The Saluda River at Dolly Cooper Park

There are those days when I just have to get outside, but the state parks are at capacity and the mountains are too far. Nearby Lake Conestee Nature Preserve is a fantastic urban green space, but sometimes I just need something a little different. Thanks to AllTrails, I’ve found some hikes in unexpected places – most recently, Dolly Cooper Park.

Although technically in Anderson County, the park is just across the Saluda River from Greenville County in Powdersville, about a 15-minute drive southwest. After cutting over to River Rd. From Anderson Road, visitors pass by the Recycling Center before entering the park. A paved parking area near the front accommodates visitors to the front ball field, and then an enormous three-level gravel lot handles additional parking for the disc golf fields and the baseball field. There is a paved, third lot near the river and canoe launch which should re-open with the conclusion of the construction.

Currently home to a full 18-hole disc golf course and a couple of ball fields, the park has enormous potential in its 40-acres. This year Anderson County Parks launched a $350,000 construction project, putting boulders up to prevent instances of vandalism, as well as constructing a new kayak launch to replace the old plastic one that kept being damaged in floods.

The shore line access trail project has yet to be completed, but a new trail has been paved that curves east along the Saluda from the pier. The trailhead to the River Walk is by the kayak launch parking lot. It meanders between the open fields of the park and the strip of forest that lines the Saluda. The ¼ mile-long trail offers access to multiple spur trails that provide views of the river, and ends near an old bridge foundation.

Dolly Cooper Park was named for M.J. ‘Dolly’ Cooper, who was elected to the S.C. House of Representatives in 1974 on a platform of bringing more health care services to Pelzer, Piedmont and Williamston, and served in House District 10 for 16 years. Cooper was known for his World War II military service, where he served as a combat infantryman with the 30th Infantry Division. He saw 11 months of combat in Europe including action at Normandy & the Battle of the Bulge, and he was awarded the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, American Defense Silver Medal and the Combat Infantry Badge.

The park was briefly closed in 2016 due to lack of funding. A proposed tax hike was not passed by the County Council, and it was mentioned that without additional funds it was too hard to keep the park maintained and safe. However the canoe/kayak launch is one of the only public launches on the Saluda, and after public outcry the park was soon reopened. While vandalism has been a problem over the years, it seems as though recently there has been a push to upgrade the park as Anderson County moves forward with a park and recreation master plan. In my opinion the park could benefit from a few work days to get the litter picked up and the kudzu under control – as could most large parks in the Upstate. There is plenty of room for a playground, and this might be a great spot for a Kids in Parks TRACK Trail. A lot of potential, but from the sound of it, only a little funding...

So as to not to end this post on a negative note, here are the things that will bring me back to Dolly Cooper:

• The hardwoods lining the Saluda put on a pretty show in autumn
• Public river access to the Saluda is rare on this section, with the boat ramp on the Saluda River in Pelzer one of the only other spots that comes to mind
• We had the place to ourselves
• With 40 acres of park it’s easy to put together a few mile walk
• It’s only a 15 minute drive
• The Saluda is a beautiful river, with little development visible on its shores
• You can always find beauty in nature, no matter how urban the park!

Good luck to the folks over in Anderson County with the park upgrade, and hopefully the boat dock is finished soon. Is there anything you would like to see happen in Dolly Cooper? Let me know in the comments!

Le Spice of Spartanburg

Owners Nicolas and Amonrat Dhers are hard at work in the kitchen every time we visit, far more noticeable than the restaurant’s white wooden sign out on Abernathy Highway. We had passed the unassuming sign often on our way to Barnet Park and downtown Spartanburg, but didn’t give it a second thought until a friend suggested lunch after a morning at Hatcher Garden Woodland Preserve. Having tasted a pain au chocolat (here called choco croissant) just as light and flaky as I remember from our time living in France, I brought Roberts in so he could judge for himself.

