Memorial Day 2020

A BRAMHALL CARTOON

As many know, Memorial Day (which is being celebrated today), was first widely observed on May 30, 1868 to commemorate the sacrifices of Civil War soldiers, by proclamation of Gen. John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of former Union sailors and soldiers.

But in 1968 Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May in order to create a three-day weekend for federal employees; the change went into effect in 1971.

According to Wikipedia, "The law took effect at the federal level in 1971. After some initial confusion and unwillingness to comply, all 50 states adopted Congress' change of date within a few years.

"Memorial Day endures as a holiday which most businesses observe because it marks the unofficial beginning of summer. The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW) advocate returning to the original date, although the significance of the date is tenuous. The VFW stated in a 2002 Memorial Day Address:

"Changing the date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day. No doubt, this has contributed a lot to the general public's nonchalant observance of Memorial Day.

"Starting in 1987 Hawaii's Senator Daniel Inouye, a World War II veteran, introduced a measure to return Memorial Day to its traditional date. Inouye continued introducing the resolution until his death in 2012."

This fact re switching the date of the holiday may be the reason that a number of Americans seem to have forgotten the true meaning of this solemn day; as poignantly illustrated in the cartoon by Bramhall, seen in the image atop this entry.

Sunday's Sequel Regarding Canadian Geese (The bird type featured in Friday's post.)

CANADIAN GEESE ARE FEATURED IN VOLUME 2

The photograph atop this entry features a prominent (and feisty) member of the Canadian Geese family. He/she is spending time in the lake within Central Park while a lone female Mallard duck (at the left) observes (with amusement) the silly goose.

Honoring Mickey Mouse ETC

Hello, dear reader, and welcome to my blog post for November the eighteenth. I've been unable to post for a couple of days, because it is the second time this month that there was a power outage in my hood, and I had no Internet access. Hopefully this time everything has been fixed by Verizon. In any event, I'm back on Blogger in time to give a shout out to Mickey Mouse, as today is the anniversary of the first appearance of this well known cartoon character.

"That was the week that was, it's over . . ."

According to Wiki, once upon a time (in the 1960's), there was a popular television show called "That Was The Week That Was" which opened with a song, whose lyrics included, "That was the week that was, it's over, let it go . . ."

If Dorothy Parker had met Linda Derector . . .

The photographs atop today's entry may be faded, but most of my memories associated with it are not. I believe that all of these images were taken by my mother, for she was the one who attempted to "document" our family life pictorially when I was growing up.

In pre-adolscent years (which were much later than the years when these photos were taken) I found the constant picture taking to be annoying, and I felt as if more attention was being given to setting up images than living in the moment in which a given picture was being taken: a sentiment that I've already expressed within this blog (in a 2010 post called Thoughts on the Creators of Photo-Albums, which you may refer to by clicking here). And if it's true that the setting up of "photographic scenes" was more "standard" than experiencing them, it's no wonder, for those were very painful years in our family as my father had left us to be with his secretary. As I've said (in other entires here on Blogger) before, perhaps, behind the lens, my mother was protecting herself from the sadness she must've felt.

However, in the pictures above today's entry our family was still intact. The first one is of my maternal grandfather holding my sisters and me and has been included in a previous entry here on Blogger, the second one is an image of us girls which was also featured in a prior post, and in the third image, I am featured preparing to feed birds, which may have been when my appreciation for the array of birds (who now visit the garden) began.

And while I usually write about my garden and the birds that visit it, the fact that I may or may not have acquired my appreciation for birds at a young age is not the "thesis" for today's entry; rather the focus will be on the wearing of eyeglasses, which you can see I am doing in all three photographs.

Cyclin' on Cinco de Mayo!

This past Cinco de Mayo (May 5th 2013), I participated in Bike New York's annual Five Boro Bike Tour where I rode as cyclist #3787; and once again I sincerely want to thank The Achilles Club in New York City (and especially Ayesha Rosena Anna McGowan) for making it possible for me to participate in The Five Boro Bike Tour. 

