"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world."

My comments : What words !!! in one simple document the past is swept away and humanity is reborn on this planet. We are each worthy of our freedoms - we have a right to be FREE. We have a right to rebel if we feel our rights are being taken from us by a government. Revolution is not a sin against the laws of God and man but a natural right that must be honored as a God-given right !

There is no aristocracy of the rich and famous -- no Pope, Cleric or King rules America. Our leaders come and go and they, what ever they think of themselves, are but paid employees.

The government serves us we do not serve the government. We do not bow to the rich and famous as they walk past, we do not  speak politely to anyone we do not want to speak politely to ... No named royal blue-bloods pass their names, houses and wealth generation after generation --

ALL of human history is divided into two parts - before July 4, 1776 and after July 4, 1776.

These are the most amazing words ever written anywhere by anyone... freedom as a right - life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness -- think about that - you have a right given by the creator to be happy. The divine rights of kings abolished forever... God given rights that no man dare touch or profane .. we strive everyday for perfection of our human rights, we will never reach perfection but may we Americans strive as long as there is a planet Earth and a human race. We are not a perfect country - but we have these highest of ideas to strive for, what a wonderful adventure is the USA, may the adventure continue for many centuries to come !!

God bless the United States of America !

There is no sunspot activity at this time -- if you all need something to worry about here is my candidate -- sunspot activity plays a very important role in earth's weather . The  Little Ice Age (1300 - 1850 ) had a minimum of sunspot activity during the worse of it.

While science is still debating the importance of the Maunder minimum to the little ice age I have read statements that it absolutely DID have an effect and that extreme sunspot activity also occurs during hot spells here on earth--- so , I suspect the sun has a great deal to do with Earth's weather, what about you all ?   --- so would you all rather freeze then burn ? I'm still debating but I think I would rather do neither.

Just because... Leon saw some horror pictures of what happens to people that have motorcycle accidents without protective clothing and he says I am not riding until I get my leathers...
The jacket is on hold -- though with this cool summer we are having I may sew it, anyway.   He is more than likely right so I yielded to his superior wisdom and insight -- actually, I debated a little further but I did not have anything like a reasonable weapon; saying I Just WANT to ride the bike did not exactly sound like a grown-up thing to say.

Its going to rain this weekend... starting tonight... Well, Happy Fourth of July, folks !! I will be doing inside things and absolutely no outside cooking unless NOAA is wrong - Once again!

OH -- for those of you who have clear skies ... look towards the west at sundown on the Fourth ... you will see a very spectacular sight - Saturn, Mars (Regulus) and the Moon are pretty much lined up (alignment)    as pretty as they can be... that's in Leo (Regulus is Leo's brightest star!)  for all you who slept through astronomy class.  Not sure what that might imply for all you astrologers but I tend to love sky watching for its own sake. I will take a peek if NOAA proves to be wrong about the weather. (PLEASE, Oh, God let them be wrong!!!!!!)

As an American Italian,  I thank our founders for my freedom and rights ... Long live the USA, and many blessings on all Americans of all colors and sizes  !!!!!!

Health News : Some personal good news, my doctor's visit went well. All my blood work numbers showed improvement and I have not slipped into Diabetes. I forget the number and even the meaning of the number... 6? I have a difficult time keeping numbers in my memory for longer than a few minutes, which may explain why I never excelled in mathematics.

My official weight is 180 as of Wednesday. My weight here at home is 172. If anyone comes up with a good theory about the scales at doctor's offices I would certainly appreciate hearing from them. Leon says that the scales at the doctor's office are/is better technology, I suggested it was certainly older technology - our home scales is based on a simple spring and can be effected by many things, even the weather. My weight at the beginning of my diet, mid- September was a whopping 216 so I have lost 36 pounds. The doctor wants me down to 140. I may try for even lower, just on the simple theory that I don't like authority figures telling me what to do but also, I want to LOOK thin. At 140 I will still look plump.

Very few understand there is a permanent knot somewhere in my soul when it comes to authority. I hid in youth but in middle age, heck no.  The poor deluded doc things I am eating 1500 - 1200 calories. I did not LIE> I just didn't tell the truth.  I said nothing and smiled like the simple housewife I am. 'Oh, yes, 1200 calories, how few calories that is... !'  I am trying my best to eat about 500 - 600 calories a day, though, I admit many days it crawls towards 700. When I ate 1500 I gained weight and when I ate 1200 I didn't much lose weight so I finally took the great dive into the three digit ranges and that is when I saw actual weight loss.
 I actually gained no weight during Christmas and lost 2 pounds since so life is good. Sometimes I amaze even myself !!!!!!!!!
The Revolutionary War :
I am listening to the book 'The Glorious Cause' by Jeff Shaara. It is the second of two books about the events that lead up to the founding of the United States. The first, 'Rise to Rebellion' is up to and including the signing of the declaration of independence. This novel is the actual war.

