The Pink Flamingo :: Being a Tourist Today

Today's Pink Flamingo postings are a little slow. As you can see I did the tourist thing today in and around Manitou Springs. The aspen are golden. I guess maybe I was celebrating some of our last days of freedom. When Barack Obama becomes POTUS, and he begins to ration gas, we won't be able to travel. I don't even know if he will allow us to travel from state to state. He will ration health care, which is terrifying to senior citizens like my mother who cannot survive without medical assistance. Sundries Shack has a link to Malkin about Gallup putting Obama "ringers" in the alleged "townhall" the other day. If this is the case, how badly behind are we?

The rock formations are located at the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. Tomorrow I will be home and will resume normal blogging after I sleep off this blasted trip. FYI - don't even think about staying at the Holiday Inn Crown Plaza in Colorado Springs. It is really bad. We're staying at a Holiday Inn Express in Raton,NM tonight. I think it is one of the BEST lodging experiences I've ever had. It is an incredible location, which I highly recommend.

CHAMBERS BOOK OF DAYS

Born: Michael Cervantes de Saavedra, author of Don Quixote, 1547, Alcala de Henares; Jacob Augustus Thuanus (De Thou), historical writer, 1553, Paris; Bishop George Tomline, author of Refutation of Calvinism, 1753; Charles Comte d'Artois, afterwards Charles X, 1757, Versailles.
Died: Pope Clement II, 1047; Gabriel Fallopius, eminent botanist, 1563, Padua; Claude Perrault, architect, 1683; Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland, mistress of Charles II, 1709, Chiswick; Dr. James Johnson, medical and miscellaneous writer, 1845, Brighton.
Feast Day: St. Dionysius, or Denis, bishop of Paris, and his Companions, martyrs, 272. St. Domninus, martyr, 304. St. Guislain, abbot, 681. St. Lewis Bertrand, confessor, 1581.

ST. DENIS

This saint, properly named St. Dionysius, has been sometimes stated as the first who introduced Christianity into France, but this is certainly erroneous, as the martyrdoms at Lyon and Vienne in the second century prove. St. Denis was, however, of all the Roman missionaries in Gaul, the individual who, in preaching the doctrines of the Cross, penetrated furthest into the country, and fixed his seat at Paris, of which he became the first bishop. He is said to have been put to death during the persecution of Valerian, and a well-known legend is related regarding him, that, after suffering decapitation, he miraculously took up his head, carried it in his hand for the space of two miles, and then lay down and expired. The bon mot uttered regarding this ecclesiastical fable by a witty French lady of the last century, has become proverbial: 'La distance ne vaut rien; c'est le premier pas qui coute.'

The bodies of St. Denis and his companions are recorded to have been interred by a Christian lady named Catalla, not far from the place where they had been beheaded. A chapel was thereafter erected over their tomb, and in the fifth century a church, which was greatly resorted to by pilgrims. In the seventh century, King Dagobert founded on the same spot the famous abbey of St. Denis, in which he himself and his successors on the French throne were interred, At the Revolution, this receptacle of the remains of royalty was sacrilegiously violated, and the contents of its tombs ignominiously scattered abroad, whilst the building itself was unroofed, and used for a time as a cattle market. It was, however, restored with great splendour after the accession of the first Napoleon, and now attracts visitors as one of the most interesting monuments of ancient times, near the French capital.

The French have adopted St. Denis as their patron saint, in the same manner as the English have chosen St. George. The guardianship of the two countries is thus expressed in the chorus to the old ballad:

‘St George he was for England,
St. Denis was for France.
Singing, Honi soit qui mal y pense.'

Dime con quien andas y te digo quien eres.

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