There I was in Greenwich Village late at night, and noticed a sign that Jim Croce was appearing in a basement below…

In the course of my pediatric training at Baylor College of Medicine we were treated to one special trip per each of the three years. One was to San Francisco, one to New Orleans, and one to New York City. We had enjoyed the current play “Jesus Christ Superstar” and had decided to go for a walk through Greenwich Village. I had heard Jim Croce’s latest songs on the radio, so decided to check him out.

Valo and I walked down those stairs into a rather small room where Jim Croce was sitting at a table speaking to a group of around 12-15 people. He told of growing up in South Philly, and about details of his past life. And he picked up his guitar and sang some of his popular songs, such as Junkyard Dog and Bad Leroy Brown. It was amazing. Sadly, he died in a plane crash not too long after that.

EPISODE 9

There I was staring at the Loch Ness Monster!

Well, think what you will, but I believe that I actually did see the creature. Our boys Sam and Scott were three years old and we had rented a camper truck to drive up to Scotland. (I was in the Air Force and stationed in England). So, we drove up past Edinburgh (where there were several men playing golf out in the rain) and on up to Loch Ness.

We stopped at the ruins of Urquhart Castle, where a number of people had reported seeing the Loch Ness monster. We climbed up into the castle ruins while the boys threw rocks into the water below, trying to hit “Nessie”! There was no sign of the creature. But, as we were driving along the lake road I looked out at the lake to my left and saw what appeared to be an overturned rowboat. I looked back ahead at the road, and when I turned to check out the object it was gone! I have no explanation for what I saw.

EPISODE 10

There I was standing in the Plaza Espana in Madrid as a policeman rushed to me and grabbed my camera from around my neck!

The first trip we took outside of the country while (whilst) stationed in England was with a couple to Madrid, Spain. Bob was the base pharmacist and his wife was Pat. One of the items I bought while there was a lovely guitar at the Guitararia which I still play. Interestingly, there was a shop in Madrid called Colonel Miller’s where U.S. military personnel could purchase local goods at a discount and have them flown back to base in the bomb bay of an F-11!

On a Sunday afternoon Valo and I went to the Plaza de Toros for the bullfight. It was a bright, sunny day and the crowd was enthusiastic with “oles”! The matador that day was especially adventurous, and paid for it. He was down on his knees waiving the red cape when the bull snagged him and tossed him 12-15 feet into the air – twice! Somehow he survived.

Well, as Valo and I were walking into one of the busiest plazas in Madrid I saw an officer standing at a corner with a machine gun. I thought that I must get a photo of that, so I walked to the opposite corner and zoomed into focus on him with my telephoto lens. Unfortunately, I noticed in the viewfinder that another officer was running towards me. Before I could snap the picture, he snatched the camera from around my neck as he motioned for me to follow him!

We were led up some steps into police headquarters and were finally able to understand that it was not allowed to take any photos of that building. I expected that the film would be ripped out of my camera, but they let us go in peace.