While it might have been the French pastries that first brought us to Le Spice Restaurant and Bakery, it is the eclectic international fusion that brings us back; the French favorites mingle with Thai, Cuban and Mexican in a fascinating selection of breakfast and lunch dishes. Amonrat is from a small village in Thailand, and Nicolas from the Normandy region in France; the two met while working in the food industry in Miami, setting the stage for one of the Upstate’s most captivating international restaurants.

Chef's daily special, Buffalo turkey crêpe w/ carrot ginger soup

The menu isn’t overwhelming; there is a soup & salad section, the crêpes, sandwiches and house specialties. However I still haven’t managed to try everything, as favorites from previous visits vie with the as-of-yet unexperienced options. From the French end of things there are of course the crêpes, but also escargot, Quiche Lorraine, Niçoise salad and the Croque-monsieur. Mexican and Cuban flavors also make an appearance in the crêpe menu, with a Cuban chicken option that features pork belly, Swiss cheese and creamy mustard sauce, or La Mexicaine with cheddar cheese, guac, onions, peppers and tomatoes. These appear side-by-side on the menu with more traditional crepes: La Rousse with fresh salmon, creamy pink tomato sauce and Swiss, or the bacon, egg & brie.

The Duck Bun

We’ve delighted finding Thai flavors in the sandwiches, a popular choice being the Duck Bun: roasted duck, sriracha aioli, red onion jam and cilantro on a brioche bun. The Bangbang Banh Mi features marinated pork, aioli, carrots, onions, cornichon pickles, cucumber and bangbang sauce on baguette. The Thai Green Curry Bowl is a house specialty, while the Thai Pulled Pork sandwich offers a Thai twist on a southern classic.

The front entrance, with Chef Nicolas cooking up a storm in the kitchen

The little house with the blue door creates a welcoming atmosphere, with plenty of seating options. When we arrive with a group of moms (kids in tow), we’ll often choose to sit in the first room, the family-style table allowing us all to sit together without disturbing other patrons. Other times we sit in the main dining room with light streaming in through the large windows, while on a warm spring day we might venture out to the patio and listen to the breeze in the forest surrounding the small creek on its way to the North Tyger River.

If you get there early enough you might be able to sample one of the bacon chocolate cookies for dessert, although don’t be despondent if you miss out – there are plenty of other mouthwatering options such as maple sea salt pecan pie and lemon meringue to tempt your taste buds. In lieu of dessert we’ll often purchase bread to take home, the multi grain loaves soft and pillowy, sometimes disappearing before their intended role in lunch the following day.

A raspberry Danish, choco croissant and cinnamon roll

Le Spice is open Tuesday through Sunday from 8am to 3pm. Everything is cooked fresh and to order, but there is a call-ahead option if you’re short on time. Le Spice does to-go orders, as well as catering, whole pies, and a Chef’s table option. Located at 8881 Warren H. Abernathy Hwy. in Spartanburg, Le Spice can be found online on Facebook and Instagram.

This article is part of the series Food on Friday.

Le Spice has also been featured in Spartanburg Magazine and in the new book by Hub City Press, A Taste of Spartanburg.

A Star-Spangled Fourth of July at Fort McHenry

Every so often our vacation plans align with the calendar in such a way that what would have already been an incredible experience becomes extraordinary due to the perfect alignment of date and place. Such was the case with our Veterans Day trip to Normandy, which included stops at Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery; it was a somber and emotional experience which has given new meaning to our Veterans Day remembrances. Our recent trip to Baltimore coincided with the 4^th of July, and I immediately realized this would be another one of those occasions; Fort McHenry is the birthplace of the American anthem!

Many people don’t realize that “The Star-Spangled Banner” wasn’t written during the American Revolution, and fewer still can name the war that inspired the words we all know by heart. It was the events of the Battle of Baltimore during the War of 1812 that prompted Francis Scott Key to write the poem that is today our National Anthem, and the Fourth of July was the perfect day for a visit.

Star-shaped Fort McHenry in center, visitor center next to red pin

A week before the battle, a young lawyer set sail from Baltimore along with Col. John S. Skinner, US Commissioner General of Prisoners. They were on a mission to gain release of a prisoner, Dr. William Beanes, and reached the British fleet on September 7^th. After a few days of negotiations on the waters of the Chesapeake they had arranged for Beanes to go free, but because during this time they had learned of the British plan to attack Baltimore, they were detained.

