★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
July 22nd, 2012

★~ Today’s Quote:  Karma’s only a bitch if you are ~ Unknown

★~ Spoonerism Day:

If you have ever been pit nicked for turning words outside in you have meet Reverand Archibald Spooner.  Spoonerisms are a kind of word or phrase pun that have humorously switched or transplanted sounds, named after the Reverend William Archibald Spooner (1844–1930), who often spoke these aloud. Some of his famous (and possibly apocryphal) quotes from the chapel include “The lord is a shoving leopard,” “It is kisstomary to cuss the bride,” and “Mardon me padam, this pie is occupewed. Can I sew you to another sheet?.” The spoonerism is a now legendary ‘slip of the tongue.’ Other gaffes worth mentioning are his angry speech to a student, “You have hissed all my mystery lectures, and were caught fighting a liar in the quad. Having tasted two worms, you will leave by the next town drain,” actually intended to say missed history, lighting fire, wasted terms, and train down. A few more  include “We must drink a toast to our queer old Dean”, “We’ll have the hags flung out”, “a half-warmed fish” and “Is the bean dizzy?” President George W. Bush is known for curious turns of phrase, some of which may be considered spoonerisms. “If the terriers and bariffs are torn down, this economy will grow.” (January 7, 2001 in Rochester, New York). Enjoy your slips of  tongue today in honor of Mr. Spooner. Click for more word fun. 

★~ Rat Catchers Day:

Most of us know about the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, a colorfully-dressed stranger who arrives in the vermin-infested town of Hamelin, Germany, and for a promised fee lures the town’s rats away by playing a tune on his pipe. When the town refuses to pay the stranger for his services, however, the man lures the town’s children away, too.

However, one of the most famous rat catchers was Jack Black, appointed rat-catcher and mole destroyer to Queen Victoria in the middle of the 1800’s. He wore a scarlet top coat, waistcoat and breeches, with a huge leather belt inset with cast iron rats.

When he caught any unusually colored rats, he bred them, to establish new color varieties. He would sell his home-bred domesticated colored rats as pets, mainly, as Black observed, “to well-bred young ladies to keep in squirrel cages”. Beatrix Potter is believed to have been one of his customers, and she dedicated the book Samuel Whiskers to her rat of the same name.

The more sophisticated ladies of court kept their rats in dainty gilded cage and even Queen Victoria herself kept a rat or two. It was in this way that domesticated — or fancy — rats were established. Black also supplied live rats for rat-baiting in pits, a popular mid-Victorian past-time. (source, Wikipedia)

If you have a rat for a pet, please don’t tell me.

★~ Hammock Day:

Summer is in full swing, and it’s time to slow down and relax! There is no better way to slow down and relax than to stretch out in a hammock, snoozing to the swoosh of a gentle breeze. If you don’t own a hammock, consider napping on your chez lounge under a shady tree.

★~ Penuche Fudge:

Penuche fudge is chocolate free; instead it has a golden brown color and a caramel flavor that comes from brown sugar. It’s lighter than its siblings — chocolate fudge and white (blonde) fudge — making it the perfect summer time fudge.

Celebrate Penuche Fudge day by indulging in a nibble or two of this soft, sweet and smooth treat, or whipping up a batch in your own kitchen. Martha Stewarts Penuche Fudge

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1376 –  The anniversary of the legendary feat of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, who used his musical prowess to play a little ditty and lead the rats out of town. Rat catcher are honored today for riding towns of the dirty low down varmints.

♥~ 1934 – Public enemy number one, the notorious John Dillinger, was gunned down and mortally wounded by FBI agents at the Biograph Theatre in Chicago, IL.

♥~ 1967 – The Billboard singles chart showed that Windy, by The Association, was the most popular record in the U.S. for the fourth straight week. The Los Angeles-based sextet would make way for Jim Morrison and The Doors a week later when Light My Fire became the hottest record of the mid-summer.

♥~ 1989 – The youngest pilot to fly around the world, 11-year-old Tony Aliengena, completed his globe-circling trip. The 4th grader returned to John Wayne Airport in Orange County, CA, nearly seven weeks and 21,567 miles after taking off in a Cessina 210 Centurion.

♥ ~ 2006 – 3,000 people gathered at the Stardust Hotel in Las Vegas for the annual Lifestyles conference, a five-day, $700-per-couple event that offers a mix of seminars, socializing and sex.

★~ Born Today:

♥~ 1898 – Alexander (Stirling) Calder sculptor: wood, bronze, mobiles; 1898. Internationally acclaimed American abstract artist who invented the mobile.  Calder took a degree in mechanical engineering but was drawn into art in the 1920s. By the 1930s he was the most famous American artist in the world. Editors of Chase’s Calendar of Events (2010). Chase’s Calendar of Events, 2011 Edition (Kindle Locations 26095-26097). McGraw-Hill. Kindle Edition.

♥~ 1908 –  Amy  Vanderbilt: American journalist and etiquette expert born at New York, NY. Her Amy Vanderbilt’s Complete Book of Etiquette (1952) became the bible for manners of courtesy and society. Vanderbilt also hosted the television program “It’s in Good Taste” from 1954 to 1960.

♥~ 1932 – Oscar De La Renta fashion designer

♥~ 1947 – Albert Brooks (Einstein) actor: Broadcast News, Lost in America, Private Benjamin, Taxi Driver

♥~ 1947 – Don Henley drummer, singer: groups: Shiloh; The Eagles: Hotel California; solo: Dirty Laundry, All She Wants to Do is Dance, The End of the Innocence; songwriter: The Boys of Summer

★~ Did You Know: You’re never too young or too old….

♥~  5 yrs old – Mozart began composing minuets. Once when a second violinist failed to appear for a string quartet performance, Mozart took his place, even though he’d never seen the music.

♥~ 10 yrs old – Recording artist Stevie Wonder was signed by Motown records.

♥~ 15 yrs old – Inventor Thomas Alva Edison became manager of a telegraph office.

♥~ 20 yrs old – Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard and cofounded Microsoft.

♥~  30 yrs old – Donald Trump persuaded bankers to lend him $80 million so he could

♥~ 40 yrs old – Joan Ganz Cooney founded Children’s Television Workshop and became the mastermind behind “Sesame Street.”Commodore Hotel. + Bill Gates was the first person ever to become a billionaire by age 30.

♥~  50 yrs old – Barbra Streisand won a 10-year film and recording contract estimated at $60 million.

♥~ 60 yrs old – Playwright and essayist George Bernard Shaw completed a play, “Heartbreak House,” regarded by some as his masterpiece.

♥~ 70 yrs old – Benjamin Franklin helped draft the Declaration of Independence.

♥~ 80 yrs old – Jessica Tandy became the oldest Oscar recipient for her work in Driving Miss Daisy.

♥~ 95 yrs old – Nola Ochs became the oldest person to receive a college diploma, a degree in general studies with an emphasis on history.

♥~ 100+ yrs old – Alice Porlock of Great Britain published her first book, Portrait of My Victorian Youth, when she was 102 years old

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No hammock for me today….I must get on with my rat killing . . Cousin Carla suggested frying chicken for the Oobleck Party so I need to see if I can find a large electric skillet. I’m still researching where I can buy large bags of corn starch, and I’m pretty sure I need something new and fun to wear to the Oobleck party.

Cole is better but still limping and banged up so I can’t really boss him around as much as I would like too. He always cringes a little when I say the word PARTY, complaining I bark out directions like a general with a high pitch tone and I swear he fiddles while Rome burns.

What are your plans for the day?

Odd Loves Company,

 

Click For Parent’s Day!