This was the fifth year that I've taken part in this awesome event with Achilles and the image posted with this narrative shows yours truly with my captain at the start line of the Five Boro Tour. The image was taken by Keegan Stephan of Time's Up, a cycling related organization/charity.

"another year over AND a new one just begun . . . " PART TWO-H-2 (Oct 11th — Oct 24th 2012)

Today's entry here on Blogger is part two-H-2 of a series of posts pertaining to a year-end review for special occurrences in my urban garden for the year 2012 (the schedule for this series is described in part one as well as part two-A of this topic) and, as I've said, because October 2012 was the month Hurricane Sandy hit the area near to where I live, my garden went through another upheaval, so I will be posting the review for October in three parts.

"If it's Tuesday, it must be tumblr . . . " Week No. 35 (But First A Follow-Up)

The schedule I announced this past May for my entries to be published here on Blogger continues to be disrupted! As "they" say, "if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans . . . "  

And, if you follow me on TLLG's Blogger Pages, you will notice that this past week my post was on Saturday instead of my usual days, and the week prior was the same! I apologize for any inconvenience, and I will try with this post to get back on track with my regularly scheduled programing here on Blogger; however, my schedules on TLLG's Facebook Page, Pinterest Boards, and tumblr posts, have NOT been disrupted. Yay!

Speaking of tumblr, I am aware that since today is Tuesday, it must be tumblr, but before I send you there, I'd like to follow up on a few stories I've posted here on Blogger, in the event you have been unable to visit TLLG on my aforementioned venues.

First of all, the cause of Wink's eyesight problem remains a mystery, and I continue with my fervent efforts to reach organizations that are supposedly knowledgeable about the well being of our feathered friends, but so far I've gotten very little information. For a moment, I thought one of the mourning doves, who, like Wink, visits my garden to nosh, was concerned about its comrade, as you might also surmise from the image above today's entry. But perhaps I  am projecting my sensitivity towards eye related issues due to my battle with my legal blindness as well as my concern for Wink's well being, onto the mourning dove, for it seems it was merely pausing for a moment before making itself at home with Wink at the "noshing table" as seen in the image below, an image where you can notice Wink's eye injury. (Once again, dear reader, if you are familiar with anyone or any organization that might be able to provide an answer re Wink's situation, please let me know in the comments field below today's entry!)

My other "follow-up," dear reader is to tell you that the deadline for my Campaign on indiegogo has come and gone with little success, and I'm back at the drawing board working on plans B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, ANd Z! Please stay tuned.

And with these updates — before I send you to tumblr —  I am hoping you will recall that, in addition to my urban (terrace AKA roof extension garden), I grow an array of succulents in an indoor garden, and that garden is frequented by seasonal visitors, a few of whom (pictured below) have dropped by for Halloween to join in the festivities!

AND NOW WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, THE LINK TO tumblr IS HERE!

ADDENDUM: 

I no longer actively produce event program covers, invitations and the types of greeting cards described on my website but arrangements might be able to be made under certain circumstances.

My focus is on the Words In Our Beak book series (pictured below)whose stories are told from the point of view of Cam, a female cardinal.  

As of May 22 2018, I have rendered some images from these books into greeting cards and they are available on Fine Art America, please click here for more info.

Re my book series: Words In Our Beak’s goal is to open readers to a simple understanding of the winged world and their environment. Set in my rooftop urban garden in New York City. Words In Our Beak is directed to children and adults who are curious about birds, and want to learn about them from a unique perspective. The books include hundreds of images of flora and fauna, links to movies, as well as to informative narratives that have been created by the author.

At this moment, May 2018, both volumes one and two are in hardcover format (as seen below) and are available wherever  books are sold.

