~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
September 22, 2012

★~ Today’s Quote: “I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.” —Bilbo’s speech at his birthday party

★~  Today is the Autumnal Equinox which signals the beginning of Fall in the northern hemisphere (our friends in the southern hemisphere are celebrating the Spring Equinox). On this day there will be an equal amount of light and darkness, and after this day the nights grow longer and we head towards Winter. In many modern Pagan traditions this is the second of three harvest festivals (the first being Lughnasadh, the third being Samhain). Click to read about the celebration of Mabon.

★~ Hobbit Day:

Today is a special day for fans of Tolkien as Frodo and Bilbo are said to both have been born today, by Shire Reckoning of course. Add to that the fact that “The Hobbit” was first published this week in 1937 and you’ve got the makings for a party of special magnificence! Celebrate by having seven meals where cookies, honey cakes and Lembas (Elven waybread)  are served. Enjoy literary discussions and readings, and of-course, Lord of the Rings movie marathons. Indulge your “inner Hobbit” by going barefoot

My Hobbit name is Melilot Brandybuck of Buckland. Click to learn your Hobbit name.

★~ Elephant Appreciation Day:

When people call this beast to mind,
They marvel more and more
At such a little tail behind,
So LARGE a trunk before.
(Hilaire Belloc)

The largest living land animal is the elephant. Their great size, and the thickness and toughness of their skins protect them from every other wild animal. Since they have no enemies to fear except man, elephants are usually peaceful and easy going. They show great affection for one another and spend their lives as members of a family herd, which is made up of several generations of blood relatives, with occasional additions from other herds by mating.

Celebrate elephants by visting them at the zoo, eating peanuts, or even telling an elephant joke or two…they are so good natured they don’t mind.

Q. What is the difference between a dozen eggs and an Elephant?
A. If you don’t know, I’m not going to send you to the store for a dozen eggs.

Click for more fascinating elephant facts 

★~ Ice Cream Cone Day:

Italo Marchiony was a lemon ice pushcart vendor and a problem solver. He invented a paper cone to hold the lemon ice, much like the ones we now use for snow cones. Around 1896, using the paper cone as a mold, he created a new and improved cookie-like cone out of pastry dough. People whined and complained about the change, and threatened to take their lemon ice business to another vendor: The cone was stiff and uncomfortable to hold, the cone bits and pieces could get stuck in your teeth, and for some, there was a deep desire to bite the end of the cone off before they were done eating their lemon ice. Groups formed, and people banded together in dislike of the new cone. But Italo stood firm and asked his customers to just try the cone. Some insisted on finding a pushcart that only used paper cones, but others tried Italo’s cones and loved them. In 1903, he applied for a patent, and the ice cream cone was born. That may not have been exactly how it happened, but it’s close enough.

If you have some stale cones left over from summer, fill them with bird seeds, and hang them in the trees for the birds.

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1976 – Charles Angels  premiered: This extremely popular show of the ’70s featured Sabrina Duncan (Kate Jackson), Jill Munroe (Farrah Fawcett-Majors) and Kelly Garrett (Jaclyn Smith) signed on with detective agency Charles Townsend Associates. Their boss was never seen, only heard (the voice of John Forsythe); messages were communicated to the women by his associate, John Bosley (David Doyle).

♥~ 1982-  Family Ties Premiered: 1982. This popular ’80s sitcom was set at Columbus, OH, and focused on the Keaton family: ex-hippies Elyse (Meredith Baxter-Birney), an architect, and Steven (Michael Gross), a station manager of the local public TV station; Alex (Michael J. Fox), their smart, conservative and financially driven son; Mallory (Justine Bateman), their materialistic, ditzy daughter and Jennifer (Tina Yothers), their tomboy youngest daughter. Later in the series Elyse gave birth to Andrew (Brian Bonsall). Marc Price played Irwin “Skippy” Handleman, the nerdy next-door neighbor who adored the Keatons, and Mallory in particular. The last episode aired Sept 17, 1989.

♥~ 1994 – The comedy “Friends” premiered on NBC-TV.

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1956 – Debby Boone:  Grammy Award-winning singer: Best New Artist [1977], You Light Up My Life [1977], With My Song I Will Praise Him [1980], Keep the Flame Burning [w/Phil Driscoll – 1984]; group: The Boone Family; daughter of singers Pat and Shirley Boone

♥~ 1958 – Joan Jett singer: group: The Blackhearts: I Love Rock ’n’ Roll, Crimson and Clover, I Hate Myself for Loving You; actress: Light of Day; group: Runaways

♥~ 1960 – Scott Baio actor: Happy Days, Joanie Loves Chachi, Charles in Charge, Diagnosis Murder

♥~ 1964 – Bonnie Hunt: actress: The Green Mile, Beethoven, Beethoven’s 2nd, Jumanji, Jerry Maguire, Random Hearts

★~ Did You Know:

♥~ Tolkien was a member of the Inklings, a group associated with Oxford University. Other famous writers have belonged to this group such as C.S. Lewis (author of the acclaimed “Narnia” series) and Tolkien’s own son Christopher, who is mostly acting as the Tolkien Estate’s literary executor.

♥~ The inspiration for Bilbo and Frodo Baggins’ home of Bag End came from Tolkien’s aunt’s farm of the same name.

♥~ As a child, Tolkien was bit by a large South African tarantula called a baboon spider. (Three guesses as to where the inspiration for Shelob the gigantic spider came from!)

♥~ Tolkien counted the old English epic poem “Beowulf” as one of his most valued resources and inspirations.

♥~ Tolkien deplored the idea of becoming something of a cult figure. However he admitted later:”… even the nose of a very modest idol […] cannot remain entirely untickled by the sweet smell of incense!”

♥~A Love Story: At age 16, Tolkien fell in love with Edith Bratt, three years his senior. His guardian, a Catholic priest, was horrified that his ward was seeing a Protestant and ordered the boy to have no contact with Edith until he turned 21. Tolkien obeyed, pining after Edith for years until that fateful birthday, when he met with her under a railroad viaduct. She broke off her engagement to another man, converted to Catholicism, and the two were married for the rest of their lives. At Tolkien’s instructions, their shared gravestone has the names “Beren” and “Luthien” engraved on it, a reference to a famous pair of star-crossed lovers from the fictional world he created.

♥~ Tolkien saw himself as a scholar first and a writer second. It always irked him that his scholarly works went largely unknown by the general public, who flocked to his fantasy writings. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings were largely Tolkien’s attempt to construct a body of myth, and their success caught him largely unaware. In fact, he spent years rejecting, criticizing and shredding adaptations of his work that he didn’t believe captured its epic scope and noble purpose! He was also utterly skeptical of most LOTR fans, who he thought incapable of really appreciating the work.

♥~ Hobbit resources:  Help keeping track of the cast of characters: The relationships in the Lord of the Rings trilogy are extensive, but at least they are separated into different species. A Hobbit family tree shows that Bilbo Baggins and Frodo Baggins are distant cousins; the full graphic has more of their relatives. The Hobbit geneology page by Chris Long also has a larger family tree of Hobbits that covers just about every Hobbit mentioned in the Tolkien universe. The Lord of the Rings Wiki has trees for six of the royal families in the story.

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Are you looking forward to the The Hobbit: an Unexpected Journey which will be released this December? Bilbo Baggins, journeys to the Lonely Mountain with a vigorous group of Dwarves to reclaim a treasure stolen from them by the dragon Smaug?

What are your plans for this fine Saturday?

Odd Loves Company!