Monday May 28, 2012

I am combining Sunday and Monday's blog into my Memorial Day blog. The weekend began at 0656 when Nancy and Bob got up and headed to the MAC for a swim. The pool was jammed. Apparently not everyone in GR was at their cottage. After the MAC we headed to Meijer's for our weekly supplies. Helen, my sister, indicated that she and Don might come down this weekend to GR. We purchased some extra supplies in anticipation of their coming. Nancy fixed her world famous scrambled eggs for breakfast. After breakfast and a half hearted attempt to read the GRP I headed upstairs to take my Sunday nap. I slept for an hour. Nancy said that Helen had called and told her they were not coming. Don was not feeling well. The weatherman said it would rain today but so far no luck. We had a nice breeze and the temperature was in the high 70s. At 1500 I got out the lawn mower and cut the grass. I was done by 1830. Nancy fired up the outside grill and cooked hamburgers for dinner. We also had corn-on-the-cob. We sat outside on the picnic table and had a nice dinner. We finished reading the GRP and watched 60 minutes and Harry's Law. Nancy headed to bed at 2100. I stayed down and watched some movies on TV until 2030. The evening breeze was so nice we did not need the AC. Bob and Nancy slept in today. We got up about 0730 and decided to go to Saugatuck for breakfast. We loaded Ms P in the Taurus and headed west. We got to Saugatuck in time to see the end of the Memorial Day parade. Surprisingly Saugatuck was not very crowded. We had breakfast at the Pumpernickel. We walked around town and I bought a jar of rhubarb/strawberry jam. Nancy bought some kitchen spoons. We took US31 to Lake Michigan Drive on our drive home. We stopped at several nurseries and Nancy bought a hanging basket and some flowers. We got home a little after noon. I had a quick lunch. Nancy headed upstairs to take a nap and I soon followed. It is now 1516 and the temperature is 90⁰. When I was a boy we celebrated Decoration Day and it was on May 30. Alpena had a big parade and for several years I marched in the parade with my Boy Scout troop. The parade started downtown and we marched to the cemetery a distance of about a mile. At the cemetery a military ceremony was held complete with the playing of Taps and a rifle salute by National Guard Honor Guard. One has to remember this was in the late 40s and everyone still remembered WW II. In 1968 the name "Decoration Day" was changed to "Memorial Day" and instead of being on May 30th it was changed to the last Monday in May. Honoring fallen Veterans took a back seat to a 3 day weekend. The nice thing about Decoration Day was that my Mother declared that winter was over and I no longer had to wear my long underwear. Near Decoration Day in 1961 I wrote my Mother my first letter from Navy OCS, Newport, RI. It was a very short letter. I told Mom that my plane to OCS was grounded in NYC and I had to take a train and bus to get to OCS. I was 4 hours late. On the first day I filled out a form wrong (inattention to detail) and was put on report. My Company Officer told me one more offense and I would be out. I also got a demerit for not shining my shoes properly. Not exactly the type of start I wanted. I did walk to the post office after my nap to mail a letter. We had a light dinner and then watched some TV before heading upstairs at 2100.