Celebrating Flag Day

It's Flag Day today in the USA. Celebrated every year on June 14th, this American “observance” day celebrates the adoption of the United States flag back in 1777. It also happens to be the US Army's birthday when the Second Continental Congress (1775) approved the forming of an army for “purposes of common defense” … read that revolution! Officially established by Woodrow Wilson in a 1916 presidential proclamation, Flag Day is not a federal holiday … no one gets the day off or anything. It does, however, recognize the importance of the “red, white and blue” as an icon of the United States.

Americans are a very patriotic people. We refer to our flag as Old Glory, the Star-Spangled Banner, the Stars and Stripes. We sing songs about it: “Star-Spangled Banner” “Stars and Stripes Forever”, “You're a Grand Old Flag”. Francis Hopkinson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, designed the first flag. Tradition has it that Betsy Ross, a Philadelphia seamstress and upholsterer, fabricated the first flag just after the Revolutionary War, but historians doubt that's true. It was Betsy's grandson who introduced the notion that she was involved and there was no one around to dispute him, so the legend was created and survives. A hundred years after her death, artists were painting scenes of the historic flag-sewing event.

Flags were initially utilized by the military to identify troop location and provide signals and communications on the battlefield. At sea, the semiphore system was devised for communication between ships. Beginning in the 17th century in the great Age of Sail, ships customarily flew the flag of their nationality. Subsequently, displaying a national flag became a maritime law and internationally accepted.

Maritime signal flags, the nautical alphabet, are still used today quite regularly. Not only does each flag represent a letter of the alphabet, it also has an internationally understood interpretation. It's the reason we fly the solid yellow “Q” flag when we arrive in a new country. It signifies "My vessel is 'healthy' and I request free pratique."

It was only near the end of the 18th century that countries began adopting national flags. Today, every sovereign nation has its own flag.

A little vexillological trivia ... Vexillology is the science and artistry of flags and banners, from the Latin vexillum meaning flag or banner.

Most flags are rectangular. The flag of Nepal is the only non-traditional national flag.

The oldest, continuously used national flag is the flag of Denmark, the legendary Dannebrog which fell from the heavens and helped the Danes win a war against Estonia in 1219. The design was adopted as their national flag c. 1625.

Take a world flag quiz here!

and some American flag trivia ...

Robert G. Heft, age 17, is credited with designing the current 50-star American flag in 1958 as a high school class project. He received a B− on the project.

Symbolism of the US flag includes: 50 stars, one for each state; 13 stripes, one for each of the original thirteen colonies. Each color is symbolic as well: red for blood, courage and revolution; white for peace and purity: and blue for freedom and prosperity.

Additional stars have been added 27 times between 1777 and 1960.

Okay, I admit it. Once again, I've gotten carried away and a bit off the subject, but rest assured, we will be flying our national flag today. What about you?

The Power of MOM

There have been songs and poems about mothers since the beginning of time. She gave you life and nurtured you. She tucked you in, read you bedtime stories, stuck band-aids on your cuts and kissed your boo-boos. She baked cookies and made special meals because she knew your favorites. She brought hot chocolate to the ice-skating pond to warm you up. She loaned you money when you were a bit tight on funds. She told you family stories and sang old songs. She's been an advisor and a confidante. Sometimes the roles reverse and you have the privilege of giving some of that nurturing back to her. For all these things we are grateful. So whether it's Mom, Mother, Ma, Mere, Mama, Grandma, Nana, Abuelita or Yaya… or whether you're an aunt, daughter, sister or a best friend who's mothered and nurtured someone along the way … from here in Cape Town, South Africa … we salute you! Happy Mother's Day.

Across False Bay

Pringle Bay to Simon's Town

After a very blustery, noisy, 35-knot kind of night, we waited until dawn to leave Pringle Bay. We had some problems getting the anchor down, so it followed we'd have problems getting it back up. It was really, really stuck. With persistence and the help of the engine and the helmsman, I finally signalled “I can see it” in anchor-speak and we headed out of the bay, the notch still providing runaway freight train bullets of wind to speed us on our way. We raised only the staysail and waited to see what the wind would really do. In the meantime, despite the wind, the sky was clear and the sun coming up behind the mountains was astonishingly beautiful. At one point, it looked as if one of the peaks was erupting in volcanic fire.

Once away from the shore, we thought we'd lose the wind, but we didn't and it came from all directions  in big spurts. 8 knots SE, 35 knots E, 10 knots W, 40 knots NE. A 47-knot gust from the SE had us heeled to the starboard gunwale, but it quickly passed and we were moseying along at 3 knots again, too lazy to put up the main for so little wind and such a short sail. We cinched in the staysail to minimize the rock and turned on the iron jenny. The forecast indicated the lightest winds for the day would be before Noon. It was only a 20 mile sail and arriving in the calm after the previous night's bluster was very appealing.

Then the dolphins appeared, which of course, added some pizzazz to the morning after a weary night. They were everywhere. Long-beaked common dolphins were under, around and beside Nine of Cups in big numbers and they were here to play. We counted a dozen or more at one point and then more appeared and then more surfed in on the following waves. They put on quite a good show and kept us occupied for most of our short passage across the bay.

We spotted Simon's Town's outer breakwater where a South African naval ship was just heading out of the navy base assisted by a tug. We entered into the inner harbor and circled for awhile, getting all our lines and fenders ready for a port-side marina tie-up. We'd called in advance and the efficient Simon's Town marina had e-mailed us the layout of the marina and our berth number, so we knew where we were heading. We were surprised to see our friend's catamaran, Leu Cat, tied to an outer berth. A submarine was anchored off the port-side wharf.

The yacht basin was calm, but tight on space. We made our way slowly to our berth, passing Kittiwake, another friend's boat, along the way. A young dockman was waiting to help with our lines. What a luxury! We made fast to the dock. All tied up and tidied up, I put on the kettle for a cuppa. We sat in the cockpit on a warm, sunny South African morning and sipped our tea/coffee and though tired, we planned our day: Check-in with the marina and False Bay Yacht Club, hot showers and lunch at Bertha's, a bustling seaside restaurant we could see on the wharf. And then maybe, a nap!

It doesn't escape us that this is Easter Sunday. It's an Autumn holiday south of the Equator, signaling winter ahead, not the rebirth of Spring. Kind of hard to get your arms around the seasonal differences sometimes, but don't fret, there are chocolate bunnies galore in all the shops. Happy Easter!