Happy New Year!!!

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,The flying cloud, the frosty light:The year is dying in the night;Ring out wild bells, and let him die.~~~~~~~~~~Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go;Ring out the false, ring in the true.
----Alfred Lord Tennyson

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!

A Christmas Poem

Oh, if only I had known! Said the keeper of the inn. ~ But no hint to me was shown, And I didn't let them in. ~~~~~Yes, a star gleamed overhead, But I couldn't read the skies, And I'd given every bed to the very rich and wise.~~~~~ And she was so poorly clad, And he hadn't much to say! But no room for them I had, So I ordered them away.~~~~~She seemed tired, and it was late And they begged so hard, that I , Feeling sorry for her state, In the stable let them lie.~~~~~Had I turned some rich man out Just to make a place for them, T'would have killed, beyond a doubt, All my trade at Bethlehem.~~~~~Then there came the wise men three To the stable, with the morn, Who announced they'd come to see The great King who had been born.~~~~~And they brought Him gifts of myrrh, Costly frankincense and gold, And a great light shone on her In the stable, bleak and cold.~~~~~All my patrons now are dead And forgotten, but todayAll the world to peace is led By the ones I sent away.~~~~~It was my unlucky fate To be born that inn to own, Against Christ I shut my gate----Oh, if only I had known!

Nelson Mandela 1918 - 2013

The world has lost a great man.

Welcome Christmas

Today is December 1st - and I begin getting ready for Christmas.   Up until now I have been getting ready for Thanksgiving - but that's over now.  I just got out my Christmas cd's. My husband is putting up the outside lights.  After that he is going to get the boxes out with inside decorations. We have an artificial tree - so I can begin decorating it right away.  It's a big one and I can hardly wait to get started.  I also have a skinny tree in my bedroom to decorate.  I will be buying Christmas cards this week so we can get started on them. I will begin Christmas shopping soon.  We do a lot of gift cards so that will make shopping easier.  I've started to get excited now about Christmas.  I will be happy to get my tree up and decorated.  That is the highlight of the year.  The Christmas Eve church service is the best part of the true meaning of Christmas.  We will not have the family here this year - but it will be just as special. Christmas is from the heart and I will be happy to have it come anyway. So here goes - Welcome Christmas - I'm ready for you.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

This year - and all others - I am thankful for my faith, my family and friends.  And I am especially thankful that I am an American.

Veterans Day

Veterans Day is an official United States holiday that is observed on November 11.~~~~~
Other holidays such as Armistice Day and Remembrance Day are celebrated in different
parts of the world to mark the anniversary of the end of World War I.~~~~~United States
President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Armistice Day on November 11, 1919. ------Veterans Day honors all those who have served in the Armed Forces.

SHUTDOWN

The biggest thing I don't understand about this shutdown is that Congress will still get paid.~~~~~~

Our troops will not draw their paychecks - but the people responsible for the shutdown - Congress - will still get their money.~~~~~~Our national parks and the Smithsonian will be closed - that is sad.~~~~~Why is this so unbalanced. ~~~~~~The ordinary citizen has to pay for the whims of
Congress.~~~~It doesn't make sense.~~~~~~Oh- and the president should take a paycut also.

Labor Day

Labor Day was originally formed to recognize the economic and social contributions of American workers. It was voted a holiday by Congress after a number of workers were killed during the Pullman Strike of 1894 when Grover Cleveland was president.~~~~~ Now it is a day that signifies the last time white should be worn and the beginning of the school year.~~~In sports - it is the first day of the NFL and college football games.~~~~~And it is generally celebrated by barbeques and end of summer vacations.

Wind

Who has seen the wind?~~~~Neither I nor you:~~~~But when the leaves hang trembling,~~~~ The wind is passing through.~~~~~~~~Who has seen the wind?~~~~Neither you nor I:~~~~ But when the trees bow down their heads,~~~~The wind is passing by.~~~Christina Rossetti~~~~ There is nothing like the wind - an invisible force of nature. Rather it be the slightest breeze or a hurricane force. Something we can feel but not see. Pretty amazing when you think about it.

Happy 4th of July

On the last page of the Pennsylvania Evening Post, in its issue of July 2nd, appeared a short notice, tucked in between advertisments and routine news items.~~~~~It said: "This day the Continental Congress Declared The United Colonies Free and Independent States."~~~~~~~~Such was the journalistic treatment given to the Greatest Event in American History. -Curtis P. Nettels

The Swing

Robert Louis Stevenson must have had grandchildren and that's what inspired him to write this poem. I discovered that my grandchildren - once they got on the swing - never wanted to get off.~~~~~~~~ How do you like to go up in a swing,~Up in the air so blue?~"Oh,I do think it the pleasantest thing~Ever a child could do!"~~~~~"Up in the air and over that wall,~Till I can see so wide,,~ Rivers and trees and cattle and all~Over the countryside-~~~~~~"Till I look down on the garden green~ Down on the roof so brown-~Up in the air I go flying again,~Up in the air and down!"~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Then the sad part is that they learn to pump and don't need me to push them anymore. And what's more they learn to jump out - scaring me for fear they would get hurt. Anyway - I love this poem.

Bed In Summer

Robert Louis Stevenson has some insight into how kids feel about going to bed in the summer.~~~~~ In winter I get up at night~And dress by yellow candle-light.~In summer quite the other way,~ I have to go to bed ny day.~~~~~~I have to go to bed and see~The birds still hopping on the tree. ~Or hear the grown-up peoople's feet~still going past me in the street.~~~~~~ And does it not seem hard to you,~when all the sky is clear and blue,~And I should like so much to play~ To have to go to bed by day?

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is for remembering the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.~~~I like to think of this verse of America the Beautiful as appropriate for Memorial Day.~~~~~O Beautiful~For Heroes Proved~In Liberating Strife!! Who More Than Self Their Country Loved~~~And Mercy More Than Life!~~~~~America!~America! May God Thy Gold Refine~~~Till All Success Be Nobleness~~~And Every Gain Divine.

Tribute

We pay tribute to all of our service members on today - Armed Forces Day.~~~~Thank you for all you do for us and for your brave actions for our country.

Rain Song

We're getting a lot of rain these days.~Maybe this poem will help us to get through the rainy season.~~~~~ It isn't raining for me~It's raining daffodils; ~~~In every dimpled drop I see~Wild flowers on the hills.~~~ The clouds of gray engulf the day~And overwhelm the town;~~~It isn't raining rain to me, it's raining roses down.~~~~~ It isn't raining rain to me,~But fields of clover bloom,~Where any buccaneering bee~Can find a bed and room.~~~ A health unto the happy,~A fig for him who frets!~It isn't rainging rain to me,~ It's raining violets. ```

Happy Earth Day !

Let us take care of our planet. The Earth is our home and the only one we've got.

HE IS RISEN

Happy Easter ! ! !

Van Cliburn - R.I.P.

Happy Birthday Abraham Lincoln

One of the characteristics we see in Abraham Lincoln is his sense of humor - his great wit. Here is a story that shows this best: When Abe's father didn't need him on the farm, he sent him out to work for other people.~~~Some people said that Abe Lincoln was just about the best worker in Indiana. They said he could do the work of three men.~~~ Other people said that Abe was lazy. Didn't he always have a book in his hand? And wasn't he always stopping to read, or think, or tell funny stories? ~~~Abe had an answer for that.~~~~~`"My father taught me to work," he said. "But he never taught me to love it."