Though the weather was gray and rainy, today I celebrated the Fourth of July as good as any sunny summer day. I reviewed my Star Spangled Banner lyrics (almost forgotten them in Russia!), did some yardwork to reassure myself that I was still capable of doing tough dirty work, went to the movies and then spent the evening on the State Plaza for a concert and an INCREDIBLE fireworks display with Tomash. Oh, did I mention Tomash was here?! Yes, imagine how happy I am to have my Polish friend in the States! Tomash will be here in Albany for the summer on a cultural work exchange. Needless to say, I'm very excited!
So, I saw just about the most unAmerican movie playing in the theaters, even though it's the Fourth of July, and truly ask that you all go and see it as well. Sicko, for those of you who aren't aware of it, is Michael Moore's latest film on the American healthcare system. It's not as liberal as Farenheit 9/11, and fairly compares our healthcare system with a few other systems in the Western world. It will make you laugh and cry, but most of all, make you really think about our nation's healthcare system and what we as taxpaying citizens deserve and can do to make things better. Please go see this film - I just want you see what it has to offer and to think about it!
Now that I'm done with my sales pitch on that, I have some bad news. My camera got broken. Therefore, until I'm ablet to scrape up some money to either buy a new one or get this one repaired, the photos in my posts will be limited to photos donated to me by friends or to pics I've taken with my camera phone. I'm sorry folks, it was a sad day when it happened. :-(
But, I'd like to leave you with a little something to celebrate the holiday. In sharing with Tomash our national anthem, among other patriotic songs, I learned that the Star Spangled Banner has not one, but EIGHT stanzas. Did you know this? Well, know you do and here they are. Happy Independence Day!
Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
