The Inlaw (well, I’m proudly the Outlaw! Love you, Craigs!) and the Silkman Clan…

…and the Silkman Clan itself…

Love those Three!

You may or may not remember the story I told about an eventful Thanksgiving many years ago? Well, that event took place in this house, near this…very…table!

My Aunt Sara sent me these pictures of the feast at her house this year…with another typical funny message – this one succinctly relating that her dishwasher konked out and she was on K.P. duty until 0130.

No rest for the weary, and the righteous don’t need none, I guess.

Here’s another view of this beautiful table – a view that I remember as a youngster because we were all peeking down through the railings on the second floor…

Obligatory cat picture. (mais naturellement!)

This is my aunt and uncle’s Maine Coon – a real beauty.

This looks so good! Here’s Aunt Sara’s message that describes the menu, my notes included:

i didn’t want to send food pics in case all you got were k rations…….

not pictured: caviar pie (I am crying. This is my FAVORITE!!!!), cheeses and olives and nuts, creamed shallots, sausage,apple and cranberry stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, potatoes gratin, roasted parsnips and carrots, squash with maple syrup (Boo Hoo!!!), 3 kinds of cranberry sauce, apple pie, punkin pie (thank you marlene the queen of pie makers), ice cream, whipped cream (chow halls use whipped cream in a can…I’m still sniffling, here…), chocolate dipped apple slices, chocolate dipped pecans (sis got one of those chocolate tempering things!!!!!) cranberry walnut bread, etc, etc etc. did i tell you my dishwasher was broken? it is amazing what you can get done when everyone else is in food coma. next year it is the sach’s turn to host and i get to coma out. love, aunt sara (I told her I wish I was there today so we could hang out, eat leftovers and feed snippets of turkey to her Newfie and her German Shepherd dogs, and drink Champagne. She has the best kitchen for doing that.)

Hey! Who’s that???? Looks like a set of newlyweds to me!

Yep, it’s Lydia and Gabe, back from their Hawaii Honeymoon!

And here’s Lydia’s dad – my Godfathah – and USMC veteran –

honoring John and me with the Missing Comrades’ pose

Wish we could have been there.

…and I love that little cutie patootie on the bottom left.

It’s been a hard week, starting with the passing of my Mom & Dad’s dog, Uh-Oh. Thanks, Jean - and others, for acknowledging that though they may be only animals – they mean a lot.

Saying goodbye to Uh-Oh and dealing with our particular never-ending issues in Iraq and Afghanistan – WELL.

I didn’t feel like posting.

But…LAST WEEKEND DESERVES A NOD.

On October 11th 2003, THIS was happening…

Easily, the happiest day of my life.

See the man marrying us? His name is Rusty – he’s a judge; he practices in Vermont (and he was able to get dispensation to marry us in Colorado.)

Rusty is THE GODFATHER.

His beautiful daughter (and Marlene’s daughter, too! and Kelley’s sister, too!) Lydia, got married to Gabe – a wonderful young man (although it was a bit like watching a Stradivarius being handed to a Gorilla – sorry Gabe…you are a Red Sox fan…GO RAYS) exactly 5 years later, in northern Vermont, on a hilltop, complete with gorgeous Fall colors.

AND we got to see my Aunt Sara (coolest chick evah that she is/was/ever shall be) and Uncle Pete…

…and Little Andrew!

So let’s get back on the horse, shall we? I have a lot of catching up to do – and here’s the start.

Congrats to Lydia & Gabe – easily the happiest couple I’ve seen in awhile.

It’s what the Spartans said to the Persians at the Battle of Thermopylae. It means “Come and Get Them.” The Spartans were referring to their weapons, which the Persians wanted. And every Spartan was killed, because they were so outnumbered.

The epic battle was described in Pressfield’s Gates of Fire, in achingly haunting language. The small group of Spartans delayed the Persians enough that their courage emboldened the rest of the Greeks, who eventually beat back the Persians in the year that followed.

Their courage, and their honor guides us today. It’s my unit’s motto.

If you haven’t read Steven Pressfield’s Gates of Fire, I urge you to. It will inspire you, move you, make you cry.


The pictures that follow are from our Change of Command today. It’s a unit that is 90% Special Operators, 10% Support. (Can you guess which percentage I belong to?) Ha! I am proud to say that the majority in the audience were Green Berets.

And My Green Beret was in attendance.

We said goodbye to our commanding general, Major General Mulholland. This dude was there at the beginning of Afghanistan and at the beginning of Iraq. In the year he’s been in command, we’ve lost 26 warriors.

Even one is too many.

Here’s a little taste of what we do around here…

I went up to Laurel to pick up Spectre from his Auntie Max and Uncle Ken’s house, and while there (as you can see from the two previous posts) we got to ride, we ate an incredible turkey dinner that was courtesy of Ken’s latest hunting excursion (wild turkey is so amazingly delicious that it defies description, actually), and Max bought a guitar!

Our tradition every time we get together…the “phone-call-whilst-imbibing shot”…which started 5 years ago with our toast to Amy, Max’s sister, on the occasion of her wedding while we were in Korea…

Max with her beautiful new “Big Baby Taylor”! It was time for an upgrade from her old guitar, and she did it right!

~Best Buds~

Parting Shot. Isn’t this funny? Magoo just couldn’t be bothered to tuck in his front legs!