Good News/Bad News. Good News First.

Good times this weekend... met by one hell of a heavy day yesterday.

Friday, the club had a "Tailwheel Barbecue" at a member's place. He's got his own grass strip, which is pretty awesome, I have to say. So anyway, anyone who had a taildragger was invited to fly in... although, I'm not tailwheel certified (haven't ever even SAT in one!), nor were there any seats left available, so I drove over. Kinda glad I did - everyone that flew in had to fly out in a hurry because we got hit by a pretty nasty storm. According to one of the pilots, by the time he got back to KITH, he was fighting 40-knot winds! Not my idea of a fun flight, thanks - in that Citabria he was flying, that's almost flying BACKWARDS on final!

The barbecue itself was pretty fun. Wander around, look at planes, eat yummy food, and chat with other pilots. Score!

Saturday, I did some patternwork, just to keep the skills up (and my solo currency!). Then, that night, I had a gig in Elmira with Ageless, so that's one more thing to keep me busy.

Sunday... well, most of Sunday I frittered away reading or playing games, but then I realized that the weather was clearing. So I called up the Club and booked my night cross-country! Woo! One more step closer to that elusive certificate!

We took off a little before 10pm and headed for Sodus (KSDC), where we did a stop-n-go, then off to Syracuse (KSYR) for a touch-n-go (with accelerated approach, which was a new thing for me), then back home. Sodus is a little strip in the woods, it seems. I mean, there's neighborhoods you fly over on base and final, but for the most part, there's not much around. Syracuse, however, is a pretty good-sized town, and very brightly lit. Sodus was fairly easy to find - turn the lights up (pilot controlled lighting - yay!), and it's the only bright spot around. Syracuse was easy to lose amid all the lights of the city. Crazy.

Best part of the flight: looking down at a traffic jam on I-81 and being able to go, "Nyah-nyah!"

:-D

Well, we didn't get back until 11:30ish, so I wasn't out of there before midnight. Home at 12:30, shower, and bed by 1, to get up at 7 for work. Okay, 7:40. I overslept. Anyway, got to work, and our accountant was the next one in. He came in, and as he's pouring his coffee, he tells me about a member of our congregation who died on Saturday. She was 77, in great health, and always very energetic and cheerful. Died very suddenly and VERY unexpectedly. That was a bit of a blow, I have to say.

This was a lady who, when she learned I was leaving the youth ministry here, asked where I was going next. At the time, I'd been thinking grad school for music, but I'd just changed my mind and decided I'd go to flight school. So I told her as much. Her eyes got huge, and I could tell she was thinking, "Flight school? Why? You have so much potential in music, and I thought that's what you really wanted to do!" (which is what a lot of people say/think/think-I-don't-know-they're-thinking when they find out). But as I explained it to her - that this was a lifelong dream that I finally had an opportunity to pursue - she was immediately supportive. Every time I saw her after that, she would ask me how flying was going, where I was in the training, how much longer I expected it to take, and - most importantly - was I still loving it. She always showed a great deal of interest in it, and was supportive. I don't think she ever knew it, but I really, really appreciated that from her.

Bill, our assistant custodian here, grew up in this church and knew this lady all his life. He was a real hellion as a kid, always causing or getting into trouble. His comment on this lady was (and I'm paraphrasing here), "As a kid, everyone was always pretty down on me. I caused a lot of trouble, so they were always upset or yelling or whatever. Somehow, she always had something nice to say about or to me."

Bill suggested we all go in on a brick for the memorial garden outside the church that has her name and the phrase "Life done right."

I'm in. She'll be missed.