"It Snowed Last Night"

                                                                            

    

Oprah Put one of my snowy Pictures on her OWN web site.

   When I got up early this morning, I saw that all the snow had stuck to the trees. It was so beautiful, so I grabbed my camera and went out and took these pictures

The rest of my picture can be seen on my Photo web site.
http://s262.photobucket.com/albums/ii95/bkauf/It%20Snowed%20Last%20Night/?albumview=slideshow

They Made Us Use Trichorethylene in the Navy

             When I was in the Navy they made us use this stuff (Trichorethylene (TCE) to clean the grease off of bolts that we took out of the flight deck of the aircraft carrier I served on (the USS Constellation) between 1964 - 1966. They said to use rubber gloves but they didn't always have gloves to give us. So we had to dunk our hands in a bucket of Trichorethylene and wash the bolts off that way. I want to tell you that stuff was strong. It would burn right into your hands and take all of the oil and moisture out of them. One day I was washing the bolts and I dropped one of them and it landed with a splash into the bucket. The Trichorethylene splashed into my eyes and I was instantly blind and in such horrible pain. I screamed and the guys took me down to sick bay where they washed out my eyes. Thank goodness it worked and I could see again. I didn't lose my sight. But now I wonder if that had anything to do with being on disability since 1987?

The Dame and the Bozo

                                    Victor Kaufman Sr and Lois Kaufman
                                       My Grandfather wrote this poem

 

 

          The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In  hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

 

 

What Does Christmas Mean to YOU?

 I was thinking about Christmas and what my daughter said on her personal web site today. It was a picture of one of her Christmas trees from a couple of years ago. Underneath the picture she said; "I love Christmas! “It’s all about Jesus and children!"

I thought and asked myself "What does Christmas mean to me?" To ME it reminds me of my childhood, when my Mom would take us downtown to shop on State Street here in Chicago. Back then they didn't have any shopping malls so you had to shop downtown for presents. Just to go down there and see the window displays got me excited because I knew Santa was coming soon.

Christmas Eve was always the BIG day for me because my Mom and Dad and my sister and I would all go over to my Grandmother's house. Everybody was there, all my aunts and uncles and all of my cousins. You could hardly see the tree for the presents were stacked so high. My cousins and I would wait for my uncle Bill to bring down HIS presents. At the last moment when everybody was there, he would put his presents under the tree. They were always the biggest and the best and were all covered in the same green holiday wrapping paper. The fun came when we got to open our presents. The adults would sit back and watch us kids. "Mommy Look at What I Got!" I yelled out to her. I loved the smiles on my parent’s faces when I showed them what I had gotten. It was the one time of the year when everybody was together and everybody was happy. Yeah, Christmas to ME is about family and happiness.

The years have gone by and now I am the Grandfather. All of my grandparents, uncles, aunts and especially my parents are all gone now. I sit here all alone in my apartment and think about how wonderful it would be if suddenly they were all here with me again on Christmas. But sadly they can only be with me in my mind.

 This Christmas I will happily drive 6 hours to my daughter's home for Christmas that is if it doesn’t snow and watch my grandchildren open their presents. Unlike my parents before me, I'll get down on the floor with my grandchildren and help them play with their toys. I guess I'm trying to recapture my childhood but who cares. I have fun playing with my grand kids and their toys.

 I would love to hear from everybody and tell us "What Does Christmas mean to YOU"

Merry Christmas Everybody

Oprah Published One of My Photos

BEAUTY IS WHERE THE TALL GRASS GROWS

I was thrilled when I sent in one of my photos and found that she had published it on her Super Soul Sunday  web site. Cool, Thank You!

 Here is a link to the photo:

Beauty-is-Where-the-Tall-Grass-Grows
http://www.oprah.com/own-supersoulsunday/blogs/Beauty-is-Where-the-Tall-Grass-Grows

                                              OCTOBER

This week has been the best week of the whole year as far as the weather goes. Fall is here and the trees are turning all sorts of colors. I put a link below to show all the pictures I have taken so far. It's kind of like a story or keeping a diary of each day I go out. Read my comments at the bottom of each photo to follow along.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2206079189145.2113175.1162363051&l=35cc4617c8&type=1