View from bastions over harbor, Francis Scott Key Bridge on right in distance

Washington had already burned, but Baltimore was better prepared due in large part to Fort McHenry’s defensive position guarding the entrance to the harbor. The British attacked the Fort from the water at dawn on the 13^th, simultaneous to an attack on the east side of Baltimore. 25 hours later, after some 1,500-1,800 shells and rockets, the bombships withdrew down the river. As the British sailed away the Americans fired the morning gun, hoisted the Star-Spangled Banner and played Yankee Doodle.

Fort McHenry served as an active military post for the next 100 years, although it would never again see enemy fire. A temporary prison for Confederate soldiers during the Civil War and a hospital for WWI veterans from 1917-1923, the Fort became a national park in 1925. Today it is a national monument and historic shrine, the only park in the United States to have this distinction.

The Fort is accessible by harbor ferry, but we opted to drive, passing through Federal Hill and out through Locust Point. We had sailed past Fort McHenry in the dark a few nights ago on our Spirit of Baltimore cruise, a journey that brought us all the way to Francis Scott Key Bridge, the approximate location Key would have watched the bombardment from (about 4 miles out). Fun fact; the British had a range of about 2 miles with their mortars, while the Americans were effective only 1 ½ mile with the Smoothbore artillery. However the Americans only suffered two casualties – a result of a direct hit on the southwest bastion.

Start your tour of Fort McHenry in the Visitor Center. After paying admission and picking up Jr. Ranger booklets we headed into the museum where the film soon started. This was one of the highlights of our visit; as the movie ended the Star-Spangled Banner sounded out from the speakers, the enormous screen rolling up to reveal the Fort with American flag flying proudly directly behind. The words of our anthem came to life, watching the fort and flag revealed in a similar fashion to what Francis Scott Key would have seen in the early hours of September 14^th. After jotting down notes aboard the truce ship, Key returned to Baltimore and wrote a poem titled "Defence of Fort McHenry." Published the next day, it was soon sung to the tune of "To Anacreon in Heaven" and is now known as "The Star-Spangled Banner." 

From the Visitor Center we headed out into the heat of the day to explore the fort. During the bombardment the guns were manned by 60 artillerymen – the remaining 70 were sick, had deserted, or were under military guard. We entered through the Sally Port, passed the Civil War guardhouse, and one by one explored the barracks, the officer’s quarters, the powder magazine and finally the bastions under the flag waving crisply in the harbor breeze. The original flag (which measured 42 by 30 feet) that inspired Key was made by Mary Pickersgill, and today is displayed in the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

A second highlight of the Fort McHenry trip was watching reenactors fire a cannon. As commands were issued and orders followed, the whole firing process was explained to the spectators. Afterwards visitors could get an up-close look at the weapon and ask questions. We continued our tour by descending to the sea wall, circling the peninsula and enjoying the view of the harbor, before finally returning to the visitor center and starting our journey back to South Carolina.

The Fort had a special schedule of activities on our visit in honor of Independence Day, but normal summer activities include daily flag changes, interpretive programs, living history features and of course, the self-guided tour of the star fort and grounds. Fort McHenry is also on the Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail (which tells the story of the events, people, and places that led to the birth of our National Anthem), and is located in the Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network and the Baltimore National Heritage Area. For more information about the fort, operating hours, special events, fees and more, visit the official Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine website.

Lunch in Paris - a feast

We traveled to Paris last week: with our hearts, thoughts and prayers.

It was something of a coincidence that a few days later we journeyed to the City of Light once more, this time with our stomachs. The “Lunch in Paris” had been in the works for about a month, the book selected for our fledgling cookbook club because of my ties to France and with no inkling of events to come… Although work in the kitchen commenced with a heavy heart, thoughts of the terrors spanning the globe on the forefront of everyone’s mind, we still gathered for our feast; it seemed that an evening to honor the culinary flair of the beautiful country of France would be a fine way to celebrate the resilient spirit of the French. And if we were doing it, we might as well do it right – with the full seven courses!

