Tag Archives: family

Dueling Knife-Hands

21 Jan

I rocked this past Christmas! Yup, got the perfect gifts for my Marines, Terminal Lance Compilation  1-100 a comic for Marines, written by a United States Marine.  It just so happened my Lance Corporal son opened his Knifehand comic before his brother, the Corporal. What ensued was quite the scene.

Marine with Terminal Lance Knifehands

“You can’t see this”

As David opened his present a smirk came across his face. He immediately covered the “Terminal Lance”   and proceeded to and tease and taunt his older Marine brother. “You won’t guess what I got, and you can’t have it! It’s awesome!” (said with great possessiveness and gloating)

United States Marine opens Christmas gift

“This is Awesome”

“You don’t get one. You’re no longer a Lance, so you’re no longer part of the underground” The taunting continues, remember these are men (did I just say that of my sons??) and they are quibbling like six year olds.

US Marine brothers at ChristmasAfter about 30 minutes the Marine Corporal got to his copy of Knife-Hands under the tree.  You can pretty much get the gist of the conversation just by the expression on his face. “I do so rank! I have my own copy of Terminal Lance, so there! HA!”

Marines square off with Knife-Hands

Marines square off with Knife-Hands

Terminal Lance is a mature comic written by Lance Corporal Maximilian Uriarte, USMC to poke fun at the various absurdities in the Marine Corps. Both my sons love this comic and my youngest had me send his the weekly editions during boot camp.

Each comic is accompanied by an essay that explains the back story. If you’re a Marine Mom I caution, before you head to the Terminal Lance site, you may not want to read the essays. They may render you blind. But it’s Marine, adult male humor, and not meant for Mom’s. I made this mistake last summer as I read one particular essay and immediately had a visual image of my youngest son I did NOT want in my brain.

I do read the website, and the Facebook page, because, in a way it’s how I understand my boys. I learn a little of the lingo and a little of the culture and a part of their lives.

Terminal Lance is a cult figure in the United States Marine Corps and everyone (okay, maybe not the commanders) love the strip.  Since his PDS is Pendleton, and Uriarte lives in San Francisco, there is a chance their paths will cross and my son can get his copy signed.

Why Knife-hands? From what I’ve seen and read Knife-hands is used as a visual cussing out or the ultimate intimidation factor. I’ve seen a few, when I visited MCRD San Diego at graduation and I’ve watched many YouTube videos with several drill instructors getting in a boot’s face with several knife-hands.

Here are a few of the Terminal Lance strips which will provide a little bit of insight on Knife Hands.

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Games on the 9th Day of Christmas

2 Jan

Talk about getting excited? While having our second Christmas at my in-laws I spotted a favorite childhood game in the cabinet. Mattels “Tip It!“!

Tip it board game

Matell Tip It, Vintage Game with circus man

Oh, how I remember this game and how this wobbly little circus man on top made me laugh. Everyone in the room must of  thought I was slightly crazy, and I thank them for not laughing at me. They even indulged me with a game!

Mattels Tip It Game

Mattels Tip It Game

While I remember playing the game, I couldn’t remember how to set it up or the rules. So, for those who have forgotten. The short stick goes under the yellow base, place the yellow coins on the pegs and then the long stick in the middle hole.

Don’t forget the little black gravity ring that slides onto the stick. This is VERY important! If you leave it off the result is a very difficult game with a very wobbly man on top.  Slide the doughnut closer to the base and it’s a little easier. Note where our gravity doughnut is placed? Last, balance the nose of  the little man on the top of the stick.

Now comes the playing. After selecting who goes first  (person who spins red first) spin the spinner and remove the appropriate coin from the peg without the little man falling off the top. One by one each person is eliminated as the circus man tips off his perch. Seems there is always one color which doesn’t get selected and the tower becomes heavy on one side. Then players start praying “Noooo not blue!” because you just know you’re going to TIP IT!

Vintage family game

You can still buy Mattels Tip It from Amazon and although it more modernized, and harder with more pegs.  The little man has been replaced, which is disappointing, but I’m sure it will result in the same feeling of silly laughter.

I read the directions online and they have changed a little, but feel free to make up your own “house rules”, kinda like UNO, which we also played.

Who won? My son David who was home on leave from the Marine Corp. He also won three games of UNO, and two our of three games of the card game speed.

