Archive for the ‘History, The Way It Was…’ Category

 

“He who stands for nothing will fall for anything”

~Alexander Hamilton~

 

Marla started out the day thinking, “I can take on new goals, maybe this close to the new year a good resolution or two would be good”. Not a bad a idea. Maybe now with things getting a bit better she could actually breath a sigh of relief. Maybe.

But her hopes were dashed when she stepped out to walk the dog and grab the paper. Another big corporation is planning to attach fees just for paying your bill. Verizon slaps customers with new fees just as we face a new year. Wasn’t it just sixty days ago that the bank slapped on fees? And what about the credit companies? Aren’t they getting greedy too? Marla’s head was spinning, she was tired. Every day for the past three years a burdened dark cloud has set over her as the Recession deepened. She thought that with the new year she could make a fresh start but now it is obvious that her days will be filled with financial worries as the new year begins.

She thought about it over breakfast. Just a simple cup of coffee with a bowl of Raisin Bran seemed to help to clear her head. She started thinking of her project she was working on about Japanese Internment camps during WWII. What struck her about this project was the Japanese-American community found that under the most dire of circumstances as a citizen they relied on gamon. What was mistaken for weakness was perseverance, a quiet determination so that they could get through that horrible experience. And she knew enough to know that yes, they did endure and were released. Gradually rebuilding their lives focusing on what they could do instead of the overwhelming negative experience. It would take decades before the government would offer an apology and a financial recompense. So these citizens just kept on with perseverance.

After she laid the paper down and thought about it Marla too, decided it was time for a inner strength. She needed to have conviction. Things she could believe in, things she could do to make a difference in her own life as well as have a positive affect around her. If it had not been for the economy faltering she may not have found herself affected so negatively by all the anger around her. The only way really to start anew is with conviction and now Marla thought, “with reliance on gamon surely I can turn my own disillusionment into endurance”.

She rushed to grab her laptop to start writing down her ideas. “What is important to me”, she thought. As the thoughts began rushing through her fingers they started to take form. One thing she knew is that she couldn’t control the economy but, she could control her conviction in things she believed in. She wrote things down that were important to her. The list began with, child abuse awareness, animal abuse awareness, hunger and the homeless. These are things she could at least support and find ways to create awareness. What she had learned about the Japanese-Americans during the internment period was they did not start anger groups nor did they incite mob action. Okay she wrote, “broad generalization” because someone was not just going to persevere. But on the whole they really tried.

So after finishing writing down her ideas and finishing her cup of coffee to clear her head Marla decided that yes, the new year will be better. My new resolution this year she said aloud is, “to practice gamon and have conviction”. And so with that settled off she went to start the day.

 

Fall seven times, stand up eight.

~Japanese Proverb~

 

On our morning walk Lizzie had her nose to the ground. Usually she follows our trail unfailingly but she took a left instead of a right. This is what we found.

 

ROSS, ISAAC —Buried at Ft. Toulouse. Served under Marion and received pay. Mrs. Bell Allen Ross in letter to S.C. Salley, Columbia, S. C., states:

Mr. I. Ross died in 1826 at his home one mile north of the old fort site and was buried among some 66 soldiers who had served under Captain Marchand at the Post, and under Andrew Jackson in the campaign of 1813-14. The Military burials at Fort Toulouse were removed in pursuance of an order of the U. S. War Dept. in January 1897 for the reinterment at Mobile. Mr. Ross alone is today in the old French Cemetery there. A marble Marker and a 13. A. R. Bronze marker designates the site. It is 300 yards south of the Colonial Dames Marker in a woody section East of the Coosa River surrounded by property of Hardy Simmons John Crommelin. ROSS, ISAAC—Born 1764, Camden County, S.C., died January 27, 1821, Fort Jackson, near Montgomery, and buried there. Grave marked by Peter Forney Chapter, D.A.R. Pensioner.—General D.A.R. Report, 1930

 

I have lived in seven states in America. Below are seven things I like about these places.

