What’s happening on July Fourth in your community?
I hope you and your loved ones are having a great time celebrating the birth of our nation.
I went out today in the Olympia, Wash., area and took these photos. It was fun. I’ll try fireworks photos this evening.
Tonight I’m going to work on getting some better photos of fireworks. I’ve tried it before and didn’t have much success.
I did some research and these tips are recommended:
I'll post some photos after the fireworks show.
Here are some references if you'll be trying to photograph fireworks tonight:
“Explosions in the Sky: Take Better Fireworks Photos” – wired.com
“How to Take Great Digital Photos of Fireworks” – Digital Photography
“Tips for Taking Perfect Fireworks Shots” – wtop.com
Update: The fireworks photo experience was challenging. I hadn't been to the Tumwater fireworks for years, so I didn't know exactly where to go. I picked a spot, but trees were in the way when the fireworks started. I moved to where there were fewer trees, so that worked better. I tried the suggestions above, but my photos didn't turn out like those in the articles I read. When I set the camera on "Manual," the photos were dark. When I switched to "Apeture," I got something, but the shutter speed was very slow. The fireworks look very white in my photos, not like they actualy appeared. We have Lakefair coming up in two weeks, so I'll try again.
When I go to a barbecue on July Fourth, I love to load my plate with all the traditional foods served for the celebration.
Here’s a typical plate of food I would serve myself, along with the calories for each item:
Eileen Silva, N.D., offers this menu instead:
For more information, see “Summer Barbecues” on Silva’s Baby Boomers Blog.
After enjoying a barbecue with family and friends, a picnic in the park, boating, or hiking, it’s fun to watch a spectacular fireworks display.
What are the best July Fourth celebrations in the United States?
I reviewed several dozen lists of top Fourth of July events. Here are the cities that came up most often as the best in the country:
See these Web sites for descriptions of the Independence Day celebrations in various cities:
“Top Places to Celebrate July Fourth” – Yahoo! News
“Top 10 Places to Celebrate July 4” – msnbc
“Top 10 Places to Celebrate July 4th” – toptenz
“Fourth of July Travel: Best Places to See Fireworks” – Cheapflights.com
“Top 10 Places to Celebrate Independence Day 4th of July” – Ezine Articles
“Best Places to Watch July 4th Fireworks” – LowFares.com
As you experience this special day to recognize fathers, I hope that you are receiving much joy and happiness.
Father’s Day gives us the opportunity to make memories or share memories with those we love.
Father’s are very important figures in our lives, as I said in my post yesterday about my father.
In a Fatherhood Town Hall meeting in the East Room of the White House on Thursday, President Obama said that we all know the difference that a responsible, committed father can make in the life of a child:
I hope you’re having a wonderful Father’s Day. It’s important to take the time to celebrate the significant work fathers do in contributing to families, which are the backbone of our communities.
My dad Minor H. Slingsby was an important figure in my life.
Two of my main passions in life came from him: an interest in consumerism and newspapers.
My dad enjoyed reading the newspaper, and he’d read articles to us. When he found something he thought was humorous, he’d read it aloud and laugh uproariously.
Carefully watching every penny, my dad taught me to be an informed, alert consumer.
I’m a consumer journalist because of him.
My dad was a stern man. My mom said when they were first married she’d argue with him. After a while, she gave up. Mom said she decided he could be in charge. He made the decisions in the family.
My two sisters and I worked hard at following his rules and keeping out of trouble.
Born in 1910 in Williston, N.D., my dad and his family experienced hard times as a farm family.
One of the main crops they grew was flax, a plant used to produce fiber.
My dad’s father drank heavily and gambled, so little money was left for the family.
At one time, my grandmother and some of the seven children tried to obtain property by homesteading. Huddled under buffalo blankets when they ran out of fuel and food, one of the boys had to go to town for help.
My grandfather died in 1914 at age 58. My dad was 4 years old.
It was difficult for the family to earn money after that.
When my dad was about 8, his family moved West. Mable Bailey Kinyon, my grandmother’s sister, helped the family. She and her husband Harry Kinyon owned an apple ranch in Cashmere, Wash.
My dad lived with his sister Mable Taylor and attended Cashmere High School where he played basketball. He was 6 foot 4 inches.
Although my dad worked mostly in apple orchard jobs, he met my mom in the Ritzville, Wash., area when he went to get a job in the wheat harvest.
My dad married Ruth L. Telecky in 1933 in Cashmere.
During the Great Depression, he was able to get a job working for the Works Progress Administration as a timekeeper. The skills he learned were helpful to him later in life.
My parents worked hard, saved their money, and bought a seven-acre apple orchard in Orondo, Wash. It’s 13 miles up the Columbia River from Wenatchee.
