Five Facts About Canada

My friend Lance is a USA American.

     He knows many things about Canada, more than he lets on.

          But he feigns ignorance.

Last week I gave him a jigsaw puzzle with a map of Canada

          showing the 10 provinces and 3 northern territories.

Lance is my inspiration for a new blog series:

     “Facts about Canada”, in sets of 5 facts per blog:

1. Canada became a nation on July 1, 1867.

          The coming together was called Confederation,

               and the country was named the Dominion of Canada.

          July 1^st is the national holiday each year,

               and we call it Canada Day

                    (formerly Dominion Day).

2. There were four original provinces:

        Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick & Nova Scotia.

             (Previously, these had been separate British colonies.)

3. Canadian “Indians” are called “First Nations”.

        There are 700,000 First Nations people living in Canada.

             There are over 630 recognized First Nations governments

                  or bands.

4. Canadian “Eskimos” should be called “Inuit”.

        There are about 50,000 Inuit in Canada,

             half of them in the northern territory of Nunavut.

5. Canada’s 2010 population is 34 million persons.

        compared to USA’s 310 million. (California: 37 million) 

Second Chances Garage

I’ve known Rick and Cindy Trawick for 20 years.

They are old friends.

Good friends.

Gifted, passionate people.

We’ve done church together.

Music together.

They’re my informal IT consultants.

Rick is my automotive adviser.

Their new passion is SECOND CHANCES GARAGE.

From a rented facility on Market Street in Frederick

they accept donated vehicles,

fix them,

and give them

to persons and families who really need them.

A simple concept, really.

They work with

the Religious Coalition for Emergency Human Need

and other community-based non-profits

to find persons who truly qualify

for this type of assistance.

Cindy is a financial counselor.

She meets with potential recipients,

giving sound budget advice.

To a large extent, this new ministry

has been funded by the Trawicks themselves,

to the tune of $11,500.00.

It’s a worthy endeavor that deserves to succeed,

and it needs your support.

Here’s the website.

(Full Disclosure:

Rick asked me to join their board of directors,

and I’ve been glad to do so.)

New Hymns Recording - Can You Help?

Hi friends,

Recently my friends Ben and Jillian Trawick

recorded my "Hymn of Welcome",

using the old “Beach Spring” tune.

They did a great job, and I’m very grateful for this kind of support.

Now I’m turning to you –

other friends who are musicians and singers.

Would you consider recording 

one of my hymns or songs?

In return, I’d be glad to promote your projects 

on my blogs,

on Facebook and Twitter.

Over the next year I am hopeful to gather

ten to twenty digital recordings

of hymns or songs I’ve written.

These would be made available to others

for download from my website or by e-mail attachment.

These can be simple vocals 

with guitar or keyboard accompaniment,

or they could be more elaborate,

based on your taste, time, and access to a recording environment.

In general, “raw” is better than refined.

You are welcome to adapt lyrics or tunes

to suit your personal sense of style.

Feel free to contact me with any questions.

When you settle on a song to record,

please let me know

so that several won’t inadvertently be recording the same song.

Many of my hymn and song texts 

are available at the “New Hymns” blog 

(www.wattswesley.blogspot.com).

I can provide lead sheets or four-part hymn notation 

for most of them.

A lot of the hymn tunes used

are public domain folk tunes or old hymn tunes.

Thanks for reading!

God bless you,

Gary Hicks

Maine's Henry Knox - Revolutionary Hero

Henry Knox (1750-1806)

     was one of Maine’s most colorful figures –

          a hero of the Revolutionary War.

Knox was largely self-taught.

     Born in Boston,

          he opened the London Book Store there at age 21.

A voracious reader on military subjects,

     he met George Washington in 1775,

          was soon commissioned as a colonel,

               and given command

                    of the Continental Regiment of Artillery.

As the Revolutionary War began,

     British forces occupied Boston.

The Continental army surrounded the city,

     besieging it for almost a year.

          Stalemate.

Then came Henry Knox’s shining moment.

     He was 25 years old.

Knox suggested bringing cannons to Boston

     from recently-captured forts on Lake Champlain,

          300 miles away.