What I like about Washington:

It felt like “the territory”. I think that is because it was our 42^nd state as of November 11, 1889.

Washington has its own home grown beer brand “Olympia” brewed in Tumwater.

Being a birdwatcher and member of the Audubon Society in the third grade it was not a stretch to love the beautiful Willow Goldfinch.

Love the mountains, I just couldn’t get enough of the Cascade Mountain Range and the Olympic Rain Forest.

Washington’s diverse landscape of the mountains on the west and the dryer area on the east made for some great hiking.

You step out on the streets of Seattle and smell the famous brew of coffee of America’s coffee capital.

The state’s nickname is the Evergreen State and rightly so. Stepping off the plane at SeaTac I could smell the evergreens in the airport.

What I like about Utah:

The mountains and the deserts. The Canyonlands are absolutely gorgeous and the states hugs up to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. What a sight.

And if you are an outdoorsman as I am you will be quick to recognize Utah has 5 National Parks, 6 forests and, and 42 State Parks. You could spend you entire life outside.

The Great Salt Lake is home to the famous state bird, the California Seagull. Also has an island with a bison sanctuary nearby.

Not only is it the only state with three words for its title but all three words are four letters long!

The Dinosaur quarries are open to the public so we can learn interesting facts about the largest footprints and their history in Utah.

Utah is famous for Promontory Point where the Golden Spike was pounded in to show the nations first’s transcontinental railroad.

It may feed the desires of history buffs to learn who walked in Utah, such as the Spanish Franciscan Friars Escalante and Dominguez in 1776. Or the history of Jim Bridger when he discovered Salt Lake City in 1824.

What I like about Nevada (and no it is not about gambling):

While it is true that Reno and Las Vegas are hubs that known are worldwide I did not live in the part of that State. I have been to both, enjoyed shows, food and gambling.

I loved up by Elko where first recorded white men were fur trappers who trapped beaver starting in 1828.

Nevada is loaded with fossils. In fact, the ichthyosar is Nevada’s official state fossil.

Nevada gets its name from the Spanish word meaning “snow-clad”.

Most of the state in fact, is desert. You can see while mustang still roam in the secluded northern part of the state.

Remember the movie The Misfits with Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable? Yep, filmed in Nevada.

And Hoover Dam, who can not visit the beautiful legacy of the Great Depression era without being awe inspired.

What I like about California:

California has great things to do and places to visit. Starting with the famed Redwood forest.

It has history predating the birth of our nation.

Death Valley, oh this place is hot. White hot, recognized as the hottest, driest place in the United States.

Movie stars galore, the first motion picture theater was opened in Los Angeles in 1902.

Love the beautiful Golden Gate Bridge, it is also know that the San Francisco Bay is considered to be the world’s largest landlocked harbor.

The wine country. If you have been to California you know this is one place not to miss in the Napa Valley.

And I miss the garlic festival south of San Jose. During the harvest the air was filled with the smell of garlic, still one of my favorite foods.

What I like about Texas:

The Hill Country around Austin is one of the most picturesque places in the spring when the bluebonnets are in full bloom.

Home to some of the most amazing history in our country, who can forget the Alamo or Gonzalez.

I never knew that the Texas flag has meaning for each color; blue stands for loyalty, the white for strength and the red for bravery.

Texas hugs up to the other side of the Gulf of Mexico from Florida, spent many days swimming off of Matagorda Bay.

From El Paso to Brownsville Texas it takes a good two day drive. On the coastline by Brownsville is Port Isabel where the summer resort of South Padre Island invites vacationers. Love it.

Austin has the famous Congress Bridge bats. It is one of the most amazing sites of Free-tail bats that migrate here to raise their young up until early fall.

Because New Braunfels has a sizable German community they start in November with their festival, Wurstfest. You can find bratwurst, beer and song. Makes anyone homesick for Europe.