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WWII Peace At Last

5 Nov

WWII Peace at Last

Stars & Stripes “WWII Peace at Last” Sept 1945

“Peace at Last” This soldier holds a Stars and Stripes from 1945  for someone to snap his picture of this historical occasion. It was a momentous decisive event, one he wanted to record it for posterity. I also find it humorous that the camp dog also holds the honor of being in the photo.

It’s too bad I have no idea who this person is, or how he is related to my family. As I have been going through and sorting the family photographs since my Mother died I am constantly disappointed in the lack of names on the back.

I’m not sure if this is from my Mom’s side of the family or my Dad’s. There are no other photographs from this time period of this man, who I would like to believe is my Dad, in many ways it doesn’t look like him, but in some ways it does. There is about a 7-8 year gap in photographs from the time he was about 14 and 20 years of age.

I had four relatives that served in World War II as part of the greatest generation. Back then almost everyone could say they had a relative in the war.

My Dad, Leo Tyrrell, served aboard a destroyer in the Pacific around this time.  This shot bears a family resemblance  to his nephew Michael Morrill who has a similar nose, slight build, and dark complexion.  In various pictures of my Dads youth, he often had a dog with him. But since Dad served on a destroyer a photo outside a tent doesn’t seem to fit.

My other relatives that served in WWII were my Uncles Otis and Herman Faries, and my Great Aunts Gussies’ husband Master Sgt. Grover Hale.

(one of many scanned and restored photos in the Faries and Tyrrell family archives)

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My Boxer, No Longer a Puppy

24 Sep

My Boxer, Leah, is not longer a puppy as she officially turned a year old in August. She has gained that regal Boxer look, and she is still very sweet. Thinks she’s a lap dog, and owns the couch, but that’s my spoiling showing up.

Unlike Brody, my Jack Russell, she doesn’t chew and destroy her squeaky toys, nor does she jump on people or bark like crazy when the doorbell rings.

Purebred Boxer

My Princess “Leah”

No, she wasn’t named after the Star Wars character, Princess Lei , but after a boxer we knew named Princess, and a derivation of my Leo, my Dad’s name who loved Boxers.

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Baby Shower, It’s a Girl!

23 Jul

I recently had the honor, and selfish fun of throwing a friend a baby shower! Excited, oh yes. To think that someone told her that a Mom should only have a shower for their first born and not a second baby.

Baby showers are just as much for the friends as the new Mama. In fact for those of us closer to being a Grandmother (no ideas kids) than being pregnant, we revel in babies. The thought of cuddling, spoiling, buying cute baby clothes and toys knowing that when the crying starts we can had them back has a TON of appeal to me right now.

Baby Shower for a girl

Baby Girl Shower

Found the rubber duck punch and LifeSaver pacifiers on Pinterest, yes there will be separate posts for those. I had just too much fun.

Initial photos were run through Lightroom, about 45 of them in about 30 minutes, then put together this simple template in Photoshop

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You Fly to Work, in The US Airborne

27 Jun

In continuing story of my Dad’s Korea War 82nd Airborne experience here is an ad I found in a large envelope where he kept clippings from his time in the 508th. After doing  a little searching I found this was published in Modern Mechanix magazine.

1950s Army Airborne Ad

1950s Army Airborne Ad

The original is yellowed, badly wrinkled, and the bottom corner torn. Since my dad graduated from Ft. Benning in June 151 I can only think he saw this ad and was proud of being part of the finest fighting outfit in the world.

“The Mark of A Man!”

The paratrooper’s wings of the U.S. Army Airborne are the mark of a man! Those who wear this distinctive insignia belong to the finest fighting outfit in the world.”

August 1951

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Photo Restoration: 1960′s Era

25 Jun

Photo Restoration 1960s

Photo Restoration 1960s

I’ve finally removed hundreds of old photos from nearly a dozen “magnetic” glue photo albums. Not quite acid free. My Mother thought she was doing a good thing in the 1980′s by organizing and putting them into alums, when in actuality they would have been better off in the desk drawer in the original envelopes.

They were so stuck I had to use the pointy end of a fondue fork to pry them off and carefully unstick the back. The paper came off on some, but at least now the family memories are back in a shoebox.

At first glance the photos look to be in pretty good shape, but it only takes one scan and a white correction on levels to see how far these photos have faded.

