~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~

May 29

 

Today’s Quote: I have seen what a laugh can do. It can transform almost unbearable tears into something bearable, even hopeful.”  Bob Hope

It’s a slow, odd holiday weekend, but I’m not a quitter, so I did come up with something for us to celebrate.

★~ End of Medieval Time:

Today the Middle Ages ended and the Renaissance began. On May 29, 1453, the Ottomans conquered Constantinople and thus began a revival of classic Greek scholarship and art that would come to be known as the Renaissance. Naturally it took a little time for the news to spread because they did not have Facebook, Twitter, and texting to spread the news that the Middle Ages was “like so totally over” and it was time for the groovy Renaissance man to “get on down.”

★~ Coq Au Vin is the dish of the day:

I was curious as to what Coq Au Vin was, so I paid a visit to my good friend Wiki: It means “rooster in wine.” Okay. Step back from the rooster. Let’s use chicken instead, Okay?  Better yet, just cook up a turkey leg and eat it with your hands — Renaissance style — because coq au vin is impossible to make. Okay, maybe not if you are my brother-in-law, the gourmand, or if you love the challenge of cooking an especially difficult dish over a three-day holiday weekend (trust me; it is going to take all of Monday to clean up the pots and pans). I will link you to Julia Childs’s recipe, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. For the rest of you, stick to the turkey leg, or if you want something a little more upscale and classy, what about Renaissance of Tuna Casserole! The recipe is courtesy of Rachael Ray and is made with Italian tuna. Yum!

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1858 – This one is really tough to nail down an absolute timeline on, but the story goes that Milton Hay of Springfield, Illinois heard Abraham Lincoln utter offhand a rule or maxim in politics. Hay later passed it on to Joseph Fifer of Bloomington, Illinois who found it so simple, so nicely singsong, that he couldn’t forget it: “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time

♥~ 1900 – The trademark ‘Escalator’ was registered by Charles D. Seeberger. ‘Escalator’ became the sole property of the Otis Elevator Co. in 1910 when the company purchased the trademark and Seeberger’s patents.

♥~ 1912 – The Ladies Home Journal fired 15 women employees for doing the “Turkey Trot” during their lunch hour. It had been denounced by the Vatican, it was thought that the positions assumed by the dancers was offensively suggestive. Conservative members of society felt the dance was demoralizing and tried to get it banned at public functions, which only served to increase its popularity.

♥~ 1919: Charles Strite patented the pop-up toaster.

♥~ 1943 – Norman Rockwell’s portrait of Rosie the Riveter, symbolizing American women employed as industrial workers during the war, appeared on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post.

♥~ 1971– The Rolling Stones’ single “Brown Sugar” hit #1 in the U.S.

★~ Born Today:

♥~ 1903 – Bob Hope (Leslie Townes Hope) comedian, entertainer, actor; The consummate entertainer, Bob Hope appeared in a multitude of films. Millions caught his act on nightclub stages, and countless TV specials, including 17 years as host of The Academy Awards. Yet he was still best known for his USO tours and entertaining of troops overseas and on the front lines during World War II, the Korean War, the Viet Nam War and during Desert Storm in the early 1990s. How could one human being have done so much, always seeming to have one more hour to give to entertain the world? Hope, who died July 27, 2003 at age 100, said it best in one of his quips, “If I could live my life over, I wouldn’t have time!”

♥~ 1917 – John Fitzgerald Kennedy 35th U.S. President [1961-1963];  assassinated Nov 22, 1963

♥~ 1942 – Kevin Conway actor: Prince Brat and the Whipping Boy, The Quick and the Dead, Gettysburg, One Good Cop, Home Boy, Rage of Angels, Paradise Alley, Johnny We Hardly Knew Ye, Other People’s Money, Of Mice and Men, When You Comin’ Back – Red Ryder?

♥~ 1958 – Annette Bening actress: Richard III, The American President, Love Affair, Bugsy, Postcards from the Edge, The Grifters, Valmont, The Great Outdoors, Mars Attacks!, American Beauty

♥~ 1961 – Melissa Etheridge Grammy Award-winning singer: Come to My Window [1994], Ain’t It Heavy [1992]

★~ Did You Know: Today is the Indianapolis 500. This years marks it’s 100 anniversary.

♥~ Ray Harroun, who started the first Indy 500 in 1911 from 28th position, won and never raced in another. It took Ray 6 hours and 42 minutes to complete the 500 miles!

♥~ Churchill Downs, Yankee Stadium, the Rose Bowl, the Roman Colosseum and Vatican City all can fit inside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval, which covers 253 acres.

♥~ If the speedway itself were a city, on race day, its population would rank as the 45th largest city nationwide. Over 400,000 individuals are estimated to attend the Indianapolis 500 race on race day.

♥~ The track was once paved with 3.2 million bricks giving it the name the “Brickyard.”  The original bricks still lay at the Start / Finish line

♥~ Indy cars accelerate from 0 mph to 100 mph in 4 seconds

♥~ Youngest winner or the race was : Troy Ruttman, 1952,  22 years, 80 days.  Al Unser, 1987 was the oldest winner:  47 years, 360 days

 

★~ Today’s Silly:

A man is trying to cross the street. But when he steps off the curb a car comes screaming around the corner and heads straight for him. The man walks faster, trying to hurry across the street, but the car changes lanes and is still coming at him. So the guy turns around to go back, but the car changes lanes again and is still coming at him. By now, the car is so close and the man so scared that he just stops in the middle of the road. The car gets real close, then swerves at the last possible moment and stops next to the man. The driver rolls down the window. It’s a squirrel. He says, “See, it’s not as easy as it looks

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Not sure what today will bring for me. It’s a tail-wagging day at camp-run-a-pup so with some luck and some sunshine, maybe I will have some camp pictures to share a little later today.

I am also very hungry for a Chicago hot dog.

Joe always made hotdogs for lunch on a Saturday or Sunday, and I still miss weekend hotdogs. It took him longer to get our hotdogs “just right” than it might take my brother-in-law to fix coq au vin, but they were a perfect combination of everything that makes a Chicago hot dog perfect.  When I fix my own, I just squeeze some catsup, mustard, and relish on it, and sprinkle it with a little celery salt . . . but I toast the bun because I’m pretty sure lightening will strike me if I don’t, and I am already pushing my luck with the catsup.

So what are your plans for the day? A little of this and a little of that? If you have a spare minute drop me a comment because Odd loves company!

♥
Kb