Through all of the ups and downs, stops and starts, the do-overs and the delights, I would choose you again. You are the best part of me and the favorite part of my day (not to mention my nights!).

As I said before, I am taking this blog in a new and more personal direction. I have been writing more frequently and hope to share some snippets occasionally. I am also going to use this space to journal my experiences and not-so-deep thoughts. With any luck, I won't bore everyone (the two people who have read this blog) to death. Maybe just to sleep, or to tears...

For those who (like me) are fans of Kyle's photography, check out her photoblogs. You can find the links in my blogroll.

Well, I am finally returning to this blog. It has been a long time and many things have happened since my last (rather cryptic) post. I will try to fill you in over the next few days.

I have started and stopped a few blogs since 2006, none of which have lasted long. Kyle has gotten into her photography in a big way (along with her writing-which she keeps rather close to her breast) and now has a couple of photoblogs up and running. Check out the links on my blogroll. With her focus now elsewhere I am going to take this blog in a new and more personal direction. Well, not too personal...

The nutshell: Our big news from '06 was that we were being moved from Germany early to build up a new unit at Fort Riley. That almost worked-Kyle's command signed her up to deploy instead. Nice of them, eh? So I was forced to PCS (permanent change of station) alone, leaving her in Germany and facing a non-flying deployment) to Kansas knowing that I would deploy within the coming year. This would have placed us on opposing cycles with very little opportunity to see each other for two years or more.

Needless to say we fought like cats and dogs to get out of that. I tried to deploy with her unit, to no avail. In the end, I can only say that God stepped in. A couple of weeks before her unit was scheduled to deploy their orders were canceled! After much rejoicing we found out that her orders to come to Kansas had been deleted due to her impending deployment. More bad news. Her commander was very impressed with her skills, so much so that he wanted to keep her as long as possible. Good for him, bad for us! In the end, what saved us was the fact that the Army is very short of senior captains (those who have had the appropriate level of military education).

The only way to get her out of Germany was to request the Captain's Career Course. The Army being short as it was (and still is) immediately PCS'ed her to the course. Once in the course she was able to request to join her husband at his duty station. There were a few more roadblocks, but she eventually did manage to join me at Fort Riley. Exactly six weeks before we both deployed to the desert.

As of this writing we are still deployed, but we are only a couple of miles apart and able to see each other occasionally. More important is the fact that we are on the same deployment cycle, which means we will get back to the states at the same time. It's not easy, but that is life in the Army these days. "Family First"is just lip service. The Army as an organization is so stretched that deployment readiness is the end all and be all of life. Families are an inconvenience to commanders at all levels as they try to wring the most out of each soldier before the soldier has had enough and leaves for civilian life. It is truly a vicious cycle, and I hope that things settle down soon...

Sorry for the silence these past couple of weeks. Things have been, as they say, quite hectic. There are a lot of changes happening over here with the military and I hope to have some really good news to share within the next few days.

I took this shot with Kyle's little pocket sized Sony digital camera just as we were stepping into a gondola to cross the Grand Canal on our recent trip to Venice. These parked gondolas looked almost like ancient Nordic warships lining up for battle. Just another mixture of old and new in the sweet, sweet ruin that is Venice...

Lyn loved the tri-cornered hats most of the guys in costume wore. I liked anybody duded up in masks. You can see what surreal feel the eyes behind the masks gave the whole costume.

PilotGuides.com has this opinon on Venice Carnival:

At carnival time, Venice is packed with party-goers in costume and tourists who are eager to experience the event in one of the most beautiful and unique cities in the world. During the day parades weave their way through the streets, and performers keep the crowds entertained for hours. The city's free ball takes place in St Mark's Square, but there are numerous other masked balls and private parties throughout the duration of carnival.

Traditionally carnival is the last all-out binge before good Catholics give up all things luxurious for Lent. According to the earliest records, the Venice Carnival began in 1039, but the event only became popular in 1162 when grand celebrations were held after an important victory in the war against Ulrico, Patriarch of Aquileia.

The custom of wearing masks allowed the people of Venice to adopt a different persona for a short time each year. Over time, restrictions were imposed on the wearing of masks in the hope that this would halt the rapid moral degeneration of the Venetians, but certain individuals continued to take advantage of their anonymity to get up to all sorts of mischief. Mussolini finally put an end to the carnival in the 1930s, but the tradition was revived in 1979, and over the last two decades has grown once again into the splendidly frivolous event it once was.

Sorry for the silence these past few days. Kyle and I took a trip to Venice over the weekend and managed to catch the beginning of Carnivale. Kyle just received her new Nikon D200 digital camera and she really broke it in! 492 pictures in two and a half days! Even she was amazed...

This picture is a shot of a couple of the costumed performers who stroll through the crowds near the Piazza San Marco during the festival. Kyle had a blast taking pictures like a pro...and I had a blast just watching her so happy.

I will be posting more of our weekend over the next few days, so stay tuned....

I know, I know it's cheesy! But what the heck, it wouldn't be Valentine"s Day without a rose or two. I picked this wild rose for Kyle during our first trip to Ireland.

Don't worry Lauren, you will always be my favorite Valentine!! I love you...

Daddy

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost
(1874-1963)

Lichtenstein Castle is one of those fairy-tale structures scattered around the European countryside. This particular castle is located near Honau in the Swabian Alb, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany (I know, I know...look it up!).

Historically there has been a castle on the site from around 1100 AD. It was twice destroyed: first in the ReichsKriegs war of 1311, and then again by the city-state of Reutlingen in 1381. The castle lay in ruins until around 1802 when it came into the hands of King Frederick I of Wurttemberg who reconstructed it and turned it into a hunting lodge.

By 1837 the land passed to the hands of his nephew Duke Wilhelm of Urach, the Count of Wurttemberg, who, inspired by the author Wilhelm Hauff's novel "Lichtenstein", remodeled the castle between 1840-1842. The romantic Neo-Gothic design of this present day structure was created for the Count by the architect Carl Alexander Heideloff. Today the castle is still owned by the Dukes of Urach and is open to visitors on weekends.

Some of the best times that Kyle and I have had in Germany involved picking a likely-looking ruin on a map and checking it out. That is how we happened upon this charming little (relatively) castle in the south of Germany near Stuttgart. We spent a wonderful afternoon walking the grounds, touring the structure, and crashing a wedding in the small chapel next to the castle. It is truly amazing that there is so much history just sitting out there waiting to be discovered. This castle is older than our country!!

Kyle again. This is a picture of Carla (mom) Allen (dad) and Becky (owns the ranch) on Becky's horse pasture near Silver City, NM. Mom is figuring out the vagaries of her new GPS, Dad and Becky are glassing for horses. And me with my camera.

Now, I don't think this area is really beautiful, but it sure is good horse pasture. The funny part about NM is that most people cross the state, doing slightly above the speed limit on I-10 or I-40, look around and go 'yeech, this place is desolate!' And it is, without even the redeeming value of large cacti. Well, we have some, but not like Arizona. The pretty parts of the state are in the Gila Wilderness, the Pecos, the area by and above Santa Fe. There's more than that, but we're talking large areas. The bonus is it keeps the population down. We like the silence and the small towns. Who needs malls when you've got feedstores and the Buckhorn Bar and Saloon? And just under two hours away!

Located in moorland beside the A82 trunk road, 1¼ miles (2 km) northwest of Spean Bridge, is the Commando Memorial. This 5.1m (17-foot) high memorial was designed by Scott Sutherland, of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art (Dundee) and unveiled by HM Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother (1900 - 2002) on 12th September 1952. The three soldiers which comprise the memorial look out from their plinth over Leanachan Forest to the peaks of Aonach Mor and Ben Nevis. It commemorates the elite force known as the 'Commandos', which was set up in 1940 on the orders of Prime Minister Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965) to harry the axis forces and regain the initiative on the part of Britain. The force trained in the area around this monument, with their Training Centre at Achnacarry, 4 miles (6 km) to the northwest.

The plinth of the memorial records the Commando's motto United We Conquer and a plaque states: "In Memory of the Officers and men of the Commandos who died in the Second World War 1939 - 1945. This Country was their Training Ground."