Post 464: in which I return to routine…and reminisce a wee bit

A good night’s sleep put me right physically. Then I made a light breakfast of whole wheat English muffins with cream cheese and marmalade, strong coffee, and cranberry juice. I finally cut up the watermelon, too, and put it in the refrigerator, something I intended to do while my brother was here so I didn’t have to eat watermelon morning, noon, and night. Oh well!

The boys are in better form today, too. Dougy was up for play with their Neko dragonfly toy; Andy was less ready at first, but came around to play later.

One thing Andy did do was stop by my chair while I caught up on reading, put his front paws on my arm — his way to getting my attention. I hadn’t given him his blood pressure medicine yet. He forgot that, I guess, but wanted the post-dose treat of Greenies. Silly cat! All I had to do was reach down and pick him up, cradle him on his back (without the towel, even!), and squirt the dose in his mouth.

He took it like a big kitty. Good boy! Then Dougy ate his treats. Geez! What’s a kitty gotta do to get some Greenies around here? I put out some more Greenies later, and he got his treats.

🙂

May 1971, off Sardinia on a blustery, miserable day at the beach filming a missile firing.

May 1971, off Sardinia on a blustery, miserable day at the beach filming a missile firing.

The photo has nothing to do with anything. I didn’t remember it, found it among other photos, scanned it, and realized I didn’t really have anything similar to tie in with it. But I like it!

🙂

Um, sorry for the brief loss of my train of thought! Back to getting back to routine, I took a look at a five-week-long stack of magazines that accumulated during the family visits. I couldn’t work reading them into my day, so now have five weeks’ worth of magazines to read, which I began during breakfast. What a concept! Reading at the breakfast table! It was nice.

Though I enjoyed family talk during the visits, I am not a morning talker by habit or choice. Reading, though, is comfortable as an old pair of jeans.

🙂

At the Paris apartment of Ralph and Deborah in 1971. I'm second from the left, Tim's next, then Ralph, Deborah, and Deborah's sister Kathy.

At the Paris apartment of Ralph and Deborah in 1971. I’m second from the left, Tim’s next, then Ralph, Deborah, and Deborah’s sister Kathy.

There is a time and place for chatter at mealtime, and some of the more pleasant moments of life center around family and friends sharing light conversation and a delicious homemade soup or a dish new to some at the table. (Unless the dish involves squid, stinky cheese, or durian fruit, for example. 😉 )

Of course, if you are chatting at the table with friends in an apartment on rue des Boulangers in Paris, the food and wine taste much, much better!

Post 463: a nap would be fine…!

I took my brother to the airport this morning. After five weeks of family visits, I am home alone. I enjoyed the visits — good thing — but I am happy to get back to routine, too.

The cats are less certain, though. When I returned from the airport, Andy and Dougy looked for my brother, seemed a little confused and concerned he wasn’t with me. Need I say my brother is their favorite “uncle”? Of course not! He’s great with animals and kids, and they know he likes them, too!

Dougy was especially concerned, and I had difficulties catching him in frame and in focus. On the other hand, this photo gives you a good sense of how agitated he was...!

Dougy was especially concerned, and I had difficulties catching him in frame and in focus. On the other hand, this photo gives you a good sense of how agitated he was…!

I finally did get a decent photo of Dougy. He settled down, but I think he and Andy miss my brother. My brother is lots of fun! Sure, I played with them after I got home to help them decompress, but they were less engaged than they normally can be.

"Where's Uncle...!?"

“Where’s Uncle…!?”

Andy wasn’t as agitated as Dougy, but he kept looking back from his perch, toward the kitchen and door area, possibly in hopes of seeing my brother.

"Something's not right...!"

“Something’s not right…!”

Both boys seemed to understand something was going on this morning because neither my brother nor I generally wore anything but shorts and short-sleeved shirts while he was here. We had bare feet unless we were headed out or — Andy acted like he thought there was interest in catching him — getting ready to take the cats to the groomer or veterinarian. Today, we even had on shoes! Oh my! The boys like to sniff feet, so they notice these things!

As of this report, things have begun to return to routine. But a nap would be fine. I’m exhausted.

Post 462: “Are you up!?”

I noticed in Facebook my friend Ralph’s birthday was yesterday. I looked at my brother and said, “That’s odd. I thought Ralph’s birthday was July 10th…!” After a pregnant moment, I thought out loud, “Oh! This is July!”

