August 9, 2011: Polka Day, Rice Pudding Day, Books Lovers Day

~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
August 9,2011

sunrise-haleakala

★~ Today’s Quote: You can’t get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me. C.S. Lewis

★~ National Polka Day:

Some may be inclined to poke fun at the polka, but don’t knock it till you try it. After all, millions of polka fans (including pretty much all of Central Europe) can’t be wrong. This celebrated dance is a peppy series of quick steps, done with a partner to some pretty rocking accordion music. So let’s crank up the tunes, roll out the barrel, and party down polka style.

★~ Food For The Day: Rice Pudding:

Wow! I just can’t wait to make some homemade Rice Pudding from my favorite Rice Pudding recipe. One small problem — I don’t have a favorite rice pudding recipe. However, since it is National Rice Pudding Day. I will go out of my way to give Cole a taste of this treat, which claims to combine the delicious, smooth texture of pudding with the crunchiness of rice. Enjoy some Rice Pudding today in honor of National Rice Pudding Day!

★~ National Book Loves Day:

Readers rejoice! Today is National Book Lovers Day. This is an easy holiday to celebrate — just grab a book and spend some quality time together. It can be a trashy penny dreadful or a classic. Read for enjoyment, read for pleasure, or read for knowledge. If you are reading a book, or have read a book recently, that you have enjoyed, leave a comment on Odd so we can all check it out.

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1944 – Smokey Bear, an advertising character by the U.S. Forest Service and the Wartime Advertising Council, made his debut on a poster promoting forest-fire prevention. Remember, “Only you can prevent forest fires.”

♥~ 1975 – New Orleans, Louisiana was full of celebration — and it wasn’t even Mardi Gras time. The Superdome was opened as the hometown Saints met the Houston Oilers in anexhibition football game. The Oilers won handily, 31-7, in what was described as “a very lackluster” game. There is nothing lackluster about the Superdome though. The Superdome cost $163 million to construct .

♥~ 1991- During a barnyard scene in Indiana, director Penny Marshall temporarily halted filming the movie A League of Their Own when a cow went into labor.

♥~ 1999 – 14-year-old Ryan Tripp of Beaver, Utah, finished mowing the lawn at the Hawaii state Capitol and announced his retirement. He had mowed the lawns at all 50 state capitols, except Alaska where the capitol had no lawn, so he mowed at the governor’s house.

♥ ~ 2005 – NY radio station WQHT Hot 97 was fined a whopping $240,000 (£134,480) for running an on-air contest where young women were encouraged to slap each other silly to win cash and other prizes. The money went to a domestic awareness charity.

★~Born Today:

♥ – Teresa Newell- Facebook friend extraordinary. Moving into the “What Next” phase of her life with grace and honesty, loves her bug, cheeto’s, ice cream sandwiches, and gum. Enjoy’s a night out with the girls and a date night with the hubby; believes mean people suck, and is author of “I was the little Christmas ornament that wasn’t.”  Happy Birthday TCN.

♥~ 1593 – Isaac (Isaak) Walton author: The Compleat Angler; died Dec 15, 1683; A long, long time ago — several centuries, to be exact — Isaac Walton (often spelled Isaak Walton) was born in Stafford, England. It was 1593 and his parents had no idea that they were going to raise a fishing expert, and a knighted one, at that.

When Isaac was growing up he spent a lot of time studying the art of fishing. By the time he was seventy years old, he had written the masterwork on angling, titled, The Compleat Angler. Sir Isaac Walton was pretty clear about the fact that no matter how many years you’ve spent fishing, you’ll never quite get it right, even if you read his book. He said, “Angling may be said to be so like the mathematics, that it can never be fully learned.” Gone fishing.

♥~ 1944 – Sam Elliott actor: Gettysburg, Lonesome Dove, Mask, Tombstone, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, TVs Mission Impossible

♥~ 1957 – Melanie Griffith actress: Working Girl, Night Moves, Smile, A Stranger Among Us, Born Yesterday, Mulholland Falls, Lolita [1997], Crazy in Alabama; actress Tippi Hedren’s daughter

★~ Did You Know: 

♥~  It’s time for me to throw down another mind-blowing, universe-alternating fact. Polka music is not German. Not even Bavarian. It originates from the Kingdom of Bohemia.

