Tag Archives: #amblogging

The Sailboat

26 Jun

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

REBLOG

Credit Pixab

Growing up in New Mexico, there wasn’t a lot of water around – no swimming pools (except at the public ones), no ponds or lakesides, no oceans, etc. So, consequently, I was not really familiar with boats of any kind. That really didn’t bother me too much I had a lot of other interests.

If you have ever lived in government quarters – as we did on any military base where we were stationed – then you know that, when you leave that posting, you are required to have those same quarters absolutely immaculate! Better than when you moved into them!  And there would be an inspection of those quarters by an official inspector. If they found anything wrong – you were required to “fix” it before you were allowed to leave the base.

We had lived in quarters on Tyndall AFB, Florida for five years. That’s almost too long, actually. Our usual moves were about every three years. I told Fred that we needed to leave soon, because I was beginning to put down roots – in a government duplex!!

He was finally given orders to relocate. So then the work of packing up and moving out began. After the movers had taken our belongings away, we started cleaning the unit. We had always thought we could do that ourselves, rather than hire someone to come in and do it for us. So I set Fred and the girls to cleaning, 

Credit Pixabay

and I thought I would tackle the kitchen. I had planned on the weekend to do the entire kitchen. Unfortunately, the stove was so old that, in taking it apart and cleaning it – it took the entire weekend just for the stove!

By the time we had finished, we were exhausted.

Now….you may think there is no connection to cleaning and boats…but wait….

There was a gentleman who worked in the Weather Station with Fred, who LOVED boats! And especially sailboats. Not being able to purchase one for himself, he had contracted with another gentleman from Alabama to care for his sailboat.

It was a 33-foot Hunter that would sleep six people. It had a full galley and full shower. It had a small auxiliary engine to get us in and out of port. It was set up for ocean voyages and was one-person configured. Whenever the owner wanted to “play” with it, he would call and come down and retrieve it. That usually only happened once or twice a year. The rest of the time, our friend could take it out whenever he wanted.

And that’s what happened with us. He had offered to take us out for a sail, on the last day we were in town. And so we did. I was a bit confused when we motored out of port, thinking “what does this have to do with sailboating?”

But then he cut the engine and unfurled the sail. It was the most wonderful thing – so very quiet, and peaceful, and RESTFUL…just exactly what we needed after all that cleaning.

Fred and Judy on the sailboat

He even let our 8-year-old handle the wheel for a while. She loved it!

Picture by Judy Wills – Janet at the helm!

We’ve never purchased a boat of our own – never felt the need to. But it was an experience that we savored and have remembered all these years.

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

Tags: , , , ,

The God Life

20 Jun

My Take

DiVoran Lites

The God Life:

Receptivity

Reliability 

Resilience

Restitution, 

Realization 

Resonance

Reality

Reason 

Renunciation

Righteousness

Reckoning

Returns 

DiVoran has been writing for most of her life. Her first attempt at a story was when she was seven years old and her mother got a new typewriter. DiVoran got to use it and when her dad saw her writing he asked what she was writing about. DiVoran answered that she was writing the story of her life. Her dad’s only comment was, “Well, it’s going to be a very short story.” After most of a lifetime of writing and helping other writers, DiVoran finally launched her own dream which was to write a novel of her own. She now has her Florida Springs trilogy and her novel, a Christian Western Romance, Go West available on Amazon. When speaking about her road to publication, she gives thanks to the Lord for all the people who helped her grow and learn.  She says, “I could never have done it by myself, but when I got going everything fell beautifully into place, and I was glad I had started on my dream.”

Tags: , , , , ,

Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia

19 Jun

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Recently, Fred and I made a trip to Virginia to see our youngest daughter, her husband, and our grandtwins.  We always love being with them.  They live in Williamsburg, but not in the restored colonial area.  But every time we visit there, we always walk through the restored area.

When we returned Stateside from Heidelberg, West Germany in 1983, Fred was stationed at Langley AFB, Hampton, Virginia.  Neither of us had ever lived in Virginia, so it was to prove to be a new and exciting experience for both of us – actually all four of us, since our daughters were still living at home.

We were excited to realize that we lived just eight miles from Yorktown, and that is within the “Historic Triangle” of Williamsburg, Yorktown, and Jamestown.  That area is just oozing with American history.  While that had not been much of an interest to me prior to our time in Virginia, I found myself totally engaged in it.

And Colonial Williamsburg helped that viewpoint.  In that vein, we purchased what they called the “Patriot Pass” – essentially an annual pass.  Since we lived only about 30 minutes from Colonial Williamsburg, we went there often – so often that our girls grew a bit tired of it.  Not only did we take them with us, but their schools had field trips there, as well.  Eventually, we felt we had seen just about everything they had to offer, and let our Patriot Pass lapse.  We could still walk the streets and see the gardens and shops, but we couldn’t go into the “attractions” where the “interpreters” told what was going on in their areas in colonial times.  

