We in the Florida area remember the Cuban missile crisis--and the build up of our armed forces.
All around Florida and our area--troops and equipment could be seen on the move--heading South--Convoy after Convoy--troops equipment and armament--we all really felt that war was a very real possibility--nuclear war!!!
U2 aircraft could be seen coming and going across the sky--people hurried construction of shelters--we were never so close to nuclear destruction
During this time my father was Operations Officer for a Civil Air Patrol Squadron in Orlando--and he had to fly one night to Jacksonville on C.A.P business--I was a cadet in C.A.P at the time and went along with two other sr. members--nearing Jacksonville we had engine trouble and had to set down at one of the Jacksonville Navy bases--emergency landing--
WE were surrounded by vehicles-of armed men and the anxiety of the military grew when we deplaned and were wearing fatiques and the flat top fatique caps like Castros men wore--that was the only time I have had guns pointing directly at me.
We were cleared after ID'S and our military orders were verified--

You know the 50's and 60's were a simpler time--fun could be a hayride out in Oviedo and a camp out telling stories around a fire--
Untill I left home for the military--I never saw self service gas stations. I worked part time throughout Jr. High and High School--at filling stations--we pumped the gas--checked the tires and oil--all fluid levels--cleaned the windshields--Dad thought it was the responsible thing to do--work and earn--I did like buying my own cloths--and having some money in my pocket-Dad was a great provider but he wanted us prepared for the real world.
The Sound of Music opened in Orlando and I don't remember it ever closing--did that movie run forever?
I remember 17 cent a gallon gasoline--reel to reel tape recorders.
I bought my cloths at the Male Box--a trendy mens store in Winter Park--Madras shirts were in and Pennie Loafers--no socks with the loafers.
Girls wore girdles in those days-as effective as midievil chastity belts--you knew you were in for a hot evening if she wore kulats--a combo skirt and shorts. Till you discovered that darn girdle.
Moms told some daughters about us guys-- If you were lucky maybe a little action above the waist but they would say mom said nothing below the waist-better happen--My parents were so strict--I had a date one night and was progressing right along in the back seat on a double date--but I went a little farther than I thought I could--so I stopped --and my date said--look buddy--I'll tell you when to stop--I'm 60 now and am still being reminded of that night by my friend Chuck--who was with his date in the front seat.
My dad went round and round about the 5 bad transmissons with Ford Motors regarding his Falcon Squire Wagon--he didn't know my brother was blowing the tran--eees at the st. drags in Bithlo----run what ya brung!! more late Fellow and Lady bloggers Eric

Texas Shrimper Man
They've left the safety of home and harbor the jetties now lie astern,a diesels drum and the rattling sounds of the rigging set the cadence for their march out to the sea. The doors are down the nets deployed and another days begun for the Shrimper Man.
They labor upon an untamed sea with an eye on the changing sky, there was no band to herald their leaving only a lonely seagulls cry.
Benneath the heavens and above the depths they ride the emerald plain, on chariots of sun bleached bone and rustin steel,carrying ice in holes or freezer stalls, with rope and steel, chain and net, they drag the oceans guts for shrimp, the Shrimper Man.
Their boats have names like the Mary Lou, the Poseidon and the Virginia, with capable Captains at the helm, with Riggers and Headers, the crews they roam,our coastal waters they call their home.They work in the heat--the cold, the light of day and the dark of night often fighting sharks so mean stainless steel they'll tear, just dragging their nets for a meager share, just another day in time for the Shrimper Man.
Tell me Shrimper Man where ya gonna be tonight? Your radfio message said ya had Galveston in sight,are ya loaded down with shrimp and fish and the like? Tell me Texas Shrimper Man, where ya gonna be tonight?
If you stand on some wind swept beach at dusk or dark of night, you'll see their deck lights bob and weave, a diesels drone may warm the breeze,thank God for earth and sky and sea and land and save a special spot for the Shrimper Man--Texas Louisianna,Mississippi,Florida Alabama,Ga. and South Carolina-Shrinmper Mans !!! Eric

Polite to a fault--that was me,yes mam,yes sir,thank you very much, may I be excused please?

I was just hanging out on the concrete stoop-a handsome young man of 4 years old and when the stranger walked up to me and ask " Young man do you have a basement in this apartment?, I was more than happy to show him-so down into the bowls of hell we treaded, me a the man stranger.
THe man led me to the far end of the basement--and he said it sure is hot in here and I said yes sir--and he proceeded to start taking off my cloths--
I'm very fortunate that the maint. man for our apts. came in at that time and ran the man out of the building-I of course did not realize at the time what was happening--- ERic

I don't know about yall but isle 5 on the end was mine----The south end---It didn't have my name on it but was almost always available--yall may have had your favorite spots as well--on this hallowed ground where the passions on the screen often held no candle to the young emotions behind those fogged windows--when a simple kiss burned its way to your very soul, and the stars of the 60's played out their fantasy on the big white screen and the youth which were us,fumbled and grasp at clasp and life's little catches on our trek toward adulthood.
I don't know about yall but aisle 5 on the end was mine--but it's gone now, another victim of expansion and replaced by videos and CD's and cable and satellite--a world on the fast track to oblivion--heres to the old passion pit, the Prairie Lake Drive-In. Eric

Why are we here--and even if we weren't here whatever would be here is something--a rock is something--where did the rock come from?
If all that was here was a black void--it wouldn't be a void cause black is something, nothing is something.
If the universe went on for infinity--why--and if it didn't whats on the other side of the border?
If the elements of life just float around out there--and just by the luck of collision life evolved--where did the elements come from and if the answer is god or a supreme being, who created them-and who created them and on and on---creation is a masterpiece---and the ultimate beauty-at least as far as we know--cause all we could know is all there ever was to know and that knowlege in total is but a grain of sand on the infinite beaches of time.
Some say the answer to life is most likely simple-presently it's a 5 letter word------Faith---does that word mean the same to the thousands of religons on earth--and is it really an answer or another way to say I don't know?
I feel so humbled-to be able to think and wish and love and hurt and to contemplate all this--You see--faith is all I have because if I knew it all, I really wouldn't know anything compared to the knowlege yet to be learned---this is like a circle from which there is no escape--wait death is an escape--contrare-perhaps death is just the end of the start of the beginning--all those souls floating around looking for a new place to land--with my luck I will be a grain of sand on infinities largest beach---Eric
P.S
You don't suppose were being looked at under a microscope--in a movie a cat had the a universe hanging on his collar.
P.S.S