Happy Canada Day!
Our hopes are high. Our faith in the people is great. Our courage is strong. And our dreams for this beautiful country will never die.
— Pierre Trudeau
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Archive for the ‘Holidays’ Category
This Beautiful Country
Posted in Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, inspiration, quotes on July 1, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Happy to Be in the North
Posted in Holidays, Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, inspiration, solstice on June 20, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Today the sun will reach its northernmost latitude. It will sit above the Tropic of Cancer, which means that today is the longest day in the northern hemisphere, and the shortest day in the southern hemisphere.
On this Summer Solstice, will you have one longest day or two? – The Weather Network
This marks the start of astronomical summer for the northern hemisphere for this year.
And in parts of Canada, we have a bit of added fun.
The entire country will experience the longest day of the year on Friday the 20th.
However, if you live anywhere from northern and eastern Ontario to the Atlantic coast, Saturday the 21st will be the exact same length as the 20th, down to the second. This includes Timmins, North Bay, Ottawa, and Bainsville in Ontario, plus everywhere to the east — all of Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador.
Check out the rest of the article for more on the astronomy of it all, where the name comes from, and what a solargraphy is (pretty, that’s what).
I hope you enjoy the solstice, no matter where you are. And if you (like me) get two, even better!
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Happy Holiday!
Posted in Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025 on June 19, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Happy Juneteenth, everyone! Today’s holiday marks the day Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger entered Galveston, Texas in 1865 and issued General Order No. 3. In essence, it said “The war’s over, and the Emancipation Proclamation ending slavery is the law of the land.”
I’ve written about the holiday before:
Our Newest Federal Holiday (and my Confederate great great grandfather)
As Dr. Shane Bolles Wash said, “It immediately changed the game for 250,000 people.”
“You can’t hold a man down without staying down with him.”
― Booker T. Washington
Here’s to freedom, for us all.
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Things My Father Taught Us
Posted in Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, Father's Day, inspiration, thanks Dad, Thoughts on June 15, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Just some of the things my father passed on:
- be kind
- listen to others’ opinions, even if you don’t always agree
- money is a useful thing, but not the most important thing
- read to your children
- a warm kitchen makes a home
- a good chef’s knife is important
- a good library is critical, and
- you can always do more than you think you can.
To the man who introduced me to Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, good food, good music, and good writing, Happy Father’s Day!
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The Good That Remains
Posted in Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, Thoughts on May 26, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Today is Memorial Day in the US, and I’m thinking of those who served and died. I’m thinking of Boalsburg, one of the first homes of Memorial Day celebrations. And I’m thinking of the ways in which we remember those we’ve lost, as sorrow highlights the good that remains.
Memorial Day by Amos Russel Wells
The Day of Memories!—Remembering what?
The cannon’s roar, the hissing of the shot?
The weary hospital, the prison pen?
The widow’s tears, the groans of stalwart men?
The bitterness of fratricidal strife?
The pangs of death, the sharper pangs of life?
Nay, let us quite forget the whole of these
Upon our sacred Day of Memories.
The Day of Memories!—Remembering what?
The honored dust in every hallowed spot;
The honored names of all our heroes dead;
The glorious land for which they fought and bled;
Our nation’s hopes; the kindly, common good;
The universal bond of brotherhood;
These we remember gladly, all of these,
Upon our sacred Day of Memories.
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A Deluge of Palindromes
Posted in Holidays, Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, calendar fun, not exactly a holiday but, Thoughts on May 22, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Good news, people who enjoy fun trivia and temporally specific facts, today is a palindrome day. That’s when the date (as written American style, at least) reads the same forwards as well as backwards.
I’ve mentioned this before in A Minor Mystery, but this week, we’re actually in the middle of what I’m going to call a Deluge of Palindromes, because all dates between 5/21/25 and 5/29/25 qualify.
Fun, right?
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Happy Mother’s Day, Mothers!
