In the United States this weekend is a holiday weekend.

I get a long weekend.. Sat, Sun, and Mon off. I love paid holidays!! We will go to a parade in town tomorrow and have a cook out at home. I've been meaning to ask hubby if he wants to visit his parent's grave this weekend. They were just buried last weekend but the kids did not get to go.. all the family drama which you read about in my post.

Hello GardenGerty, I think that is the sad thing about holidays. Sometimes people look forward to it because they see it as a time to relax and have a good time and totally forget what does that certain holiday actually means. I notice that here in our country especially during Holy Week where people go to the beaches and party all they want instead of commemorating the sacrifice that the Lord had to go through for the mankind.

I have always wondered what Memorial Day was all about. Never thought to ask what it was in aid of. It is the last weekend of Autumn here. Winter starts next week. Nothing special about the weekend here other than that. Oh, apart from a friends 40th birthday party which we are off to tonight. Have an amazing weekend!

Everything is commercialised these days GG including the'memorial day' This weekend as you call it the 'kickoff of summer' has it got anything to do with the 'memorial day'? A bit confused really.

They say that Memorial Day is on the last Monday of May every year,what a shame, you must work.I wonder how many days you have off for it.You seem to have a tight schdule during the holiday.The Memmorial Day was originally a day of remembrance for the fallen,How can some people take it as ordinary holiday?

Our family does a little bit of mourning/honoring and also celebrating too. We usually will go to put flowers on the graves in the morning, and then in the afternoon/evening we have a bbq get together with the family.

I try to, but with everything that is going on (I'm in Grad School, so classes and course work are pretty much everything right now) it is hard for me to go to the cemetery to go and visit people. This quarter has been so bad that I barely even have time for my boyfriend, and you cannot imagine how bad I feel about that. My family and I are going to try to celebrate this weekend, but we are all so busy.

sounds like a great weekend last weekend we had a holiday in Canada too. Many people celebrate in Quebec they celebrate but not for the queen's birthday, they call it patriot day

Man, that sounds incredible. I used to love ice cream socials at church. People would make home made ice cream with their own machines and we would have so much fun. We had those at our previous church. My grandma really gets into decorating graves. Her parents, my Papaw, her brother, ect. My dad can't understand why people do that, but he's not overly sentimental.

It sounds like you're going to have a wonderful weekend! I spend the weekend at home, although this weekend is a bit different. Since we have had the quagga mussel invasion in the United States, people who utilize bodies of water for recreation must have their boats and trailers inspected for the mussel. I took the class the 19th and am now certified to inspect the boats and trailers for the mussels. For those of you who don't know about the mussel, it came from Europe in the bilges (ballast holding tanks) of cargo ships bound for the United States. The Great Lakes has infestations of the mussels. The mussels are around a half inch in diameter and it would seem like they wouldn't do much damage but they are a horrible pest! The female can lay up to a million eggs at a time and if only a tenth of the eggs turn into mussels that is 100,000 that can produce another 100,000 mussels. They attach themselves to anything and everything. For those bodies of water infested it ruins electrical production plants, the water, boats, and anything that their tendrils can latch onto. They destroy the water for drinking by sucking all the beneficial biological matter and leaving what I like to call mussel poop behind. For boat owners, it costs thousands of dollars to get the damage repaired from the mussels. To make matters worse, there is only one natural predator of the mussel, which is a fish that is in the Great Lakes and in the body of water in Europe. Unfortunately at the rate of reproduction of the mussel the fish cannot keep up with the mussel. As of yet another way of controlling the mussel hasn't been found so the only way that the mussel can be kept from infesting other lakes is vigilance on the part of the boat owners and the people who have property on the lakes and other bodies of water. Since we didn't have a full time resident in our area that was certified for inspecting the boats, I volunteered. Not what I really wanted to do, but it is something that is needed. So, I will be splitting my time between inspecting boats and getting entries ready for our county fair. I did go to the neighbor's house last night for dinner. It was a ton of fun because one of my favorite neighbors (who is also a clown) was there and we had a LOT of great laughs!! So, during this long weekend, kicking off the summer. Take a moment to remember how we became the nation we are and remember the men that gave their lives so that not only the United States but other countries could be free from oppression.

Your memorial day is kind of like our Remembrance day here. meant to remember the fallen soldiers and ones who fought for our countries. We had Victoria Day last week...which is supposed to be a celebration of a queen's birthday. But that is definitely made into a weekend for camping and getting out to the lakes around here.

Sounds like a very nice weekend indeed. Is the ice cream at the social home made? I don't think I have ever had homemade ice cream. I remember when I was a young girl my grand mother would fix up dozens of bouquets of mums, poppies, iris, day lilies and probably other flowers too. My Uncle Fred would take her and I around to the different grave yards where my grandmother remembered all the relatives, friends and soldiers she had known down through the years. Every year for many she would do this. I still remember some and I atleast go to the sites and give my regards. Have a nice weekend.

This Memorial Day, I will be working. However; I work at the Nevada State Veterans Home where there are a lot of World War II veterans, veterans from the Korean war, Vietnam, and etc. This week end my work is honoring all the fallen solders by having a huge barbecue and music. I love working for this place. All I am is a diet aide and I just serve drinks and cook food for the residents, however; the residents are the reason why I choose to stick around. I love talking to them, hearing their stories, and just simply making them smile and laugh. After all these ladies and gentlemen are the few that risked their lives to keep my country free.

I will enjoy my Memorial day and I do hope you enjoy yours as well

Good Evening Garden, This day holds sadness and honor for our family. As well as the families that still grieve for their ones lost to war. I remember going camping every Memorial day when I was younger. The dedication to the ones we lost and honor this day always has made me cry since as long as I can remember.

Our holiday weekend was last week, in Canada. I've got some money that I had sent to my Bank of America account (I maintain accounts in Canadian and American banks!), and it hasn't hit yet. I ure hope it hits at midnight, because I don't feel like waiting an extra day for the money. B of A is probably SITTING ON IT for the @#$%ing interest! Damn them!

As you know, I also have to work on Monday (no rest for the wicked). Other than that - the new roommate comes home tomorrow - so keep your eyes peeled for any discussion from me about how they are going to put me away forever for killing her!

Good for you GG atleast you get to spend some time relaxing and enjoying. how i wish it is here too lol..

Here is a question for you. I am Canadian and on Nov 11, we have Remembrance Day...to remember our Veterans both living and alive. Doesnn't the US, have a holiday of some sort on this day as well...Veterans day, I think it is called? What is the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day???

Here is a question for you. I am Canadian and on Nov 11, we have Remembrance Day...to remember our Veterans both living and alive. Doesnn't the US, have a holiday of some sort on this day as well...Veterans day, I think it is called? What is the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day???