A reflection on independence by a smart and funny Texan (there are a FEW):

http://jimhightower.com/node/6873

Thank you for sharing that excellent piece Shelly, and Happy Independence Day to you and Jay!!! Happy Independence Day to everyone here. I know that each of us, in our own way, work and play everyday to keep the "Patriots' Dream" alive and well. Come on, everybody sing......"This land is your land, this land is my land......"

Thanks Shelley

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF0k9e-r0nE


Tribes author Seth Godin discusses agitators as the real change makers!

Happy 4th to all !

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/02/ted-seth-godin/
almost lost the link..
Tribes author Seth Godin's philosophy about the virtues of calling into question the system, and questioning authority is fundamental to social change.

Thanks for the article , Ceashel!

Happy Independence day to you all.

Thank you, Brigitte. Jay and I spent our nation's birthday in getting ready to go to WoodyFest and then tonight grilling burgers and swimming. We watched the celebration on the National Mall, which we had recorded. As it featured Barry Manilow and did not include even one Guthrie song, we were glad we had recorded it and could forward through a lot of it. Now we're going to sleep a little and then finish getting ready to go to WoodyFest, which is our favorite way to celebrate our nation's birth. We'll send special vibes to you and all our special BlunderFriends from the Pastures of Plenty when we're all singing "This Land" next Saturday night about midnight, Central Time.

http://www.woodyguthrie.com

Happy 4th to all. And to those not in the US, happy whatever day it is there. Have fun at Woodyfest!

That sounds like a fantastic weekend for Jay and you and the next one too, Ceashel. Where do you go to for grilling and swimming? Is WoodyFest far from you?
Well, maybe I can catch a ride in your back pocket this time. I sure would need a break from here. Have fun and more.
Love and Peace
Brigitte

Watermelon, July 4 and watermelon. Fixin’ to make some watermelon salad that is my fav July 4 food. You take one seedless watermelon and slice it into bite size bits. Vidalia onions sliced into bits (just enough onion until it looks right) Feta Cheese crumbled into bits. Mix it all up in a mix of red wine vinegar and olive oil with fresh mint and place it on ice until it is chilled. I have an adventurous wild streak going and got some capers. I just might throw some in this year and see how it goes.

I was up to the confluence of the Shenandoah and the Potomac rivers for the holiday this year. Heading to West Virginia to bet on thorough bred horses at the Charles Town track. Won one exacta so wasn’t the best of gambling days but I like that track because it is only 5 furlongs and so the horses run by a lot and they are close enough so the soil kicks up and lands all around. I used to take my daughter to watch the horses when she was little. She loved it. She would say to me, “Daddy, don’t you go bettin on any three legged horses!” At the Charles Town track you can see the hills in the distance at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah. I rarely get to say confluence. Something so cool about two rivers meeting and converging into one. I once went on this crazy journey to investigate mounds and things for no apparent reason when I was young and ended up at Cahokia there along the Mississippi. Looking at the stone effigies and mummies and mounds and things. I had traveled some crazy route through Tennessee and back through Kentucky just random traveling looking at the great remnants of the Mississippi valley. I ended up at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers one day and watched them merge for an hour or so. I was just mesmerized for no reason at all. The Ohio was clear and rapid there and the Mississippi was just muddy and slow. The Shenandoah and Potomac merge where they cut through those mountains and there are slow stepping rapids that are great for tubing and the tubers were out in mass. Took for ever to cross that two lane bridge into Virginia there where those rivers merge. Gotta go cut up the watermelon!

Thanks, Brigitte; it's a great weekend--two whole days off, in a row! That doesn't happen often. Grilling and swimming is in the backyard, our refuge from the city around us. One bonus on July 4 is that we're a mile from an aviation museum and small airport, and they do a July 4 evening airshow. We can't see the airport, but the planes circle around (very low and close to) our house, so we can just hang out in the backyard and see them but miss the crowds and traffic. All kinds of WWI and WWII planes, barnstormers to bombers, American, German, Japanese. Jay can tell you the particulars on all of them. I just recognize the Steerman biplane, because Jay got to ride in it one time.

Of COURSE you can go to WoodyFest in our back pockets. You'll have some company in there to make the trip up and back more pleasant. Okemah is only about 200 miles due north of us; a nice drive through the famed Oklahoma hills. Be sure to grab the sunscreen and a fan before you jump in the pocket (see below) on Wednesday morning; it's going to be around 100F all week. We'll have you back here next Sunday, early evening. That should give you time to get ready for the next week.

PSB--the salad sounds yummy, but I wonder if it would work as well with canteloupe. Since my teens, I've been allergic to watermelon. I miss it so much.

PSBeaty, let me know the next time you go to the track; I might be able to give you a live one or two. Thoroughbreds are my "thing"; we bred a few down here on our little farm. A few years back, there was a racehorse called Arlo that some of us on the website had some fun with.


mikey

Beautiful words quoting the Declaration of Independence by lots of living Stars up there still on this Beautiful Planet; which I hope lasts for ever and ever: it can be arranged.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYyttEu_NLU

With so many Stars up there... in this video, it gives me great hopes that we will find the words to tell DC we want things fixed!

We'll be at the church and Woodyfest in spirit. I went my my folks to their neighbors and friends house across the street for dinner yesterday. Today was church & I met a coupla friends for dinner. I also went & visited Mikes grave as I do on Sundays. Love him so much. Happy weekend kids!

I spent the holiday demoing this. Next stop a real choir next year for Lent, but this demo is enough for me for now. Latin... sheesh.

More fun to compose than to sing.

http://home.hiwaay.net/~cbullard/mp3/DomineIesu.mp3