May 20 1961, Bill, Fawn and I boarded a plane just like this one to go to Wheelus Air Force Base in Tripoli, Libya, North Africa, to join their Dad who was stationed there.
This flight was 24 hours of in the air time. The military crew was wonderful. At bedtime, they made the seats lay flat for the dependent children and it was quiet enough to hear a pin drop. We stopped in Bermuda and the Azores and both times I had many GI's asking if I needed help with the kids. Longest flight I ever had, and probably the best. No one can beat the Military Men taking care of dependents.
This is a bread market along one of the streets. Needless to say, we bought our bread at the commissary on base.
Santa came on a camel and I have pictures of Bill and Fawn on the camel he came to the base on.
This is a picture of the propeller of the Lady Be Good, a plane that went down in the area. I have a picture of Fawn and Bill sitting in front of it at Easter all dressed up and Fawn covered with the remainder of the chicken pox.
This is a little Arab girl and again I have a picture of Fawn standing with one. I do need to go hunt to pictures now so you can see us in this setting too.
Friends and I took our kids to the beach and when our guys came to check on us on their lunch hour, they layed a thermometer on the sand. It was 120 degrees. They told us we better head home soon. We did.
I thought you might want to see some of what we saw when stationed at Wheelus.
We, for the most part, stayed close to the base. We went to town once in awhile, but only when our husbands were with us. It was an experience, many years ago.
Bill started first grade there, and the bus (not a big yellow one) was driven by an
Arab. I sure did not like that at all.
Now of course, they have to be California Sunkist seedless oranges. We lived in Florida for nine years, and I always made Bill buy me California oranges. LOL.
He thought I was nuts. Well maybe! I got this big bag for only $3.99.
Way back, before Heidi and Eric, when we lived in Africa, I worked at the base Education Center. An Arab professor brought in oranges and asked if I wanted one. I said no, they are too messy to peel. Well, I got a lesson in orange peeling.
First you cut off the top. Then,
you score the sides into sixths. You peel down the sides. Boy, it is easy and no
mess. These are so yummy.
Now, this blog entry was Heidi's idea after I told her I bought the oranges. She said to show my Mom's method of cutting and eating oranges. She and all of the kids just loved my Mom and what she said was right. Cut in half then quarters.
Then again in half and you have loads of wonderful pieces of oranges to eat. Too bad Heidi, George ate this one.
This is a new toy for George. He has one, but bought a better one. This one is bigger. He says it is heavier and harder really. He says he does like it, just has to get used to it.
Here he goes, first sweep, he might have done Bill's drive (he is always doing ours), but Bill was already out.
Middle of the night, 1am, he was out there doing his drive when he got home from work. Needless to say, it snowed again during the night. He has to go to work in an hour. You can see Becky's truck is loaded. Eric is on the road. Today is Eric and Becky's anniversary. Happy Anniversary guys. I love you both.
Took this just to show how deep it is.
My bradford pear tree, and the neighbors pine. That pine is huge.
Lots of snow on the garage roof too. Right now it is sunny, so maybe we have hope. No school today for the kids so they might be off to the movie and Bill might be busy.
PS: I kept the project. It is ongoing as we speak, don't cry now Heidi.