Take A Hike

From yesterday. 

By 10 am the rain stopped and skies cleared.

Bumble bees galore gorging on golden rod.

Great day for a hike.

Door County Land Trust: Bear Creek Nature Preserve   

 

Vampires

In the month-long run-up to Halloween, Crossroads at Big Creek has celebrated traditional “spooky” creatures—bats, owls, and vultures. Though these animals have long been associated with evil in folklore, they are beneficial predators that do enormous good for the environment.

But last week, the focus shifted to a truly menacing creature—one that really is destructive and anything but beneficial: the Sea Lamprey!  Consequently, and in the interest of life long learning I checked it out last Friday afternoon.

As part of the 2025-26 Fish Tales Series, Crossroads offered two free showings of the award-winning documentary ‘Fish Thief: A Great Lakes Mystery’ Thursday evening and the following day.  

‘Fish Thief’ uncovers the mystery behind the near disappearance of the most prized fish in the Great Lakes—the largest freshwater Eco-system on Earth. This ecological collapse devastated jobs, businesses, towns, tribal communities, and First Nations across Canada and the United States.

These are, singularly, among the creepiest critters I’ve ever witnessed up-close and personally.  Yuck!

How’d you like these in your home aquarium…..?

Lox Anyone?

In a continuing quest of life-long learning and terrific food; I learned how to make bagels this week.  

The three sesame beauties in the upper left hand corner are mine.

 

The elongated 'things' are fancy wieners in a bagel dough shroud.  Very yummy!

 

Since I already know how to make Gravlax; homemade bagels complete the circle. 

Semiquincentennial

Originally settled by Puritans seeking to escape religious persecution in England under King Charles I the Massachusetts Bay colony was established so that they could be self-governed and freely practice their faith.

Charles issued a royal decree in1629 providing a unique charter allowing for the transfer of governing authority from England to the largely Puritan colony.  Unlike other colonial charters this one did not contain a clause requiring the the company to remain part of England.  This key omission allowed for Puritan founders, led by John Winthrop, to establish a New World governing structure.  Because the founders were Puritans the colonists sought to establish a theocratic government where only church members could settle.  This unique constitutional framework was a key step in the evolution of American democracy.  

Consequently, the Massachusetts Bay Colony operated with a broad degree of autonomy.  They openly traded with merchants from foreign countries, minted coinage with a pine tree design in lieu of the king's image, passed their own laws inconsistent with English civil and religious law including courts unanswerable to English courts.  Lastly, the colonists were openly intolerant of non-Puritans and created laws that discriminated against members of the Church of England.  Naturally, this uppity independent attitude and defiance of British rule strained relations with England and the crown became grumpy.  

In 1686, King James II revoked the original charter replacing self-governance with royal government.  The Massachusetts Bay Colony was merged with the Plymouth, New Hampshire, Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York and Jersey colonies into a single royal colony - the Dominion of New England.  King James appointed Sir Edmund Andros as royal governor to lord over the citizenry with an authoritarian hand.  

Town meetings and colonial assemblies were declared unlawful, family land titles were vacated and declared invalid, trade with other nations was forbidden, dissent became a treasonous offense and as a zealous Anglican Governor Andros' doom was likely sealed when he forced the Puritans to host Episcopalian services in their Old South Meeting House on Good Friday.  

After more than a half century of independence and self-rule the colonists were now grumpy.

Fortuitously, a revolt in 1688 replaced James II with William and Mary and when news eventually crossed the Atlantic the Boston Colonists took up arms and revolted in April 1689.  Militias from neighboring towns streamed into the city.  They arrested the captain of the British frigate The Rose anchored in Boston harbor and two thousand Massachusetts militia marched on Andros' garrison of redcoats.  Outnumbered he had no choice but to surrender.  Bostonians promptly restored their former government and after almost a year in prison Andros and other royal officials were exiled to England.

While the revolt led to the end of the Dominion of New England it did not lead to the restoration of the original charter.  The new English monarchs - William and Mary - issued a new charter in 1691 merging Massachusetts and Plymouth colonies into the royal Province of Massachusetts Bay, appointed a royal governor and required religious tolerance.

