Doing the Christmas Tree Soon?

In 16th-century Germany fir trees were decorated, both indoors and out, with apples, roses, gilded candies, and colored paper. In the Middle Ages, a popular religious play depicted the story of Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden.

A fir tree hung with apples was used to symbolize the Garden of Eden — the Paradise Tree. The play ended with the prophecy of a savior coming, and so was often performed during the Advent season.

It is held that Protestant reformer Martin Luther first adorned trees with light. While coming home one December evening, the beauty of the stars shining through the branches of a fir inspired him to recreate the effect by placing candles on the branches of a small fir tree inside his home

The Christmas Tree was brought to England by Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert from his native Germany. The famous Illustrated News etching in 1848, featuring the Royal Family of Victoria, Albert and their children gathered around a Christmas tree in Windsor Castle, popularized the tree throughout Victorian England. Brought to America by the Pennsylvania Germans, the Christmas tree became by the late 19th century.

This Black Friday why not GIVE A CLICK?

 It’s the holiday season, shop ‘til you drop, deal with the stress and figure out which charities you may be donating to this year.   Between all the baking, and shopping, why not find some peace by sitting down and going online?

Ever notice all the fund me and crowdfunding projects on Facebook?  I’m sure you’ve seen them. But, what is this crowdfunding all about?!

Can YOU really donate my money this way or is this a scam?

Crowdfunding is an emerging practice of funding a project or venture by raising numerous small amounts of money from a large number of people. Typically this is done via the Internet.  This means that crowdfunding empowers nonprofit organizations to conveniently raise donations via mobile, social and online networks of volunteers, donors, and staff. These donations happen in real time with 0% transaction fees.

Crowdfunding allows for a personal connection. You get to connect with a project or venture that excites you and captures your imagination.   On top of this connection you also get to make the donation in the easiest way possible. No more writing a check or filling out a form! You now easily get to click to donate via your phone, tablet, computer or other devices.

In fact, crowdfunding has been such a favored form of giving that the fundraising volume in 2015 was $34 Billion! Not to mention, this industry is projected to grow to over $300 billion by 2025.

So find a charity, a cause, a person, anything you like, and Give A Click….. and feel better this Holiday season!!

GIVING THANKS

 As we now are in the crazy, turkey-eating, football-watching, family-hosting holiday week of Thanksgiving and the rest of the winter holidays, we think it’s an appropriate time to reflect on all that we have to be thankful for.

I am thankful for my family, my friends, my clients, and my good fortune. I am lucky enough to perform at a job that I truly enjoy.

We hope you were able to get out on the water as much as possible this boating season. The weather most weekends was glorious and beckoned us to get out and go fishing, sailing, cruising, tubing, racing, dock bar hopping, sight-seeing, and doing all else that floats our boats

Luckily, this year, we could count the warnings that stalled weekend plans on one hand. It doesn’t get better than that! Heck, boating, fishing, even a little alone time.(Shhhhh….!!!)

As the holiday season embraces us and we tend to spend more time on land than on the water, we wish you and yours the best of off-seasons.

Raise a toast to an early spring and give thanks for what you have!!

Thanksgiving is most commonly celebrated at home, with family and friends.

This is one of the things which makes Thanksgiving such a meaningful day and full of traditions with those closest to us.

According to most historians, the pilgrims never observed an annual Thanksgiving feast in autumn. In the year 1621, they did celebrate a feast near Plymouth, Massachusetts, following their first harvest. But this feast most people refer to as the first Thanksgiving was never repeated.

Oddly enough, most devoutly religious pilgrims observed a day of thanksgiving with prayer and fasting, not feasting. Yet even though this harvest feast was never called Thanksgiving by the pilgrims of 1621, it has become the model for the traditional Thanksgiving celebrations in the United States.

Timeline of Thanksgiving in America

• 1541 - Spanish explorer, Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, led a thanksgiving Communion celebration at the Palo Duro Canyon, West Texas.
• 1565 - Pedro Menendez de Aviles and 800 settlers gathered for a meal with the Timucuan Indians in the Spanish colony of St. Augustine, Florida.
• 1621 - Pilgrims and Native Americans celebrated a harvest feast in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
• 1630 - Settlers observed the first Thanksgiving of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in New England on July 8, 1630.
• 1777 - George Washington and his army on the way to Valley Forge, stopped in blistering weather in open fields to observe the first Thanksgiving of the new United States of America.

• 1789 - President Washington declared November 26, 1789, as a national day of "thanksgiving and prayer."
• 1800s - The annual presidential thanksgiving proclamations ceased for 45 years in the early 1800s.
• 1863 - President Abraham Lincoln resumed the tradition of Thanksgiving proclamations in 1863. Since this date, Thanksgiving has been observed annually in the United States.
• 1941 - President Roosevelt established the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day.

Thanksgiving History

From fall feast to national holiday

The first American Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621, to commemorate the harvest reaped by the Plymouth Colony after a harsh winter. In that year Governor William Bradford proclaimed a day of thanksgiving. The colonists celebrated it as a traditional English harvest feast, to which they invited the local Wampanoag Indians.

A New National Holiday

By the mid–1800s, many states observed a Thanksgiving holiday. Meanwhile, the poet and editor Sarah J. Hale had begun lobbying for a national Thanksgiving holiday. During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln, looking for ways to unite the nation, discussed the subject with Hale. In 1863 he gave his Thanksgiving Proclamation, declaring the last Thursday in November a day of thanksgiving.

In 1939, 1940, and 1941 Franklin D. Roosevelt, seeking to lengthen the Christmas shopping season, proclaimed Thanksgiving the third Thursday in November. Controversy followed, and Congress passed a joint resolution in 1941 decreeing that Thanksgiving should fall on the fourth Thursday of November, where it remains.

Exhaust stains can turn a white transom gray and make an otherwise clean boat look dirty.

As you probably already know, exhaust stains don't always come off in the wash. Some spray cleaners are strong enough to remove exhaust stains; however, if they're strong enough for that job, then they're probably also strong enough to eventually strip that area of wax, only making it harder to clean the exhaust stains off over time.

The best way to remove exhaust stains from gelcoat is to wax them off. This is something that can easily be done by hand with cleaner wax. Use a terrycloth rag to apply the wax, and wipe or rub it in until the exhaust stains are gone. Then use a microfiber rag to wipe the hazy wax residue off. If the exhaust stains cover a large area, you'll want to use several terrycloth rags as you go, so you're not rubbing the exhaust soot from the rag back onto another section of your boat.

When you're finished, you'll be left with a clean, white surface, and it should be a little easier to wipe exhaust stains off next time because they'll be sitting on top of freshly waxed gelcoat.

With about a week or so to go, thoughts start to turn to Thanksgiving.

Veterans Day is intended to honor and thank all military personnel who served the United States in all wars, particularly living veterans. It is marked by parades and church services and in many places the American flag is hung at half-mast. A period of silence lasting two minutes may be held at 11am. Most schools are closed on Veterans Day, while others do not close, but choose to mark the occasion with special assemblies or other activities.

Veterans Day annually falls on November 11. On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 an armistice between Germany and the Allied nations came into effect. On November 11, 1919, Armistice Day was commemorated for the first time. In 1919, President Wilson proclaimed the day should be "filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory".

Veterans are thanked for their services to the United States on Veterans Day.