General Washington put Colonel Knox in charge

     of an expedition to retrieve them.

It was winter.

Knox’s force brought 59 cannons (weighing sixty tons)

     by ox-drawn sled

          south along the west bank of the Hudson River 

               to Albany.

There they crossed the ice-covered Hudson River,

     continued east through the Berkshires 

          and finally arrived in Boston.

The team averaged five miles per day.

When they arrived in Cambridge,

     Washington's army took the Heights of Dorchester,

          where the cannons were placed,

               overlooking Boston.

As a result, the British withdrew to Halifax 

     on Saint Patrick’s Day, 1776.

Knox served bravely and brilliantly throughout the war,

     becoming chief of artillery

          and rising to the rank of major general.

Later he served as Secretary of War.

He settled in Thomaston, Maine
     (then still in Massachusetts) in 1793.

Two separate American forts, 

     Fort Knox (Kentucky), and Fort Knox (Maine) 

          were named after him. 

Knoxville, Tennessee, is named in his honor.

There are counties named for Knox in nine states.

Henry Knox – American hero.

Bangor & the Airline Route

                                          (Steven King's house)

Bangor is the cultural and commercial center

     for northern and eastern Maine.

Though its population is only about 30,000,

     Bangor is the third largest city in Maine.

The five-county area for which Bangor is the largest market town  

     (including Aroostook, Hancock, Penobscot, Piscataquis, 

          and Washington Counties)

               has a population over 325,000 people

                    and comprises half of Maine’s total area.

Bangor is located on the Penobcot River,

     30 miles inland from the Maine coast.

The main campus of the University of Maine (12,000 students)

     is located in nearby Orono.

Bangor’s best-known resident is novelist Steven King.

When I think of Bangor, 

     I think of the 100-mile long “Airline Route”

        (State Route 9)

           that connects it with the Canadian border at Calais, Maine.

Here’s what Wikipedia says about “The Airline Route”:

     “State Route 9 is a meandering highway

          that works its way from New Hampshire to Canada…

     Its leg from Bangor to Calais 

        is often referred to as "The Airline"

          commonly thought to be due to its shorter route

               than the older U.S. 1 [along the coast].

     (Before the coming of air travel, 

          the term airline often referred to such a shortcut.) …

     The last section of ‘The Airline’ was paved in 1973 …

     The "Whale's Back", a 2-mile stretch built atop an esker

          in Hancock County

               is one of the most notable features of the highway.”

I began to travel the Airline Route in the early 1970s.

Then it was a wild ride,

     curving and turning around every large rock and small hill.

It was full of potholes

     and featured just one gasoline station over its 100 miles.

There were long stretches of road without human habitation.

It was an adventure waiting to happen –

     two or three hours of wildness,

          and particularly dangerous in winter.

The “Whale’s Back” 

     was a continuous series of stomach-churning dips,

          a carnival ride at 50 miles per hour.

               (The Whale’s Back is still there,

                    but now rebuilt as a more sedate highway.)

Every summer it was under repair or reconstruction,

     so that today it seems more-or-less civilized.

Any weeklong Maine vacation should include this ride,

     complete with swarms of mosquitoes 

          and black flies in summer. 

Acadia National Park

Established by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916,

Acadia is the oldest USA national park

      east of the Mississippi River.

It reserves much of Mount Desert Island, Isle au Haut,

      Baker Island and the Schoodic Peninsula

            as a natural habitat for wildlife.

Moose, white-tailed deer, black bears, muskrats, foxes

      and other mammals inhabit the park.

Ample camping facilities are provided in designated areas,

      and there are many motels and hotels nearby.

You may not camp on the hiking trails.

If you join the other two million visitors each year

     (over 6000 daily),

          you’ll want to drive or hike

               to the pinnacle of Cadillac Mountain (1528 feet)

                    for beautiful views of the Gulf of Maine,

                         the Porcupine Islands, Eagle Lake,

                              and the town of Bar Harbor.

There are number of trails to explore

     near the summit of the mountain.

For much of the year, Cadillac Mountain is

     the first USA location to see the rising sun.

The Rockefeller summer home was once located near the park,

      and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. 

            had a strong association with it.

