I cannot remember which of the many travesties that Shrub committed that caused me to put this up over my garage. I think this was on a 4th of July. Maybe it was after one of the measures that allowed virtually unlimited surveillance of US citizens. In any event, after a couple of hours, I received a delegation of a few neighbors who stopped by to inquire about why I had done this in a very red part of Colorado (at least it was red at that time). I was wearing my shirt that had a number of US flag chevrons on it, mixed with a variety of signatures from the Declaration of Independence. I explained calmly how I felt that America was failing in the values of the US Constitution and that the recent bill that was passed and signed was tipping America over into police state fascism (ah, what I didn’t know then — the innocence of youth). My neighbors accepted that explanation and they didn’t question my right to speak my mind on this. I removed the flag at the end of the day and we continued to be good neighbors afterwards.
I always feel odd wishing someone a “Happy Memorial Day” or similar wish on a day to remember a loved one or just indeed any person who had given their life in war. But if not this saying, what is appropriate? What do you say to someone on a day like this?
I am fortunate to have not had someone close to me die in wartime. I did have an uncle who was in the South Pacific during WWII and he caught a disease that ultimately killed him after he was brought home. At least, I think that’s how the story went. I don’t know if that counts or not. This was long before I was born so I never met him. I do carry his name as my middle name, but it’s a remote relationship.
It was a gorgeous day up here in the mountains. It is calm at the moment, relatively warm for this time of year, and based upon the giddy weather staff at television studios, it appears Colorado had very good weather in general today. I am looking forward to starting summer, with windows open to air out the house (the critters like this as well), cooking outdoors without slogging through snow to get to the smoker, wildflowers blooming, many different birds flying around and hopefully some more outings to places of interest.
Speaking of that, I have in the past asked for people’s interest in going to the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg (NE of DIA), or going to a play at one of the non-DCPA theaters, (parkerarts.org/…, arvadacenter.org/…, www.curioustheatre.org/…, for example) so the costs will be more manageable and tickets will be more available. We never zeroed in on dates, so I’m just going to propose some here and I’ll let people vote in the poll. I enjoy outings with fellow Kosacks, and it’s nice to put some faces to the monikers. For a place that requires a ride, like the Sanctuary, we can meet someplace that’s convenient and then carpool to the site. We could even visit a distant location if we can arrange transportation, like going to Colorado Springs for another meetup on the Pikes Peak Cog Railway, the Rocky Mountain Arsenal to see how making weapons of war was replaced with a National Wildlife Refuge, or taking a drive up into the mountains of South Park — there may be some in this group that haven’t been able to get out and explore our state as much as they’d like to.
I would be happy to host a gathering up at my place in Estes Park, and there are busses running in the summer to get up here from the Denver metro, or carpooling would be available. We could stay up all night partying and stargazing if we start on a Saturday and go over to a Sunday, but I won’t put that in the poll. Please indicate in the comments instead, and if there’s interest, we’ll arrange something.
The poll will try and nail down some weekends I have free now. If people have alternative dates, I can probably make the dates. If people have some alternative ideas of what to do or where to visit — even something political like a rally they know about or we just want to make some posters and go someplace, I could be up for that as well.
I hope you all have a wonderful summer and a number of political victories in the fall. Until then, we can get together and celebrate our beautiful state. The floor is yours for any comments you care to make...