Sunday, May 15, 2022
Wednesday, May 11, 2022
Tuesday, May 3, 2022
Wednesday, April 27, 2022
Our First Ladies #13
Margaret Mackall Smith Taylor
in role
March 4, 1849 - July 9, 1850
Born in Calver County, Maryland on September 21, 1788, the
daughter of Walter Smith, a prosperous Maryland planter and veteran officer of
the American Revolution, and the former Ann Mackall, “Peggy” was raised amid
refinement and wealth.
While visiting her sister in Kentucky in 1809, she was introduced
to Lieutenant Zachary Taylor, who was home on leave.
Lt. Taylor, aged 25, married Peggy Smith, aged 21, on June
21, 1810, at the home of the bride’s sister, Mrs. Mary Chew near Louisville,
Kentucky. She followed him from fort to fort as his career advanced except for
while he was serving in the Mexican American War; She lived at their Cypress
Grove Plantation in Jefferson County, Mississippi.
With the rise in Zachary Taylor’s political career, his wife
Peggy Taylor literally prayed for his defeat, for she dreaded the personal consequences
of his becoming the president. By the time she became the First Lady in 1849, the
hardships of following her husband from fort-to-fort and enduring several
childbirths over the 39 year period had taken their toll. Two small girls died
in 1820 of what Taylor called “a violent bilious fever,” which left Peggy’s
health impaired; three girls and a boy grew up.
A semi-invalid, she remained in seclusion on the second
floor of the White House, leaving the duties of official hostess to her
daughter, Mary Elizabeth “Betty” Bliss.
After participating in ceremonies at the Washington Monument
on a blistering July 4, 1850, President Taylor fell ill and within five days he
was dead. Margaret Taylor’s health deteriorated rapidly after his sudden death.
She died two years later August 14, 1852, in Pascagoula, Mississippi. She was buried
next to her husband near Louisville, Kentucky.
Wednesday, April 20, 2022
Brightspots #9
Man
driving down road,
Woman driving up same road.
They pass each other.
The woman yells out the window, PIG!
Man yells out window, WITCH!
Man rounds next curve………
Man crashes into a HUGE PIG in middle of road and dies.
Moral of the Story: If men would just
listen!
Do you know where these two are going?
Walmart of course!
Sunday, April 17, 2022
Tuesday, April 12, 2022
The world's shortest aqueduct
The Veluwemeer Aqueduct: Netherland's Unique Water Bridge
Wednesday, April 6, 2022
Saturday, April 2, 2022
Tuesday, March 29, 2022
Wednesday, March 23, 2022
Brightspots #8
A
husband and wife are shopping in their local Wal-Mart.
The husband picks up a case of Budweiser and puts it in their cart.
"What do you think you're doing?" asks the wife.
"They're on sale, only $10 for 24 cans," he replies.
"Put them back, we can't afford them," says the wife, and so they
carry on shopping.
A few aisles further on along the woman picks up a $20 jar of face cream and
puts it in the basket.
"What do you think you're doing?" asks the husband.
"It’s my face cream. It makes me look beautiful," replies the wife.
Her husband retorts, "So does 24 cans of Budweiser and it's half the
price."
On the PA system: 'Cleanup on aisle 25, we have a husband down.'
The most wasted day is
that in which we have not laughed. (Chamfort)
Laughter is inner jogging. (Norman Cousins)
Laughter can relieve tension, soothe the pain of disappointment, and strengthen
the spirit for the formidable tasks that always lie ahead. (Dwight D.
Eisenhower)
Monday, March 21, 2022
Behind the scenes
Isn't it fun to get a inside peek of how things work. He is using a camera to see where he is going.
Sunday, March 13, 2022
Wednesday, March 9, 2022
Monday, March 7, 2022
First lady #12
As the eldest daughter of Captain Joel and Elizabeth Childress
she was use to a life of silks and satin growing up on a plantation near Murfreesboro,
Tennessee. She also was one the few women of the 19th century to be
afforded an education of higher learning and it made her especially fitted to
assist a man with a political career.
James K. Polk was laying the foundation for that career when
he met her. He had begun his first years’ service in the Tennessee legislature
when they were married on New Year’s Day, 1824; he was 28, she 20.
At a time when motherhood gave a woman her only acknowledged
career, Sarah Polk had to resign herself to childlessness, but she accompanied
her husband to Washington whenever she could, and they soon won a place in its
most select social circles. Privately she helped him with his speeches, copying
his correspondence and giving him advice. Not surprisingly when he returned to
Washington as President in 1845, she stepped to her high position with ease and
evident pleasure. She appeared at the inaugural ball, but as a devout
Presbyterian, she did not dance.
Only three months after retirement in 1849 to their fine new home “Polk
Place” in Nashville, he died, worn out by the years of public service. Clad
always in black, Sarah Polk lived on in the home for 42 years, guarding the memory
of her husband and accepting honors paid to her as honors due to him. The house
because a place of pilgrimage. She lived to be 88 years old and is buried next
to her husband.
Thursday, March 3, 2022
Wednesday, February 23, 2022
Tuesday, February 15, 2022
Wednesday, February 9, 2022
Tuesday, February 1, 2022
Wednesday, January 26, 2022
Brightspots #6
The
old addage.."be careful what you
wish for ....."
A man walks into a restaurant with a full-grown ostrich behind him. The
waitress asks them for their orders. The man says, 'A hamburger, fries and a
coke,' and turns to the ostrich, 'What's yours?' 'I'll have the same,' says the
ostrich.
A short time later the waitress returns with the order ' That will be $9.40
please,' and the man reaches into his pocket and pulls out the exact change for
payment. The next day, the man and the ostrich come again and the man says, 'A
hamburger, fries and a coke.' The ostrich says, 'I'll have the same.'