What I like about Florida:

The Gulf of Mexico. Once you have been there you will not get enough of it.

The Everglades. Few places have I visited that have made such an impact on me. This was the greatest thing I saw in Florida.

Close by the Everglades is historical information about the Seminole Native Americans. Sure Ponce de Leon discovered Florida in 1513 but it was in 1821 that General Andrew Jackson swept through with a vengeance to take over the area in the name of the United States.

Not to mention that Saint Augustine is the oldest European settlement in North America.

But it is Orlando that attracts most visitors than any other amusement park.

Cape Canaveral is America’s launch pad during space flights.

I lived in Niceville. It is home to the famous Boggy Bayou Mullet Festival.

What I like about Alabama:

The climate is temperate, has a great growing season. You can still see cotton fields along the roadways.

Has a nice long list of famous people who have called Alabama home. Three that I have been to their historical sites are Helen Keller, Rosa Parks and Harper Lee, famed author of to To Kill A Mockingbird.

History, history, history! From the early Native Americans to the Civil War on to the Civil Rights movement.

Cheaha Mountain is the highest point in Alabama. The Civilian Conservation Corps instituted during The Great Depression built the park that this mountain is associated with.

Huntsville is home of the famed NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center. It houses the Space Camp that attracts both kids and adults.

The lovely Camellia is the state flower. Camellias first sold in 1807 in American nurseries. They are now considered heirlooms plants in Alabama.

The Gulf of Mexico hugs this state as well, Dauphin Island is one place that we enjoy. It has an Audubon Bird Sanctuary and feeds my historical soul with Fort Gaines, best know for the Battle of Mobile Bay. It also has the Dauphin Island Sea Lab where primary marine education and research.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am reading a book by Noah Smithwick entitled “The Evolution of State or Recollections of Old Texas Days”. Don’t ask me what got me going on this because sometimes I have no idea why I pick a book up but this guy kept a diary when he was living in Texas in the 1800s. I came across a paragraph where he is describing a wedding feast that all the guests are enjoying themselves and then he writes they were enjoying themselves so much that they, “trip the light fantastic”. Well that got my attention as I have heard that recently in Rock music lore but where did that phrase originate?

It means to dance in a imaginative or fantastic way. But who first use it “This apparently obscure expression originates from the works of John Milton. In the masque Comus, 1637, he used the lines:

Come, knit hands, and beat the ground,
In a light fantastic round.”

That led me to wonder about some other sayings like, “make a beeline”. Which references to, “that a bee, having found a source of nectar, goes directly, in a straight line, back to the hive to inform the other bees.”

Have you wonder about phrases? Here are few that caught my attention.

“Bite the Bullet”: This old saying means to grin and bear a painful situation. It comes from the days before anesthetics. A soldier about to undergo an operation was given a bullet to bite.

“What the Dickens!”: This old saying does not come from the writer Charles Dickens (1812-1870). It is much older than him! It has been around since at least the 16th century. Originally ‘Dickens’ was another name for the Devil.

Or have you heard,

“Straight from the horses’s mouth”: You can tell a horse’s age by examining its teeth. A horse dealer may lie to you but you can always find out the truth ‘from the horse’s mouth’

or this one,

He is “Mad as a Hatter” : Some people say the phrase comes from the fact that in the 18th and 19th centuries hat makers used mercury nitrate in their work. Exposure to this chemical does indeed send you mad. However according to some people the origin of this phrase is much older. Hatter is a corruption of the Saxon word ‘atter’, which meant adder or viper. Furthermore ‘mad’ originally meant poisonous. So if you were mad as an atter you were as ‘poisonous’ (bad tempered or aggressive) as an atter (adder). It goes to show that often it is impossible to be certain where old sayings come from.

You probably have heard a few sayings too, we all have but it is always interesting to find their origin, is it not?

