"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around.  But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years."             
                          ~Mark Twain, "Old Times on the Mississippi," Atlantic Monthly, 1874
 
"It kills you to see them grow up.  But I guess it would kill you quicker if they didn't."                
                          ~Barbara Kingsolver,  Animal Dreams  

"Sherman made the terrible discovery that men make about their fathers sooner or later... that the man before him was not an aging father but a boy, a boy much like himself, a boy who grew up and had a child of his own and, as best he could, out of a sense of duty and, perhaps love, adopted a role called Being a Father so that his child would have something mythical and infinitely important: a Protector, who would keep a lid on all the chaotic and catastrophic possibilities of life."                 
                            ~Tom Wolfe, The Bonfire of the Vanities

"Spread the diaper in the position of the diamond with you at bat.  Then fold second base down to home and set the baby on the pitcher's mound.  Put first base and third together, bring up home plate and pin the three together.  Of course, in case of rain, you gotta call the game and start all over again."               
                             ~Jimmy Piersal, on how to diaper a baby, 1968 

"The father of a daughter is nothing but a high-class hostage. A father turns a stony face to his sons, berates them, shakes his antlers, paws the ground, snorts, runs them off into the underbrush, but when his daughter puts her arm over his shoulder and says, 'Daddy, I need to ask you something,' he is a pat of butter in a hot frying pan."                 
                            ~ Garrison Keillor   

"A man's children and his garden both reflect the amount of weeding done during the growing season".                  
                             ~ Unknown

"Small boy's definition of Father's Day: It's just like Mother's Day only you don't spend so much."                              ~ Unknown

"By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he's wrong."                    
                            ~Charles Wadsworth

As Flag Day was yesterday and 4th of July is approaching I felt it would be wise to list how to properly handle the U.S. flag.  Listed below is the recognized way to handle the U.S. flag. 

1.  The U.S. flag is usually flown from sunrise to sunset.

2.  In the morning raise the flag briskly, in the evening lower the flag slowly. Always raise and lower the flag with respect.

3.  The flag should be illuminated when flown at night. 

4.  The flag should not be flown in rain or inclement weather.

5.  After a tragedy or death the flag is flown at half staff for 30 days. 

6.  When flown vertically on a flagpole the stars and blue field are at the top and end of the flag pole.

7.  The American flag is always flown at the top of the flagpole.  State and other flags are flown below.

8.  The stars are always on top.  When displayed in print the stars and blue field are always on the left.

9.  The flag should never touch the ground.

10. When storing fold the flag.

11. When retiring a flag the flag should should not be thrown away, preferrably burned.

Today, June 14th,  is Flag Day.  Although not a national holiday, Flag Day commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States, which happened by resolution of the Second Continental Congress on June 14, 1777.

"Resolved, that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field representing a new constellation."
                -Marine Committee of the Second Continental Congress, June 14, 1777

President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation in 1916 which officially established June 14 as Flag Day and in August 1949 National Flag Day was established by an act of Congress.

"Our flag carries American ideas, American history and American feelings.  It is not a painted rag.  It is a whole national history.  It is the Constitution.  It is the government.  It is the emblem of the sovereignty of the people.  It is the NATION."
                 -Henry Ward Beecher, 1861

The U.S. Flag is the third oldest of the National Standards of the world- older even than the Union Jack of Great Britain or the Tricolor of France.

The red, white and blue was first authorized by Congress on June 14, 1777.  This date is now observed as Flag Day throughout America.

The flag was first flown from Fort Stanwix on August 3, 1777, today this is the site Rome, New York.  It was first under fire three days later in the Battle of Oriskany on August 6, 1777.

Unlike other countries, America only has two national symbols: the bald eagle and the American flag.  The flag has been the inspiration for holidays, songs, poems, books, artwork and more.  It has been used to show nationalism, patriotism, rebellion and everything in between.  The flag is so important that its history tells the story of America itself.

"The thing that the flag stands for were created by the experiences of a great people.  Everything that it stands for was written by their lives.  The Flag is the embodiment, not of sentiment, but of jistory."
                     -Woodrow Wilson, June 14, 1915, Flag Day

The 4th of July was traditionally celebrated as America's birthday, but the idea of an anuual day specifically celebrating the Flag is believed to have first originated in 1885.  B.J. Cigrand, a schoolteacher, arranged for the students in the Fredonia, Wisconsin Public Schools, District 6, to observe June 14 (the 108th anniversary of the offical adoption of the Stars & Stripes) as 'Flag Birthday'. 

 

 

 

 

"To the good folks at Hemet Submarina-

Thanks for your recognition of Memorial Day!  At 56, I'm a "boomer" and a member of the "Vietnam Generation".  My Dad was in the Army during World War II and was stationed at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.  I think the thought of all those gallant young men who died that terrible day bothered my Dad for the rest of his life.  He felt that the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, also, of course, unprovoked, were even a worse affront to our great nation.

Well, I love your sandwiches and am a regular anyway, so you can count on my continued patronage.  Just wanted you to know your salute to Memorial Day & what it stands for, is greatly appreciated."

Sincerely,

Lois A. C