Though April 19 is the real Patriots' Day commemorating the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first battles of the American Revolutionary War, it is now celebrated on the third Monday of April. It is a Massachusetts holiday but since Maine was originally part of Massachusetts, we get to celebrate, too. The University of Maine Farmington is closed today to commemorate the event. Of course, it fell during our spring break, so it's a holiday for staff who are on 12-month contracts but was already a holiday for students and faculty.
Wikipedia has a nice article with more than you ever wanted to know about Patriots' Day including its timing with the Boston Marathon and Red Sox games.
I was going to go into the office today (I have a key to my building, so even though the University is closed, I can get in) and get work done but I slept in this morning and am still in my pajamas at 12:30 in the afternoon. I have been busily working on our Maine Community Heritage Project over the weekend and am tempted to stay home and work on that some more. But I have a giant list of things to do at the office, too. Oh the dilemma!