One thing that happened to my father, which affected him profoundly, was the loss of the orchard. Apple prices were low in the recession of 1948, and we had to sell our ranch.
My dad was upset about it for years. He complained about capitalism. He criticized the government, saying apple farmers should be able to receive the same subsidies as wheat farmers.
We moved up the river to the Wenatchee Beebe Orchard Company where my dad obtained a job as the field manager.
Like most men of his era, my dad didn’t talk about his feelings. He never talked about his childhood. The information I learned was from my Uncle Harry and my aunts.
My dad was proud of my accomplishments and me. We were able form a good relationship in his later years and enjoy and appreciate each other.
My dad died in 1990 at age 80 from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a lymphatic system cancer. Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is linked to pesticide exposure.
I miss my dad very much. I’ll be thinking about him on Father’s Day and the contributions he made to my life.
About 17 million baby boomers are fathers.
I e-mailed six boomer dads and asked what they’d like to receive for a Father’s Day present.
Computer gadgets and a Sirius satellite radio were two of the requests.
Another boomer dad wants Bill O'Reilly’s newest book, a stainless steel sauté pan, a new putter, and a barbecue with his two daughters.
One dad said it would be great if his two sons volunteered to work for three days on clean up activities for the family’s vacation cabin.
A boomer dad with young children wistfully envisions a nice quiet day with a tasty steak and cold beer at the end of the day.
Similarly, another boomer dad wants a day at the beach on his Hobie Cat 17 sailboat, good winds, a great lunch, lots of sun, and no work.
More gift ideas
Amazon.com suggests giving your dad CDs from the 1960s and 70s. Their Web page Great Gifts for Your Baby Boomer Dad also recommends books including “How to Retire Early and Live Well With Less Than a Million Dollars” and “Eight Weeks to Optimum Health: A Proven Program for Taking Full Advantage of Your Body’s Natural Healing Power.” A Canon PowerShot S100 2MP Digital ELPH Camera Kit w/ 2x Optical Zoom is another suggestion.
You can also choose from books on a list of Books for Grownups recommended by AARP and Publishers Weekly. Among the offerings are “Do-Over: In Which a Forty-Eight-Year-Old Father of Three Returns to Kindergarten, Summer Camp, the Prom, and Other Embarrassments” and “Closing Time: A Memoir.”
If you want to give your dad electronic gadgets, the article “11 Affordable Father’s Day Gifts Dads Will Want” on mint.com offers suggestions for under $100.
A different kind of gift
Probably the most unusual gift suggestion I came across in my consumer research is from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In its article, “Top Five Father’s Tips From USDA,” the department recommends giving your dad a food thermometer to make sure food is safe.
Other Father’s Day suggestions the department offers are: visit a local farmers’ market, explore a local forest or park, plant your own garden, and cook a healthy meal with dad.
Father's Day spending
Americans are expected to spend an average of $91 on gifts for dad, down slightly from $95 last year. Total spending is expected to reach $9.4 billion, the Nation Retail Federation reports.
Other highlights from the federation’s annual survey include:
More Father's Day gift resources for consumers
“Perfect Father’s Day Gifts for Baby Boomers” – Associated Content
"Father’s Day Gifts Under $50” – NBC Philadelphia
“Father’s Day Gift the Cheapskate Can Endorse” – The Cheapskate Blog on Time
Best wishes with your search for a present for your dad and your Father's Day activities. I hope you'll be able to visit with or talk with your dad on Father's Day.
My next post will be "A Tribute to My Dad on Father's Day."
Sonora Dodd of Spokane, Wash., conceived the idea of Father’s Day while she listened to a Mother’s Day sermon in 1909.
Dodd wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart, a widowed Civil War veteran who was left to raise his six children by himself on a rural farm.
June was chosen for the first Father’s Day celebration – proclaimed for June 19, 1910, by Spokane’s mayor – because it was the month of William Smart’s birth.
The first presidential proclamation honoring fathers was issued in 1966 when President Lyndon Johnson designated the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day.
Father’s Day has been celebrated annually since 1972 when President Richard Nixon signed the public law that made it permanent.
On Sunday, millions of families will be gathering on Father's Day to recognize their dads and the contributions they are making and have made.
Who are these dads, how many children do they have, and how many are single dads?
Here are facts and figures about fathers and Father’s Day from the U.S. Census Bureau:
How many fathers
66.3 million
Estimated number of fathers across the nation today.
26.5 million
Number of fathers who are part of married-couple families with their own children under the age of 18.
Among these –
2.3 million
Number of single fathers, up from 393,000 in 1970. Currently, among single parents living with their children, 18 percent are men.
