Recently in Americana Category

Today is Flag Day, the date which honors the adoption of the "Stars and Stripes" as our nation's flag.

"Resolved that the flag of the thirteen United States be Thirteen stripes alternate red and white: that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation."

 - Continental Congress

June 14, 1777

You might commemorate the occassion by flying your own flag, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, singing the National Anthem, seeing how our flag has changed in 233 years, and learning the Flag Code.

You might also enjoy some Flag Day crafts and activities.

Two interesting Flag Day websites are USFlag.org and National Flag Day Foundation.

Don't forget to read this article about President Obama's Flag Day proclamation. As has been customary through the years, this entire week has been declared National Flag Week. In his proclamation, Obama urges Americans to fly Old Glory and publicly pledge allegiance to the flag, from today until Independence Day, as a celebration of our national heritage. A very good idea and one that was put forth by another recent President. 

Wow, today is simply packed with significance.

It's Patriot's Day.

Concord Hymn

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.

The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.

On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set to-day a votive stone;
That memory may their deed redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.

Spirit, that made those heroes dare,
To die, and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

It's fifteen years since the OKC bombing:

It's the anniversary of Israel's re-birth:

And the "new" Pope marked the fifth anniversary since his election.

What a day filled with sadness and celebration!

My recent entryway project inspired a 5-minute makeover over on my desktop, which faces the Jane Austen mirror.

I dusted.

I moved things around.

I also changed the cardstock behind my token collection from white to light blue.

This is one of my favorite collections around the house. Each transit token and the Hobo nickel were purchased about 15 years ago at a flea market. The Ts are for Tampa, Florida. The R and S are for Rochester, New York.

Transit tokens and Hobo nickels, categorized as Exonumia, are an interesting and unique art form. I wonder why more people are not collecting them. I've always collected coins, mostly foreign, and my little collection seen here is just another facet of my interest in the beauty of circular bits of metal. 

I think my bluebird looks quite fetching next to the token collection.

I'd like to alert you to a new sidebar feature.

If you look at the far right sidebar,

below my photo,

below the Twitter button,

I have added a Google Friend Connect widget.

Google Friend Connect allows readers of a site to form a community. It also allows Google Friend Connect members to become friends with each other, if they so wish. Doesn't that sound...friendly?

If you enjoy this site and feel so inclined, won't you please be my neighbor Google Friend.

I think Mister Rogers would definitely approve.

Fess Parker, who played Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone, and the father in "Old Yeller" has passed away. We knew him best as Davy Crockett in the vintage Disney series, which is reputed to be the first miniseries in the history of television.

In honor of Mr. Parker, here's "The Ballad of Davy Crockett"

If you, like dear @JacobiteRose on Twitter, are looking for a St. Patrick coloring page, here are a few links which might help:

One

Two

Three (PDF) - This is the one I like best.

Four (PDF)

For your St. Patrick's Day dinner, here are my favorite recipes for this day:

Colcannon

2 tsp. vegetable oil
3 tsp. butter, divided
1 leek, halved and cut in 1/2 inch strips
1 onion, halved and cut in 1/2 inch strips
8 red potatoes, baked
15oz. beef broth
salt and pepper
1 green cabbage, quartered, cored, and cut in 3/4 inch strips

1.  Heat oil & 1 tsp. butter on medium.
2.  Saute leek 7 onion until they start to brown.
3.  Add half the cabbage, stirring and turning until coated with oil and wilted.
4.  Continue adding cabbage and stirring one hand full at a time until wilted.
5.  Pour in half of broth and bring to a boil. Simmer until cabbage absorbs broth. Add remaining broth. Cook until cabbage is soft.
6.  Slice baked potatoes and add to cabbage.
7.  Add shredded or sliced corned beef.
8.  Salt and pepper. Add remaining butter.

Irish Soda Bread (from Martha Stewart)

3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 cup whole-wheat graham flour
2 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 2/3 cups buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. Whisk together the flours, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a large bowl. With a pastry blender or your fingertips, blend in butter until it resembles small peas. Add buttermilk all at once; stir with a fork until mixture holds together.
2. In the bowl, pat the dough into a domeshaped loaf about 7 inches in diameter. Lift out dough; transfer to lined sheet.
3. Lightly dust top of loaf with flour. Cut a 3/4-inch-deep cross in top, reaching almost all the way to edges. Bake, rotating sheet halfway through, until deep golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.

Have you received your 2010 Census Form? Be sure to fill it out and send it back. Census records have always been an important part of genealogy and I want my descendents to be able to look me up in 72 years.

At my house, we have 2 White Puerto Rican guys, 1 White Puerto Rican girl, and 1 plain ol' White girl. In truth, we're a bunch of ethnic mutts here at my house - something we're proud of but something the census, unfortunately, does not capture.

So, here's my Census 2010 addendum:

1 male Spanish/French/Basque/African or Puerto Rican Indian

and

1 female Irish/Scottish/English/German?/American Indian

married with a boy and a girl

The census asks what color our skin is but I think the bigger question is whether America is a melting pot or salad bowl. I was taught by a teacher in high school that we are a salad bowl, but I am sure now that America is a melting pot. Why else would my little Puerto Ricans eat Colcannon on St. Patrick's Day?

As of July 1, 2010, all Puerto Rican birth certificates will be invalid. This is because of a law enacted by the government of Puerto Rico last December.

It seems it was a common practice for Puerto Rican schools to retain a child's birth certificate while the child was in attendance at the school. Some criminal groups saw those unguarded collections of birth certificates as a way to easily provide illegal Hispanics with American birth certificates, as all Puerto Ricans are born Americans. After many schools were robbed, the government of Puerto Rico decided invalidating all birth certificates and issuing new ones was the only way to prevent fraud.

The new birth certificates will not be available until July 1, 2010 and will cost $5. The fee will be waived for those over the age of 60 or for veterans.

Those living outside Puerto Rico (as does my husband) will need to write the Puerto Rico Office of Vital Statistics on or after July 1, 2010 to request a new, state-of-the-art birth certificate. 

More details are available in this PDF from the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration.

Today is not Presidents Day (or, Presidents' Day). We are actually celebrating Washington's Birthday. Sorry, Abe, no Federal holiday for you.

But Washington's Birthday isn't celebrated on George Washington's actual birthday. We celebrate it every third Monday in February to give many Americans a three-day weekend. Washington was really born on February 22, 1732 - according to the Gregorian calendar. We use the Gregorian calendar now, but when the stork brought baby George to Augustine and Mary Washington the world was using the Julian calendar. Thus, George was really, truly born on February 11, 1731. Confused? I think I am. This Slate article attempts to clear up things.

Poor George! His birthday keeps moving around the calendar and he has to share his special day with a gaggle of other guys - most of whom he never knew and probably wouldn't like.

Speaking of George Washington, we had so much fun visiting his house, Mount Vernon, during our DC vacation last spring. I think it is one of the best homeschool field trips we've taken. Few things compare to touching a tree planted by George Washington.