Diane was my favorite subject when I took my first pictures.
Read MoreBe Careful of What You See!
There is a song, about little children. Diane, who if she hears a song one time never forgets it, sang it to me this morning when I asked if she remembered it.
Read MoreSkipping Rocks
Have you ever skipped rocks across a pond? It is fun. I obviously want to skip it as many times as I can, and I think my record is something close to thirteen hops maybe more.
Read MoreThunder and Lightning
This morning we have been listening to the rain on our roof, seeing flashes of lightning and hearing some mighty big thunder.
Read MoreIn God We Trust
"In God We Trust", is the official motto of the United States of America and of the U.S. state of Florida. It was adopted by the U.S. Congress in 1956, superceding E pluribus unum, "one from many" which had been in use since the initial 1776 design of the Great Seal of the United States.
Read MoreWhere is HE?
Those who say "there is no God" and practice life with that belief, will at some point find out they are wrong. God will show up.
Read MorePraise
PRAISE; This is another great word that is also a noun and a verb. It is the expression of approval and admiration for someone.
The man was full of praise for the woman he loved.
The man praised the women he loved.
I am not talking about the lip service kind of praise, but something much deeper.
Read MoreWonder
WONDER: a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable.A great word, wonder, both a noun and verb, and part of an adjective, Wonderful.
Read MoreI Got A Date to the Prom!
“We meet in High School. We were seventeen and...”
“Yes” she said, “but we were not children.”
“Well, we were high school sweethearts, and I guess we were a bit older than our years.”
“High school sweethearts? We were just friends.”
Read MoreThe Paratrooper
A story that came from my childhood, and at seventeen I was still a child.
Read MoreThere is a Birthday this Sunday
My father had his 92nd birthday this past week. Mine is this coming Sunday, August 2nd.
My parents did not make a big deal about their own birthdays, but they sure did for their kids.
Read MoreThe Four Green Walls (prologue)
Diane,
I hope you enjoy this small part of your family history. It is a wonderful, happy, sad, and delightful story.
Love Pat
Christmas 1998
Read MoreThe Four Green Walls Part 1 Odessa →
I was born in Fragata, on the Island of Cephallonia, the third day of March, 1902. Our home was not far from the Monastery of Saint Gerasimos, the patron saint of Cephallonia. When I was five, I, my parents, and my three sisters went to Russia. It seems like a dream now.
Read MoreThe Four Green Walls Part 2 Between Scylla and Charybdis
How would we live? We were now a family of nine. Seven children, five girls and two boys. My sister Maria had been born in 1914 and my baby brother just a few months before. My father did not loose hope. We had lost everything but he firmly believed that God would provide and help him to prosper again.
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The Four Green Walls Part 3 The Offer
If a man marries a girl whose father promised him he would receive the family house, because there was nothing else to give the man as a dowry, and something happens and the father cannot fulfill his promise, the man can send the wife back to her father.
Read MoreThe Four Green Walls Part 4 This Unsettled Life
I was not happy with this kind of life, him in the States, myself and the boys in Greece. But there was nothing I could do about it. I was looking forward to and hoping for a better time when we could all live together.
Read MoreThe Four Green Walls, Part 5, The Light In the Fog
Europe was beginning to fear war. We in America were not. America, did not fear war because it was thought to be highly unlikely to happen. We did not feel threatened at all, we simply didn’t see the dark clouds gathering and so we booked passage to Greece.
Read MoreI Live In Galax.......
As many of you know Diane and I live in a motorcoach resort in the mountains of Virginia during the summer and fall. The closest town is Galax, and technically our address is in Galax.
Read MoreFour Hours From Heaven
Today is our son Joel’s birthday. This is a story about the day he was born. The following is how the story starts. It should tell you something.
One morning after getting our two girls off to school, I found out that a one’s day could be dangerous and life threatening.
Read MoreThe Field Trip
Diane and I went for a fast walk around the RV resort where we have been staying for the last three months. Diane pumped her hand weights and as usual I just got lost among my own thoughts.
I started thinking about a time in my past, my long ago past, when I took a trip to California.
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