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If you notice The Penderghast Puzzle Protectors is in there. Follow the link to enter.
It’s Labor Day. I decided to post a few trivia questions about Labor Day to see if you could answer them or if you want to impress your kids, ask them the questions. I will supply the answers at the end of this column.
Who is considered the father of Labor Day?
When was the first U.S. Labor Day celebrated?
What country is said to have originated the idea to host a Labor Day?
Why do we celebrate Labor Day?
What state was the first state to declare Labor Day a holiday seven years before the president declared it a national holiday?
Don’t feel bad if you don’t know the answers. I am sure somewhere in the past I have heard the answers to all of those questions. I would imagine my history teachers when I was in school covered the subject of Labor Day. I wonder how many kids now know why we celebrate Labor Day. Do you suppose history in school covers this today?
I know we anticipate the holiday. Many years kids start school right after the Labor Day holiday. This year all my grandchildren started school many weeks before the holiday weekend, so this weekend is a break from school.
In Minnesota the state fair is on. The Renaissance Festival has begun and festivities abound celebrating the last fun weekend we have before we get back to the grind of normal life after the summer.
Labor Day started as a day to recognize contributions men and women made to the American workforce. In the 19th century, Americans worked 12- hour days, seven days a week. These workers wanted an eight hour workday.
Today we should also be celebrating the American workers. I doubt that the stress workers feel today is any less than those workers protesting when Labor Day was established. We have many people working for minimum wage, working long hours and intensive jobs for little pay, struggling to put food on the table. Because of technology many people are on call 24/7. They can’t get away from the office, and companies expect them to be there when they call. Eight-hour days are not the norm for many. And part of the workforce work two and three jobs to make ends meet.
Jobs are more diverse, and the factory jobs of the past no longer are as prevalent so more education is needed to secure employment.
We still need to celebrate the American worker because they are the backbone of America from garbage collectors to plumbers to doctors and lawyers to the clerk that hands you your coffee in the coffee shop. These people are all needed to make our society work.
So on this day, look around you and if you see someone working, say thank you. And then pat yourself on the back as you leave for work or as you are thankful you are retired from a lifetime of being one of the workers who makes our country run. This is your day. Thank you for what you have contributed.
Answers:
1. Peter McGuire
2. Sept. 5,1882
3. Canada
4. To celebrate the American Worker
5. Oregon
I get so busy promoting my Fuchsia Minnesota and Brilliant Minnesota Series books that I have neglected my children’s series that I self-published. There is a little bit of a story behind these books. Whatchamacallit Thingamajig was actually the first book I wrote with my grandchildren when they were younger. I wanted to leave them something to remember me by, and what better than a mystery involving them and giving them a little glimpse into Grandma’s life when she was young.
Although I call it a children’s book it also is a great short book for adults to remember their youth, and promote showing their grandchildren who they were before the wrinkles.
As an adult and a grandmother we strive to be good role models for our grandchildren. We are not perfect and we had a life before children and grandchildren. We had fun, we made mistakes, and they all shaped us into who we are today. Much of the time we only share that which we feel will make us look good in our grandchildren’s eyes. We don’t share the fact that we almost burned down the barn because we were playing with matches in the hayloft. I had simple activities in my youth that children in this era don’t have. I also wanted to share that with my grandchildren.
I wanted to remind our adult self to keep the child inside of us and let it out once in awhile so life doesn’t get too heavy for us. Are these my best written books, absolutely not. They were my first, but they are meaningful to me because the kids played out the mystery acting out the pictures giving me feedback and ideas throughout the way.
Read them if you like, give them as a gift or don’t. I wanted you to know they are out there, they were written with heart and I am proud of them and my grandchildren. They are available in both Kindle and paperback. And starting on September 2, they are both .99 as a Kindle download.
Sprinkled Notes 