FUNERAL FOR A FALLEN MIDSHIPMAN

Yesterday was the funeral of family friend and fellow USNA classmate of Mary's, Ben Carr. Ben died late Thanksgiving night when the car he was a passenger in crashed headlong into a tree killing him instantly. Words cannot describe the grief that has taken over our community. Ben was a student at St. Mary's for 13 years and then a stellar Midshipman in his junior year. As the Deacon stated yesterday at the funeral Mass, "there is only love, and we must remember that as long as we love one another, no one ever truly leaves us". I watched in stunned silence at the beauty and pageantry of the Catholic Funeral Mass coupled with the precision of a full military funeral. It was breathtaking. The solemn march from the Naval Academy chapel to the Naval Academy cemetery (about 1 mile) was silent and solemn. His entire company as well as other Midshipmen who knew Ben well were present to honor their fallen shipmate. I would say that there were approximately 1000 people in attendance which comforted Ben's family tremendously. At one point in time, Ben's mom told me "I don't think I know this many people". The most powerful part of the ceremony came at the end, after the 21 gun salute, after the playing of TAPS and after the flag was folded and handed to Patti. As family and friends left the grave site to attend a reception at a nearby home, ALL of Ben's company stayed watch at the grave site in somber silence. Mourners processed passed them and yet they stayed at attention until the casket was lowered into the ground. Only when it was fully lowered did they give their fallen shipmate one final salute and process away. It was breathtaking and heartbreaking all at the same time.


Charles Benjamin Carr, IV
July 1, 1986-November 24, 2006

It is with a heavy heart that I make this post. After a joyful Thanksgiving dinner, a beloved friend and fellow USNA classmate, C. Benjamin Carr (age 20) was killed in an automobile accident a few miles away from his home. Please keep his family in your prayers and HUG your children.

http://hometownannapolis.com

COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG! Here is some of the 7th grade class. I was one of the lucky chaperones on this field trip. We lucked out totally on the weather. It was amazing. During the day it was in the low 70's then in the 50's at night. We did a tour of Colonial Williamsburg that was just great--of course, I stopped to talk to another chaperone and lost my group--I mean LOST--I could not find them anywhere--of course they had kept up with our tour guide and stupid me was wandering around looking for everyone else. Of course it was then that I totally "bit" it on the ye olde sidewalke. I didn't even see the step and down I went. And let me tell you, it wasn't a lady like "oops" it was a wipe-out. My ye celle phone went skittering into the street where it came dangerously close to being stepped on by ye olde horse! I must have looked pretty silly--but the oddest thing was, NO ONE helped me up. I mean, there were like a ton of people standing around and NO ONE helped. I thought that was odd...but perhaps they were just laughing so hard at my clumsiness.

On the second day, we visited Yorktown and then it was on to Jamestown. Here is the lady of the house in Yorktown getting her day started in the kitchen.
The room smelled wonderful! Wood fire, stew in the pot--it was good. All around she had pieces of meat hanging. Of course, we all wanted to know if it was REAL? Let me just tell you, EVERYTHING at Yorktown is REAL--they live for this stuff. Every year on Thanksgiving, they butcher a hog and then cure the meat as they would have done then. See those pots covered with ash? Those are "dutch ovens" and in them are biscuits and pies--they even have their own hens for the eggs. These people worked hard to make it here in the New World.

And then it was on to historic Jamestown. Now, they are gearing up for the 400th Anniversary and as such, they just opened a new Visitor's Gallery that would rival anything I've seen at the Smithsonian. These folks in Jamestown take their history VERY seriously. Trust me, don't bring up the Disney version of "Pocahontas" unless you want a lecture on the historical inaccuracies in that movie. And to be honest, they have a point. The real story of Pocahontas is much more interesting...I won't tell it here--but do check out several websites that will tell the story. I give credit to the good folks down there in Virginia for protecting and honoring our history with such attention to detail.

And finally...
this is what happens to those chaperones who get lost..........that's my daughter Delia with the thumbs up. I think she finally has me where she wants me.

Oh, there is a knit shop in Williamsburg. Its called Knitting Sisters
I really wanted to go, but they told me that all three coach busses would not stop so that I could do a little shopping. What is this world coming to.

Oh, and the Pomatomas socks, yeah, well, let's just say my twisted seed stich heel was completely and totally wrong. And so I frogged and picked up then put down, cause I am frustrated! More on the that later.

Ok, so I turned the heel!! Yippee, yee-haw. I am pretty excited about it really. Its the little things you know. I was up late last night--are some people just natural night-owls? I would love it if I could go to bed earlier and wake up chipper; but alas, that does not happen. I inevitably stay up way to late, still get up early (someone has to force the kids to eat breakfast!) and then hit the wall around 2pm--what's a girl gotta do?

I love the heel flap of this pattern. Its a twisted seed stitch (is that really a stitch?) But its cool.

Also, check out this issue of Knitty. I loved the article about the double knitted socks. Its great. The author and inventor of the idea is going to come out with more tips--yeah--for those of us a bit slow on the uptake...can't wait.

Look at that face!! This is my neighbor's youngest, little Sydney. She was really more interested in the candy bowl than in my taking her picture. Smart girl!

Another set of neighbors. These kids were older but they had awesome costumes. I say if you take the trouble to get dressed up, then by golly, you deserve candy!
And, of course, you have the family friends...you know them...the cool couple who gets to do all these really cool things (cause they don't have kids) and then they tell you about all the cool stuff they get to do and you don't....you know who I mean. We all have friends like this...but they are great and funny and generous and fun to be around. So here they are about to go to a few downtown establishments in the hopes of winning a costume prize. The crab costume was a custom job that she picked up at a yard sale. I guess the woman paid something like $1800.oo for it and sold it to my friend for $50. Let me tell you, just wearing this thing is a work-out. It comes with a neck harness--a NECK HARNESS I tell you--that helps keep the weight of the crab costume off your head and neck. It is HEAVY--and HOT. Brian is dressed as...yep...you guessed..."crab shampoo"...it had some funny stuff written on it. Not sure if they won anything yet.

Oh, and Barb, Mickey redeemed himself and went trick or treating as "Jake Plummer". All is right with the world!