Friends - Family - Flying : 2026-07

I had some days off which were aligned with a planned get-together of some friends in Oshkosh. Fortunately, another friend let me use his A36 so I could fly direct. Yeah, it's a lot of flying for a short visit but that's not a good reason to miss seeing people I hadn't seen in years. People that are important to me. It ended up being a fantastic trip! Saw the friends, saw Oshkosh (only my second time) during America's 250th year, met my brother on the return flight and played my first pickleball. Even the temperatures were great in Wisconsin.

The group of us in front of a well-painted F-15. I repeated the picture (above right)

because it was the only picture I took the entire weekend. That's pretty lame.

A guy in the picture filmed the 250 fireworks in DC and it's on YouTube.

On the flight out, I stopped at Arthur N. Neu Airport in Carroll, Iowa. I didn't take any pictures, but there was an A-7 on display (above left), the weather was really great - overcast and in high 60s. There were even some Air Tractors flying around. I landed in KFLD in Fond du Lac for the stay which was much simpler than landing KOSH. On the way back, I dropped into Eppley Field (KOMA) in Omaha. I had a great lunch with my brother even though the heat was quite miserable. I'm so glad I went instead of taking the lazy road of not travelling to visit.

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Angel Sabre : 2024-04

I flew an Angel Flight with Bob and it was a great event. We did some practice approaches on the way to McCook - more technically, McCook Ben Nelson Regional Airport. Names like that strike me a polite nod but completely impractical. It will always (to me) be "McCook traffic". I had never walked around at McCook. In fact, I think I'd only been on the ground once even though it's on the way when I visit home. There was an F-86 Sabre out front (above left) so I had to take a picture. It was in "lizard" paint which you don't see often. It was in pretty bad shape. The sign reminded me that McCook is the capital of the Great Lakes of Nebraska. The Great Lakes of Nebraska are primarily man-made with Lake McConaughy, or "Big Mac", being the largest. The plane we used was Goldilocks, a wonderful A36. She's pictured above before a lot of modifications (including paint) when she was known as Coppertop. It was a great day and the patients were quite grateful.

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Messiah 2025 : 2025-12

I was fortunate to see Handel's Messiah in Parker at the Parker United Methodist Church. It was conducted by the Colorado Bach Ensemble.  Kimberly went with me again and we both loved it. We had seen them a couple years earlier, but we both agreed this year's performance was better. Maybe it was the venue or simply the performance. I don't know how many times I've seen Messiah, but it never gets old and not that I've said that, I should probably count. I hope you have a great Christmas of 2025!

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Art Show : 2025-05

I was fortunate to have a gallery showing at Cottonwood Center for the Arts. It was so nice to be able to coordinate my work schedule and make the required dates. Cottonwood did an amazing job setting up the room, arranging and hanging the pieces. I dropped off 40 pieces and 28 were hung, so the team at Cottonwood had to do some in-house jurying. It was so nice of them to arrange everything. Kimberly also made and brought some amazing food for viewers. She was also key in helping me deliver the paintings.

This panoramic turned out pretty well. It shows the full spread minus the two pictures

behind the POV. They are the separate pics and shown in the correct location on the wall.

While I don't think I had the larger room, I think this was a nicer room and had the benches.

They asked for a title and Time Reimagined seemed appropriate as I'm trying to better use time.

This was a well-executed arrangement - thank you to Cottonwood!

Closer shots of the walls.

Closer shots of the walls.

A picture with my biggest supporter and the token shot with the title.

The wonderful spread Kimberly made - more popular than my art!

A collage I made for other posts, and a collage K made for an invitation.

Just for info...

Sold pieces:

That City, 2023 ~~~~~ Sailboat, 2023

Pieces displayed:

• Buffalo County, Butterflies, Crane, Cutting Board, Doll Top, Fifteen Right, Hayden Pass, High Plains Bluff, Keep Walking, Lazing, Long Mount, Midas, More Apartments, Musket Mesa, Paladin, Periwinkle, Places, Pulse, Purple Pilgrims II, Resistance, Rufus Hunt, Sailboat (sold), Seaside, Skyward, That City (sold), Thresher, Time to Go, Waiting for You

Pieces not displayed:

• Boomer. Burden, Buttons, Equal Labor, Florida Bovine, Long Ride, Lupine Lane, Migration, Monster, Moonbath, Raven Revenge, Thunderhead Basin

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Slopes - Friends - Food : 2025-03

Met friends that I hadn't seen in years to do some sloshing on Breckenridge.

It was Saint Patrick's day so everyone was in a Larry Bird jersey.

