Kathy's Corner
Explore Our Flag
Generations of Americans have invested the flag with their own meanings and memories. Here’s your chance to interact with this national treasure and contribute your point of view. Discover features of the flag and learn something new each time you click. Click the flag to the right and you can zoom in for incredible detail! Also, be sure to visit the Smithsonian Institute's wonderful website all about Old Glory!
A Day On, Not A Day Off
I’ve been volunteering my whole life. I started my career by volunteering at a radio station. My interest in American history started through my mother’s volunteer work for a Presidential campaign when I was a kid. As a Girl Scout and a student, volunteering brought me to new experiences and introduced me to all kinds of people. As an adult, I volunteer at my church. Volunteering brought me lifelong interests, friends, and a career. Those are all great gifts. But the greatest gift of volunteering is the joy that is produced when people help people. The song asks the question, “what can one little person do?” The answer is: volunteer. Your volunteer work today could change your life, change the world, and set a great example for kids younger than you. Celebrate the spirit of Dr. King’s life every day by volunteering in your community. Click the image below to learn how!
TOP
My Best CDs of 2009
This year has seen a lot of "quirky" kids' music, wherein the sweet-voiced folkies of the past were replaced by growling rocker moms and clear, intimate harmonies. Electronic and tech-heavy sounds were the hallmark of efforts from They Might Be Giants and Robbert Bobbert, aimed at kids who are comfortable with such audio from birth. Artists such as Lunch Money, King Pajama and Rocknoceros created songs whose kid-centric themes (love of the library, train rides, ice cream) provide a clue to their intended audience, since the songs themselves work for everyone. The quality was high this year, with albums rooted in reggae, electronica, folk and rock aimed at young ears. Click the link below for my Top Ten CDs of 2009!
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121026519
Meet Colby!
Meet Stephen Colbert (Cole-bear) O’Connell, known as Colby. Until he became mine, his name was Bon Bon, so Colby is a step up. Colby is a Pomeranian who joined my family July 15, 2009. He and Soupy seem to get along very well, and Soupy is actually showing Colby the basic stuff of the house, like how to eat carrots. Welcome Aboard!
TOPMy Summer Vacation
From June 21-28, 2009, I cruised through Alaska on the SS. Statendam. There was lots of great music and food on the boat, but it was when I looked outside the boat that things got truly amazing. Alaska is a gorgeous mix of mountains and glaciers and animals---both real ones and pretend ones in front of stores. I saw the glaciers calving, when pieces fall off the front of the glacier because of the movement of the glacier. I saw a building in Skagway covered in a mosaic of driftwood collected during the days of the Gold Rush in the 1800’s. I saw eagles, a bear, moose, ravens, Dall dolphins, Dall sheep, and I learned about the guy named Dall who they’re named for. The sky never gets completely dark during the summer in Alaska, so I didn’t see stars. But I saw a place so beautiful that I will always say: thank you, Mr. Seward, for purchasing Alaska in 1867 so I could visit in 2009.
here is a small sampling of pictures from my Alaska photo album