Bastille Day 1789 and 2016

I subscribe to several e-mail Newsletters one of which keeps me informed about different celebrations and days that have been designated as "National Days"; for instance National Ice Cream Day, National Pancake Day etc.  In the list of Celebrations I noticed that July 14th is Bastille Day;  curious to know more I searched the internet for information. I already knew that Bastille Day was similar to our 4th of July and I had the phrase "Storming of the Bastille"-- Built in 1370's, the Bastille was a fortified fortress that often housed political prisoners or those who had angered  Royalty.  According to Wickipedia the reasons for the French .Revolution are "complex" and still debated by historians but storming of the Bastille signaled the start of the French Revolution . Bastille Day is generally recognized as the end of the monarchy and the beginning of the modern republic.While searching the internet for information I found a list of cities around the word that also celebrate Bastille Day, of those listed these stood out to me: Paris, New York, London, Orlando, Boston  and Liege, Belgium--while I know there is no connection between these cities celebrating Bastille Day and the recent terror attacks, it is a startling fact.

Bastille Day is a French National holiday ,usually a day of good summer weather when families gather outdoors for picnics and viewing fireworks. So sad that this day was probably chosen by a terrorist or very sick person to kill as many people as he could; 84 people, 10 of them children and leaving over 100 injured, 53 critically--"so sad" are inadequate words to describe this day, but I am at a loss--

BOOM! BANG! POP!

4th of July, in the United States--it is the signal--the "banner on the outward wall" for sins and shooting  crackers, pedantry and pinwheels, oranges and orations, sky-blue toilettes and sky-rockets. A day when patriotism pops and bursts about like so many bottles of sillery.~Henry Harold Paul, "4th of July in the United States"   1851--It's certainly the day for shooting of crackers, pinwheels and sky-rockets!                                                                                                                                                                                                                

                                                                                                                             
When did the 4th of July become a day for buying and shooting off illegal fireworks until well after
midnight? Fireworks that shoot feet up into the air, like those at a professional show, startling not only neighborhood dogs, older people, but military veterans who have faced the perils of war? Last night my neighborhood was ablaze with fireworks from all sides, a constant barrage of cannon and gunfire like sounds as the cat hid under the bed, the dog cowered on the bed now and then barking at then noises, and I contemplated opening the door and yelling at the top of my lungs ENOUGH!! Or perhaps getting in the car and driving around telling people I was going to call the police! Instead I just try to endure it~I might just be a crabby old lady, but I prefer a professional firework show to the up close and personal sights and sounds of the neighborhood "shows"~~Why not enjoy fireworks at a family picnic, in the park or overlooking a lake, harbor,or ocean surrounded by family, new and old friends?

"The 4th of July,when we get to play our favorite guessing game--fireworks or gunshots?"--Author Unknown
                                             

When I think about the 4th of July I think of The Declaration of Independence, "We the people", The Star Spangled Banner, the Red,White and Blue~~I think of those who have fought and those who have given their lives to protect not only our shores and freedom, but those of other countries as well~~

We on this continent should never forget that men first crossed the Atlantic not to find soil for their ploughs but to secure liberty for their souls~~Robert J McCracken

An item in the news last night caught my attention: a teenager built what amounted to a bomb by gathering a large number of sparklers into a bundle, then using another partially pushed down into the center, acting like a fuse~~it exploded making a large hole in the sidewalk or driveway causing life changing injuries to his body; loss of fingers and a foot as well as probably his eyesight~~I wonder if the Big Bang was worth it?

A PALINDROME

6-16-2016

Today is my Birthday and the date at least this year is a "Palindrome"--That means were I to write the numbers backwards, they would still read 6-16-2016.

Happy palindrome week!

news-press.com4:05 p.m. EDT June 16, 2016

(Photo: news-press.com)

Feeling balanced? You should be. It's a palindrome week.

That means all the dates are symmetrical and read the same backward and forward.

A palindrome can exist with letters, phrases or numbers. The word "kayak," for example, or "Was it a car or a cat I saw?" are both palindromes. Palindromes can also appear in dates. May gives us a slew of them starting on 6/10/16 straight through 6/19/16.

Father's Day, June 16, 1946

June 16,1946

Seventy years ago (can it be?) today was my Birth-Day (though it was a Sunday not a Thursday).  At 1:59 AM I was born in a Los Angeles hospital and made celebrities of sorts of both my parents and myself; I was the first baby born in Los Angeles to a World War II veteran (Navy) on Father's Day. My father won the honor as the first veteran out of 800 entered in the Downtown Business Men's Association "stork derby". My mother should have received as many accolades as she, too, was a veteran having served in the WAVES during WWII, and let's not forget, she did most of the work during my birth! Having won the derby, my father received "a complete new outfit for himself, including suit, white shirt, underwear, socks and shoes, and a box of imported cigars". My mother received "honorable mention" in the newspaper articles that were published about the event as well "Congratulations" cards.

The long letter  above told me something that I never knew;  the author sent a check for $1.00 to my parents so that they might open a savings account in my name which was to be the start on my first million! She also sent a little bank so that visitors could drop coins in it which would provide me with more money than my dad. The writer promised to send the cancelled check to me to be placed in my baby book. I still have the Baby Book along with the letters, pictures and newspaper articles, but no million dollars! Not even a $1.00 or the cancelled check!

The baby book also contained the envelopes that the cards and letters were mailed in and postage for a first class letter in June of 1946 was 3 cents!!

