Got pilgrims?

A recent article in the Boston Globe reminds us that it's never too late for some Thanksgiving:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2010/09/12/pilgrims_in_the_family_tree/?fb_ref=art&fb_source=home_oneline

Yours truly has tossed some posts in the dryer about his own Mayflower connections over the years.

If you think you might have a connection of your own, try cross-checking your family tree with this "official" list of passengers:

http://www.mayflowerfamilies.com/mayflower/mayflower_passenger_list.htm

Beach Erosion isn't ALWAYS a bad thing . . .

I can't think of a single instance before today when yours truly ever had anything positive to say about beach erosion.

But, recent storms along the Cape Code National Seashore have worn away enough sand to expose the wreckage of 231+ year old British warship: HMS Somerset III.

If the name doesn't ring a bell for ye socks, don't feel too bad. I'd never heard of it before, either. But, according to historians it was this ship that Paul Revere had to evade on his historic ride, during which he warned his fellow patriots, "The British are coming, the British are coming!"

The poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow immortalized said ride by Revere, but only alluded to the lurking maritime threat. He never actually named the ship in his famous poem.

Anyway, it turned out that HMS Somerset III sank off Cape Cod back on 2 November 1778, with four hundred British troops on board.

Thirty-seven years ago, another bout of beach erosion revealed the ship's wreckage. Now, it has resurfaced, and technology has advanced to the point where an extensive survey can be made without disturbing the vessel's remains.

The researchers better work quick, though. It won't be long til the cape sands cover up the timbers again, and they might have to wait another 37 years to get another opportunity to pick over the remains . . .

Shifting Sands Reveal Revolutionary War Ship

Check out this article:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/04/_over_two_centu.html?s_campaign=8315

Fascinating, no?!

Breathe! We're 25% thru this nightmare!

Yours truly is wondering, given last night's results out of Massachusetts and the earlier reverses in New Jersey and Virginia, if our esteemed "leader" would revise the letter grade he so humbly awarded himself on the Oprah show. ("B")

What is blowing my mind this morning is the level of criticism he is receiving from liberals.

Folks at Human Rights Watch and the ACLU aren't happy with him. And, the anti-gun Brady Campaign went so far as to give him a big fat "F" for his first year's work.

All I can say, ye socks of whatever political stripe, is that this maladministration is like a kidney stone. And, this too shall pass!

Hope and change, y'all! ;)

Who saw this one coming?!

In Massachusetts, the bluest of blue states, the same Senate seat has been held by a member of the Kennedy family or their surrogate for half a century.

That's going to change as the poll results roll in from the Bay State tonight.

It looks like former Democrat "shoo-in" Martha Coakley is going down in flames.

Behaving as arrogantly as her would-be peers on Capitol Hill, she discounted the political acumen of her Republican rival Scott Brown and the dismay of her would-be constituents . . . so much so that she took time off the very short period of time leading up to this special election to take a Caribbean vacation.

May this give Harry Reid and his ilk pause in their on-going effort to ram Stealth Scare down our throats.

The people have spoken.

Old orange marmalade recipe

Ingredients:

* 6 oranges

* 3 quarts of water

* 7 pounds of sugar




Preparation:

*Wash the oranges and slice very thin, rejecting the seeds.

* To each pound of the fruit add three pints of cold water.

* Let it stand twenty-four hours.

* Boil until skins are tender.

* Allow to stand another twenty-four hours.

* Add sugar.

* Boil until the syrup jellies and the chips are tender.



This was submitted by Mrs. W.H. Odiorne of Orlando, Florida, for inclusion in a cookbook published by the First Baptist Church of Gloucester, Massachusetts, back in 1900. She and her family were originally from that neck o' the woods, but evidently learned how to incorporate citrus into their diet soon after making it to this little corner of heaven. Who says you can't teach a Yankee new tricks?!?!

