Windmills of my mind

[click to enlarge photo]

Keys that jingle in your pocket, words that jangle in your head;
Why did summer go so quickly? Was it something that I said?
Lovers walk along a shore and leave their footprints in the sand;
Is the sound of distant drumming just the fingers of your hand?
Pictures hanging in a hallway and the fragments of a song,
Half-remembered names and faces, but to whom do they belong?
When you knew that it was over, were you suddenly aware
That the autumn leaves were turning to the color of her hair?
Like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel,
Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel,
As the images unwind, like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind.

The American Flag

The flag of the United States of America is the symbol of the world's oldest republic.

In 1776, the Continental Congress passed a resolution that there should be a seal of the new United States of America. They intended this seal to be a symbol of the values that the founding fathers wanted the new nation to embody.

Each of the colors on the Great Seal of the United States had a particular meaning, and these meanings have carried forward to our flag.

The color red represents hardiness and valor. These were the qualities the founding fathers felt the new country needed in order to stand up to the British government. The red in our flag also reminds us of the blood shed by the Sons of Liberty to secure our independence, as well as that shed over the years to preserve our republic.

The color white represents purity and innocence as would befit the birth of a new nation. The white should also remind us of the pure vision and intent of our founding fathers. Even when we falter and become less than that vision, we should look to the white in our flag to remind us to return to the path of purity of purpose.

The color blue symbolizes vigilance, perseverance and justice. Vigilance against those who would do us harm; perseverance in the continuing pursuit of the vision of our country's founding fathers; justice for all Americans regardless of station in life or circumstances of birth, and for people of good will around the world.

Let the blue in our flag also remind you of the virtue of peace. The American Eagle depicted in the Great Seal grips the arrows of war in one talon, but be ever mindful that it carries the olive branch of peace in the other.

Our flag has thirteen stripes, one for each of the original thirteen colonies that rebelled against Great Britain. On the field of blue there are 50 stars in our firmament; one for each of our current 50 states. The number of stars is the only thing that changes on our flag.

The 1777 "Betsy Ross" flag is considered, at least in retrospect, to be the first "official" U.S. Flag. Several flags by several different designers were in use before (and after) the Betsy Ross flag. A popular story which has been passed down through the years tells us that one Betsy Ross sewed the first flag from a pencil sketch drawn by George Washington. That sounds a little too good to be true, and probably isn't.

Our flag has changed 26 times since that first flag, as other states and groups of states have entered the Union. States number 47 and 48 (New Mexico and Arizona) entered the Union in 1912 and there were no more changes to the flag until 1959 when Alaska and Hawaii were added. No version of the flag has lasted longer than the current 50-star flag.

A list of the dates each state entered the Union appears below. Each of the 50 sovereign states also has its own flag.

---------

1. Delaware (7 Dec 1787)
2. Pennsylvania (12 Dec 1787)
3. New Jersey (18 Dec 1787)
4. Georgia (2 Jan 1788
5. Connecticut (9 Jan 1788)
6. Massachusetts (6 Feb 1788)
7. Maryland (28 Apr 1788)
8. South Carolina (23 May 1788)
9. New Hampshire (21 Jun 1788)
10. Virginia (25 Jun 1788)
11. New York (26 Jul 1788)
12. North Carolina (21 Nov 1789)
13. Rhode Island (29 May 1790)
14. Vermont (4 Mar 1791)
    
15. Kentucky (1 Jun 1792)
16. Tennessee (1 Jun 1796)
17. Ohio (1 Mar 1803)
18. Louisiana (30 Apr 1812)
19. Indiana (11 Dec 1816)
20. Mississippi (10 Dec 1817)
21. Illinois (3 Dec 1818)
22. Alabama (14 Dec 1819)
23. Maine (15 Mar 1820)
24. Missouri (10 Aug 1821)
25. Arkansas (15 Jun 1836)
26. Michigan (26 Jan 1837)
27. Florida (3 Mar 1845)
28. Texas (29 Dec 1845)
29. Iowa (28 Dec 1846)
30. Wisconsin (29 May 1848)
31. California (9 Sep 1850)
32. Minnesota (11 May 1858)
33. Oregon (14 Feb 1859)
34. Kansas (29 Jan 1861)
35. West Virginia (20 Jun 1863)
36. Nevada (31 Oct 1864)
37. Nebraska (1 Mar 1867)
38. Colorado (1 Aug 1876)
39. North Dakota (2 Nov 1889)
40. South Dakota (2 Nov 1889)
41. Montana (8 Nov 1889)
42. Washington (11 Nov 1889)
43. Idaho (3 Jul 1890)
44. Wyoming (10 Jul 1890)
45. Utah (4 Jul 1896)
46. Oklahoma (16 Nov 1907)
47. New Mexico (6 Jan 1912)
48. Arizona (14 Feb 1912)
49. Alaska (3 Jan 1959)
50. Hawaii (21 Aug 1959)

Groundhog Day Groundhog Day Groun...

As I write this it is still dark outside, but like the rest of the civilized world I am waiting anxiously to see if our local groundhog will see his shadow. Being already 8 am in Pennsylvania now, I assume the "official" U.S. ground hog has already seen his shadow and scurried back in his hole. (Yes, people, there really is a Punxsutawney Phil.) I am afraid to look at the Yahoo home page right now - I'm sure they have the result posted. Also I am not in the mood for things Pennsylvania this morning since the slimy cheating ref-paying Steelers "beat" my beloved Arizona Cardinals last night. But we all know who the real best team is. Me? - I will wait for our local result. Although I already know what it is going to be since today is supposed to be sunny.

What amazes me is the number of people who don't believe this ritual predicts the length of winter. Can you imagine such backward ignorance in this day and age? Thank god for groundhog science.

It has occurred to me, though, that some enlightened people who believe in the magical powers of groundhogs, may be unable, through no fault of their own, to take advantage of this gift of nature. My friend Stine, for example. I worry that she may not actually have enough sun on February 2 in order to cast shadows. But perhaps they have other rituals of weather prediction in her beautiful part of the world that they use to replace the standard groundhog. Or perhaps they even have sun. A mystery. I hope to visit one day and find out for myself.

Then there's my other friend (I have two friends) Ettarose in North Carolina. I worry that she is too backwards to be able to interpret the shadows, or to remember whether no shadow means winter or no winter. I worry that she will not even remember that today is Groundhog Day, being preoccupied as she is with waiting for her dialup to load this page. I worry a LOT about Ettarose, actually.

Actually, I have more than 2 friends. I have many friends. I am blessed. And one of those extra special friends is my rocklike supporter A. A. is several thousand miles away, but we have coffee together. A. has just returned to England from France yesterday (she keeps moving back an forth in an effort to keep the law off her trail) and we may have coffee together later. Being British, she has a genetic defect that makes her lean towards tea, but I have slowly trained her to begin drinking coffee. It has done wonders for her disruptive nature.

Speaking of coffee, that reminds me I promised a concluding post about how to make good coffee.

Tomorrow. I meant tomorrow.