Jack ~ Before and After

Before ~ Grumpy Jack

 After Hair Cut ~ Relaxed and So Content

This post is linked with Saturday’s Critters

Mountains, Grasses, Trees and Fences

The Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia

View from the Ingall’s Overlook on Way to West Virginia

Forest where Bud ran the Canary in the Cave Race

Fencing at the City Park in Fayetteville, West Virginia

For those of your who are curious, here are the captures in color.

This post is linked with:

Good Fences

Skywatch Friday

Weekend in Black and White
Scenic Weekends
Shadow Shot Sunday 2

Bud’s Canary in the Cave Race ~ 2015

Welcome to Bud’s Latest Race

Canary in the Cave

Fayetteville, West Virginia

The night before the race, Bud took me to a Cajun restaurant...YUMMY!

The other side of this sign reads FINISH.

Runner Waiting in Red

Runner Waiting in Orange

Runner and Daughter Waiting in Blue

Father and Daughter

(** If you can’t tell it already, I love to take pictures of braids.)

 All of the following shots are of little Ina. Her mother was running  in the race, and she and her daddy were waiting. I watched her before the race, and then I ran into her again when I went to lunch. She is almost two and the most precious and animated little girl you have ever seen...and very well behaved :-)

I’m ready for this race to begin.

Oops...how am I gonna get over this yellow thing

 to get to my mommy?

Well, I did it!

Thanks,Mommy, for the drink. 

All that running around made me thirsty.

I do not like this hat. It has to go!

Here her daddy and I were trying to get her to pick out two jelly thingies that went together. I have to admit she did pretty well at first, and then she decided it was way too hard and proceeded to put them all into the bowl.

This is the Cathedral Cafe where Ina, her daddy, and I were eating while waiting. Great food. It is an old church, and inside the light comes through all of the old stained glass windows onto the floors. Gorgeous. Did not realize the reflections until I uploaded the photo to the blog.

O.K. It Is Time For the Race

And it is is off. 5 hours to run about 17 miles...

25K plus some more trail to finish.

While looking at the runners taking off, I spied this Jeep 

with reflections on the hood  so just had to take pictures of it.

 The residents used the walking track all during the race. 

For some reason I named this lady, The Bag Lady.

While I was there she went around two times with bag in hand. Heaven only knows how many more time she walked it. She is definitely a woman on a mission.

This lady was walking the dogs while her husband ran the race.

She and I chatted for the longest time. All the people there were so cordial and nice.

 

This was where I waited for Buddy to come out of the woods.

The shadows in this part of the forest were absolutely gorgeous.

 

Here came my Buddy.

He was almost out and at end of race.

Woo!Hoo!

Here he is almost to the pavement with me screaming....”Faster...faster, Buddy, pick it up!!!!

Time is running out. You can do it, Bud."

 Here he is coming into the Finish Line

Buddy paid for the use of this picture of him at the finish line. If you enlarge it or look real hard, you can see me following him from behind still yelling for him to “Hurry Up!". I did not have to make the time limit so I am just puttering along... but he did and he did it. 

And here he is with me...The Finish Line

4 hours~59minutes~08 seconds

The race had a 5 hours limit.  God bless Bud...

he made it in the nick of time!

Thank you, Dan, for taking this picture of us.
I saved the best photo until last. I just love it. 
Just look at that grin on Buddy’s face and his 
“lucky sherpa hat" on his bald head.  

Our friend, the one and only Dan Leaman.

He was the “Commandant” at “The Trilogy” 3 day 

competition at Spruce Knob, West Virginia last month.
Next year I hope to be a rest station volunteer
and on the last day attempt to walk the 5 mile race. 
We shall see.

FINALLY,  FOOD for the WEARY!

Many Pizzaa, even Gluten Free Pizza, Kettle Chips, 5 Carrot   Cakes, and Soft Drinks ~ After pigging out, we got back in the car and drove the three hours back to Lexington. Bud and I had a blast.

Now to get ready for next weekend at Rocky Mount, VA.

Crooked Road 24 Hour Race

This time I will stay at home sweet home.

This post is linked to:

 Blue Monday 
Our World Tuesday
Ruby Tuesday Too
Signs, Signs

My Youngest Grandchildren~A Blast from the Past

Thomas and Eloise Back Then

2010 ~ 5 Years Old

Oh, So Innocent

Thomas and Eloise Now

2015 ~ 10 Years Old

Oh, So Grown Up

When I found this little poem, all I could think of was my granddaughter, Eloise. This was apparently written by the author about her daughter, but I am thinking of it as if I am sending it to Eloise from her Baga. She and I are so close, and we enjoy such a special relationship with each other. I think this little poem is just beautiful, and I wanted to share it with all of you this weekend.

Little Wishes

Little wishes on great big stars.

Daughter, I make a wish for you.

Keep on growing and keep on smiling.

And I’ll keep loving all that you do.

