Monday, June 06, 2011

Same Ol', Same Ol'... Sorta

SN1 is in P-Ville for a three-day stay and he, Grandson Sean, and I spent the better part o' the morning tryin' to get up enough gumption to get started on a project I'd conned them into helping me with, specifically: puttin' the Móvil back into El Casa Móvil De Pennington, which has been in sumthin' like Hangar Queen status for about three years now.  Read that as: El Casa Móvil hasn't been started in three years time.  She should be known as "El 'Muerto en el Agua' Casa Móvil de Pennington," truth be told  (I changed 'Dead in the Water' to its Spanish equivalent, according to Google Translate).

Alas and alack.  Specifically alack of motivation (heh)... as said project has been placed on hold, yet again.  None of us was especially enthused about the labor required to Git Я Done... particularly given the roasty-toasty nature of our WX and the ever-present wind... so we shelved it.  No biggie.  I'm not goin' anywhere, anytime soon.  By design.

That said... SN1 brought up the subject of this year's Lompoc Flower Festival and the fact I was once married to a celebrity, or as near to a celebrity as I've gotten in my life.  I'm speaking of this:

From left, former Lompoc High School band members Mary Newcomb, Ramona Pennington, Glen Newcomb, Adeline Trujillo and Esther Childs hold a January 23, 1961 edition of the Lompoc Record heralding the band’s return from President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural parade in Washington, D.C. //Mark Brown/Staff 
Photo as captioned on the Lompoc Record web site... and that's The First Mrs. Pennington, second from left.  It seems like the the band alumni will have their very own float in this year's Flower Festival Parade.  Wow... Glory, eh?  Further...
On Jan. 20, 1961, 55 Lompoc students marched in President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural parade in Washington, D.C. This year they will mark the occasion with a reunion during the Flower Festival weekend in June.

“Bob Shaver called and asked, ‘Do you know what Jan. 20, is?’” said Glen Newcomb, who was the Lompoc High School drum major in 1961. “He said, ‘We ought to have a reunion. Make that happen, Glen.’”

So Newcomb and his wife Mary, who played the cymbals in the inaugural parade, are making that happen. They are finding as many of their band mates as they can. So far they have contacted 38.
TFMP tooted her clarinet in JFK's Inaugural parade and a Good Time was had by all, or so I've been told... lotsa times.  Now she gets to ride on her very own float in yet another parade... this time as an honoree, which is just pretty danged cool.

So I've been tryin' to remember MY claim to fame all danged morning, without results.  I'll have to get back to ya on that, Gentle Reader, just as soon as I dig sumthin' up.  Sumthin' PG-rated, of course, this bein' a family-friendly blog.  Sorta.

13 comments:

  1. That is a pretty cool claim to fame. Whenever I see a photo of TFMP, I am reminded where you got such handsome sons. Robert is a handsome young man too - Does that mean you have a good eye for good lookin' women?

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  2. "Trying to remember my claim to fame"

    You're writing on it buddy. I'm speaking of your scintillating blog known as Exile in Portales. Take a look at those archives over there going back six years or so. Take a look at your long reader list. It's always full of great stories, photos, music, beer and stogie reviews, etc. EIP is a good thing! And IMHO it's a most worthy claim to fame.

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  3. Does that mean you have a good eye for good lookin' women?

    Well... MOST of us guys do have an eye for good lookin' women, so I'm not much of an exception. The Eternal Mystery, in my case, is what those women saw in ME.

    Dan: I most certainly appreciate those kind words about my scribblings. But look at it like this: I hate to think my eulogy would consist mainly of "he wrote a pretty good blog." Aiiieee. ;-)

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  4. Interesting. Earlier today as I was getting caught up on EIP having been on vacation for the past week - I thought "Hmmm, I wonder when or if Buck will ever start and move the Casa".

    And here we are.

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  5. Je n'ai sploosh pas06 June, 2011 17:04

    Your claim to fame is you never got elected as a Democrat, or splooshed a blue dress...

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  6. Kris: She'll move again. Someday.

    Sploosh Pas: How do you know I never splooshed a blue dress... or ANY dress, for that matter? Was it the expert marksman ribbon that tipped ya off? Don't let that fool ya.

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  7. Buck, that IS cool. Seriously, that must have been quite the thrill for those kids. Traveling all that way...being involved in history, and all.

    "He wrote a pretty good blog" would look good on a tomb rock, IMHO.

    I guess my claim to fame would be winning first place in the Dallas/White Rock Marathon in 1989. It WOULD be, but I came in 840th place. Heh! 840 out of 4,000-some ain't bad. And, a bunch of folks didn't even finish...

    Hey, that might look good in an obit, too.

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  8. Marksmenship - hee...

    WV: lecoc

    Hmm, missing a 'k'...

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  9. Heh! 840 out of 4,000-some ain't bad.

    Hell, no... that's pretty danged GOOD! I'm not sure I could drive 26 miles non-stop these days.

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  10. Definitely cool (speaking as a parade aficionado!)

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  11. Glad to see Moogie's back in the saddle. I missed that gal while she was marryin' off.

    We're gonna have to get together a blogfest like The Mayor has up in the tundra.

    I vote for Portales as the host city.

    We can even have a parade...

    Moogie's in charge.

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  12. We can even have a parade...

    Can I bring my flamingos? No parade, if not.

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  13. Well, hell yeah! What would a parade in Potales be without 'em?

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Just be polite... that's all I ask.