What can I say? I’m nearly two-thirds of a century old and the inexorable process of entropy has robbed me of some of my, um, “mental acuity”! 🙂

In 1971, I think it was, Ralph and Deborah came to Kaiserslautern on a visit. They’d been great hosts when I visited Paris, so I wanted them to have an equally memorable visit to Germany. One day trip we made was to Heidelberg, where we climbed the hill to Schloss Heidelberg.

ralph tim deborah doug Schloss Heidelberg 1971

The foot scene above is from the climb to Schloss Heidelberg with Ralph, Deborah, and army friend and Beethovenstrasse roommate Tim. We were strong. We were fun. We were playful. We wanted to have a different way to remember our day trip to that city. I believe Deborah proposed the idea above. My big foot is in the foreground. Counter clockwise, the feet belong to Ralph, Deborah, and Tim.

Then, on a trip to Paris — the one Tim was able to take with me — Tim, Ralph, and I stopped by an Alsatian bar (best beer!) Ralph liked for ambience and product. Low light, slow ASA 100 black and white film — this was 1971, I think — and this surreal scene revealed itself to us all.

alsatian brasserie tim and ralph paris 1971

I also took a photo of the proprietor, a happy Alsatian who insisted I take his photo, too. He was an institution there and a camera ham, so the proprietor’s photo turned out heroic: “Noble barman at the helm of his bar, awaiting the next onslaught of thirsty patrons demanding perfectly pulled draughts of tasty Alsatian beer…!”

I suppose I could post the proprietor’s photo with no issues, but I am hesitant to post anything with recognizable people without their permission.

Anyway, the point and purpose of this entry today is to honor the birthday of a well-tested friend, someone responsible for many of the happiest times in my life, if not a few of the more horrific…. Given my age, he must be a real antique by now!

Ha! Just kidding, Ralph! I love you and cherish our friendship so much I hope I die before you so I don’t have to know a world where you aren’t there, waiting to ask that famous (infamous) question that always lead to adventures of a life time, “Are you up!?”

Post 461: the boys’ new haircuts

As promised, here are photos of the boys’ new haircuts!

Dougy poses nicely for his photo. (Of course, I took eight others that were blurs of cat exiting the frame!)

Dougy poses nicely for his photo. (Of course, I took eight others that were blurs of cat exiting the frame!)

What a pretty boy he is when he’s groomed nicely!

Don't under-estimate the added cuteness Andy accrues when he gets "prettied up"!

Don’t under-estimate the added cuteness Andy accrues when he gets “prettied up”!

Once again the Murphy’s Grooming Boutique team did a great job with Andy and Dougy! Sara is an artist when it comes to cutting cat hair, and (amazingly!) the report I get is the boys are good while there. What I especially like about Sara’s work is how the boys come out looking trimmed but not scalped, neater but not prissy. No ribbons for my boys’ necks! 🙁 Unless it’s for “Best Groomed Kitty”, of course.

Go for the teddy bear cut, cat people. The lion cut is too extreme and not dignified.

Post 460: haircut day for the boys

Andy and Dougy were very good boys today when my brother and I picked them up to put them in the carrier to go to their appointment for their bi-monthly day at the kitty spa. No frou-frou cuts for them, just studly teddy bear cuts executed so well by their groomer Sarah that you can’t tell they weren’t born so pretty! Well done, Sarah! The boys look very good indeed!

If someone, whose name starts with a "Dougy", was unhappy to be in the carrier today, the end result was very good indeed.

If someone, whose name starts with a “Dougy”, was unhappy to be in the carrier today, the end result was very good indeed.

I’ll tease you a bit. In time — maybe tomorrow or whenever the boys feel like being photographed — I’ll post a photo or two of the boys in their new ‘dos, but here is a hint of what to expect:

Dougy looks great, and Andy does, too!

Dougy looks great, and Andy does, too!

Post 459: 69th Signal Company (Photo)

Between July 2, 1970, and November 30, 1972, I was a motion picture photographer assigned to the 69th Signal Company (Photo), Kleber Kaserne, Kaiserslautern, Germany. All military units seem to have their slogans, expressions of their pride and esprit de corps. The 69th Signal’s was: “If it’s photo, forget it,” and “Our best is none too good”.

Mostly, though, we were seriously good at what we did, and the slogans were satirical commentary on the goofiness of these slogans. We collected them during our travels to other units, and they were a source of a chuckle or two!

The 16mm Arriflex camera in this photo is  like the one I used.

The 16mm Arriflex camera in this photo is like the one I used.