Among these fathers –
Stay-at-home dads
98,000
Estimated number of “stay-at-home” dads. These are married fathers with children under 15 years old who have remained out of the labor force for more than one year primarily so they can care for the family while their wives work outside the home.
Among these stay-at-home dads –
Child-Support
4.6 million
Number of fathers who provide child support. All in all, 84 percent of child-support providers are men, who provide median payments of $3,600 annually.
Remembering all dads
Neckties lead the list of Father’s Day gifts. Number of men’s clothing stores: 10,416.
Other items high on the list of Father’s Day gifts include tools such as hammers, wrenches, and screwdrivers. Number of hardware stores in the nation: 14,755. Number of home centers: 5,280.
Dads also often like items such as fishing rods and golf clubs. Number of sporting goods stores: 23,018.
Nearly 69 million Americans participated in a barbecue in the last year. Many of these may have taken place on Father’s Day.
Nearly 95 million
Number of Father’s Day cards expected to be given this year in the United States, making Father’s Day the fourth-largest card-sending occasion.
Fifty percent of all Father’s Day cards are purchased for dads. Nearly 20 percent are purchased for husbands, with the remaining bought for grandfathers, sons, brothers, uncles, and “someone special,” among other categories.
So happy Father’s Day to you fantastic 66.3 million dads in America. I hope your day is great and that you’re able to have a wonderful celebration.
My next post will be on “What to Buy a Baby Boomer Dad for Father’s Day.”
Flag Day is observed on June 14 each year, although it isn't an official federal holiday.
Congress authorized a red-white-and-blue flag with stars and stripes, the official national symbol of the United States of America, on June 14, 1777.
In 1885, B.J. Cigrand, a grade school teacher in Waubeka, Wisc., held the first recognized formal observance of Flag Day at the Stony Hill School.
In many magazines and newspaper articles and public addresses over the following years, Cigrand continued to advocate for the observance of June 14 as Flag Day.
Throughout the next three decades, other individuals and organizations promoted the establishment of Flag Day.
On May 30, 1916, Pres. Woodrow Wilson established by a proclamation the anniversary of the Flag Resolution of 1777.
Although Flag Day was celebrated in various communities for years after Wilson's proclamation, it wasn’t until August 3, 1949, that President Truman signed an Act of Congress designating June 14 of each year as National Flag Day.
The act calls on the President to issue an annual proclamation calling for a national observance and for the display of the U.S flag on all federal government buildings.
In a second joint resolution approved June 9, 1966, Congress requested the President to issue annually a proclamation designating the week during which June 14 falls as National Flag Week and to call on all citizens of the U.S. to display the flag during that week.
The longest-running Flag Day parade is held annually in Quincy, Mass., which began 1952 and is celebrating its 57th year in 2009.
The largest Flag Day parade is held annually in Troy, N.Y., which usually draws about 50,000 spectators.
The National Flag Day Foundation has been established to carry on the tradition of the first Flag Day observance. The foundation pays special recognition to Bernard J. Cigrand, and is located Waubeka, Wis.
Each year, the foundation offers a Flag Day celebration, which includes a program, parade, and family activities.
You can get a free U.S. flag today or tomorrow in honor of Flag Day from AmericanFlags.com. The flags are 2 feet by 3 feet, with metal grommets and usually cost $9.99, plus shipping and handling.
Until Monday, June 15, up to one million customers will get flags for free, but they’ll need to pay for shipping and handling.
Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist
I believe one of the most important actions citizens of the United States can take on Memorial Day is to promote peace in the world.
How can you work for peace today?
Veterans For Peace is offering peace activities in 18 cities including Boston, New York, Miami, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Portland, Ore.
The Boston event, also sponsored by Iraq Veterans Against the War, Gold Star Families for Peace, and Military Families Speak Out, begins at noon EST. It’s a ceremony for peace on Memorial Day to remember and mourn those who died, but to also call for the end to wars.
In Portland, Veterans For Peace Chapter 72’s annual event "From War to Peace" begins at noon with a short ceremony at the Memorial Coliseum in the Courtyard of the Korean War memorial. The group will then march to the Peace Memorial Park where Benji Lewis, a two-tour Marine veteran/war resister, and Cindy Sheehan, peace mom, will speak.
Other communities where Veterans For Peace are offering rallies include Pueblo, Colo., Gainesville, Fla., North Texas, Manchester, N.H., San Francisco, Bethlehem, Pa., Traverse City, Minn., St. Louis, Mo., Binghamton, N.Y., Albany, N.Y., and Houston.
Check your local newspaper and the Internet for information on peace rallies in your community.
Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist
