“For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness.”
My head is ready to erupt if I cough one more time. When I call my friends, they think it is some guy making an obscene phone call. I’m tempted. Last night was a bad one. First was the mouse in the trap then the mouse out of the trap. I just couldn’t drag myself out of bed so the mouse, after making all sorts of noise, escaped. Fern noticed it and jumped off the bed but didn’t catch it. That’s the first time Fern has seen one so we’re making some progress. The Pats lost, but I went to bed early and missed the ending so the pain was lessened.
I’m watching the hoopla of the Inauguration. Whether you agree with the choice for President or not, you have to admit the inauguration is powerful. It is the peaceful transition of power, a continuing of traditions going all the way back to George Washington. It’s filled with color, with red, white and blue, and music from glee clubs and military bands. Jimmy Carter and his wife are now being seated. I always liked him. He has become the most amazing ex-President. The Clintons got quite a reception. She deserved it. I’m curious about Mr. Obama’s speech. He had such hope 4 years ago. We all did.
I remember watching President Kennedy’s inauguration and the smoke coming from under the podium when Richard Cardinal Cushing gave his invocation. I remember Robert Frost couldn’t read his poem in the sun and had to recite one from memory. I had a connection to President Kennedy. He was from Massachusetts so I couldn’t miss his inauguration. I don’t remember any other inaugurations except President Obama’s first. It was historical and not to be missed.
In the stands, there are no hats on the heads of the women. Well I did see one hat, an ugly hat some unknown woman was wearing as she walked toward the outside seating area. I have no idea who she is, but she gets the ugly hat award. I remember when the men wore top hats. Now a few are wearing fedoras but most are hatless. The men are wearing top coats so that style hasn’t changed. Ties will never go out of style.
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsThis entry was posted on January 21, 2013 at 11:32 am and is filed under Musings. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.
Tags: Barack Obama, government, Inauguration, Jimmy Carter, John F Kennedy, Robert Frost, United States
Both comments and pings are currently closed.23 Comments on ““For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness.””
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January 21, 2013 at 11:45 am
Hi Kat,
Sorry you are feeling miserable and sorry that the Pats and the mice added to your misery. 🙁
I skip watching the hoopla. President Obama took the oath yesterday so today is for show.
I lie. After I read your post, I checked it out. I see a few warm hats, lots of gloves and scarves. Who is the guy with the orange and black scarf? Team colors? 🙂
Love the red coats (capes ?) on the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir. Great job on The Battle Hymn of the Republic, too.
Now I’m changing the channel. Speechifying renews itself. 😀
French Toast Alert is Elevated/Yellow. Gah! Glad I have no place to go.
Rest up and get well.
January 21, 2013 at 11:53 am
Hi Caryn,
At last the mice are a bit of a distraction.
James Taylor is singing now so I’m happy! The invocation was bit on the long side.
The warm hats are mostly in the crowd though I did see a woman with a matching hat and gloves, both wool. Besides her, up on the podium there are almost none. I don’t know who that guy is, but he has a good seat so he must have some importance.
I’m going upstairs for a nap later. I’m going to set a different trap to get that sucker from last night.
I’m working on well but I’m failing miserably.
January 23, 2013 at 12:28 pm
The guy in the scarf was Mrs. Obama’s brother, Craig Robinson. He coaches the OSU basketball team, whose colors are orange and black.
January 23, 2013 at 12:46 pm
Thanks, sprite!
January 21, 2013 at 12:16 pm
Ok, Obama and a choir and James Taylor, now I’m curious and I switched on TV. We have CNN Intl., but I’m lazy and selected a local station with simultaneous translation.
Get well soon!
January 21, 2013 at 3:35 pm
Thanks, Birgit
I’m tired of coughing and when I do, Gracie tends either to stare or run out of the room.
It’s pageantry in a country without much pageantry.
January 21, 2013 at 12:29 pm
Kat,
I feel your pain, am saddened for your gridiron loss and hope that you are soon restored to full health.
I am enjoying the menu of the Inauguration that brings us the musical stylings of Jay Z and of Ms Kelly Clarkson. I love it when I really dont get it at all and that is truly the case. Maybe you get the C grade when its only a Reinauguration or something. Where is Aretha in a great big (Detroit built) hat ?
Here, the North American Autoshow is now open to the public and over 100,000 folks have visited on each of the first two days. Publicity has been good for the newly renovated Cobo Hall and the excellent products being offered by the good folks of Detroit. The autos are hiring. It is a very good thing
The Prince’s Uncle has landed in Mobile Alabama and is starting his work outs in preparation for Saturday’s Senior Bowl, where he will likely be very prominent. Live coverage of the practices begin today on the NFL Network.
Will the Prince’s Uncle be coming to an NFL Team near you ?
January 21, 2013 at 3:40 pm
My Dear Hedley,
Thank you!!
I miss an Aretha hat. That was the cause of much conversation 4 years ago. All I has was the silly hat on the old woman leaving for the podium. I think we are all getting a few bits. Last time we got soup to nuts.
It is a very good thing as it will revitalize Detroit. That’s a huge number of people, 100,000 is amazing.
I don’t know who the Prince’s uncle is. He must be a draft candidate to be at that bowl. What position does he play?
January 21, 2013 at 4:51 pm
The Prince’s Uncle is….well maybe a mystery for a little while ?
Anyway he will certainly go in the First Round and some projections have him in the Top Ten. He is not a small person if that helps 🙂
Yea, its all about the jobs and we are seeing action.
January 21, 2013 at 8:29 pm
MDH,
No hints? What position does he play? I need something to work with.
Not small as in tall or not small as in burley?
