★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
August 8, 2012

★~  Today’s Quote: “Well,” said Pooh, “what I like best,” and then he had to stop and think.  Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn’t know what it was called.  ~A.A. Milne

★~ Happiness Happens Day:

The Secret Society of Happy People was founded by Pamela Gail Johnson in August of 1998. The Society has a simple purpose with few basic ways to enact them:

1. Recognize your happy moments with the same enthusiasm as you recognize your unhappy moments.
2. Encourage others to talk about their happy moments too.
3. Don’t unnecessarily rain on other people’s parades.
4. Celebrate Happiness Happens Day by spreading happiness far and wide.

★~ Zucchini Day (sneak Zucchini onto your neighbor’s porch Day):

If you’ve planted a garden, and if in that garden you’ve planted and harvested an overabundance of zucchini that your family is refusing to eat, and your neighbors, postman, and babysitter are saying “No thank you” too, then acknowledge that today there is only one thing left to do . . . Sneak them onto your neighbor’s porch. Just think of it as Tough Zucchini love.

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1964 – Joan Baez and Bob Dylan shared the stage for the first time when the singers performed in a concert at the Forest Hills Music Festival in the Forest Hills Tennis Stadiumin Forest Hills, NY.

♥~ 1969 – The photo session for the cover of The Beatles ‘Abbey Road’ album took place on the crossing outside Abbey Road studios. Photographer Iain McMillan, balanced on a step-ladder in the middle of the road took six shots of John, Ringo, Paul, and George walking across the zebra crossing while a policeman held up the traffic. The band then returned to the studio and recorded overdubs on ‘The End’, ‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy)’ and ‘Oh! Darling’.

♥~ 1974 – Roberta Flack received a gold record for the single, Feel Like Makin’ Love. Flack, born in Asheville, NC and raised in Arlington, VA, was awarded a music scholarship to Howard University in Washington, DC — at the age of 15. One of her classmates became a singing partner on several hit songs. Donny Hathaway joined Flack on You’ve Got a Friend, Where is the Love and The Closer I Get to You. She had 10 hits on the pop charts in the 1970s and 1980s.

♥~ 1988 – 39,012 fans attended the first night baseball game at Chicago’s Wrigley Field.

♥~ 1991-  Students at Stanly Community College in Albermarle, North Carolina, set a world record by filling a container with 5,438 cubic feet of popped popcorn.

♥~ 1999 – Tish, the world’s oldest captive goldfish, died in Yorkshire, England, at the age of 43. At least. Seven-year-old Peter Hand had won Tish at a fair in 1956. The fish swam with the family until his death.

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1937 – Dustin Hoffman Academy Award-winning actor: Rain Man [1989], Kramer vs. Kramer [1980]; The Graduate, Tootsie, Midnight Cowboy, Little Big Man, Dick Tracy, Hook, Search for Tomorrow, Outbreak, Sphere

♥~ 1938 – Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Author best known for her book The Yearling (1938), which was the best-selling novel in America in 1938 and which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1939.

♥~ 1953 – Donny Most actor: Happy Days, Stewardess School, Dead Man’s Island

♥~ 1978 – Garfield’s sidekick, Odie who first appeared in the “Garfield” comic strip Aug 8, 1978.

★~ Did You Know: Odd Olympic stories from the past: 

♥~ Felix Carvajal made it to the 1904 St. Louis Olympic Games through sheer persistence and pluck. The Cuban postal worker saved up enough money to make it to the Games, but made it as far as New Orleans before he found himself enjoying a craps game and blowing all of his cash on a run of cold dice. Undaunted, Carvajal walked, ran, and hitchhiked up the Mississippi River to St. Louis, where he appeared at the opening marathon on a fiercely hot summer’s day wearing woolen trousers, a linen shirt, street shoes, and a felt beret. The race was delayed while a friendly American discus thrower cut off Carvajal’s trousers to fashion a pair of running shorts. The five-foot-tall Cuban then took off in his street shoes and finished fourth overall. Hailed by the international press for his determination and amiable manner, he returned to Cuba a hero and resumed his mail route. He never appeared in international competition again.

♥~ William Sherring needed to travel from his Ontario home to Athens to compete in the 1906 Olympics but had a cash-flow problem. Even with the help of his local running club, he could only scratch together $75 for the trip. Obviously, even in 1906, $75 wouldn’t get him to Athens. But Sherring had a plan. He gave a bartender buddy his small cash reserve with instructions to bet it on a horse. The bartender laid the cash on a horse named Cicely, who won at 6:1 odds. Sherring made it to Athens and won the gold with a time of 2:51. His Greek hosts gave him a statue of Athena and a live lamb as prizes.

♥~ In 1908 the London Olympic organizers expected the Russian competitors to show up for the military team rifle event, but when the competition began, the Russians were still a no-show. The team arrived several days later and discovered their error. It turned out that, while Russia was still using the old Julian calendar, the rest of the world had made the switch to the Gregorian calendar. The two versions were 12 days out. The moral of this story: always compare your calendars.

 ♥~ Canadian George Goulding may have won the gold in the 10,000-meter walk in the 1912 Stockholm Games, but the thrifty Canadian didn’t waste good money on extra words when he wired the news home. The telegram he sent his wife read succinctly, “Won – George.”

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Today we strip the beds, and meet and greet our new house guests. If you remember, we started the summer in June with my sweet mother, then Dear Cousin Carla followed in July. Twelve-year-old Cousin Ryan was next and will be leaving for home tomorrow, but not before we pick up Dear Cousin Carla’s college-age daughter and her friend. They are coming to Chicago for the Harry Potter convention, and we are lucky enough to be included in their Chicago visit. FUN.

We took Ryan to the Sears Tower (some people call it the Willis Tower—I’m not one of them) yesterday, and as he looked out over the city he said to Cole, “Chicago is such an awesome city.” We had to agree. It really is, and we love to show its awesomeness off to friends and family.

Odd Loves Company.