Photo credit: Heidi Johnson

Elizabeth Bard’s love story “Lunch in Paris: A Love Story, with Recipes” was published in 2010, nearly coinciding with our move to France and resonating with me in the many aspects of learning the way of life – culinary and otherwise – in a foreign country. While I appreciated the many anecdotes of American life in Paris, the recipes went untested; I was too busy learning how to ask for le fromage at the market to navigate the seemingly complex recipes at the time. Although I’ve added to my culinary repertoire over the last five years, I still had not found the courage to try any of the recipes, hence the motivation for choosing this book in particular. A few days before our dinner all the members had finally made their recipe choices, and when I realized we had enough for a full seven-course meal I took the liberty of planning a few aspects of our meal outside the confines of the novel.

Bon appetit, y'all

The guests arrived to L’Apéritif of champagne and tentative conversation in the kitchen while we waited on the last few stragglers to arrive. When we sat down to the table it was to the entrée of Velouté de Carottes, creamy carrot soup. Such a delicious, yet simple soup to warm our taste buds to the adventure still to come!

One of the members had risen to the challenge and prepared poached cod with wilted leeks and homemade mayonnaise (homemade mayonnaise!), and so we continued our feast with the fish course. Accompanying the cod were potato and celery root mash, Purée de Céleri - basically mashed potatoes but with the undertones of celery root. We compared notes on the details of these recipes, becoming more and more giddy in the luxury of uninterrupted conversation with other adults!

Fennel salad with lemon, olive oil and pomegranate seeds

My contribution to the meal was served next, during what is the main course in a French dinner, le plat principal. The Aubergines Farcies au Quinoa (eggplant stuffed with quinoa) was a personal test; I had never cooked quinoa before (much less knew how to pronounce it!), nor had I attempted to stuff an eggplant. The recipe was challenging, as dealing with the eggplant wasn’t as easy as I had imagined (or described)– “carefully scoop out most of the flesh without piercing the skin” and “chop the eggplant into small chunks” – was nearly impossible, but the end result was a hearty vegetarian main course that was complimented by the delicious sides accompanying it: Mamy Simone’s Tabouleh, Lentilles au Vin Blanc and fennel salad with lemon, olive oil and pomegranate seeds. By this time we were getting quite full, and respite came in terms of a cheese course.

Eggplant stuffed with quinoa

Not quite a baguette, the Swamp Rabbit Café & Grocery stecca was the bread I chose to accompany our meal. Going against French custom, I had sliced the loaf (the French tear their baguette at the table) and we dug in now while sampling the cheese. A mountain cheddar from Ashe County Cheese, a Normandy brie, and camembert to round out the selection. Then, it was time for dessert!

Yogurt cake

The last dish prepared from “Lunch in Paris” was the Gâteau au Yaourt, yogurt cake. We relished our slice(s!), knowing that the evening was coming to a close. A cup of coffee and quite a bit of conversation later the time came to say goodbye, and with full stomachs and recharged batteries everyone headed home to rejoin the chaos. In my case the chaos came home to me, the boys bubbling over with all they had seen and done on their ‘boys’ day’ – the adventure of traveling to France and back in one meal providing warmth and light in the darkness of the weeks following the Paris massacre. 

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From Lunch in Paris (by Elizabeth Bard) and the chapter entitled “Dinner Among Friends,”

EGGPLANT STUFFED WITH QUINOA 

(Aubergines Farcies au Quinoa) serves 4

4 medium eggplants, 10oz each*

1 tablespoon plus 2 tablespoons olive oil

1 small red onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

5 ripe tomatoes, coarsely chopped

½ teaspoon sugar

1/3 cup white wine

1 1/3 cups chicken broth

1 cup quinoa

Coarse sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

A pinch of cinnamon

A small handful of cilantro, coarsely chopped, plus more for garnish

8 ounces soft goat cheese, sliced into 8 rounds

Choose eggplants that are firm, shiny, and without blemishes – the smaller and heavier, the better.

