Good day SUNSHINE—I’m back—yesterday was work and grocery shopping not exactly a red letter day but not so bad either.

How can anybody so buff and 6’3″  be this Cute?  He won Manliest Man in Scotland

Ok back to London.  Thought I’d cover a few of the districts that have been of special interest:

There is the City of London with in the sprawling modern metropolis that is the heart and soul of the city.  The ancient city that set within the medieval (and before that Roman) walls.   This is where it all began and even though there’s bunches of modern there’s also Roman temple remains, medieval halls, Wren’s Churches (please let me explain if there is an old church in London it was probably rebuilt after the Great Fire by Wren or one of his underlings–which is why I like Westminster Abbey—it’s ancient and not dealt with by Wren) and lots and lots of Victorian trivia including monuments to their ongoing drive for power and glory–while trying to look (if not act behind closed doors) prudish and proper.  This is one of my two favorite places in the city–there are Dragons on some of the main street marking its boundaries–I like Dragons and I love London.

The other ancient district of the city is Westminster City.  Here you have the Abbey that Wren didn’t built…as well as an adjoining church which is where the common people went as the Monks didn’t like the common folks in their Abbey Church and which became Parliament’s Church when the Puritans didn’t like the ornamentation of the Abbey.  and just across the way setting firmly on the Thames and next to London Bridge is Big Ben in its tower and parliament the governing body of the empire ad formerly the site of a royal palace.    Here are wonderful squares, historic landmarks and government offices not to mention art galleries and the remains of ancient palaces.  I love it here and spend time rambling and roaming.  It is beautiful and impressive and exactly what you think London should (and is) be.

Piccadilly at it’s heart (at its Circus) is all encompassing for London’s tackiness and yet even with its signs and fast food establishment it still boasts beautiful architecture and Eros’ Fountain (think Cupid).  There’s lots of shopping here but I do not spend bunches of time here as I love the older classier areas–Mayfair which is between Oxford St. and Piccadilly has grand Georgian streets that are temporary homes to the international wealthy  as well as super-deluxe hotels, stores and art galleries.

Chealsea and Knightsbridge–My main time spent here has been shopping (a trip to Harrods is an adventure onto itself but leave bread crumbs as you may have difficulty finding your way out).   This is an area of quiet residential areas along with Kings Road and Brompton Cross stores as well as South Kensington museums.

Kesington, Notting Hill and Hyde Park have a palace (which I hope to visit next time in London), two beautiful parks (Kensington Gardens and Hyde) which remind me a bit (only they’re classier and have an underground river feeding one park feature) of Central Park and Notting Hill–which will always remind me of Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts if nothing else.  It also has a market on the weekend and I spent time here when I stayed in London by myself for a couple of weeks and wandered around it quiet happily.  I wander if I went there now alone again if I would still yearn for home or just learn to live there?

Soho and Covent Garden is situated between the inner cities of London ad Westminster and like border towns everywhere they are where you find the slightly odd and always crazy.   Here are theaters, stage plays, musicals and bars.  Restaurant galore along with shopping and more shopping.  There’s even a few historical sites.  I mostly have shopped, eaten and drank here and my plans next trip is to do some night time partying.  An acquaintance after a trip to London overheard me saying I wanted to go to Soho…she warned me that this might not be the best place for a lady like me–I just smiled, next time I’ll take her to Key West for Fantasy Fest and see who blushes first (been there, done that and got beads for my efforts).

Holborn and the Strand is an area that incites me to wander.  In fact one of my favorite things to do in London is to pick an area and just take my time and pictures seeing what’s there and enjoying the old and to me new buildings and places.  One of the highlights in this district are the Inns of Court–still operating medieval institutions.  I took a walking tour (they have many in London) through this area and you can see everything including the only Templar Church (that I know of at least) in the area.

South Bank was originally swampland with some areas of if not really island then rather water intimidated series of dry land.  The Romans formed the first London Suburb here.  It was the site of Dicken’s stories of poverty and grief  (his father went to debtor’s prison here and his mother and youngest brother resided with them in the institution–the wall to that prison can be seen still in the area).  Here Shakespeare plied his trade and there are theaters and the remains of theaters not to mention an aquarium and the London Eye to name a few.   Old Warehouses have become the residence of the affluent  and there is the ruins of a bishop palace where a King of much renowned danced.  Last trip to London (3 years ago this month) I did one of my own self researched walking tours of the area.  We saw ancient inns still functioning and that also served as the original play houses (gallery around a court yard) and ancient churches not to mention a pub that provided a view to the great fire.  It is a must on your visit to London.

