Kitchen Costuming

Phoenix Comicon has been over for almost a month and I have been so slow getting these pictures up.  I actually prepped the photos shortly after the convention was over.  Unfortunately, other things took precedence in my life so this blog post was differed until now.

There were lots of great costumes this year, but here are only a few with , of course, my son as Spiderman and an Arizona Ghostbuster.

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Anyone who does crafts that require the use of superglue knows that they will eventually glue their fingers together.  Spiderman wranglers are no exception.  Of course I am not officially a wrangler, but at the moment I have been made in charge of gluing the “hard to reach” webs on my son Todd’s costume.  Luckily we were prepared with acetone for me to place adhesive where it shouldn’t belong.

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June was a busy month for Ghostbusters’ fans. The Ghostbusters’ franchise celebrated the 25^th anniversary of the movie with the release on June 16^th of Ghostbusters on Blu-ray disc. 

A highly anticipated video game with the original cast of Ghostbusters and realistic animation was also released the same day. 

June also heralded the 20^th anniversary of Ghostbusters II.  Now the fans are just waiting for Ghostbusters III to be made and they will be in Stay Puft marshmellow heaven!

The Arizona Ghostbusters did their part at the nearest Game Stop to help collect donations for the Salvation Army and promote the release of the video game.  A blow-up movie screen was on hand to view the film as the Salvation Army painted kid’s faces, provided popcorn, and “pet slimers” for a dollar. (continue reading…)

As this is Memorial Day, I wanted to write a tribute to my Dad because he passed away three weeks before I was born and I never got to know him.

James Marion Winter was in the Army during World War II and the Korean War.  The only stories I have of him were through my mother and I’m sure her memories became sweeter with time, painting him bigger than life for me. I know he was a captain and at one point used to run cable lines ahead of the troops for communication purposes.  There was a time during WWII that he was doing his job high above the ground when a mortar shell exploded nearby knocking him down.  He managed to live through that but sustained injuries from vertebrate crammed into his brain.  He either had a benign tumor already or developed one from his injuries.  He lived for years until the headaches became so severe that doctors at Fort Simmons Army Hospital in Colorado decided to operate.  Unfortunately, the doctors in 1953 did not have the skills and resources for delicate brain surgery like they do today.  My mother was nearly nine months pregnant with me and had an eighteen month old child back in Arizona.  It did not surprise me that she wanted to keep his memory alive as her knight in shining armor.

I had no real emotional connection with my Dad until Saving Private Ryan came out.  The opening scene took place at a military cemetery.  My thoughts were flooded by a similar memory of my sister and I in our twenties roaming the cemetery in Denver looking for my Dad’s grave.  From that moment in the movie, I began to cry.  Tom Hank’s character became the image of my Dad and the tears were non-stop as I held my son, Shaun’s hand, through the entire movie.  I found the emotional connection with my Dad that day as I literally sobbed for another two hours when I got home.  I have never been able to see Saving Private Ryan again.

The horrors of war take a toll on everyone.  Please be grateful for all of the men and women who serve this country so we can live the lives we have.  Savor your memories of those who have fallen and never forget that they did this out of love for this country and their families.

I have spent quite a bit of time working on one of the pages to this blog.  Please take some time to check out “My Family” page as it has lots of interesting information about my two sons (and a couple of their small video projects).  Thanks!