the memorial and even more proudly posed for a group photo.

We talked to the "chaperones" while they were getting lined up and learned more about these men. We found out that two of them personally knew one of the six men who hoisted the flag that day so long ago. We could do little but stand in solemn respect as their photos were taken. We were so touched by the sight of this all, we both walked down the line of men, shook each one's hand, and thanked them for their service. Then we stood to the side, watched, and cried.

Learn more about Honor Flight at:

http://www.honorflight.org/

The Pentagon 9/11 Memorial

On Saturday, 11/8, we went to experience the new 9/11 Memorial at the Pentagon. The memorial was just opened to the public on 9/11 of this year, 7 years after the tragedy occurred. As you will see from the pictures below, it is very unique in its design and had a way to evoke our emotions about that day. It was almost surreal to stand at that point and imagine the airplane flying in and hitting the building.

This is marker at the entry of the memorial.

And another that lists all 184 victims.

Sorry for the shadow, but this inscription tells the date and time of the event.

Each of the 184 victims has a bench in their memory. Each bench is inscribed with a name of a victim. The benches are aligned with the flight path of the airplane. The benches that point toward the building represent those who were on the airplane. The benches that face away from the building represent those who were in the building. Under each bench is flowing water.

As I said earlier, each bench is inscribed with a name of one of the victims. This particular bench remembers Dana Falkenberg, a 3 yr old who was travelling with her family.

Note the other inscriptions underneath. These are the other members of Dana's family who were travelling on this airplane together. In all cases where people were travelling together, this was done to keep them linked together in the memorial. They have a bench of their own with inscriptions of their travelling companions or family members.

It was sobering for us to stand in the middle of this and remember ..... let us never forget!