Come on back tomorrow for my favorite places.

“Go where we may, rest where we will,
Eternal London haunts us still.”
― Thomas Moore

Lovely weekend….drinks with friends on Friday–spent the day wandering around as hadn’t been out of the house since last Sunday.  Sat. I had a hat luncheon at a local church, enjoyed a lovely poet’s recital and ended the day at an Italian Fish place.  Sunday had lunch with a friend and picked up other friends from return trip to Cancun.  So kept busy….

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AND OUR COURSA JAMIE…NOW DOES HE LOOK HAPPY OR NOT????

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Thought I’d share my plans with you this week for next year:

Yes I’m going back to the UK.  I get a lot of questions as to why I keep going back and I thought I’d look at a few of these reasons this week.

TODAY WE’LL LOOK AT MY #1 REASONS:  London.  There was habitation here since long before the Romans in their conquest of Britain established a place here and built the first bridge across the Thames in 43 AD–which helps explain the fact that I have found thousand of reason to return

The Tradition seen all over the country but so obvious in London–from the guards in their unusual uniforms (read hats) to the mounted brigades a long history of military is seen all about especially about Buckingham Palace.

The Palace itself and the Queen (who I am told hates the place) who goes there from Winsor (where she actually lives) to the formalities and ceremonies are so English and so interesting to observe–grief the fact they still actually have a monarch is a rarity all onto its self.  According to Kings and Queens by Cavendish there have been rulers and tribal groups in Britain for 5,000 years but that the first historically documented king was Cassivellaunus who lead opposition to Julius Caesar in 54 BC.   Now that’s a tradition.  I was there for the Queen Mum’s (Elizabeth II’s mother ) funeral and the ceremonies for a Royal Funeral were very impressive.

All about there are continuing ceremonies (like the turning over of the Keys at the tower every night and the changing of the guards at the Palace) some very common knowledge (the guards changing) or others obscure (like the key at the tower).

The Church:  I tell everyone who goes to London that if you only have a day to see London you should see this church first or second.

Westminster Abbey holds the Royals from time past including Elizabeth I(pictured)–Daughter of Henry VIII (He’s buried at Winsor)as well as her grandparents (Henry VII) and her brother Edward VI.  The most impressive grave is that of Mary Queen of Scotts (also contained in her tomb are a couple of her still born grand children and yes her son James the six of Scotland and the  first of England also has a final resting place here) and  whom Elizabeth sent to the block–by the way Elizabeth’s sister Mary (as in Bloody) is buried beneath Elizabeth.   But if you do go here take the tour–otherwise you can’t get into the shrine where Edward the Confessor is buried (1042) along with some early Norman kings.

Not impressed with Royals–there are authors in the poets corner and beyond from Kipling to  Dickens and so many more but alas no Shakespeare (he’s in a lesser church at Stratford-on-Avon).  There area also Statesmen, Politicians as well as churchmen and greater and lesser nobles whose graves range from huge affairs with the deceased person or couple carved into stone to small plaques on the floors—there’s been a lot of history since the abbey was founded; on a marshy spot about 3 miles upstream from the original port:  and which was made bigger by Edward the Confessor in the mid eleventh century and later endowed by Richard II.

And my second  The Fort Castle nee Execution Ground and Prison.  The Tower of London was originally a fortress The original building of the Tower (the White Tower it is believed to be the site of the murder of the young princes Edward V and His brother)  built by the Norman’s (Think William the Conqueror) to impress and frighten the conquered people of London a city known for going its own way.

It has over time been a fortress, royal palace (until the 17th c all monarchs used to stay here before their coronation), a repository for public records, the Royal Mint, a menagerie (where kings kept exotic animals such as bears, even lions), an observatory and an arsenal for ordnance and small arms.  As well as a prison, and site of royal executions.

Now things to see include the Ravens which are kept here as it is legend that if the Raven leave the isle Britain and the tower will fall.  Tower Green where two of Henry VIII’s wives (Anne and Katherine lost their heads and another Quen Lady Jane Gray was similarly executed for trying to take the throne by his daughter Mary).   Traitor’s Gate where Elizabeth I arrived through but which she survived and went on to replace her sister Mary.  There are Barracks, military museums, the Queens’ house, part of the original Roman wall and the Royal Jewels which are unbelievable.

