Monthly Archives: November 2016

Memorial Service For Dad Graveside

Posted on by

Bill Record, Jr of Healing Stone Monument Company in Sullivan, took delivery on the headstone we designed for Dads grave at IOOF Cemetery by mid October, and placed it at the grave a week later…..

headstone-and-fall-maples

…..we decided to have a memorial graveside service so that the US Air Force could come out to present the colors and play taps to honor Dad for his four years of active service from 1949 to 1953, since they forgot to show up on the day of his funeral. The Washington Legion Post was present that day and stepped up to the task when they realized the Air Force failed to show up, and did a fine job, but the Air Force kept calling Mom to apologize for their error and asked for a second chance..we felt there was no need to have them out until we had the headstone in place. We set the date for the service on Saturday afternoon, October 29th and invited family and close friends, as well as Sullivan Fire District. Cody Martin`s crew of firefighters and Deputy Chief Larry Flescher arrived and positioned Pumper 854, dedicated to Dad for over 50 years of service to the district back in 2012, on the west side of the headstone for the service….

kenny-palmer-sings

The US Air Force was gracious enough to send out two young Sergeants for the service, which we found fitting since Dad was a Sergeant when he left the service. My sister JoAnn spoke about Dad at the service…..

jo-ann-speaks

….while I photographed the service for the newspaper and video taped the Presentation of the Colors. Kenny Palmer sang and Mike Dace spoke about Dads service to the district as well. The Air Force Sergeants then presented the colors and played taps…

us-af-presents-the-colors

…and then we released red, white, and blue balloons into the skies above….

preparing-to-release-balloons

balloons-released-to-sky

 

…which concluded the service….here is the footstone that Mom had designed to reflect Dads service to the USAF, and the front side of the headstone as well….

footstone-and-flag

footstone-and-headstone

We appreciate everyone that was able to come out and celebrate and honor Dads life with us that day. 

Alley Spring Mill October 2016

Posted on by

I thought I had missed the fall color at Alley Spring Mill this year, but out fall colors have been so far off track, we still have color now, late in November, when normally our trees are barren, leaves brown and on the ground. It`s been an unusual fall season this year. I stopped by Alley Spring Mill one fall morning late in October and found one small maple tree left there in bloom….

11-alley-spring-mill-color

October Sunsets 2016

Posted on by

Fall and Spring time produce the prettiest sunsets and sunrises, mainly due to the more turbulent season in the skies, cloudy skies make the best sunsets, giving the last rays of the setting sun something to bounce around on and produce many colorful skies. October 2nd, I wandered up to the Sullivan City Park near the pool to capture this one…

34

40

…and a week later, on my way to work, I stopped off and shot this one near the Sunnen fountain in Maplewood…

41-sunnen-sunset-oct-9th

43-sunnen-sunset

…and a week after that, on my way west, I came upon this beauty out near Hwy FF and I-44….

46-meramac-valley-church

49

…which made a nice backdrop for my truck….

52

 

Iowa Sunrise…. Late September

Posted on by

Josh and I left Joplin on Saturday afternoon after visiting the Tri State Mineral Show there and rockhunting with the KC Mineral Club members at some of the old tailing piles on the north side of town. We drove back to my house and re-packed the truck to drive up early Sunday morning to catch the last day of the Geodefest at Keokuk, Iowa. For some reason, that weekend is real popular for rockhunting events, so I have to split it in two to make both.  On the way up there early Sunday morning, I told him to keep his eyes peeled for a nice pond on the right side of the road, cause it looked like we were going to have a beautiful sunrise. Lo and behold we did, and he spotted a big pond so I could get some nice reflections of it….

01-sunrise

…we drove on north a few miles and then turned off the four lane onto two lane Hwy 61 that took us up into Keokuk…just north of Alexandria, we crossed over the Des Moines River into Keokuk, Iowa and were met with this gorgeous sight as well, so I stopped on the wide shoulder of the bridge to capture it as well….

09-rr-bridge-alexandria

…moments later a huge dump truck came up onto the bridge going north and made the whole bridge sway, so after he passed by, I shot this next one with a bit more color in the sky above…

12

…for more of this story on Geodefest, take a look at my site www.jwjrocks.com and if you have any questions you can reach me at jwjphoto7@gmail.com

Grand Falls in Late September 2016

Posted on by

Josh, one of my rockhunting friends from St Louis, joined me I on a trip to Joplin the third weekend in September, for a day and a half…to attend the Tri States Mineral Show and go mineral collecting with the Kansas City Mineral Club, invited to rockhunt with them at some of the old tailing piles down there that are still accessible. I have a few friends in that club as well as several other clubs and get invited to digs occasionally. We drove down a day early to visit with friends there as well. I like to go over to Grand Falls when I am down there, one of my fave places to photograph down that way…

03

04

16

17

19

…after that, I was off to my other favorite place down there…Andy`s Frozen Custard. 🙂