Myths and musings



The first English settlers on what became the Plymouth Bay Colony were not Puritans.  They are more correctly described as "Separatists" (or Brownists), those who wanted to separate from the Church of England because they believed it to be utterly un-reformable.  The voyagers were identified  them as "Saints" (the Separatists), and "Strangers" (those others who sought a new life in a new land).

The later Massachusetts Bay Colony was a commercial venture,  many  of its investors were Puritans (those who wanted to stay in the Church of England so that it would be "purified" according to their lights). They gave up on  that hope  (but there are still Anglicans who would refer to themselves as Puritan).

The story of the landing on Plymouth Rock is also a myth. It was popularised in a poem  by Felicia Hemans (1793-1835) a poet who identified herself as Welsh (her adopted country). Hemans also wrote the poem "Casablanca" with its well known opening lines "The boy stood on the burning deck".

My Dad used to recite  "The boy stood on the burning deck, his feet were covered in blisters. He had no trousers to put on, so he had to borrow his sister's",  Ha!

No one referred to to those early colonists as "Pilgrim Fathers" until Daniel Webster used the term in an oration given in 1820!


( Sources for the above from Bills Bryson's "Made in America",  (Black Swan Books, 1988).

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Izzy ....




...continues to delight me and my neighbors.  She loves people.  We have walked for two hours today, so I can be excused for not working on the treadmill at the Gym. She laps up the affection bestowed on her by other walkers who (to my delight) admire her good looks and her response to their attention.  They all agree that she is  handsome and loving. 

When she is more "at home" we'll work with a Trainer to deal with some of her leash aggression.

A friend ventured that it will be at least nine months before she is fully at home with me. He's probably right

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You all know that I hate to waste leftovers. So I cooked some leftover cabbage, onion, carrots and lentils in vegetable broth,

Then I pureed it and took some to my 93 years old friend Betty. She is legally blind and I vntured to her that she could heat the soup, and then drink it from a mug.

You'd have thought that I'd given her a million dollars!

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The week ahead (blah!).

Monday morning - early fast before a blood draw ordered by my Primary Care Physician.

Tuesday Eat drink and be merry,

Wednesday a routine appointment with my Dermatologist, and a whole day fast and purging  in preparation for Thursday.

Thursday a colonoscopy and endoscopy (beginning at 7:00 a..m.).  Apart from the purging more or less a piece of cake.

Friday eat more, drink more, and be merrier.




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