Monday, July 1, 2019

Monday Musings - July 1, 2019




1. The second half of 2019 arrived this morning as the calendar changed over to July. 

2. I mowed the lawn yesterday. It is not growing as fast as it once was, but it is still growing. I enjoy the green.

Sky over Elkridge
Elkridge, MD
June 30, 2019
3. I once saw a painting in a museum that was blue. Only Blue.  The entire canvass was a single shade of blue. I did not understand the painting at the time. I had an idea yesterday. I looked at the sky and took a picture, it is blue. I now understand.

4. The sun was hot and the pool was a grand place to enjoy yesterday.

5. Ohio drivers near Cincinnati are worse than Maryland drivers. In Maryland, drivers at least give you a warning before they change lanes with a small turn of the wheel to indicate they are coming over. In Ohio, they just come over into the lane, hard! Neither group understands what the lever on the left side fo the steering wheel is for or that it is connected to turning signals.

6. Independence Day arrives this week. Thomas Jefferson wrote about Independence Day on July 4, 1809: "The fourth of July, the epoch of American independence, is a day when the heart of every American must glow with pride and gratitude. No village, however sequestered, no citizen, however obscure, forgets the celebration of the anniversary of his country's liberty! Through all the land, from the shores of the Atlantic to our mountain-tops, the sounds of gratulation are heard; the roar of cannon, and the peal of bells, announce the auspicious morn, and people of every rank hasten with their festive offerings round the altar of liberty." Source:Margaret Bayard Smith, A Winter in Washington or Memoirs of the Seymour Family(New York: Bliss and E. White, 1824), 3:215.

7. There is something especially enjoyable about taking a nap in the pool on a floatie on a hot sunny afternoon. 

8. History Today. At midnight on July 1, 1997, Hong Kong reverts back to Chinese rule in a ceremony attended by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Prince Charles of Wales, Chinese President Jiang Zemin, and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. A few thousand Hong Kongers protested the turnover, which was otherwise celebratory and peaceful. In 1839, Britain invaded China to crush opposition to its interference in the country’s economic, social, and political affairs. One of Britain’s first acts of the war was to occupy Hong Kong, a sparsely inhabited island off the coast of southeast China. In 1841, China ceded the island to the British with the signing of the Convention of Chuenpi, and in 1842 the Treaty of Nanking was signed, formally ending the First Opium War.


Headlines

Fresh protests erupt as Hong Kong braces for annual rally to mark handover - Reuters





Ronald Reagan Quote for the Week


People everywhere hunger for peace and a better life. The tide of the future is a freedom tide, and our struggle for democracy cannot and will not be denied. This nation champions peace that enshrines liberty, democratic rights, and dignity for every individual. America's new strength, confidence, and purpose are carrying hope and opportunity far from our shores. A world economic recovery is underway. It began here.
  -- Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union January 25, 1984


-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

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