All that to say, this time when we visited, we decided to get the Patriot Pass and go through as many of the attractions as possible.  We are so glad we did – it was new and refreshing to hear the explanations of what was done in those areas, by people dressed in period costumes, and telling just what it might be like in colonial times to do their jobs.  

We stopped at the seamstress shop (I was especially interested in how they got the printed fabric),

Trend & Tradition – Autumn 2021

 The printer

Credit National Graphic – Visiting Our Past – America’s Historylands

The apothecary, the boot and shoemaker,

Credit National Graphic – Visiting Our Past – America’s Historylands

 The Capitol, 

Credit Williamsburg Before and After

The blacksmith among others.

Credit Military Lifestyle – March 1992

The tour of Raleigh’s Tavern was especially interesting, as we were told it was the birthplace of Phi Beta Kappa!  And there was a gentleman walking the Duke of Gloucester Street, dressed in period costume (along with a yes-man sidekick) who told about how his house was so much better than his brother’s house.  Just delightful!

Credit Trend & Tradition – Winter 2022

We had hoped to go through the Governor’s Palace, but the line was exceedingly too long, with about five or six groups ahead of us.  By the time we were on our way back there, we were both too tired, and skipped that one.

Credit Military Lifestyle – March 1992

We wanted to go in the Bruton Parish Church (that’s BRuton not Burton!!),

Credit Williamsburg Before and After

 which we had seen quite often, but it was closed that day.  It is still an active Anglican church, and was the site of many of the country’s beginnings.  It is especially beautifully decorated at Christmas time.  Just a note here – all the private residences within Colonial Williamsburg, as well as all the stores and attractions, are required to decorate the outsides of their facilities/houses, and it must be all living decorations – no silk flowers or fake fruit – it must be real.  It’s amazing what they come up with.

Credit Trend & Tradition – Winter 2022

Credit Trend & Tradition – Autumn 2021

The Capitol is at one end of the Duke of Gloucester Street, and Merchant’s Square is at the other end, just across the street from the Wren Building on the College of William and Mary.  Many shops and eateries there, which are fun to patronize.  Duke of Gloucester Street is about one mile long.

Here is a book we purchased titled Williamsburg Before and After.  Many of the pictures in this post are from that book. 

Duke of Gloucester Street – 1928

I am so glad someone decided to restore this area!

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

Tags: , , , , , ,

12 Months in Florida

13 Jun

My Take

DiVoran Lites

On the first of January, the New Year begins. 

She makes resolutions and repents of her sins.

On the first of February, the cardinal sings

And flashes to his mate on crimson wings.

On the first of March, she goes wild for seeds

And tries to think what a farmer needs.

On the first of April, she tells fool jokes,

 But they’re never are funny as other folks’

On the first of May, she declares it’s summer! 

Not always, though, and that’s a bummer.

On the first of June, she forgets her plants

And they are eaten by tiny ants.

On the first of July, she’s ready for joy 

Coming to visit: grandgirl and grandboy!

On the first of August, she’s sweltering hot

And wants to go back to a cooler spot.

On the first of September, pampas grass blooms

Down the hill from the school, a bicycle zooms. 

On the first of October, she celebrates age

A birthday is coming, so now turn the page.

On the first of November, she thinks about gifts

She goes to the church, and her loving heart lifts.

On the first of December, she turns on the songs

And listens to Christmas because it belongs.

Pictures by Pixabay

DiVoran has been writing for most of her life. Her first attempt at a story was when she was seven years old and her mother got a new typewriter. DiVoran got to use it and when her dad saw her writing he asked what she was writing about. DiVoran answered that she was writing the story of her life. Her dad’s only comment was, “Well, it’s going to be a very short story.” After most of a lifetime of writing and helping other writers, DiVoran finally launched her own dream which was to write a novel of her own. She now has her Florida Springs trilogy and her novel, a Christian Western Romance, Go West available on Amazon. When speaking about her road to publication, she gives thanks to the Lord for all the people who helped her grow and learn.  She says, “I could never have done it by myself, but when I got going everything fell beautifully into place, and I was glad I had started on my dream.”

Tags: , , , ,

I Don’t Speak Portuguese!

12 Jun

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Re-blogged

One of the funniest things – and most irritating – about growing up in New Mexico, is that a whole LOT of the U.S. population doesn’t even know New Mexico is one of our great 50! So much so, that the New Mexico Magazine has published a book of anecdotes people have shared. It, as well as a full-page article in the magazine, is entitled One Of Our 50 Is Missing. I have laughed – and growled – over some of the things people have encountered in this vein.

