Holiday Aftermath: The Movie
We are still at The Grandpops, heading home tomorrow. We’ve had a blessedly uneventful time with lots of food, family and fun, and I have lots of pictures to share with you when we get home! We’re all adjusting to the ‘new normal’ of Daddy’s health, and he seems to be a tiny bit less mentally ‘foggy’ than when we were here at Thanksgiving, though he is still physically pretty unsteady on his feet and tires easily. I think having more activity and people around than usual has been good for him. Can’t wait to hear about all of your holidays– feel free to start filling me in!
I’ll leave you with a brief video that kind of sums up what the last couple of days of looked like around here– can anyone say “TOO MUCH FOOD”????? This is Mom and Dad’s dog Pandy. We politely refer to her as a big-boned gal. This was shot while my sisters and I were working on a jigsaw puzzle right out of camera range (I know, we party like rock stars around here, don’t let anyone tell you different) which kind of explains why there is an orange industrial-strength wad of extension cord under the card table leg– Russ used it to plug in an extra lamp for us so that we wouldn’t squint quite so much as we attempted to complete a 1000 piece puzzle. Which I realize, does beg the obvious question: WHY would anyone want to complete a 1000 piece puzzle? I dunno, it seemed like a good idea at the time. At any rate, here is Pandy, sawing logs like a big ol’ lumberjack and twitching as she dreams of… probably more food.
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Hi Tori, glad to hear you all had/have a good time ! I’m so excited to hear and see more of you… It surely will be as surprising/moving/funny/”fill in what you feel is right” as it always is.
My husband regularly completes 1000 piece puzzles – it is what he does to relax! Although he has a 20 lb. cat snoring next to him instead of a dog! (Our dog only weighs 12 pounds….and doesn’t snore as loudly as the “big boy” kitty does.)
Oh my gosh, that’s so funny! And you guys were talking so softly so as not to wake her!
Hey – we do puzzles too. A great way to relax and visit while eating a piece of pie (and nibbling on other things when you get up to stretch a bit).
We had a great Christmas; we had about 24 people on Christmas Eve at our “Soup and Stuff” party after a wonderful candle light service. I finished the dishes and crawled into bed at about 1:45 am. It was wonderful! Christmas day was relaxing; son #2 did the cooking!
AND – I got a great gift from my sons – a chain saw! The dead trees and scraggly shrubs out back don’t know what’s coming come springtime!
Happy New Year everybody!
Miss you guys already!! And oh Pandy…. gotta love the little thing. I thought she was going to tear the door down trying to get back in the house when she was in the backyard. Needless to say, she is “big boned” haha
r o f l o l Love that little sweet snore. All is right in the world for Pandy.
So happy that you have had this long visit with your family, Tori…. tho I am sure it has not been long enough to satisfy you. Looking forward to pictures, pictures, and , more pictures: tho I have really enjoyed those Madi posted on her face book.
Safe travels tomorrow.
ROFLMBO OVER AND OVER!!!! That could be ME lying there in a food induced coma and snoring like a buzzsaw. (Do you still love me, Jonny? LOL)
Can’t wait for more pictures! Drive safely.
Well, I think I’ve finally come to grips with the fact you are a taken woman; with kids and grandkids. Definately my loss, but good to know there’s someone out there already stuck with you, I mean willing to put up with you! No, that didn’t come out right either. I mean richly blessed to have all of you, the full package, as his and his alone!! = ) But yes, you’ll always have a special place in my heart as the first one I madly fell head over heels for here at Bloomr!! Nothing can take that away from me, on matter what others say about you!! Oh, sorry, it isn’t ‘others’ at all, is it. I guess I mean all that you reveal about yourself!! Good thing love’s blind… isn’t it?!? = /
Lol! jonny, I’m so glad that I’m not the only one to write in a confusing way sometimes…
Uhh, short interruption in terms of topic: Does anyone have special knowledge about the national anthem ? Something you can’t find easily on the internet ?? I have to prepare a presentation about that.
