The Jewel of Summer...

The 'Boys Of Summer' won't be seeing much of this, this summer!
It is too cold!

The Jewel of the summer is July, but this year the Jewel is tarnished. To the ‘Boys Of Summer’ this is big news, but in a negative way. They are an elite group that enjoys the sunnier side of things when chasing their favorite summertime activities: Motorcycling, fishing, hiking and camping, and hitting the beach to pursue the wile ‘Surfer Babe.’ This year July has been cool and wet, not a good sign for we hot and sunny day worshipers of summer!

The Meteorologists at AccuWeather, have a name for 2009: “Year Without True Summer” trite, but accurate! According to these prognosticators, July’s low summer temperatures may forecast heavy snowfalls and very cold days this winter! If you are returning home soon, the weather will be quite the change from the July of your memories. Lets hope they are wrong about their dire winter forecast, which I say is partly overcast with a 50 percent chance of failure!

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Deployment Update:

Local troops in the HHD 336 Battalion left on a bus from Highland Park for an 18-month deployment to Iraq. The 72 troops were split into two groups, one left on Saturday, and the other on Sunday.

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Sports Update:

The Pittsburgh Steelers signed their first round draft pick, Ziggy Hood, to a five-year contract! He is going to bring youth and athleticism to the defensive line. This 6’ 3” 300 pound former Missouri player promises to surprise a few teams bringing new blood to the current World Super Bowl Champion Steelers AKA Blitzburg!

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The popular ‘Park Diner’ in Monroeville has been torn down, and now nothing is left of the structure at all. The lot is an empty spot. I shot these images of the diner the day the doors were closed for good, May 7, 2009! Another slice of Americana disappears with the progress of the regress of our economy.

(Click on images to enlarge!)

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Keep your head down,

Henry Hill, Plum Pennsylvania

Summer Loves ... 2009

(Click on images to enlarge)

Yesterday I attended a graduation party of my friend’s grandson, Chris. This was a trip back in time for me to the Summer of ‘68,’ where everything in my life prior was changing like a whirling dervish, a focus point in the middle of my life’s prism that was ready to explode out of the other side in a wide sweeping spectrum of light into the world beyond. High school to the US Navy, innocence to the real world, crushes into real love, and the unlimited possibilities of the future.

Many of you over there have went through these changes that seem to take no time before you are gone and out of high school, and then find yourself over there engaged in your daily struggle to survive and to prevail. Chris is now at that point that we have experienced, as he celebrated his new found freedom of adulthood unbeknownst to him what the next day will bring. His Summer of ‘2009’ is filled with hope, and he is lucky to have a summer love that can share it with him. Summer Loves back home are the subject of letters from over there every day, sometimes summer loves are lost, sometimes they last a lifetime. Either way, that Summer Love from that last summer before the real world will never be forgotten … I am now toasting all of the Summer Loves of 2009! May you never part…

Your mission as has been the mission of all before you, is making sure Chris and others do not have to follow your footsteps into that world of war … may this be the last war fought. May all who have sacrificed rest in peace and we can finally declare the mission is complete. This is the dream, but we all know that many will still fight for their buddies, and go to war for their country. If only that last summer could last forever, so would we!

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Summer Lovers

Chris and Brit

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Sports update:

To the point, the Pittsburgh Pirates … still playing, but not much more.
But, the Pittsburgh Penguins are still the World Champions and caretakers of the Stanley Cup, and the Pittsburgh Steelers are still the World Champions and owners of their six Super Bowl Trophies!!!

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Keep your head down,

Henry Hill, Plum Pennsylvania

This column will be back and running this Sunday ... July 19th

Been fishin' the Russian River in Alaska!
#1 son below is after the Salmon!
So are the huge Brown Bears ... Yikes!