~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
August 24, 2011

★~ Today’s Quote: “Training is everything. The peach was once a bitter almond; cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education.” ~ Mark Twain

★~ Vesuvius Day: 

The residents of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae lived in the shadow of Mt. Vesuvius, overlooking the Bay of Naples, Italy and never been given a reason to fear the mountain slopes they farmed. However, around noon, on August 24, 009, without any warning, Mt. Vesuvius exploded. Vesuvius, the volcano, erupted, spewing stones and lava, burying Pompeii under 13 feet of ash, and covering Herculaneum and Stabiae with mud and debris.

Today Mt. Vesuvius, the peaceful, beautiful mountain, but is still considered an active volcano.

★~Weather Cliché Day:

In 1897 Editor Charles Dudley Warner of the Hartford Courant published the sentence, “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.”  Many incorrectly attribute the quotation to Warner’s close friend, Mark Twain.What weather clichés can you think of?

★~ Peach Pie Day:

Peach pie is the quintessential American dessert in the Southern states. In countless surveys, it has been chosen as the favorite dessert in the South. It has also been recognized as a favorite dessert in Canada for hundreds of years.Peach pie was invented sometime around the 14th century in Europe. Though it is unknown who actually created the first peach pie, the first printed peach pie recipe was by Geoffrey Chaucer in 1381, in England.

During the 19th century, many homes in the state of Georgia served peach pie and other types of fruit pie for breakfast, because it was considered a good, hearty meal to begin a hard day’s work.

To celebrate National Peach Pie Day, bake a delicious pie or pick one up at your local bakery to share with your family!

Or you could make waffles and cover them with peaches—aren’t we lucky to be able to celebrate both waffles and peach pie on the same day? Truthfully, it makes me a little crazy when this happens, but I’m trying to keep the right attitude.

★~  National Waffle Iron Day: 

Cornelius Swarthout of Troy, New York received a patent for the waffle iron, a “device to bake waffles.” He didn’t waffle about putting his invention to good use. It quickly became a popular appliance. You would heat up the waffle iron on the old coal stove – and later, the gas range – pour the batter on the griddle, close the cover and after a few minutes, flip the griddle in its little groove, and cook the other side of the waffle. Not quite as convenient as our electric waffle irons, but, you can be sure, if it’s Swarthout!

Did you know that the first waffles ever cooked were in Ancient Greece? It’s true! The Greeks would cook flat cakes called “obelios” between two metal pans over a fire.

These fluffy delights can be topped with butter and maple syrup, peaches and whipped cream, or even a big scoop of ice cream—the choice is yours!

Traditionally, waffles are served at breakfast. However, there are so many ways to enjoy them that you could eat waffles at any time of day. Chicken and waffles, and corn waffles are just two examples of many savory varieties. Hit your local diner or heat up your waffle iron today to enjoy National Waffle Day!

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1940 – Australian-born British pathologist Howard Florey and German-born British biochemist Ernst Chain announced in The Lancet (the prestigious London medical journal) that they had developed penicillin for general clinical use as an antibiotic

♥~ 1944- La Tomatina: It all started in 1944 and has be going strong ever since: The world’s largest tomato fight takes place at noon in Bunol, Spain, near Valencia when around  35,000 people will  show up to  hurl 120 tons of tomatoes at each other for two hours in the ‘World’s Biggest Food Fight.‘   The festival is in honor of the town’s patron saints, Luis Bertran and the Mare de Deu dels Desemparats (Mother of God of the Defenseless), a title of the Virgin Mary.

♥~ 1985 – Huey Lewis and The News reached the top. The Power of Love was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks.

♥~ 2001 – Tom Green, a Mormon fundamentalist with five wives and 30 children, was sentenced by a court in Provo, Utah, to five years in prison. It was the state’s biggest polygamy case in nearly half a century.

♥~ 2006 – Sorry Pluto, Astronomers meeting in Prague declared that Pluto was no longer a planet. The decision was made under revised guidelines that downsized the solar system from nine planets to eight.

♥~ 2009~ The: International Day Against Intolerance, Discrimination and Violence Based on Musical Preferences, Lifestyle and Dress Code was founded.

