I said my goodbyes to my buddy Doug this evening. I spent about an hour sitting on the dock at a pond on my place remembering him. I enjoyed a Cohiba as I recalled the impact Doug had on me. As I snapped this picture I realized there was a jet leaving a vapor trail in the sunset. A fitting tribute, I thought, to a veteran aviator and commercial jet pilot. If you zoom in you can barely see the vapor trail just above and to the left of the setting sun.
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, --and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of --Wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air...
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark or even eagle flew --
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
Rest in peace my friend, SRH