It was a great idea, but I couldn't even get one over my arms.

It was a blast and a great reunion!

A couple amazing meals before and after the ski event.  KC is Amazing.

Took this pic on a recent trip, KPHL - KDEN.

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Fly - Remember - Golf : 2024-07

Kelly Airpark has a fly-in the weekend near 4th of July. I didn't know about it, but our friend told us and we took Belle up there. KC flew with a friend in his Cessna 180 for the experience and I followed along in Belle. Yes, followed. I tried to join up but they just walked away. The Skywagon has a little more power than Belle. Not only was this our first time to the breakfast, it was Kim's first time to the airpark. Additionally, it was a memorial for a couple who recently passed away and were residents of the park. They even did a Missing Man formation which was a nice touch.

The two of us sitting in the Blackhawk that also flew in. Pretty cool for a smaller airfield. The pilot in command sits in the right seat in helicopters as opposed to the left in fixed wing. I didn't learn that until about 2006 - which is pretty late.

Aside from the helicopter, there were some beautiful, average, and unique air machines. The one on the left looks like an Avid Flyer, but I couldn't tell. The reciprocating engine was a nice touch.

A couple shots of us departing the field - us and everyone else.

The next day we finally had some great shade so we hit the last miniature golf course in the Springs - that we know about. There is another in a hotel, but we're not sure if we're going to count it. This one was pretty cool. It was Gold Mine Mini Golf. We both improved the second round. KC had three holes-in-one on the first round! I only had one. It was a great weekend!

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Stearman Field : 2024-05

Flew with a friend to see another friend at his relatively new hangar home in Kansas. This is before we received the airpark tour via golf cart. It was so great to see Ryan and Patrick again!

It was also great to be able to fly Belle again - this time solo. We flew a two-ship of Champs (my Citabria and Patrick's Super Decathlon) which are both outside Ryan's hangar in the right picture above. I had to take a solo shot of Belle against that Kansas sky!

Aside from seeing great friends, a special treat was flying in a three-ship of Stearmans. What else could you do at Stearman Field (1K1) that would be more appropriate? I was blessed to fly this one, 69G, with Greg who was an amazing guy. He even let me fly quite a bit.

Two more shots before takeoff. This was my first time in a biplane, open cockpit and war-era aircraft.

The other two in the formation. Patrick in the white one on the left and Ryan's Stearman No 75.

The six of us post flight. Patrick brought his son who probably had one of the most amazing experiences of his life. That said, I certainly did, too. What an incredible adventure.

On the return home with the Super D in front. This trip won't be forgotten!

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Birthday and Deserts : 2024-04

To celebrate Kimberly's birthday, we had some cake and drove to Taos. The original plan was to fly a bit further, but it was super windy and Taos was a shorter drive. I hadn't been so it was nice to see and nice of Kimberly to compromise. I'm sure we'll make the original planned flight someday.

We found a pretty great room on the drive down and the hotel, The Taos Inn - or now the Historic Taos Inn, was a great spot. Right downtown, two places to eat and live music almost every day. We were lucky to get a suite in the new building. Apparently environment control is a big deal in the older buildings.

It was nice to walk around and see the 'art' scene. And we found a great Mexican restaurant, La Cueva Cafe. They don't have a lot of room, but the food was about as good as you can get! Above left is me listening to Kimberly's wisdom. On the right is a great picture - of her.

On the way back, we drove west for a bit to see the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. It was very nice as was the scenery. You can walk back and forth on either side. If you want a rest area, bathrooms and local merchants, those are on the west side. We also saw some bighorns - both in the valley of the gorge and right along the road. They were neat to watch. We were surprised to see a baby with two males and no females in sight.

Since we had most of the day to drive back, we were looking for places of interest. This one was very cool and only because we saw it from the road. It's up the hill west of the oldest town in Colorado, San Luis. It's called the Stations of the Cross Shrine. The only way I know that is because I backtracked in on the web. The sign by the chapel simply reads, "CHAPEL". One very cool part was it was completely empty of people - and the chapel door was open! Another was that it is a Stations of the Cross so there are 14 statutes representing each station.

On the left was a statue of Christ on the cross but not nailed. I had never seen that depiction before. It was not a station. On the right is inside the chapel. It was so great the door was unlocked. When we entered, it couldn't've been more than 60 degrees. That is the benefit of adobe construction.

Jesus on the cross with the sun behind and the front of the chapel.

A side view looking north and Station 11 - Jesus is nailed to the cross.

I thought this was a great sculpture.

Thank you for Kimberly for her adventurous spirit and a great couple of days!

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