Unofficial Start of Summer?…
…Or the one day a year dedicated to honoring U.S. troops.
Americans
God forbid you should make the mistake of wishing a Catholic, “happy Good Friday!” Most will be all too happy to chide you and let you know Good Friday, despite it’s happy sounding name, is the annual remembrance of the death of Christ. Wish that same person a happy Memorial Day, and most will gladly wish you the same.
Now, it’s my turn to chide.
This day in the U.S., is the annual remembrance of a lot more people dying than one man. It is more so, the day to honor all the men and woman who have sacrificed either part or all of their lives to protect the potential for freedom and liberty and liberty in this country.
So, today, as you fire up your barbecue grills, take the cover off your pool and crack open a beer, try to take a moment to send a prayer or good wishes to the folks that truly allow this country the potential to be great. Or better yet, send off a care package to someone you know currently serving, or if you don’t know anyone, use the AnySoldier.com website to send off somethings they suggest to an anonymous soldier.
Current Knitting
I’ve been working on finishing as much as possible. First, I finished knitting the fourth (I thought it was the fifth, but I’ve only made four so far) pair of felted clog slippers, and sewed up all the seams. They are all now ready to be felted.
I also finished the colorblock cardigan.
I ended up using these great glass buttons that I had on an old sample card. Since they already came in multiple colors that worked well with the colors of the sweater, I was in luck.
You can’t see it very well, but the buttons look like they’re made the same way as marbles are made. I will try to get a picture of me modeling the cardigan after I’ve had the opportunity to block it.
Readers’ Comments/Questions
Regarding the FiberTrends clog slippers, Clare asks, “What yarn did you use for your clogs?”
I almost always use Cascade 220 for my felting projects, and that’s what I used for all the pairs of clogs I made. Like you, this is one of my favorite patters from FiberTrends.
Well, shoot, I just wrote out this long comment, and I guess I lost it. I grew up in a Southern small town. On Memorial Weekend we would all gather at the cemetaries to clean up and decorate the graves. The women of the church put out all the food and drinks and talked. The men and children cleaned and decorated. There were also family reunions all weekend. And you didn’t have to belong to the family. My mother would pile us in the station wagon and we were on our way to Miss Fannie’s family reunion. It was a close, family oriented lifestyle. We knew the people in the cemetary, or at least their family members.
I remember one Memorial weekend in Mississippi visiting relatives. We caravaned out to a rural church that did not have a regular congregation. So families would take turns going out there to clean up. I helped clean all the pews and wood inside first. Then I started outside. I brought home some really pretty lillies that I separated from one gravesite. I still love to visit rural cemetaries. It has only been a recent thing that I have seen this focus on troops. A friend and I discussed this last night. She was born in 1939, and her family always celebrated Memorial Weekend as a “grieving weekend”. No parties or fun for her or her sisters. I love your sweater, and the buttons. I often go through the grandmother box where I keep old notions. I recently gave a young girl in my knit group a cute belt buckle to use for her knit handbags. Juliann-Cozy Knitting
Well said.
LAst Memorial Day was just after I ran away from home for good.
I went with baby bro and beloved sis-in-law and their daughter, my namesake, to Annville, Pa, outside Harrisburg.
They have a town-wide celebration–parade, speeches, giant picnic all over the place.
It’s, on the surface, wholesome and friendly and joyful.
Underneath, though, it has gone far from its origins, which were to honor the millions of dead who died in truly horrific ways in the First World War.
It has become instead a glory of the military and a chastening of all those who don’t stand behind trillions of $$ spent and seeing attack as the only solution to everything.
I think we can recognize, appreciate and honor the sacrifices of those who have given so much to our country no matter what side of the aisle one is, politically. And I do.
Good for you. My grandpa served in France during WWI in the infantry. My dad was Airborne in the 50s and my husband was navy during Desert Storm. Regardless how I feel about current military affairs, I am thankful that my family has shown me the good example of standing up for what they believed in.
Many of us who were against the War in Vietnam, didn’t separate the feelings we had for the war from those we had for the soldiers. I have long regretted that but, unlike our government, have learned some lessons.
Service men and women make incredible sacrifices to protect our rights and freedoms. Let’s not forget.
The cardigan came out really well. I love the buttons and and the close up, which I assume is closer to the real colors.
I was really glad to read this post because as an Israeli living in the USA the US version of Memorial Day and its special sales especially in a time of war is all wrong for me. It goes along with the indifference to the number and/or identities of all the soldiers that die for us in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
My friend and I were talking the other day about how a lot of Americans don’t quite get what this day is about. They see it more as an excuse to get a day off work or school, an excuse to go and get drunk in hotel rooms and party.
And while those actions aren’t exactly complementary to the people who are fighting or have fought, they certainly are celebrating America’s freedom to do such things. In a twisted way, people went off to war and died so that people could have the freedom to drink themselves sick in celebration. It’s a bit of an odd way to do it, and I think it might be made a little less odd if more people consciously realised what they were celebrating and why they were celebrating it.
I’m not American, but I am against the war. I stop from time to time and send off mental well-wishes to the fighters and their families, the innocents on both sides of the fight, and I hope that the war will end soon and something resembling a truce can be created. I don’t condone fighting, but I do know that in order to get peace, most often one has to go to war for it.
Thank you. my son is in Iraq right now and I don’t think people realize how stressful it is for the people fighting this crazy fight. He does not believe we should be there but knows its his job and wants to do the right thing as he is told even though it might conflict with what he believes is the right thing. Too often we forget about those who are sacrificing for our right to drink beer and barbeque!
thanks for the info on anysoldier.com i wonder if there is an anyiraqi.com site for the hundreds of thousands that have lost their lives due to our genocide?
i can’t believe this war is still going on.
🙁
In my little part of rural Mass. Memorial Day is both a remembrance of all those who have passed from us and a memorial for those who have served in our Armed Forces. It’s good to remember both those who gave us roots and those who fight so we can honor our roots.
On a weightier note, our next Memorial Day may be to remember when we had a semblance of political freedom. I don’t know how many of you are aware of NSPD-51 and HSDP-20 (National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directives). Here’s a link. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55824
I just love those buttons, Joe and can’t wait to see this cardigan blocked and modeled. Thanks.
I never knew what Memorial day was – it sounds rather like our Australian Anzac Day. Thank you for the explanation.
I first found out about Memorial day 12 years ago, when I was on business in San Jose – but I got a bit confused as there were all these adverts etc, about barbeques, sales, official start to summer etc.
Apart from one collegue who had lost loved ones, everyone else was out to party that weekend.
I saw a show while waiting in Newark airport this Memorial Day, which was honouring the troops that are currently serving – it was poignant – it brought me back to the Rudyard Kipling quote used on Remembrance Sunday – at the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them.