~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
June 20, 2012

★~ Today’s Quote: “Whatever is dreamed on this night, will come to pass.”- William Shakespeare (From A Mid-Summer night’s Dream)

★~ Summer Solstice:

According to the  Farmers Almanac,  the start of summer in the northern hemisphere is 1:16 p.m. today.

The Summer Solstice represents the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. As we enter into this time of blossoming, those living in the southern hemisphere are going within, by honoring the longest night of their year with the Winter Solstice. A continual reminder of how we live in balance on this earth.

Today is celebrated by dancing, drumming or sitting around a fire. Some believe that if a couple in love jumps over a small fire on this night their love will last forever. It is a wonderful time to reconnect with the people you love.

★~ Ice Cream Soda Day:

Traditionally the folks who put together these tasty drinks were known as soda jerks, but they could’ve been called soda heroes the way they had people lining up at the counter. Ice cream sodas are made with a mix of soda water, ice cream and syrup, or as a float –like the popular root beer float. Legend has it that this bev was the spur-of-the-moment creation of Robert M. Green in Philadelphia, when he needed a new drink to lure customers away from a nearby soda stand. Green was so proud of his creation that he even had the phrase “Originator of the Ice Cream Soda” engraved on his tombstone!

To celebrate National Ice Cream Soda Day, all you need is soda, a few scoops of ice cream, and a straw! I will be toasting the solstice with a Rootbeer Float!

Today is full of choice so if you would rather have a Vanilla Milkshake instead of an Ice Cream Soda you are in luck!

★~ Vanilla Milkshake Day:

Before milkshakes were ordered at diners and malt shops across the country, they were ordered in bars. That’s because the name “milkshake” was first given to an alcoholic concoction of whiskey and eggs (ew, by the way). No one is sure who decided to take out the whiskey and the eggs and add the ice cream and the milk, but thank you, whoever you are.

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1947 – Gangster Benjamin ‘Bugsy’ Siegel was shot to death at his girlfriend’s mansion in Beverly Hills. The mob was reportedly angry over his high-rolling Las Vegas gambling sprees

♥~ 1950 – Willie Mays graduated from high school and immediately signed with the New York Giants for a $6,000 bonus. The ‘Say Hey Kid’ would play most of his career for the Giants — in both New York and San Francisco — becoming a baseball legend

♥~ 1969 – Guitarist Jimi Hendrix earned the biggest paycheck ever paid (to that time) for a single concert appearance. Hendrix was paid $125,000 to appear for a single set at the Newport Jazz Festival.

♥~ 1970 – The Long and Winding Road, by The Beatles, started a second week in the number one spot on the pop music charts. The tune was the last one to be released by The Beatles.

♥~ 1975 – The movie Jaws was released

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1949 – Lionel Richie musician: tenor sax, songwriter, singer: group: Commodores: ASCAP Nashville Country Songwriter Award: Three Times a Lady [1978]; solo: Truly, All Night Long [All Night], Hello, Say You Say Me

♥~ 1952 – John Goodman actor: Roseanne, The Flintstones, The Babe, King Ralph, Born Yesterday, Matinee, Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski, Blues Brothers 2000, What Planet Are You From?, O Brother, Where Art Thou?

♥~ 1967 – Nicole (Mary) Kidman Academy Award-winning actress [The Hours (2003)];: Days of Thunder, Far and Away, Malice, Batman Forever, Billy Bathgate, The Portrait of a Lady, Eyes Wide Shut, Practical Magic, Moulin Rouge

★~ Did You Know:

♥~ Sol + stice derives from a combination of Latin words meaning “sun” + “to stand still.” As the days lengthen, the sun rises higher and higher until it seems to stand still in the sky.

♥~ This date has had spiritual significance for thousands of years as humans have been amazed by the great power of the sun. The Celts celebrated with bonfires that would add to the sun’s energy, Christians placed the feast of St John the Baptist towards the end of June and it is also the festival of Li, the Chinese Goddess of light.

♥~ Pagans called the Midsummer moon the “Honey Moon” for the mead made from fermented honey that was part of wedding ceremonies performed at the Summer Solstice.

♥~ Ancient Pagans celebrated Midsummer with bonfires, when couples would leap through the flames, believing their crops would grow as high as the couples were able to jump.

♥~ Midsummer was thought to be a time of magic, when evil spirits were said to appear. To thwart them, Pagans often wore protective garlands of herbs and flowers. One of the most powerful of them was a plant called ‘chase-devil’, which is known today as St. John’s Wort and still used by modern herbalists as a mood stabilizer.

♥~If you have a friend in need or is feeling a little low, give them yellow and orange flowers or an orange; to lift your own spirits add brightly colored flowers to your own home.

♥~ According to the Farmer’s Almanac, the start of summer in the northern hemisphere is 1:16 p.m. today.

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Hope you have a great Wednesday!  We fondue on the solstice–it’s TRADITION so I’m off to carry groceries and chop meat. What are your plans for the day and on a totally unrelated subject are you reading a good light fiction book that you would care to share the title of?

♥