The last time I heard a reference the “trip the light fantastic was in the song by Procol Harem, “A Whiter Shade of Pale”, in part the lyrics are:

We skipped the light fandango
turned cartwheels ‘cross the floor
I was feeling kinda seasick
but the crowd called out for more
The room was humming harder
as the ceiling flew away
When we called out for another drink
the waiter brought a tray (words by Keith Reid)

It reminds me that what is old becomes new given enough time to pass. It was a “red letter day” for me learn that John Milton of the 1600s was the originator of “trip the light fantastic”. Love it!

 

You ever have one of those moments. You feel like you can not hold it in for another second, that it feels like it will just spill out, then it does…

I need a book club!! I miss a good book club. Not a group where all the members get together like a tea party, gab about whatever but a real true blue book club.

You read a book, you review the book then you find out if there are other books you might like. You find out if there are authors you have missed or new writings to explore. And the new writings can be old writings, like I got obsessed with John Buchan who began writing in the early 1900s.

But when I discovered him I was simply amazed that I was missing these good books. I found him through the Kindle online book club. Then realized I had one of his books on my bookshelf! Needless to say I now have read quite a few of his books.

And who hasn’t heard of Stephen King?

The great thing about King is he can appeal to just about anyone. I have my eye on his latest book, “11/22/63”. Being a history buff (why I like John Buchan) I am looking forward to how he ties together when JFK was slain and what happens when LBJ became President, only as Stephen King can tell a story.

I miss the kind of explorations that come from real serious book clubs. One time I went to a book group in Salt Lake City Utah. It was great! We read several books by local Utah writers. Each book was read for about a two week period then the group met with the author who shared what they were inspired to communicate to the reader and then the reader was inspired to share too. The readers were both men and women.

Then there are the other kind. This might be a fit for you. For me it is not. A group that is only women who get together and gab about anything but the book. Plan little get togethers, outings, etc that have nothing to do with the book. If you are looking for a book club that offers this kind of thing then this is for you!

In this space of my life I am busy with so much that I do not have to play like that. But I still crave a good group discussion of a book. I joined the Kindle Book Club but can not find my niche there yet. I hope it works out. I don’t mind doing an online book club but I would like to go hear authors speak. Actually I want to be in a book store or library surrounded with the written word. There is an ambiance that feels, smells, and looks like a place that readers will go.

I love libraries and book stores. People from all walks of life are there perusing books. The one thing all the people have in common is the love of a good read. I think what got me missing a good book club is I miss talking to others about what I am reading. When a author writes to me they are inviting me into a place that will transport my mind to travel in time and space to another world, their world. I love that about books. From Stephen King to John Buchan, no matter!

It is time to actively pursue a good book club…I think I will see what I can find! Wish me luck!

 

I love my morning walks. I go to the same two places. Our city park and our State Park. Today it was Fort Toulouse-Jackson Park that I visited. Every once and awhile the reality of the history of the place moves me. I stopped to read the marker today.

In 1717 the confluence of the Tallapposa and Coosa Rivers have become the literal center of the Creek Nation. I thought about that today. I rounded the area where the reconstructed French fort had been built back then.

The original was erected about 290 years ago. That was when the French were players with the U.S in North America. They came up from Mobile built the fort named for the Comte de Toulouse (son of King Louis XIV). I was reminded that this was a major trading point with the Creek Nation. The Fort was also referred to as the “Post of the Alabama” named after the Indians who lived there. I had never thought about the place being the “Post of the Alabama”.

That was in the days before there was real push by the United States to “relocate” the Creek Nation. Enter Andrew Jackson with his Tennessee Militia, his mandate to pushed out the Creeks at the battle of Horseshoe Bend. Then he came back to the fort site to sign treaties.

 

Lots of stuff happened at this park I walk in most mornings. I keep finding something new every time I do. Today I thought about Andrew Jackson riding in on his horse and meeting with the Creek leaders. I could visualize that all these people walked here where I walked.

Of course like all my thoughts I began to think about you, where you all live and what happened there. If you want, please share.