Twice, we motion picture photographers took tours of the Munich factory where Arriflex motion picture cameras are made. That was extremely instructive and fun. We enjoyed the chance to see how our cameras were made, and to let the men responsible know how much we loved to use their cameras! Besides, they served us breakfast…with beer! What gracious hosts! 😉

When we weren’t on assignment, the photographers hid out on the soundstage. If our first sergeant looked like he needed a detail to clean up or buff floors, we made sure we had busy work (finishing captions sheets to include with our exposed film, loading film magazines, unloading film magazines, heading out for the morning or afternoon break at the PX snack bar…) to avoid such nonsense.

Soundstage at the 69th Signal Company (Photo), with "busy" photographer in chair.

Soundstage at the 69th Signal Company (Photo), with “busy” photographer in chair.

Sometimes busy work that was more fun came up, and one tried to be available for that: picking up the mail, abusing the Wednesday afternoon PT requirement by organizing 10 speed tours of the area (and stopping for beer and heavy German meals at different Gasthofs), and escorting fellow company members with bad attitudes and incarceration in their future or past to and from the lock up in Mannheim.That gave us an excuse to sign out a Jeep and wear a 45 in a cool holster, for example…!

Remember, America! You paid for this! On the other hand, the 69th Signal Company (Photo) was disbanded at some time after I was there. Kleber Kaserne (or the buildings) still are there, and the link gives a bit of history on the installation. I lived in the building (shown in the small photo in the link) with the bell tower. There was no clock in it at the time, but it since has been remodelled and a clock reinstalled.

Post 458: woes of the Internet….

Hello. I’m back after a short interruption on my Internet service. Maybe it’s corrected now. Maybe not. All I know is Sunday I lost it, and this morning, when I turned my computer on so it’d be on when the Charter service guy came to fix the problem, I suddenly had service.

I did the sensible thing first: I looked for any bills waiting for me to authorize payment, and found one. Then I went through and deleted emails notifying me of comments, except for those, of course, directed to me, which I responded to.

I caught up on the local news — thankfully, the holiday publishing schedule plus a regular “down day” at the paper (no Sunday paper) meant I was only one day behind. It’s a small newspaper. I got through it fast, noting I still haven’t made the obituary pages (some relief!), nor have any others I prefer be on this side of the ground.

Now, I think, I am just about ready to get back into my Internet routine, which includes updating this blog. IF, that is, the Internet connection isn’t lost again before I finish!

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It’s a place in Germany! I haven’t found the Dorf or Stadt represented by the “CK” on this randomly spotted automobile license plate, in 1970, somewhere in the Fürth area (apparently), but the first two letters relate to — tuh-duh! — Fürth, which is an administrative seat (Kreis) that includes that naughty “CK”. If you know the license conventions, these letters are very informative!

Fumlautuck

(Of course, to a dirty-minded young man taking the photo — me! — the administrative city-village coding just spelled a vulgar word in English. Shame on you if you saw it that way, too! 😉 )

That wasn’t too edifying. Here. Follow this link to find out more about the beautiful German city of Fürth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%BCrth#Geography

🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

Whew! After that, you need something peaceful and nice. My friend Deborah took several photos in Hunawihr, France, when she borrowed my camera. That was in 1972 when Ralph and I went there to visit her while she (then we, for one day) helped with the vintage. I didn’t know what she photographed until I picked up the prints at the photo processor’s in Kaiserslautern after I returned from France.

Old friends chat on the street corner in Hunawihr, France. By Deborah, 1972

Old friends chat on the street corner in Hunawihr, France. By Deborah, 1972

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Village scene, Hunawihr, France. By Deborah, 1972

Village scene, Hunawihr, France. By Deborah, 1972

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Cottage scene, Hunawihr, France. By Deborah, 1972

Cottage scene, Hunawihr, France. By Deborah, 1972

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Deborah’s photos are a charming reminder of a lovely time had in France. Within a few weeks of the trip to Hunawihr, I’d return to America, where I suffered/endured something like culture shock in Cleveland, then a return to my roots, sort of, in West Branch, Iowa. My American friends helped me make the transition from soldier (sort of…!) to civilian (in my heart, the whole time) by immersing me in the culture I’d been away from for three years.

It was a hoot!

Post 457: Some scenes from 1971-1972

I enjoyed the apartment on Beethovenstrasse. I rode my 10 speed to and from work at the 69th Signal Co. (Photo) home base when I wasn’t on the road filming “stuff”.

From the window of the apartment on Beethovenstrasse, Kaiserslautern.

From the window of the apartment on Beethovenstrasse, Kaiserslautern.

Beethovenstrasse street scene, Kaiserslautern, 1971

Beethovenstrasse street scene, Kaiserslautern, 1971

Beethovenstrasse ran to Richard-Wagnerstrasse, which lead to the main train station, from which I took the trains to Paris, Strasbourg, and (with Ralph, Deborah, and Tim on a little antique steam locomotive-drawn local) to the Deutsche Weinstrasse for a pleasant outing to Deidesheim and vicinity to make sure the Germans were making good wine from that year’s vintage…! (Oh, they were!)

How we looked after the trip to Deidesheim.

How we looked after the trip to Deidesheim.

In time, I will scan photos of the vintage in Hunawihr, France, where the same cast of characters (sans Tim, unfortunately – he’d have enjoyed that trip immensely!) helped harvest grapes on the side of a hill leading up to the local church.

Hunawihr is a few kilometers south of Ribeauville, and Ralph and I had to walk the final three kilometers (just short of two miles) at that because the local milk train didn’t go that far. But we were young, the walk was good, and we had a lovely liver and onion supper at the inn where we stayed when we arrived at Hunawihr. Yeah. Liver and onions. In France! But it was the best liver and onions I ever ate!

Deborah borrowed my camera to take some souvenir photos of Hunawihr. When I got the film processed after I returned to Kaiserslautern, this charming photo was among those she'd taken!

Deborah borrowed my camera to take some souvenir photos of Hunawihr. When I got the film processed after I returned to Kaiserslautern, this charming photo was among those she’d taken!

You can see the hill and the church if you go to Google Earth and type in Hunawihr, France in the search box. I'd post a copy of the image were it not a violation of copyright and the agreement one agrees to on downloading it…! (I'm tempted, I mean! But…!) Hunawihr's a beautiful little wine-producing village you can "visit" via Google Earth's street view feature.

Post 456: a walk in the Pfaelzerwald, south of Kaiserslautern, 1971

I was in the US Army between 1969-1972, stationed in Kaiserslautern with the 69th Signal Company (Photo). I lived with a couple of my army buddies for a short time in an apartment on Beethovenstrasse, our way to relieve us of army routine and to immerse ourselves a bit in the local culture.

While in that Beethovenstrasse apartment, I had friends visit from Paris — Ralph and Deborah — who’d hosted one of my army buddies and me or just me different times at their home in Paris, then Strasbourg.

I suggested we take a walk in the lovely Pfaelzerwald, south of Kaiserslautern. It was during that walk Ralph discovered the possible home of German elves.

Ralph examines a mound in the Pfaelzerwald for evidence of little people habitation...!

Ralph examines a mound in the Pfaelzerwald for evidence of little people…!

In case a little person popped up, we surrounded our friend to defend him against abduction into the dark hole…

Scary! Has to be occupado!

Scary! Has to be occupado!

Fortunately, Ralph leaped back in time. Highlighted in the circle, pointed to with an arrow, is my proof of little people — elf! — habitation of this mound!

elf house up close elf highlighted

OMG! I see more and more faces in the mound and above it, not just the one I highlighted! Ralph was in great peril, much greater than we realized at the time!

Whew! I think the German government put a bounty on elves shortly after this photo was taken, and it now is safe to walk in the Pfaelzerwald.

Post 455: Way to go!

I can’t think of a better way to show respect for our American veterans with PTSD than to celebrate the 4th of July for eight days from 9 AM till 10 PM, then July 3rd and 4th from 9 AM till midnight.

Must be great to have a ten-day-long reminder of the combat “fun” you had fighting in America’s wars. Thanks for your service.

Ten gruelling days: That’s how long my hometown allows fireworks to be shot off in celebration of the July 4th holiday.

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I had a comment from a reader who wanted to follow this blog but couldn’t find the place to do it. These two places plus one on the toolbar at the very top of the blog post are where you can subscribe. (There’s a circle with a checkmark in it, next to the word “Follow” on the toolbar.)

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I’m so worn out from the blanking ten days of fireworks, especially the ones to midnight the past two nights, I’m having difficulties focusing at the moment. Here’s a couple kitty photos my Seattle sister took of my boys when she was here recently on a family visit:

Dougy in his favorite salmon-colored tub, and Andy on his favorite perch on the box fort.

Dougy in his favorite salmon-colored tub, and Andy on his favorite perch on the box fort.

Dougy the tub cat!

Dougy the tub cat!

Andy

Andy

The boys love their new toy!

The boys love their new toy!