Military Wedding

Only in the military....Heath and I went to a wedding a few weekends ago. I love seeing the raised swords as the couple passes through.

The Strummin' Westcotts

As a collective group we decided to take guitar lessons this past February. We have a 30 minute lesson every 2 weeks. We make our best effort to practice regularly(Heath and I are more consistent)and I must admit we don't sound half bad. Heath is far more accomplished as he has played guitar prior to our formal lessons. We have learned to play Happy Birthday and Amazing Grace and have progressed to simple versions of Let It Be, Brown Eyed Girl and Margaritaville. Heath makes his music on his father's old classic guitar. The guitar is about 30 years old and it's as if we have a piece of Grandpa Garth in the room when it's played. We bought Gracie the blue gem you see in the photo for Christmas. Garth chose the acoustic guitar second from the left. For myself..........I spent many weeks of my allowance on the "Most Beautiful Guitar in the World" on the right. It has a built in tuner, inlaid abalone on the body and light wood contrasts on the neck. Sweet guitar.......I am sure my playing will never do it justice. Just the same......I'll pretend I am Eric Clapton.......Rest assured....you can hear the Westcott Tribe play during their US tour while they travel between duty stations.

Sea Glass Hunting

In our final months here on Okinawa we are trying spend time doing things we have enjoyed doing over the past few years. One of those things has been hunting for sea glass. Our favorite beaches are on Ikei Island on the eastern side of Okinawa. During this time of year there are minimal people and the weather is nice. Also, I had to include a picture of one of my favorite things on Okinawa....the ever present soda machine. They are all over the place. As you can see this one is one all by it's lonesome on the side of the rode. They come in handy when you need something to drink.

Garth's First Football Game

Garth decided this year that he wanted to give football a try. He is on the Foster Cougars. His team practices 3 days a week and they have a game every Sunday. Unfortunately, they lost their first game this past weekend and the boys were pretty upset. Garth got the wind knocked out of him pretty good while going up for a pass, but felt better about the whole situation when he was able to reciprocate the favor. When football ends it will be on to soccer.....Enjoy the photos....

Heather is leaving Okinawa

I met Heather when I volunteered on the Labor & Delivery floor at the Naval Hospital here in Okinawa. We have become great friends and she is very dear to me. She is out of here and I will be taking she and Scuba to the airport on the 12th. We made one last trip to The Cove last Saturday and drank entirely too much cheap white wine and Orion drafts. Okinawa's loss is Oklahoma's gain. I'll miss you Heather........

What a Way to Go Out

Just a quick update on the Harwood situation. What do you do with a 70# dog after he has been put down? In the Westcott/Knott Families they get buried in Mom and Dad's Fern Garden. The process to have your dog cremated here on Okinawa is a bit complicated. Heath and I had to go pick him up and deliver him to a little old Japanese man named Joe who owns a grooming business out in town. Apparently he worked at the base Vets office for 40 years and knows his way around the Pet Funeral business. When we got to Joe's we met the "Mortician", so to speak, who was a very sweet and concerned lady. We got the low down on their cremation services and facilities through a mixture of single words in both Japanese/English, photo brochures and sign language. We then put Harwood (frozen like an ice cube...YUCK) in the back of her teeny little car and off we went. I think we were afforded about 50 VERY respectful bows during our encounter. To make a long story short.....I picked him up a few days later in a lovely package and set off to mail him to Mom and Dad. The post office here on base had never mailed pet remains and it took us a bit to figure out what we had to do. You'll be happy to know that Harwood is now sitting proudly in Mom's china cabinet awaiting for a proper burial in the Fern Garden. We'll be there soon buddy......

Adios.....Tonsils

Gracie did it and came through with flying colors. Good riddens to the pesky tonsils that have given her fits forever. Gracie had her surgery today at about 10am. The surgery lasted about 30 minutes and we were home about 2 hours later. Our friend Jamie Oberman did the surgery and all the hospital staff was fantastic (GO Navy....) Thanks everyone for all the kind phone calls, thoughts, prayers.