*Here's the  purchase info for the Words In Our Beak book series:

Volume One: ISBN: 9780996378529:

Book Seller Info: http://bit.ly/2AFZDCz

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2zxVujM

Barnes & Noble On-Line: http://bit.ly/2AAnB26

book culture On Columbus: http://bit.ly/2FsC1Uf

Volume Two: ISBN: 9780996378536
Book Seller Info: http://bit.ly/2q75g8e

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2DY0mz0

Barnes & Noble On-Line: http://bit.ly/2G65m6H

The Plight of Wink

The bird pictured here, I've named Wink, due to what seems to be her issues with eyesight. 

Meet Wink: The Tenacious Finch!

I am in a bit of a funk over something that may be occurring re the health and well being of one of the birds which visits my garden, and, therefore, in my (unsuccessful) attempts to clarify what is going on with her, I was unable to post here on blogger yesterday as is my norm on Fridays!

The bird which I am concerned about is one of my house finches, who, as you can surmise from the images posted above, seems to be having an "issue" with her right eye!

Monday's Musings OR Madness?

Where's a BIB when you need one?

Sometimes, on my Blogger Pages, I like to pick up where I left off on a given post before moving on to another topic. Perhaps this is because I've written novellas, short stories and even a play, all of which, to some extent require a continuity with a given character. "Your reader deserves to know if you got the part," Mr. C. Michael Curtis once said (in a letter) to me in response to an essay I submitted to the Atlantic Monthly. The essay discussed how an audition for a Broadway play (that I had with Dustin Hoffman) led to an understanding of a childhood trauma, and, no, dear reader, even though Mr. Curtis praised my writing, he did not publish my essay.

Happy 1/2 Year!

Well, dear reader, today is June the 30th 2012, which means that tonight is New Year's Eve for the half year! Six months down, and six months to go! And, as I promised in this past Monday's post, I am posting on a non-scheduled day in honor of the half-year.

Monday's Musings: Bon Anniversaire to you Claude Monet! Joyeux Anniversaire to You!

Today's blog post is in honor of Claude Monet, the founder of French Impressionist painting, who was born one hundred and seventy one years ago today, in 1840, on November the 14th. 

Monet is known to have said, "I perhaps owe becoming a painter to flowers." 

As you undoubtedly know, dear reader, one of the many flowers that Monet painted was the flower of the Tropaelum majus AKA Nasturtium Plant.

One of those paintings is, Nasturtiums In A Blue Vase, shown in an image credited with the following link, in the top lefthand corner of this blog entry.

"Cows, Bread and Autism", Bobolink's Answer To What's Cheese got to do with it?

Last Saturday, June 18th 2011, I left you dear reader, with photographs of mouth-watering cheeses, (known as Drumm and Very Special Cave-Aged Cheddar respectively), and a promise to tell you a little bit about them as well as discuss the folks that make them in today's post. So, without further ado:

Dearest Tulip, Even you could not console Sylvia Plath . . .

TULIPS

These three wide mouthed tulips that are at the northeast portion of my urban terrace garden have just opened up, and in doing so they have brought to my attention the fact that a  white tulip that is directly across from them, in the southeast corner of my terrace garden, has posted a blog entry voicing his concerns about Sylvia Plath's poem, Tulips. 

This poem, as you may recall, was posted by yours truly a little over a week ago, and if you'd like to refer to it, please click here.

Apparently this tulip (and apparently wannabe-blogger,) who resides in a lovely bowl supported by a unique rod iron stand, and now has company because his friends have just started to open, (as seen in the photograph posted below). was a little distressed at Ms. Plath's imagery in likening the tulip's opening to "the mouth of an African cat" and was insulted that the "tulips ate her oxygen", when really all the tulips probably wanted to do, my tulip explained to me today, in earnest, was to cheer her up, make her well again.

