Fly them before they are gone

American Airlines MD-80 or Super 80 at Dallas - Fort Worth

Detail view American Airlines MD-80 or Super 80 at Dallas - Fort Worth

With Delta’s retirement of the DC-9,  the last aircraft of these fast moving birds are disappearing from the land's airports. This is certainly a cause for missing these airplanes.  The DC-9 and MD-80 were favorites to fly.  Flyers have said the flight deck is so quiet that piloting one feels like piloting a glider.  The hardware that closes the windows is strong and comforting.  The crosswind performance is very good.  The skylights let in too much light most of the time so pilots cover them with cardboard pieces on the inside of the window.  The knobs are different shapes for different functions.  These MD-80s are being retired, because newer airplanes that go further with their fuel are taking their place. If at all possible book a flight on one of these while it is still possible to fly one. American Airlines has concentrated the MD 80 fleet to Dallas-fort Worth. The MD-80 flying will cease for American Airlines in 2017.  There may never be a chance again to fly an MD-80.

What I saw - San Antonio Missions

The San Antonio Missions were in use in the 1700s.

San Jose mission in San Antonio at sunset

Since the 1700s these places have given people rest.  The five mission sites in San Antonio have been named  UNESCO World Heritage Sites.  They are important sites today; they offer 300 years of history for the person that comes to their buildings and and the moving trees along their walks.  The trees move with the winds.

What happened - Sorrow

Monument - Lexington Cemetery, Lexington, Kentucky

One learns from the teachings of the East that sadness comes to everyone.  Happiness cannot be real and alive without awareness of the total life including loss.  Thomas Merton seemed to be benefiting from these parts of practice and teachings to practice.

I knew Jenny Bennett from her streams and hills blog.  She seemed to have a great love for the mountains.  I feel great sorrow about the truth that she has died.  When I read her brother's account of spreading her ashes I felt an intense and deep sorrow.

Thomas Barnes was an incomparable nature writer of Kentucky places of beauty.  Tom Barnes wrote of the small remnants of biological communities that remained after development had taken the great amounts of the natural places we once had.

It seemed to me to be too much to bear to have so much of Kentucky's nature gone and then to lose the man who chronicled Kentucky's nature so well.

Sadness is felt inside and outside. Sadness comes to everyone.  Though one wants to get away from suffering, it is not something that can be done.

I miss Jenny.
I miss Tom.



Loss is. 

What I Saw - La Grange

Flags in La Grange, Kentucky

La Grange is located in Oldham County in Kentucky.  The street in front of the local government building has rails running down the street.  Trains traverse the town close to the buildings.