Month: September 2011

Today dear friends and family is the day before September 11, ten years later. The news is going over what was happening that day before… the news that no longer matters. Economic, innocent, secure…  We’re in an alert status because I guess the enemy doesn’t think he has changed our lives that much. New York mayor Bloomberg is trying to explain why clergy is excluded from the September 11 celebration due to separation of church and state…. Oops on his forgetting that this country was established "under God…" The colonists felt God was on their side, and we talk about our "God-given rights." No prayer, no religion will be at Ground Zero. Michael Brown, former Bush adminstration FEMA director, stated "we are not free from religion, we are free for religion." I remember on that day 10 years ago, I went to our church at that time, Little Flower in Coral Gables and I prayed endlessly to Saint Michael the Archangel who in the book of Jude at the end of the New Testament… was fighting Satan (Jude 1: 6&9). Even Michael could not kill or put the stake in the enemy’s heart, but it is for us to expect God to chain Satan in the depths of the earth. On a better note… yesterday the sub vets spent an hour in memory… They prayed a benediction and sang the "Navy Hymn" as they tolled a bell for men lost and boats lost. "Lest we forget." Submarines are still out there today guarding and protecting us.  The ceremony was beautiful and solumn.  We expect to close up the convention tonight and start on our last journey tomorrow (September 11) as I’m going to visit my Mom and Chuck will go to buddy Dave’s hunting camp for a week. God bless America. Have a blessed weekend. Love Susie

Hi dear friends and family. The title is a phrase used for torpedos…  I see the phrase on the vests of many of the guys here in Springfield.  There are many guys with about 10 submarine names on their vests and I tease them that they couldn’t make up their minds…  Apparently there were many submarines and when one went "in the yards" you just moved to another.  There are many "old guys" as the World War II submarine vets are here too. We took a wonderful guy named Jack Higgins who is 85 and fought in the Pacific to the Fantastic caverns yesterday. He was full of wonderful stories. Together Jack and I read the map and guided Chuck to the Caverns!  These guys were "at Pearl" and in Hong Kong as well as the Atlantic and the "Med."  Chuck and I have been busy walking all around the University of Missouri area of Springfield, and I am going to St Agnes church with a wonderful priest named Mike. They sing a lot at Mass and I like that. The weather is chilly in the morning (low 50s and up to 70s during the day.) Everyone prays for rain. We watched the U of M v. Maryland football game last night that was played in the pouring rain in Maryland… I guess we all wonder why we can’t siphon some of that rain west…  today we’re going to Springfield’s botanical gardens and then to the VFW for a ceremony in thier gardens where they have the sail (the top) of a submarine  the USS Lapon one of whose missions was highlighted in the book Blind Man’s Bluff. These sails are memorials, "lest we forget" the men who fought and died for our freedom. On a sunny, albeit chilly day, I pray for our freedom, that we remember and work hard to protect the rights of the weak and those who can’t protect themselves. God bless America! Love Susie    

Hi dear friends and family! We left Breckenridge at about 8:30 mountain time, crossed the Continental Drive at Hoosier Pass, elevation over 11,000 feet, passed many miles of grazing land, and imagined Bonanza and the wagon trains headed west… miles and miles of just grazing land with mountains and rivers. Then we began a steady drop "down" to 7000 feet. We then passed through Fairplay, Colorado (I imagine poker players must not cheat in this town…) and crossed over the South Platte which has its headwaters near Fairplay. This is our third crossing of the South Platte (we crossed over it twice when it merged with the North Platte in – you guessed it, North Platte, Nebraska). … Passed Pike’s Peak and entered "the city" of Colorado Springs. Before we could shake a lamb’s tail, we were on the flat, great plains of Kansas. As broad as a Kansas corn field; corn as far as the eye can see… yep – that’s Kansas. We changed our clocks forward an hour and stopped in Colby, Kansas "The Oasis of Kansas" and the trading and service center for the wheat and corn producers in Kansas.  Time for a nap and a steak and some sweet corn. Yum. Love Susie

Good morning dear friends and family. I’m so sorry if some of you got spam emails as I used the computer in hotels along the way and a friend (Katie) in New York said she got one of those spam emails from me… Was I hacked while looking up mapquests?  I don’t know, but I hope you weren’t bothered.  Speaking of Katie… we heard from Katie, Barbara and Laura in New York and Connecticut and they are well with power out only less than 2 days. Northerners are tough and they survive!   The sun has risen over Breckenridge and the sky is a baby blue with white clouds. Almost like clockwork black clouds will roll in around 1 to 2 pm and the rain threatens, but some say the rains can’t get over the mountains. Every day I go down town and sit on a beautiful "Blue River" where miners dug for gold and minerals. The river has been all restored and park benches and art work decorate the river now. I sit and watch the mountains and utter "WOW!" and try to paint the mountains, but they change minutely. Just like when I try to paint a sunset. But we must pay attention to nature and watch her for she is magnificent and God-inspired like we are.  The Continental Divide is visible from the top of the big mountain, but we have not climbed that far.  Actually we took the Gondola up, but only went half way as I was starving and wanting to eat at one of the mountain cafes.   We walk every day and Chuck has taken to going to the gym as he isn’t going to rehab anymore.  He bikes and lifts heavy things to strengthen shoulders and arms. Good for him!  I walk and walk. This town is beautiful!  We drove over to Keystone which is not a town, just a bunch of condos and ski lifts. Breckenridge is a quaint town that has wonderful stores and art galleries on Main Street, Ridge Street, and a church (St Mary’s) on French Street. I walk about 10 blocks up and down and the three blocks wide. (Like Anchorage – long and slim on streets). Today we will go out for a last lunch and then laundry and packing. We will take 3 days to get to Springfield, Mo and the Submarine convention. After that week we will drive down to La Grange to visit my Mom and Chuck will go for a week in Thomaston (the hunting camp with Dave). Then we will go home to "face the music."  I left the house all covered with much of Aunt Trudy’s furniture and boxes of her things.  We have lots of work to do, but our great country calls. I highly recommend getting into the car, gritting your teeth and forgetting $3.50 gas, and seeing America.  America is alive and well, and each individual community has real wonderful people, beautiful lakes and streams, all (people and waters) threatened by destruction and pollution, threatened by beatles eating the trees, kudzu, greed, over development, lest I overdo… threatened by politics, yet we must hope for America… Go out and thank God we live here and save a tree, hug a baby, and wade in the water. Vote responsibly and talk about God.  My dears. God bless you and God bless America. I’m off to church and then I will try to paint the mountain again. Love from Susie and Chuck on the road!!!