Memorial Day thank you

I published this post on May 26, 2013. Today I added the photo just below.

They came home. So many others, didn't.

Thank you to the men and women who served with honor. Since the Revolutionary War, you have set aside your life, and in some cases, given your life, to serve a greater cause. The liberties I enjoy are attributable to you. Thank you.

Thank you to Americo V. Bernardoni, (Great Uncle) who served in WWII from enlistment date of June 1942 through to the end of the war, plus 6 months. He was a Private in the Branch Immaterial Warrant Officers, USA.


Thank you to my grandfather, (below, front row, 2nd from right) who served in the the First World War in the Royal Leicestershire Regiment. This regiment was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army, with a history going back to 1688. It saw service for three centuries, and during WWI, the regiment increased from five to nineteen battalions which served in France and Flanders, Mesopotamia and Palestine. The regiment lost approximately 6,000 dead in the four years of war.

Thank you to John Prata, (father) who served in the US Navy in the 1950s. He graduated from Officers Candidate School in Newport RI and Athens Supply Corps school in Georgia. He served as Ship's Bursar, and in the theater of the Pacific at Bikini. He was on the ships that were testing Hydrogen bombs.

Thank you to Raymond Tortolani, (uncle) who also graduated from Newport's OCS and served in the US Navy.

Thank you to William Keogh, (uncle) who served in the United States Coast Guard.

Though these family members did not lose their life to war, (though many of my father's shipmates came down with various cancers due to the radiation fallout from the hydrogen bombs), I thank you for serving our nation.

To the ones who are grieving, your grief is noticed and the sacrifice of your loved one is honored.

Memorial Day remembrance: In Flanders Fields

From American History, Smithsonian Institute.

In Flanders Fields. The poem, written by World War I Canadian Army surgeon John McCrae, provided a vivid image of sacrifice. Corn poppies flourish in disturbed soils; they bloomed by the millions among the splintered trees, tangles of barbed wire, ruined corpses, shell holes, and trenches lacerating the battlefields of Europe. These tiny scarlet blooms, seemingly stained by the blood-soaked soil, gave hope that something beautiful could arise from the cruelty and violence. Since 1921, the corn poppy has been a symbol that we shall remember them.

Poem In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Memorial Day weekend plans

It is the long weekend for many people. But for me, It marks the beginning of summer break. Our school year ended today and I plan to kick back and relax, as I mentioned in a previous blog entry. I also plan to plant my pots with flowers, and the teacher with whom I worked part of this year gave me some seeds. I'll be planting nasturtium, zinnias, and morning glories. The Morning Glories I will train to go up the wrought iron and over the awning to the front door. It makes a nice canopy.

There were some changes to the shrubbery and landscaping by my front door from last year. I noted these in a blog entry last week. The changes are: the five o'clock flower plant, the rose bush, and the grass are all gone. They have been replaced with concrete. I will have my work cut out for me to pretty it up. I got the pots out and lined them up, ready for planting on Tuesday. I also have a bunch of round polished granite half cylinders that I'll use to make a border. Some of them will be used to put the posts on so they will be at different eye levels, for interest. As least, that is what the home landscaping shows say to do.

Looks kind of bleak, doesn't it?

Below are two gorgeous sunflowers along with greenery a dearly beloved friend sent to me on the last day of school. The flowers arrived in a bright yellow tissue paper tied with a yellow plaid ribbon. It was quite a happy surprise to receive these, and they are cherished.

(They got squashed in the classroom moving furntiture and then in my hot car while I went grocery shopping, They were assuredly perkier when they arrived at school!)

This is the mama blue jay hopping mad and squawking at me while I got out my pots and lined them up. Chill out, mom, it's SUMMER!!!!!!!!!

Flags, a reminder of what's behind them

Thank you soldiers who fought for our flag and everything the flag means means, and thank you for fighting for what is behind the ideals of red-white-blue!

North Yarmouth, Maine













Gray, Maine


















New Gloucester, Maine













Eastport, Maine (USS McFaul)















Lubec, Maine














Comer, Georgia














Comer, Georgia

Memorial day: thank you

This scene is of Comer Georgia. It seems to be the quintessential American scene, birdhouse, white picket fence, US flag. Is this what Memorial Day is all about?


Or this, the New England cape, the northern states where the Revolution happened? The long history and the quaint decorated homes lining the street where the parade will come?


Or this, families at the park, grilling and playing?







Naw. It's about the soldiers who sacrificed for us. The ones who died in battle, or afterward from disease or injuries. It's about the brave protecting the weak. The strong who stood ready but whom have finished their race. To these I say, thank you!