Cue Up Tevye

And have him bellow out "TRA-DIII-SHUN" from the rooftops.  Herewith a post within a post within a post:

Flag Day

We seem to be developing our traditions here at EIP, and here's another installment of same. This looks like it will be the "traditional" Flag Day post... or at least it will be until I come up with something better.

Flag Day

Old Glory on the stern of the USS Mason (DDG 87), Port Canaveral, Florida.
April, 2003.

I don’t have a “flyable” flag any longer… and no place to really fly one, even if I did… which is a break from long-standing tradition. I still have two flags in my possession, but neither is suitable for display. Or rather, I choose NOT to display them. The first is the flag that draped my father’s casket; the second is a small flag in a shadow box with mementos from my USAF career. My father’s flag is folded and put away for safe-keeping, the shadow box flag is…well, in the shadow box.

But I AM celebrating Flag Day. I hope you are, too.

Modifications to the above: Make that three flags vs. two. You've seen the flag I have draped just below the upstairs-bedroom-cum-music area... just four days ago, in fact. You may not have read the story behind that flag, though. It's a well-traveled Star Spangled Banner, that one.

I can't believe I left out the origins of the "Mason" picture!  The Mason was one of SN2's old rides and this particular photo was shot during the ship's commissioning weekend.  We've talked about Mason and that event before.  Quite a lot, actually.

Sorry about all the extraneous lines.  Blogger doesn't like it when you cut and paste old posts into new ones.  I've beat my head on this wall... that would be the "trying to get rid of these damned lines" wall... way too often without results.