Most likely it was a happy 240th birthday for the United States. It seems like a new country compared to ones in Europe. When is a country a country? That is very hard to define. A single date may exist only in what is commonly practiced.

Take us for instance we celebrate the founding of the US on the fourth of July. However, that is the date attributed to the Declaration of Independence. We didn’t have a constitution until 1783. That was 7 years later. So are we only 233 years old? Is the Original 13 the same country as the current 50? We have certainly changed.

We declared independence from England. Actually England was then the United Kingdom. It had become the United Kingdom in the Act of Union in 1707.

The current U.K. consists of England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. As some of us remember it was one time so big the sun never set on it. It still has some kind of Commonwealth.

Most of us recognize Greece as an old country. They do speak almost the same language; at least the old language is comprehensible to the Greeks of today. Greek people have been around over 5000 years. Athens was a Democracy at least 2500 years ago. The boundaries and many other things have changed in the meantime.

We know China as a very old country. It has had many dynasties and different governments. Some consider Taiwan as the legitimate descendant of the older versions.

Egypt is in the same boat. It really isn’t the world power it was when the Pharos ran it.

What is the real way to determine a country’s age? It certainly isn’t simple. And it seems to be getting harder with the neo-nationalistic movements in ascendency in the world.

One of the results of the vote in June for Brexit may be the split-up of the United Kingdom. Scotland wants to become an independent country. Some of those who want Texas to split from the United States are emboldened to try. Old Abe must be spinning in his grave. He really thought that issue was settled with the Civil War didn’t he?

This country definition thing just makes that rule of physics that says the only thing constant in the universe is change seem like the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

There can’t be much doubt of that from the recent elections around the world. The May Austrian election for president was annulled on the first of July. So, the far right guy gets to try again to pick up the few votes he lost in the first election. We have two nominating conventions coming to pick our presidential candidates. Most of the predictions are for fireworks that may out do the ones we had on the fourth.

The spinning wheel of history seems to be in high gear this year. I hope it doesn’t spin the wool over our eyes; however, it is surely not certain.

Stephen Biles, Mid-Coast IPM Agent, will be the featured speaker on Thursday, July 21, at the County Extension office, 186 Co. Rd. 101 in Port Lavaca from 1:00 until 2:00 p.m.

The topic is “insects”, so come prepared to ask him lots of questions about “what bugs you”.

This “min-lecture” is free to the public and you are welcome to attend.

June 6
Seadrift Volunteer Fire Department responded to assist Port Lavaca FD and Six Mile Community VFD with a grass fire off of FM 2235.
June 11
Seadrift VFD & Port Lavaca FD responded to a Structure Fire off of 8th Street in Seadrift; Port O’Connor VFD also responded.
June 11
Seadrift VFD responded to a possible Life Flight Helicopter landing off of Lane Road, cancelled while en-route.
June 15
Seadrift VFD & Port Lavaca FD responded to a one-vehicle accident on Hwy 35 near the River Bottom.
June 16
Seadrift VFD responded to assist EMS with lifting assistance on a medical call in Seadrift.
June 16
Seadrift VFD responded to a tree on fire from a power line off of East Houston Street in Seadrift.
June 17
Seadrift VFD dispatched to assist with a grass fire in the Sanctuary Subdivision; cancelled while en-route.
June 19
Seadrift VFD dispatched to assist with a downed power line off of Garza Road, cancelled while en-route.
June 24
Seadrift VFD & Port Lavaca FD responded to a natural gas leak in a structure off of South 4th Street in Seadrift.
June 27
Seadrift VFD responded to West Dallas Ave in Seadrift for a natural gas leak.
June 28
Seadrift VFD dispatched to assist with a vehicle fire off of Wall Road near Port Lavaca; cancelled while en-route..
June 28
Seadrift VFD responded to North 5th Street in Seadrift for a security light fire.

In 1953 a tall handsome young preacher met a beautiful curvy redhead and fell in love. He chased her until she caught him. They married in 1955. They exchanged beautiful gold and silver filigree wedding bands as a symbol of their love and commitment. They had four daughters and lived a life of love that rivaled some of the greatest love stories ever written. They were faithfully, happily married for 52 years when the still handsome preacher and still lovely redhead stood hand in hand, side by side as they both battled cancer and all of its ravages. They lost hair, lost weight, lost time, but never lost hope. After two years, the handsome preacher lost his battle with cancer, and he died. The beautiful redhead battled on without him, but never quit missing him. She remains a strong and inspiring cancer survivor.

