A child's retirement says you are old!

At dinner on March 17, 2014, the first anniversary of my marriage to Joyce, I told her, two of my sons and a daughter and daughter-in-law, that I was experiencing signs of getting old: Walking has slowed down, I've given up bike riding, hearing is less than what it used to be, and a few other things (best left un-described) are a bit slow in responding. “But what really makes me feel old,” I said, “is having a child retire.”

A retirement ceremony, scheduled at the CIA where my second son, James, an attorney, had completed 27 years of service in various legal positions, had been cancelled because snow shut down the entire federal government in Washington, D.C., on St. Patrick’s Day. Talk about the luck of the Irish. We had the retirement dinner anyway and told James how much we loved him and how proud we were of his service to our country (in addition to an earlier four years as an officer in the USAF.) Three of the agency's leaders passed along laudatory comments about James and his service. I only wish we could have heard them in person.

My wife and I drove to Washington from Hilton Head, S.C., and the trip was uneventful until we got about 90 miles south of the nation’s capital where, for no explicable reason other than density, traffic slowed down to a crawl. We beat the snow, however, but it started to come down and stick on the ground around 7 p.m. on March 16. 

The most notable event of the return trip heading south on March 18, was passing a multiple vehicle accident in the north bound lanes. It looked like a car had been on fire. As we came up on the scene, there were too many vehicles (cars, 18 wheelers, and emergency vehicles) stopped and jammed together to figure out what happened. Not being involved and unable to assist we kept on going. Joyce was at the wheel and measured the traffic back up as stretching two miles from the accident site. It was less than a stellar day for a lot of people.

Our car (BMW) on the left.

One year married and already out in the cold (LOL)

Birds puffing out their chests to keep warm

The retiree with his shovel and friend.

 

 For complete blog click here.

Send comments to: arch@archibald99.com

U Pick

About six or seven miles from our home, five acres of daffodils stretched out before us. And this was only one field. A second field is nearby. On a sunny Sunday afternoon we turned off U.S. Highway 278 in Bluffton, SC, and traveled on a paved secondary road and then a well maintained unpaved road to what had been for years a dairy farm. "I milked a lot cows in my day," Chuck Merrick, the owner and operator of U Pick Daffodils, told us. He laughed easily, "a dairy farm is like the 7-11 store." It was not necessary to say which life he preferred. "Cows get milked at 4:30 am, the daffodil farm opens at 10."

Note the "ant" warning.

Ladies picking their own.

Joyce bought some for a friend going in the hospital.

The old pack mule, with a light load.

The click-able link in the first paragraph will take you to a brief history of Merrick's farm and family. Both are interesting and enjoyable, especially the notes about the grandsons.

(Complete blog here.)

(Comment to: arch@archibald99.com)

The view from the Top of America ... Look, enjoy and be amazed

One World Trade Center is rising like a Phoenix and is being prepared to open. The link below opens the gateway to a staggering and magnificent 360-degree image taken 1,776ft up on the top the nation's tallest skyscraper, as well as other photos of the site.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2574788/The-view-America-Staggering-360-degree-image-taken-1-776ft-nations-tallest-skyscraper-released-One-World-Trade-Center-prepares-finally-open.html

Hope you enjoy! 

Complete blog here 

Comments to arch@archibald99.com