Another memorable Veterans Day celebration

So much for planning to write a column right after Veterans Day! Time flies so much faster these days, and, in spite of a somewhat restricted life, things keep getting in the way.

Suffice it to say that the V Day celebration at the Legion Hall was as spirited as ever, and everybody participating performed very well. If you missed it, plan to go next year. You won’t be sorry.

The weather for the past month or two has been as mixed up as world affairs. My maple tree, which usually sings its farewell to summer song in brilliant colors, has just sung the last note, a full month late, well applauded by the full-blooming red geranium on the closed-in back porch. In the front garden, bulbs are already coming up while a few roses are still blooming. One week the weather is pleasant; the next, it’s gray and cold.

Still, Christmas is just about here, so let all things be still and remember just what this day and season really mean, and for my money, it’s Merry Christmas, Christmas vacation, and Christmas shopping, and I have a Christmas Club account at the bank. Holidays can happen all the rest of the year. ••• After reading Bill O’Reilly’s “Killing England,” an excellent account of the American Revolution, I began wondering about the War of 1812 and how it came about just 30 years after the 13 colonies trounced a world power.

As I suspected, Great Britain did not want to accept the fact that the U.S. was growing into a large country via the Louisiana Purchase, and was afraid of the trade competition. So the Brits attacked Washington, burning down the White House and the Capitol, but they lost the battle of Ft. McHenry. The tattered Stars and Stripes flying after that battle inspired our national anthem.

Key points were New Orleans, with all its trade, and the Mississippi River, which linked old and new colonies. So I read “Andrew Jackson and the Battle of New Orleans.” It’s limited to that battle and the circumstances before and after, and is full of battle tactics.

Now I want to read a biography of Jackson, already 40+ when he fought at NO, and with two terms as president still to follow.

••• I don’t usually write about local people by name, but I must say that Lodi lost one of the best when Gary Kellam left us.

His work with the homeless was generous and constant, and he was a good friend to many others as well.

And one to end with: “And in the same country, there were shepherds abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night. . .” (KJV) Take heart: the news they heard was a bright light in a dark world. Even so ...