Father's Day 2014, Remembering My Dad in Pictures: Ashmead Courtenay Carson, Jr. (1918-1998)

Today, I want to share two awesome pictures of my Dad!  

                                            Ashmead Courtenay Carson, Jr. (1918-1998)

This one was taken while Dad was grilling dinner and it was supposed to be a "horror movie pose" so he scrunched up his face and made a giant movement toward whatever was being grilled with the tongs, HA! 

This next one was posted on FB by my half sister Pride with the great description: "Dad as an Army Air Corps flyboy" circa WWII." I can't believe how young he looks!

               

This last one (for today) is another from sister Pride as THE BEST gift for Christmas EVER! The wave in Dad's hair is very characteristic of the Carson line. In fact, I've seen a silhouette from the 1700's where it was there too! Cool!

                       

He is greatly missed! Dad taught me that "nothing is as strong as gentleness". We also shared a strong ability to make and appreciate good puns :-) 

Pilot Day 2014

Today is Pilot Day! Since I'm not a pilot myself, I am celebrating by thinking about my Dad (Bomber pilot WWII, more on him tomorrow for Father's Day!) and also looking over photos that I've taken in the past few years. :-) Things you can do today to celebrate pilots and/or aviation are suggested at the end!

Photo by C. Carson of the Blue Angels rehearsing for their NOLA air show

This is a cool media set from my Facebook of photos from when the Blue Angels came to New Orleans and gave an air show out by The University of New Orleans (UNO). All pics taken with my Canon powershot 10X zoom so NOT BAD if I do say so myself :-)  I wasn't able to attend the show the next day, BUT I did manage to see them practicing the day before. Thank goodness it was Friday and that I'd already had rehearsals. I can't seem to concentrate when jets fly overhead, ESPECIALLY when you can hear that they are clearly doing cool maneuvers. It literally makes me squirm with anxiety to be outside staring up. The whole music department was watching me walking around to the different offices asking "can I look out your window....for just a second?" HA! Good times! I did finally just give up and walk out to the edge of our UNO campus at Lake Ponchartrain so I could get a much better view.

Some great things happening:
- Make-A-Wish helps kids become fighter pilots for a day 

- Become a Pilot 

- Pilots prepare for 60th annual Father's Day Fly-In 

- Bomber Pilot Saves The Day In Boeing 737 Emergency Landing - from June 2

Learning to fly a plane is still officially HIGH UP ON MY BUCKET LIST! 

JUST LOOK AT THIS INSANE PICTURE!!!! SOOOOOOOOOOOO COOOOOOOOOOL!!!

Before I forget, here is a link to my blog post on the Lockheed Martin Tweetup Adventure I attended - also from 2012. Lockheed Martin is extremely awesome in every aspect of what they do! I am a giant fan! 

What can you do on Pilot day?

- If someone is flying YOU around, SAY THANK YOU to your pilot! 

- If YOU are flying - why not share that enthusiasm with someone who may be inspired?!

- Simply think about the amazing things that go into modern Aviation! 

- Check out #AVGeek on Twitter! 

- If you have the means, contribute to someone's Make-A-Wish dream to be a pilot for a day!

- Visit an Aviation museum

- Check out the FlightAware and the FlightRadar24 apps. 

- Check out the FAA and learn about air safety

- Draw a plane or build a plane (legos, a real one, whatever is handy! :-)

- LOOK UP!

                                                   Have a great day out there everybody!

Photo by C. Carson, 2012