Thursday, November 27, 2008

a thanksgiving story

The First Thanksgiving
Author Unknown

All through the first summer and the early part of autumn the Pilgrims were busy and happy. They had planted and cared for their first fields of corn. They had found wild strawberries in the meadows, raspberries on the hillsides, and wild grapes in the woods.

In the forest just back of the village wild turkeys and deer were easily shot. In the shallow waters of the bay there was plenty of fish, clams, and lobsters.

The summer had been warm, with a good deal of rain and much sunshine; and so, when autumn came, there was a fine crop of corn.

"Let us gather the fruits of our first harvest and rejoice together," said Governor Bradford.

"Yes," said Elder Brewster, "let us take a day upon which we may thank God for all our blessings and invite to it our Indian friends who have been so kind to us."

The Pilgrims said that one day was not enough; so they planned to have a celebration for a whole week.

The great Indian chief, Massasoit, came with ninety of his bravest warriors, all gaily dressed in deerskins, feathers, and fox tails, with their faces smeared with red, white, and yellow paint. As a sign of rank, Massasoit wore a string of bones and a bag of tobacco around his neck. In his belt he carried a long knife. His face was painted red, and his hair was daubed with oil.

There were only eleven buildings in the whole of Plymouth village, four log storehouses, and seven little log dwelling-houses, so the Indian guests ate and slept out of doors. This did not matter for it was one of those warm weeks in the season that we call Indian summer.

To supply meat for the occasion four men had already been sent out to hunt wild turkeys. They killed enough in one day to last the company almost a week.

Massasoit helped the feast along by sending some of his best hunters into the woods. They brought back five deer which they gave to their pale face friends, that all might have enough to eat.

Under the trees were built long, rude tables on which were piled baked clams, broiled fish, roasted turkey, and venison. The young Pilgrim women helped serve the food to the hungry redskins. We shall always remember two of the fair young girls who waited on the first Thanksgiving table. One was Mary Chilton, who leaped first from the boat at Plymouth Rock. The other was Mary Allerton. She lived for seventy-eight years after this first Thanksgiving; of those who came over in the Mayflower she was the last to die.

What a merry time everybody had during that week! How the mothers must have laughed as they told about the first Monday morning on Cape Cod, when they all went ashore to wash their clothes! It must have been a big washing, for there had been no chance to do it at sea, so stormy had been the long voyage of sixty-three days. They little thought that Monday would always after be kept as washing day. One proud Pilgrim mother, we may be sure, showed her baby boy, Peregrine White.

And so the fun went on. In the daytime the young men ran races, played games, and had a shooting match. Every night the Indians sang and danced for their friends; and to make the party still more lively they gave every now and then a shrill war whoop that made the woods echo in the still night air.

The third day came. Massasoit had been well treated, and would have liked to stay longer, but he said that he could not be away from his camp for more than three days. So the pipe of peace was silently passed around. Then, taking their gifts of glass beads and trinkets, the Indian King and his warriors said farewell to their English friends and began their long march through the woods to their wigwams on Mount Hope Bay.

On the last day of this Thanksgiving party, Elder Brewster preached the first Thanksgiving sermon and all the Pilgrims united in thanking God for His goodness to them.

The first Thanksgiving was nearly four hundred years ago. Since that time, Thanksgiving has been kept by the people of our nation as the great family festival of the year. At this time children and grandchildren return to the old home, the long table is spread, and brothers and sisters, who had been separated, again seat themselves side by side.

