~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
July 14, 2011

Posted Updated: July 14, 2012

★~ Today ‘s Quote:  Not all the Greek runners in the original Olympics were totally naked. Some wore shoes. – Mark Twain

★~ Pandemonium Day: 

At my house, our days are filled with berserk, bedlam, chaos, and unexpected things. We are fond of saying our world is seldom, if ever, boring. We usually don’t let it shake us up and try to go with the flow in a calm, cool manner. Sanity returns eventually. My mother’s discerning friend says, when pandemonium arrives, “I think it is time for a cup of coffee.” My mom says, “It has to be five o’clock somewhere,” and I grab a little cold bottle of Coke to steady my nerves. Celebrate Pandemonium by enjoying a little of the wild and crazy life. For some of you, that might be not putting your napkin in your lap at breakfast, and for others, it might mean unloading the dishwasher in an apron with nothing on underneath….

★~ National Nude Day:

Joe used to walk into the bedroom after a shower, drop his towel, bend his knee while lifting one leg, put his arm up and out, and lift up his chin and announce…I am fountain. Cole will demonstrate fully clothed.

Did I ever pose like a fountain? Now that would be way too much information! Go ahead! Why not! Celebrate Nude day by doing a little naked happy dance, or prancing around in your birthday suit.

★~ Macaroni Day:

Macaroni is one of America’s favorite comfort foods; macaroni and cheese is one of the most popular meals in the United States. In 1802, President Thomas Jefferson introduced it to the White House and ever since, it has been a hit with American families. In 1937, Kraft Foods decided to add it to grocery store shelves to help the American mom prepare meals for her family. Macaroni tastes great, is easy to make, and if your kids are bored, they can pour out a bowl of uncooked Macaroni and make beautiful necklaces!

★~ National Grand Marnier Day: 

July 14 is Bastille Day, a national holiday in France, and it is also National Grand Marnier Day, a celebration in honor of the French liqueur. Grand Marnier: This grand dame of liqueurs is the creation of the Lapostolle family who, in 1827, founded a distillery to produce liqueurs in the chateau country of France. By 1870, the firm was experimenting with different blends of cognac-based liqueurs. Louis-Alexandre Marnier hit on the notion of combining the peels of bitter Haitian oranges with Fine Champagne cognac. After a decade in development, Grand Marnier was introduced to the world in 1880. The liqueur has the captivating color of cognac with radiant yellow and gold highlights. Its lightweight body has the texture of satin and the generous citrus bouquet is laced with the aroma of brandy. The palate is an elegant array of sweet and sour orange flavors, followed closely by a lingering cognac finish.

Most often, it is consumed as a digestif at the end of a filling meal, but it also used in mixed cocktails and baked desserts.  The French dessert called Crêpes Suzette is actually ” Crêpes au Grand Marnier,” and is flambéed in Grand Marnier.

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1789 – This was the day the French Revolution began — at the fall of the Bastille. It is still celebrated in many countries throughout the world and is a public holiday in France; generally called Bastille Day or Fete National. It is considered the day freedom was born in France.

♥~ 1962 – Bobby Vinton’s Roses are Red became the top song in the U.S. The song stayed at the top for four weeks and was the first of four #1 hits for Vinton. The others were: Blue Velvet, There! I’ve Said It Again and Mr. Lonely. Roses are Red was also Vinton’s first million-seller. He had two others: I Love How You Love Me (which made it to #9 in 1968) and My Melody of Love (which hit #3 in 1974.)

♥~ 1972 – The temperature rose to 128 degrees in Death Valley, Calfornia. What was the highest temperature ever in Death Valley? 134 degrees on July 10, 1913.

♥~ 2010 – Violet (78) and Allen Large (75), who lived in a modest home in Lower Turo, Nova Scotia, Canada, scooped the Lotto 649 jackpot winning .2 million. In the months that followed, they gave most of their winnings away to charity.

★~ Born Today:

♥ ~ 1918 – Ingmar Bergman Academy Award-winning director: Through a Glass Darkly [1961]; The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, Cries and Whispers, Fanny and Alexander; died July 30, 2007

♥~ 1960- Actress Jane Lynch (“Glee”)

♥~ 1966 – Matthew Fox actor: Lost, A Token for Your Thoughts, Behind the Mask, If I Die Before I Wake, My Boyfriend’s Back, We Are Marshall

★~ Did You Know:  

♥~ Today is Bastille Day, France’s big annual holiday which marks the start of the Revolution, or at least its symbolic start.

♥~ The medieval fortress  Bastille was stormed on this day 220 years ago by a crowd of around 8,000 men and women. But their aim wasn’t to free the prisoners. They were after the gunpowder and arms stored inside. Unlocking the cell doors was very much an afterthought.

♥~ The people who stormed the Bastille were very short by today’s standards – on average about five feet high. Even smaller than President Sarkozy. As economist Robert Fogel put it: “They didn’t look like Errol Flynn and Alan Hale. They looked like 13-year-old girls.”

♥~ The Bastille wasn’t a huge prison. It could only hold a little over 50 prisoners, and only seven petty criminals were there at the time.

♥~ The Bastille wasn’t the worst prison in France either. Not (excuse the pun) by a long shot. In fact, it often held aristocrats and other people with powerful friends, and some of these inmates actually liked it there. Famous memoirist Madame de Staal found it a welcome relief from her servitude to the demanding Duchess of Maine, and managed to carry on a passionate love affair while a prisoner there.

♥~ Bernard René Jourdan, Marquis de Launay (1740-89), the last governor of the Bastille, was himself the son of a governor and was born there. He surrendered to the mob under a flag of truce, but in the ensuing chaos the crowd swept him away to the Hotel de Ville, where he was killed and his head paraded on a pike.

♥~ A professional demolition team tore down Bastille and by November 1789 most of the structure was gone. Many of its stones then ended up in the construction of the Pont de la Concorde.

♥~ While the national holiday may be commonly known in English as Bastille Day, in France its official title is la Fête Nationale.

★~ Today’s Giggle: 

If you are to shy to participate in “Nude Day” perhaps you can just sing along with Baloo about the “Bare” necessities of life!  However if you sing along in your birthday suit while creating pandemonium and sipping a snifter of Grand Marnier–you will get extra credit.

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I mused about yesterday’s food of the day,  beans-n-franks here…and I saved a piece of cake for you!  Here is a fun post about Life in the Buff. People in nudist colonies play volleyball more than any other sport…good to know right?

What is thrilling you on this terrific Thursday? Leave a comment if you have a morno moment! Odd Loves Company!

♥