Photos from my May, 2011 vacation to New England and Canada

If you would like to view the photos from my  recent vacation to New England and Canada, click on the following
link…………….

http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/album.sfly?sid=0AYuXDdi1asWjvw&startIndex=0&fid=62c58c9a60331ab7

Then click on “View album”, then “play slideshow.”
Note that at the bottom of each photo is a caption telling you what you are  seeing.

Folks I ran into at the Chamber mixer on 5-3-2011

Mike Newton and Darryll Bassham

Bill & Vonda Hope and Roy Holian

Interesting facts about Cinco de Mayo.

May 5 – very interesting, please read this.

Most people don’t know that back in
1912, Hellmann’s mayonnaise was manufactured in England.   In fact, the
Titanic was carrying 12,000 jars of the condiment scheduled for delivery to Cancun, Mexico, which
was to be the next port of call for the great ship after its stop in New York.

When news reached Mexico
that the ship carrying the mayonnaise had sunk, the people of Mexico, who were crazy about
mayonnaise, were so saddened that they declared a national day of
mourning, which they still observe to this day.  That day of mourning, is of course, known as
Cinco de Mayo.

Ok, ok, that was a joke…
Would you like to know the real
story of Cinco de Mayo and why it is such a huge party for Americans as well as
Mexicans?… well, here it is:

The 5th of May is not Mexican
Independence Day, a common misconception.  Mexico
declared its independence from mother Spain on midnight, the 15th of September, 1810, after 11 years of
armed struggle.

So, why Cinco de Mayo?  And why
should Americans savor this day as well?  Because 4,000 poorly equipped
but highly motivated Mexican soldiers smashed the French (and traitor Mexican
army) of 8,000 at Puebla, Mexico, 100 miles east of Mexico City on the morning
of May 5, 1862, but with major help from the United States, as will be related,
below.  Thus, this day started a trend of
cooperating between the neighboring countries of the United
States and Mexico, which continues until this
day.

The French landed in Mexico(along with Spanish and English troops)
five months before May 5, on the pretext of collecting Mexican debts from the
newly elected government of democratic President (and Indian) Benito Juarez
(after whom a border town in Mexico
is named).  The English and Spanish quickly made deals and left.  The
French, however, wanted to conquer and take overMexico.

Under Emperor Napoleon III, who detested the United States, the French came to
stay.  They brought a Hapsburg prince with them to rule the new Mexican
empire.  His name was Maximilian; his wife, Carolota.  Napoleon’s
French Army had not been defeated in 50 years, and it invaded Mexico with the finest modern
equipment and with a newly reconstituted Foreign Legion.  The French were
not afraid of anyone, especially since the United States was embroiled in its
own Civil War.

The French Army left the portof Vera Cruz
to attack Mexico City
to the west, as the French assumed that the Mexicans would give up should their
capital fall to the enemy — as European countries traditionally did.

The Mexican armies, under the
command of Texas-born General Zaragosa, (and the cavalry under the command of
Colonel Porfirio Diaz, later to be Mexico’s president and dictator), awaited
the French.  Brightly dressed French Dragoons led the enemy columns.

Mexican General Zaragosa ordered
Colonel Diaz to take his cavalry, the best in the world, out to the French
flanks.  In response, the French did a most stupid thing; they sent their
cavalry off to chase Diaz and his men, who proceeded to butcher them.  The
remaining French infantrymen charged the Mexican defenders through sloppy mud
from a thunderstorm and through hundreds of head of stampeding cattle stirred
up by Indians armed only with machetes.

When the battle was over, many
French were killed or wounded and their cavalry was being chased by Diaz’
superb horsemen miles away.  The Mexicans had won a great victory that
kept Napoleon III from supplying
the confederate rebels for another year, allowing the United States Union
forces to build the greatest army the world had ever seen.  This grand
army smashed the Confederates at Gettysburg just
14 months after the battle of Puebla,
essentially ending the Civil War.

Union forces were then rushed to the
Texas/Mexican border under General Phil Sheridan, who made sure that the
Mexicans got all the weapons and ammunition they needed to expel the
French.  American soldiers were discharged with their uniforms and rifles
if they promised to join the Mexican Army to fight the French.  The
American Legion of Honor marched in the Victory Parade inMexico, City.

In gratitude for the cooperative
effort between the Mexicans and Americans during the events surrounding the
battle of Puebla, thousands of Mexicans
crossed the border after Pearl Harbor to join
the U.S. Armed Forces.  As recently as the Persian Gulf War, Mexicans
flooded American consulates with phone calls, trying to join up and fight
another war forAmerica.

The Mexicans, you see, never forget
who their friends were in the battle at Puebla.
That’s why Cinco de Mayo is such a party
for both Americans and Mexicans– A party that celebrates freedom and
liberty.