500

Thank Stribog It's Friday!

"Enjoy flying those 'friendly skies,' did you? You're welcome!"

Milestone

Today's entry is the 500th since I began this incarnation of the blog on May 19, 2015. 

To this point I think I've done a reasonable job of meeting the blog's overall purpose: Letting interested parties get some sense of who I am, how I think, and what I believe 

so that once I have departed those folks will still have a little bit of me to visit from time to time when they feel a need. And it has been quite a bit of fun of course. It is the only outlet I have for my more creative impulses, and I like to think the people who read it regularly or even only occasionally get the sense that it is a labor of love.

"Plus, you really have nothing better to do most days."

Plus that, yes...thanks for reminding me...

Flight to Philly

Having not flown in a commercial jet since 1977, I was leery of the prospect, but the TSA procedures were not nearly so tiresome as I had expected (I was pre-screened, so
I got to use the express lane),
and the morning flight from Omaha's Eppley Airfield to Chicago's Midway International Airport took less than an hour.


That segment of the trip was completed on a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 like the one pictured above.

It was raining when we got to Chicago, and even for a Thursday Midway was quite full of people. My flight to Philadelphia International Airport was delayed by about an hour, but aside from some "bumpy" air caused by the storms all along the way the flight was uneventful.

This time I flew in a 737-800 like the one pictured at left, and it was completely full.

It was raining in Philadelphia when I arrived as well. My best friend Skip, my host for this visit, met me at the airport and we had a short drive back to Jenner's pond.

"Pretzels and peanuts are fine for you bipeds, but some ants would have been nice."

Write a letter to Southwest about it...

It's Homecoming Float Season!

From the wry comic strip Zits, by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman, which you should read every day, as I do.

Until Next Time...

My guitar hero Mark Knopfler hasn't enjoyed quite so much chart success in his solo career as he achieved with his band Dire Sraits, but all indications are that he doesn't really care about that, and remains focused on simply creating beautiful music. I can always count on him for that.

Because of this trip I was put in mind of Mark's second solo effort, released on September 26, 2000.

Sailing to Philadelphia is an engaging collection of songs, especially the title track, which features a duet with James Taylor, and is about the surveyors who created what came to be known as the Mason-Dixon line.




Today's send-off is is the official U.S. album version of the song. Enjoy...