★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
May 16, 2013

★~ Today’s Quote:  “But, luckily, he kept his wits and his Purple crayon.” –from Harold and the Purple Crayon (1955)

★~ Love a Tree Day:

A few suggestions on how to love a tree…..

~ Release your inner “tree hugger” – Just get out there and wrap your arms around your favorite old arboreal pal.

~ Give your tree a long, cool drink – In the garden setting, trees are the tall silent type. They are not usually crying for attention the way those bratty flowers and shrubs do. Think of them as nature’s middle child. But, trees have needs too, and one of the main ones is for more water. Watering a tree means soaking the root system. It takes time and patience but the result is a regular root soaking will make a world of difference to a tree’s long-term health.

~ Provide some wildlife-friendly ornamentation – Even if trees are fairly stoic they can be a tad vain. Every tree enjoys a little nature-appropriate ornamentation. Perhaps a good bird feeder or bird house.

★~ Sea-Monkey Day:

Sea-monkeys, are a variety of the brine shrimp. They’ve been marketed as pets since 1960, when scientist Harold von Braunhut observed their eggs have a long shelf life out of water, and, once hatched, they’re pretty easy to care for.

After re-naming them “Instant Life,” von Braunhut started selling packets of sea-monkey eggs as pets for 49 cents. Since then sea-monkey kits have been sold from the back pages of comic books, in toy stores and, of course, on the Web. Today’s sea-monkeys come with a two-year guarantee and are sold in 12 countries worldwide. (Some of you wondered the last time we celebrated sea monkey day if you could still purchase them…yes)

If you are interested in purchasing Sea Monkeys enlist the help of Susan Barclay, a Canadian woman who likes to be called “The Sea-Monkey Lady.” Susan is know for running the best sea-monkey site on the Web, seamonkeyworship.com. 

★~ Purple for Peace Day: 

Purple for Peace Day is celebrated as a way to welcome aliens to earth. Apparently, aliens like the color purple. Think of it as a Pep day for Aliens. Put on your purple, grab your pom pom’s and cheer….(thank you Cousin Carla for the cheer)

Give me a U
Give me an F
Give me an O

What do we want?
Aliens
How do we want them?
IN P E A C E
Come on Down Aliens!

★~Coquilles St. Jacques Day

At one time scallops were enjoyed in the same manner as baked clams. The mollusk was diced and mixed with bread crumbs, sauce and baked in its original shell. Printed recipes for Coquilles Saint-Jacques, or scallops smothered in a creamy wine and mushroom sauce, date back to French cookbooks of the early 1900s. The mixture is cooked in the shell of the scallop and is named after Saint Jacques.

According to legend, Saint Jacques saved the life of a drowning knight. The knight emerged from the sea covered with scallops shells. Scallops were named ‘Coquilles St. Jacques’ in St. James honor, as was the dish.”

This sounds really good, and I have the appropriate shells to make it with, but ya know I think I’ll just order this dish from a menu. For those of you who enjoy cooking this recipe looks good, is rated five stars, and shares more about what makes  Coquilles St. Jacques special! Coquilles St-Jacques (Gratinéed Scallops)

★~ Today in History: 

♥~ 1960 – On the cover of LIFE magazine: the wedding of England’s Princess Margaret.

♥~ 1975 – Junko Tabei (born Sept. 22, 1939) led and all-woman expedition to Mount Everest. On May 16, 1975, she was the first woman ever to reach the summit via the South-East Ridge route according to Everest News. But the climber didn’t stop with Mount Everest. Tabei’s name is also on the short list of climbers who have climbed the summits of the highest peaks on all seven continents.

♥~ 1981 – Bette Davis Eyes, by Kim Carnes, climbed to the top spot of the pop music chart and stayed there for five straight weeks, took a week off (replaced by Stars on 45 Medley by Stars on 45) and came back to number one for four more weeks! It

♥~ 2002 – Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones opened in the U.S.

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1912 – Studs (Louis) Terkel writer: “Chicago is not the most corrupt American city. It’s the most theatrically corrupt.”   Studs Terkel worked as a young man living in Chicago and went on to host TV and radio programs interviewing writers and celebrities but at heart Studs was a story teller. In the 1960’s Studs began interviewing ordinary people about different subjects and published  a series of books that included:Working (1974), “The Good War”: An Oral History of World War II (1984), RACE: How Blacks and Whites Think and Feel about the American Obsession (1991), and Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Reflections on Death, Rebirth, and Hunger for a Faith (2001). Hope Dies Last (2003)

♥~1921 – Harry Carey Jr. actor: Comanche Stallion, Last Stand at Saber River, Tombstone, The Exorcist III, Back to the Future Part III

♥~ 1955 – (Mary) Debra Winger actress: Forget Paris, Shadowlands, A Dangerous Woman, Leap of Faith, Legal Eagles, Terms of Endearment, An Officer and a Gentleman, Urban Cowboy, French Postcards, Slumber Party ’57, Wonder Woman

♥~ 1966 – Janet Jackson singer: Again, Control, Miss You Much, That’s the Way Love Goes, What Have You Done for Me Lately; LPs: Janet Jackson, Dream Street, Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814, janet, Design of a Decade, The Velvet Rope [has sold some 40-million albums worldwide]; actress: Good Times, Fame, Diff’rent Strokes; Michael’s sister

♥~ 1973 – Tori Spelling actress: Beverly Hills, 90210, Co-ed Call Girl, Scream 2, Perpetrators of the Crime, Scary Movie 2.

★~ Good to Know: The color purple…..

 ♥~ Purple was the color of the first dye made by man. It was called “Mauveine” and was made out of coal tar. The recipe was discovered by William Henry Perkin in 1856.

♥~ In Thailand, purple is worn by a widow mourning her husband’s death.

♥~ In Japan the color purple signifies wealth and position.

♥~ Purple denotes virtue and faith in Egypt.

♥~ In Tibet, amethyst is considered to be sacred to Buddha and rosaries are often fashioned from it.

♥~ A “purple heart” is a U.S. military decoration for soldiers wounded or killed in battle.

♥~ Purple represents the planet Jupiter.

♥~ February is the month associated with the color purple. The birthstone for those born is February is Amethyst.

♥~ In 1999, formal moral majority spokesman Reverend Jerry Farwell, came out publicly against the children’s show Teletubbies. He believed that it’s character “Tinky-Winky” was gay– stating that he was purple- the color of gay pride and that his antennae was triangle shaped- the symbol of gay pride.

♥~ In stained glass the color purple or violet are seen as the uniting of the “wisdom” of blue and the “love” of red and symbolizes justice and of royalty.

♥~ Leonardo da Vinci believed that the power of meditation increased ten times when done in a purple light, as in the purple light of stained glass.

♥~ Purple Prose: an elaborately written poem or paragraph in literature.

♥~ Julius and Augustus Caesar, Emperors of Rome, both decreed that only the Emperor could wear purple. When Nero became Emperor, the wearing of purple and even the sale of purple was punishable by death! By the time of Alexander Severus, who was Emperor in Rome from 222 to 235 AD, all the workers who made Imperial Purple worked for the Emperor. Later, magistrates were allowed to wear togas decorated with purple ribbons.

 #

Blue is consider the top “favorite color,” with purple being a distant second. While being mundane and obvious is rather dull, I must be ask…. What is your favorite color?

Odd Loves Company!