He designed and funded the construction of more than 50 miles

     of gravel carriage trails and 17 granite bridges.

These are still in use today.

In 1947 a fire burned 10,000 of Acadia’s 47,390 acres.

Regrowth was allowed to occur naturally.

The Rockefeller family supported substantial restoration 

      of the park.

Acadia National Park website (with link to a detailed map)

     is located HERE. 

The Maine Coast

In an earlier blog I mentioned

that the state of Maine

has 3,476 miles of coastline.

(The distance from New York City

to San Francisco is only 2,905 miles.)

Maine also has about 2000 islands,

most of them on the coast

(as opposed to islands in lakes and rivers).

And 65 lighthouses.

Cape Lookout Lighthouse at Portland Head

is the most photographed of these.

US Route 1 is the access road to the Maine coast.

It runs from the Canadian border to southern Florida.

Most Maine tourism is focused on the coastal region.

Highlights include (but are not limited to):

     Kennebunkport (summer home of George H. W. Bush)

     Old Orchard Beach

     Portland

     Freeport (home of L. L. Bean)

     Boothbay Harbor

     Rockland

     Camden

     Acadia National Park (see tomorrow’s blog)

     Bar Harbor

     Beals Island

     Eastport

The northern third of the coast (above Bar Harbor)

is the most rural and is less-consciously "touristy"

which makes it the most appealing for me.

Maine History - Four Key Dates

(part of a continuing series on the USA state of Maine)

13,000 to 11,000 BCE – Nomadic Paleoindians (ancestors of the Wabanaki peoples) arrive in Maine at the end of the Ice Age.

http://iceagetrail.umaine.edu/content/iceageinmaine/iceageinmaine.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabanaki

1604 AD – first European settlement by a French team led by Sieur de Monts, a French Protestant merchant. The settlement was on an island in the St. Croix River (now the USA-Canada border). De Monts’ party included royal cartographer Samuel de Champlain, a Catholic priest and a Protestant pastor. The winter was harsh, and in the spring the group moved to a more habitable place in Nova Scotia.

1820 AD – Maine becomes a USA state as part of the Missouri Compromise. (Maine would be a free state while Missouri would be a slave-holding state.) Before this date Maine had been part of Massachusetts.

1842 AD – The Webster-Ashburton Treaty establishes the current border between Maine and New Brunswick, ending the unofficial “Aroostook War” (a war of words rather than actual combat). The treaty did not clarify ownership of Machias Seal Island and nearby North Rock, and their ownership is still disputed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webster-Ashburton Treaty

Eric Miller on His Week in Haiti

I had lunch today with my friend Eric Miller, a youth pastor here in Frederick, MD. I wanted to learn more about his recent trip to Haiti, and thought you might like to hear about it:

ERIC: I had the awesome opportunity to spend a week in Haiti from July 29 to August 5th (with CPR-3) and I can honestly say that it was one of the best weeks I’ve had in a long time. I’m also convinced that for the past 6-8 months, God had been preparing me BIG time for this opportunity. I’d like to tell you a little bit about the story of how I got to Haiti and let the video and the pictures tell the story of the week. I know that’s not usually how these things go, but if you’d like to hear more specifics about the week ... then you’ll have to take me out for coffee :) because I’m convinced that the coolest part of the story is what God did leading up to this week! 

(I know this is long, but trust me ... you won’t regret reading it!)

In December of 2009, I had some hard decisions to make. The short version of the story is that I was about to take a significant pay cut at the church due to the economy and I was questioning whether God wanted me in Frederick as the Youth Pastor still. I spent several weeks praying about it and seeking the Lord’s Will the best that I could and by the beginning of the new year I was sure that this is where God wanted me to be ... right here in Frederick. The funny part is that I knew this would be the place where I would have to depend on Him the most and depend on myself the least. Little did I know what he had in store. 