          Preheat the oven to 350˚F.

          Rinse the eggplants and pat them dry. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Prick five or six holes in each eggplant with a fork to allow steam to escape. Rub the surface of the eggplants with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Bake for 1 hour, until the flesh is tender.

          Meanwhile, in a medium frying pan, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the onion and garlic and sauté over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the tomatoes and sugar, and cook for 10 minutes. Add the white wine, lower the heat to medium-low, and cook for a further 10 minutes. Remove ¾ cup tomato sauce from the pan and set aside.

          In a small saucepan, bring the chicken broth to a boil. Add he quinoa and bring back to a boil. Cover tightly, lower the heat, and simmer for 15 minutes, until the broth is absorbed. The quinoa should have the consistency of couscous. Fluff with a fork and leave to cool.

          When the eggplants are done, drain any liquid from the baking sheet and let the eggplants cool slightly. Make a 4-inch cut in the top of each eggplant and carefully scoop out most of the flesh without piercing the skin.** Put the eggplant shells in a shallow casserole dish (you will stuff them later). Put the flesh in a colander, pressing firmly with the back of a fork (or your hand) to drain any excess liquid. Season the flesh with salt, pepper, and cinnamon.

          Chop the seasoned eggplant flesh into small chunks*** and add to the tomato sauce in the frying pan, along with a small handful of cilantro. Heat through. Add the quinoa, stir to combine.

          Stuff the eggplant shells with the quinoa mixture; they should be heaping. Top each eggplant with a spoonful or two of your reserved tomato sauce. (You can refrigerate the eggplants at this point. Reheat at 350˚F, tightly covered with foil, for 30 minutes. Proceed as below.)

          Set the oven to broil.

          Top each eggplant with 2 slices of goat cheese. Cook on the middle rack of the over for 3 to 4 minutes, until the cheese is softened and beginning to color.

          Sprinkle with fresh cilantro. Serve with a large green salad.

* The eggplants I purchased were slightly larger & the cooking time longer as a result.

** This was difficult! I pierced the outer skin in all four eggplants while attempting to empty them, but feel that the result was just as delicious

*** Since I wasn't able to neatly scoop the flesh out as suggested by the recipe, it wasn’t cut into recognizable chunks… more like spooned straight into the bowl!

A Baltic Christmas Day 1 - Advent

Countdowns to Christmas are a holiday tradition around the world. Growing up my siblings and I always had an advent calendar for awaiting Christmas Eve: some years with an image, poem or fragment of a story, other years appealing to the sweet tooth with chocolates. Last year my boys were given Playmobil calendars, with a toy a day concluding in a holiday tableau. And this time of year pinterest is awash with DIY advent calendar ideas: colorful boxes with small toys, 25 bags hung with clothespins, a Christmas tree with activity cards, and decorative envelopes containing good deeds to complete in the days preceding the holidays.

Considered a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of Christmas, many Western Christian Churches observe advent. However, folk traditions vary from country to country. In England it was a custom for poor women to carry around the "Advent images", two dolls dressed to represent Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary, and to receive a coin from everyone to whom they were exhibited. In the Normandy region of France farmers employed children to run through the fields and orchards armed with torches, lighting on fire bundles of straw - believed to flush out rodents responsible for damage to the crops. And during the last days of Advent in Italy the Calabrian pifferari bagpipe players enter into Rome to play before the shrines of Mary.

Celebrating the fourth advent in Rīga, Latvia

Many of these folk traditions have died out, but the tradition of keeping an Advent wreath in churches and homes survives. Advent starts on the fourth Sunday before December 25, and a candle in the wreath is lit weekly beginning on that first Sunday. Latvians enjoy bringing the outdoors in, fashioning a wreath of spruce, fir or in some years holly to adorn the holiday table and bring light and fragrance to our annual countdown.