Oh and by the way:

this is Tower Bridge and there are tours of it and you can walk through the enclosed walk way–the expanse you see along the top here for a wonderful view of the tower, the Thames and London itself— It sets very close the enclosure of the tower but somehow Americans seem to equate this with

This bridge (I saw somewhere on line a claim that the original was in Arizona, but that my dear is entirely untrue–while Arizona has a former London Bridge the original was built by the Romans in 43 AD very close to were the current bridge is) is the REAL LONDON BRIDGE.

Tomorrow we’ll look at the different (or at least some) of the areas of London to explore and enjoy by day and night.

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 WORDS IN TITLE AND THROUGHOUT ARE FROM BOB DYLAN–1964 SONG

Good morning…yesterday was another very productive day and today I have to clean up some and organize a lot and find something that I have to have by tomorrow.  Somebody send me a Million dollars please I could use a vacation.

Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam

Gotta stop complaining—I’m taking tomorrow off…so I’ll look at the Scottish HUNK and forget my troubles.

And admit that the waters
Around you have grown

I thought I’d finish up my look at the death of the 60’s with a comparison of the 60’s and 70s and how the whole thing went from idealism to disco.

We went from the Age of Aquarius and the basic hippy who wanted to be simple and to loose the excesses that American children are taught to expect from birth.   To be honest with you most of us were just paying lip service to (or had fooled ourselves into thinking we believed) those particular ideas—I liked the dress and I was certainly against the war  and to help others survive and improve but giving up everything to live in a commune just didn’t meet my (or a lot of other people obviously seeing where so many Baby Boomer ended up) plans for a successful life.

We wen to  Disco abundance.

From the Beatles to the BeeJees

From the Who to Abba

From Easy Rider to Saturday Night Fever.

From the inventive to the obvious, from save the world to indulge your vices.   From die to stay free to dance to be.

We had had our  ideals,  but obviously we weren’t very good at hanging on to them and by the time I was out of college  and got a job etc, etc.  me and hundreds of others of the 100,000 plus of us who became teenagers in the 60’s started having less time to be ideal and used what spare time we had to relax and recreate.

And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin’

We had flaunted our youth–obviously the 60’s mini-skirt wouldn’t look at great on us as we moved into our 20’s and on the 30s.

While the 70’s kept the bell bottom they added Roller Skates and went from our long straight hair (and yes my dear we did often iron it to get it that way) with bangs that were mandatorily in your eyes to the 70’s do that required getting that same curl back and the skirt line was for the most part down.

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again

Men’s fashion can be summed up with the Beatles–early on in the 60’s this was the look—other than the long hair they looked like nice clean young men.

But the late 60’s saw them with even longer hair and a much groovier look.

While by the 70’s…not disco, and not clean cut but definitely different than the first suits.

We definitely had gone to a different place– we were less flashy, less daring, less sure of ourselves–did we loose our ideals, or just grow up?

And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who that it’s namin’

THE VIET NAM WAR was started slowly and built until the troops in this small country  over 100,000s by the mid 60’s.  The demonstrations became larger and larger and even plugged up DC for an entire weekend in 1969.  And what did we get?

By 1971 they were admitting that our efforts had not been in vain and that the additions of more and more Americans were questioning the government and military’s on why this continued.  And yes we did accomplish our goal–and Nixon finally admitted we were not a loud but minor group of citizens but in fact the majority and in response to ongoing anti-war efforts he announced the effective end to our involvement in Southeast Asia in January 1973.

So we may not have been able to carry on but we did stop the death and destruction and the loss of any more there.  Unfortunately not all of it ended with the withdrawl:

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
Don’t block up the hall
 

For least you forget it was also My Generation that died in that war and returned home did not mean that you were free:

According to a survey by the Veterans Administration, some 500,000 of the 3 million troops who served in Vietnam suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, and rates of divorce, suicide, alcoholism and drug addiction were markedly higher among veterans    http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-history

Some protestor were anti-troops which to me was totally stupid.  They did not make the war and it was not their decision to go into the hell hole that was Viet Nam and as the war wore on and became so unpopular at home even those who believed in what they were doing had to feel that they had entered a winless situation which can not be good for morale and mental well being.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don’t criticize
What you can’t understand

And then there were those who gave all for that small piece of southeastern Asia.  Also largely my generation:

The Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File of the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) Extract Files contains records of 58,220 U.S. military fatal casualties of the Vietnam War.  These records were transferred into the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration in 2008.  The earliest casualty record contains a date of death of June 8, 1956, and the most recent casualty record contains a date of death of May 28, 2006.  Interestingly California had the most over 5,000 and   (of non-states America Soma had 4 deaths) and Vermont the least at 100.  http://www.archives.gov/research/military/vietnam-war/casualty-statistics.html

Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command

As I look back on it all I throw my hands up in despair–I do not understand to this day everything that happened then.  We were young and impressionable and entering into an era of more freedom than our parents but less than our children.  We were faced with a war that had been in the making since we were children and which was a very real health risk for many of our young men.  I am a smart woman but I still do not follow the convoluted reasoning that put us in the little country and kept us there at the cost of over 58,000 lives.  I don’t now who or what was right or wrong.  I did not ever forsake our country as some did but I did have serious issues with many of those in power.

Your old road is rapidly agin’
Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend your hand

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast

So were we right or wrong..face it no one is every 100% but we lived in amazing times and did amazing things and watched governments change and lives continue and I like to think that our efforts made some of that possible and that— that just might be A GOOD THING.

As the present now
Will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin’

“For historical currents do not irresistibly propel themselves and everyone in their path. No matter what their broader structural or ideological roots, they both carry along and are carried along by people, who are not merely passengers of history, but pilots as well.”
― Doug McAdam, Freedom Summer

And the first one now will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’

Other Sources:

http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-protests

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Like a true Nature’s child, we were born, born to be wild.
~ Steppenwolf

Good morning yesterday I listed bunches of items, got some personal stuff done and was totally bored—how about you.

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Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it’s time to pause and reflect.
~ Mark Twain

Only non-boring part was reading a very bad (for Claire) but can’t stop turning the page in the A BREATHE OF SNOW AND ASHES (Outlander naturally) episode.  OMG how can one get so involved in people who don’t exist–I know GET A LIFE oh well easier said than done.

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Always trust those searching for The Truth, never those who have found it.
~ Jordan Maxwell

On today’s visit to 1970 I thought I’d examine the whole year and see what else was happening then.

First off I want to clarify something.  I spoke of being frightened of being killed at demonstrations and other emotions, in truth the killings at the two colleges jolted our world, but I am not at all sure that many of us–ever really believed it could happen to us, and if we had doubts they were not severe enough to keep us off the streets or in serious fear, but it introduced doubts that many of us Baby Boomers find tints our outlook on the activities of the ESTABLISHMENT to this day.

Get up, stand up, Stand up for your rights. Get up, stand up, Don’t give up the fight.
~ Bob Marley

I looked on some internet sites for their take on the big events of 1970

One listed as follows:

• Aswan High Dam Completed
• Beatles Break Up
• Computer Floppy Disks Introduced
• Palestinian Group Hijacks Five Planes
• Kent State Shootings

I thought maybe they put the Dam first as it was started with an A word, but Kent State is last after Palestinian so no that’s not it.

Of these subjects the only two that remains in my memory is the Kent State event and the Beatles break up…And if you notice Jackson State didn’t even make the list.  Don’t get me wrong I know the Disks would prove to be important (though not anymore) but to be perfectly honest mostly what I knew about computers I’d seen on Star Trek and no one owned, let alone had used one that I knew of.  The Dam was important to someone somewhere but not those of us protesting and striving to make our future a better place.  Oh and the hijackings by one group or another became ingrained as a danger of flying like birds at take off and storms on route.

Mostly I bemoaned the Beatles, a group that had made music that became a basic of my life—and as most of us did I didn’t blame Paul for leaving–I blamed Yoko for being the cause.   Making Yoko one of my personal bad guys of 1970.  And of course we discussed my reaction to Kent and Jackson State yesterday.

Hell no, we won’t go.
~ Anonymous Hippie Quote

Here’s the movies based on money made in 1970:  As far as I was concerned MASH was the best movie.  The story of a medical unit in the Korean War with it’s antiwar ideals were so easily carried over to the current conflict that it hit home hard and became legendary.

Woodstock was a great show and to see all the young people hanging out in the mud to hear group after group of rock’s royalty was fun.  I saw a lot of the great groups, but like most of us in the Midwest we had never heard of the festival till it started making the news for traffic jams and free concert.  I thought the maker pushed the nothing but peace and love theme a bit much but it was and still is another classic of the age.

Looking at this list I thought that it was interesting that they did two movies of a more socially acceptable war with Patton and Tora!Tora!  Tora.  Safer ground to be sure.