Thanksgiving is our season of sweet and blessed memories.

i got this story from a website referred by foxylady

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

a little wednesday music

b b b bad

this is the best i can do until i find a way to embed videos again

scots in america

A quote from American President Woodrow Wilson, "Every line of strength
in American history is a line colored with Scottish blood."
More than 100 governors of pre- and post- Revolutionary America were of
Scottish birth or descent.
Others from Scotland or of Scots descent in American history:
- 35 U.S. Supreme Court Justices, 25 of them are in the Great Americans
Hall of Fame.
- Almost 1/2 of the Secretaries of U.S. Treasury and 1/3 of the
Secretaries of State were Scots.
- 9 of the signatures on the Declaration of Independence were from Scots
descent.
- 9 of the 13 colony governors made in the new USA were Scots.
- James Pollock, of Scots descent, put the slogan "In God We Trust" on
American coins!
61% of American Presidents are of Scots descent.
A Scot, James Watt, invented the first steam engine and in so doing
started the Industrial Revolution.
A Scot, John Logie Baird, invented the Television.
A Scot, John Napier, invented logarithms and the decimal notation.
A Scot, Kirkpatrick Macmillan, invented the bicycle.
A Scot, John Paul Jones, founded the American Navy.
A Scot, Alexander Fleming, discovered Penicillin.
A Scot, William Paterson, founded the Bank of England.
A Scot, Alexander Graham Bell, invented the telephone.
A Scot, John Chalmers, invented the adhesive postage stamp.
A Scot, John Boyd Dunlop, invented the car tyre.
A Scot, Captain Patrick Ferguson, invented the breech loading rifle.
A Scot, Major General Lachlan Macquarie, know as the 'Father of
Australia', A Scot, Sir John Alexander Macdonald, was the first Prime
Minister of Canada under confederation.
A Scot, Robert Stirling, invented the Stirling engine in 1850. Stirling
engines are being studied at NASA for use in powering space vehicles
with solar energy!
The Scots invented Golf.
"History credits the Rev. Elijah Craig, a Baptist minister, with being
the first in 1789 to make bourbon." He was a Scotsman. Kentucky is the
place for bourbon because of the limestone which makes the water almost
iron-free. "The first bourbon recognized by brand outside of Kentucky
probably was produced by Dr. James Crow...a Scotsman who settled near
the Rev. Craig's place." He was known by the locals as Jim Crow.
The Scottish-American Hall of Fame contains more plaques for the
military than any other category. Twenty-one men are installed including
Daniel Boone who is listed as an "Indian Fighter." The list is as
follows: George Rogers Clark, Frontier hero of the Revolutionary War;
Stonewall Jackson; Joseph E. Johnston; Henry Knox; Arthur MacArthur,
army general, father of Douglas MacArthur; George B. McClellan;
Alexander Macomb, general and hero of the War of 1812; William (Billy)
Mitchell, controversial air power advocate; William Multrie; George S.
Patton, WWII exponent of mobile warfare; Winfred Scott, Mexican War and
Chief of staff; J.E.B. Stuart, Confederate cavalry general; Christopher
"Kit" Carson, frontiersman and explorer; William Clark, explorer with
Merriwether Lewis; Davy Crockett, frontiers-man who died at the Alamo.
Two individuals are listed under the category of "Naval." They are David
Glasgow Farragut, Civil War naval hero, and John Paul Jones,
Revolutionary War naval hero.
Famous Quote: "If all else fails, I will retreat up the valley of
Virginia, plant my flag on the Blue Ridge, rally around the Scotch-Irish
of that region and make my last stand for liberty amongst a people who
will never submit to British tyranny whilst there is a man left to draw
a trigger." George Washington, Valley Forge.
Scottish Freemasonry is now officially recognised as being the oldest in
the world and is now recorded as a Guinness World Record.
Scot invented suspenders.
Although the Scots comprise less than one-half of 1 percent of the
world's population, 11 percent of all Nobel prizes have been awarded to
Scotsmen. Quote from "The Mark of the Scots" by Duncan A Bruce.
The world's first university faculty of engineering and technical
science was in Glasgow.
67 US Politicians were born in Scotland that we know off.
There are estimated to be 20,000 Americans living in Scotland and half a
million visit each year.
It is estimated that 15% of Canadians are of Scots descent.
Scotland invented branch banking and so brought banking facilities to
the people and the world.
In his native Northeast of Scotland Thomas Blake Glover is virtually
unknown, however in his adopted country of Japan he is revered as a
national hero - one of the founding fathers of modern Japan.
"The Reverend Malcolm MacDonald, a native of Whitton, Quebec, a
descendant of the early Scots settlers and of the first church
established in the area, says:
"'The Book of Books was the library they opened, and the Church of Jesus
Christ was the first institution they established and that in their
homes, and the Gospel of Christ was the philosophy they espoused.' "
"The most casual observer and historian must admit that these early
settlers played a leading part in setting the course in which the Nation
travels today.
"I am indeed grateful that we are privileged to stand in the stream of a
noble, spiritual, national and cultural tradition, which has flourished
in Scotland for centuries, and for some 150 years established firmly on
this North American Continent, in both Canada and the United States.
SCOTS emigres to the US are five times more likely to become dollar
millionaires than those from any other country, according to a study of
wealth. Thomas Stanley and William Danko, in their book The Millionaire
Next Door, analysed the ethnic backgrounds of the wealthiest members of
US society and discovered that while people of Scottish origin make up
1.7% of the population, they comprise 9.3% of its millionaires.
Scottish Explorers and Fur Trappers
Read about how Scots dominated the Fur trade and by doing opened up
Canada and the West.
Scotland and the American Indians
Read about the Scots their ties with American Indians.
Historians and the Scottish-American Connection Read about Scottish
American connections.
The Scot in British North America
This is a 4 volume set about the Scots in Canada and the great part they
played in its creation.
Scotland, a wee country wi' a BIG impact on the World

