Out to Hug the Trees

Some people go out to lunch. Yesterday, I hung up a sign on the door at the office and went out to hugs some trees at the Morris Arboretum yesterday. The weather was a lot nicer than it has been so I took the opportunity to "smell" the roses.

The statues in the video are of John and Lydia Morris. The Arboretum was once their garden and summer home. To ensure that future generations would have access to the site and its botanical treasures, they willed 166 acres to establish a public Arboretum for all to enjoy.

Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Morris.


The big butterflies, Tiger Swallowtails, were swarming all over the butterfly bushes.

If you would like to see and hear the fountains, click (here)

Addendum:

Thanks to Horticulturist Far Side of Fifty for identifying the "bush" that the butterflies were going "nutty" over as "Joe Pye Weed"!

Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines

One of my Grandfather's favorite movies is Mutiny on the Bounty, a 1962 film starring Marlon Brando, Trevor Howard and Richard Harris.

Another of his absolute favorites is Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines, Or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes is a 1965 British comedy film set in 1910, when Lord Rawnsley, an English press magnate, offers £10,000 to the winner of the Daily Post air race from London to Paris, to prove Britain is "number one in the air".


For many years, my Grandfather would hum, sing, or whistle the zany song from this movie while he worked. It goes like this:


Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines.
They Go Up, Tiddly, Up, Up.
They Go Down, Tiddly, Down, Down.
They Enchant All The Ladies And Steal All The Scenes
With their Up, Tiddly, Up, Up
And They're Down, Tiddly, Down, Down.

Up! Down! Flying Around.
Looping The Loop And Defying The Ground.
They're All, Frightfully Keen
Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines.


They Can Fly Upside Down With Their Feet In The Air.
They Don't Think Of Danger.
They Really Don't Care.
Newton Would Think He Had Made A Mistake.
To See Those Young Men And The Chances They Take.
Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines.


They Go Up, Tiddly, Up, Up.
They Go Down, Tiddly, Down, Down.
They Enchant All The Ladies And Steal All The Scenes
With their Up, Tiddly, Up, Up
And Their Down, Tiddly, Down, Down.

Up! Down! Flying Around.
Looping The Loop And Defying The Ground.
They're All, Frightfully Keen
Those Magnificent Men, Those magnificent men!
Those magnificent men and their fly--ing ma--chines!

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Last Saturday, braving the heat and humidty, my dad and I went to the Golden Age Air Museum in Bethel, PA.

The "Golden Age of Aviation" is the two decades between the great world wars, the roaring 1920s and the fabulous 1930s. The museum's concentration is this glorious time that included the birth of the barnstormer, airmail, and flying circuses.


The Curtiss JN4D was designed during World War I as a primary pilot trainer. The majority of American pilots going off to war learned to fly in a Curtiss JN4D. The name "Jenny" was adapted by pilots from the Curtiss "JN" model number.

The museum's Curtiss JN4D had not been flown since the 1920s. The paint scheme represents famous barnstormer and Hollywood pilot Earl S. Daugherty of Long Beach, California.

My dad and I watched in awe and excitement as they pulled a fully restored 1918 Curtis JN4D from its hanger, prepared it for flight, and then gracefully took to the air.


We saw acrobatics, flying circuses, old cars and trucks driven recklessly, and had a great time, not wanting to leave until darkness had fallen and a hush grew over the airfield. I hope you will play the movies and hear how those old planes sounded.


On the way home, my dad and I sang the rousing chorus from one of my grandfather's favorite songs.

They Go Up, Tiddly, Up, Up.
They Go Down, Tiddly, Down, Down.
They Enchant All The Ladies And Steal All The Scenes
With their Up, Tiddly, Up, Up
And Their Down, Tiddly, Down, Down.
If you want to listen, go ---> (here)

Thank You Martha Menagerie!

Hi everyone,

I'm in a bit of a bloggy low, seems like Austin Powers, I've lost my mojo (or the creative moose has wandered northwards due to the summer humidity and heat).

I do want to thank Martha Menagerie for having a CSN gift card giveaway that I won! Martha is a very wonderful person who has a very colorful personal blog as well as several team blogs covering cooking, photography and getting motivated. My favorite is this one (here!)

With the awesome giveaway gift card, I got this:


Every time I turn it on and see its soft glow, I think about Martha Menagerie, her doggy friend Koda the Corgi, and Koda's wonderful mom, Betty.

Thank you Martha M!

A quiet Saturday at Massey Aerodrome

Last weekend, my dad and I visited the Massey Air Museum to see what might be happening on a hot, humid Saturday afternoon in the middle of nowhere on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Being dopey from the heat, I forgot my camera, but took this shot with my cellphone.


"Flying is hours and hours of boredom sprinkled with a few seconds of sheer terror." - Maj. Gregory (Pappy) Boyington

The Chance Vought F4U Corsair is widely considered the most capable of all carrier-based fighter aircraft of World War Two. It's distinctive "bent" wings were designed to keep the landing gear short and robust for carrier landings and give clearance for the enormous 13' 4" diameter propeller required to pull her to over 400 MPH - the first American fighter to do so.

It’s performance was considered equal to many other fighters like the Mustang but its short range kept it either carrier-based or land-based in the South Pacific war close to the action. The Corsair continued to be operated by the USN and the Marines after the war and saw considerable action during the Korean War.

Maj. Gregory (Pappy) Boyington (1912-88) Marine Corps aviator was born in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. In World War II, Boyington was a fighter pilot with the American Volunteer Group (AVG) (the famous ”Flying Tigers”) in air combat over Burma and China (1942), and with Marine Fighter Squadron 214, (the legendary ”Black Sheep” 1943-44).

Boyington got the nickname "Pappy" because, being just over 30 years old, he was ten years older than many of his pilots.

For three months in 1943-44 he led Marine Fighting Squadron #214, the so-called "Black Sheep Squadron," in the Solomon Islands. During that time the squadron was credited with 97 confirmed kills of enemy aircraft. In January 1944 Boyington was shot down and captured by the Japanese and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner.

He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross.

Boyington's autobiography, titled Baa Baa Black Sheep, was a bestseller in 1958. In the 1970s a television series by the same name ran for two seasons on the NBC network, with actor Robert Conrad playing Boyington.

The plane in the picture is actually a full-scale fiberglass model built to be a prop at an eatery in Newark, Delaware named the "94th Aero Squadron Restaurant" which has gone out of business.

Corsair #29 belonged to Top Navy Corsair Ace Ira Kepford (16 confirmed victories), but this plane is painted to represent a later F4U-1D that served onboard the USS Intrepid (now a floating museum in New York City) during the invasion of Okinawa, April 1945. The white vertical tail stripe being the identifier for the planes operating off the USS Intrepid.