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

★~ Meet and Greet: Sophie. Don’t you love her ears?  TO go or  NOT to go , that is the question. Sophie is a people pleaser and loves to play with the other campers — happy-go-lucky, as long as her human does not stray too far away.

★~  Today’s Quote:  “If you’re in the luckiest 1% of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99%.” Warren Buffett

★~ Frankenstein Day:

“It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. … It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the pains, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs.”

We celebrated Frankenstein day in honor of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley birthday (1797), who wrote the book Frankenstein (1818) which is considered the first science fiction novel ever written.

A Few Frankenstein facts:

* Author Mary Shelley called her Frankenstein creation “Adam.”

* Dr. Frankenstein’s character was based on a real doctor who experimented with reanimating corpses to achieve immortality.

* Frankenstein’s monster has appeared on a U.S. postage stamp both in 1997 and 2002!

★~ Slinky Day:

Lets have an El Morno Slink along!!

What walks down stairs, alone or in pairs
and makes a slinkity sound?
A spring, a spring, a marvelous thing!

Everyone knows it’s Slinky.
It’s Slinky, it’s Slinky,
It’s fun, it’s a wonderful toy.
It’s Slinky, it’s Slinky, it’s fun,

It’s a wonderful toy.
It’s fun for a girl or a boy.

Opportunity doesn’t always knock sometimes it slinks in…read ‘Did You Know’ to find out s’more (I love keeping a theme going) about the history of the slinky

★~ National Toasted Marshmallow Day:

Some of us toast our marshmallows by allowing the flame of the fire to gently kiss the marshmallow, turning it the perfect shade of brown, while others with less discriminating palates love the charred-beyond-recognition version. Still others like to shove as many marshmallows as they can into their mouth all at once toasted or not.

Marshmallows are made from the mallow plant, which is found in marshes. Hence, the name “marshmallow.” They were enjoyed by ancient Egyptian royalty as early as 2000 B.C. and introduced to the United States in the early 1900s. The Girl Scouts were not just content to roast marshmallows; they said, “Give us MORE”—and in 1927, the Girl Scout handbook introduced the first recipe for s’mores. Which only goes to prove that if you give a Girl Scout a marshmallow, she is going to want s’mores.

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1974 – The Brady Bunch, a typical 1970s scrubbed-face American family sitcom which first aired on TV Sept. 26, 1969, came to an end on this day. This original series starred Robert Reed as the architect-widower with three sons (played by Barry Williams as Greg, Christopher Knight as Peter and Mike Lookinland as Bobby), who married a widow (Florence Henderson). The new Mrs. Brady had three daughters (played by Maureen McCormick as Marcia, Eve Plumb as Jan and Susan Olsen as Cindy). Add a nutsy housekeeper, Alice (Ann B. Davis), a family dog and cat and ABC-TV ended up with one giant TV success viewed weekly by millions of youngsters … and their loving parents. Don’t you miss those Friday night family gatherings in front of the TV?

♥~ 1984 – Prince was pictured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine (issue 429). He was shown with his left armpit exposed.

♥~ 1997 – Mo Money Mo Problems, by The Notorious B.I.G.featuring Puff Daddy & Mase, hit #1 (for two weeks) on U.S. singles charts. An entire generation fell in love to: “You tell me who flopped who copped the blue drop; Who jewels got robbed who’s mostly Goldie down to the tube sock…” and so much more.

♥~ 2007 – A diamond-encrusted skull by 41-year-old British artistDamien Hirst sold for 100 million dollars (75 million euros) in London. It was a record price for a work sold by a living artist.

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1930 – Warren Buffett [‘Wizard/Oracle of Omaha’] business magnate, investor, philanthropist: chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway [multinational conglomerate holding company]

♥~ 1927 – Geoffrey Beene fashion designer; died Sep 28, 2004

♥~ 1927 – Bill Daily, Actor: “I Dream of Jeannie,” “The Bob Newhart Show”

♥~ 1939 – Elizabeth Ashley (Cole) actress: The Carpetbaggers, Ship of Fools, Stagecoach, Paperback Hero, Dangerous Curves, Great Scout and Cathouse Thursday, Evening Shade

♥~ 1972 – Cameron Diaz model; actress: The Mask, Head Above Water, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, There’s Something About Mary, Being John Malkovich, Charlie’s Angels [2000]

♥~ 1947 – Peggy Lipton actress: Twin Peaks, The Mod Squad; ex-wife of composer Quincy Jones; mother of actress Rashida Jones

★~ Did You Know: And now more about the slinky….

It was a naval engineer’s experiment that led to the development of the Slinky. Richard James was conducting experiments using torsion springs, when one of them fell and began to “walk” across the floor. He decided to take the spring home and show it to his wife. She thought it had potential as a toy item, and searched for a name in the dictionary. Eventually, they found a name that was both cute and described what the spring did — and the world was introduced to the Slinky.

The toy premiered in 1945 in Philadelphia at Gimbel’s Department Store. No one was quite sure how it would sell, but after 400 units disappeared off the shelves in 90 minutes, the Jameses knew they had a winner. Over 250 million Slinky toys have been sold throughout the world since then, making it one of the most popular toys over the last 60 years. The Slinky was even named the Official State Toy of Pennsylvania in 2001.

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(this is where I get to be random)

Yesterday, on the way to take Cole to a soccer game, a homeless person asked me for money. It had been a very good day, so I gave him $5.00. He didn’t complain that I had more money than he did, drove a car, or was wearing nicer clothes than he was… He just said thank you. I didn’t suggest he should get a job or spend the $5.00 on food and not booze, tell him where he should live, or warn him about the dangers of being homeless. I just wished him luck. I think I want to hang out with more homeless people.

Last night I was holding my computer in one hand and my Coke in the other hand and I could not find my phone. I asked Cole to call me. He did. The phone was in the same hand as my Coke. I went to bed.

Vickie surprised me by sweeping my patio and walks yesterday, and they look so nice. It’s always amazed me how much difference a sweep of the broom can make. We should do it more often.

Cole and I are going sailing tonight on the deep blue sea! Ok, the deep blue lake! Does it really matter? They weather is gorgeous and we are looking forward to a great time.

You can be random, or odd too! What’s new in your neck of the woods?

♥