Woman Suffrage 1920

When I looked at the Calendar this morning, I noticed that today is one of those "obscure fact" holidays noted on today's date, August 26:
                                          Woman Suffrage 1920

So I went online to Wikipedia to check out the details of why it was noted on my calendar today.  I learned that woman suffrage in the United States was achieved gradually, at state and local levels during the late 19th Century and the early 20th Century, culminating in 1920 with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which provided:
"The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex."

Even though the House of Representatives voted on May 21, 1919 to pass this law and the Senate voted to pass it on June 4, 1919, it still needed 36 of the State legislatures to ratify it before it would officially be the law throughout the United States.  Well many of the States came on board very quickly and Tennessee was the 36th State to ratify it on August 18, 1920.

It is amazing that it was many years later before some States ratified the 19th Amendment!  Here are some of the last States to "get on board":

Maryland-1941
Virginia-1952
Alabama-1953
Florida & South Carolina-1969
Georgia & Louisiana-1971
Mississippi did not ratify the 19th Amendment until 1984, sixty four years after the law was enacted nationally!

Oh my, how blessed and fortunate we are that so many forward-thinking women came before us and here in 2013 we are able to enjoy so many freedoms!  Not only can I go out and vote now, I can safely don a backpack and go for a 2,181 mile "walk in the woods"!  How lucky I am!  Here are just a couple of the fearless women I met while "walking in the woods":

   This is "Country Mouse" (who is a pilot) and her husband "Shadow".

     --and this is "Thimbleberry" w/Adalena attached to her pack strap!

 --and this is friends, "Pigeon" & "Thimbleberry", helping each other over the rough spots!

 --and "Pigeon" at a beautiful Maine pond.

And these are some of my wonderful Saddlebag women friends:

I've been a part of the Saddlebags since 1985, so I guess you could say we are all growing old together!

The most important, and the most loved, respected, and appreciated woman in my life is my Mom!  As you may remember from one of my previous posts, my Mom had her 87th birthday earlier this year and celebrated that day by going out and mowing her lawn and running her riding lawn mower up a tree thereby tipping it up on end and she ended up on the ground, thankfully uninjured!  Trust me, that did not slow her down one bit!  She is currently planning to go with my sister, Norma, on a very long driving vacation visiting many places along the way, including several National Parks out west and many other scenic spots.  I admire her adventuresome spirit and her desire to keep traveling and staying as active as she possibly can.  What a woman!

 Here is my Mom "giving her two cents worth" as they pore over maps while planning this long trip.  Mom and Norma are involved in a Christian R.V. Camping Group called the Texas Peacemakers and several others from this group are going along on this trip thru the western United States.

                       Me with the adventuresome travelers: Mom & Norma

We are in the "dog days of Summer" now.  Get outside early and do all those outdoor chores and then try to stay cool in the afternoon!  My friend Mary Ann and I went walking at 7:00 a.m. for an hour and a half this morning.  It felt good to get back into our walking routine after a couple of months of not walking together.  I have begun to ride my bike almost every day, "around the block", which is about 4 1/2 miles, just enough to get my heart rate up for awhile.

My Sweetie, Tom, celebrated his birthday recently and since he is now taking such good care of himself, he also practiced "portion control" on his birthday!

He would only eat a tiny wedge out of this tiny cake!  (I had to eat all the rest!)