"The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America.—I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more."
—- Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, July 3, 1776
Now summer is in full bloom, and due to abundant rains, gardening has become a game of catch-up, weeds need pulling, and the mosquitoes are ferocious. Whenever I feel like giving up on a job like that to plop on the couch with a bag of chips, instead I have been inspired to persevere by the autobiography of an amazing woman and true patriot.Elly Matz immigrated to America more than sixty-five years ago from Ukraine, realizing her childhood dream to come to the land she first heard about on her father's knee. Her ancestors had gone in the other direction, migrating in the 1760s with many other settlers from Germany to the fertile farmland south of Russia. Born in 1920, three years after the Russian Revolution, Elly saw the demise of her people's way of life as the farms were being taken by the communists and divided up.
