I'm just a Bill of Rights

Happy 220th anniversary, Bill of Rights!

On Dec. 15, 1791, the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights, were ratified.

The Bill of Rights is the collective name for the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution. These limitations serve to protect the natural rights of liberty and property. They guarantee a number of personal freedoms, limit the government's power in judicial and other proceedings, and reserve some powers to the states and the public. 

Originally, the Bill of Rights included legal protection for land-owning white men only, excluding African Americans and women. It took additional Constitutional Amendments and numerous Supreme Court cases to extend the same rights to all U.S. citizens.

Jumping the broom

http://storybookquilts.org/library/show-all/addys-wedding-quilt

Happy anniversary Grandmomma!

(And Grandpoppa, too!)

Momma's parents "jumped the broom" 49 years ago today. Well, they didn't actually "jump a broom" since they were married in a church. But they could have.

So where does the custom come from?

Local variations of the custom were developed in different parts of England, Scotland and Wales when gypsy couples would get married by jumping over a branch of flowering broom (shrub) or a besom made of broom. The broom was placed in an angle by the doorway and the groom jumped over first, followed by the bride.

In the United States slaves who wished to marry were sometimes only permitted to "jump the broom." (This custom has been revived by some due to to the popularity of Alex Haley's wonderful novel and miniseries Roots.)

It does not seem to have any, um, roots in African culture but may have been the only form a marriage permitted by slave owners who were familiar with "jumping the broom" from the old country.

The flight of the Polar Express

http://www.marcgabbana.com/default.php?content_id=19&img_id=345

Have you seen the 2004 moving picture, The Polar Express? While I like the 1985 book better, what's not to like about a movie that has both a train AND an airship?

Can you guess who was piloting that airship over Santa's square?

It wasn't the first time either.

Polar explorers have been interested in airships from the beginning. American airship pioneer Walter Wellman flew a dirigible inside the Arctic Circle in 1907 and made two more attempts in 1909 and 1910.

The Graf Zeppelin’s 1931 Arctic Flight was both a scientific expedition and a dramatic display of the airship’s ability under extreme conditions.

The five-stage flight covered 8270.45 miles in 136:26 hours between July 24–31, 1931, and literally changed the map of the Arctic region with the information obtained during the flight.

The major costs of the expedition were met largely by sale of special postage stamps issued by both Germany and the Soviet Union. About 50,000 cards and letters were collected from around the world weighing a total of about 661 pounds. The rendezvous ship carried another 265 pounds of mail to exchange.
 

Who were those letters for? Santa?