My Dad and his new suit, complete with hat, shoes and a box of cigars

CAN LOVE CONQUER ALL?

                                                               GOOD AND EVIL

                         

Today I awoke to a television news broadcast. I could tell by the urgent sound that the news was not good and my immediate thought was that there some kind of horrific event had taken place. When I turned on the television, I learned of another mass shooting that had taken place in Orlando, Florida--there were 50 deaths and 53 people wounded, many of them critically. Almost immediately there was a connection to terrorism, with ties to ISIS. Over and over again I heard law enforcement, public officials and the President state that Evil would not triumph over Good and that we must "continue to love one another" even in the face of hate and violence. I was moved by the number of times that this sentiment was expressed by a diversity of individuals.

On the afternoon of the deadliest mass shooting in the United States my daughter, granddaughter and I were to attend a performance of Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs presented by The Arvada Center Dance Theatre Company, Ballet Division. One of the performers was a former student of my daughter and that was the reason for our attendance. The dancers ranged in age from quite young to seniors graduating from high school--At the end of the performance, the graduating seniors were introduced and asked to relay their future plans--almost all were going on to college with 3 planning to pursue nursing degrees. For some reason I found myself a little tearful after hearing their words. What brought on these feelings and what is the connection between the two events of my day? I am not quite sure, but while checking the Arvada Center Dance website for information about the event I found this description of Snow White: 

            "This classic tale is about good prevailing over evil and love conquering all"

Save and Organize or Let Them Pile Up?

A friend commented on my Saving Old Magazines blog, saying that she once read that instead of saving the entire magazine a person should just tear out the article they wanted to read or save and get rid of the rest of the magazine. I read this same advice somewhere also, but I know if I followed that advice I would end up with this situation:

I once found an online blog called www.makelifelovely.com that detailed a beautiful way to organize and save magazine articles and while the idea intrigued me (articles were placed in plastic sleeves, categorized according to subject matter and placed in a binder, somewhat like a scrap book); there were tabs to indicate the subjects for easy reference. All  in all it was a lovely way to save information and not the whole magazine. My idea for magazines however is different, when I first receive an issue I glance through it, sometimes reading short articles or letters addressed to the editor and make a mental note (which I probably forget in a few hours time!) of items of note that I want to go back to; when I finally do return to the magazine (and the fact that I have some issues dating back to 1984 tells you that along time will probably pass before that happens) I will undoubtedly have read it almost in its entirety. My philosophy is not to discard the magazine in the trash or recycle bin but to pass it on, usually to the library (where they sell donated magazines and books in a fundraising effort) or a thrift store. I believe someone would rather buy a "whole" magazine, rather than one with an article or articles cut out of it (because usually the one missing is the very one you want to read!). So I will continue to slowly make my way through my pile of magazines, finding and reading interesting articles and letters! But thanks for the suggestion!

Saving Old Magazines

I save many things (but I am not a "hoarder"), books, recipes, newspaper articles, ideas for decorating, papers written in classes long ago and magazines.  In the past I have subscribed to gardening magazines,  Country Gardening and Country Living magazines; I have about 7 years of monthly issues of Victoria More recently I subscribed to Smithsonian , Country magazine and was given a subscription to Yankee Magazine by a friend as a gift. Being overwhelmed with so many issues,  I have stopped all subscriptions with one exception.

                                     
Today I decided to look through a stack of Christmas issues that I have saved for years to see if I might get rid of some of them--While I know I saved them for a reason, today I failed to really see why--I know I saved some because of the recipes they contained and some for decorating ideas--today I admitted that I had so may saved recipes that I will never try and I since I no longer have much of my own space for decorating, I really did not need those ideas--


I chose 4 issues to look through and found a few crafts that I thought I might try (but probably won't) and a few recipes (including an interesting and quite complicated one for Birds Nest Pastry in an article entitled "Christmas at Winterthur)  that I thought I might like to make (but probably won't)I read about different types of trees that make good Christmas trees, a little article about Poinsettias most of which are grown at Paul Ecke Ranch in the town where I grew up. I read articles on the use of holly in early winter solstice festivals, in homes to brighten the dark days of winter, and the exchange of branches by friends as tokens of goodwill. Holly was thought to ward of evil and protect a home against witchcraft as well as provide refuge for friendly woodland sprites. I read an article on vintage Christmas cards and learned that the first Christmas cards were sent around 1846 in London by Henry Cole who wanted to send holiday greetings to his friends and associates. German born Louis Prang immigrated to America where he perfected color printing techniques and his cards were elevated to the level of artistry. There were columns written telling stories of various traditions from choosing the Christmas tree, to one towns' yearly production of The Messiah, as well as one describing a traditional Polish Christmas Eve celebration. I even read a reader's letter to the editor and found one that seemed hugely intriguing; it thanked the magazine for an article on French gypsy wagons. In the letter the reader says she met a woman in New Zealand who bought a team of horses and a gypsy wagon and every summer leads the gypsy life, exploring her country--With the current interest in "tiny homes" these wagons seem like an interesting option (with or without the horses).

Wouldn't you just love to spend at least the summer in this beautiful wagon? I think I would. Now that I think I have gleaned about as much as I can from these issues, I will donate them to the library where they sell them for a mere 50 cents.


                                                      "Time, you old gypsy man,
                                                      Will you not stay,
                                                      Put up your carvan
                                                     Just for one day?" 
                                                      Ralph Hogdson