Hi,

You know I love my lake, notice I call it mine. Someone
mentioned to me the other day that 70% of the time it is
glorious and 30% of the time, it is laborious. The Hurricane
that was downgraded to a tropical storm left a lot of water in
its wake even when she passing through. The rain that
comes from the heavens have to go somewhere and its preferred
path is right to the lake.

We are a small town so we do not have sewers to guide the water,
we have culverts. During the storm some twigs got caught crosswise
like a cross in front of the entry and then leaves added insult to injury.
he culvert was completely blocked so the water had to go somewhere.
It went down my street, my neighbor’s driveway, down the Beach
Club driveway all heading right towards my house. It was like being in
the middle of a river, with the water raging on all sides and pummeling
the front of the house and escaping to the sides encircling my house.

It has been raining now for about 4 days from another storm but this
storm just had showers until it wanted to do a finale. It woke me
several times during the night with its pounding rain and when I woke
in the morning, guess what had happened. Again, another crossbow
and leaves so I had a torrent coming down again. No damage so I
am grateful, just the washing down of more sticky sand onto my
driveway. I looked out the window and started chuckling then
laughing. It was a sight to behold. There were three ducks
swimming in my street and they kept bobbing up to grasp some
kind of greenery that they were evidently enjoying.

I watched them for about 5 minutes, shocked in a way as I have
never seen ducks in my street and I have been here for 15 years.
I decided to take a picture for laughs and for posterity as that
was how deep the water was that was coming right toward my house.
I opened my door and aimed the camera when it refused to work.
Wouldn’t you know it , the batteries were dead. Doesn’t that always
happen so unexpectedly it seems just when you want a picture.? The
fact that they saw me scared them so they left before I could change
the batteries. No picture but a light hearted feeling and chuckles
remained with me.

I would like to honor all the people involved in 9/11. The tenth
anniversary is in two days and the loss and pain is still keenly felt.
It was not only the ones that crossed over but the family and friends
that they left behind who are still feeling the loss. All of the volunteers
and all those firemen who gave their lives to help others are so
much in our hearts this weekend. There are so many stories and
I hope someday that all the stories will be compiled but yet I know
this is a futile effort as there was a story for each and everyone
involved no matter what capacity.

I’m sure you have heard about the possible threat that might occur
from the same people who did the 9/11 tragedy. May I interject
a heartfelt knowledge that I am feeling. The main object of these
terrorists is to instill fear. That is their greatest glory and what
they wish to create in our hearts. I, for one, will not allow them
to take control of me or my feelings. I do have a choice and I
choose not to be in fear and give away my right to be free and
happy. If we do not descend into fear, they cannot possibly
achieve their objective. You see they don’t even have to do
a single thing to instill fear in the hearts of Americans. All
they have to do is “leak” the word that they will attack in some
way and everyone panics. Please do not give away your God
given right to be free in your heart and mind. Do not let them win
again.

We will face it if it happens but it does no good to worry and fret
before anything happens. WORRYING IS USING YOUR
IMAGINATION TO CREATE SOMETHING YOU “DON’T”
WANT.

I would like to share a story that will warm your hearts when you
read it. There were so many heroes that day and days afterward.

James Crane worked on the 101st floor of Tower 1 of the
World Trade Center .. He is blind so he has a golden retriever
named Daisy.

After the plane hit 20 stories below, James knew that he was
doomed, so he let Daisy go, out of an act of love. She darted
away into the darkened hallway.

Choking on the fumes of the jet fuel and the smoke James
was just waiting to die. About 30 minutes later, Daisy
comes back along with James’ boss, who Daisy just
happened to pick up on floor 112.

On her first run of the building, she leads James, James’ boss,
and about 300 more people out of the doomed building.
But she wasn’t through yet, she knew there were others who
were trapped. So, highly against James’ wishes she ran back
in the building.

On her second run, she saved 392 lives. Again she went
back in. During this run, the building collapses. James
hears about this and falls on his knees into tears.
Against all known odds, Daisy makes it out alive,
but this time she is carried by a firefighter. “She
led us right to the people, before she got injured”
the fireman explained.

Her final run saved another 273 lives. She suffered
acute smoke inhalation, severe burns on all four paws,
and a broken leg, but she saved 967 lives. Daisy is the
first civilian Canine to win the Medal of Honor of
New York City.

I would like to leave you with a song that will lift your
hearts and make you feel proud to be an American.
No one but no one can sing this song like its original
songstress, Kate Smith. Let’s sing along with her and
share this with our children and grandchildren so they
might realize just how proud we are to be American.

The link below will take you to a video showing
the very first public singing of “GOD BLESS
AMERICA.”

But before you watch, you should also know
the story of the song. The time was 1940.
America was still in a terrible economic
depression. Hitler was taking over Europe
and Americans were afraid we’d have to go
to war. It was a time of hardship and worry
for most Americans.

This was the era just before TV, when
radio shows were HUGE, and American
families sat around their radios in the evenings,
listening to their favorite entertainers – and no
entertainer of that era was bigger than Kate
Smith. Kate was also large in size, and the
popular phrase still used today is in deference
to her, “It ain’t over till the fat lady sings.” Kate
Smith might not have made it big in the age of TV,
but with her voice coming over the radio, she was
the biggest star of her time.

Kate was also very patriotic. It hurt her to see
Americans so depressed and afraid of what the
next day would bring. She had hope for America ,
and faith in her fellow Americans. She wanted to
do something to cheer them up, so she went to
the famous American song-writer, Irving Berlin
(also wrote “White Christmas”) and asked him
to write a song that would make Americans feel
good again about their country. When she
described what she was looking for, he said he
had just the song for her. He went to his files and
found a song that he had written, but never
published, 22 years before – way back in 1917.
He gave it to Kate Smith and she worked on it
with her studio orchestra. She and Irving Berlin
were not sure how the song would be received
by the public, but both agreed they would not
take any profits from “God Bless America “-
any profits would go to the Boy Scouts of America.
Over the years, the Boy Scouts have received
millions of dollars in royalties from this song.

This video starts out with Kate Smith coming
into the radio studio with the orchestra and an
audience. She introduces the new song for the
very first time, and starts singing. After the first
couple verses, with her voice in the background
still singing, scenes are shown from the 1940movie,
“You’re In The Army Now.” At the 4:20 mark
of the video you see a young actor in the movie,
sitting in an office, reading a paper – it’s Ronald
Reagan. Frank Sinatra considered Kate Smith the
best singer of her time, and said when he and a
million other guys first heard her sing “God Bless
America “on the radio, they all pretended to have
“dust in their eyes” as they wiped away a tear or two…

To this day, “God Bless America “stirs our
patriotic feelings and pride in our country. Back
in 1940, When Kate Smith went looking for a song
to raise the spirits of her fellow Americans, I doubt
she realized just how successful the results would be
– for her fellow Americans during those years of
hardship and worry, and for many generations of
Americans to follow… Now that you know the
story of the song, I hope you will enjoy it and
treasure it even more. God Bless America !
NOW HERE IS HOW “GOD BLESS
AMERICA ” SHOULD BE SUNG !

Click here: Israpundit » Blog Archive » Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America”

Love and Light

Mary Grace
www.TheWoundedChalice.com
www.TheWoundedChalice.com/blog
[email protected]

PO Box 403
Wales, MA 01081, USA
413-245-3977