memories « Kenny Smith | A remarkable thing happens …

memories

adventures / history / memories / photo / weekend — Comments Off
2
Jan 16

Seeing Savannah’s sights

The people of Savannah used to call themselves “The Hostess City of the South,” which is one of those surely government-based promotional nicknames that is not in anyway worthy of a lovely town. Savannah is a lovely town. The Yankee and I took our first trip here. We got married here. We sometimes come back, as we have this week.

You do it for scenes like this:

The former was in the historic district. The latter was at Bonaventure Cemetery, where we spent some time today, taking in the sun and breeze and quiet while walking among the history and solemn scenery.

Amidst it all, there are a few dozen military graves in their own formal section.

Edward Myers had service in three wars, and earned a bronze star:

John Carter and the 401st were in the Ardennes during the Battle of the Bulge. He died in Belgium:

Charles Higgs Jr. was a marine platoon sergeant. He was killed on the first day of the invasion of Iwo Jima:

Gentry Hoitt was in a different division of marines, but I bet Higgs knew the gunnery sergeant from back home. Hoitt was killed on the second day at Iwo Jima. He had six brothers and sisters, but they are all gone now. The last of them died in 2014. The 5th Division, meanwhile, scratched, cussed and fought on Iwo for more than a month with 2,482 killed in action, 19 missing in action, and 6,218 wounded in action, the highest casualty rate among the three Marine divisions involved in the invasion.

The 6th Marine Division fought in the Solomons, Guam, Guadalcanal and Okinawa. I can’t find anything about him online or what he did in the few years of his short life that he was left with after the war. If he was there for all of those events, though, he probably saw more than he should have had to:

John Chudob served in two wars, and there’s a brief mention of him in a Kansas newspaper, in between. There are a few Chudobas still in Georgia. I wonder if this is one of their ancestors:

It isn’t readily apparent what the 18th did in the Big Red One during World War I, but if William Breen was there throughout he might have seen one or some of these battles, Montdidier-Noyon, Aisne-Marne, St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne, Lorraine or Picardy. There are reasons the First Division became so famous during and after that war. They were the first to go to Europe, the last to come home and they paraded in New York City in 1919. Who knows, he could be one of the men in the photos on this site covering their return and parade. I wonder if he ever talked about it when he came back home:

One of the steps on this memorial arch is engraved “Heirs together of the grace of life,” which becomes an even more beautiful sentiment the more you think about it.

There are beautiful oaks at Bonaventure:

And back downtown, at night:

But that was before dinner at the Crab Shack:

family / food / memories / photo / Thursday — Comments Off
26
Nov 15

Happy Thanksgiving

I am torn about Thanksgiving. The holidays are usually pretty challenging to start with. So many people to see. So many places you have to get to. I have it in my mind that I need to treat everyone equally in terms of time. And the logistics are such that you simply just can’t see everyone you need to, full stop. And never far off in your mind are those you can’t see anymore. I am torn about Thanksgiving.

We had lunch at a north Alabama state park with one side of my family. The food is good. The company is pleasant and there are enough other people around doing the same thing that it keeps the room lively. Plus you can get seconds and no one notices. Also, you don’t have to do the dishes. We’ve done this the last few years now. I understand why we do it. I can’t raise an objection to it. It is not my favorite thing.

But there are nice views at Joe Wheeler State Park.

Anytime you can be near the water something fun could happen. Even when the water level is down and you can walk out into what should be the shallow parts. There could be boats or fish or people could push you in. But not this time of year.

There are piers to nowhere when the water is low. This makes sense, but it makes more sense during boating season.

And, of course, there are the rays of the sun dancing in the movement of the water. That’s always a captivating experience.

About three hours later, because that’s what you want to do after a big Thanksgiving lunch is have a ridiculously early Thanksgiving dinner, there was another meal with more of my family.

