~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥
April 26, 2012

★~Today’s Quote:  Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia.~ Charles M. Schulz

★~Hug and Australian Day:

G’day mate! Today we pay tribute to the Aussies in our lives that we know and love. Odd’s Aussie mascot is Antoinette, who happens to be wrapping up a 5-week tour of Europe. Her last report was from Barcelona. In it, Antoinette writes:

“Hola from Barcelona! After spending two glorious and very restful days with family in the seaside town of Villa Fortuny, we´re back in the midst of city life, staying with my beautiful friend, Maite, in gorgeous Barcelona. We were lucky to arrive on the day of a special celebration in Catalania, the feast of San Jordi (celebrating St. George and his slaying of the dragon). Barcelona was full of people celebrating, red roses, and books . The tradition is for women to receive a rose and men to receive books on this feast day. Not a bad way to begin a new city on our travels.”

Even though we only see Antoinette virtually on Facebook, we’ve all missed her on Facebook El Morno and during our Facebook day. Sure, we’ve cracked “small stature” jokes and poked fun at her gluten-free lifestyle, but it just hasn’t been the same. She arrives home (Melbourne Australia) on Sunday and I am sure that her real family will be glad to see her. For sure her virtual family will be happy to have her back!

If you don’t have an Aussie to hug today, we’ll share our Aussie with you… I’m sure Antoinette won’t mind a hug from you.

★~ Pretzel day:

Not sure what to munch on today? Well, let me give you a hint: Thick or thin? Straight or twisted? Crisp and crunchy, or soft? Salted, unsalted, mustard flavored, perhaps? Yep, it’s Pretzel Day. Pretzels are believed to be the world’s oldest snack, dating back to 610AD in Southern France. Monks baked thin strips of dough into the shape of a child’s arms folded in prayer. Add a little salt, and Voila!…the pretzel industry was born.

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1819 – The first Odd Fellows lodge in the U.S. was established in Baltimore, Maryland. The official name of the organization is theIndependent Order (of) Odd Fellows or IOOF. The main focus of the fraternal order is “to relieve the brethren, bury the dead, and care for the widow and the orphan.” This focus has been broadened through the years to include the principles of friendship, love and truth. The Odd Fellows maintain homes for the aged, the poor, widows and orphans and provide members with financial aid in sickness or death. Membership of the order is more than 1.5 million.

♥~1937 – The publisher of LIFE magazine just about passed out when he looked at his just-off-the-press publication and noticed that someone had forgotten to put the word “LIFE” in the upper left-hand corner! It was the only time that LIFE was nameless. Since hundreds of thousands of copies were already printed, the magazine hit the streets with no name on the cover! The reason? A picture of a rooster would have had an obscured comb if the logotype had been used in the upper left-hand corner as usual.

♥~1941 – The first organ was played at a baseball stadium (Cubs)– in Chicago, IL.

♥~1975 – On top of the Billboard popular music chart was B.J. Thomas, with the longest title ever for a number one song. (Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song was number one for one week.

♥~ 1989 – At New York City’s Four Seasons restaurant, wine merchant William Sokolin accidentally bumped a table with a bottle of wine and broke it. It was a bottle of 1787 Chateau Margaux which once belonged to Thomas Jefferson and was valued at $519,750.

★~ Born Today:

♥~ 1785 – John James Audubon ornithologist, artist: the original Birdman; died Jan 27, 1851

♥~ 1900 – Charles Francis Richter’s – Richter, an American author, physicist and seismologist. His work led to the development if the Richter scale.

♥~ 1904 – Charles K. Feldman film producer: Casino Royale, What’s New, Pussycat, Walk on the Wild Side, The Seven Year Itch, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Glass Menagerie

♥~ 1916 – Morris West Australian novelistand playwright, best known for his novels The Devil’s Advocate (1959), The Shoes of the Fisherman (1963), and The Clowns of God (1981). His books were published in 27 languages and sold more than 60 million copies worldwide. Each new book he wrote after he became an established writer sold more than 1 million copies.

♥~ 1933 – Carol Burnett Emmy Award-winning comedienne, actress: Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall [1962-1963], Carol & Company [1962-1963], Mad About You [1996-1997]; The Carol Burnett Show, Carol Burnett and Friends, The Garry Moore Show

♥~ 1963 – Jet Li– actor: Fearless, Cradle 2 the Grave, The One, Kiss of the Dragon, Romeo Must Die, Lethal Weapon 4

♥~ 1971 – Jay DeMarcus, Country musician (Rascal Flats)

★~ Did You Know:

♥~ Australia is the smallest continent in the world but the sixth largest country in the world.

♥~ No part of Australia is more than 621 miles from the ocean.

♥~ The world’s oldest Flower in the world was found in a fossil near Melbourne. It is called the Koonwarra plant, and it has two leaves and one flower. It is believed to be 120 million years old.

♥~ The world’s fastest growing tree is the Australian Eucalyptus. It can grow up to 10 meters in one year.

♥~ Australia is not connected by land to any other country and so it had developed its own wildlife. The kangaroo, the koala, the emu and the kookaburra are among the creatures found only in Australia.

♥~ Australia has the world’s largest population of wild camels with one hump.

♥~ The first European settlers in Australia apparently drank more alcohol per head of population than any other people in the history of mankind. Australia’s former Prime Ministers Bob Hawke was in the Guinness Book of World Records In 1954 because he drank 2.5 pints of beer in 11 seconds .

♥~ Tasmania has the cleanest air in the world.

♥~ The Tasmanian Devil does exist, and it has the jaw strength of a crocodile.

♥~ Australia has the world’s largest cattle station (ranch). At 30,028 km it is almost the same size as Belgium.

♥~ The Great Barrier Reef is the largest organic construction on earth.

♥~ One of Australia’s greatest folk hero was a bushranger  named Ned Kelly who was finally captured at  Glenrowan Victoria and hanged at the  Melbourne Gaol (jail) on the 11th November 1880  where his last words were “Such is life.”

♥~:Randy, a Texan farmer goes to Australia for a vacation.  There he meets an Glen, an Aussie farmer and gets talking.  The Aussie shows off his big wheat field and the Texan says, ‘Oh yeah.  We have wheat fields that are at least twice as large.’

Then they walk around the ranch a little, and the Glen shows off his herd of cattle. Then Randy immediately says, ‘We have longhorns that are at least twice as large as your cows.’ The conversation has, meanwhile, almost died when the Texan sees a herd of kangaroos hopping through the field and so he asks, ‘And what are those?’

‘Glen’, the Aussie replies with an incredulous look, ‘Don’t you have any grasshoppers in Texas?

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Last night, Cole came home from Caddy school laughing and when I asked him what was so funny he explained that the subject of religion had come up and all the other caddies were Catholic. When he was asked what religion he was, he said wasn’t any religion at all. It was quiet for a minute and then one of the other caddies asked him, “Well, does that mean you’re Jewish?”

In case you were wondering, the entertainment center is still sitting on my front porch but I have a plan for the weekend… It may or may not involve a chainsaw and a pair goggles. I’ll keep you posted.

What are your plans for this terrific Thursday? Do share… Odd Loves Company!

♥