Which Country Are You?

This was kind of Cool!

You're Egypt

Curator of ancient mystical secrets, your life on the surface is fairly typical these days. Though you are in denial about more things than most people. Nevertheless, you're trying to convince people that you're safe despite your more volatile and unstable times that seem to be behind you. You like cats a whole lot. You'd probably really appreciate The Blue Pyramid. Take the CountryQuiz at the Blue Pyramid

Now - how did they know I was a cat person?

Christmas

It seems like there are more and more people who are trying to do away with Christmas. Years ago, I remember a song on an album (remember those LPs?) we had at our house sung by George Beverly Shea, I believe, called "Put Christ Back Into Christmas." It seems like Christmas has become more and more secularized over the years. Religious displays aren't allowed in so many places nowadays. That's a shame. Yesterday, I heard someone on the O'Reilly Factor talking about the Denver Christmas Parade that is sponsored by a private organization. They are not allowing any parade entries with religious themes or religious songs. They are taking things too far. [I just checked FoxNews Web site to find a link to the story, and it looks like they got a lot of complaints and are letting Christmas stay for now.]

The first amendment says:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of
the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
government for a redress of grievances.

Note: We're supposed to be able to freely exercise our religion. Why can't celebrate the real reason for Christmas?

Read Laurel's post over at The Purple Needle entitled "Christmas Is Not a Dirty Word."

Cape May Street

Taneya is working on a gorgeous cross-stitch picture of Cape May Street. How does she get that much done in three weeks?

The Friday Five (on Saturday)

1) Do you enjoy letter writing [as in snail mail]? When's the last time that you wrote someone a letter or a note? When's the last time that you received something in the mail from someone [not including regular stuff like bills, junk mail, etc.]?

I actually do. I prefer to type the letters nowadays though. I sent notes to a few folks this past month. I actually received something in yesterday's mail that was real mail. (Family historians like myself do tend to write and send letters more often. Even though we do send a lot of email, there's still plenty of cause for use of the US Postal Service.

2) Do you plan to send out holiday cards this year? Why/why not? Do you spend a lot of time on them? About how many holiday cards do you usually send each year?

Yes. I love receiving them myself. It's also the only contact I have each year with some people. I used to spend more time than I do now. I write a newsletter to insert in each one now and write personal notes on a few. I sent about 75 last year.

3) Have you ever had a penpal? Where and when? How long did you write to them, or are you still in contact with them? What kinds of things did/do you talk about with them? How did your penpal relationship come about?

I had several back when I was in junior high/high school. Most of them were folks I met when I was at church camp of some sort. We used to attend a family camp in Oklahoma each year. I wrote to friends in Tennessee, Florida, Arkansas, and Texas from that. From my church camp in Mississippi, I had a couple of good pen pals. However, the most enduring pen pal relationship was with a friend I met while camping. I don't even remember exactly where we were camping when we met. It may have been in Alabama, but I'm not positive. However, we kept writing. She lived in South Carolina. We kept writing through college. (She attended Air Force Academy in Colorado.) We even wrote a bit after that. Now we are down to exchanging cards.

4) Do you feel that you have good penmanship? Did you ever have to take a handwriting class in school? Do you prefer typing letters or writing them by hand? Have you ever had yourhandwriting analyzed?

My penmanship varies in quality. I can write neatly, but I can write sloppily. No handwriting classes besides the usual teaching kids to write in elementary school. I love handwritten letters, but I prefer to type them. My cousin's wife analyzed it once years ago.

5) If you could receive a personal, hand-written letter from anyone in the world right now, who would you choose and why? Why would you want a letter from him/her?

Wow - that's a tough one, but it would be someone in the family or a friend. How about all my friends and family send me a letter, and then I'll decide which one I liked best? LOL

YUM!

Check out this week's Carnival of the Recipes.

Laughing Gas in 1823

Who would have thought of this use for nitrous oxide in the year 1823?

More Agreement about Cutcliffe

Everywhere I look, the sports editors and articles are agreeing. This one sums it up: "It's a sad day for Ole Miss."

I'm Not the Only One Upset . . .

I'm not the only person who is upset about the firing of Coach Cutcliffe. Looks like Archie Manning questions the decision.

Fire the Ole Miss Athletic Director

Okay, they fired Coach Cutcliffe when he had one bad season. He still has a winning overall record and brought some class to the team. I think we need to fire the A.D. who got rid of Colonel Reb and then Coach Cutcliffe. He's made a big mistake!

GIS Helps Communicate

As a family historian, I'm very enthusiastic about maps. Today's Knoxville News-Sentinel has a great article about Geographic Information Systems and their ability to communicate data effectively. [You'll probably have to register to see the article.] However, I want to mention a few of the Web sites they mentioned in the article and describe their use to genealogists. One was the Knox County (Tennessee) GIS site. They had ward maps which would show those voting districts which roughly parallel enumeration districts on the census. Another neat site was the Geography Network which allows users to search for an area they'd like to explore and find all sorts of maps for it. I also really liked the Appalachian Trail Conference Mapping site which gives great explanations of the uses of GIS.