This year please join me in counting down the days to the holidays not with a calendar or wreath but with 24 Days of a Baltic Christmas! In hopes of sharing with you some of my favorite things about the season, I have asked some fellow Baltic bloggers to help showcase Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian holiday food, crafts and traditions. I hope you will find inspiration, a craft project or simply some holiday cheer in the posts featured this month; we have recipes for traditional Estonian holiday food, discussions of Lithuanian Christmas traditions, some lovely Latvian winter crafts, snippets of Baltic holiday music and so much more! See you tomorrow for Day 2 of The 24 Days of a Baltic Christmas featuring Elga Ozols and “The Not So Jolly Fat Man of a Latvian Christmas”!

Search #24DaysofaBalticChristmas on Twitter

Follow Liene's board 24 Days of a Baltic Christmas on Pinterest.

The Latvian holiday Mārtiņi and its equivalent across the world

Priecīgus Mārtiņus! (Warning, this is a dense post - but I promise you'll learn about a bunch of really cool holidays and traditions you've probably never heard of before!)

Mārtiņi (Martin's Day) is the name of the festival celebrated in Latvia on November 10^th, marking the end of the fall and the beginning of winter. Halfway between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice, in ancient Latvia Mārtiņi marked the passage from veļu laiks (season of the spirits) to ledus laiks (season of ice). By Mārtiņi it was expected that all preparations for winter were finished, such as salting meat and fish, storing the harvest and making preserves. This day also marked the beginning of mumming and sledding, among other winter activities. Mummers, also called ķekatas and budeļi, are costumed and wearing masks, traveling from home to home bringing their blessing, encouraging fertility, and scaring away any evil spirits.

The seasons and their associated deities and symbols - source here

As with many of the ancient Latvian holidays, there are certain ways to tell your fortune for the following year. For example, young, unmarried girls must toss their skirt into the middle of the room before going to bed; the one she dreams picks up the skirt is the one she will marry. Superstitions were also numerous; supposedly to guarantee the health of the horses through the harsh winter a rooster should be killed in the stables. Coincidentally it is tradition to sacrifice a rooster in Ireland as well; the blood was collected and sprinkled on the four corners of the house to bring fortune in the following year.

Everything you might need to know about the holiday can be found in this book

For Latvia’s neighbor to the north, Estonia, Mardipäev symbolizes the merging of Western European customs with local Balto-Finnic pagan traditions. Mardipäev marks the end of the period of All Souls in the Estonian popular calendar - the season when the souls of ancestors were worshiped, which lasted from November 1 to 11^th). On this day the end of the agrarian year & autumn is observed, and the beginning of the winter period is celebrated. Children disguise themselves as men and go from door to door singing songs and telling jokes to receive sweets, similar to the processions occurring in Austria, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, where children go through the streets with paper lanterns and candles.

Source here

Historically a widespread custom in Germany on Martinstag was to have a bonfire, called the Martinsfeuer. Still lit in a few cities and villages throughout Europe, it symbolizes the light that holiness brings to the darkness just as St. Martin brought hope to the poor through his good deeds. It is believed that the procession of lanterns replaced the large bonfires over time. Traditional foods include Martinsgans (St. Martin’s goose) and Martinshörnchen, a pastry shaped in the form of a croissant symbolizing the hooves of St. Martin's horse.

Source here

As we see with the German version, the day has blended the pagan with the Christian; the resulting variety of traditions is something we see across the continent. November 11^th is the feast day of St. Martin of Tours, honoring the friend of children and patron of the poor. In Slovakia, the Feast of St. Martin is like a 2^nd birthday for those named after the saint; they are given small presents or money. However it is also a day of foretelling the future, as if it snows then there will be snow on Christmas. This is a theme that repeats itself in the Czech Republic where the first half of November is the time when it often starts to snow. Czechs roast goose and drink Svatomartinské vino, a young wine from the recent harvest. Wine, a symbol of the harvest, is a recurring theme also; in Slovenia and Croatia the “must” (considered impure and sinful) is baptized and turned into wine, while in Austria Martinloben is celebrated as a harvest festival with wine tastings, art exhibitions and live music.

