Tag Archives: anniversaries

Star-Spangled Birthday …

I didn’t know this until yesterday but 2014 is the 200th birthday of our national anthem, the Star-Spangled Banner.

This is a picture of the flag that flew over Ft McHenry in Baltimore and inspired Francis Scott Key to write the poem which became our national anthem.

I took this picture of the flag in 1985 at the Smithsonian, photos of it are not allowed anymore.

In 1981, the Smithsonian began a two-year preservation effort: staff vacuumed the flag to reduce accumulated dust, installed new lighting and air-handling systems, and mounted a screen in front of the flag to protect it from light and damaging airborne matter.

 But more needed to be done to preserve the flag and in 2008 the flag got its own state of the art gallery.. CLICK HERE to visit that site.

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CLICK HERE to read the story behind the Star-Spangled Banner.

CLICK HERE for the story of the Star-Spangled Banner

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25th Anniversary …

November 12, 1988

My creation

2013

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With love to our daughter Patty & son-in-law Mike on their 25th anniversary


50th Anniversary …

October 5, 1963

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Happy anniversary to us …

My creation

(CLICK HERE for the story) !


6 Year Blogaversary …

On Saturday, October 5th MV Obsession will be 6 years old.  SIX.  Six years of obsessing about the place that I love most in the world, that’s a lot of obsessing.  Today’s post will be number 745 and it all began with these ten words…

Hi, my name is Joan and I’m a Vineyard-a-holic…

Followed by…

joan-mv-44.jpg My obsession/love affair with Martha’s Vineyard started early in my life.  I was around 2 and a half in this picture and this was already my second trip.

My connection to MV was through my mother who although was born in Maine was raised on MV.   She went to Oak Bluffs high school (there was no regional high school, each town had its own back then) and after graduating moved to NJ where she met my father and quickly converted him into an MV lover.

We stayed with my godparents in Oak Bluffs every summer.    Life on MV was so different from Newark, NJ where I spent the other part of my existence.   My mother and I would take the train from NY to Woods Hole in June,  my dad would arrive for the entire month of August and we’d all sadly leave the beginning of September.

My summers were filled with trips to the beach in Oak Bluffs… endless rides on the Flying Horses… ice cream at the Frosty Cottage on Circuit Ave… popcorn at Darling’s… fairs and parades… at least one trip to Gay Head (Aquinnah)… visiting relatives in Indian Hill… movies… setting pins at the bowling alley in Oak Bluffs… endless hours at the Oak Bluffs library… Bible school at the Tabernacle… Illumination Night… and one especially painful memory of my first and only dance lesson at the Tivoli ballroom where the Oak Bluffs police department now stands.

These are just a few snippets of memories and stories I’d like to share.  Hope whoever reads them finds them as enjoyable as I did experiencing them.’

MV Obsession isn’t strictly about the Vineyard anymore but like the header says it’s ‘almost all the time.’

Feel free to wander through the category links along the left side, visitors are always welcome :)

To be continued….