~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
March 30, 2012

★~ “To do good work, one must eat well, be well housed, have one’s fling from time to time, smoke one’s pipe, and drink one’s coffee in peace”: Vincent van Gogh,

★~ National Doctors Day: 

The first Doctors’ Day observance was March 30, 1933, in Winder, Ga. The idea came from Eudora Brown Almond, wife of Dr. Charles B. Almond, and the date was the anniversary of the first use of general anesthesia in surgery.

Chocolates and flowers won’t skyrocket as the nation celebrates Doctors’ Day, but nonetheless it is a day that deserves our attention. Since its inception in 1933, commemorating the March 30, 1842 discovery of anesthesia by Crawford Long, the medical profession has undergone astounding transformations. In 1933, the Nobel Prize in Medicine went to Thomas Morgan for a revolutionary concept now taught in grade school–that is, chromosomes play a role in heredity. These days we are able to map our genomes for a thousand dollars as a result of DNA sequencing and personalized medicine.

Give a doctor a red carnation today. It’s the official, designated flower of Doctors’ Day.

★~ I’m in Control Day:

Dogs are barking. Phone is ringing. The toilet is clogged. The fridge is empty. The school called to say my kid is coming home sick. A car salesman is on the phone again. Two campers are checking in. One is checking out. I can’t find a leash. Did they bring a leash? Grab a leash and hope it’s the right leash. We are in the alley—where are you? I’m in the alley. I don’t see you. Wrong alley. Feed me, play with me, let me in, let me out. Wet paws, cold paws, furry paws. Paw prints everywhere. Find my wallet. Pay the cleaning lady. No cash. No car. Walk to Walgreens. Run home. Pay cleaning lady. How can it only be 12 noon?? Yep, don’t worry—I have it all under control.

★~ Take a Walk In the Park Day:

It wasn’t a walk in the park, but I did take a walk to Walgreens when I realized that I did not have enough cash to pay the cleaning lady, and without a car all that was left was shank’s mare. It was a nice walk, and because I Am in Control Day insisted that the lightning and thunder cease and desist, I should have taken an umbrella.

★~ Pencil Day:

In 1858 the pencil was patented perfectly by Hymen Lipman. The perfect pencil was praised for its precision during writing and drawing.

A single wooden pencil can write 45,000 words or draw a line that is 35 miles long. A pencil can also write underwater, upside down, or in zero gravity.

Pencils have been mass produced  in  Europe since 1622, but they weren’t in production in the United States until 1812. Pencils were first painted gold because it is a color often associated with royalty and honor. During this time, a yellow pencil became known as the best type of pencil you could buy!

This Pencil Day, commemorate the peachy pencil. So pick one up and discover all its possibilities.

★~ Today in History:

♥~1964 – “This … is … ‘Jeopardy’!” One of television’s best known game shows, Jeopardy, developed by Merv Griffin, aired on NBC-TV for the first time on this day. Art Fleming never missed one show in 2,500 programs. The infamous Final Jeopardy song has a name “Think!”, originally composed by Merv Griffin as “A Time for Tony” as a lullaby for his son Tony, it has served as the Final Jeopardy! round countdown music since the show’s debut in 1964.  Over the years, Griffin estimated that royalties from the theme song earned him roughly $70 million.

♥~1970 – Secretariat, the great race horse that went on to win the Triple Crown of horse racing in 1973, was foaled.

♥~ 1974 – John Denver reached the top spot on the music charts with his hit, Sunshine on My Shoulders

♥~ 1990 – “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” opened in movie theaters throughout the U.S.

♥~ 1993 – In “Peanuts,” Charlie Brown hit his first home run.

♥~ 2001- New research showed British women had the most hair-free armpits and legs in Europe. The Austrian study shows 80% of British women regularly shave their legs and armpits. Italy, Spain and France were within 5% of the British total. Austria had Europe’s hairiest women with only 38% of women shaving.

★~Born Today:

♥~1853 – Vincent van Gogh – post-impressionist artist: The Potato Eaters, Sunflowers, The Night Cafe; died July 29, 1890

♥~1930 – Rolf Harris Australian entertainer, singer: Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport, Two Little Boys; actor: Web of Suspicion, The Rolf Harris Show, Rolf’s Cartoon Club

♥~1937 –Warren Beatty (Henry Warren Beaty) actor: Splendor in the Grass, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, Bonnie and Clyde, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, The Parallax View, Shampoo, Heaven Can Wait, Reds, Dick Tracy, Bulworth, Town and Country; Academy Award-winning director: Reds [1981]; Heaven Can Wait, Dick Tracy, Bulworth; Irving G. Thalberg Memorial [Academy] Award [2000]

♥~1945 – Eric Clapton (Eric Patrick Clapp) rock guitarist: group: Yardbirds: For Your Love; song writer: Layla, score for The Hit; Grammy Award-winning singer: Bad Love [1990], LPs: Tears from Heaven and Unplugged [1993], I Shot the Sheriff, Lay Down Sally, Promises, I Can’t Stand It, Wonderful Tonight

♥~1968 – Céline Dion Academy/Grammy Award-winning singer: Beauty and the Beast; LPs: Celine, Celine Dion, The Colour of My Love, D’eux, Falling Into You, Let’s Talk About Love, S’il Suffisait D’aimer, These Are Special Times, All the Way…A Decade of Song

★~ Did You Know:

♥~  More than 14 billion pencils are produced in the world every year  – enough to circle the globe 62 times.

♥~ One pencil will draw a line 70 miles long.

♥~ Pencils don’t really contain lead. That gray matter is graphite and clay.

♥~ Two billion pencils are made in the United States each year.

♥~ Famous novelists Ernest Hemingway and John Steinbeck used pencils to write their books.

♥~ Pencils didn’t have erasers on them until 100 years ago because teachers felt they would encourage children to make mistakes.

♥~ One million pencils are used annually on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

♥~ The average pencil can be sharpened 17 times,write 45,000 words or draw a line 35 miles long.

♥~A good-size tree will make about 300,000 pencils.

♥~ Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star Spangled Banner” in pencil.

#

I think we bought a car. The deal is not sealed, but we are very close. I mentioned on Facebook that Hannibal crossing the Alps was probably easier that buying Cole his first car, and someone suggested that we buy him an elephant instead. Maybe you had to be there, but I will share the conversation:

Marilyn: Maybe buying an elephant would have been easier.

Adelaide: An elephant would surely be less gas…… But what to do with all that poop??????

Joann: Can we name the elephant “Audi”?

Katybeth: I bet there would be a lot of gas and poop! I would need a mahout. No deal on the elephant if it did not come with a mahout (the person who walks behind the elephant cleaning up. Yes Audi is a lovely name.

Adelaide: What a job. Must involve a lot of hand washing……

Katybeth: Yes but what a great threat those moms have–Hey study hard kiddo or you will end up being a mahout.

Carolee: Sell the poop for compost – think of the market you’d have cornered!

Joann:  Sadly the government provides me with more than enough poop. At least with the elephant I could ride it and save a bundle on my car insurance.

Katybeth: I rode an elephant once. I liked it and I rode a camel too but the camel was grumpy and lumpy.

Carolee: That’s what you get…

Joann: Problem with getting an elephant, only comes in one color and seats the most two.

Katybeth: And where is the cup holder??

Joann: In the trunk?

Carolee: It would be a VERY cool cup holder!

Isabel: I trust there will be photos?

Carolee: Of the elephant?

….I will keep you posted. Tell me do you think an elephant would be a good idea or a bad idea? Do you like pencils or pens?

♥