♥~  Bohemia is the original name for what is now the Czech Republic. The lively dance music originated there around 1850. For the time it was a pretty serious dance craze that swept across the globe. The polka influenced musical cultures from Poland to Peru and gave birth to many new hybrid genres still alive today.

♥~ As the polka craze was conquering the hearts and toes of the people, many merchants were jumping on board selling “polka hats” and “polka curtain ties”. The new fabric design got dubbed “polka dots” and the name has stuck .

♥~ The word polka seems to come from the Czech word půlka, meaning “little half”. That accurately describes the baby steps that are the signature of the polka dance.

★~ Odd to Know:

♥~ For those of you playing “food of the day” with us, here are the foods we will celebrate for the rest of the week. Odd’s week runs Tuesday to Monday.

♥~ August 9th (Tuesday): Rice Pudding

♥~ August 10th: (Wednesday): S’more

♥~ August 11th; (Thursday): Raspberry Tart

♥~ August 12th: (Friday) Juiliene Fries

♥~ August 13th:  (Saturday) Filet Mignon

♥~ August 14th: (Sunday) Creamsicle

♥~ August 15th: (Monday) Lemon Meringue Pie

♥~ Send a picture celebrating the food of the day and we will enter you in our August Odd Food-For-A-Day contest.

♥~ At the end of the month we will randomly pick one picture and the lucky winner will win a tasty treat homemade by Emily who is a proud sponsor and participant of Odd’s Food-Of-The-Day For-Year.

♥~ The winning picture will be picked by an Odd off-spring. In the event there is only one entry then that person will win.

♥~ Pictures can be e-mailed to Katybeth@myoddfamily.com

#

So do share what books have you read recently? I find it Odd that I have never met a person who doesn’t, like to read. I have met people who have excuses for not reading but I have never met anyone who said straight up “I can read just fine but I have never enjoyed reading.”  Of-course it they did speak up, we would all share the book we were certain would change their mind about reading. It is almost unacceptable for someone who does not have a reading issue to declare they don’t enjoy reading. I wonder why?

Have a terrific Tuesday. I will be back to muse about fried Zucchini a little later today. If you have a morno moment leave a comment – Odd Loves Company.


22 thoughts on “August 9, 2011: Polka Day, Rice Pudding Day, Books Lovers Day

  1. Happy Birthday Teresa. I don’t know you but I don’t like mean people either and you seem like a lovely person.

    Hope your day Polka’s right along…or something like that!

  2. I like polka dots! That Trip kid is something. Wondering what he is doing now?

    Happy Birthday Teresa! I agree with Geri you seem like a very nice person. 😀

  3. First time leaving a comment but your El Morno is so much fun. I leave for the office full of fascinating tidbits.

    I just finished reading The Help…hasn’t everyone?

    Happy Birthday Teresa. Mean people do suck!

  4. I read along with all my students for their summer reading. I just finished SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson. It was great and I would highly recommend all parents read it with their teen daughters, especially. Now, I am reading the Jaycee Lee Dugard book A Stolen Life. It is heart wrenching and a great read too.

  5. I love that rice pudding in the dairy case at the supermarket.

    Have you read A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel? It’s old and out in paperback years ago, but it is laugh-out-loud funny.

  6. I LOVE to polka. It is such a lively dance and the music just makes you want to jump around like a fool. I have 2 pairs of polka dot shoes.(Red and Navy Blue) and get a lot of compliments on them too. They are wedgies. As for reading…the most enjoyable books I have read are James Herriots books about his England Veternarian practice and his adventures with those farmers and his brother Siegfred. The first one was “All creatures great and Small. I still dig them out every once in a while for a laugh or two.

  7. Pingback: Proud of my Rice Pudding!

  8. Pingback: August 09, 2012: Book Lovers Day, Polka Day, Rice Pudding Day, Olympic Gold

Comments are closed.