Sephia Saturday 220 - Monument Men?

Yes, it's that time of the week again. When we all go to our dusty shoeboxes and search for something relevant to the theme. Or at least as close to relevant as we can.

I once again return to that cold November crossing of the North Atlantic of 1956.
And again we return to the deck of the Queen Elizabeth.
And again. . . my brother.
I, at the young age of 18 months, was not proving, I guess, to be very photogenic.

But the photo does have a great monument to all immigrants to this great land.

My dad and brother, 1956, with that great lady in the back ground.

Curious pattern on the back of the other young mans coat.

Sepia Saturday 220

For those who have kayaked (rafted) the Grand Canyon, some cool paintings.

I just love the light on this one!

PA Nesbit

also, PA Nesbit

Okay, this is interesting. . .

Timber Tommies

On our way to deliver Girl Scout cookies, , ,

We had to take Chipmunk patrol to breakfast.

Another plane and a sad story.

Story here.

Okay, this is cool. . .

The plane truth here. . .  Okay Grandpa Charlie, get busy. A Spitfire please.

And more here. . .

Going out in style. . . .

Story here.

Cookie Time - and Thanks!

Received all the cookies daughter sold (over 300!) and got them ready for delivery last night.
A house full of cookies. And we restrained from sampling.

New post on Log Blog

Log Blog

Another finding on our ever elusive Leslie, or the magic of the internet. . .

If you remember my post a few weeks ago about my 'ever elusive Uncle Leslie' you will like this little bit of a follow up. Apparently I am not the only one searching for a Leslie.

The other Leslie Cryer.

Beer battles

I sometimes find Phyllis Schlafly's comments on NPR if not agreeable at least interesting.
But now she is alienating good beer drinkers as well.
Since St. Louis has lost, in most beer drinkers opinion, it's connection with Busch as a St Louis symbol, do we really want to loss a connection to really good beer?
Us non-Busch drinkers still think it was wrong to have  lost that icon of the city.

But Phyllis's latest comments just goes to show, once again, how un-associated the Republican party is with it's working class base. She says, “In connection with its usage as a surname, it has the connotation of conservative values, which to millions of Americans (such as Baptists and Mormons) means abstinence from alcohol,” her filing with the trademark office states, “An average consumer in Saint Louis and elsewhere would think ‘Schlafly’ is a surname associated with me, and thus the registration of this name as a trademark by Applicant should be denied.”

Well, she we be more likely to get my vote if she was associated with a good beer.

Here is the whole story,  or you can buy the paper.

You know where my vote would go.

True, the story does not talk about Schlafly Beer losing the use of the name on it's beer's. Which kinda makes the debate even more silly if you ask me.

A must see if you like comic strips or good art. "Dear Mr. Watterson"

As both of my two followers are keenly aware, I love good comic art. Whether it is in comic strips, comic books or animation. And the better it is drawn, the more I like it. Good comic art is high art.
And it can hardly be argued that many comics are better drawn (and painted) than Calvin and Hobbes.
Even now, after almost twenty years since the final strip, the books sell well and keep the strip alive.

Last night I had the chance to watch Joel Allen Schroeder's movie "Dear Mr. Watterson".
The movie doesn't so much go into the life of Bill Watterson as it does the appeal and longevity of Calvin and Hobbes.
The interviews with other comic artist's is well worth the price of admission alone.

Mr. Schroeder made a very personal documentary and also made a quality film. Well filmed and well edited.

It definitely seemed a labor of love.

All my relative's who worked at Rowntree's would be proud. . .

Kit Kat Bar is number one! My mother knew something all along.

All the others.

Sepia Saturday 215 contribution

The suggested theme for this week is crowds. By it's simplest definition, how many people does it take to make a crowd. A small room could easily become crowded with ten or so people. Maybe even less.
While a large stadium may take thousands.

Well, for this week, I picked a beach themed one. Maybe because I am tired of the cold here in the mid-west and long for warmer climes.

For the person sitting in the center (that would be my dad), surely this must seem like a crowd.
I don't know the other people, none of them are mom. Probably a beach not to far from London.
I never knew dad to be really all that outgoing, but pictures of him as a young man sometimes suggest otherwise.
Anyone across the pond recognize the beach?