Posted in Holidays, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, inspiration, Mother's Day, mothers, Thoughts on May 11, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Here’s to moms, those all-too-often-unsung heroines out there doing motherhood every day.
Unsung Heroes of Motherhood by Wendi Aarons and Johanna Gohmann
… Amanda Hill, who took her rage at trying to reenter the workplace as an older mom and being told they “just aren’t hiring women in your stage of life right now” and funneled it into a brightly colored, expletive-laden cross-stitch project.
Happy Mother’s Day!
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Necessary Lessons
Posted in Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, history, Thoughts on May 8, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Today I’m thinking about life, the universe and everything. Mostly good thoughts! I’m not doing a great job of articulating them all, though, so let me just take a moment to commemorate one key event on this day in 1945.
It’s Victory in Europe Day, and while the end of World War Two wouldn’t come for several more months, it marked a significant step on that path.
What You Need To Know About VE Day 8 May 1945
Millions of people rejoiced in the news that Germany had surrendered, relieved that the intense strain of total war was finally over. In towns and cities across the world, people marked the victory with street parties, dancing and singing.
As I’ve noted before (and no doubt will again!), the exceptionalism of humanity is our ability to accumulate and pass down knowledge, experience, and lessons from one person to another, one generation to another, one society to another. That’s the magic.
How we use it, however, is now up to us.
Winged victory waits
for the call of those learning
history’s lessons.
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Four Forever!
Posted in Entertainment, Holidays, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, george-lucas, inspiration, meaning, movies, myths, realities, science fiction, star wars, Star Wars Day, Thoughts, Writers on May 4, 2025| Leave a Comment »
It’s May 4th and you know what that means! It’s Star Wars Day!
Why is Star Wars Day celebrated on May the 4th?
Star Wars Day was created by fans as a sly nod to one of the films’ most popular catchphrases, “May the force be with you.”
And when does science fiction become science fact? A few examples:
Some ‘Star Wars’ stories have already become reality
…at least four important aspects of the “Star Wars” saga are much closer – both in time and space – than Lucas was letting on.
And while it’s true that we’re making progress on the scientific and technological aspects of the Star Wars universe, that’s not the reason we care so much about it.
Star Wars came to me at a difficult time, and has served as an anchor ever since. Why does the story resonate so strongly with so many people?
A force awakened: why so many find meaning in Star Wars
According to Lucas: “I became fascinated with how culture is transmitted through fairy tales and myth. Fairy tales are about how people learn about good and evil…it’s the most intimate struggle that we cope with – trying to do the right thing and what’s expected of us by society, by our peers, and in our hearts.”
These stories typically appear during times of doubt and can help viewers reclaim the goodness and innocence in themselves, reminding them they can overcome the evil they see in the world.
And while I normally ignore Episodes I, II and III (IV forever!), this quote from the script of III seems appropriate.
“In a dark place we find ourselves, and a little more knowledge lights our way.”
—Yoda
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Bringing in May
Posted in Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, Beltane, inspiration, Spring, workers' rights on May 1, 2025| Leave a Comment »
The first of May is marked in a number of ways by different cultures, but here and now it tends to mean two things: spring, and workers’ rights. Read on for more about both.
May Day – Meaning, Date & Workers Day
The Celts of the British Isles believed May 1 to be the most important day of the year, when the festival of Beltane was held.
This May Day festival was thought to divide the year in half, between the light and the dark. Symbolic fire was one of the main rituals of the festival, helping to celebrate the return of life and fertility to the world.
What Is May Day? Traditions and Lore of May 1st
Did you know that May Day has its roots in astronomy? Traditionally, it was the halfway point between the spring equinox and the summer solstice! In ancient times, this was one of the Celtic cross-quarter days, which marked the midway points between the (four) solstices and equinoxes of the year.
If you’re planning a dance around the maypole later, have fun. Even if you aren’t, I hope you enjoy the day.
Because we’re halfway to summer, hooray!
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