I'm back...
I may as well start with the bad news. My mother passed away on 26 February. Her health never recovered from her two falls, and to be honest, it was more relief than sorrow to me when she crossed over. She's with dad and the rest of the family that has gone before, and I like to think they're catching up on old times...
Funny thing, though--after the memorial service, my sister-in-law kept on saying that Mom was going to mess with her. The family wanted to get together and do something after the memorial. When we last were together in December, we went to Joe's Crab Shack (Mom loved her seafood), so we decided that we'd all go back there after the service. There were 13 of us, but we told them 14. First weird part of the story--we got the same exact table we had in December. There were a few different faces this time, but those of us who had been there in December pretty much all sat where we had back then, and we left the seat Mom had been in back then vacant. Next, it got really weird--those who wanted appetizers ordered them. They arrived, and no sooner had the plates been cleaned, an order of mozzarella sticks arrived--an order that nobody had placed. The server says, "This has been happening to me all day, sorry. Enjoy them on the house." I looked at my brother and sister-in-law and said "There's your sign." See, one of mom's favorite appetizers was mozzarella sticks. I imagine she and dad and everyone else up there got a good chuckle out of that one...
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Between the end of February and the service on 9 March, I had some time to go through some boxes of stuff I brought to the house when I last visited Mom. Going through the photos, I found several years' worth of Christmas photos, and in most of them were pictures of our stacks of Christmas SWAG--and in most of those pictures, there were model kits. I say it often, but it is true--back then (1970's-1980's), that's something kids did. We had video games (Pong, Atari), but we also still built models. I'll share some of those photos at some point in the future...
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My wife has a librarian friend who came upon several large boxes of modeling magazines. Since her library had no use for them, she called my wife to see if she would like to have them. My wife said yes, made a donation to the library, and hauled the collection home. There was a mix of plastic and radio control modeling magazines, and among the boxes were some issues of "Scale Modeler", "Scale Aircraft Modeler" from the UK, and some early issues of "The Squadron", the magazine the Squadron Shops used to sell. Interesting stuff, and I'll share those with you, too.
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While I was in Ft. Lauderdale dealing with Mom's estate, I found the time to stop by the IPMS/Flight 19 meeting. While some of the faces have changed, and the venue had moved, the meetings were much the same as when I was General, President, Doctor, and Dictator-for-Life for about seven years between the early 1990's and about 2000. They had just held their annual contest the previous weekend, and from what I heard they had quite a successful show, indeed. I was happy to see that the Chapter was as healthy (healthier, actually) as it was when I ran the show. One of the Old Guard had sent some books in so he wouldn't have to toss them. Among the boxes I found Volume 1, Number 2 of "Scale Modeler". An interesting observation--back in the day, they ran articles on all sorts of modeling, both static and operational (slot cars, radio control and free flight, model soldiers, etc.)--about the only thing they didn't cover was model railroading. One piece that caught my eye was a two-page spread by some guy named Bill Koster on scale radio control airplanes. If the name rings a bell, it should--Bill was a long time employee at Monogram Models, and has his own one-man cottage industry that makes vacuum form conversions and kits called Koster Aero Enterprises. I've met the man several times--although I doubt he remembers--and he's always been a wealth of information, information he is not shy about sharing. Back at the 2005 IPMS/USA Nationals, he sold my wife a 1/48 scale PB4Y Privateer conversion kit for the Monogram standard, and he spent nearly a half hour giving her tips on how to get the best end product out of the conversion, even examining the kit and replacing some parts that we wasn't happy with. On the spot. Bill Koster is an example of a true gentleman in every sense, and it was interesting to read his tips on scale radio control airplanes.
I also got to see some folks that I hadn't seen in a very long time. It was a joy being able to catch up with so many old friends. I'm only sorry that I didn't have enough time to spend with each and every one of them. Next time, though...
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I think that about wraps this installment up. Until next time, be good to one another. I bid you Peace.
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