Crazy as a Cool Fox

On display this Memorial Day weekend May 2010 were 20,000 American flags on a hill side on Boston Common. A National Park Horse Patrol stands guard
John Hancock and Prudential buildings in the background

Boston's World War I memorial in the background


20,000 flags represents the amount of military personnel from Massachusetts killed while on duty since World War I.

Memorial Day here for me has always been a special day. Not only do we honor those who died while in military service, but it also has been tagged as an unofficial start of summer even though the official start is still 21 days away. Originally Memorial Day was held on May 30th each year. Then someone in congress came up with the three day weekend concept. So now Memorial Day is celebrated on the last Monday of May. Many of our holidays are celebrated on Mondays. This three day weekend ends up being a huge travel weekend with clogged highways on Friday evening and Sunday afternoon. Memorial Day is also the day oil companies start raising gas prices for the summer.  Sadly Memorial Day observances have taken a backseat to beaches and barbecues.


I can remember our town's Memorial Day observances always included a reading of the Gettysburg Address at the common. This was one of, if not the most famous speech of President Abraham Lincoln. It was given at the dedication the the Soldiers …

Wrinkle Busters
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Danvers River - Westbound



Taken from the Kernwood Bridge - Beverly/Salem Massachusetts

Photo by Crazyasa CoolFox

With summer fast approaching I thought I would blog about a local poet. John Greenleaf Whittier is best known for the poem, "Snowbound," his script of a New England winter storm. Whittier's other famous poem is "Barefoot Boy." Again, a very descriptive poem of a New England summer in the country. I love this poem because it does stir up memories of summers as a child. Although I wasn't barefoot all the time, it was fun to walk through the grass and play without shoes.
Whittier's birthplace is situated not to far from where I grew up in northern Essex County of Massachusetts. It is said that he used his memories around this home for these two great poems. One can still identify some of the scenes in the poems at the home.
Whitter is famous also for being an abolitionist, activists against slavery in the southern states. He clerked for another famous abolitionist from Massachusetts, William Lloyd Garrison. 
There are many things that bear his name now includ…

I lost my pet pink elephant, has anyone seen it?
I searched the web for as many pink elephants as I could find. (don't ask me why) They apparently are quite the popular item.
To pick another pet, poke here.

Lynn Union Hospital, Lynn, Massachusetts, has devoted a large part of its grounds to a healing garden. Whenever I have an appointment there I love arrive early to just chill out here and listen to the water in the stream and wind through the trees.  Here can be seen a beautiful outdoor chapel adjacent to the indoor chapel where one can contemplate and relax. Security guards come along and feed the koi in the stream. It's an unusual part of their job but I'm sure it's a great diversion for them. I think the koi are well fed from visitors too. Some are very big fish!
Past the koi pond up a small rise is a peace pole. "May peace prevail on earth," is inscribed on six sides in different languages. Peacepoles.com is a non profit group that manufactures and sends their poles around the world. There are many interesting nooks for quiet conversation and privacy. The whole garden is designed with gentle curves. There are very few corners or straight lines. The foligage gives a…

Sometimes one has to look at the details in a photo to find another story. These two photos I had found in different parts of my mother's albums. I thought I was seeing two different photo locations and sessions at first. If you look closely the baby is wearing the same clothes. Look at those crazy socks!


At first I thought these were studio photos They seem very well posed. The photographer has expertly gained the baby's attention.
A closer look and my knowledge of furniture in my grandfathers house brings me to conclude these photos were snapped at the family residence. In the lower photo the baby sits on a chair which I call, for a lack of a proper term, a corner chair. This is the type of chair that sits snuggly in the corner of a room, perhaps a small room. One sits diagonally in this chair. I myself have sat  in this very chair when I was a child. In fact it was a favorite chair for us grandchildren to sit when we visited grandpa as is was so unique.


That chair still exs…

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.” Albert Einstein

Polish Resistance Freedom Fighters Memorial - South Boston, MA
To experience more of the mysterious, click here.
Photo: Crazyasacoolfox

One of my proudest accomplishments was a fundraiser I was involved in way back in September 1997. I was going through some old photos and thought I would share a few of them. Many people were helped from this and subsequent AIDS rides. Many people helped me gain my share in fund raising. To them I still say thank you for your support.

My Sepia Saturday post this week has a Mothers Day theme to it. All the photos are from the family albums I have been scanning. Someday I hope to add to this video as the three little girls at the end of this video are also mothers now. I was a bit late in gathering their photos. I hope you all enjoy this special Mothers Day edition of Sepia Saturday.



PS If any of you are mothers I wish you all a happy Mothers Day.
To see the mother of all Sepia Saturday posts click here.

If anyone ever loved pink it was mother  Enjoy this cute pink video I made to honour all mothers. Happy Mothers Day!




To be pretty in pink click here!

The many incarnations of the Parker River Bridge (Route 1A) Newbury, Massachusetts
Bridges come, bridges go. This one once carried cattle and trolleys, now it carries bicycles and autos. It once had 7 piers, then 4, now 2. Constructed of wood, and of stone, then of concrete, then steel, and all made by muscle. One lane, two lanes, three lanes, four lanes, they open they close. They let water flow one way, boats flow two.


Concrete and steel. Two piers. Circa 2009. Photo 2010.
What will be here next?
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