The few, the proud...

 Downtown Amherst 8:45 AM

So this morning, not quite as early as usual, the 29 commemorative flags returned to their lofty perch in the downtown to commemorate Patriots' Day, one of the few (six) "holidays" the flags are allowed to fly free and proud.

Seven days if you count 9/11, but then Amherst only allows that commemoration once every five years, so this will not occur again until 2016, on the fifteenth anniversary.

President Bush called 9/11  "Patriot Day" when signing an executive order for the American flag to fly at half staff every 9/11 for as long as the republic stands, joining only a handful of days remembered in such a mournful way.

Annually, as it should.