Member pics

[Bether6074]

The beach is always the most beautiful to me right at sunset. Once when we lived in in Florida, my hubby's parents had a timeshare in an area right on the beach (Sanibel Island maybe?). We went down there at night and just listened to the waves for hours. Very soothing. It makes me feel poetic just thinking about it. Nice pics!

[JadziaKathryn]

This is Mt. Wellington, seen from the edge of University of Tasmania campus:

The snow is pretty up there, but it's not cold enough down here for snow. This arrangement suits me just fine, as I get beauty without shoveling. I continue to chuckle when people say it's cold. There are magnolias blooming, for goodness sakes!

[justTripn]

What temperature is it?

[JadziaKathryn]

Well, the snow is gone now, but it's got to be 60 or 65 now. I've been told it's more like spring than winter, but then I've been thinking that all winter long.

[Linda]

Uh, here is what Linda has been doing instead of writing fan fic this summer - helping out with the kids sailing group at South Milwaukee Yacht Club!



Granddaughter Image is the dark haired girl handling the jib sheet in the boat that is further away of the two.



One girl is fond of the Captain Morgan stance when she steers.



This is the day all the kids are supposed to knock the boat down, spill themselves into the water, right the boat by standing on the keel, and get back in the boat.













Grandson Dylan helps his sailing partner back in the boat



All boats safely home!

[Alelou]

Cute little boats! I learned to sail with the little 8 foot Optimist pram fleet on Clearwater Beach -- those were the best Saturdays ever. We used to go capsize their one Sunfish and put it back up too. (I doubt the daggerboards on the prams would have stood up to having a kid stand on 'em.) Eventually my dad bought a lovely little 16-footer, alas just a couple of years before we moved to inland Massachusetts. I really miss sailing. My son has always refused to learn to swim and my husband doesn't really swim either, so there's not much point in us even getting a kayak.

[Asso]

Hey! I'd missed these pics! Fabulous!

[JadziaKathryn]

It looks like they've got the knocking the boat down part, that's for sure.

[Linda]

And tonight the kids are practicing racing. Then Saturday they have some races within the club as they are not ready to go against other clubs this year - too many first year and very young kids in the group. But summer is over! Some schools around here start this week, some the next week, so sailing is over.

[justTripn]

Here is a slideshow from my Stars and Stripes tour in Hawaii. (I took these pictures with my phone.)

First is the memorial for the USS Arizona which was sunk in the attack on Pearl Harbor. It went down with 1177 men on board. They are still down there. The memorial is built as a bridge over the wreck and you can look down and see the ship. It is still leaking oil. One of those pictures I took is the oil on the water! Very eerie.

Next you see, the Battleship Missouri, where the Peace Treaty was signed ending World War II. There is a picture in the control room, like the "bridge." The lights are out as they would have been at night on a mission.

Finally there is a decorative map of the Pacific War from the "Punchbowl" the U.S. National Cemetery of the Pacific, where many soldiers are buried.

http://s74.photobucket.com/albums/i269/ ... e44384.pbw

[Linda]

Cool slide show , JT!

[Asso]

Touching, JT.
I know and understand what Pearl Harbor means for all of you.

[Alelou]

That bridge looks surprisingly high tech for a ship of that era! It's cool that they turned the lights off and actually powered the equipment.

[CX]

It had been reactivated and refit with newer technology in the decades before its last decommissioning. The last time was during the Gulf War, so it probably had at least late '80s/early '90s tech by the time they made a museum out of her.

[Alelou]

It had been reactivated and refit with newer technology in the decades before its last decommissioning. The last time was during the Gulf War, so it probably had at least late '80s/early '90s tech by the time they made a museum out of her.

Oh, good, that makes more sense. I've been on a fair number of WWII-era ships and subs with my ever-curious kid and I'd never seen anything like that.