We here in the states lose site of a lot of things we shouldn’t.  I blame most of it on a lack of education and GREED.  Both are responsible for a large part of the massive loss of memory.  Memorial Day is one of the days where the reasoning behind its existence is all but lost.  Memorial Day is not a day for celebrating.  It is a day for REMEMBERING those who died in the service of our country.  For a lot of information, see this site MEMORIAL DAY HISTORY.

I have always felt it was sad shops open, going crazy, with Memorial Day sales.  I have never been able to equate recalling deaths of thousands of Americans with spending a lot of money.  As a child there was always a parade and wreaths of flowers were laid on the graves of soldiers from our area.  Now, stores are open, people go on picnics and to theme parks like Disneyland and King’s Island to celebrate the day.  There is cause for celebration as those who fought are responsible for the freedoms we hold dear.  But REMEMBERING is what the day was set aside for.  How does SHOPPING??? come into play?   

Our little town of LOVELAND, OHIO – The City of Loveland Veterans’ Memorial Committee has announced that the 2011 Memorial Day program will be held on Monday, May 30.  The parade will begin at 9 AM at the Loveland Elementary School at 600 Loveland Madeira Road. The parade ends at the Veterans’ Loveland Memorial Park located at West Loveland Avenue and the corner of Riverside Drive, where a Memorial Day ceremony will presented.  I am hoping to be there taking some photos.

4 photos from today have been edited into this entry…

1-TODAY Memorial Day 2011:  Some parades deserve a big shot of the happenings.  I thought today’s parade did with the Colors Flying, the parade stretched out behind.  Each section marched then space was added and the next marching section moved out.  It was a good parade with our Colors flying from end to end.

1-  An older image of McDonalds.  A lot of people take issue with McDonalds.  I would be the last to say their food is the healthiest and sad to say, they will be open Memorial Day as will about every shop or restaurant in the country.  But, McDonalds is an AMERICAN company that flies our flag.  It’s amazing how many companies don’t.  That is what I take issue with.  I appreciate American companies who fly the flag, PROUDLY.

2-  This is an older photo taken across the river in Old Loveland.  Lots of flags are flown in this historic area of our little city.  They fly for Memorial Day, the 4th of July, Flag day and more.  I like seeing the flag waving and take photos whenever I see it.

3-  Many of our overpasses are displaying the flag in numbers.  I’m not sure when this idea came about but it is on a lot of overpass in our area.  I think it’s an amazing site.  Here is an article about one man who has something to do with it in his area, FLYING THE FLAG ON OVERPASS 

4- This flag is flying at half mast.  Many construction companies are flying the flag from cranes.  It’s very neat to see as they are very high and hard to miss, hanging in the air.

5-  This photo is from the 2010 4th of July Parade here in Loveland and the 4th of July IS a time for celebration.  The 4th of July is Independence Day, USA. 

6-  The casket contains the remains of a cousin who served in the Army.  We are a military family.  My husband, my son-in-law, my brother in-law and both of his sons, 3 first cousins, and my sister Bunny’s son who is in Afghanistan at this time for I think his 4th trip there.  Family members are Navy, Army, Air Force and all are proud to have served. 

7-  TODAY:  at our local parade, a young fife and drum corp, part of the Loveland School musical instruction system.

8-  TODAY:  This image is one of my favorite kinds of patriotic parade scenes.

9-  TODAY:  Those who have been there seldom forget to salute.

10-  This is earlier this year but tomorrow (Memorial Day) it goes up to wave in the breezes again. 

TODAY, the flag is up and waving and we have enjoyed the local parade.  I am always glad I get out for it, recalling many memories of parades in a small home town that had wonderful parades we always walked to as it was only down the hill 5 blocks away and we could hear the band from our house.  We also put in some flower sets and watched some military movies, the theme of the day.  Military movies are not always accurate in their accounting but add them together and you get a broad picture of what war is like.  It’s a terrible thing, for all involved.  Everyone loses in a war.   

There is a ton of information on the Internet about Memorial Day.  It’s worth taking a look at.

Have a great week,

Every week there is a different photo challenge at this site:  http://mywinningphoto.xanga.com/  It gives you a way to play with your photos and interact with other photographers on Xanga.  This week, the word is YELLOW.  You can see the entries for YELLOW by following the above link. 

NEXT WEEK’S CHALLENGE IS “COOKING” however you would like to inperpret the idea.

One of the rules, POST ONLY PHOTOS TAKEN THE WEEK BEFORE THEY ARE DISPLAYED ON THE SITE PAGES.

Here are some older photos of mine that would have worked for YELLOW if they had been taken THE WEEK OF.  

1-  Here you see a really fun yellow gym-set at our local park, Isabella.  I might have called this photo Yellow Gym-Set but instead I thought “Guardian of the Family Jewels” was more appropriate.  Grandfather never left them for a moment and Grandmother is sitting on a bench at their far left taking in all of the activities.  I wanted to focus on grandpa and his charges so Grandmother (who is very lovely) was removed for use at some other time.

 

2-  This photo is nearly at my doorstep, just the other side of our hedges.  New sidewalk squares were ordered by the city on our street.  I had a great time photographing the whole business and called this one ”Jack Hammer”.  If you look carefully, you can see “Jack” inside his protected cage, hiding from all paparazzi.