Little dreamers wishing big things.

The world is your stage to display.

You can sing and you can dance.

Enjoy all that comes your way.

Little hopes in a great big world.

Nothing can stop your free spirit.

Make some noise, play a beat.

It’s beautiful music when I hear it.

Little kisses from my now big girl,

You’re growing up so fast it seems.

Pretty soon you’ll leave the nest.

And fly after all of your dreams.

Little girl I love you,

And I love you even more.

Because I made a wish once,

And you’re what I wished for.

Written April 9, 2014

~Little Wishes by Casarah Nance

More poems like this can be found on poetrysoup.com

This post is linked with Weekend in Black and White.

In Remembrance ~ 11-11-15

Each Veteran’s Day I post this entry but with updates on the ages of my children and any pictures I have found during the year. This time I added some photos of Daddy, the current ages of my children, and some of his documents from the Corps of Engineers. Some of the pictures remain the same as does the story of my daddy and his part in The Great War. Once again this is my contribution to Weekend Reflections - a different kind of reflection, but such an important one for me each year. I am wondering how many there are left of us living who our remembering a parent on this day who served in 

The Great War - The War to End All Wars. 

Eugene Marseilles Hornot 
 Father of Eugenia Hornot Robinson

Born 1893 ~ New Orleans, Louisiana

Daddy and His Sister, Celina
His mother and little brother died in the influenza epidemic
in New Orleans, Louisiana. 

My Father’s WWI Portrait

Corp of Engineers 

France

The Great War

Appointment of Eugene M. Hornot
Second Lieutenant in the Engineer Section
 Officers’ Reserve Corps of the United States
Given under my hand of the city of Washington the thirteenth day of June 1917, and
in the one hundred and forty-first year of the Independence of the United States.


Appointment of Eugene M. Hornot
First Lieutenant in the Engineer Section
Officers’ Reserve Corps of the Army of the United States
Given under my hand of the City of Washington the fifteenth day of August 1917, and
in the one hundred and forty-second year of the Independence of the United States.

***Please note the discrepancy of these two dates. Bud and I have read and reread them, and we cannot figure out the 141st year of independence and the 142nd year of independence when the dates were June 1917 and August 1917...both 1917. Oh, well, he was in the war, he served in France, and my son, his namesake, has his WWI footlocker.

*** EG CameraGirl wrote me the following:
"I wonder if the date discrepancies have to do with June being before and August being after July 4th, the official date of U.S. independence."

This picture was taken outside the Smithsonian Museum of American History on my daddy’s last visit to VA. From left to right: Mattie, my eldest child now 52, Eugene Marseilles, my youngest child now 44, and me. We pushed him into where the aging American Flag was hanging in all of its glory. My frail daddy sat erect in the wheelchair, removed his beret, and saluted the flag never saying a word. He did not talk about the war with any of us, but I know he never really got over what he experienced while serving with the Army Corp of Engineers at the height of WWI. I have learned he was assigned to an electric plant somewhere in France.  In 1993, he died at 100 years, 7 months of age. On this Veteran's Day in the USA, Remembrance Day in Canada, Remembrance Day in Australia, and Remembrance Day on Sunday in The United Kingdom, please let us not forget the sacrifices our American, Canadian, British, Irish, Australian, and Scottish veterans made while serving their countries during what was known as “The Great War,” and “The War To End All Wars.” Thanks, too, to the New Zealanders who celebrate their Remembrance Day on Anzac Day, the 25th of April each year. 

Daddy as a dapper young man WITH hair.

Mother’s Wedding Announcement

Mother and Daddy 1925

Mother and Daddy 1926

I have no idea about the baby, Ann.

 Daddy always wore a bow tie. 

Here he is with my mother in our home in Palm Beach, Florida.

This picture of the family was taken at our home in Melbourne, Florida, while my daddy was stationed at Patrick Air Force Base, Cocoa Beach, Florida. I think I was in the seventh grade.

 Daddy after he retired from the Corp of Engineers and joined the firm of 
Gee and Jenson Engineers in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Mother and Daddy sending me off to Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. 

This was taken at the railway station in West Palm Beach, Florida, just before I boarded.

It was an overnight ride, so I got to sleep in a berth. Very exciting :-)

 My last picture of Mother and Daddy before my mother died.

Memories of my visit to the WWI Museum in Iepers, Belgium. I stayed in that precious little town for a week while I traveled about Belgium visiting the graveyards, talking with the people, and visiting museums. The things I saw and learned will never leave me. When I left Paris in my little rental car and came upon the first French cemetery and all of the pristine white crosses, all I could do was stand there and cry. I had no idea of the number of soldiers other than Americans who had lost their lives. The more cemeteries I passed and stopped to visit, the more I cried. Those were terrible times. War is terrible no matter when or where it takes place. I wanted to get to Normandy, but I did not make it.

This post is linked with Weekend Reflections.