In January of 2010, with the pay cut now in effect I knew that I would need to start looking for a part-time job. And I found one working at a local middle school with an after school program. Truth be told, I really wasn’t all that excited about having to do this job just to supplement some of my lost income and was bummed that I was losing hours that I felt I needed to fulfill my role as Youth Pastor at the church. At the beginning my attitude probably wasn’t where it needed to be and I was pretty much just focused on myself. But I knew that this job had some potential because not only would it help me make the money I had lost in my pay cut, but I knew that it could open some doors and give me an opportunity to get to know some more students in the community. So I tried to make the most of it and gave it my best. What I quickly found out was that God was truly at work here. I ended up making $5 a month more than I had before my pay cut (see God does have a sense of humor - now I was “making money.”) But more importantly it was in the relationships that I built where I saw Him working the most. The director of our program was also in full-time ministry as her husband is also a Youth Pastor and I got to work along side Adam Forsberg as well, who was a part of my Youth Staff at the church and would later become my summer intern. Also on our staff at the school was another area Youth Pastor and a guy who lead a college aged Bible Study! If it hadn’t been for this part-time job, I might not have ever met these wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ and partners in the ministry. 

In February, God started breaking my heart for some of the students at the school. Adam & I decided that we were going to start praying for them specifically by name and that we would were going to look for opportunities to encourage them if we could in any way. One of the students came on our Winter Retreat with our youth group and one other has since come to our Youth Group and many of the students from the program have started going to the Youth Group of the other Youth Pastor! It was amazing to see God use us as we built relationships with these students. But more than that, it was a wonderful partnership with those who I worked with. SO much so that my director’s husband got in contact with me and presented me with another opportunity. His name is Justin and he told me that he had recently co-authored a book with a good friend of his, Jeremy, and that he was in a band and they would be going on a book tour soon to promote their book. Well they asked if I’d be interested in having them come to our Youth Group to close out their tour. After learning that the band was WILLET and realizing that I had met them a year or so before at a Youth For Christ event that I spoke at (and they lead worship for) I was very excited to have them come. It was awesome getting to know Justin & Jeremy better as we prepared for that night and I learned that they are as passionate as it gets for the Lord and that God was doing amazing things in their lives. 

The night that they came to our Youth Group, they presented our students with an opportunity to sponsor orphans in Haiti. We quickly learned that Jeremy’s wife, who is a full-time missionary in Haiti, works directly with many of these orphans and that she was in Haiti when the earthquake hit. I felt strongly that night that God was calling me to do more than just sponsor a child, but at the time I wasn’t quite sure what that meant. Our students ended up sponsoring 25-30 orphans for a year and we invited WILLET to come back to our church again a few weeks later to lead worship on a Sunday morning. That Sunday, they gave the same invitation for our church to sponsor some children and another 45-50 were sponsored. It thrilled me to see this partnership with WILLET and our church and to see how God was moving in these two times that they were leading us in worship. So I talked to my former roommate (Matt Johnson) who had heard about WILLET’s matching grant for their book and we decided that we needed to do something else to help them raise some money for Haiti relief efforts. And thus ourDodgeball for Haiti Tournament was born. We were able to raise over $12,000 for disaster relief funds through WILLET and Food for the Hungry and this matching grant. This also gave us another opportunity to present the gospel to students in the community that we wouldn’t normally be able to reach. 

Finally, this past spring, my college roommate sends me an email and says that he recently signed up for this one week trip to Haiti and that there’s only a few spots left and I should sign up to go. I truly wanted to go, but my mind quickly went to all the reasons why I wouldn’t be able to ... I had already been gone a lot from work over the summer, where would I come up with the money on such short notice, my passport had expired the summer before and on and on! Well I decided I’d at least ask our Senior Pastor to see what he’d say and he was really excited for me to have the opportunity and said I should go. So in less than 2 months time, I was then able to renew my passport, raise all the money that I needed, got my airfare booked 3 days before I left town and had a summer intern to cover for me at the church! 

And while I was in Haiti, God truly renewed my heart for his Word, for His people and for the work that He’s doing in Haiti on a whole new level. It truly was a wonderful week and I cannot wait to help lead a team from Grace Community Church with Matt Johnson back to Haiti sometime in the next year or so (assuming God allows it!) 

WOW! And seriously ALL of that happened because I made a hard decision to put my faith and trust in God when humanly speaking it made no sense at all. Praise God for my pay cut and for having to get a part-time job!

