Once a week Sue dips into her old English Oxford dictionary and picks a word on the page that it falls open at. The challenge is to post a photograph, poem, story – whatever the genre you like best to describe of what that word means to you. This week her word is ORANGE. Not being a fan of most orange shades, I was surprised to actually find some pictures for this challenge. I really surprised myself when I saw how many I had! Here is a small selection for your viewing pleasure! Enjoy!
Frisbee Tossing Robot Made by Local High School Students
Vintage Truck, Old Town, Kissimmee, FL
Not sure of the name of this plant. Looks like peppers!
Freckles
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Lots of water where I live! These photos were all taken with my iPhone5.
A lake is the landscape’s most beautiful and expressive feature. It is earth’s eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature.
~Henry David Thoreau
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As a nation we are at war now, but for most Americans the scale of death and suffering in this seemingly endless wartime belongs to other people far away, or to people in other neighborhoods. Collectively, we are not even allowed to see our war dead today. That was not the case in 1865.
At the end of the Civil War the dead were everywhere, some in half buried coffins and some visible only as unidentified bones strewn on the killing fields of Virginia or Georgia. Americans, north and south, faced an enormous spiritual and logistical challenge of memorialization. The dead were visible by their massive absence. Approximately 620,000 soldiers died in the war. American deaths in all other wars combined through the Korean conflict totaled 606,000. If the same number of Americans per capita had died in Vietnam as died in the Civil War, 4 million names would be on the Vietnam Memorial. The most immediate legacy of the Civil War was its slaughter and how to remember it.
Some twenty-eight black workmen went to the site, re-buried the Union dead properly, and built a high fence around the cemetery. They whitewashed the fence and built an archway over an entrance on which they inscribed the words, “Martyrs of the Race Course.”
KNOW YOUR HISTORY: Memorial Day was started by former slaves on May, 1, 1865 in Charleston, SC to honor 257 dead Union Soldiers who had been buried in a mass grave in a Confederate prison camp. Some 28 black workmen went to the site, dug up the bodies and worked for 2 weeks to give them a proper burial as gratitude for fighting for their freedom. They built a high fence around the cemetery. They whitewashed the fence and built an archway over an entrance on which they inscribed the words, “Martyrs of the Race Course.” They then held a parade of 10,000 people led by 2,800 Black children where they marched, sang and celebrated.
Officially, as a national holiday, Memorial Day emerged in 1868 when General John A. Logan, commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Union veterans organization, called on all former northern soldiers and their communities to conduct ceremonies and decorate graves of their dead comrades. On May 30, 1868, when flowers were plentiful, funereal ceremonies were attended by thousands of people in 183 cemeteries in twenty-seven states. The following year, some 336 cities and towns in thirty-one states, including the South, arranged parades and orations. The observance grew manifold with time. In the South Confederate Memorial Day took shape on three different dates: on April 26 in many deep South states, the anniversary of General Joseph Johnston’s final surrender to General William T. Sherman; on May 10 in South and North Carolina, the birthday of Stonewall Jackson; and on June 3 in Virginia, the birthday of Jefferson Davis.
[Excerpts from: David W. Blight teaches American History at Yale University where he is the director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition, the author of the Bancroft prize-winning Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory, and the forthcoming A Slave No More: Two Men Who Escaped to Freedom, Including Their Narratives of Emancipation.]
On what rests the hope of the republic?
One country, one language, one flag!
Alexander Henry
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time,
This week I’m spotlighting our little Emmy. She is a Maltese and will turn 14 this year. Back in 2000, we were blessed to have the opportunity to adopt Emmy from Florida Poodle Rescue. We brought her home as a baby. I know! Most animals adopted from rescues are fully grown. Sometimes timing is everything! It was meant to be. Of all our little furry children, she is the oldest and pretty much the smallest (if you don’t count a couple of the cats!). But she is the matriarch of our animal kingdom. Aw, shucks, she rules this roost!
THAT WAS THEN!
Where am I?
Play time! I’ve taken control of Bobby’s toys! (Search site for Bobby to see my Boston)
Nap time!
THIS IS NOW!
Can you find me?
How do you like my new haircut?
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I found a few “odd ball” photos I thought I would put out there and participate in Cee’s Odd Ball Photo Challenge this week. Here they are in no particular order!
Tower of Light (also referred to by some of the locals as the pineapple sculpture) located outside City Hall, Orlando, FL
Church Street Station, Amtrak station under construction, downtown Orlando, FL
Steampunk!
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Well, it’s been a most interesting week and a half. I’ve mentioned on previous posts about the kitties who had taken up residence in our garage and how we had them spayed. Since we already had five cats, we had decided there was no way we could incorporate them into the household. Sigh. So, weekend before last, little Tippi (black & white) showed up for breakfast on Saturday with a limp. I could see no obvious injuries. So I hoped it was just a strain or something and would go away quickly. I got nervous because I didn’t see her again until Monday morning. She was still limping so I decided to take her to the vet. I also took Maggie because I thought I figured I should have them both with me in case I needed to have them tested for feline leukemia in case I had to bring them into the house while Tippi healed. It turned out her little foot was abscessed. So, in they came. I knew at that point, they wouldn’t be going back out on the streets! Tippi’s little foot ballooned up and finally the abscess broke. She’s all healed up now and getting inquisitive.
We set up an extra room we have for our new kitties so we could keep them separated from the other cats and dogs. After a few days, we opened the door but neither wanted to walk out. We put the little barricade up because it keeps out the dogs. There are sliding glass doors from the room that look out onto the enclosed pool area and there’s a kitty/doggy door that goes out. Tippi has just now started going out to the pool area around the other cats. Maggie is still choosing to stay in her room even though she now has access to the house and pool area. We’ve seen her sneak out into the hallway late at night when things are dark and quiet. So, I guess it’s just a matter of time. So far it seems like they’re going to incorporate into the bunch with little upset. Fingers crossed!
Cee says: This current series is all about our glorious mother earth and nature. I hope you have a lot of fun finding nature animals for this week. Nature Animals: whether you live in the city or country side there are birds, squirrels, deer, ducks, etc.
Any glimpse into the life of an animal quickens our own and makes it so much the larger and better in every way — John Muir
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The second Monday from Lens and Pens by Sally means MACRO!
Walking a little bit around the campus of Rollins College in Winter Park this past weekend, we saw these berries on some pine trees. They’re the strangest berries I’ve seen. I have no idea what they are but they’re pretty cool! Taken with my iPhone5.
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LIVING WITH MY ANCESTORS 