Patriotic Food

May 30:  Happy Memorial Day!  

Today involved long overdue yard work,  planting my birthday flowers (a month late), having a fun outing to the gym, putting flowers on our grandparent's graves....

and this lovely culinary creation by Emma!

Rest assured, that it was as delicious as it looked!

We also had watermelon and sandwiches for dinner and Ellie made our patriotic layered drinks.

Yum!

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Rolling Thunder and More

May 29:  It's the Sunday before Memorial Day, which means that it's the day that Rolling Thunder rolls through our community.    

Don't know what Rolling Thunder is?  

Let me enlighten you.   Every year as Memorial Day approaches, motorcyclists from around the nation gather in the DC area to participate in events that bring awareness to the POW's and MIA's from the wars of the past.    There are numerous events all over the area during the weekend, but on the Sunday before Memorial Day, they gather at Harley Davidson stores, the policemen block off other traffic, and they caravan parade-style to a gathering in downtown DC.     It's quite an amazing sight to see a stream of thousands of motorcyclists unified in a patriotic cause.

It's one of the highlights of our Memorial Day weekend and we are grateful for the opportunity we have to cheer them on in their journey most years (when our church schedule doesn't interfere with the timing).

We love seeing their motorcycles bedecked in flags and other patriotic symbols!

The only problem with Rolling Thunder, is that we always get blocked into our neighborhood by the road closures.   In order for me to get to ward council, I had to drive several miles  the opposite direction of the church, so that I could get around the closures.   Luckily I know that, because there was one poor fellow who just moved to the area, who ended up arriving quite late.

Wait.    

The Goolds had two fully good days in a row?   

Of course this couldn't be!   

Spencer informed us today that he was actually injured in his car crash earlier this week and that he thought he needed to see the doctor.  

So he had a large wound on his wrist from the airbag and X-rays preliminarily showed a fracture.  

So yeah, the rolling thunder in our lives seems to be continuing onward.

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Memorial Day

O beautiful for heroes proved 

In liberating strife. 

Who more than self their country loved 

And mercy more than life! 

America! America! 

May God thy gold refine 

Till all success be nobleness 

And every gain divine!

Memorial Day 2009

Thank you to all those, past or present, who have served our country and defended our freedoms. We honor you today. 

God bless America! 

Rolling Thunder 2013

Each Memorial Day weekend, thousands of motorcyclists gather to DC from around the country to  honor men and women who have died while serving our country.   The Sunday before Memorial Day, they meet at Harley Davidson stores around the DC metro area and caravan to the city to participate in a parade that afternoon.  Our neighborhood happens to be right on the path from the local Harley store to the freeway  and as such we have front row seats to "Rolling Thunder" without even leaving our neighborhood.  It's become a well-loved tradition for us  to walk down and cheer them on as they leave for their ride! 

Motorcycles, Thunder, and Heroes Proved

One of our favorite Sunday before Memorial Day traditions is to walk to the edge of our neighborhood and watch the "Rolling Thunder" parade as they head from the local Harley Davidson store to DC.  The thousands upon thousands of motorcycles, mostly bedecked with American and/or POW flags, never fails to inspire me.  Though a lot of the riders exuded a bit of a "rough" exterior, their smiles, waves, and sense of American pride, inspire me to be more appreciative of those men and women through history who have died in the service of our country. 

Seeing their sense of pride in their country as they gather from all over America to honor those who have died in the line of duty, reminded me of a book I am in process of reading right now.   It's called Seven Miracles That Saved America.  It's a fascinating book about episodes in our country's history where when all the odds were stacked against us, the hand of God intervened to preserve our young nation, so that it could become a haven for progress and religious freedom.   Between seeing the bikers' flags waving behind them and reading the book I've been struck with two facts.  Number one being that a lot of things had to fall into place to make our nation as great as it is, and imperfect though it and its leaders may be, our governmental system is pretty darn amazing and I feel blessed to be an American citizen.  And the second fact is that a whole lot of people over the course of our country's history have sacrificed their lives to make America what it is today.

It brings to my mind the words to one of my favorite patriotic hymns:   

O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev'ry gain divine!

Today I am grateful to live in a land where my family can live our lives and worship God the way we feel is right in our hearts.  

God Bless America!

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

UPDATE:

• His counts are still low (ANC=28), but monocytes and other blood counts show signs of improvement.  He will likely receive a blood transfusion today.  Spencer is bummed about not being home for Memorial Day, but is optimistic that he will be discharged sometime this week.
• He is feeling great except for being very tired and some mouth sores, which continue to make eating painful.  He uses the "magic mouthwash", which has a numbing effect several times a day.    The sores are mostly on his gums and roof of his mouth this time, rather than in his throat, so he's definitely staying better nourished than he did last time he had the mucositis. 
• Under normal conditions, I rarely watch any tv at all, but lately Spence has been watching several hours a day.  I am now in media overload and wouldn't mind if I never saw another tv again ever. 

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

"O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,
Between their lov'd homes and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!"

Francis Scott Key

Working Hard...Playing Hard

Day 1 of Memorial Day weekend:

• Church activities (including 2 baptisms) starting at 9:00

• Copying the programs

• Home for Saturday chores

• Take a load of junk to the dump

• Take another whole load of stuff to Unique (a consignment store)

• Go to Home Depot and buy my belated birthday/Mother's Day flowers. 

• Come home and have a flower planting party. 

• Get cleaned up and put on swimsuits

Including goggles, socks...

winter boots...

and cute smiles.

• Come home at 8:00 and scrounge together some deliciously easy bagel and lunchmeat sandwiches. 

• Put kids to bed while Glen takes Spencer to take care of his weekend dog-sitting job and run a couple of errands.

• Blog while daydreaming about how quickly I can get in bed when the boys get home.