That year we lost:

Vince Lombardi

Janet Joplin

Sonny Liston

Gypsy Rose Lee

Jimi Hendrix

Charles de Gauille

to name a few.  Of course you know whom I am singling out there.

Jimi Hendrix was a hard rocking, hard living black musician that could do things with a guitar never done before and hardly even tried since.

Purple Haze all in my brain,
lately things don’t seem the same,
actin’ funny but I don’t know why
‘scuse me while I kiss the sky.

In September of 1970 in Nottinghill–London, UK he was found dead of asphyxiation by a girlfriend, he reportedly drank wine and partook of sleeping pills the night before.  He was DOA.

Janis Joplin was a lost soul, a woman who never seem to come to terms with who or what she was.  She was from Texas but seemed more suited for the music scenes of LA and Frisco than in her native land.  Her voice was unbelievable a blues singer that sent shivers down your spine.

I want you to come on, come on, come on, come on and take it,
Take it!
Take another little piece of my heart now, baby!
Oh, oh, break it!
Break another little bit of my heart now, darling, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Oh, oh, have a!
Have another little piece of my heart now, baby,
You know you got it if it makes you feel good,
Oh, yes indeed.

Janice followed Jimmy in death in October from an accidental overdose of heroin, which she had a history of abusing, at a hotel in LA.  It is of special note that her biggest single Me and Bobby McGee and  her best album (in my opinion) Pearl were not released until months after her death in 1971.

and so more of the Peace and Love of the 60s had fallen and due to drug use—something that had become intertwined in the movement and in the concept of love, peace and the eternal youth ideals.

Tomorrow I’ll finish up my 70 stint with a little more of the who when and why of a generation you can spend hours reading about–but unless you were there I’m not sure you’ll ever quite get it.

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The Seventies began, of course, in the wake of “the Sixties” and have remained ever since in their shadow — the sickly, neglected, disappointing stepsister to that brash, bruising blockbuster of a decade. “The sober, gloomy seventies,” as one journalist put it, “seemed like little more than just a prolonged anticlimax to the manic excitements of the sixties.” Sure, pundits constantly debate the era’s parameters, suggesting that the “real Sixties” did not begin until the escalation of the war in Vietnam, the riots in Watts, or the Summer of Love, or that they lasted until Nixon’s resignation, the fall of Saigon, the breakup of the Beatles or release of “The Hustle.” But they agree on a common portrait — the same mug shot of the Sixties as a time of radical protest and flower power, polarization, experimentation, and upheaval. Depending on one’s point of view, they are the source of everything good or everything evil in contemporary life.

The Seventies
The Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and Politics
By BRUCE J. SCHULMAN
The Free Press

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Sources:

http://history1900s.about.com/od/timelines/tp/1970timeline.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970_in_film

http://www.biography.com/people/groups/died-1970

http://www.biography.com/people/janis-joplin-9357941

Wanderings-Plaza Hotel

A day of listing stuff on line and doing a bit of straightening up–Avon lady here this morning–I love her, she is such a great gal.  I’m on a slow week with another busy weekend past and one coming on.

Pull that trigger and I can get a million women (and that’s just within the first 60 seconds) to hunt you down, beat you up and then devise long devious torture for which you will wish for hell to relieve the suffering.

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Should have been done long ago.

Today we’re continuing on in 1970 with the other Student Massacre.   JACKSON STATE —Cambodia and Civil Disrest

11 days after Kent State another college rang with gun fire and was stained with blood of the students.    This is a lesser know event–because the students were black and the cops white?  Because there actually was more violence on the student’s part–burning building, vehicles turned over, in addition to the jeers and rocks thrown in Ohio? who knows.  But the end result was two more students dead and more wounded.

The students were Phillip Lafayette Gibbs, (21 years) a junior pre-law major and father of a son under 2 years.

And James Earl Green (17 years) who was in the town’s high school and who reportedly stopped to watch events on his way home from his job at the grocery store.