I never thought to have one of those experiences myself, but sure enough – it happened to me!

Some years ago, after we returned stateside from Germany, we were living in the small town of Seaford, Virginia. It is a lovely little place, just eight miles away from Yorktown, which is part of the Historical Triangle in Virginia. That triangle encompasses Yorktown, Colonial Williamsburg, and Jamestown.

There happened to be a Baptist Church in Seaford, and after “visiting around” the other churches in the Hampton Roads area, we decided Seaford Baptist Church was where God wanted us, so we joined the church.

Within the first year, our church hosted a youth group from Tennessee. Seems like the man who had served Seaford Baptist Church as a volunteer youth pastor was a military person, and had been reassigned to a military base in Tennessee shortly before we arrived on the scene. And he volunteered as youth pastor for the little church they joined there. He brought his youth group to Seaford, and we provided the beds and food for the youth. Since our house contained four bedrooms and three full baths, we signed up for two girls. One of our bedrooms and bathrooms was downstairs, which made it nice for company to have their own bedroom and bathroom. So our assigned girls stayed there. Turns out, they were both named Kim.

The week went by quite quickly, and we enjoyed their company a lot. The night before they were to depart for Tennessee, we were all gathered in the kitchen, just sharing and talking. One of the girls stated that she didn’t think she would go on the youth trip the following year. Why not, I asked? Well, Max wants to take us to New Mexico, and I don’t want to go. Why not, I asked again? Well, I DON’T SPEAK PORTUGUESE! WHAT???……Portuguese? Well, they speak some foreign language out there, and I just don’t want to go!

Yep…….one of our 50 is missing!

Now, I may not – at that time – have been able to tell you exactly WHERE Tennessee was located on a map (I can now), but I most certainly knew that Tennessee is one of our 50 states! Makes me wonder what the geography teachers in Tennessee are teaching!

                                               

I Corinthians 10:26

for the earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains.

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

Tags: , , , ,

To Bill

6 Jun

My Take

DiVoran Lites

Soon we will be celebrating our 65th wedding anniversary when we more or less ran away to get married. Our mothers, Bill’s sister, and my cousin and aunt made it to California, where Bill was in the Navy. Our Dads, who both traveled for their work, missed it.

Here is my tribute to you, my love.

Thank you for making us a pair. 

Thank you for the good times and the hard times.  

Thank you for your forgiveness and comfort.

Thank you for your safety and the knowledge of handyman things.

Thank you for your resounding laugh.

Thank you for your curiosity about almost everything.

Thank you for being a tenacious man who got things done.  

Thank you for your tender love.

Thank you for loving and caring for our children. 

Thank you most for trusting Jesus and teaching us to know him too. 

DiVoran

DiVoran has been writing for most of her life. Her first attempt at a story was when she was seven years old and her mother got a new typewriter. DiVoran got to use it and when her dad saw her writing he asked what she was writing about. DiVoran answered that she was writing the story of her life. Her dad’s only comment was, “Well, it’s going to be a very short story.” After most of a lifetime of writing and helping other writers, DiVoran finally launched her own dream which was to write a novel of her own. She now has her Florida Springs trilogy and her novel, a Christian Western Romance, Go West available on Amazon. When speaking about her road to publication, she gives thanks to the Lord for all the people who helped her grow and learn.  She says, “I could never have done it by myself, but when I got going everything fell beautifully into place, and I was glad I had started on my dream.”

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Our Trip to Spain-Part 10

1 Jun

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Day 8

Today DiVoran and I had a free day to relax and do anything we wanted.  As it happened, it was the time of the year for the local ‘Feria de San Miguel’ and Torremolinos was ready to celebrate.  So, after breakfast, we headed into town to join in the festivities.  We admired the decorative tiles as we strolled down San Miguel Street and enjoyed browsing the many small shops.

Photo Credit: https://www.gct.com/destinations/country/spain/

The streets were filled with people ready to have a good time.  Many of the locals were dressed in festive traditional costumes and didn’t mind having their picture taken with us tourists.  Many of the costumes related to the traditional Spanish Flamenco dancers for women and bullfighter paraphernalia for the men.

