Memorial Day Thanks

Posted on May 26, 2014May 26, 2014 by Dusty Roads

As we enjoy the wonderful weather and a day off from work to barbecue and party, take a moment to give thanks to those brave men and women whose sacrifices make our life style possible.

Remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice. They gave their lives that we might have ours. For them there is no tomorrow, no second chance at life or love, but thanks to them we have our life, our freedom and our chances to live.

Remember those who returned but suffered unspeakable injuries to body, soul or mind. Brave men and women traumatized by their injuries or the injuries to others that they witnessed or perhaps by the actions they had no choice but to take.

But these actions and sacrifices paid for our freedoms. They kept our shores safe. They stood up for our way of life.

As I think about Memorial Day and all that it stands for I am grateful to all who have done their duty to safeguard this great nation and our freedoms but I am sad too. I feel for the families left behind or the soldier who once able-bodied is now missing a limb or worse. My heart aches for those who returned so stressed and traumatized that although their body is sound, their emotions and feelings are forever scarred. This is the price we pay for our freedom. This is the price our soldiers paid for us.

On this Memorial Day honor them, thank them and pray for them. Keep safe those who even today are fighting for freedom in foreign lands. Pray that someday we will gain the wisdom to be able to put down our weapons and live in peace and respect throughout the world.

Always remember…

A Milestone

Posted on May 21, 2014May 21, 2014 by Dusty Roads

WOW! I finally did it! I published my 1000th post on aroundustyroads.com! I almost missed it too until a little notification from wordpress popped up to let me know.

The exact post was “Sky High in Gatlinburg”. That’s a real milestone.

Cheers!

Now I just have to do it all again. Thanks for coming along for the ride. 🙂

May Day

Posted on May 2, 2014May 2, 2014 by Dusty Roads

So what did you do yesterday? May 1st, May Day, is supposed to be a Spring Festival. In my mind I see sunshine, flowers, and children dancing around the May pole or at least playing with those long, loopy ribbons.

May first around here was more like April 1st. Rainy again but it did warm up in the afternoon. Still anyone dancing around a Maypole today would have to be puddle jumping too.

May Day is related to the Celtic festival of Beltane. The maypole dance comes to us from the Druids of the British Isles, with May Day—May 1—being the second-most-important holiday of their year, because it brought with it the Beltane festival and the observation of pagan fertility rites. May 1 was seen as the beginning of a new year, and fires were lit as part of the celebration.

As Europe became Christianized, the pagan holidays lost their religious character and either changed into popular secular celebrations, as with May Day, or were merged with or replaced by new Christian holidays as with Christmas, Easter, and All Saint’s Day.

I’ve never seen a Maypole or a Beltane celebration but I think a nice sunny day of dancing and flowers is just what we all need these days.

A Big Day for Massachusetts

Posted on April 22, 2014April 22, 2014 by Dusty Roads

Yesterday was a big day for Massachusetts. It was Patriots’ Day. It’s not named for the New England Patriots football team, but the other way around. It’s named for those men who fathered our nation, the minute men, the rag-tag revolutionaries that won the nation’s freedom. Patriot’s Day in Massachusetts commemorated the “shot heard ’round the world”. The Battles of Lexington and Concord which marked the start of the revolution.

A trip to the Concord Green at dawn is a trip back in history as the battle is reenacted with muskets and Red Coats. It doesn’t last long but as the smoke from the muskets roll over the watching visitors it’s easy to be transported back to that day in 1775.

Two more modern events also take place on Patriots’ Day in Massachusetts.

Since 1959 the Boston Red Sox have been scheduled to play at Fenway Park on Patriots’ Day.

But the other big event is the Boston Marathon. This is so big that some people call the day Marathon Monday. Yesterday was especially meaningful because it was the first anniversary of the Marathon Bombings. For many people it was a matter of pride to make sure this year’s running was successful, safe , special.

I was going to meet my friends and co-workers at Mile 13 in Wellesley to cheer on the runners. One of my co workers was running. What makes her run so amazing is that she has been struggling back from an injury that only a couple of months ago had her bed-ridden. I can’t quite wrap my head around what an accomplishment this is!

I ended up missing it. I had to get my business cell phone fixed so I was stuck at the T-Mobile store all afternoon. 🙁 Sadly I had to pull the plug on my phone. It had been struggling on life support for several months and it was just time. It was so far gone that it took forever to get the contents moved from my old phone to the new phone but finally I was back in action. Unfortunately by then most of the runners had crossed the finish line.

The news reports state that The Marathon was a success and the Red Sox lost against the Orioles.

Life in the Hub goes on, the sun was shining and life is good!

Peeps are Here

Posted on April 19, 2014April 19, 2014 by Dusty Roads

Last year I was still working at my previous employer and that means I was going into an office every day. We were quite a social group and often had pot luck parties. Around Easter last year we had a Spring party and I contributed a “Peeps Sunflower Cake”. Some of my long time readers may remember it.

Since I no longer go into an office regularly and when we do, lunch is usually delivered, I haven’t done any baking since Christmas. (I’m supposed to be losing weight. Just ask my Doctor). But a few weeks ago I ran across a recipe for another “peeps cake”. I cut it out and left it on the end table.

Every night I’d look at it sitting there. Some nights I’d pick it up and read it. Oh I was tempted to try it. It looked so pretty.

Well I finally gave in. The problem was that once I got into it I realized I didn’t have the right size cake pans. It’s a 4 layer cake and even if a 9″ pan worked I only had 3 pans. I could use the 9″ pans and have skinny layers or I could do the right thing and get 4 new 8″ pans. I’d already been to the store and had all the ingredients. It would be a shame to quit now.

So off to Michael’s Craft Store I went. Sure enough, they had 8″ cake pans. They aren’t cheap! But I consoled myself that I’d have them for future cakes.

I baked the cake after work and let the layers cool completely. In the morning I frosted and decorated the layers. And here’s the end result 🙂