TULIPS

I tried to tell my tulip that humans are complicated, and sometimes, when they are in despair, they want and feel the need to stay in a bad state. I let my tulip know that if I knew why this was so, I would be earning a much better wage than I am now. My tulips know I love them because I give them great care, and surround them with beautiful friends, as evidenced in the aerial photograph, which was taken by Juan V yesterday and is posted below. (The vantage point is the roof of the building where I live, which is the only way anyone can look down on my entire garden unless they live in one of the surrounding high rise buildings.)

MY ROOFTOP GARDEN

However, I did explain to the tulip that when a human is in despair, such as Sylvia Plath was, it does not matter to them whether they are cared for or not, nor does having material things matter. The only thing people in a state of depression want is what Ms. Plath stated, "I didn't want flowers, I only wanted to lie with my hands turned up and utterly empty."

Index Cards

According to Wiki,"An index card (or system card in Australian English) consists of heavy paper stock cut to standard size, used for recording and storing small amounts of discrete data. It was invented by Carl Linnaeus." Linnaeus,  being famous for his contributions to taxonomy, is rarely associated with his invention of the index card, a "revolutionary" invention for managing data.

I often get side-tracked when web-surfing and discover many facts I might not have known (or even care to know) when looking for information on the Internet. Regarding index cards, I knew about the"heavy paper stock being cut to standard size" and that index cards are "used for recording small amounts of discrete data," but I did not know they were invented by Carl Linnaeus — nor, I must confess, had I thought much about their origin.

Special Unscheduled Posting: In Honor of Colleen Elizabeth Ormond

One month and one day ago today, on Veterans Day, November  11, 2010, Colleen Elizabeth Ormond (pictured above with the family dog, Hero), died at the age of twenty-five. I learned of her death late that night, not even a week after my post about November being a month of remembrance for those who have died, and for those who mourn them.

The Children's Hour Reprised

Today is homecoming at Rutger's University, and although the weather is one of Autumn's best, a somber spirit looms over the football field where this afternoon, spectators will pause for a moment of silence before the Rutger's team takes on the team from Tulane. The somber spirit is because one of the students from Rutgers, Tyler Clementi, an eighteen year old freshman has died from what was apparently suicide. He allegedly jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge, a bridge that goes over the Hudson River, and connects New York City to New Jersey.

Lookin' SWEET Upon a Seat of a Bicycle Built for Two

Tomorrow is the annual Five Boro Bike Ride which follows an interesting route, but for now I’d like to spend a few moments telling you how I am (as well as others who are visually challenged or blind) are able to enjoy cycling in spite of being legally blind. I have always enjoyed bike riding, and I did learn to ride a bike as a child despite my physical challenges, but years later because of my struggle with vision (especially in relation to depth perception and lack of visual fields), I had to stop bike riding completely. Therefore I was elated to receive an e–mail from The Achilles Club — an organization normally associated with running — in June of 2008, inviting folks who were totally blind, or who had other visual challenges, to participate in The Twin Tandem Program that it was starting. Twelve tandem bikes had been donated for this purpose.

On the first day of the Achilles Meet–Up Series that June, we met at Engineer’s Gate in Central Park, where everyone was offered the opportunity to participate in riding loops within the park. There were a dozen captains and stokers. We even had a captain named Juliet and a stoker named Romeo. There was also a stoker named Daisy, and her presence was not lost on us as we sang the “traditional” twin tandem song, Daisy Bell.

Springtime in the Greenhouse

On this first full day of spring, as I indicated in my previous post this morning, (I’m on a roll, two posts in one day, could this be spring fever?), my urban outdoor garden’s herbs, plants, trees and shrubs are not quite ready to "pose” as an image for a card — even though my i–CAL says it is the first day of spring. 

For now, my best choice for honoring this season is my Black and White card, Springtime in the Greenhouse, (above). It is available for purchase through my web–site .

This card is derived from a print of the same name. The actual print is celebrating spring too, because today, March 20th, 2010, it is my donation to fundraiser for The Foundation Fighting Blindness.