November 11th - Veterans Day

Today is Veterans Day and I like to take this day as a veteran, to reflect upon my own life and to think about other veterans who have honorably served our country during wars and conflicts in all of our wars. I also remember the fallen who gave the ultimate sacrifice to our country; their lives.

Please take a moment of your own and thank a veteran for their service; when they were asked to step up and fight for our country, they did with honor.

Thanks,

Butch

Happy Guy Fawkes Day

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason

Should ever be forgot. . .

Memorial Day

Memorial Day - A Day of Remembering.

This day is a day set aside for us to pause and remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice to our country; their lives. We honor them all year, but specially on this day do we solemnly remember what they gave for their country.

Happy Winter Solstice

New Grange

Burial Chamber on the Winter Solstice.

New Grange is over 5000 years old and is located in Co. Meath, Ireland.

It is older than the Great Pyramids in Egypt and 

Stone Henge in England. New Grange was built

aligned with the winter solstice. 

This is a picture of the sun shining into the burial chamber on the Winter Solstice.

Happy Winter Solstice!

The days become longer from this day forth.

Happy Holidays!

Veteran's Day

To all the Veteran's who have served our country (myself included), today is the day that is set aside for reflection to honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice and also, to thank those who have fought to continue to protect us. 

May we always remember these people who took a portion of their lives and put them on hold to go fight in war. This day is a special one for veterans. I always took the day off work to stay home and reflect upon my life and think about how fortunate I was to be alive. I thought about my buddies who didn't make it back alive and what their lives would have been like if they had lived. Wasted potential and what of the children they would have had as well. This is what war does and it is always something we must remember.

We need to constantly remind those in our Congress, Senate and government who have never worn a uniform of our country and have no recollection of the horrors of war when they urge us to want to go into another war and put "boots on the ground" that there are consequences that come with these hasty myopic decisions. Just ask those veterans who have been there and know.

~Butch~

Hallow'een or All Hallows Eve

Tonight is Hallow'een or All Hallows Eve. It is the night before All Souls Day in the Christian Church Calendar, but this holy day was placed beside a much older celebration of  the Festival of Samhain in the Celtic calendar. It began the winter half of the year. It was believed that the Cailleach, the aspect of the Goddess who appeared as an old woman, hit the ground with her hammer, making it iron hard until Imbolc. On Samhain night, the gates of the otherworld were open, allowing communion with the ancestors. Spirits were said to roam this night. Food was put out to feed the spirits and some would carve out turnips and put candles in them to keep the spirits from entering their homes. The pumpkin was not a gourd grown in Ireland and is abundant in America.

This marks the New Year of the Celtic Calendar.
Happy Celtic New Year!
(Information provided from "The Celtic Book of Days" - Caitlín Matthews

Happy July 4th, 2014!

Happy 4th of July to all of us!