Read more about Eric at HIS BLOG.

Maine's Colossal County - Aroostook

As a boy, I lived for eight years

     in Maine’s northernmost county

          – Aroostook.

I joined hundreds of other children

     who were released from school

          for several weeks each year

               to help with the potato harvest.

Aroostook is larger in area

     than the states of Connecticut

          and Rhode Island combined.

It’s the USA’s largest county

     east of the Mississippi River.

Residents of Maine

     sometimes just call it “The County”.

Politicians of Aroostook County

     have proposed spinning off the county as its own state

          since the 1990s.

As recently as 2005 the question has been brought up

     before the state assembly.

Ninety percent of Maine’s area is forested,

     and Aroostook County makes up a good percentage of that.
Historically, lumbering has been big business,
     and will continue to be.

There’s a lot of uninhabited land in Maine’s forested interior.

The Northwest Aroostook unorganized territory

     has an area of 2,668 square miles (6,910 km²)

          and a population of 27,

               or one person for every 100 square miles (260 km²).

Twenty-two percent of Aroostook County residents

     speak French at home,

          according to the 2000 United States Census.

There are two Indian reservations in Aroostook County:

(1) Aroostook Band of Mi’kmaq Indians Reservation in Presque Isle.

(2) Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians Reservation in Houlton.

Learn more about Aroostook County HERE.

Maine – The Way Life Should Be®

On our recent trip to eastern Canada

we spent two days on the Maine coast:

     Bar Harbor

     Acadia National Park

     Cadillac Mountain

     Beals Island

     Jonesport

     Lubec

     Machias

        (also Campobello Island, NB – see a later post.)

Maine is by far the largest state in New England,

     about the size of Ireland

     but with one quarter of its population.

Renowned for its scenic rugged coast,

     low mountains and forested interior,

Maine has been a popular summer destination

     for more than a century.

6000 lakes and ponds

32,000 miles of rivers and streams

17 million acres of forest

3,478 miles of coastline

65 lighthouses

2000 islands

Two thousand islands!

I plan to devote the next several blog posts

     to this beautiful state.

Read more about it here.

See the Maine Tourism website here.

Hymn of Welcome - Free Download!

Last Saturday my friends Ben and Jillian Trawick
recorded my “Hymn of Welcome”.

You can have a free download of the recording
(sent to you by email)
if you contact me by email:
caedmullen@gmail.com

Love Poems from Old Guys

Yesterday we celebrated

our wedding anniversary,

and went for lunch

to a classy restaurant downtown.

We enjoyed an excellent gazpacho

and shared an unhurried meal together.

While waiting for food to arrive,

I read two old love poems to my wife,

both by Elizabethan poets.

I’m sure this identifies me as a nerd,

but that’s alright.

I think she liked them.

At least she liked them being read to her.

There is a Garden in Her Face  

Thomas Campion (1567-1620)
There is a garden in her face,
Where roses and white lilies grow;
A heav'nly paradise is that place,
Wherein all pleasant fruits do flow.
            There cherries grow, which none may buy,
            Till “Cherry ripe” themselves do cry.

Those cherries fairly do enclose
Of orient pearl a double row,
Which when her lovely laughter shows,
They look like rose-buds filled with snow;
            Yet them nor peer nor prince can buy,
            Till “Cherry ripe” themselves do cry.

Her eyes like angels watch them still,
Her brows like bended bows do stand,
Threatening with piercing frowns to kill
All that attempt, with eye or hand,
          Those sacred cherries to come nigh
          Till “Cherry ripe” themselves do cry.

To Celia   

Ben Jonson (1573-1637)

Drink to me only with thine eyes,
         And I will pledge with mine;
Or leave a kiss but in the cup
         And I'll not look for wine.
The thirst that from the soul doth rise
         Doth ask a drink divine;
But might I of Jove's nectar sup,
         I would not change for thine.

I sent thee late a rosy wreath,
         Not so much honouring thee
As giving it a hope that there
         It could not withered be;
But thou thereon didst only breathe,
         And sent'st it back to me;
Since when it grows, and smells, I swear,
         Not of itself but thee!