Have a safe and fun 4th of July. To celebrate here, we’re flying a brand new Grace Alley American Flag along with a new Annin Flagmakers Arizona State Banner.
Enjoy your Independence Day Holiday!
Holidays
Memorial Day 2024
Today, the last Monday of May, we recognize our fallen military heroes for their sacrifices to honor and defend America. Pray for our current military in harm’s way. Pray for the fallen and their grieving families and friends.
From The Patriot Post:
On this Memorial Day, and every day of the year, may God bless our men and women in uniform, who have stood and continue to stand in harm’s way — more than 41 million veterans who have served our nation since the American Revolution. For their steadfast devotion to duty, honor and country, we, the American people, offer them and their families our humble gratitude and heartfelt thanks. It is with eternal gratitude that we remember those who have paid the ultimate price in service to our nation.
We pray for our Patriot Armed Forces now standing in harm’s way around the world in defense of our liberty, and for the families awaiting their safe return.
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” —John 15:12-14
Image created by Copilot AI. Click to enlarge.
Cinco de Mayo —
Southwestern Feast Day
Today, Cinco de Mayo, is the second of the two nearly concurrent feast days we tend to celebrate in early May. Like in yesterday’s post, the image above is an AI-generated picture with the suggestion of “Cinco de Mayo Buffet.” Also, as in yesterday’s image. I added the 3D text overlay. You may see the original AI image here.
Today’s feast consisted of a Southwestern New Mexican Pork Stew, which was very good. This is another of Damsel’s recently discovered recipes. At this hour, we’re all content with the feasting weekend now behind us.
As a disclaimer, we’re of Celtic ancestry, but not Latino. We celebrate because of the food and culture for both events. As for us, we are Christian, Patriotic Americans and celebrate the appropriate religious and patriotic events and feasting as they occur.
Beltane — Celtic Feast Day
This is the weekend in May where we celebrate two nearly concurrent feasts. Today is the first feast in celebration of the Celtic Cross-Quarter day of Beltane, or, the beginning of the summer season. I will post about the other feast we celebrate this weekend tomorrow.
The (clickable) image above is a scene generated by Microsoft’s Copilot AI image creator. I suggested a pastoral Irish Festival scene and this is what it came up with. I overlaid the Beltane text using an old 3D graphics program by Xara. The original AI-generated image without the overly can be seen here.
Our feast today consisted of “Guinness Meat Stew” from a recipe the Damsel found on-line. It was indeed a feast.
St. Patrick’s Day 2024
Just a quickie to wish everyone a Happy St. Patrick’s Day. Damsel and I celebrated with a traditional Corned Beef and Cabbage dinner served with low-carb veggies. She also made a “Luck of the Irish” cocktail for good measure.
We hope y’all had a nice feast as well.
George Washington’s Birthday
Today marks the 292nd anniversary of the birth of the “Father of the Country,” George Washington. He was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Washington died in 1799 at Mount Vernon, VA, where he is laid to rest.
Like last year, our sentiment remains that “President’s Day” is a sham and a disservice to both President Washington and President Lincoln whose birthdays/holidays were dissipated into the current holiday. Both men remain, in our opinion, entitled to their own holiday. We continue to celebrate them both even though I missed Mr. Lincoln’s again this year. I made a reminder to post next year in my on-line calendar.
Since the last posting a couple weeks ago, we have been busy with several routine things (there are so many retirement chores) and have also begun detail planning for our upcoming excursion to Waco for the April 6th total eclipse. See the Eclipse Countdown page in the sidebar.
We hope everyone is doing OK out there. We’re doing well and we keep on keeping on.
Imbolc – 2024
Imbolc Cross-Quarter Day
Celtic Feast today: Irish Beef Stew with Soda Bread. The stew had low-carb vegetables (i.e. Turnips, not Potatoes, Butternut Squash, not yams, etc.). The Soda Bread was made with Keto-friendly ingredients. The feast was delicious and served with an Irish Coffee on a cool, windy day. Click on the image to open in the image viewer.
About Imbolc:
Celts celebrated Imbolc as the beginning of Spring. Imbolc corresponds more or less to Groundhog Day in the USA, February 2, when tradition has it that if a sleepy groundhog creeping out of its burrow at dawn sees its shadow, there are 6 more weeks of winter. (If not, we surmise, only 42 days remain.) Christians celebrate this holiday as St. Brigid’s Day.
Spam Filter
When we upgraded this blog to later versions of WordPress a couple of years back, we also upgraded our Spam Filter to Askimet. The package does a pretty good job of filtering spam while allowing normal comments. Thus far, (since the upgrade) Askimet has stopped over nineteen thousand spams. I note that most of the spam seems to be trying to sell pharmaceuticals. There are also some Russian-language spams and a few others promoting p0rn and such. Fortunately, none of that seems to get through.