12 students were wounded and the FBI estimated that more than 460 rounds had been pumped into a five-story dormitory with all of its windows shattered

What if you knew her

THE CAMBODIA INVASION;  Was what brought on the demonstrations.    Nixon approved the invasion on my birthday April 28 and officially announced the info on the 30th despite recommendation of a down sizing of the war and resulting in major demonstrations across the country and the resignation of Henry  Kissinger in protest of the invasion.  see Nixon’s announcement speech:  http://vietnamawbb.weebly.com/invasion-of-cambodia.html

And found her dead on the ground

A year before this invasion   we had 543,000 troops in Viet Nam (peak of troops ever assigned there) and the mood especially among the young who stood a chance of becoming cannon fodder was not a very optimistic one.   Even the congress and several of the president’s advisors were suggesting that this might not be going well and the rest of us had a very definite opinion on that and the addition of 6 dead students on the supposedly safe areas of the college campuses was like throwing gasoline on a fire that was already dangerous.

 How can you run when you know?

On May 8th the President defended the invasion stating it would give time for training Viet Nam troops to replace Americas and would allow him to withdraw over 100,000 Americans by the next Spring.  (interestingly he invaded Laos in February of 1971).   In truth it did not help that Nixon was not a popular president even before he hit the invader’s list–he was called Tricky Dick long before we found out about the tape recorders and his resignation.  He also had a reputation of being whiney and petty (You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore comments just one prime example of same.).  The former president (Johnson) resigned in the turmoil of the discontent with the war (Hey, hey LBJ how many kids can you kill today) and to us watching it all– he appeared to come into this season of discontent with as much regard for the citizenship (or in the case of a lot of the protestors future voters–I was of voting age by this time and it was the year I graduated from college) as a Roman Caesar showed for the Roman mobs and with an apparent self assurance that bordered on the unbelievable  or perhaps just showed a basic disconnection with the common man (and woman) of our society in general.

And while the occupation of Cambodia ended in June (Nixon announced a with drawl on 6/3/1970) the damage had been done.  From this point on the marchers and protestors would always be at least a little afraid for their lives and the radical elements such as the Weathermen and the Black Panthers would make their presence known and their violent ways would make those who truly wanted peace here and abroad fearful for our own country’s security.  Those not involved in the protests would become more polarized and the possibility of revolution was a constant fear  for those of us who wanted peace but not anarchy.   In the aftermath of the invasion 400 colleges were affected with protests some turning violent  and 200 schools closed completely.

And the invasion brought something new–no longer were the demonstrators just students and a few radical adults—the citizens of the US were becoming alarmed by the blood shed and the obvious growing area of the war and more and more the common man and woman were found carrying signs and protesting the military machine that the students had been bemoaning for years.

And so 1970 saw us poised on the road to possible revolution and ruin….and the long haired hippy was joined by the rock music establishment  as well as many more less likely social groups facing off against some serious conservative institutions over a small country few had ever visited and many of whom had not even heard of until the war began.

MOTHER’S DAY COMMEMORATIVE Holly Hobbie 1975 Millions of Stars in …

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“We were children of the 1950s and John Kennedy’s young stalwarts of the early 1960s. He told the world that Americans would “pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship” in the defense of freedom. We were the down payment on that costly contract, but the man who signed it was not there when we fulfilled his promise. John Kennedy waited for us on a hill in Arlington National Cemetery, and in time we came by the thousands to fill those slopes with out white marble markers and to ask on the murmur of the wind if that was truely the future he had envisioned for us.”
― Joseph L. Galloway

AEROSMITH Toys in the ATTIC 1975 33 1/3 Vinyl LP Record

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Sources:

http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/killings-jackson-state-university

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/nixon-approves-cambodian-incursion

http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/01/world/vietnam-war-fast-facts/

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/nixon-defends-invasion-of-Cambodia

Picture from a UK trip

Nice weekend.  Drinks with a couple of friends Friday night.  Sat was going to art exhibit at Rollins College…actually ran into one of the college artist outside–such a sweet and beautiful young woman.  Then we roamed about the grounds…this is such a beautiful college I got some great new shots…some of which I’m sure you’ll be seeing on the blog.  Then I joined some other friends for dinner (we had to hurry as if we stayed till 9 we had to pay $25 because they were carrying the fight…we ate and left with out the extra charge and finally I stayed the night so I could take them to the airport in the morning (early early)…then I drove home and just spent the day watching TV , reading and sorting through some paperwork.

BEAUTIFUL AND I’M NOT TALKING ABOUT THE HORSE…OMG HE’S IN MAJOR TROUBLE….IF YOU HAVEN’T WATCHED EPISODE 113 OF OUTLANDER DO SO AND KNOW THAT LIFE IS NOT GONNA BE GOOD FOR THIS LAD FOR THE RESTOF THE SEASON.

