Blue Skies and Yellow Fields

CONSTANCELY HOPING

(Ride to the Sunshine)

Dear Readers,

Welcome to a weekly trip through my memories, mementoes, and musings. I collected some great experiences over 4 decades in Washington DC and through my good fortune of being associated with two great institutions, The National Archives and the Legal Services Corporation. I hope to introduce you to some wonderful people and to make you smile.

Note: Blogs are organized by categories so that you may go directly to those that might be of most interest to you.

Now ride with me toward the sunshine. There is something good about today. We just must be open to its signals.

Best,

John Constance

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30 Months of Mo

Nov 16, 2021
1 min

30 Months of Mo

OK. Get Ready. Here come the shameless dog photos. Those of you who have followed me on that other site (let's just call it Head Shot...

108 views2 comments

Matador

Nov 14, 2021
4 min

Matador

First week back at school, 1964. Eighth grade at Catonsville Junior High School was already a little weird. We weren’t the youngest kids...

113 views5 comments

Ich Dien

Nov 8, 2021
2 min

Ich Dien

In Flanders fields the poppies blow, Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place, and in the sky, The larks still bravely...

100 views1 comment

Happy Anniversary

Nov 4, 2021
1 min

Happy Anniversary

Forty nine years ago today, I awakened at the Davis home in Suffolk, VA still feeling the effects of my bachelor party from a week prior...

179 views11 comments

WWII Flyboys and a Special Night

Nov 1, 2021
5 min

WWII Flyboys and a Special Night

They say that it’s dangerous to meet your heroes in person lest your image of them be dashed on the rocks of reality. Not so with John...

91 views0 comments

Ya Really Gotta Make Up Your Mind

Oct 30, 2021
1 min

Ya Really Gotta Make Up Your Mind

Every year, this is a very difficult night for me. So many choices. So many ways to make a fool out of yourself. What to wear for...

123 views3 comments

Choo Choo Train

Oct 27, 2021
6 min

Choo Choo Train

Last year I donated my dad’s papers and photos to the Baltimore Streetcar Museum. My daughter Brittany was surprised by that transaction,...

125 views13 comments

Cuba 2016

Oct 24, 2021
6 min

Cuba 2016

It is a country of lively music, bright colors, old cars, cigars, rum, clothes lines, horses, smiling faces, enthusiastic greetings,...

95 views2 comments

The Way We Were

Oct 22, 2021
6 min

The Way We Were

When you are in the congressional affairs biz in a place like the National Archives, you are also in the tour biz. Your daily goal is to...

130 views3 comments

In the Room Where it Happened

Oct 20, 2021
14 min

In the Room Where it Happened

So, it was 35 years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and I was the Director of Congressional Affairs at the National...

129 views3 comments

Happily Ever After

Oct 19, 2021
1 min

Happily Ever After

After 40 years of marriage, Bob finally asked Marie the question that had bothered him for years. “Darlin’, every time we have a fight,...

109 views0 comments

Immutable Friendship

Oct 17, 2021
4 min

Immutable Friendship

My oldest childhood friend is David Carter Christian, or “Chris” as he is still known by his sister Dale and me. Our moms...

126 views5 comments

Patron Saints

Oct 15, 2021
2 min

Patron Saints

I've thought long and hard about whether to post this old letter. While as the author I own its contents, the recipient and the subject...

119 views2 comments

Oct 13, 2021
1 min

Bagpipe Pooh

Back by popular demand, one of the COVID Bathroom Videos that got a lot of comment (some of it even positive). I think this might be the...

66 views2 comments

Equal Justice Under Law, 1976

Oct 12, 2021
9 min

Equal Justice Under Law, 1976

It was early springtime in Washington DC, and it was past time for this project to be finished. After all, it was the bicentennial year,...

121 views5 comments

Southern Tongues

Oct 11, 2021
6 min

Southern Tongues

Growing up in the Baltimore area I never gave a lot of thought to whether I was a southerner or a Yankee. As a lifelong Orioles fan, I...

161 views5 comments

Drowning My Sorrows

Oct 11, 2021
1 min

Drowning My Sorrows

There I was sitting at the bar staring at my drink when the door swung open and a noisy biker gang invaded the darkened room. The leader...

94 views1 comment

Oct 8, 2021
1 min

Horace, We Hardly Knew Ye

With love and thanks to professional North Carolinian Sally Betts Kingsley Goss, here is the tale (pun intended) of Horace The Mule. As...

98 views1 comment

Aunt Mary's Window on Camelot

Oct 7, 2021
4 min

Aunt Mary's Window on Camelot

November 27, 1960 My grandmother, Lillian Mackenzie Loeber, had one sister, Mary Clarke. Mary was married to Frank Clarke who had been...

57 views0 comments

Oct 6, 2021
2 min

COVID Videos or (as some call it) The Bathroom Videos

I’m not sure when this idea came to me, but I do remember where I was sitting. (Editor: insert smiley face here) The lockdown was kinda’...

44 views0 comments

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