Photo Credit: DiVoran Lites

We had lunch at one of the local (approved) cafés, and then strolled back to the Bajondillo for a short rest.  In the afternoon we joined many of our group, in the park, to enjoy the celebration of the local festivities, as a musical team lead singing to honor ‘Feria de San Miguel’ from a bandstand.  As the excitement picked up, there were also several shikhat dancers in the troupe who performed flamingo dances for the enjoyment of us all.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

After the performance was over, DiVoran and I took advantage of the tour’s ‘Dine- Around Program’ that set us up to visit a local family home and get to know them and some of their local culture.  Neither DiVoran nor I spoke Spanish, so we were very lucky that the two ladies we visited that afternoon spoke good English, so we could communicate freely.  The program had arranged for the host family to prepare a traditional Spanish dinner meal and to enjoy it with their guests.  I can’t remember what the meal they served was, but it was excellent.  What a wonderful time we had with those two ladies during that afternoon visit.  After that delightful experience, we had a leisurely stroll back to the Bajondillo for a good night’s rest.  It had been a wonderful day and we felt lucky to have been on this tour just when the ‘Feria de San Miguel’ celebration was taking place and to have been able to join in on the festivities.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites                 

—–To Be Continued—–

Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 64 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing.  He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville.  Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.

One of Bill’s favorite Scriptures is:  John 10:10

Tags: , , , , , ,

One Answer

30 May

My Take

DiVoran Lites

Credit Photo: Pixabay

Keep on praising

Keep on raising 

Asking God in Song.

Keep on thanking

Keep on banking

Joy by suffering long

Never weary of the journey 

Jesus is our great attorney

Always keen and strong. 

Tags: , , , ,

The Seamstresses in My House-Part 11

22 May

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

I’m going to jump ahead in years here.  While on one of our trips to England, I purchased some of Fred’s family’s tartan.  Since I had learned that daughters retain their father’s tartan and clan, I purchased that particular tartan.  It is a beautiful tartan, and unique in that both Fred’s Mother and Father were from the same Scot clan – the Gunn clan.  Here is a picture of that tartan.

I had purchased quite a bit of the fabric – in a soft, light-weight wool, and debated for several years just what to do or make for the girls out of that fabric.  I thought about making a skirt for each girl, but thought that might not be a lasting choice.  Then I thought of a “vest” – but just never got around to making it, either.  And so, I finally made up my mind to make a stole for each daughter.  A stole is a type of shawl.  So I set to making them as Christmas presents a few years ago.  

I made each one with a relatively short “fringe” all around the stole.  That probably took more time than anything else, as it needed to be done by hand, pulling the threads on both the short ends, and the length of the stole.  

Here are some pictures of the girls in their stole pinned with the Gunn clan pin:

Karen:

Karen stated:   I looked it up, and apparently normal people should wear it over their right shoulder; only important people, like daughters of clan chiefs, are supposed to wear it over the left shoulder. Who knew.

Janet:

There is a “Scottish” store in Colonial Williamsburg that we like to visit whenever we are in Virginia – The Scotland House.  I found some fabric in my family’s tartan one time and purchased enough to make a lined vest from it for my Aunt Jessie.  Unfortunately, I have no pictures of that vest, nor of Jessie in it.  Here is a picture of my tartan – very similar to the Gunn clan, but with a different color stripe in it.  My clan is Colquhoun – it’s where we “Americans” get the word/name Calhoun.  I’ve never made anything for myself from that tartan, and I’m not eligible to make something for myself from the Gunn clan.  And that’s strange, because I’ve always liked plaids.

Also at the Scotland House, we found and purchased a new tartan tie for Fred, and also one in the “Ancient” or “weathered” version of the tartan.  Interesting.

Credit to Google Search and Houston Traditional Kiltmakers website

You can see the difference between regular and weathered.

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

Tags: , , , , ,

The Blues

18 Apr

My Take

DiVoran Lites

Photo credit:Pixabay

Something has to get me going

Nothing makes me want to work.

Not the thought of books or reading

Oh, I feel like such a jerk.

Stop

No matter what may come your way.

You’re always better off than “they.”

Hear a mockingbird sing his song.

And bright red cardinals sing along.

You know what should be done

Take the love of everyone.

Take the cold along with hot.

Says thanks to God for what you’ve got.

Photo credit:Pixabay

DiVoran has been writing for most of her life. Her first attempt at a story was when she was seven years old and her mother got a new typewriter. DiVoran got to use it and when her dad saw her writing he asked what she was writing about. DiVoran answered that she was writing the story of her life. Her dad’s only comment was, “Well, it’s going to be a very short story.” After most of a lifetime of writing and helping other writers, DiVoran finally launched her own dream which was to write a novel of her own. She now has her Florida Springs trilogy and her novel, a Christian Western Romance, Go West available on Amazon. When speaking about her road to publication, she gives thanks to the Lord for all the people who helped her grow and learn.  She says, “I could never have done it by myself, but when I got going everything fell beautifully into place, and I was glad I had started on my dream.”

Tags: , , , , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →