z Cottage by the Sea : Washington's Birthday aka President's Day and Tues. 4

Monday, February 16, 2026

Washington's Birthday aka President's Day and Tues. 4



George Washington's birthday is today but somewhere along the line they began to call it President's Day taking the focus off the Father of our nation.
I hate him being used for commercials.  How long to you have to be deceased before you are subject to disrespect?
George Washington
This portrait of him in his younger days shows his hand in coat signifing he is a Mason as were many of our presidents.   
We usually see him with white hair so I really like this portait of him by Charles Wilson Peale.
Washington was famous for warning us not to have foreign entanglements just as God warned the nation of Israel not to make alliances with nor depend on the nations around them for anything.   Washington saw nothing but trouble from European involvement.

Washington's farewell address was given in 
Fraunces Tavern at  54 Pearl Street, New York City and it is still a tavern today that you can visit when in NYC.

It was President James Monroe who made the Monroe Doctrine in which the United States declared the entire lands of North and South America  off limits to further colonization as we are all Americans from Canada down to Chile.  It's goal was to prevent European interference most notably England and France who tried again and again to undermne the US as in   1812 when the British burned down  the capital  and the Civil War where they determined to break up the union to make us easier pickings.
By the way it was Russia under Tzar Alexander II, whose Baltic and Pacific fleets came to guard New York City and San Francisco from bombardment by the south. Our relations with Russia at the time were solid!  At the time Russia's navy was one of the most powerful in the world and their weapons, made in Tennessee, were the top of the line.    They threated to wipe out the south if they fired and frankly they could have.
NYC gave the Russian navy a "ticker tape" style parade down 5th Avenue and welcomed them with open arms.  They  helped save the USA from  being dismantled.  

But, if we are going to say Presidents Day.... I will take the time to also honor  President James Earl Carter, Jr., winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his great humanitarian acts.  A man who brokered the Camp David Accords , the Panama Canal treaty, advancements in Civil rights but who found he was stymied in his attempts to free American hostages in Iran because of the great evil in Swampington D.C.   Republicans backing Reagan worked hand in glove with the Ayatollah Khomeini, who despised the deeply Christian Carter to hinder recovery of the hostages and to give Carter a black eye.   (to their eternal shame),

Within actual minutes of Reagan's election, the hostages were freed. 
 A man of deep principles and  faith, he was faithrul to one woman all his married life while so many of our presidents were serial divocees or adulterers.  Jimmy took his vows seriously and he and Rosalyn had a long happy life together.
His Nobel Peace Prize came as a result of hands on humanitarianism,
He was down in the trenches building homes for the poor himself, it was  not just talk   \
 He never used foul language nor mocked his political rivals as some do  in an unmanly and blatant way.    
While many of our presidents in these latter years admit they've never read the bible, Jimmy read it daily and was a Baptist Sunday School teacher and never failed to attend church during his life time and during his presidency 


Inside Fraunces Tavern from their Website




TUESDAY 4


Welcome to Tuesday 4 friends!  I am always so happy to have people come and take part.
The Olympics are taking place and  we just had the Super Bowl for American football so perhaps we can talk about sports a bit.  Thank you to Diana of  Doodles and Daydreams fir suggesting sports as a subject for this week!
So, let's think about sports this week...........

1. Do you enjoy any of the sports from the Olympics either Summer or Winter? Would you tell us about it?  
I am really not a fan of the Olympics anymore but I enjoyed figure skating myself.  My Dad taught me to skate on the lake behind our home at 3 and I got pretty decent but no where near Olympic good.

2. What sports have you taken part in and what good did you get out of participating? If not, was there one you wish you had taken part in?
Did sports help you in life?
I played girls field hockey, baseball  and  track in school.
Sports helped keep me in shape and teach team spirit.
In non team sports I participated in  horse riding and ice skating and archery and in university I did figure skating.

3.  Is there a sport you still engage in  or one you enjoy watching a lot? 
 I am 96% disabled so no.  The last time I skated I found my gait would not allow me to go forward so I skated backwards the whole day.  I was with my good friend Laura and her kids and my own kids and it worked out as I could teach my daughter  and talk to my friend at the same time.  That was when my walking was getting worse and worse.

4. Have you any favorite teams you cheer on? Or perhaps a favorite sports figure? How about both??
I always liked Canadian figure skater Elizabeth Manley. Wonderfully talented skater.

What's the most memorable comeback or turnaround you've ever seen in a sports game, and what made it so special?
In 1980 a very young US hockey team beat the  Soviet  Union Team  in Lake Placid by one amazing point. It was called the "Miracle on Ice" and was just breathtaking to watch them come out on top of this game against the Soviet world champions!    It was a huge pick me up for the USA at the time.
The Soviet players were all professional athletes while the US team was made up of college students.
Lake Placid is one of my all time favorite places in the US... Its gorgeous there.

 Here is the Miracle on Ice!

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9 comments:

  1. As far as being honorable as a president, Jimmy Carter takes the cake. I'm a Georgia girl since the age of four, and I do honor all the good work he did here in our state and what he did for Habitat for Humanity. When it came to foreign policy, he simply didn't understand or know how to be a strong leader for America. Now he's with the God he loved all his life. Blessings, Annie!

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  2. Its great that you learned to figure skate when you were young. I remember Elizabeth Manley well. I think she went on to because coach.

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  3. I admired Jimmy Carter as well, I remember thinking he was a gentle man as well as a gentleman.
    I can stand upright on ice skates and move around but I'm not sure you would call it skating. But then it never got cold enough where I lived for snow let alone iced over ponds. Enjoyed your answers, mine are mainly about summer sport and yours about winter 😄

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  4. The one thing about Carter I don't like is later in life, he supported Palestine and not Israel. I am also old enough to remember as a child, waiting in the gas line with my mom and our Chevy Monte Carlo as there was a gas shortage. ANYWAYS, I can't remember what else I was going to say, LOL. Wishing you a beautiful day. smiles

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  5. Greetings , from one newly freed from being iced in !
    Ah , the luxury of independence and grocery shopping on one's own time !
    So very grateful for blessings received !

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  6. I think it is neat how you could skate at such a young age. I loved roller skating. I tried ice skating, but it hurt my ankles too much to want to try again. I really liked Jimmy Carter. We watched his funeral while we were on our cruise. He was a true man of God. I like to watch the hockey games too and I faintly remember the one you mentioned so I will watch the one you posted. I posted today after my Bible journaling class. I posted last week too. I hope you can visit.

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  7. I have heard of Presidents Day and there have been some damn good Presidents and some far from good ones and maybe a what the hell were people thinking voting for him

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