January 21, 2013 at 5:59 pm
Hedley,
Right, it’s all about the jobs. Detroit’s General Motors has decided to close the Opel production site in my hometown in 2016. Thousands of workers will loose their job and the city is in decline. That’s life. Nevertheless I hope that Detroit’s automobile production will boom again, every job is important.
January 21, 2013 at 6:30 pm
Birgit, I assume that this is Bochum ? I came right through your town on the way to Gelsenkirchen.
We have lived with cities decimated by loss of production. It’s painful and very difficult to reestablish the manufacturing base.
January 21, 2013 at 6:54 pm
Hedley,
Yup, Bochum has seen better times. Up to 20.000 Opel workers in the good old days, now ca. 3000. We’ll survive.
January 21, 2013 at 8:28 pm
Birgit, my son and I were on the way to the Champions League Final at the AufSchalke, we wanted to see the Altes Brauhaus but could not find it. We had driven in from Belgium so we were a little tired
We too miss the jobs.
January 21, 2013 at 12:49 pm
It’s not the same over here when we’re getting a new Prime Minister 🙂 It’s actually rather boring, just a long speach in a soporific voice 🙂
To bad to read about Your cold! I’m free from colds at the moment and I’m enjoying every second of it 🙂 I know it soon will hit again 🙂
Few have hats anytime over here, well the royals have and perhaps some old ladies but that’s it. It comes and goes of course, soon it will be hip to wear one again and then everybody will have one 🙂
Have a great day and take care!
Christer.
January 21, 2013 at 3:43 pm
Christer,
There is even a huge parade here for the inauguration. One President, William Henry Harrison, caught pneumonia being outside so long and died 68 days later.
This is the first cold I’ve had in 8 years so I have nothing to complain about, but I will anyway.
I don’t ever wear a hat but I do have earmuffs if I have to be outside a long time.
Enjoy your evening!
January 21, 2013 at 1:38 pm
Dearest Kat,
Hubby & I are enjoying the entire show today, watching thru MSNBC, we are so infatuated with Rachel Maddow and her bright and knowledgeable commentary. So happy to read you several times a week and catch up, Hello to all the other Coffee aficionados!! I especially enjoyed your commentary on President Kennedy’s inauguration, I was wondering about the Robert Frost story. Hope you all feel better soon, and that the mice are getting very tired as well. take care XOXOXOX
January 21, 2013 at 3:48 pm
Welcome back, Splendid
I check out your blog but have missed you here.
There is even more info about the Robert Frost poem. After he couldn’t read the one he’d written, he recited The Gift Outright from memory, and I remember one line, “The land was ours before we were the land.”
The rest of this is from NBC News, “As the years went by, as our black-and-white nation dissolved into color, Frost’s original poem became a footnote in history. Until last week, when an envelope arrived at the Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston.
“I only wish that I’d been the one lucky enough to open the mail,” says Deborah Leff, director of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. “Our chief archivist got a package unsolicited in the mail, and what was in that package was the original writing of a poem, by Robert Frost, in Robert Frost’s hand. The poem that was intended to be read at the inauguration of President Kennedy. We didn’t even know that this was something that we didn’t have. We didn’t even know this existed.”
And the story doesn’t end there.
“The archivist happened to notice some pencil writing and it happened to be in the hand of Jacqueline Kennedy noting that this was the first thing ever hung in President Kennedy’s office, just three days after the inauguration.”
It was a private gift. A wife’s personal inscription to her husband. Fading with time, like our memories of that time. But now, at least, it belongs to the people.
The faded pencil inscription from Jackie to Jack reads: “For Jack, First thing I had framed to put in your office — first thing to be hung there.”
It turns out the poem has been in someone’s private collection for all these years.”
I found that this morning and was amazed.
January 22, 2013 at 7:27 am
Thank you so much Kat. It is always surprising to me how the little things always mean the most. My family feels as if they know you as well, I tend to bring up stories and thoughts that you have on a regular basis. It is always nice to think of your childhood and life as the typical norm for the time,as a young adult I always thought that life was only on television. Hearing your feelings makes it all so real. Thanks again.XO
January 21, 2013 at 8:18 pm
Hi Kat, I hope you don’t have the flu. Sorry that your Pats are going to watch the Super Bowl from their homes with the rest of us.
I think Inauguration day is the most important day in our political life. Election day is exciting, but in many places the winner doesn’t always get the job. It’s amazing that we transition from one administration to the next without violence regardless how much each candidate hates the policies of the other. Our Presidents go quietly into retirement at the end of their second term regardless who is succeding them. We don’t have the problem that most of the world suffers from where there are Presidents, Shieks and dictators for life. We are truly blessed by our founding fathers in this country to be a nation of laws. We have a Constitution that divides the power between a bicameral legislature, a President and an independent Supreme Court. The only President I worried about was Nixon during the Watergate era. I really was concerned that he would use military power to remain in office. But even Nixon respected the Constitution and in the end did the right thing and resigned.
January 21, 2013 at 8:27 pm
Hi Bob,
I think it’s just a cold, not enough flu symbols. Thanks about the Pats!
There is nothing to add to your second paragraph. You are so right about everything!
January 23, 2013 at 12:33 pm
I enjoyed Richard Blanco’s poem. I feel like I need to check out some more of his poetry now. And while I agree with you about the invocation (although it was less creepy than the guy who gave it last time), I really liked the benediction. And the music was, of course, wonderful, whether Beyonce belted the national anthem out in that moment or some time before.
January 23, 2013 at 12:46 pm
sprite,
I too enjoyed his poem and have to admit I didn’t know him before the inauguration so I woo will have to find more.
I agree about the benediction and I too thought the music was wonderful, especially the choruses and the glee clubs.