Again the man reaches into his pocket and pays with exact change. This becomes
routine until the two enter again. 'The usual?' asks the waitress. 'No, this is
Friday night, so I will have a steak, baked potato and a salad,' says the man.
'Same,' says the ostrich.
Shortly the waitress brings the order and says, 'That will be $32.62.' Once
again the man pulls the exact change out of his pocket and places it on the
table.
The waitress cannot hold back her curiosity any longer. 'Excuse me, sir. How do
you manage to always come up with the exact change in your pocket every time?”
'Well,' says the man, 'several years ago I was cleaning the attic and found an
old lamp. When I rubbed it, a Genie appeared and offered me two wishes. My
first wish was that if I ever had to pay for anything, I would just put my hand
in my pocket and the right amount of money would always be there.' 'That's
brilliant!' says the waitress. 'Most people would ask for a million dollars or
something, but you'll always be as rich as you want for as long as you live!'
'That's right. Whether it's a gallon of milk or a Rolls Royce, the exact money
is always there,' says the man.
The waitress asks, 'What's with the ostrich?' The man sighs, pauses and
answers, 'My second wish was for a tall chick with a big butt and long legs who
agrees with everything I say.'
Monday, January 24, 2022
Our First Ladies # 11
Julia Gardiner Tyler 1820-1889
Julia Gardiner Tyler was
born in 1820 to Juliana and David Gardiner, a landowner, and New York State
Senator. (1824 to 1828). She was raised in the town of East Hampton and
educated at the Chegary Institute in New York. In 1839, she shocked polite
society by appearing, posed with an unidentified man, and identified as
"The Rose of Long Island", in a newspaper advertisement for a middle-class
department store. Her family took her to Europe to avoid further publicity and
allow her notoriety to subside, but she was indeed a beauty.
On January 20, 1842, the
21-year-old Julia was introduced to President John
Tyler at a White House reception. After
the death of his first wife, Letitia Christian Tyler, on September 10, 1842,
Tyler made it clear that he wished to get involved with Julia. Initially, the
high-spirited and independent-minded northern beauty felt little attraction to
the grave, reserved Virginia gentleman, who was thirty years her senior. He
first proposed to her on February 22, 1843, when she was 22, at a White House
Masquerade Ball. She refused that and later proposals he made. The increased
time spent together prompted public speculation about their relationship.
Julia, her sister
Margaret, and her father joined a Presidential excursion on the new steam
frigate Princeton. During this excursion,
her father, David Gardiner, along with others, lost his life in the explosion
of a huge naval gun called the Peacemaker. Julia was devastated by
the death of her adored father. She spoke often in later years of how the
President's quiet strength sustained her during this difficult time. Tyler
comforted Julia in her grief and won her consent to a secret engagement,
proposing in 1844 at the George Washington Ball.
After a wedding trip
to Philadelphia, a White House reception, and a stay at Sherwood Forest, an
estate the president had recently acquired for his retirement, the newlyweds
returned to Washington D.C.. Although her husband was often visibly
fatigued, his youthful wife thoroughly enjoyed the duties of First Lady.
President Tyler was 54
years old, while Julia was just 24. Tyler's oldest daughter, Mary, was 5 years
older than her father's new wife. The marriage made Julia the first (First
Lady) to marry a President who was already in office at the time of the wedding.
It was awkward for the
eldest Tyler daughter, Mary, to adjust to a new stepmother five years
younger than herself. One daughter, Letitia, never made peace with her
stepmother.
The anthem "Hail to
the Chief" had been played at a number of events associated with the
arrival or presence of the President of the United States before Julia Tyler
became First Lady, but she ordered its regular use to announce the arrival of
the President. It became established practice when her successor, Sarah Polk did likewise. It is
still practiced today.
The first lady was known
as a wonderful hostess and the President was delighted with all the compliments
she received. When the President’s term was finished, they retired to The
Sherwood Forest Plantation.
Julia wrote a defense of
slavery titled "The Women of England vs. the Women of America",
in response to the "Stafford House Address" petition against
slavery which the Duchess
of Sutherland had helped to organize.
In response to Julia
Tyler's essay, Harriet
Jacobs, a former slave and later abolitionist writer, authored her
first published work, a letter to the New
York Tribune in 1853.
After her husband's death
in 1862, lost her 60 slaves and 1,100 acres of land due to military
events. Julia moved north to Staten Island with several of her
children and family relations were so strained that her brother David moved out
of his mother's house, where Julia had settled.
Her home there was almost
burned down by enraged Union veterans when it was discovered she was flying
a Confederate
flag on the property. She resided at the Gardiner-Tyler House from 1868-74.
In 1865, her brother
David sued to prevent her from inheriting the bulk of their mother's estate
valued at $180,000, charging that Julia Tyler had exerted "undue
influences" on their mother to execute a will despite her "mental
incapacity". The
court supported his claim on August 25 and refused to accept the will. After
two appeals, David Gardiner won the case in 1867. David
then asked the courts to partition the estate as if no will existed. Julia
asked for a jury trial on the issue, and the jury declined to consider the
contested will as an argument in her favor. The New
York Times thought Julia was treated unfairly and that the dispute
could be traced to "the political antagonisms of the rebellion, which have
divide many a household besides that of Mrs. Gardiner". She died in 1889
and is buried next to her husband in Virginia.
Tuesday, January 18, 2022
Yawning
One theory of why we yawn is that when we are bored or tired, we just don't breathe as deeply as we usually do. As this theory goes, our bodies take in less oxygen because our breathing has slowed. Therefore, yawning helps us bring more oxygen into the blood and move more carbon dioxide out of the blood.
Wednesday, January 12, 2022
Sunday, January 9, 2022
A Lego bridge