St. Martin, source here

In Denmark Mortensaften is celebrated with traditional dinners, most often goose as in many other countries on this day, such as Sweden, where the entire day of Mårtensafton is a celebration of the goose. Other Martin’s Day foods abound, such as the rogale croissants in Poland. In Portugal magusto (chestnuts roasted under the embers of the bonfire) and água-pé (an alcoholic beverage which is a byproduct of wine) are consumed, as St. Martin's Day is the celebration of the maturation of the year's wine. However in Spain the goose is replaced by pork, in that St. Martin's Day is the traditional day for slaughtering fattened pigs for the winter. In Switzerland the 5+ hour long Repas du Saint Martin includes all the parts of freshly butchered pigs, while the Auvergne region of France (our home while we lived in Clermont-Ferrand) traditionally hosts horse fairs instead of feasts on this day – bringing us back full circle to the Latvian association of Mārtiņi to horses; on Mārtiņi we pass from the influence of Ūsiņš, the horse deity of summer, to that of Mārtiņš, a winter deity.

The preparation of magusto in Portugal, source here

In the United Kingdom, St. Martin's Day is known as Martinmas, when historically cattle were slaughtered and preserved for the winter. However November 11^th in England is now better known for being Remembrance Day, commemorating the end of WWI and honoring those that serve in the military as Veteran’s Day (US) and Armistice Day do.

The American cemetery in Normandy, France

Whatever it may be that you observe, Martinmas or the Danish Mortensdag, Martinpäivä in Finland or the Feast of Saint Martin, I wish you a beautiful day. Although we will be honoring our veterans tomorrow, today we will celebrate Mārtiņi – the first of many, as now we are blessed with a Mārtiņš of our very own, little Vilis Mārtiņš!

The Mārtiņš symbol, source here

Veterans Day in Greenville

"To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…" - President Wilson upon proclaiming November 11^th as Armistice Day in November of 1919

Although the end of World War II only came with the Treaty of Versailles on June 28^th of 1919, November 11^th is generally considered as the end of the war, as the armistice between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. On June 1^st, 1954, after WWII and the Korean War, Armistice Day became a day to honor American veterans of all wars, not just the first World War.

While living in France, Veterans Day coincided with our visit to Normandy one year. I was pregnant with Mikus, and Lauris was too young to understand the meaning of the memorials and cemeteries we visited. Last year we talked also about Lāčplēša diena, the Latvian commemorative holiday marking the anniversary of the Latvian national army's victory 94 years ago today, but it was still too soon. This year, coming soon on the heels of a visit to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island (while I was viewing Frank Lloyd Wright’s Auldbrass Plantation), once again the topic of Veterans Day was brought up, this time at the Greenville County Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Lauris seemed to understand the concept of a memorial this time, although I believe there will be more questions in the coming days.

Located in Cleveland Park just south of the Greenville Zoo, the memorial reminds me a little of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC, which Lauris and I visited last year around this time. Adjacent are several more plaques and stones: one in honor of those who served in Grenada, Lebanon, Panama and the Persian Gulf, another dedicated to veterans of World War II, Korea and Vietnam, a bench commemorating 63^rd Troop Carrier Wing (H) and a Garden Club tribute to the Armed Forces of America.

Set near an often-used hiking/biking trail, just next to a quiet brook and mini-park, I am sure hundreds will pass by this Veterans Day weekend. I wish for all to have the chance to reflect on the sacrifices by our veterans and those defending our country and way of life, as well as the sacrifices of the families of our soldiers and veterans. Thank you - not only on this day of commemoration, but every day; may we prove ourselves worthy of your sacrifice.

-There will be a wreath laying and flag retirement ceremony at the memorial at 1pm today, for those in the Greenville area.
-An article published in the Fayetteville Observer detailing one Latvians military career: From Latvia to Fort Bragg, Charles Brigis had a remarkable military career. According to his grandson, the report omits "that he was a champion US marksman for the International Force in occupied Austria, (that he) found (his) son in Europe after believing he was dead, (and that he) earned a second Purple Heart in Vietnam."
-This educational infographic helps explain the significance of Lāčplēša diena and the events leading up to it: What is Lāčplēša diena?