Greetings from this side of the Pond. Let us all celebrate the third English Revolution. (Mutters: damn rebels.)
Holidays
July 3, 1775, Cambridge, Massachusetts
General Washington took command of the Continental Army on this date. He found the army to be “a mixed multitude of people under very little discipline, order or government.”
Through many defeats and hardships, Washington and his officers eventually transformed an armed mob into a war-winning weapon.
Thank, you Gen. Washington.
Thank you, U.S. Army.
God bless America.
Fathers Day Dinner (Including Potato Salad Recipe)
I had to be out of the house today, and my wife sent me an email asking what I wanted for fathers day dinner. I generally prefer to cook everything myself, but that is not possible today, though I will cook the meat and brown some onions upon my return home. My requested meal, with instructions, is below the fold.
Note that these instructions contain my potato salad “recipe.” I use quotes because when I make this dish I do so completely by eyeball and I never measure anything. I do not know how close my family will be able to approach my ideal for this dish, though I am sure whatever they come up with will be fine. My senior daughter has assisted with the preparation in the past and may be able to get it done right. We shall see.
Jonathan previously asked me to share this “recipe” and since I had to write it down today, this is the fated moment to pass it along. No doubt everyone has their own absolutely and unassailably best way to make potato salad, and I say each home is its own castle in this regard, and should do things in the time-tested way, and I have no wish to impose my culinary values on anyone.
I do not suggest that mine is better, I just say that it is mine, and I am happy with it.
(Note that the eggs are a concession to my wife, who considers her late grandmother’s potato salad to have been the apex of perfection, and it had egg in it. The egg-or-no-egg controversy is one of the main fault lines in the world of potato salad, and my wife and I fall on opposite sides. But domestic peace is more important than standing on principle on this point.)
Memorial Day
One more picture before the day is over. These American soldiers, arriving in France, probably in 1917, in their chapeaux de Cowboy, look young, tough and generally badass. All of them are gone now — gone but not forgotten. Thank you, gentlemen. God bless America.
(Click through to get the large version of the picture. You can see their faces and equipment much better.)
Memorial Day, 2012
The war was in color (music video); link originally via the late and very great Neptunus Lex, who observed they all are. See Lex’s Memorial Day post for 2006, here. Also at The Lexicans today, a visit to the A-6 Intruder memorial.
>>>>Lex’s daughter “Kat” has the Neptunus Lex blog back up. Which allows me to post a link to his Memorial Day post for 2007: We remember them. Eloquent even by Lex’s own high standards
Here are some other Memorial Day links from around the web…most of these are from 2011 and earlier.
America the Singularity, from Dr Sanity
The warriors among us, from Bookworm
Lest we forget, from Reflecting Light
How can you remember something you’ve never learned?
A visit to the USS Abraham Lincoln
A nice picture of the WWII memorial at night
A memorial in Afghanistan. Story and incredible photographs by Michael Yon.
Cassandra, eloquent and thoughtful as always.
See also Walter Russell Mead and Chicago Boy Lexington Green.