I was groping for a new topic today when I saw he events for the day one of my subscriptions on the History.com:  Today was the day that the Naional Guard killed 4 students at Kent State….what some call the death of the 60’s.

This summer I hear the drumming,

This is the picture I remember best…this is when we started to become adults, this was the beginning of our descent from the Age of Aquarius into the Hell of Reality.   This is the basis of my distrust of authority to this day–my conviction that the powers that be aren’t nearly as trust worthy as some people seem to believe.

Four dead in Ohio

These are the students on a campus at a college that many of even those of us in the Midwest and a minimal distance from it, had never heard of before.

Allison B. Krause:   Krause and her boyfriend, Barry Levine,  had been part of the protests and Levine later admitted they had been cursing the Guardsmen and throwing rocks at the guardsmen.  Allison Beth Krause was an honor student.

William K.  Schroeder:  . Ironically, he was attending Kent State University on an ROTC scholarship, and was only going to class when he was killed. He had avoided all demonstrations. He was killed when a bullet entered below his left shoulder and exited his chest. It is generally believed he was finishing observing the demonstration at this time.

Jeffrey G. Miller:  He was protesting the war in Vietnam when he was shot and killed by National Guardsmen called to his campus. Several months before his death, he had transferred from Michigan State University to Kent State.

Sandra E. Scheuer:  She was an honors student in speech therapy, and did not take part in any of the demonstrations. She was killed when the bullet struck her in the throat while she was walking to her next class.

The reality was that these white middle class students grew up in an America where it did not occur to them that their own would kill them.  They crossed campus or took part in the demonstrations with a trust in the freedom and safety of the land of the free.     I was one of these kids, going to school in a Church college in the boondocks of Michigan and I didn’t understand this at the time either.  In fact I got my first taste of it when we were going to the Peace Moratorium the previous year.  We had a flat tire and the highway patrol came by.  While I looked like your typical middle class kid of the time I was traveling with a couple of “hippie” looking guys and two lovely black ladies.  The trooper took us to the rest area so we didn’t have to wait along the road (at the driver’s request) but they were snide and bordering on nasty….it was the beginning of an awakening of what a lot of the world and our own minorities had to live with on daily basis.   It was the first time I ever experienced prejudice.

The 60’s were the coming of age for so many of us.  It was a time when we were thrust for the first time into a chance to make a difference.  So many had died and many more were to die, and they were our age group and sometimes even our friends and associates.  Our country had decided to make war on a little country on the other side of the world for reasons that (to this day at least to me) made little or no sense.  So we developed this idealist world view and became protestors, wrote articles for papers and listened to all the right groups….but this is the first time that we came to realize that the dangers of the world didn’t stop at the US borders but could strike even in the heartlands of Ohio and it would be wearing the uniform of a government that had promised to protect us.

The rest of this week I’ll look at the other loss of student lives in May 1970 and a look at the war and the 70’s.

“I don’t care if you’ve never listened to anybody before in your life. I am begging you right now, if you don’t disperse right now, they’re going to move in. It will only be a slaughter. Please, listen to me. Jesus Christ, I don’t want to be part of this. Listen to me,“

Kent State Professor Glenn Frank (picture), in an impromptu speech made to students after National Guard fire on a crowd of war protesters left 4 dead and 9 wounded. Frank’s message was heeded and additional loss of life prevented.

Sources:  http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6438617

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6438623

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6438650

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/neilyoung/ohio.html

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Did a movie (Charlie Chan) and dinner last night.  Meet Up Groups are fun.  http://www.meetup.com/

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

http://outlander.wikia.com/wiki/Jamie_Fraser

AND A BELATED BIRTHDAY TO

Sam Heughan    April 30, 1980     Outlander” fans, it’s time to celebrate a super, extra special day: Sam Heughan’s birthday. His 35th birthday, to be more specific. http://www.zap2it.com/blogs/sam_heughan_birthday_outlander_fans-2015-04   

TO QUOTE THE AUTHOR: they are  ON BOTH SIDES OF BELTANE.  3 yrs. ago I was at the Beltane celebration in Edinburgh https://edinburghfestival.list.co.uk/festival/edinburgh-beltane-fire-festival/

Today we finish our quest for bargains….today I’m dealing with everything else:

