A Triple Play of Sunday Fun with Apples, Kids and Church Bells

The Apple of My Eye

It's beautiful Sunday morning in New England, the beginning of a brand new month and great time to take another trip across the Fruited Plain. One can't go wrong when taking in the bounty of this awe-inspiring country, so get ready to be aw-inspired.

Maine - I like stories about kids doing something unique and then getting a most unexpected result. This is one of those stories. The children at Adams School in Castine, Maine got quite a surprise when they put a message in a bottle and tossed it into the Atlantic Ocean.

Colorado - One of the most beautiful sounds to my ear is the ringing of the Church bells on a Sunday morning much like today. However, in 1860's Breckenridge, Colorado, it wasn't such a divine sound to local miners - especially after a night of fun, froth and frivolity.

Family Time From Last Fall - This post was written last October when Heather, the girls and I took a drive much on a Sunday like today. A good time was had by all, especially Bailey.

These three posts make for some mighty good Sunday reading and perhaps will inspire you to put a message in a bottle, sing a song of Praise along with nearby Church bells or spend time with your kids or grandkids doing something that will create a memory to be shared, perhaps even repeated, with their children or grandkids in the decades ahead.

Good News Stories About America

The Symbol of the United States of America

First things first. I' like to wish my sister Cheryl, who is one of the toughest (in a good way) women I know, a Happy Birthday. Cheryl is one of the best women I've had the pleasure to know and it's a privilege to be her brother. Happy Birthday, Cher Bug. Today is also Cheryl's daughter Erica's birthday. Erica is a lot like her mother, so she's a keeper, too. Happy Birthday Erica Bob. I love you both very much.

We've reached the end of the long Thanksgiving Weekend, made it through Black Firday and look forward to Cyber Monday tomorrow. A quick reminder, if you are doing some Christmas shopping online, please consider clicking on one of the ads on all three of my blogs. You'll get some great bargains and I'll get a small commssion from each sale. I'd appreciate it. Also on each blog you'll see a "Donate" button. If you are so inclined and would like to make a donation directly to me through PayPal (you don't need a PayPal account), it's a secure transaction and would be a nice reward for all the hard work it takes to run three blogs by myself. besides this blog, I also run Dumbass News, which is quickly becoming very popular with you and other readers around the world. My newest entry into the world of cyber comedy is Because Toby Said So. It, too, is picking up new readers from all over the globe. take a minute or two to look these two blogs. They're actually pretty funny and definitely worth a quick perusal. Thanks in advance. :)

As has become a custom on Sundays, I hopped into the Almost Way Back Time Machine and thoroughly examined the Three States Plus One archives for material worthy of your time and attention. This is what I came up with:

• Texas Tidbits: Miss Me Yet? Yup. - A short but heartfelt tribute to the 43rd President of the United States - George W. Bush. A few weeks ago, President Bush released his memoirs (and I have signed copy number 47) , which by the way, you can order through a link to Amazon.com on this very page. I disagreed with President Bush on many things, but one of them was not his love for his country and the decisions he made regarding the safety and well-being of her citizens. This short post is an example of what a great man George W. Bush is. Give it a look. You'll see what I mean.
• Maine Minutiae: Message In a Bottle - I had forgotten about this post and I am glad I found it again. It's about some kids in a school in Castine, Maine who put a message in a bottle then chunked it into the Atlantic Ocean. Somebody found it a very unlikely place. this is a nice, syrupy story that is good to read on a Sunday morning. 
• Colorado Chronicles: Honey, Can We Move Here? - This post is worth the look just to see the picture at the top of the article. Meeker, Colorado. I could live there.

That's a pretty good line up of Sunday reading right there. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I liked writing it. The posts I have linked you to are a microcosm of America and its people. You have a former President, a group of school kids and the Natural beauty that are America. God bless you and may God continue to bless America.

Maine Minutiae : Message in a Bottle

RSVP

During the three months I've run this blog, I've posted almost 250 entries, but this one is amongst the coolest of them all. It involves kids, so what's not to like? I mean these are somebody else's kids, so they are the kind of kids I like most. :) )  These somebody else's kids were 6th and 7th grade students at Adams School in Castine, Maine. The students were involved in a school project that, for whatever reason, involved putting a message in a bottle and setting it afloat in the Atlantic Ocean. A couple of these students put their message in a bottle and gave it to a fellow student's Dad. The Dad was on his way to the Bahamas and promised to chunk the message-in-a-bottle into the sea. He did and the kids got a response from the bottle's finder....two years later! In the Azores! 2971 miles away! I have done this before. I put a note with my name and address on it in a bottle then threw it in the Trinity River near downtown Fort Worth. About a week later, I got a response! From the Fort Worth Department of Sanitation. With a summons. And a $250 fine. I am certain that the kids at Adams School were much happier with their response than I was with mine, unless they have since dropped out of school to follow Miley Cyrus on her "Hannah Montana Sucks 2010 Tour". Congratulations to the students at Adams School for such a great ending to their story. It's way cool.

UPDATE: The students at Adams School in Castine, Maine are holding a fund raiser this weekend in order to pay the fine for littering in the Azores. And the bottle deposit.