An old warrior

The last of the WWII vets stood to be honored at Monday's Memorial Day ceremony. And, I remembered the words "In gratitude to those who served."

We also spoke for a bit with a family whose brother had served in Vietnam and was one of those who made the ultimate sacrifice. They continue to honor his service. And I remembered the words "In sorrow for those who lost their lives."

"Today let us, as Americans, honor the American fighting man. For it is he — the soldier, the sailor, the Airman, the Marine — who has fought to preserve freedom. It is his valor that has given renewed hope to the free world that by working together in discipline and faith our ideals of freedom will always prevail."
~ Admiral Forrest P. Sherman

In gratitude...in sorrow

 Today, we once again celebrated Memorial Day at the Downey Cemetery. Every year since I've started attending this ceremony, the quote on the Memorial Wall has touched me. This year, the quote was reflected in all who attended.

The turnout this year was large, but changing. The first couple of years I attended, there were WWI veterans in the crowd. This year, these men are gone, and there was but a single WWII veteran. Time passes, and the burden of serving moves on to the younger generations.

And the youngest generation was represented by Ward, Price, and Stauffer ASPIRE students, who sang "I'm Proud to Be an American." The quote was reflected in the words they sang—"And I won't forget the men who died, Who gave that right to me."

So for all of us this Memorial Day, remember—"In gratitude to those who served...in sorrow for those who lost their lives." 

Santa Catalina

Santa Catalina Island lies about 22 miles off the coast of Los Angeles. It's a popular tourist destination, with the boat trip taking about an hour from Long Beach. (And it's free if you go on your birthday.) This is a view of part of the Avalon harbor, with the Casino in the background.

The Casino was built in 1929 by William Wrigley, Jr. You might recognize that name from the chewing gum brand that he created, or as the owner of the Chicago Cubs, where Wrigley Field was named after him.

Cars are limited on the island, so you mainly get around by foot, bike, golf cart, or boat. My daughter and I walked around the town, took a glass-bottom boat tour (fun!), and climbed up several flights of stairs to this vantage point where we had this wonderful view of the entire harbor.

Carnival!

Tonight we stopped by the Carnival set up in the Downey High School parking lot. One of the first things I saw was these kids having a blast whacking each other with these oversized bats they had won on one of the games. They were having a great time.

Of course, my favorite, and perhaps a contributing factor to the willingness of adults to bring the kids to a carnival—Fried Food Factory! Yes, they had deep fried Twinkies, Oreos, and strawberries.

Clematis success

We've been trying for several years to successfully grow a clematis vine, but have lacked locations with enough sunlight. This year, however, with no effort at all, this clematis suddenly burst forth with these two giant blooms, which have lasted for about two weeks so far.

Finally worthwhile, even if we never get any more flowers the rest of this year.

Making your own garden

Stacy, the lady that lives in this house, told me that the yard used to be grass all the way up to the house. One day earlier this year she thought, "Maybe I can plant a garden in my front yard." So she cleared away the grass from in front of the house, put a rock fence to divide the lawn from the garden, and planted some flower seeds. She had some sunflower seeds in the house and thought, "I wonder if these will grow."

A few weeks after she got her answer to both questions. Yes, she could have a beautiful garden in her front yard, and sunflower plants will grow from those seeds.

Have you planted anything to make your life more beautiful lately?

Humans of Downey - Carl

"One of my first memories of success was when I was on the high school football team and we won the league championship. In addition to the position I played on the field, I think my most important contribution to the team would be my promotion of teamwork, camaraderie, friendship, and brotherhood among my teammates, which allowed us to trust each other and play better on the field.

"That gave me the first taste of teamwork and how I could be successful. That experience then grew later in my life. Even when I went to college I knew I wanted to be a police officer. Then when I entered the academy they taught us that the essence of police work is teamwork, looking out for one another, helping one another. You don't mind who gets the credit, we just want to get the job done. So, as in football, you can't do your job well unless the guy next to you does his job well. The same is true in police work.

"As Chief of Police of Downey, I want to instill that same spirit of teamwork in the officers I'm responsible for. It starts in the academy. Everyone goes in as an individual. The academy starts from day one to teach you how to depend on your partner. For example, most of the younger recruits don't understand the motives behind what we do. So, you have to have a carpool partner to come to class from the very first day. If you don't have one you can't come. If he's late, you're late. If he's disciplined, you're disciplined.

"Once they graduate from the academy, we try to continue that training of depending on the team. We put them with a veteran training officer. Nothing is more important than the team and getting through the day by helping each other. It doesn't matter who gets the credit when the job gets done. We teach them to depend on each other. You know, they're with their fellow officers more than they are with their families. We need to be a team. We try to instill that by having outings, we do recreation together, we play sports together, and all that is predicated on the fact that we want everyone to know that it takes teamwork to win and that each of them is on the team."
~ Carl

House of color

I love color! I drove past this house and was drawn to the colors. It is so appealing!