KOHL’S (one of my friend once said one of these days they were going to start paying us to shop there) is a great place to get a bargain and their sales are great but here is what you need to do to really save at Kohl’s –GET THEIR CREDIT CARD.  Then you get all the announcements of sales and the announcements usually include a scratch or peel off which has a 10-20-or 30% off on it–if you use the credit card for the purchase.  I think my best savings to date was like over $375 last Chistmas (including money off and sales on items.  Oh and the 30% off is on sales and non-sale items–anything in the store)  Oh and they also send you a $10 off anything coupon for your birthday.      http://www.kohls.com/

Stein Mart  offer great savings too and here it’s a great idea to apply for their customer card–it’s free and gives you extra savings on items.  I bought a beautiful skirt for just a few dollars given a great sale and my customer card.  Oh this store is great for wonderful jewelry and dressier clothing.  When I had a formal wedding to go this is where I found the perfect thing.    https://www.steinmart.com/

Books: There’s several options in this  area–first on line or catalog is Daedalus (they actually have at least one  store somewhere) which offers books, DVDs, and CDs at fantastic prices.   You can order on line or request a catalog.  I get the catalog but do my ordering on line.  http://daedalusbooks.com/

Another great place for bargain books is your local used book store….around this area I like Best Books http://thebestusedbooks.com/   they have a huge selection and also have DVDs, videos, CDs and other items.   Most of these type stores will accept your old books for credit toward your new purchases and some even offer cash for your unwanted books, DVDs and the like.

Aldi’s is a great place to save money on groceries and while it’s not a place to go for brand names (they do have some–for instance they carry the 99 cent cans of Arizona Green Tea for 49 cents–they also have Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce and Coke products all at reduced prices and I am sure they have more, but…)  they offer a lot of products (i.e. flour and sugar for instance) that aren’t brand specific anyway and have great prices.  Their produce is well priced and as good or better quality as any grocery store in town.  Their wines (great strawberry cream and Irish offerings which include a cream liquor with a Carmel or one with vanilla and cinnamon) are a great offering at a good price.  Some of their products exactly mimic the brands (several of their cookie offerings look and taste like similar brand name products ) for up to half their price.  Their lunch meats are great and their frozen foods include from specialties from Germany which are good and a nice change.  Cheeses with assorted specialties like goat cheese with almonds and honey are delicious as is their individual flan (99 cents).  I could go on and on but you get the picture.  Try them and do some experiments on items that aren’t your brand but may more than meet your expectations.  https://www.aldi.us/

RESALE before you turn up your nose let me introduce you to the Goodwill Boutique in Winter Park, Fl.  The clothes offered here often bear the original price tag (I bought a new $80 dress for $20) but now selling for a greatly reduced price.  This store is a great place to get a bargain and while it does have some house wares and such it’s main offerings are clothing.  There are other such boutiques across the country as well as “lesser” Goodwill, Salvation Army etc. etc.  Many get new items (a local central Florida charity resale shop actually gets a truck full of items from a home improvement store every month which leave the store full of sinks, windows, doors and lot of other items) and many of the used items are reusable–in point of fact it’s hard to tell if that cup you’re drinking out of is new or used, but your pocket book can tell you paid .49 rather than $4.99.  Add to this the fact that the money in most of these shops benefits a charity (from the Catholic St. Vincent de Paul to Teen Outreach) and this money savings is a win-win situation.   http://www.goodwill.org/locator/

Consignment Shops:  These can range from resale tacky to Boutique snappy.  Merchandise belongs to an individual (many in most cases) that has been entrusted to this particular merchant to merchandise and sell.  Generally the stuff in these shops are a bit pricier than those found in resale shops, but on the other hand there is generally a more consistent product.  If you have some nicer items you want to get rid of (say a gift that you received you can’t use–or wouldn’t in years) placing them at one of these type shops can be a great way to make a few bucks…shop proprietors’ share of the profits vary from shop to shop but the ones I used took 40-50%.    Hint to the wise if you’re looking for high end items some of these shops can front serious rip offs:  http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/story/28950832/how-to-spot-a-fake-in-a-high-end-consignment-shop

Finally Yard Sales and Flea Markets.  Yard sales can be fun and you should go early if you’re looking for something in particular or later in the day if you’re just looking for a few bargains.

Flea Markets vary greatly and range from a collection of cheap but not necessarily useful or buying quality items to antique items and all things in between.  Some feature areas (or are in reality) where individuals can set up a mobile yard sale affair.  In any of these settings its buyer beware–be sure its a bargain and not junk that you won’t be able to use even enough to get its cheap cost worth.  http://fleamarket.about.com/

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