Flags Across America, Arlington National Cemetery (pp. 100-101)

Flag Day, 14 June—where were you? Did you display the American flag at your home? Did you attend a ceremony? I did and hope you did, too.

Cristwood Park, Shoreline. Photo courtesy of Cristwood Park

Two days earlier, on 12 June, I attended an event at Cristwood Park, a retirement community in Shoreline. Elizabeth Patton, Life Enrichment Coordinator, had scheduled Karen S. Robbins, co-author of Flags Across America, who lives in Gig Harbor, to give a speech about the American flags which are pictured in her book. Mrs. Patton scheduled me to play two patriotic songs on my Getzen trumpet before and two songs after Ms. Robbins’ speech. The first two were “America, the Beautiful” and “God Bless America.” The last two were “You’re a Grand Old Flag” and “The Star-Spangled Banner.” We handed out the lyrics to all of them, and the audience sang along as I played.

Ms. Robbins teamed up and co-authored the 208-page book with Dale Baskin, a photographer and writer who lives in Seattle.  So, she began her speech with a joke about their team being akin to the very popular ice cream shops, “Baskin-Robbins.” Then she showed many photos of American flag, as photographed, drawn and painted by people across the nation. All were unique, and some were simply amazing. See for yourself at https://www.flagsacrossamerica.org/.

Please click on any photo to enlarge it.

Flags Across America, 3-D paintings on buildings in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia by Scott LoBaido (pp. 44-45)

Flags Across America (pp. 32-33)

Flags Across America, Washington State (L, p. 104) and Iowa (R, p. 105)

Flags Across America, America One Flag Balloon (pp. 26-27)

Flags Across America, Whidbey Island, WA (L, p. 24) and Fort Clatsop, OR (R, p. 25)