It was on January 1, 1776 that the Continental army was restructured and adjusted according to a Congressional resolution which heralded American forces to the command of George Washington. On that day, the American Continental Army was blockading Boston which had been taken over by the British army. It has been said that the first American flag was made in May of 1776 by Betsy Ross, a Philadelphia seamstress who was actually a friend of George Washington and acquainted with ...

Covered Bridges first appeared in the U.S. around 1805, but the history of these monuments to another age date back thousands of years to China. Covered bridges had also existed in Europe since medieval times and there were once hundreds of them in Switzerland, Austria and Germany. But it?s here in the Northeastern U.S., where wooden covered bridge design and construction reached its pinnacle in the nineteenth century. A combination of pressing need, plentiful old growth n...

Flags as symbols of a country are universally known. The symbols on a flag usually have some significance in the same way as the stars and stripes on the US flag have historical significance. People buy flags because they are proud to be Americans. They fly them from homes, businesses and automobile windows. Lapel badges proclaim Americans' pride in our country. Non-Americans' at home and abroad wear, show and buy our flag to show their support for us. Websites now have an...

Mount Monadnock in Jaffrey, New Hampshire is North America?s most climbed peak, and reputed to be the second most climbed mountain in the world, after Mount Fuji in Japan. Though I?ve been close to the mountain on other trips I?ve never climbed it, and really was a tad perplexed by its popularity. So recently I decided to hike to the summit with one of my sons and see what all the hullabaloo was about. We arrived at the Mount Monadnock visitor center at around 8:30am, a...

Expatriate wannabes often ask us how we managed our expatriation to Guanajuato. If I had to narrow it down to the most important factor in the quest to expatriate to Mexico, it would be the following: Research thoroughly and make exploratory visits to the city or cities of your choice. Take all the time you need. Read everything you can get your hands on about the regions in which you might be interested, and visit as many as you can afford. This exploratory phase intimida...

National estimates put the U.S. population at just over 300 million based on the Census Bureau's U.S. Population Clock. It is expected that America will see a surge in the population, primarily due to immigrants, with the addition of 100 million people added over the next 35 years. With the continued growth in population, analysts are starting to examine the future geographical distribution of the population within the 50 states. Although the size of the US population rank...

I am miffed. I am sitting in my casita (little house) in Guanajuato moaning and groaning about something over which I have no possible control. I feel like swooning to the bed and uttering vile curses, but, as my wife often reminds me, ?What good would that do?? I have written about this aspect of Mexican life before in my books and columns?that which is stinging like a bee in my bonnet right now. I am sitting in front of a computer right now whose internet DSL connection ...

Let me begin this next column in the series with a generalized statement: The Spanish you learn in a classroom in the United States, Mexico, or in your own study from some impossibly expensive Spanish language tapes WILL NOT be the Spanish you hear in the streets of Mexico! I do not care who will try to convince you otherwise! I do not care who may convince you that this method or that method will give you fluency if only you would dish out the bucks to take it. What yo...

I thought I would write a follow-up to my column, ?Move Over San Miguel de Allende Here I Come?, since this is the only thing, writing, that prevents from committing murderous acts of rage (Just Joking!) As you recall from the previous column, I wrote how I tried to deposit a royalty check from my publisher and was told the check would clear on four different dates. We were shown, last week, on their computer screen that the funds would be available on the 18th of December. ...

When my wife and I moved to Guanajuato, Mexico as forty-something American expats, we had a list of reasons for doing so. The list has been growing incrementally since moving here. I want to share an incident that caused that list to increase by one more reason. I think the list is now at 10,001 reasons why we now live in Mexico. For our 24th wedding anniversary (that?s right, we are Americans and have been married for that long), we went on a little trip to a city in Cent...