Happy July, Happy 4th, and Happy birthday

(c) 2017 Mass Vacation

Welcome to July!  This is the first full month of summer and so much going on.  This is the only vacation month for teachers and students here in the United States.  (Unless, you need Summer School, then I cannot help you there.)  July was named for Julius Cæser, a Roman General.  It was his birthday month. There are a lot of events that took place during this month.  If you are a follower of national holidays, today (July 3^rd) it is

·         National Fried Clam Day, so hit up your local fish person, and fry some clams (Yum!)

·         National eat your beans day

·         National chocolate wafer day

For July 4^th, it is

·         National Barbecued Spareribs day. It goes perfectly with…

·         National Caesar Salad day.  This also goes well with….

·         Independence Day.  Birthday of the United States.

Yes, for those of you who do not live in the country, we are celebrating a birthday, and it all starts with the food.   I am not sure what I will be eating since the food will be provided by my aunt and uncle. Saturday, I had steak and salad, and yesterday, I had salmon, salad, corn on the cob, and apple pie.  For those who have been following this blog, yes, I am watching what I eat, but I have not had any gout flare-ups in a while (February was the last big one). 

Next, comes the parades and the fireworks.  My nephew shot some for his little one, who was very delighted to see them.  Our big one comes tonight.  It is called Red, White, and Boom, and the event is being acclaimed to be the biggest in this country.  It is never done on the 4^th, to give local nearby towns a chance to shoot off their fireworks.

Another birthday celebration

Our nation is not the only one celebrating a birthday this month.  I will be turning a year older.  I am proud to say that I will be 53.  I cannot say that being in my 50s has always been a joy.  It was not, as I struggle to turn 50.  I was upset that I was kicked out of anything that was considered, “Young Adult” because I felt like a young adult.  I still do, but I also found out that this club has been slightly extended to age 55, so, I have a while.  There really is no such thing as being middle aged.  I want to know what is that?  All it means for most people my age you are sandwiched between your adult children and your senior parents, that’s all.  You are as young as you feel, and I do not feel a day over 35. (although I do have reminders from my body a little too often.)

Most people have giveaways on their birthday month, if not the day (21^st).  I am not sure what I will do.  Stayed turned.  It might be a surprise.

So, this is a very short post this morning (it’s 3:58 AM, the latest (or the earliest) post I have ever written on this blog.

Happy 4^th to those of us living in the United States, happy first part of summer for the whole month of July (or Happy winter for those in the Southern Hemisphere). 

So what does freedom mean to you?

(c) 2015 by P. Lynne Designs

Happy birthday to America AND to me….

Well not yet for me, but it is my birthday month, and I am excited.  I got over the hump of a new decade for me last year. (I am 10 years old for the 5^th time, do the math).  I will get to that post later on in the month. 

The birthday baby I want to talk about is America’s birthday (July 4^th), and celebrating its Independence Day.  This is the day that the Declaration of Independence was signed, and freedom from England was a done deal. 

So what does freedom mean to you?

For me it means being able to move freely throughout the country, without question on where you are going, why you are going, what are you going to do when you get there, and who are you going with.  Or is it?  Sometimes I wonder about that.

If freedom means to move throughout the country without being stopped for driving a nicer car and the police stopping you, because they think you stole the car you are driving.  There should not be any problems.  If freedom means being able to walk down the street without a police officer immediately handcuffing you, because you recently walked out of a store, and being accused of stealing an item, or worst yet, shot and killed, there should not be any problems.  If freedom means you can worship wherever you want, without being killed for no reason or having your place of worship being burned to the ground, there should not be any problems.   These are the problems that the African American community, which I identify with, has been going through for the past 4 years. 

Think these are isolated incidences?  It has been a constant on and off situation since slavery was abolished.  I am tired of being treated as a second-class citizen.  We as a race are tired of being treated as second-class citizens.  This is not India, where the class system has been abolished for a number of years.  This is America, the land of the free and the home of the brave.  Where did you think we were going after slavery was done away with, back to Africa? I don’t think so, but yet there are still people, who want us to know our place, especially if you are a black man, but the problem does not stop there.

We are killing each other over territorial rights, this gang does not like the other gang, and people get jealous over the success of others.  When we need the authorities the most, they do not come and take care of the situation.  Do not get me started on the war on drugs.  Yes, the government does a mediocre to fair job on keeping drugs out of the country.  Today, I was listening to the news, and heard about a pill form of heroin. Really now? You drug dealers are stupid enough to get your customer even higher than before, yet killing them at the same time, because they cannot remember when was the last time they took one.  You call it business, I call it stupid. Legalize marijuana?  Nothing like a bunch of weed heads being able to get high without being arrested for possession and doing harm at the same time.  I do believe it is called alcohol.

I do not mean to go off like that, but if we want freedom, we as individuals need to take a look at what does it mean to have that freedom.  Yes, we do have it better than most countries on this planet, but at what cost?  Our founding fathers of this country wanted freedom, to not be ruled by another country, but again are we?  There is more than one type of freedom, and we ALL are not fully free to do that.  When we are all free, this can be a beautiful place to live in, if you let it.