I’m going to scan the snapshots, but the really old photos from the late 1800′s and early 1990′s I’m going to have professionally scanned at Hamilton Color Lab, where I work. My home scanner will only capture so much detail and they are too important to trust to a Best Buy over the counter scanner.

Photo Story: Here I met my brother for the first time. We were both adopted through Children’s Services of Connecticut. As you can see although my brother Lance was a baby he wasn’t a newborn when he went to our parents. My birthday is Sept. 21, 1965, yet I didn’t go to my parent until January 20, 1966.  Along with photos I now have my adoption records, certificates, and letters from the agency. Still don’t know if I will search or not. Even after witnessing my husband and his son’s adoption reunion.

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Summertime Softball

7 Jun

Summer Softball- photography lesson

Summer Softball- photography lesson

Last week I had full permission from my  daughter to take my camera (Canon Rebel  XS) out at her softball game. So I did, and did I ever experiment with night action photography. Not easy, but I finally did get the hang of it.  I set my camera on manual and just played until I got it right.

The above picture was taken with at 1600 ISO, 5.6 F stop, and a 1/160 shutter speed, 75 mm zoom with a continuous burst with the camera file size at small for a faster response.  With the exception of the graininess at the high ISO I’m pretty happy with the results.

Pitcher concentration

Pitcher concentration

Again graininess with 1600 ISO, but right now I can’t see anyway around it, 800 was too dark with the needed shutter speed. The second photo was on large/RAW file size and was a little dark in the original image. With the lens resting on the fence I shot through the chain link at 300mm focal length, 1/160th of a second at a 5.6f

I increased the exposure in Lightroom, cropped the original horizontal shot to vertical, decreased the white and decreased the shadows. Don’t like how the grain distorts the background player, but couldn’t figure out a way to compensate.

Day of Softball and Summer

400 ISO,  1/125 sec, f10 focal 105mm  Aperture Priority

The last photo was obviously taken earlier in the night before the sun went down. All I did here was decrease the exposure, increase shadows, and warm the white balance. My camera tends to shoot cool (blue) and a the sun was glowing on all the players. I try really hard for realism in my editing and this is what my eye saw.

My daughter has played softball since T-ball in preschool starting at Elmwood-Murdock, then Lincoln Y-league, Eagle, and the past three years for Louisville. They joined the Omaha leagues a few years ago and the first year they didn’t win a game, the next was about a 50:50 record and this year it’s a little tougher.

A lot of the girls play on two teams, most of the teams are Select and have the intimidating matching travel bags, and “muscle” jerseys.  Most play school ball, but it doesn’t matter what they look like, can they play? My daughter loves the game, she only plays during the summer and she has a mean steal and isn’t afraid to use it and slide to where she wants to go.

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Marine Dress Cover

23 May

I’ve loved this photo ever since I took it last fall after my youngest son graduated from Marine Boot Camp. A Marine in his dress blues is the epitome of pride, honor and commitment. They also look very handsome.

Every part of their uniform is thought out to the smallest detail. The US Marine Dress cover issued to boots have a cloth crown (shown above) , some Marines later opt to purchase a white vinyl crown which is more durable.

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U.S. Marine in Service Charlies

18 Apr

I have two sons in the U.S. Marine Corp, one stateside and one in Afghanistan and have come across a Twitter theme #WarriorWednesday. So I thought why not start a new theme and feature on my blog. I don’t know how long this will last, but at least until I run out of photos and images. So it might take a while.

U.S. Marine in Service Charlie Uniform

This image was taken on Family Day at MCRD San Diego after the MotoRun. The new Marines change into their Service Charlies uniform, and garrison hat, or cover (Marines often refer to it as their “piss cutter”.) and then have their first five hour liberty to spend with their families on base.

If a recruit wears glasses or contacts they are issued  standard-issue spectacles, S9s or commonly called  or BCG’s “Birth Control Glasses” because they are so ugly that no girl will come near you. They have been a staple in the military and are tough, sturdy and just plain ugly.

Marines joke about them, raze each other, but they are just as  much as they are hated they hold a certain affection amoung the ranks. I just read on the Marine Corp blog they are being retired for those interested “Goodbye Birth Control Glasses” is a very good read.

This photo started off as “PhotoShopFriday posting until I thought of the #WarriorWednesday. I adjusted the levels, color selected the blue sky, and darkened the blues, used shadows and highlights to open up the shadows on his face and then cropped for a better balanced photo.

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