Afternoon at the Cove

The Jones Beach Air Show has been a Memorial Day Weekend tradition for Richard and me the past few years. But not this year. Instead of performing in the USA, the Air Force's Thunderbirds are doing a show outside of the USA, in Turkey.

This year, Richard and I drove to Fall River, Massachusetts yesterday (Saturday 5/28/2011) and visited Battleship Cove, about a 2-hour drive from Hartford. This site has the WWII-era battleship, USS Massachusetts; a WWII-era submarine, USS Lionfish; a destroyer, USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr.; two WWII PT boats; and, a Soviet-built missile corvette, Hiddensee.

We were there for about 4 hours. The weather was mixed. When we arrived, the temperature was cool and the sky was gray and dark; we thought we felt some small rain drops. But later, the sun started to peek through, and by the end of the day, the sky was totally blue and sunny (and hot).

At the start, we were startled by the PTs boats we came across unexpectedly inside two buildings; they loomed up over us out of the gray. Then we explored the battleship, climbing up and down, going from stern to bow and back. We had a little lunch in the battleship. Then we toured the missile corvette, submarine, and destroyer. In the forward torpedo room of the submarine we met a veteran who grew up in Clevo and graduated from Collinwood High School in 1957. The picture of us above was taken by a man from Germany.

We also have a tradition of getting those "special" pennies (see picture at left). Richard has a whole collection from different places we have visited. An angel assisted us for this one. I did not have a penny and neither did the snack bar but a gentleman generously gave me two!

We returned to West Hartford just in time for supper. So we stopped at one of our favorite local pizza places, Angelina's Pizzeria. We shared a salad and a "slice" of pepperoni pizza. The "slice" is actually two huge slices or about half a small pizza. We also got a slice of cheese and took home half (i.e., a regular size slice) for Lynn.

Hockey, Madonna, Marco, Kites, Fish, etc.

What a Judgment Day!

Richard's roller hockey team won the first game of the best of three Championship, 9-6. The second game is today.

Knights of Columbus Museum (New Haven, CT)

On our way to the annual Kite Festival (see below), we stopped in New Haven, CT to grab some lunch. I got an idea to stop by a famous hamburger joint. Since I wasn't sure where it was, I received the inspiration to stop and ask our friends at the Knights of Columbus Museum.

As I anticipated, they knew the place and gave us accurate directions. Turns out, the place is only a few blocks away. Since we were at the museum, we took a quick jaunt through the newest exhibit: "Full of Grace: Crowned Madonnas from the Vatican Basilica." FANTASTIC. I look forward to returning to take a closer look. The May 15th edition of the National Catholic Register has a detailed review.

As we walked to the burger joint, Richard decided he was more in the mood for Italian fare. So we stopped at a place that looked inviting on the same street: Marco Polo's.

Richard had a Chicken Caesar wrap and I had a slice of bacon ranch pizza (low fat of course-hahaha).

Then on to the Kite Festival at Hammonasset State Park in Madison, CT (on the Long Island Sound). Due to rain all week and foggy, gray skies today, there were less people than previous years. However, the weather at the park while we were there was delightful: sunny with fluffy clouds. There was almost no breeze, which made it a challenge for kite flying. Richard participated in the ROK Kite battle and received a free kite. We also walked along the boardwalk and got sun burned.

More food. To keep with tradition, we drove a short distance up the road to Lenny & Joe's Fish Tales Restaurant. I had the traditional lobster roll but Richard had a delicious special of the day, Shrimp with brown rice and steamed veggies. Both were very delicious.

Before heading back to West Hartford, we popped in to a delightful used book store and browsed around for a bit. We returned to Lynn's apartment just in time to catch the final two innings of the Cleveland Indians' victory over the Reds.

All in all, it was a delightful Judgment Day.

JUDGMENT DAY!

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And so "The Day" is finally here. The amount of publicity and coverage has been astounding. Everyone seems to be talking about it or aware of it. Unfortunately, most reactions have been dismissive and secular.

According to Mr. Camping's calculations (see www.familyradio.com), the Rapture is supposed to begin at 6 p.m. local time with a huge earthquake that travels from time zone to time zone around the world. As I write this, it is 6 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. There is no news on the radio or the Internet of any such activity in the parts of the world where it is already 6 p.m. or later.  

Ironic

A popular Bible verse associated with the Second Coming is Daniel 7, 13: "...I saw One like a son of man coming on the clouds of heaven."

Another one is 1 Thessalonians 4, 16-17: "For the Lord himself, with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air."

When I looked out the window this morning, I was greeted with the sight of dense fog (i.e., clouds)-see picture above.

Another odd coincidence involved my Bible reading for today. In the May 2007 issue of God's Word Today I am using for the book of Tobit, the heading for the entry I am at today is "Sometime our worst fears don't come true." And the standout verse is "It has not turned out as I expected" (Tobit 8, 16).

The reading is Tobit 8, 9b-21:  Much to the relief of Sarah's parents, Raguel and Anna, Tobias has not been killed by the demon Asmodeus. He has survived due to God's intervention through the angel, Raphael. Raguel thankfully prays to God: "Blessed are you (O God) who have made me glad; what I feared did not happen. Rather you have dealt with us according to your great mercy."

I'm not sure what the rest of the day will bring. Richard has a roller hockey game this morning. It's the first of best of three championship. This weekend is also the annual kite festival at Hammonasset State Park. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. The sun is up and starting to burn off the fog. I can see fluffy cotton-like white clouds and patches of blue sky. The soft music from Family Radio is streaming from my computer as I type this entry.  It promises to be an interesting day.  Marana tha.