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Flag Day

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  I t's Flag Day here in the U.S.  I've written about this before:   https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2018/06/june-14.html .  What do you know about this holiday?  Let me put out some facts  On June 14, 1777 the Second Continental Congress resolved:  "that the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation."  (No mention of Betsy Ross...unfortunately her story probably is just that and not fact.  Sorry Betsy.") "In 1885, Bernard J. Cigrand, a young schoolteacher in Wisconsin, asked his students to observe what he called the flag's "birthday." He had them write essays on what the Stars and Stripes meant to them... Cigrand spent the rest of his life expanding it. He wrote articles, gave speeches, and pressed anyone who would listen to set aside a day for the ...
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Those Morning Walks...

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 You KNOW I'm a walker.  I'm also an EASY hiker. (Meaning I'm a bit too old and uncoordinated to do anything difficult, but if anyone wants to try with me I'm willing!)  When I spent most of my time in NJ, I would walk before sunrise and then go off to work.  During Covid, I was doing some serious walking (because I didn't have to be any place...I just had to get home and get to work.)  I have done over 5 miles in a stretch.  Which for me is a lot.  It also takes a lot of time because I don't do a 12 or 15 minute mile.  I USED to be able to MAYBE hit 17 minute mile, but these days I'm more 20 minutes or even 21.  Not great, but... I still try to walk when I can wherever I am.  But it was a LONG cold winter so walking outside wasn't really a thing for me for a LONG time.  (Much too long.)  But I'm trying to get back into the swing of things, even if I'm not moving as fast or as far as I used to. When we moved to the Poconos, I t...
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Dear Dad: 90

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  Dear Dad, If the world was fair (and we know it is not) we would have been celebrating your 90th birthday today. I would have taken the day off and come down to see you.  And in the fantasy world, Steve & James would have come too.  You would be 90, but mobile.  I would have brought you a cake (vegan so I could eat too).  We would have talked about the Knicks win last night.   You LOVED basketball so much and I wish you were here to watch these games.  Let's face it, I don't care about the game (sorry), but I am thrilled at how NY is doing (except for game 3 which was cursed with bad juju and we don't want to talk about that) and how this uniting the tristate area (and other areas as well I suspect).  Again, while I am not a fan of the game or any team in particular, I LOVE the enthusiasm and the joy that this is bringing to the area.  Anything that brings people together is a good thing in my book. I think of all the games you...
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Vacations are Exhausting

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  We don't really go on vacations.  I take vacation days from work, but are they really "vacations"?  So far this year I've taken time off to go the MVC (or for you non-NJ people...DMV).  I've taken time to take my son to the MVC (a different one because the one closest to us didn't have appointments until the end of July/early August).  I've taken time off to pick up my son from college.  I've taken half days for medical appointments.  As a matter of fact, the most vacation time I've taken over the past year has all been geared around "things" that had to be done and couldn't be done on a weekend.  (Or avoiding going back to NJ with the sinkhole issue on Route 80.)  As a matter of fact, the last "real" vacation I took was in September of 2024 (which had been planned in May of 2024) when I met my college friend, MA, in Orlando and we spent just under a week (Saturday-Thursday) at Disney World.  And that was the only time I c...
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One Last Day of...

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  I'm getting old...We all are right?  But I THOUGHT I was going to write a blog post and call out something that I wrote 10 years ago.  Only I didn't write a post 10 years ago about what I thought I wrote about.  (Is this making any sense?)   What I was remembering was a social media post I made on this day 10 years ago, which had a ton of photos as was labeled:  We didn't Go ANYWHERE today...I swear!!  Because 10 years ago today was not unlike today.  It was the day BEFORE a big birthday for me.  And I decided to do something fun on that day.   I took the day off of work.  I dropped my son off at school and a couple of hours later, my husband and I got in the car and drove to Skytop  for lunch.  It's a long drive just for lunch, but I wanted to do it.  So we did.  We left our home in NJ and drove to the Poconos.  At the time, the resort was undergoing some work, and you couldn't enter the pr...
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Chasing My Tail?

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  Okay, I don't have a tail, but that's how I feel.  I'm spending more time than I should chasing down companies that I do business with following up on issues that I shouldn't have to.  Or maybe I'm expecting too much?  I'll let you tell me.  Landscaper:  Okay, as a reminder, the person who did the outdoor maintenance in PA (there's no lawn, but bushes and trees grow like crazy) was deployed overseas this year.  So he gave our business to another company, which was fine.  I tried to reach out to them via their website and got no response.  When I called, I did and in March the owner came out to look at the yard (there was still snow at this point).  In April, I called again because it was just about time for a spring clean-up.  He came back, accessed again but no work was done until a couple of weeks later.  It was still early spring, but he and his team came and put out TONS of...
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Dear John

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  14 years have gone by.  Although chunks of this day have slightly faded from my memory (I don't know whether that's good or bad), I will never forget that it was a Saturday.  And that the following day I was supposed to sponsor Rayna at her confirmation at church.  (I thought that it was Pentecost, but I Googled it and no... but then Pentecost would have been Memorial Day weekend, so maybe they figured we'd have a better crowd the following week...Maybe they did.  I didn't go.) I wish it hadn't been a month and a half since I'd last seen you.  I wish we'd seen you more. I still can't understand why our having James pulled you and Emma away from family gatherings.  How it bothered her. But she had a son, who we never met.  Who wasn't at your wedding.  But her mother was and that was the first time we met her. File those under things that I will never understand. I wish you were still here.  You SHOULD still be here.  Why, Why, WHY ...
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