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1934 Kenny Baker, Actor: R2D2 in “Star Wars”

♥~ 1949 – Joe Regalbuto actor: Murphy Brown, Knots Landing, Writer’s Block, The Queen of Mean, Invitation to Hell, Lassiter

♥~ 1965 – Marlee Matlin Academy Award-winning actress: Children of a Lesser God [1986]; Hear No Evil, Bridge to Silence, Reasonable Doubts

★~ Did You Know: 

♥~ The term “volcano” is from the Latin Volcanus or Vulcan, the Roman god of fire. The Romans first used the term to describe Mt. Etna, a volcanic mountain they believed was the forge of Vulcan.

♥~ The ancient Greeks thought that the god of Fire, Hephaestus, lived beneath Mt. Etna. The Titan god Prometheus is said to have stolen fire from Hephaestus’s volcano to give to humans

♥~ During the past 400 years, nearly a quarter of a million people have been killed as a direct result of volcanic eruptions. Indirect aftereffects such as famine, climate change, and disease most likely have tripled that number.

♥~ A species of bird called a maleo uses heat given out by warm volcanic sand to incubate its large eggs. When the chicks hatch, they burrow their way to the surface of the sand

♥~ The most dangerous volcano today is Popocatépetl, nicknamed El Popo, which is just 33 miles from Mexico City. El Popo is still active, sending thousands of tons of gas and ash into the air each year.

♥~ There are no active volcanoes in Australia because it sits in the middle of a tectonic plate.

♥~ Pele is the Hawaiian goddess of fire and volcanoes and was thought to live in the crater of the Kilauea volcano on Hawaii. She is said to have a terrible temper and will throw lava at anyone who angers her.

♥~ Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming sits on the site of an ancient supervoclano. It erupted around 2 million years ago, 1.3 million years ago, and 640,000 years ago. If it follows the same pattern, another eruption is due any time now.c

★~ Today’s Weather Cliches: 

Q: Mr. Arbuthnot, you are an expert in the field of weather cliches, are you not?

A: You’re as right as rain, if I may coin phrase.

Q: Please do, Mr. A.

A: However, if I might offer a slight correction, I’m not just an “expert.”

Q: Um, you aren’t?

A: No indeed. I’m a renowned expert.

Q: Of course, please forgive me. Now, I was under the impression that you specialized in winter weather cliches, such as never saying it was going to be cold, when you could, for example, say “temperatures will plummet,” isn’t that correct?

A: Not at all, I’m adept at multitasking. You might even say I’m multitalented at multi

Q: Thank you, Mr. A. Let’s move on. So, it will be hot this summer, yes?

A: Oh, no!

Q: No?

A: It may become “steamy,” “sultry” and even “stifling,” but never “hot.”

Q: I see. And, I hesitate to ask, but what will temperatures do?

A: They will soar, of course.

Q: And what else will they do?

A: They will set records.

Q: Which will put us in the middle of what?

A: A record-breaking heat wave.

Q: What will the average person do in the midst of such a phenomenon?

A: They will swelter, of course. Hence the phrase “sweltering temperatures.” They will also roast, broil, fry and steam. They may also sweat it out, but not in polite company.

Q: And what will these well-done people seek in reaction to this record-setting heat?

A: Relief, of course.

Q: How so?

A: By flocking.

Q: Flocking?

A: En masse. To the beach, to the lakeside or to neighborhood pools.

Q: And what will be the state of the roads on the way to these places?

A: They will be jammed, moving at a crawl and populated by exasperated motorists.

Q: For those of us who can’t escape, will there be tips?

A: Oh, indeed. On beating the heat and keeping your cool. Usually involving not, you know, going outside.

Q: I see. And what effect will this weather have on utilities?

A: They will be strained, overloaded and working to capacity.

Q: And will we see power failures?

A: Oh, scattered outages, perhaps, or possibly rolling blackouts.

Q: Mr. Arbuthnot, what will this heat wave finally do?

A: It will break, thanks to pop-up thunderstorms and scattered thundershowers.

Q: Thank you, Mr. A. It’s been very instructive. But do you have any final words for our audience?

A: Certainly. I’m reminded of something my father once told me: “It’s not the heat. It’s the humidity.”

Q: Really?

A: No, but let me end by asking you a question: Hot enough for ya?

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I must El Morno and run but I will be back later to muse about a little of this and a little of that. If you have a Morno I hope you will leave a comment because Odd Loves Company!