A Fair Maiden's Tree

The Corsair and Harrier appear to be ready to crash into the Woman Marines Association tree on the observation deck outside the mess hall.

You know, I'd never consider decorating a tree with mini American flags. I always think of those as decorations for July 4th. The ornaments on this tree are designed to be handled, maybe that is why it was placed outside the mess hall. There are ornaments that represent women from every era of the Marine corps. On the front of the ornament is a picture and on the back is the story behind the picture.

When I was photographing the tree, I didn't realize that there were stories on the back of the pictures. What a great idea! I'll have to go back and read through a few of them. I will also file this idea away as a future Christmas tree decorating idea - - a scrapbook Christmas tree!

Remember, They Came in Peace Tree

On a crisp autumn day, 25 years ago, Americans awoke to the awful news that 241 service men had been killed by a suicide bomber at the Marine Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. This tree is dedicated to their memory.

Decorated by the Beirut Veterans of America (BVA), each ornament, a Patriotic Dove of Peace inscribed with the words "They Came In Peace" carries the name of a young man or woman who lost their lives while serving as Peace keepers between 1982 and 1984. There are 270 ornaments adorning this tree.

It is sobering to have a visual reminder of the number of lives lost while on a mission to bring peace and stability to an area ravaged by war. Each one of these doves represents the most precious of gifts an American family can give for this country.

The motto of the BVA is: "The First Duty is to Remember". I was randomly drawn to particular doves or groupings of doves, so I will display all of those photos. 25 years ago, hundreds of families spent the holiday season in grief for the loved one whom they would never see again while others spent it supporting their surviving loved ones recovering from injuries. These names belong to children, siblings, lovers, spouses, parents, friends, may we remember them and be thankful for our own children, siblings, lovers, spouses, parents and friends. Every day we have with them is a gift to be treasured.

Merry Christmas and sweet dreams.

Christmas Time at the Museum

Merry Christmas!  The Marine Corps Museum has lots of things planned this holiday season, check out the Museum calendar of events.  This weekend is Family Day.  Santa will be making a special visit for all the local boys and girls, young and old who make a visit on Saturday, December 14th.  Unfortunately, I will not be there that day as I have to take Gracie to an adoption event at Pet Smart.  The gal who was interested in adopting her decided she couldn't do it at this time.  I'll blog about that later.

The truck you see above is an actual Ford truck, circa World War 1.  The Museum's goal is to fill the back with toys for the Marine Corps Toys for Tots program.

As you can see, there is still a lot of room (of course this had only been up for three days at the time this picture was taken.  I'll take another one when I'm down for our docent meeting this week.  So, if you come for a museum visit or to chat with Santa, be sure to bring a new, unwrapped toy to add to the collection.

The painting below is a Tom Lovell original that is part of the Marine Corps Combat Art collection.  This is a World War 2 Marine in the South Pacific, I'm sure, dreaming of a white Christmas at home with his family.

I have more to show you of the special trees, but I'll save that for later this week.

The Best of the Wedding Photos

Where to begin????

I took over 800 pictures between the rehearsal, the wedding and the reception, and that was after I deleted the out of focus and just plain bad photos. I have also been playing with Flickr's photo editing software, Picnic. I really like it.

So here is my dilemma. I took a lot of good photos that I really liked, what should I show you?

I'll start with the church. This is the little country church in Michigan where my friend got married. Her parents got married at the original church (this is the new church) 30 years ago.

I loved the contrast with the deep blue sky, red shingles, and shining cross.

Below is Friend getting her hair done. The gal who did everyone's hair did a spectacular job and she was cheap. Just $20 a person. Her in DC, for an up do, it will cost you around $100.

Guess who? Yep, that is Ranger's Girl steaming my friend's dress. I'm a multi-talented friend. Invite me to your wedding and you get a photographer and dress steamer. Just a note, if you purchase a wedding dress at David's Bridal, and get it altered at another location, they will not press the dress.

The behind the scenes things a woman wedding photographer captures - - the bride putting her face on.

Now for the formals. This is my favorite of the formals that I took of my friend. The first picture is the original shot. The photos that follow are the effects I applied to the picture using Picnic's tools.

BTW, I won't show you all the options the rest of the way, just my favorite. Below is Friend with her bridesmaids and the flower girls.

This is my favorite of the formals that I took of Friend and her husband.

O.k. now for the ceremony. Below, Friend kisses her father after he "gave" her away.

The church was very pretty. Here the couples are exchanging vows.

The ring being put on Friend's hand.

I like the following series of photos of them lighting the unity candle.

The most important part, other than the vows, the photo as a photographer that you DON'T want to miss. The Kiss.

Introducing Mr. and Mrs. The nice thing, the pianist delayed playing "Broken Road" until Friend's sister walked down the aisle. Friend did not want to walk out of the church to that song but her sister wouldn't budge. So, they walked down the aisle to the applause of family and friends.

This is a shot of the wedding cake without using a flash. I like taking photos of cakes without flashes because I can get some more of the details. Her sister had a different cake. Both were the same three tiers, just different frosting styles.

The next series is the father daughter dance. Friend danced with her dad, her sister danced with their step father, as this was her second wedding.

The first dance. This is my favorite dance candid.

Now for the cake cutting.

The bouquet toss.

Friend did not do the garter, however, her sister did. Take a look at the little boys up front. I got a closer shot of them covering their eyes. They are Friend's new step-sons. I thought that was just the funniest picture.

Friend and her husband getting ready to leave the reception.

There they go, off into the cold Michigan night and a blessed life together.

Its About Time

Did you all see that OJ Simpson FINALLY got sentenced to prison.

He was just so full of himself for so long. Thinking he was invinceable, above the law.

There is justice in this world, sometimes it just takes time.

Lessons Learned from Thanksgiving Weekend 2008

Just Say No to Double Weddings (in fairness to my friend who did this, it went well but after all the stuff she had to go through, I would recommend not doing it this way)

You can survive a trip to Michigan with a sticker on your car saying you love OSU

7-year old boys can be really annoying

3-year old girls have screeches that pierce ear drums

7-year old big brothers and 3-year old little sisters are like oil and water

Mothers will never give-up nagging their 30-something single children about getting married

Mothers who have not dated in almost 40 years think they give good dating advise

I really can take 800 pictures in 2 days

800 pictures take a lot of time to upload, sort through and edit

I NEED to live someplace near the water

Monday after Thanksgiving is the BEST day to drive home

It is better to get Christmas shopping done before Thanksgiving