bloody illegal immigrant co-dependents

and my tax dollars are paying for this sham organisation

does anyone know why

the embedding thingie isn't working when i try to post a youtube thingy on my blog?
maybe tis the allergy/cold thingie in my head.....

happy thanksgiving



i hope your thanksgiving is full of thanks
remember to whom we give thanks

Saturday, November 22, 2008

what an honour

i have been added to the PIGs friends

Thursday, November 20, 2008

hambo and porcus do it again

a fine essay from the PIGazette - one of my favourite sites. i am referring specifically to the first article on the archived site.

If you want to revive American Greatness, you must start by daring to proclaim: I am, first and foremost, an American, a sovereign American individual. I am not a victim. I am not a class envy-riddled parasite. I am the author of my own life. As the master of my own fate, my destiny is in my hands. I don’t need to be coddled, protected or babied by the Nanny State, so back the hell off, Sparky.


read the full article here
exlporing american greatness

Thursday, November 13, 2008

The Obama Revolution?
Not Really ... A Unique Perspective on the Recent Election by two Veteran Political Pros and Analysts

Interpretation of the election outcome can be almost as important as the election results themselves.

Was, in fact, the nomination of Barack Obama a truly transformative election, as many political pundits and talking heads are arguing?

Vic Fingerhut and Mike Griffin-- two veteran political consultants and public opinion pollster, who have advised political candidates and parties here and abroad for more than 30 years -- offers an alternative to this overly simplistic view of the recent election.

Please enjoy the attached analysis by Vic and Mike to find out what the recent election of Obama really means....does not mean – and to get a sense of the unusually high quality of analysis and insight your members can access and share.

from the griffin media group

Sunday, November 9, 2008

saturday night song

shaken not stirred

i have been a fond of 007 since dr. no. my friends thought me weird at the time.. i was rather young after all, but have watched every one of them since, and watch them again and again. and this weekend spike tv is showing bond after bond.. shake me and dont ever stir!!

Sunday, November 2, 2008

its my birthday!!





on monday. but the celebrations have already begun, and will continue all month. ;D

Saturday, November 1, 2008

this is a party i could join!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3279310/Drinkers-on-longest-ever-pub-crawl-reach-14000th-pub.html

from theo