Their daughters and sons in laws, seven grands and now five great grands never quit missing their husband, daddy or grandad. He was quite a man! The second grandson of the young preacher I proudly call son.

Last month I joyfully and tearfully watched him marry! Like many young couples they walked a few roads to get to that point. Health, deployment to Iraq, job changes and other hurdles made it challenging to work out all the details, but they stuck it out and stuck together until the “I DO” happened and it was enchanting.
When we began planning the wedding my son nervously asked his beloved grandmother whom he calls Nani if she would consider allowing him to wear his Grandad’s wedding ring. She agreed with concern that it might not fit and could not be sized because of the filigree and etching. He timidly removed it from the box where Nani said it had been for 10 long years of missing Grandad and slipped it on his finger. It fit like it was made for him! She challenged him to wear it as a reminder of the man his grandad would want him to become.

So, 62 years later, in the same week as his grandparents wedding anniversary, my beloved son slipped that ring on and kissed his beloved as the beach sunset blazed over the water of Matagorda Bay! It was if he had his grandad’s blessing in that moment. I can only hope and pray they have one half of the happiness, joy and adventure my precious parents had in their lives together. They come from a long line of love, so I think their chances are really good! Congratulations Matt and Ashley!

Three books this time; two are excellent and inspire enjoyable reading and one?

John Grisham’s THE CONFESSION brings to light the inadequacies of our justice system, particularly as it was back in the early ‘90’s.  The book details the story of a young man in Texas wrongly accused of murder and sentenced to death.  Shortly before the execution date another man confesses to the crime.  Despite a frantic trip to get the Court of Appeals Department of the State of  Texas to rule on the confession, the defending attorneys fail to get a hearing as the department has closed at 5:00 p.m.  Although by law there must be a member of that  Appellate department on duty at all times to be available to hear and review any last minute pleadings, the defending attorneys were locked out.  Additionally, the presence of this one “duty judge” had not been publicized to death penalty attorneys, which is really a crime in itself, and non-electronic filings were not available at this time.  A plot beautifully written by Grisham, the resulting failure of a hearing takes your breath away as do the anticipated  resulting problems in the small East Texas town where the young man lived.

NEW YORK by Edward Rutherford details the historical settlement of Manhattan by the Dutch and English and follows five families from the 1600’s to September 11, 2001.  The book also tells of the rise of so many well known families: Vanderbilt, Pierpont Morgan, Rockefeller and other men deeply involved in the growth of Manhattan.  It was fascinating reading of the development of Park and  5th Avenues with the building of the huge, almost palace-like, homes of the “rich folk” along that area.  A beautifully plotted and written book, and I heartily recommend the reading of it.

The last book is named DARKNESS by Karen Robards which I found extremely disappointing with a weak plot as well as characters.  Although some of the description about parts of Alaska were interesting, they could have been expounded on.  However, this author seems to be more involved with sexual encounters and those constant thoughts of the characters than a deeper analysis of the characters’ employers or highlights of the area involved.  I doubt I’ll ever read another of her books.
The last session of this Summer’s Reading Program will be Tuesday, the 19th of July and will mark the party ending this year’s program.  Do hope all our young attendees really enjoyed the sessions and will look forward to next year’s program starting June.

We, in the Library, and our wonderful helpers are anticipating the writing and assembling of our SECOND Christmas and Holiday Recipe book.  As you readers are the ones who make this possible with the sharing of a special traditional recipe and the explanation of why it is special, we look forward in the coming months (and November is not that far away) to  receiving those recipes. And we thank you very much for help.

I know I’ve used the following quote for several years, but it really makes sense: Just think about it!

“When An Old Person Dies, A Library Burns Down!”
Karen Gillespie

And we certainly don’t want our Library to burn down! Bless all who support it in so many different ways; we welcome our visitors that enter  here from time to time and also the many regular folks who are part of our every day joy.