People will spend time this weekend mowing lawns, planting gardens, golfing, barbecuing and any number of other activities tied to warmer weather.

This year those activities may include a pancake breakfast Sunday morning at the Cherry Valley Firehouse from 7 to 11 a.m., new exhibit "Treasures from the Frederic Remington Art Museum" at the Fenimore Art Museum or the Farmers’ Museum’s exhibition "Ice Cream: Our Cool Obsession," which explores the rich history of ice cream.

It is also a time set aside when we honor the courage of those Americans who put their lives on the line to protect or defend the principles that bind us as a nation.

Some were drafted, some went voluntarily, but in either case, they fought to give us the lives we have today.

With the ongoing war in Iraq, we have a growing number of veterans to honor again this year. Almost 3,500 soldiers have died in Iraq since the war started.

Whether you oppose the war or are in favor of it, the men and women who have served, or continue to serve in Iraq, and especially those who lost their lives, deserve our respect and thoughts this weekend. They were, and continue to be, willing to risk their lives for our country.

The veterans of all wars should be thanked for the sacrifices they made in the name of ideology and patriotism.

One way to honor their sacrifices is to attend one of the Memorial Day parades on Monday. In Cooperstown the parade will begin at the Vet’s Club on Main St. at 11 a.m. and end at the just cleaned Civil War monument at the intersection of Main Street and Pine Boulevard.

In Cherry Valley, the parade will begin at 10 a.m. and proceed from Church St. to the cemetery on Alden St.

Memorial Day honors the fallen, and it is entirely appropriate that the focus in this weekend’s observances remains on their sacrifice.

But let’s not forget those who served, survived and carried on. Winston Churchill, speaking of the overwhelming challenges the British met in the early days of World War II, called it ``their finest hour.’’

The same can be said of those America men and women _ hundreds of thousands of whom will remain forever young _ who gave so much when their nation needed them most.

Their special place in our nation’s collective conscience cannot be diminished.