Mincemeat Pie, Anyone?

I'll have to admit that Mincemeat Pie is not my favorite dessert. However, this article by a columnist is very interesting. I'd rather have pumpkin, pecan, apple, or that truest of Southern pies - Sweet Potato Pie!

Sunday Musings

We had a very interesting discussion in Sunday School this morning. We were discussing how people's abilities to resolve conflict so often turn to violence now. The point was illustrated by the Pacers-Pistons brawl, the Clemson-South Carolina field fight, and even an instance from a local high school. Then we also talked about the unsportsmanlike conduct such at the taunting on the field and how some coaches don't do anything about it - and how times have changed in that respect. We also talked about how kids are no longer in trouble at home if they get in trouble at school and how the parents blame the educators and believe everything their darlings say now even when the child's behavior is well-documented. We actually did manage to tie it into our regular lesson. However, as I was thinking about this, I also thought about something I learned this week. Our teachers can no longer teach about Thanksgiving the way it should be taught because it "doesn't meet a standard." I think it is time to change a few of the standards and get a little bit of religion back in them. Surely all religions offer some sort of Thanks. The Pilgrims were thankful for the harvest. What is wrong with teaching this? I'll probably continue this theme later.

Vols Over the Commodores

Well, my Vols certainly know how to give people cardiacs this year! They've had so many squeakers, that it isn't funny. The defense just needs a lot of help this year. We did manage to pull off a win over Vandy with our #3 quarterback at the helm. However, the game was a lot closer than it should have been. The Vols network named Parys Harrelson as player of the game, and he was one of the defensive players who did well. We get to go to the SEC championship game in Atlanta now to play Auburn in a rematch, I guess. I hope we do better than we did last time against them. I also hope we get some players healed before the big game. I'm watching the Alabama-Auburn game right now. Bama was leading at half time, but it's 3rd quarter now and Tuberville seems to have motivated his team at the half. They are leading right now 14-6.

14th Carnival of the Recipes

Instapundit had a great link today. I love cooking so I really liked this link to the 14th Carnival of the Recipes.

Ban Smoking in Restaurants

I wish they would ban smoking in restaurants. There's nothing worse than having to breathe the unhealthy second-hand smoke when you are trying to eat -- not to mention the fact that I'm highly allergic to the smoke. I went to Florida back in the spring. It was so nice to be able to eat in smoke-free environments. Smoking vs. non-smoking areas in restaurants are such a joke. Ventilation is so poor in most of them that you can smell (and choke) on the smoke in the non-smoking section (not to mention the fact that in some of them the areas are adjacent and if you happen to be at the next table . . .) The harmful effects of second hand smoke are well-documented. I don't care how strong the tobacco lobby is! It's unhealthy.

Eli Gets to Play

Eli Manning is finally getting to start for the Giants this weekend! All I can say is . . . it's about time. The Mannings are great!

Spurrier & Cocky?

ESPN is verifying a report in the Tennesseean that Steve Spurrier may be headed to Columbia, SC to head up the Gamecocks after Holtz retires. Guess that means all of us Vols will now have a new team to dislike! Somehow that Florida rivalry kinda fizzled out when Spurrier was gone. It's still nice to beat those Gators, but some of the emotion of the rivalry departed when Spurrier headed to the Redskins. Of course, Holtz hasn't officially announced his retirement, but it seems he's been hinting that if they could nab Spurrier as coach that he'd call it quits.

Great Smoky Mountain Photos

I was sharing with my class today about blogging. I was using Instapundit as an example of a political blog, thinking that many of them may have seen him on the local TV station on election night as the returns were coming in. When I got to his site, he had a link to a blog with some great photos of Mt. LeConte area. We definitely have gorgeous views in this area!

Interesting Article

I was reading the Clarion Ledger online today and ran across an article by columnist Orley Hood called "The Lesson: Our Present Is Filled with Our Past . . ." It's an interesting article where he reminiscisces about things as he sees them today.

Long Time, No Post

I haven't posted here in awhile because my life has been really busy lately. Hopefully things are returning to a somewhat normal state, and I'll be able to get the blog updated. I'm really tired of this year's election. As I have been reflecting on the presidential election this year, I remembered the words of one of my great aunts that she penned to her grandmother in Illinois after moving to Mississippi in 1896. She was speaking of the election and reported that "After 4 years of Democratic hard times, it looks like we are in for a season of Republican prosperity." Of course the president elected then was William McKinley. Of course, we haven't been in 4 years of Democratic hard times, nor do I really think we've had 4 years of Republican ones either (as some Democrats would have you believe). I think the thing that surprised me most about the letter of my great aunt was her report on how the vote in the county of Monroe in the state of Mississippi went. From her comments, it apparently went Republican, although I did not verify that fact. I had always believed that the "Solid South" pretty much voted Democratic all the way until recent times when it has had Republican leanings (since about Nixon). Interesting!

I'll try to post more in a day or two. I'm looking forward to the end of the political ads and media coverage of the election. If you haven't voted yet, please consider my choice!