Renovations and Sole Searching

As renovations of the Elizabeth Avenue house officially commence today, I have been told by others who have been down this road to look out for certain things.

Probably the wierdest thing I'm supposed to keep my eyes peeled for is stray shoes.

Apparently, it was a tradition up until at least the 1930s to conceal an old shoe whenever you were building or renovating. Supposed to bring you luck, I guess.

Case in point, the folks who are renovating the old Hancock-Clarke House up in Lexington, Massachusetts, found a veritable cache of old footwear and other odds and ends secreted between the walls of a 1768 addition. (Ye socks may remember "this old house" as Paul Revere's destination during his famous 1775 ride to warn John Hancock about the British a-comin'.)

Anyway, stay tuned. I'll let you know if I encounter any lost soles . . .

It'll cure what ails ya

I'm still battling a sinus infection down here.

This morning, despite the pain and discomfort, I was determined not to let it slow me down and keep me home bound for another weekend. So, I forced myself to drive downtown to a Huckabee campaign meeting. (Big news: the state hq is supposed to be opening right here in Orlando on Monday morning!!) But, about an hour and a half into things, a coughing fit overtook me, and I had to make a hasty exit. Kinda embarassing, actually, because I know my flight to the door distracted the speaker. Oh, well, hopefully she's amongst the socks reading this and will now understand the reasons and accept my apologies . . .

Anyway, the coughing subsided enough by the time I got back to Apopka, that I was able to run in to the Winn Dixie to pick up a few things to soothe my aches and pains. You know, chicken noodle soup, etc.

But, if you really want to know what is making me feel even better than all that store-bought stuff, it is the Republican forum they just had on FoxNews tonight.

After seeing it, I will not be surprised on Tuesday if Huck doesn't lap Romney and come in second up in New Hampshire. Old Mitt is really wounded after Iowa, and McCain (among others) really let him have it.

I particularly liked it when McCain laughingly acknowledged the Mittster as the "candidate of change" in the Republican field. Not because he's bringing new ideas to the table, or anything like that. Rather, because he changes his convictions on things like the sanctity of life depending on what audience he is addressing . . . that left the former Massachusetts governor stone-faced. Just beautiful!!

And, of course, Mike Huckabee delivered another stellar performance.

So, hopefully tomorrow I'll feel well enough to finally take down the Christmas tree . . . we'll see!

Mitt Romney: You can't buy the truth, you can't even rent it!

It is no secret that former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has been outspending Mike Huckabee by a margin of 20 to 1 in his efforts to buy the presidency by winning the Iowa caucuses.

And, rather than using all that money to tell the folks in Iowa why they should caucus FOR him, he's spending it all on spreading lies about Huckabee.

So, let's begin to set the record straight:

1. As Governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee signed a bill in 1999 that doubled sentences for production and distribution of methamphetamines. In fact, they were FOUR TIMES longer than sentences imposed in Massachusetts under Romney's "leadership." Huckabee is tough on crime.

2. Arkansas' state budget did increase during Huckabee's 10+ years as governor, but that increase was less than 4%--a rate even the New York Times has acknowledged as astonishingly low.

3. Mike Huckabee actually CUT overall taxes in Arkansas. There were a few examples when court orders and a public referendum forced increases to improve education and infrastructure. But, Romney conveniently "forgets" the 94 other taxes that Huckabee cut, including: elimination of the marriage penalty, indexing for inflation, and doubling the childcare tax credit.

4. Romney actually RAISED the tax burden in Massachusetts. He did so by calling his increases "FEES" instead of "TAXES," merely a matter of semantics, perhaps. But, it cost his constituents an extra half-billion on top of what was already one of the highest rates of taxation in the country.

Romney plays fast and loose with the truth, and not just when it comes to attacking Mike Huckabee. Notice his recent gaffe, in which he claimed his father had marched alongside Martin Luther King during the Civil Rights Era. What a whopper that was, and it was uncomfortable watching him try to squirm his way out of it when the media held him to account.

With everything going on in the world today, what America needs more than anything in its new president is someone they can trust. And, given Romney's pattern of lying to the folks in Iowa, I don't see how anyone could trust him in the Oval Office.

I am not alone in hoping caucus goers reject Romney's lies and, instead, choose to support the only candidate on either side of the aisle who has the executive experience to govern this country and the honesty we should demand from our leaders: Mike Huckabee.

Go, Mike, go!

Rita Norton McCann

I am sorry to report the death of my great-aunt Rita last night following a heart attack in Clinton, Massachusetts. She would have celebrated her 92nd birthday in just a few weeks.

Her passing marks the end of an era, as she was the last surviving child of Thomas J. Norton, Sr. and Lil Irving Norton.

You socks who know me well have probably heard me tell tales about my Grandma G. Well, Rita was one of her three older sisters, a twin to Aunt Marie (the subject of many equally priceless tales).

In addition to her parents and siblings, Aunt Rita was preceded in death by her husband Thomas Lincoln McCann (1910-1994).

She is survived by her only daughter Sharon, son-in-law Tom McQuoid, and grandsons Darren and Kyle . . . and, of course, numerous nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews, cousins, and friends.

Robert J. McNally of Clinton will be handling funeral arrangements. The immediate family will accept visitors on Sunday. And, a funeral mass will be held on Monday.

Expressions of sympathy may be made directly to Sharon at mccsh02@comcast.net.

Ames Aims

I am heading out the door to do some weekend type running around, but a little event out in Iowa will be on my mind the whole time.

I'm talking about the straw poll in Ames.

There's a lot riding on it.

Mitt Romney, the former governor of the lovely little commonwealth of Taxachusetts, has invested an inordinately huge amount of money on this event. And, why shouldn't he? I mean, the man is obscenely wealthy.

So, if the result is a foregone conclusion, why the big interest?

Well, because, all the politicos are going to be focused on who comes in second.

And, my hope is it will be Mike Huckabee.

Stay tuned if my hopes are realized. The former Arkansas governor could get a big bounce out of this little straw poll despite his comparatively meager budget. Good numbers in Ames will show his campaign's organizational ability, not to mention his supporters' level of commitment.

Oh, and if you're going to be anywhere near Ames today, I'll spring for the $35 cover charge if you promise to cast your ballot for Mike. And, any wavering Romney reporters are welcome to change their minds at the last minute!

Keeping my fingers crossed as I head out the door . . .

The Catalpa Rescue

I just watched an excellent documentary on the "Catalpa Rescue."

The rescue got its name from the ship Catalpa pictured here, an old whaler from the port of New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Anyway, it was featured on the PBS series "Secrets of the Dead," which usually includes a lot of forensic detective work in its episodes.

But, that was not the case tonight. There were no bones, no DNA testing, no botanical consultants.

Just the recounting of this fascinating story, one that (despite my lifelong love of history) had completely escaped my usually astute radar.

Anyway, it seems the British imprisoned 6 Irish soldiers for treason back in 1866 and sent them to a remote prison at Fremantle (near Perth) in western Australia.

One of the men, James Wilson, managed to sneak a plea for help to Irish nationalist John DeVoy, who had been exiled to the United States.

DeVoy rallied the American Irish group Clan na Gael to free the "Fremantle Six," as they were called. He soon had thousands of dollars pouring in to his office, enough to buy the Catalpa and finance a bold raid on the British prison.

If your local PBS station airs this episode, I can highly recommend it. True stories are always the best, and this one is full of a lot of drama, adventure, etc. And, it ends with an emotional unfurling of Old Glory by the captain of the Catalpa as a warning to the British navy vessels pursuing them that all those aboard enjoyed the protection of American sovereignty on the high seas.

I like any such reminder of America's long association with the cause of liberty. I only wish examples like this weren't relegated to PBS. The "Big 4" networks should be taking note.