I have been promoted to the chief ham slicer there. This is a big responsibility and I must now mentally prepare myself for it every year now. Mostly I think no one else wants to do it and they figure I will take it seriously. I do take it seriously. Even if this meal comes too soon after the last. Even if you can’t see everyone, or even all of the people you’d hope too, even when your thoughts are full of those people you can’t see. Even when you have nice views, and a tasty ham, this is Thanksgiving. I am torn about Thanksgiving.

Auburn / football / friends / memories / Monday / photo / video — Comments Off
23
Nov 15

Stuff from the weekend

There was a football game, and a flyover:

I took this picture:

And that’ll be the last of it, one way or the other. It is a sad thing in its own way, which I didn’t expect.

Also I snuck up on Allie and took this picture:

And she was completely oblivious when I took this one:

So I discovered yesterday that the cat likes graham crackers. Of course she likes graham crackers.

Finally, I ran in a fundraiser 10K yesterday. The Yankee did the 5K and I did the last half with the uncle of a friend of ours who was in town. He heard about this run and thought, “Hey, I’m retired, let’s impulsively run a 10K in jeans!” And he did. I want to be like him one day.

I finished second in my age group. I got an ornament and a gift card.

Auburn / football / friends / memories / podcast / Samford / Wednesday — Comments Off
18
Nov 15

A meaningful header would make you see past maple leaves

It is a shareable age, but you just can’t express autumn in any of the formats yet available to us. But if yours hasn’t passed yet, go outside and enjoy it some. May the weather be great and the leaves be bright, wherever you are just now.

Because you know what they say about winter.

So, anyway, even if you can’t really share the sense of the season in one photograph, I’m going to try. Here’s a basic under tree, looking up and through shot from campus today:

(And if that seems like a weird idea, I’m going to blame the Canadian singer-songwriter that’s playing as I type this.)

We were in the newsroom until 8 p.m. They gathered there less than 17 hours after leaving the place this morning. Student leaders, eyeing their upcoming Thanksgiving break, are wrapping up their plans for an issue the week after.

You have to really want it to work in student media, as they do. They know there will never be enough of them, or enough accolades or recognition for them. But I know those putting their hearts into it have learned the value of the work they do. The only lament is that not enough people appreciate their efforts and, sometimes, their sacrifices.

Elsewhere, here is a conversation I had with my friend and colleague Chadd Scott. He’s always worth a listen. This is no exception as today he’s breaking down what this underwhelming football season means for Auburn’s football coach. (The short answer, he suggests, is a great deal in the medium-term.)

Chadd was my first radio mentor and it is, to me, a neat thing to still get to work with him on projects. Check out Gridiron Now. It’s a great project.

Tomorrow I’m going to make a video. The best days are the multimedia days.

Friday / memories / photo — Comments Off
13
Nov 15

Memory week photos, day five

For France:

A dear friend of ours is working in Paris this year. I listened to international radio on the way home as they started sharing the first horrific details. And then one reporter notes that their audience knows more about what is going on than most Parisians right now. So I pulled over to message our friend: You must tell people you are OK right now. But she’d already done it; she was safe.

She was supposed to go to one of those restaurants tonight, but her evening meeting ran late.

And that is the way things happen sometimes.

We’re wrapping up a week of skimming through old photos last week and see where they take us. So far as I can recall, I haven’t published these pictures anywhere. The theme is signs or words.

Here’s our last two for the week.

These are both from last summer’s travels. The first one is in the bowels of the London Tower. They sell these stickers and someone was unsupervised:

I wondered at the time if there was a political statement here — the locals were and are getting stirred up over various European issues — or if this was just someone being clever. Maybe someone was running from England back to Roman Britannia. But I doubt it.

It was our second trip to London. We had a great time. Maybe we’ll get to go back one in the near future. We’ve had a lovely time there both trips.

And, finally, from Berlin, the orange garbage can that says “Give it to me!”

So orange its Berlin. It is a clean city, as you’d imagine. We walked all over Berlin. I think we walked everywhere. We hope to go back to Germany one day, there’s an entire beautiful country to see.