George Washington Versus The Cherry Tree Of Doom

Before getting started today, some links! First, head on over to Lyn Fuchs' blog Sacred Ground, where I wrote a guest blog on the Battle of Gettysburg, which is being marked in Pennslyvania for the 150th anniversary of the battle.

Second, Authors For Oklahoma has a third blog up, with three sets of books and ebooks to be raffled off for the American Red Cross. We've got two pages set, at Wordpress and over at Blogger. We have three more blogs like that to come.

Third, my partner in crime Norma has a blog set today, having alphabetical fun with movies. Take a look there and leave her a comment. Particularly if you take the challenge!

And over at our joint blog, just in time for the Fourth of July, we've got a musical interludes blog about Mel Gibson's hatred for the English. Come on over, give the music a listen, and tell us if you've ever seen the movie in question...

Now then, to the mayhem before us....

"I cannot tell a lie. I never cared for the taste of broccoli." ~ George Washington, 1775

"Dear Martha, just a word to let you know I am well. Achieved astonishing victory over Hessians at Trenton the day after Christmas. Timing was impeccable. Most of them were hung over. Marched away with arms, provisions, and liquor. Jebediah Cooper broke into the liquor supply. Much annoyance from the men about the depleted liquor, but fortunately the hostilities are directed where they belong. At old Jebediah. I don't believe he'll last the night." ~ George Washington, December 27th, 1776

"The British aren't coming! The British aren't coming!" ~ Paul Revere's forgotten brother Ezekiel "Bubba" Revere on his forgotten ride from Albany, 1775

"Now, Adams, I know he can be a pain in the neck, but we're trying to form a country here, a shining example for the world. Sometimes that even means we have to put up with colossal dullards like John Dickinson." ~ Benjamin Franklin, June 30th, 1776

"Dickinson, you're an idiot!" ~ John Adams, five minutes later, June 30th, 1776

Tomorrow is the Fourth of July, when Americans rise up and celebrate throwing off the (apparent) oppression of the British by setting off fireworks, decorating the land in the Stars and Stripes, and having a drink. Then they go downtown and throw tea in the harbour. If there's not a harbour, they throw tea in the aquifer. If there's not an aquifer, they're in Death Valley, and they've got problems of their own.

Since most of my weekly readers are Americans, I must therefore mark the day with a salute to my southern neighbours.

Last year I did a blog for the Fourth of July consisting of locales in half of the states, some I've been to, and others I'd like to see for myself. I'll pick that up again this year, and continue on with the theme, trading off from year to year between the two halves (this is going to pose a problem the next time I have to pick places from Delaware or Rhode Island)...

A happy Independence Day, my American readers and friends. Up the colonies! Down the British!

Home of General Nathanael Greene, Coventry, Rhode Island

Mount Mansfield, Vermont

Mark Twain House, Hartford, Connecticut

Fort Ticonderoga, New York

Princeton  Battlefield Memorial, New Jersey

Antietam National Battlefield, Maryland

Harpers Ferry National Historic Park, West Virginia

Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C.

Cowpens Battlefield, South Carolina

Mount LeConte, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee

Vicksburg National Military Park, Mississippi

French Quarter, New Orleans, Louisiana

Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas

Zane-Shawnee Caverns, Ohio

The Devil's Backbone, Indiana

Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin

Lake Itasca, Source Of The Mississippi River, Minnesota

Sgt. Floyd Monument, Sioux City, Iowa

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Kansas

Mount Scott, Wichita Mountains, Oklahoma

Bandera Volcano, New Mexico

Great Basin National Park, Nevada

Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Mount Rushmore, Black Hills, South Dakota

Craters Of The Moon National Monument, Idaho

Crater Lake National Park, Oregon