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Today's JAR- Just a Reminder

When Time is Money Entertainment is Cheap!

So what do YOU do when you are bored and on summer vacation? 

We count loose change.

I thought it would be a good way to do a bit of math practice.  Stacking, multiplying, adding...

All of these stacks equal a dollar... etc. 

 

 

But instead, this is what happened...

 

 



Lego Man came and helped us transport coins from one side of the table to the other...

And as you can see, eight dollars worth of pennies is a hefty job.



So it wasn't a total waste of time, he did have to build a tool, adjust the truck to balance the coins better, establish a process.  There was some problem solving involved. 

And I learned one thing... My boy can't be distracted by money... even enough to trick him to use math...
 

What Would an America Parade Be Without the Greeks?

A friend posted pictures of an ethnic Fourth of July Parade in Chicago celebrating the Melting Pot (Mosaic, if you like) that is America. With the chaos of illegal immigrants in America today you don't hear much talk celebrating America's diverse ethnic reality by the media. And now that I live in a small southern town, I don't see much diversity in people.  Mostly I see black and white. 
 
When I was living in Pittsburgh I marched in the St. Patrick's Day Parade with the Grecian Odyssey Dancers because Pittsburgh didn't have a March 25th parade of its own.  It was fun to march in celebration of our ethnic pride, but odd doing so on streets lined with intoxicated adults drinking green beer and shouting out "Baklava!" "Spanakopita!" "Zorba!"  I suppose it's our fault that all they know about the glorious history of the Greeks is food and cheeky tidbits from our Greek festivals and movies. 
 
Then a dozen years later I marched in the Greek Independence Day Parade in Boston with my family and students from Hellenic College/Holy Cross.  I even made a costume for my son to wear, and bribed him that if he marched he could take his sword.  He marched with pride defending the dignity of Greece. 
 
 

The second year he marched in his father's childhood costume.

 
  
This time we were among dozens of churches marching with their dance and school groups.  This time we marched with an icon of the Virgin Mary, the bishop and mayor.  This time they didn't shout out their Greek vocabulary but waved Greek and American flags. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the costume I made.

 

 
I love that when we marched in the Greek Independence Parade we carried a reminder of the best things the Greeks gave civilization: Christianity.  And with Christianity came the Fear of God*, Faith and Love...   (the Bible and the Saints.)
 
I miss living in a diverse city.  I miss ethnic parades and folk festivals.  I miss a country that lives in the fear of God, in faith and in love. 




*Fear of God meaning that we respect and want to please God as a creation aware that He is the Creator and we are created, not that we are afraid of a vengeful God. 

How to Celebrate America Like a Greek!

 

Happy Birthday America!  What a day it is!  Being a first generation American, I have always loved national holidays.  And like a good Greek, while everyone else was grilling hot dogs and eating apple pie, we would feast on Souvlaki, Spanakopita and Baklava Sundaes!  Yumm!  Which reminds me that I haven't made baklava or real spanakopita for the blog yet. 

 

 

 

 

Have you been to Pike's Peak in Colorado Springs, CO before?  It really is magnificent.  We went years ago...    It was a wild drive along narrow roads and tight bends.  The drive actually takes a year of life out of your car.  But once you are up there, 14,115 feet above sea level, up in the altitude and winds, you can see how the view inspired Katherine Lee Bates to write the "almost national" anthem. 

After she returned to her room in the Antler's Hotel that night, she remarked to friends that countries such as England had failed because, while they may have been "great", they had not been "good" and that "unless we are willing to crown our greatness with goodness, and our bounty with brotherhood, our beloved America may go the same way.

Yes, I love America!