~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
December 7th

~★- Today’s Quote: “A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals.” ~ Larry Bird

~★- International Civil Aviation Day:

A friend just offered this tip if you are traveling this holiday season: Be sure not to have gold studs in the pockets of your hip jeans; they set off the security alarms, and the TSA gives you a free fanny pat. Just thought you should know. Air travel can be the bane of our very existence, but let’s face it—most times it beats the alternative: days in the car, a slow boat to Europe, and passing on all those long weekends in the Bahamas sitting by the beach and sipping on drinks with little umbrellas in them. So over the holidays, when you’re crammed in the middle of seat of a 737 that’s been circling for three hours, remember: Flying is awesome!

~★~ Letter Writing Day:

I come from a long line of letter writers. My mom and her siblings wrote letters to one another the whole time I was growing up. Even my grandfather was a letter writer. When we went through my great aunt’s house after she died, there were boxes of letters she had saved that had been sent to her by my mom, her siblings, and my grandparents through the years. I read many of them, of course. My uncle cursed the postage stamp for going from three cents to five cents and putting him in the poorhouse, and my mom shared what a treasure I was from my first breath. (Did she know my aunt would save these letters?)

My mother’s younger brother was the only family member who did not write letters, and this was discussed at length. Every time someone mentioned his name at any family gathering, someone else was bound to say, “Well, you know he just won’t write a letter.” Growing up, I remember my mom saying to me, “I owe everyone a letter, so that is what I will be doing this morning”—and then she used to glare at me when I shook the table.

I preferred the phone to the pen, and when the digital age hit I could not have been happier—email, text messaging, and instant communication! I don’t plan on taking pen to paper—times change—but I did save for Cole some of letters sent by family members to my aunt, and I keep a folder of e-mails that are special to me, which I hope Cole finds and reads someday.

Celebrate Letter Writing Day, by reaching out and writing someone today. 🙂

Cotton Candy Day:

Cotton candy is FUN! (I just love fun, don’t you?)

The other day, Cole was driving when I spotted the cotton candy man. He was holding a board filled with pink and blue cotton candy. I squealed, “Cotton candy!” and immediately told Cole to pull over. Changing lanes and navigating traffic, he grumbled, telling me that he was sure I was going to be very difficult in my old age. (Don’t you just hate kids?) I bought a bag of pink cotton candy and savored every bite and even shared a little with Cole, who declined his own bag.

I rented a cotton candy machine for one of Cole’s parties and it was so much fun. I highly recommend it. Those of you that have a sugar-on-the-floor phobia will just have to trust me, when you learn how to spin colored sugar into cotton candy, sugar-coated floors won’t matter.

Celebrate Cotton Candy Day by treating yourself to some. If you can’t find the cotton candy man (fresh cotton candy is best), you may be able to pick up some at your local grocery store or the dollar store.

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1925 – Swimmer Johnny Weissmuller set a world record in the 150-yard freestyle with a time of 1 minute, 25 and 2/5 seconds — in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Johnny went on to fame swinging from vines as ‘King of the Jungle’, Tarzan, in movies.

♥~ 1941- Pearl Harbor Day.  “A date that will live in infamy,” nearly 200 Japanese aircraft attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, long considered the US “Gibraltar of the Pacific.” The raid, which lasted little more than one hour, left nearly 3,000 dead. Nearly the entire US Pacific Fleet was at anchor there and few ships escaped damage. Several were sunk or disabled, while 200 US aircraft on the ground were destroyed. The attack on Pearl Harbor forced the United States into WWII, a declaration of war being requested by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and approved by the Congress Dec 8, 1941.

♥~ 1968 –  History’s most overdue library book, Dr. J. Currie’s Febrile Diseases, was returned to the University of Cincinnati Medical Library. It had been checked out 145 years earlier by Mr. M. Dodd and was returned by his great-grandson, Richard Dodd. The fine, estimated at $2,264, was waived.

♥~ 1973 – Dr. Ronald Alkana of the University of California at Irvine set the world banana eating record by downing 17 4.5-ounce bananas in two minutes.

♥~ 1998 – Officials of Madame Toussaud’s traveling wax museum in Sydney, Australia, finally sewed the zipper up on U.S. President Bill Clinton’s pants because visitors kept unzipping it.

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1932 – Ellen Burstyn (Edna Rae Gilhooley) Academy Award-winning actress: Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore [1974]; The Color of Evening, When a Man Loves a Woman, The Cemetery Club, Same Time Next Year, Harry and Tonto, The Exorcist, The Last Picture Show, The Ellen Burstyn Show, The Doctors

♥~ 1948 – Gary Morris singer: The Wind Beneath My Wings, Baby Bye Bye, I’ll Never Stop Loving You, 100% Chance of Rain, Leave Me Lonely, Making Up For Lost Time [The Dallas Lovers Song] [w/Crystal Gayle], Plain Brown Wrapper, Another World, Bring Him Home;

♥~ 1956 – Larry Bird, Basketball Hall of Famer

★~ Did You Know: 

♥~ Cotton candy was first recorded around the 1900s. At that time, spun sugar was an expensive, labor-intensive endeavor and was not generally available to the average person.

♥~ Machine-spun cotton candy was invented by the dentist William Morrison and confectioner John C. Wharton.

♥~ This spun sugar treat made its first major debut at the 1904 World’s Fair as ‘fairy floss.’

♥~  Cotton Candy was an instant success and sold for 25 cents, half the cost of the admission to the event!

♥-  Fairy floss was renamed cotton candy in 1920. Today in Greece, Israel, and India, it is often referred to as “old woman’s hair!”

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I know which park the cotton candy man usually hangs out around but it’s cold and I don’t know if he will a be out hawking cotton candy but if he is I will find him!

Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday. If you have an El Morno moment leave a comment. Odd Loves Company!