  I am a true lover of America, what it stands for, what it has done, not only for me but for my family and what it did for the world since its founding. I do not understand those who blame America for the ills of the world... it is a kind of madness, I suppose, an inability to see the good, a self-hatred that flows deep in people's souls, an ignorance born of spoon- fed education by prejudiced professors, a denial of the actual facts of the history - most of all, it seems to me, a refusal to see what human nature is really like, many blame America for things that all cultures, races & countries do - What is natural for our species as a whole to do when given the chance - forgetting, in a way,  that America is an institution established by human beings and for human beings and can be no better and no worse than what we make her. Human nature throughout history and even beyond into the shadows of prehistory is not pretty or pure-hearted. People are not nice. Americans have done nothing that other human beings have not done - and, most of the time, we have hesitated to do the worse that our species is capable of ... that is something few people ever mention. I suggest you just accept that and get on with your life.

 Without America, Europe would be in even a worse mess than it is and the last 200 years would have been even more horrid than they were. Asia, too would be no better and may very well be worse without us... think of Japanese imperialism without America to stand in her way.

Those who do not know this history (the founding of the USA)  can not appreciate how narrow an escape we had from the confines of monarchy - or even why it was time to escape monarchy and elitism. I really suggest you look at this novel as a dramatization of the history and use it as I plan to - a stepping stone into other, purely factual reading and research into those events. I have used fiction as a stepping stone into deeper historical study most of my life. I am mostly self-educated, as I have mentioned many times. Study alone demands attention to your own course of study that is usually done by the professor in college so it is best to get a good overview of the entire subject, first. Without the professor guiding and protecting you, you must choose what books to read and what areas of the story most interest you and therefore, are worthy of further study, oh, by the way - history is story ... don't ever forget that.

 I don't specialize in any one thing : I don't need to, I study for the shear enjoyment of study. It doesn't really matter - I did not walk the path of the scholar this lifetime. I like being a housewife. It is a noble life, a giving, service oriented life... but my mind hungers for knowledge and I feed it a steady diet of books, both those I read and those I listen to on tape/CD. Listening to a book while washing dishes makes the chore bearable !

Well stay happy. I hate January, I have decided. Some solar worship would be very inflaming about now, don't you think? a book under a tree... a tall glass of ice tea... hummmmmm ... So much for global warming... we keep hovering between raining and cold and raining and colder.

Every so often I have to release my brain and just write something wonderfully disorganized. Its a warm day here in the Northwest. Our summer so far as been wet/hot/dry/rainy/cold and not always in that exact order. I don't think this is going to be a long summer. It is already noteworthy for all the rain and cloudy days we have had - I know this sounds like whining, because, well, it is ! We have a window of only 2 months that can be warm and sunny. One of those months is already ending - August is a very quizzical month - it can be summer-like or it can start raining the 16 th. and we don't see the mountain for 6 months. No promises and absolutely no climatical certainty.
I bought myself 'Liberty:the story of the American revolution' this weekend and watched the entire 6 part documentary today. Paid slightly less than this. Do shop, please!
Very satisfactory. I want to research Abigail Adams' life and letters, now, after watching it - her relationship with her husband reminds me of mine with my own, dear Leon and I really enjoyed listening to the bits & pieces of their letters that were used in the documentary. It also reminded me of a off-Broadway play I saw when I was young - "1776" - which is a really charmer of a show with some very touching moments.
I might just buy this video someday - it is one of the few musicals I actually like.
Its amazing what our ancestors did to establish our freedoms and how amazing it was and still is that they founded a form of government that discourages hierarchy and balances our freedoms with our duties so very well. What a wonderful miracle the United States of America is and what a blessing in my own life. I thank God for his gift of freedom and my dear grandparents for choosing Courage and moving to the USA.

I am still considering the second part of my explanation and description of our survival plans. I tend to bury a lot of information in an equal number of words and I am trying to put my ideas in some kind of order - its very challenging - there is so much to get through - I would love to help people get organized so they are safer when next they face some kind of disaster. It is difficult enough to face a crisis, even a small crisis like a power outage. It is so much easier when you have everything organized as we attempt to do - being organized does not mean you are not in trouble, it means that it won't be embarressing.

The kittens born in our neighborhood are growing - I can't seem to catch up with them, the mom cat is moving them about. One day, one yard, next day, the other yard.. I am not sure I am going to be able to save their little furry lives. I can't bring them into my family because of the Chlamydia that permanently infects this generation of cats. Our plan is to let this generation die out, clean our house, dispose of anything this generation used constantly and then bring in a new generation of kittens. I am a very soft-hearted person when it comes to kittens but I have grown to accept, in later life, that I cannot save every kitten's life - that the species survives even when death comes to so many of their perfect little bodies is my only comfort when I see kittens in need. I suspect that God gave us cats and dogs (and all other creatures.) to teach us how to love - for that is what cats have taught me.
I would hope that in some way, I can not imagine, cats have some sort of immortality too, because my cat friends far out number my human friends and I would miss them terribly if they did not greet me in eternity or in, at least, my next mortal life ! Explains what is wrong with my little cat family.
There was a wealth of things to mention today - this is a link which will be welcomed by all Harry Potter fans. J. K. Rowling speaks of how lives of the main Characters developed after they mature and marry. Do not read it unless you have already read the final book - it will spoil several of the surprises !
So things DO turn out the way I would hope!!!
I would like to go back in a few weeks and reread the novel. I read it so very fast the first time, I suspect I missed some of the nuance of the story.