Check out the Sepia Saturday blog here!

Ever elusive Uncle Leslie

If you have followed this blog for any length of time you know that I am very interested in my families history.
Especially as it pertains to WW2.
I have posted several finds over the years of my fathers time in service.
But I am also interested in two of my uncle's, on my mother's side, time in service.
And any other family members history also.
One uncle served in North Africa and ended the war as a German POW, and I have at least some information on him.
The other uncle, Uncle Leslie is proving much harder to pin down.
Not only in his war record hard to trace, but just about everything else as well.
I only have one picture of him (below).

and just his birth and death records.
He was also apparently in North Africa and was also attached to the Chindits in Burma for a while.

Well, as I have done my searches over the last year or so, another Leslie (same last name) keeps popping up. However, each record suggests he died in 1942 as a result of his time in Burma.
Well, our Leslie out-lived the war by about twenty years.

Just this week I made contact with a couple of gentlemen who have an interest in Chindit history and maintain vast amounts of info on it's men.
They to had found Leslie (not ours) but thought the similarities may mean it was actually our Leslie, but his death may have just been reported in error.



That was not the case as there were to many differences. But they did send me the following two correspondence when hoping they had found the right one.
Again, it was not.


But. . . . the story that was contained in the two letters needed to be shared.

It could have been our Leslie's fate, or any number of other young men who served there and in any number of other horrible places during our wars.

I have tried to remove the names as much as possible to respect their families where I can.


But I felt it needed to be shared.

Click on them to make them bigger if you need to.

Just though you may be interested.

and here is a little information on the Karen people of Burma

Always looking through the history books. . . .

Found this interesting history of a Spitfire in one of my dads units.
I don't know if he actually had anything to do with this particular airplane, but he was stationed with the 350 when they had it.

And a link to another pilot who would have been around at the same time.

They don't make them like that anymore. . .

Shirley Temple-Black
1928-2014

Well, I always wanted ties to Scotland. . . .

But not infamous ties.

If your surname is Armstrong, Maxwell, Johnston, Graham, Bell, Scott, Nixon, Kerr, Crozier or Robson then your family history, just like the astronaut Neil Armstrong’s, may very well be intertwined with the Border Reivers. And, if you do share one of these surnames, you may be advised not to read on…


My grandmothers maiden name was Crozier.

Read on.

A new old artist. . .

Jimmy Swinnerton

A real brew, ha, ha

If you have followed this blog for more than a couple of episodes you will know that when I have time to myself I enjoy going to the cabin and then maybe going for a drive down back country roads.
And to end the day, I like to stop at my 'local' for a pint or two. (Never more than two)

Well this past weekend I was able to accomplish this.

First stop, the cabin, where I spent a big part of the afternoon just doing cleaning chores.

Next stop was a local Welsh-ish pub I don't get to frequent near as much as I would like. Which is probably a good thing.

My first of two un-required pints is usually the one on the center tapper handle. Fuller's ESB. I really like just about everything Fuller does, but I think that is my favorite.

Usually for my second round I like to try something different if they have something new on tap.

This time I went with one the hostess recommended, and it came looking like this;

Being hard of hearing and weak of constitution I actually ended up thinking I was drinking the beer etched on the glass, which would have been Leinenkugel's Big Eddy. Which I came to find out later has several different types of Big Eddy beer.

But after a little further discussion with the hostess I found I was actually drinking something entirely un-etched on the glass.

Apparently Lagunitas had trouble meeting a quota for a certain batch and had to come up with a new beer to send out while brewing more. And they came up with Laganitas Sucks.

Here is what they say about it; Originally brewed in 2011 as a Brown Shugga’ substitute, due to construction-induced capacity issues. But we liked it so much it had to make a return trip.

Yea, that's right. Sucks.

It was the closest I have had to a home brew from a major brewer. And it is also, for one with a bad smeller, the first beer that had an aroma for me. An aroma very different from the taste. But both really worked. I hope I can find it again.

So here it is turned around so it is not mislabeled.

Photo's are from my IPAD, me trying to be Johnny Bling.