delighted – I was at Fort McHenry this summer with a group of kids from all over the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Here are the basics:
It was during the War of 1812 and in particular, the Battle of Baltimore in September of 1814. A week before the battle, Francis Scott Key, an influential Washington lawyer, set out with Col. John S. Skinner, U.S. Commissioner General of Prisoners, on a mission to the British fleet. They sought the release of a friend, Dr. William Beanes, arrested for allegedly violating a pledge of good conduct after the Battle of Bladensburg outside Washington. Dr. Beanes’ offense? He treated wounded soldiers. He was taken captive on a ship out in the harbor. Sailing from Baltimore on September 5th, Key and Skinner reached the British fleet in the Chesapeake Bay on September 7th, and in a few days of negotiation had arranged for Dr. Beanes release. But, because they had learned of the British plan to attack Baltimore, they were detained until after the assult for fear they would alert the city’s defenders. Key, Col. Skinner, and Dr. Beanes witnessed the long bombardments from the deck of a U.S. true ship. Key later described how he felt when he saw Fort McHenry’s flag still waving at dawn on the 14th: “Through the clouds of the war the stars of that banner still shone in my view, and I saw the discomfitted host of its assailants driven back in ignominy to their ships. Then, in the hour of deliverance, and joyful triumph, my heart spoke; and ‘Does not such a country and such defenders of their country deserve a song?’ Was its question.” Key jotted down notes aboard the truce ship on September 14th and finished the poem upon his return to Baltimore the evening of the 16th. First titled “Defence of Fort McHenry,” the poem was published the next day and was soon being sung to the tune of “To Anacreon in Heaven.” Now known as “The Star Spangled Banner,” it became the National Anthem of the United States in 1931. Major George Armistead wanted Fort McHenry’s flag to be large enough “that the British will have no difficulty in seeing it from a distance.” The flag he received measured 42 by 30 feet and was made by Mary Pickersgill. That flag is called the “Star-Spangled Banner” because of Francis Scott Key’s poem. It (the original) is displayed in the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of American History in Washington, DC.
Below is the poem and all the verses. I’m particulary intrigued by the last verse.
A few other things: a quote by Francis Scott Key – “Let the praise then, if any be due, be given, not to me, who only did what I could not help doing, but to the inspirers of the song!” And that would be those who were at Fort McHenry during that battle – the U.S. Corps of Artillery under the command of Captain Frederick Evans. Only 60 of the 103 “reputable young men” were availabe for duty. The rest were sick, had deserted, or were under military guard for discipline. During the bombardment, the corps and militia artillerymen manned the guns within the fort. In addition to the regular army garrison, the fort was defended by detachments of the First Regiment of Maryland Militia Volunteer Artillery, three companies of citizen-soldiers consisting of the Baltimore Fencibles, commanded by Captain Joseph H. Nicholson, the Baltimore Independent Artillerists, under the command of Lt. Charles Pennington, and the Washington Artillerists, commanded by Captain John Berry. These men represented some of Baltimore’s most prominent merchants and investors, defending their businesses, homes, and families. Each of them stood to lose a great deal should the British capture the city.
Hope this helps. So sorry if it’s “too much information.” (Taken from the Fort McHenry visitor’s pamphlet).
In Defense of Fort McHenry
O say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming!
And the rockets’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there:
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the mornings’ first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream:
‘Tis the star-spangled banner! O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation
Then conquer we must when our cause it is just
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Sunny, I enjoyed your info on our national anthem!! I hope I can visit Ft. McHenry some day. I have a long list of places I would love to see after my hubby retires and we go touring the U.S.! I pour over maps and day dream about going to places I have only seen on a map.
Jonny, that little “love is blind” theory has saved my butt!!!!! And sometimes, “love is deaf and dumb” too! Thank goodness!! Ya know what? On the road of life, I could use a handicapped sticker!!
MostlySunny, many thanks for this extensive information ! Do you also know some nice anecdotes,surounding stories etc. ? Or anything special about “Hail, Columbia” and “My Country,’Tis of Thee” ?
If anyone else has different information about it – please let me hear it.
LindaB, you’re great and so right !
Yes, I agree, LindaB is great. Is it any wonder I fell for her in the first place??
Love that Pandy. My little Lucy could do some great harmony with her.
I used to do those puzzles with my mother. There is something rather comforting to be sitting with a full tummy, doing a puzzle.
Heard where the girls are reluctant to go home. That always makes grandma feel good.
Love you guys…..drive safely
gosh, tori! dogs don’t stand a chance around you! guess if you had a cat, we’d get kitty pan pictures!
glad to finally hear from you, and glad that Pops is doing better.
cold, cold here, colder than has really beenin several years – headed home now. got baby blankets to crochet!
peace