Adirondack Family Time™

Smokey the Bear, the iconic American symbol for forest fire prevention, actually was preceded by an earlier fire prevention strategy. President Franklin D. Roosevelt first started a fire prevention campaign when millions of acres of National Forest were being lost due to careless people. The campaign started with Uncle Sam and took a r eligious turn before tapping into the war movement. When Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and Japanese submarines fired shells exploding a Santa Barbara, California oil field - the war was brought to American soil. With young men and experienced firefighters enlisted in the war and stationed away from the home front, fear grew that these attacks would continue to destroy lives, property and National Forests.  Citizens were encouraged to take a personal interest in fire prevention and organize community prevention efforts. With the success of Disney's 5th animated movie, Bambi, the fire prevention campaign shifts

I’m all for a good craft. My bathroom shelves and corners of every room in my house are filled with scraps of paper, string, and other tidbits waiting to be transformed into a fun afterschool activity. The one thing you won’t find on my website is a craft for a paper poppy for Remembrance Day, Veteran's Day or Memorial Day.  The paper poppy as a symbol for Memorial Day and Veteran's Day is sacred. In my opinion it shouldn’t be lumped into the same type of holiday craft madness as  Valentine’s Day  or  Christmas  (Oh, I have crafts here.   I like cutting and folding paper with the best of you. I like recycling, reusing, and repurposing.) There are so many blogs and websites posting crafts on how to honor veterans by making a paper poppy. I don’t mean to disparage those websites. I feel that the crafter's heart is in the right place. I just feel that the focus is off.  By making your own paper poppy, you aren’t able to connect a child or family member to the

Picking the violets is a sweet job! Springtime means violets and lilacs. I love having an edible landscape. Violets are one flower that brings color to my recipes and with the right violet, they even bring a sweet, sweet scent. In the Adirondack Park where I live, the purple native violets do not give off any scent. Also called blue violets (Viola sororia) these violet flowers and new spring leaves are edible and full of Vitamin C. The flower of the common blue violet (Viola sororia) has five rounded petals and is unscented while the leaves are heart-shaped. These native plants can be tossed in a spring salad adding bright floral interest. The more fragrant English wood violets (Viola ordorata) are what is most commonly used for perfumes and essential oils have naturalized in some places. The purple violets in the Adirondacks are unscented The small white violets have a sweet scent! Though there is one native sweet violet (Viola blanda) in the Adirondacks that does

Memorial Day  was officially proclaimed in 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his   General Order No. 11 , and was first observed on May 30, 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.  • The first state to officially recognize the holiday was  New York  in 1873 • 1890 - Memorial Day was recognized by all northern states.  • The South refused to acknowledge the day until after World War I What changed?  The holiday now honors all Americans who died fighting in any war, not just those that died fighting in the Civil War.  • Some southern states still have a separate day honoring the Confederate war dead:   January 19 in Texas  April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi  May 10 in South Carolina  June 3  in Louisiana and Tennessee, which just happens to be  Jefferson Davis' birthday Memorial Day (Remembrance Day,  Poppy Day , Armistice Day) is

Cascarónes are a lot more fun than just dying the eggs. You get to blow out the egg, dye the egg, fill it with confetti and smash it on your brother's head - all in the name of good luck.                                             Cascarónes are used in Mexico during Carnival as well as Easter and other celebrations. The word  cascaron means "egg shell." ( Don't forget food safety when handling raw eggs.)   These hollowed-out eggs can be filled with glitter, confetti or even small toys. Since my husband hates glitter, we stick to paper confetti. Enjoy!  Ingredients raw eggs in shells large needle (children should not do this alone) boiling water food safe dye vinegar confetti (make your own by cutting up tissue paper into small pieces) 1) Wash the eggs with soap and warm water 2) Gently ease the needle into one end of the egg 3) Use the needle to pick out a small hole at one end 4) Shake the contents of the egg into anothe

Do you wonder what Santa is up to? The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has the military equipment and technology to find out if St. Nicholas is making tracks. For the past 60 years NORAD has tracked Santa progress on Christmas Eve and all because of a misprint. In 1955 a Sears and Roebuck, Inc advertisement ran a phone number for children to call and talk to Santa. Instead of reaching Santa, the children called in the NORAD (former  Continental Air Defense Command- CONAD). Director of Operations Colonel Harry Shoup had his staff check for signs of Santa and children calling in were given periodic updates regarding St. Nick's location. Keep track of Santa!  In 1958 the Canadian and United States governments created a new bi-national air defense command for North American, renamed from CONAD to the current NORAD. The new organization continued the tradition of tracking Santa for youngsters. For anyone that is concerned about government funds being used

The New York Sun's newsman Francis Pharcellus Church's response to then eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon has since become history's most reprinted newspaper editorial.  Is There A Santa Claus?   "We take pleasure in answering at once and thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of THE SUN: DEAR EDITOR:  I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.' Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus? VIRGINIA O'HANLON. 115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET.