The Irish in the US and Canada

We are the Fenian Brotherhood, skilled in the arts of war,
And we're going to fight for Ireland, the land we adore,
Many battles we have won, along with the boys in blue,
And we'll go and capture Canada, for we've nothing else to do.
-- "Fenian soldier's song"



145 years ago the Fenian incursions into Canada took place. Erie Raid, May 31, 1866.

Here are some historical what ifs.
1) What if the US had not invoked neutrality?

2) What if the Fenians had been successful in their attempts on Canada?

Many historians consider the answer to both questions to be the same: Ireland would have been free of England a century and a half ago, and Canada would have been annexed by the United States.

Given the many questions that resulted from the actions as they were, it is little wonder that US-Canadian relations were a bit cool until WWII.

References

"Here Comes that Damn Green Flag Again" by Michael Ruddy

"The Fenian Raids" The Manitoba Historical Society

Memorial Day

Honor those who gave their lives to preserve our freedom.

America, home of the free because of the sacrifices of the brave.

ststt post number 900

Euphemistically Speaking #T

Seasoned citizen, keenager, golden ager, matured, senior. No. I am old. I may be your elder. There is truly no need to find a euphemistic expression to describe my progess through this adventure we call life. I may call myself a coot, but it is not necessary, nor even desirable, that you refer to me in that fashion. I would never refer to an older lady as a biddy. But I might call her old.

The Wesleyan Church has a ministry for people past fifty which they call "Best Years Fellowship." It is an achievement to have arrived at "these years" but if they are the best years, then what of the fifty or more years we frittered away getting here? Every year is your best year. It is the one you have now. The Baptists defer the membership in their fellowship of old persons to age fifty-five, but they designate them "Keenagers." Oh, yes. That is keen.

While we in the Western World tend to worship youth, seeking to hold on to it long after its time in our lives, the peoples of the East seem to have a rather different outlook. They actually go so far as to venerate and honor the old. Imagine that.

Spare me the pussy-footing around it. Call me vanilla, call me David, call me old if you must. But I am not a senior. I was. Twice. In high school when I was seventeen and in college a few years later. I may be keen, but perhaps not so sharp as I once was. What is golden about my age? Silver, yes. I can see that. In the mirror. The truth about this stage of our lives is perhaps best expressed in the final chapter of Ecclesiastes:

Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;
While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:
In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened,
And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low;
Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:
Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.
Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

No Place. Like Home.

While the blog ran on autopilot this week, we were camping with our group of friends of a certain age-- our age. I was confident when we left town that we would encounter wonderful and exciting experiences which would make grand blog fodder.

There is not much to report. The park was lush and green. How could it not be, given the overly abundant quantity of rain we have received in the Midwest this Spring? The spring bloom, though was already gone, and the summer flowers were not yet ready. I did not even unsheath the camera. Not that I don't like green. I do. But for blog posts, there is only so much grass the people want. And most of them are getting way too much of it at home. We, for example, have been mowing every five days.

Wednesday, the last full day at the park, we had wave after wave of thunderstorms starting about noon. Sometimes there was almost an hour between the end of one and the start of the next! The one that came between 12:30 and 1:15 Thursday morning woke me not so much with the noise and light, which was abundant, but with the rocking and rolling of the RV which we feared might flip at any moment. It didn't.

Given the ugly nature of numerous storms across the Midwest with serious property damage and loss of life, we have been extremely fortunate. We pray for and try to help the best way we can those who are less fortunate.

A side effect of the wet weather that we observed as we travelled across the Heartland, and a most serious one it is, too, is the fact that much of the farmland is not yet planted, or even under cultivation. In fact, much of it is under water. This, combined with the serious flooding in the Mississippi Valley, bodes ill for us all.

But we are home now, warm, safe, and thankful for the opportunity to spend a few days with friends in the open spaces of nature!

Sally Ride

Happy Sixtieth Birthday to Dr. Sally Ride, physicist, first American woman astronaut in space!

Image: Wikipedia

Aircraft Wizard

Igor Sikorsky was born in Kiev on May 25, 1889. He immigrated to the United States in 1919. He had already designed and launched the first multi-engined fixed-wing aircraft and the world's first airliner.

In 1923 he founded the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation. He designed the first "flying boat" for Pan American Airways.

He developed the present-day rotor configuration which is used by most helicopters and started production of helicopters in the 1940s.

Mr. Sikorsky was a devout Christian and wrote two books based on his views, The Message of the Lord's Prayer and The Invisible Encounter.

He died in 1972 at age 83.


Igor Sikorsky 1889 – 1972 RIP

Wikipedia

Wanna Buy a Bridge?

Perhaps the most "sold" bridge in the world; or at least, the most offered for sale piece of real estate.



Spanning the East River, this engineering masterpiece was opened to traffic on May 24, 1883 after 14 years of construction work.




My friend, Heide, displays this exquisite model of the Brooklyn Bridge in her dining room. As a young woman, she immigrated from Germany to the United States. She lived in Brooklyn Heights. In the lower picture, she would have been near the camera location, relative to the bridge, this being the model, of course. She loved her time in New York where she worked as a translator in the United Nations. She keeps this as a memento of that time.

Camping Season Once Again

Tra la!