Memorial Day Weekend...

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service.

Traditional observance of Memorial day has diminished over the years. Some people use the day for honoring any and all dead, and not just those fallen in service to our country.

Many feel that when Congress made the day into a three-day weekend in 1971, it made it easier for people to be further distracted from the spirit and meaning of the day. Memorial Day became a long weekend increasingly devoted to family get-togethers, shopping, fireworks, and trips to the beach or the mountains.

North Country New Englanders can get unexpected cold spells that will injure some crops. For all but cold weather crops, it is traditional to plant seeds and transplant seedlings between May 25th and May 30th.

We found a wonderful farm stand and bought some huge tomato plants. They also had raw Gurnsey milk for sale.

Memorial Day weekend also coincides with the three day Lilac Festival in Lisbon, NH.

Festivities included a pancake breakfast, art show, amusement rides, food and craft vendors, popular local groups providing music, a Pie Baking Contest, parades, and fireworks.

A new event this year was the “Lisbon Lilac Idol” contest on Sunday afternoon just before the Fire Apparatus/EMS parade.

...and I was lucky to spend some time with old friends and new over the weekend including a picnic with traditional bonfire over in Twin Mountain.

So we do tend to pack alot of activity into the holiday weekend. This year I am mindful that a national moment of remembrance takes place at 3 p.m. local time.

The 'National Moment of Rememberance' resolution was passed in Dec 2000 which asks that at 3 p.m. local time, for all Americans "To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence.

The Moment of Remembrance is a step in the right direction to returning the meaning back to the day and for the nation to remember, reflect, and honor those who have given their all in service to their country.

Lilacs!

Lilacs are a symbol of the emotions of early love.

The color lilac used to be associated with mourning. Black was worn or used to symbolize a recent death in some European and North American cultures. But after a year of mourning, key mourners, such as the widow, could switch to lilac for clothing, the border on stationary, etc. This is mostly an older use, such as in the late 1800s.

Like other variations of purple, lilac is also associated with spirituality.

Syringa vulgaris (Lilac) is the state flower of New Hampshire, because it "is symbolic of that hardy character of the men and women of the Granite State" .

May is lilac here in New England,

May is a thrush singing “Sun up!” on a tip-top ash tree,  

May is white clouds behind pine-trees  

Puffed out and marching upon a blue sky.  

May is a green as no other,

May is much sun through small leaves,  

May is soft earth,

And apple-blossoms,

And windows open to a South Wind.  

May is full light wind of lilac

From Canada to Narragansett Bay.

Lilacs,

False blue,

White,

Purple,

Color of lilac.

Heart-leaves of lilac all over New England,  

Roots of lilac under all the soil of New England,  

Lilac in me because I am New England,

Because my roots are in it,

Because my leaves are of it,

Because my flowers are for it,  

Because it is my country

-excerpts from "Lilacs" by Amy Lowell