 

3-  Most of you know I take a lot of photos from the inside of our car as we travel.  This one is not far from home and the wonderful golden yellow reflections during this evening rain were irresistible.

Xanga is changing.  So many people seem to have gone from this wonderful blogging site.  It’s really too bad as I think it’s still the very best one.

Have a super week people.

Becca aka

 

The contest is weekly and anyone is welcome to play.  This weeks photo challenge is Transportation in Black and White.  It’s something to do with your photos and always fun to see the photos other people take.  Go to http://mywinningphoto.xanga.com/ for rules and to play.

There are ton’s of things on and off the road that would work for this particular challenge.  My thoughts ran from feet to skateboards.  Here are two I didn’t enter.

One of the rules is the image has to be taken the week of the challenge.  I have company and we were out for lunch so I was lucky and saw this bicycler and took his photo.

 

This was taken on our street, one of the many children/young people who play there.

Hoping all is well in your part of the world, Becca

 

A Belated Happy Mother’s Day Xanga

My daughter wanted to share Mother’s Day photos.  I took a boatload as usual so, with the overload, it took a while to go through them, to find something from every aspect of our day -food and -the evening movie.

We had a good day, working a little and relaxing more.

1-  Mother’s day or not, the cat gets his share of attention from John.  This was the first photo of the day.

 

2-  The day before Mother’s Day, Saturday, we carried the house plants outside.  I have them on the porch as the weather forecast says we are going to get more of the type of rain we have been getting and I don’t want them to drown.  I believe April went above 12 inches of rain.  It was amazing.  Anyway, after carrying plants out, I needed to clean out the window.  This is only part of what needs refreshing.

 

2b-  I nearly forgot my chickens in my window.  The fat hen is just a plastic cast I bought at the feedstore but she is sooooooo cute.  The rooster, John bought it for me for Christmas this last year.  I have a thing for Turkeys.  Chickens run a close second.  You can find lots of chickens but not many really nice turkeys so I have to feed my habit with hens and roosters I really like.  They need a good washing but I dusted the cobwebs and dried leaves from the top and middle shelves for the time being.  I didn’t want to work all day on Mother’s day!

 

3-  This photo is actually a couple of weeks ago.  I am sure I have more recent ones but must have put them in the wrong folder.  John does all the hard work in the yard. 

 

4-  We brought out all the old pots and added new ones I wanted.  Just in time for Mother’s day.  The greens between the cracks in the bricks will come out as soon as there is time.  Too bad it isn’t edible and It may get mowed for a while.

 

 

5-  We have a lot of birds at the feeder.  I take photos everyday trying to catalogue all of the ones that come to it.  This is a Red Bellied Woodpecker.  Woodpeckers have sticky or hairy tongues that help get the bugs out of dead trees.  He sticks it out when he is getting the nuts from the feeder.  He really likes the peanuts and the photos run from the difficult choices to swallowing a peanut whole.

 

6-  This is a Red Poll and is a type of Finch.  He looks a lot like a Sparrow but you can’t mistake him because of the red in his head and breast feathers.

 

7-  This little bird was new to me.  I looked through my bird books and it is called a White Crested Sparrow.  He really catches the eye with those white streaks.  I noticed him  as soon as he began showing up at our feeders.  He is now, by the way, bringing his aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters and good friends to the feeder.

 

8-  After we left the house, we picked up a picnic lunch at one of the Chicken places.  We carried it to Lake Isabella where we sit and people watch.  The lake is flooded and has been for a good while because of the heavy rains.  You can’t keep a good fisherman down or the kids.  Someone is always fishing and there were a lot of families out on Mother’s Day, fishing, eating, playing.

 

9-  This is the car park we are sitting in and I always love to get photos of the Sycamore tree you see just left of center.  I love Sycamore trees.

 

10-  Lots of wading going on yesterday, the weather felt warmer but I’m not sure about the water.  Usually the park doesn’t allow wading, only boating and fishing.  The ranger was running back and forth yesterday and I’ve wondered if it was because of so many kids in and out of the water.  As the water in this photo and photos 11 and 13 is up and covering the parking lot, not actually in the lake, I’m not sure it counts as “wading in the lake”.

 

11-  All of this group was in and out of the water the whole time we were there.  They had a ton of fun whether it was allowed or not.

 

12-  We are parked just to the right of this picnic area and it’s always a pleasant spot.  The lake is close enough to our home so we can grab some fast food or pack a lunch and go about any day to enjoy.  It’s a favorite spot and it worked just fine for my Mother’s Day. 

 

13-  I think this measures up to “the End”.

 

I hope all of Xanga’s mothers had a wonderful day too.
Becca

 

 

We had a really nice Easter, rainy but nice.  The rain is still more or less with us but so far no tornadoes in our area.

A photo contest each week at this xanga site:  http://mywinningphoto.xanga.com/ and the current challenge is FLAGS and the final uploads for this next weeks challenge is tonight and it is a word, SADNESS.

 

I had fun with some images for Sir_Spamalot request to work with Peeps marshmallow candy.  Diorama which I knew nothing about.  Here is a LINK for images displaying what they are. 

And the images I played with for PEEPS.

This is the first one I did but it was too crowded so I changed tactics.

Diorama’s want backgrounds so the use of them in my images.

Here I just had fun playing.

I decided I wanted a woodsy look so pulled out the Geraniums.

This is the one Sir_SpamALot decided to use.

Hoping all is well in your part of the world.  Becca