It would be another 85 years before independence would arrive; nevertheless, the seeds of revolution had been sown. 

Semiquincentennial

Also called the Bisesquicentennial, the Sestercentennial, America 250 or the Quarter Millenium - this marks the 250th anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence.  Festivities will mark various events leading up to the Declaration's anniversary on July 4, 2026.

Nevertheless, I recommend we start celebrating now.  Why, you ask?  Because it was 250 years ago, this year, that stuff that really mattered in our history actually happened.

Consequently, The Missus and I traveled to Boston very recently and spent more than a week with a small group is similarly-motivated citizen history nerds to learn more about the history and events that led-up to our road to independence.

To facilitate this adventure we booked a tour with Road Scholar (formerly Elder Hostel) thereby utilizing their expertise in guiding the process, facilitating the participation of local historians and creating a group dynamic encouraging active participation of inquiry and search for knowledge.

Each day included a mix of lecture, Q&A, site visits with exploration and more walking than I've done in awhile.  If you've never been to Boston - as are many places in Europe and abroad - the streets and sidewalks are cobble stones strewn with potholes and other hazards to navigation.  The fact that not a person in our group turned an ankle is miraculous. 

Subsequent posts will cover some (but not all) of these significant events.  So stay-tuned and stop back periodically for a guided walk down our road to Independence.

 Key Dates and Events

1630 - Puritans arrive in Massachusetts and settle Boston 

1686 - King James II revokes the Massachusetts Bay Colony's charter and installs                          Sir Edmund Andros as governor

1689 - Bostonians force Governor Andros to resign

1756 -1763 - Seven Year's War (French and Indian War) drains the British treasury

1760 - King George III accedes to the British Throne 

1761 - James Otis argues against the Writs of Assistance in a court trail at the Old                          State House

1763 - Faneuil Hall is dedicated to the "Cause of Liberty" by Otis 

1765 - Stamp Act passed; riots occur in Boston and other cities

1766 - Stamp Act repealed; great celebrations follow 

1767 - Townshend Acts passed; non-importation boycott begins

1768 - June 10, John Hancock's ship Liberty is seized in a disagreement over the                           payment of customs duties; protesters riot in Boston

         - October 1, British troops land in Boston to maintain order

1770 - March 5, the Boston Massacre 

1772 - Committees of Correspondence formed to oppose "despotism" of Governor                        Hutchinson in a dispute over his salary

1773 - Tea Act passed; December 16, Boston Tea Party 

1774 - Intolerable Acts passed; punishes Bostonians for the destroyed tea, closes                         the town's seaport and abolishes all local elected popular government

         - General Thomas Gage appointed governor by King George III

         - Patriots "practice the military art" and organize the Minute Men 

         - September, First Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia

1775 - April 19, Lexington and Concord, British troops march to Concord to seize rebel                     supplies.  Alarmed by Paul Revere and William Dawes the Minute Men stand on                 Lexington Green.  At Daybreak the first shots of the war are fired.  The Siege of                 Boston begins.  

         - June 17, Battle of Bunker Hill.  Americans fortify Charlestown overlooking Boston                from the north.  British troops suffer over 1,000 casualties to take the American's                fort.

         - July 2, General George Washington arrives at Cambridge to take command of the                Continental Army 

1776 - March 4-5, Americans fortify Dorchester Heights overlooking Boston from the south

         - March 17, Evacuation Day.  British troop, government officials, and loyalists sail                out of Boston harbor never to return  

         - July 4, Declaration of Independence adopted at Philadelphia

1781 - Battle of Yorktown (Virginia); final surrender of the British forces

1783 - Peace treaty is signed between the United States and Great Britain 

_____________________________________________________________________

Fast forward to today.  

In our travels we taken countless subway and bus rides.  If we don't make an advance purchase one of the first tasks after arriving and clearing Customs is the purchase of our transit passes.  Rider passes go by various names; Paris is Navigo, New York is the MetroCard, Berlin uses the WelcomeCard, London has the Oyster Card and in Boston it is called the CharlieCard.  CharlieCard you say?  There's even a song about it.....