Happy New Year 2018!

Happy New Year 2018!

May the New Year bring us joy, health and better times than this past year.

May we find a solution to the separation of children from their parents and the caging of them in areas without end and may we find a solution to these endless wars we continue to fight that only profits the rich at our expense. 

May those in the government who have brought us to this low level be brought to justice this year.

It's time for a new beginning.

Happy July 4th, 2017

On July 4, 1976, the United States celebrated its Bicentennial. In 1776, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence.

Memorial Day

 

Today is Memorial Day, a day set aside to honor the fallen men and women who have laid down their lives sacrificing them with honor in all of our wars.

I used to sing a Stephen Foster song that was written in 1854 before the Civil War entitled, "Hard Times." The first stanza of the song was:

"Let us pause in life's pleasures and count its many tears . . ."

This always reminded me for some reason of my own past service to my country and more importantly those who never came back to meet the love of their life or perhaps, raise a family and grow old to see them raise their own families. These honorable people sacrificed everything for our country and today is the day we honor them.

So, if I may borrow that stanza from Mr. Foster's song:

"Let us pause in life's pleasures and count its many tears" and during a part of our days celebrations with friends and family, let's not ever forget them as well.

Butch

Happy New Year 2017!

Happy New Year!

Happy Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving to one and to all!

Happy Independence Day!

Today is July 4th, the day we celebrate our independence from Great Britain in 1776. 

Last night, our sub-division celebrated by sending off its fire-works in our private park

by the Long Lake. Not only were their spectacular colors from the fire-works, but the deafening 

booms from when they exploded seemed much louder this year and I am very hard of hearing at

my age. I was smart enough not to wear my hearing aids to the event. ;-) 

 

For all of my American friends, do have a safe and happy Independence Day! 

Memorial Day 2016

Memorial Day is a day of reflection for me. As a Vietnam Veteran, my war claimed the lives of more than 58,000 Americans. When you add the lives from previous wars and the wars that have happened since, it makes me wonder what these brave men and women would have contributed to our country had they had the chance to live and enjoy the freedoms for which they died and perhaps, what their children might have contributed as well had they been allowed to carry on to marry and have lives to live as well. 

I dwell during this Memorial Day to think about these things and to ponder what if things could have been different and we didn't have to always go to war to settle our differences?  Perhaps some day we will learn to get beyond the fighting, but until then, let us pause for a moment this year and think about those who gave the ultimate sacrifice so we can remain free. I will remember them with the honor they so deserve forever.

Happy New Year! - 2016

To all my Family and Friends,

a

Happy New Year!

2016!

Happy Winter Solstice

New Grange

A Passage Grave with

Burial Chamber.

Ireland 

 

 

The is the death chamber in New Grange, the oldest solar observatory in the world. New Grange was built around 3200 BC which predates Stone Henge and the Great Pyramids of Egypt. This chamber is aligned with the Winter Solstice and the sun's rays shine through to the chamber. 

This is a picture capturing this on the solstice.

 

Happy Yuletide Greetings

to

All! 

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!

Memorial Day

Many of us wrote these checks at one time in our lives. Some  have had to cash them. It is for those that we remember this  Memorial Day of remembrance  and honor them especially for giving their all for this country. ~ Butch

Patriot's Day

September 11th

a day we will always remember.

Happy Labor Day!

Happy Labor Day!

Memorial Day

Let us pause this weekend to remember our fallen Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and National Guardsmen and women who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our country during times of war. Let us also remember all Veterans who have put their lives in harm's way in order to keep us free as well. 

The base word of Memorial is memory and that is the least we can do for these honorable men and women who have given so much to our country. Some gave their all. Let us not ever forget them.