Thank you, Veterans

The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the guns fell silent on the war to end all wars in a war begun nearly a century ago. Armistice Day was a day of remembrance for those who fought and died. Eventually, here in America, Memorial Day became the holiday that we honor those that died and Veterans Day became the day to remember and thank those who served. Actually, I think over the past few years, we've been thanking on Memorial Day and remembering on Veterans Day and there's not a thing wrong with that in my book. What a sacrifice the men and women of the armed forces have made over the years to secure our freedom - to say nothing of their families who go long months, even years without their parent, spouse, sibling or child while they are serving. To give pause twice a year as a nation as well as taking a moment to personally extend our thanks the individuals we encounter in uniform is the smallest way of repaying them for all they've secured for us.

The veterans of this battlefield during the Battle of Princeton in early January 1777 no longer survive to tell their story of sacrifice - but our nation exists as a testimony to their willingness to stick it out and re-up their enlistment four days earlier when General George Washington appealed to them to stay on for just a little bit longer after their successful capture of Trenton on Christmas Day. It would take another four years and on a battlefield in Yorktown, Virginia the British Redcoats would surrender their arms and end the Revolutionary War. Some fifty years later, a century before our nation dedicated a day to honor veterans - this colonnade was erected on the battlefield in Princeton to remember the dead and honor those who fought.

The colonnade overlooks the battlefield which is marked by a few trees. I am sure it looks quite different from the battlefields our veterans have fought and served on in more recent years.

The famous Mercer oak tree that General Mercer used to support himself when he refused to leave the battlefield after being wounded was torn apart by high winds in 2000. Another oak tree was planted along side it and still grows in an enclosed fence that surrounds the root structure of the original and the new one. I guess you might say that to the local inhabitants, the original oak was a beloved veteran of the battle as it incorporated into the insignia for Princeton Township and Mercer County still used today.

The following lines are traditionally read in Canada, Britain and UK countries on November 11th, remembering those that serve and those that paid the ultimate sacrifice;

They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

Thank you, veterans, we remember you and give you thanks.

Patriotic burgers

My friend Tracey made the best patriotic burgers ever - just yummy. Why are they patriotic? Because they were made with red meat grilled over white hot coals and stuffed with bluecheese - red, white, and blue cheese, get it? Here's a shot of them just as they were prepping to offer us a private pyrotechnic display suitable for celebrating the 4th of July!
After the overnight out-of-state road trip with Dad, the overnight with the niece and nephew, and guests who stopped overnight at the Homestead last night, it was hot but enjoyable afternoon hanging out in Tracey's backyard and the chance to cool off in the pool this Independence Day. Hope your 4th of July celebrations was as fun and pleasant as well!

The Great Crate Race

After blueberry picking, ice cream making, sidewalk chalk, and the excitement of helping pack away the hot air balloon (among other things) the day before, the sight above was a very rare one indeed for Auntie early this morning at 7AM. But within minutes we were rip roaring and raring to go to be ready for the 22nd Annual Great Crate Race in Sergeanstville, NJ!

The Great Crate Race is Sergeantsville way of celebrating the 4th.of July. Since Independence Day falls on a Sunday this year, the race down the "Big Hill" is held on Saturday morning for the younger residents of Sergeantsville. Think pinewood derby for Cub Scouts on steroids - with older elementary and middle school aged kids in actual crates they built themselves zooming down a big hill on a closed course.

Watching the kids come down the straight away

Here are some of the "crates" the kids create for racing. There are standards and inspections of the cars before they come zooming down the big hill at top speeds of 20-25 mph. Yes, there are girls who race in styling cars, too!

The purple flower power was a favorite of many young ladies.

There is a car show too at the Crate Race and this go-cart was there for some kids to try out.
Of course, my nephew loved the opportunity to get behind the wheel!

Auntie's convertible was there!

If you have ever spent the 4th of July in Wilmore, KY you know why I took this picture. The Great Crate Race may not have hosted a fleet of John Deere tractors or featured a lawn mower brigade with Dads in ties pushing mowers doing routines in formation that rival baton and flag teams, but kids flying down the Big Hill in homemade over sized soap box derby cars is the special way Independence Day is celebrated in this corner of Hunterdon County, New Jersey.

Hammock Haven

Resting up for the parade and picnicking tomorrow.
Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

They gave the last full measure of devotion

Memorial Day Weekend 2010 is upon us. It is with a grateful heart and spirit that we take time to pause this weekend to thankful for and remember the men and women who sacrificed all in service to our country for our freedoms. While many of us might know the beginning of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address by heart from school days, it is the rest of the text that speaks to the meaning of this weekend of remembrance:

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate...we can not consecrate...we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Abraham Lincoln