Come Fly With Me

My friend Jamie loves to fly.



I have rarely talked to her without her talking about flying. If you ask her what she loves to do, her response is "to get high." Today, she took me to get high.



Jamie flies a Cessna 150 Commuter. After introducing me to her plane, we went over a pre-flight check. She showed me the various parts of the plane and how to inspect it before flight. After she was made ready for flight, we taxied to the runway.




We took off on runway 36. Runways are numbers based on the first two numbers of their magnetic heading. So runway 36 has a magnetic heading of 360 or 000. Another thing Jamie taught me about aviation.



We took off and spent about an hour in the air, flying between 500' and 3500', soaring over lakes and swamps, bays and shorelines, watching children and dolphins play, bouncing on the wind, getting high.



She loves to share her enthusiasm of flying with everyone. That extended to letting me get my hands on the controls and flying the plane.



What a thrill! No wonder Jamie talks about it all the time.

She took back the controls and demonstrated what the plane is capable of, doing steep turns and a power-off stall.



After over an hour of flight, it was time for us to come down from our high. We returned to the airport, landing on runway 36.



Jamie loves getting high. Can you blame her?

The Pensacola Lighthouse

The Pensacola Lighthouse sits on the grounds of NAS Pensacola, shining its light as a beacon to mariners entering the Pensacola Bay.



I have seen the lighthouse everyday while in Pensacola, but had not visited it. Yesterday I made the 177 step climb to the top of the tower. It is well worth it.

Tours of the lighthouse occur every Saturday, from 12 - 4, May through October.



The current lighthouse was lit in 1859. It stayed manned until 1965 when it was automated. The Keepers' Quarters were next door and housed the Keeper and family, as well as the Assistant Keeper and family.



Supposedly at some point in its past, someone was murdered in the southeast bedroom. The floor is said to be stained with blood that never came out. Do you see it?



Through out the night, the Keeper would climb 177 steps to the top of the lighthouse to keep the light going. We followed in his footsteps.



As you climb the steps, you pass various windows, each offering a new perspective in elevation and bearing.






177 steps, wrapped around the center pole, climbing 191 feet above the water.



Upon reaching the last step, you come to the light, the purpose of the lighthouse, shining 27 miles into the night.



But for us today, the purpose of the lighthouse is two fold. To walk in the footsteps of the lighthouse keeper who kept the light to protect ships and their crew, and to enjoy the views offered by the lighthouse.

Finally Friday

Another week has come and gone. Much has been accomplished, but I have also left much undone. But time continues to march on. To celebrate the end of another week, we'll listen to another one of my favorite songs. This week, a Ziggy Marley cover of his dad's Africa Unite, promoting Pan-African solidarity. One of the things that I accomplished yet left undone was reading. I did some reading, but not nearly all I want to do. One of the books I have been working with is a book by Martin Meredith,“The State of Africa – A History of Fifty Years of Independence," which includes discussion of the Pan-African movement.

How I met the one I love

I love music. I almost always have music playing. I enjoy playing my guitar, though poorly. I have dreams of someday writing songs that I actually like.
Growing up, I have always enjoyed music. I have listened to a variety of music, from classic country to rock, americana to reggae, classic to top 40. In high school, I tended to listen to classic country and complained bitterly about the new music coming out of Nashville. I desired more than pop country. One early morning while tuning the dial on the radio, I found 98.7 FM, KTXN, the Texas Mix out of Victoria. My musical desire had been quench yet set on fire. The music that played out of the speakers in my truck was amazing. I heard all sorts of new artists that I had never known before. I heard lyrics that were poetic lines from heaven, guitar riffs that were fashioned in hell. Then the sun would rise and the melodious music would be replaced by static until that evening. I spent a year staying up late at night to listen to this music. I then went to college and enjoyed the 2 hours I spent driving through the heart of the broadcast area, taking in this music. The station is gone, but the music is still alive.

One of the artists that I learned of from KTXN was Bonnie Raitt. My favorite song of her's is Something to Talk About.

Returning to KFC

I ate lunch at Kentucky Fried Chicken today. Now I love fried chicken, but do not like the flavor of KFC, so I do not go there. Today, I decided to go and try out the Kentucky Grilled Chicken. Now, the grilled chicken has one major advantage over the fried, price. You can get the 2 piece grilled chicken platter for cheaper than the 1 piece fried chicken platter. I went with the breast & wing combo with mashed potatoes, green beans and a biscuit. I ate the chicken first, being the most important part of the meal. This was some good chicken! I liked the flavor of it, much better than KFC's fried chicken. Next I went on to the green beans. Pretty good beans. Then the mashed potatoes and gravy. Surprising, it was actually the least great tasting part of the meal and I normally love mashed potatoes. I finished the meal with a biscuit smothered in honey. Now the best part of all this was as I was sitting down, a woman in the store let out a loud sigh and loudly stated "I'm stuffed."

Change

Change is inevitable. The seasons inevitably change. The warmth of summer will turn to the cool of fall and the cold of winter. The land inevitably changes. Mountains grow where the land was once flat. Rivers dry up where they once ran wild. The Man in the Mountain crumbled. Kilauea continues to erupt, increasing the size of the island of Hawaii. People inevitably change. Babies are born. Peoples' bodies show the wear of age. Children who were once small are now large adults. Death continues to reign over all who live. The weather inevitably changes. The rain of one day turns to the sunshine of another. The heat of one day is replaced by the coolness of the next. Relationships inevitably change. I meet new people. I discover things about people and dissolve the relationship. I discover things about people and strengthen the relationship. I lose touch with people I know as time and distance separate us.

But do I have to change? Just because a relationship changes, do I have to change in response to that? Will I some day have to make a decision to change from where I am today?

Everything changes, but does that have to include me?

My Land

I love the beach


This week PBS has had a special on the National Park System called THE NATIONAL PARKS: AMERICA'S BEST IDEA, by Ken Burns. It was a great series which I faithfully watched every night, except I missed the first hour of the last episode. :(




The series focused on a part of the Park Service that I didn't know much about, the politics behind the formation of the service, the formation of the various parks, and some individual stories of people impacted by the parks such as park rangers, CCC workers, tourists, land owners, local residents, and John Muir. They mentioned something that I always felt about public lands. They are owned by the People of the USA and that makes me the largest land owner in the world.



I love traveling to see my land. I have traveled all over the country visiting various parks, forests, monuments, mountains, battlegounds, ships, museums, and seashores that I own. One of my favorite lands to visit is the beaches that I own.





Two of the beaches I have visited most are Padre Island and Perdido Key. I love going to the beach. Watching the sun break the horizon or crash into it. Watching the waves as that roll onto the seashore. Watching the birds and deer and they search for food. Feeling the sun, wind, sand, and water on my skin. Smelling the salty air. Finding shells and other oddities that the tides have brought in. I love the beach. Now it is known that I do not like swimming, but I love the beach. This is some of the best land that I own.