~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
February 26, 2013

★~ Today’s Quote: “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”  ― Albert Einstein

★~ Fairy Tale Day: 

Beginning with the fathers of the field, Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, psychoanalysts and educators (Rudloph Steiner) have turned to fairy tales in an effort to understand the human mind. This is accomplished in two ways—either by studying the psychology and needs of the creators of these stories or by examining the characters in the stories. Just as many fairy tales hinge upon a revelation of the truth about those who have been somehow disguised, so too, fairy tales cut to the essence of the human psyche.

Freud suspected that dreams and fairy tales stem from the same place, and the relaxation of inhibition that occurs in the dream state is also true of many story tellers. So fairy tales might prove, like dreams, windows into the unconscious.  For Freud fairy tales are rife with wish fulfillment fantasies and complicated sexual undercurrents.

Fairy tales are inextricably linked to the work of Carl Jung. The “collective unconscious” that lies at the core of his work, and which he believed is shared by all human beings, is revealed through archetypes, forms and symbols found in ample evidence in fairy tales. Some Jungians argue that one reason fairy tales appeal to children is that they are in a stage of their development only slightly removed from deeper layers of the collective unconscious. Jungian therapists study fairy tales to help analyze the dreams of their patients. Jung’s disciples have gone on to interpret fairy tales as lives in miniature, suggesting, for example, that each character within a tale may represent an aspect of personality.

Rudolph Steiner, brought fairy tales to Waldorf education and insisted they be read in their purest form to young children. He believed the characters in fairy tales help children understand what it is to be a human being. As G.K. Chesterton once said, “Fairy tales do not tell children that dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”

And you thought it was just about Once Upon A Time and Happily Ever After….Do You have a favorite fairy tale?

★~ For Pete’s Sake Day: 

If you really want to annoy an etymologist, suggest that this expression was born out Michelangelo fund raising efforts for St. Peter’s Cathedral. Personally, I think it is a shame Michelangelo didn’t think of it…It’s catchy. However, let the the truth be know that “For Pete’s sake” originated as a substitute for “for Christ’s sake” and other similar expressions. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, “for Pete’s sake” came into use more than a century ago and prompted similar sayings such as “for the love of Pete” in 1906 and “in the name of Pete” in 1942.

The best way to celebrate? For Pete’s Sake, I have no idea!

★~ National Pistachio Day:

The pistachio is a small bushy tree native to the Middle East. It produces bunches of fruit (similar to grapes) and the pistachio nut is the seed of that fruit.

The pistachio is rooted in royalty. As the legend goes, the Queen of Sheba made an official declaration that pistachios were an exclusively royal food. In fact, she even went so far as to forbid commoners from growing the nut for their own consumption. Nebuchadnezzar, the ancient king of Babylon, also had a passion for pistachios. It is said that he had pistachio trees planted in his hanging gardens. And the Mogul Emperor, Akbar the Great, hosted lavish banquets befitting his royal status, where he often served chicken; he ordered all the chickens to be fed pistachio nuts for six to eight weeks in advance to give them a more delicious flavor. Lucky chickens!

California produces about 300 million pounds of pistachios each year, accounting for 98 percent of America’s production.

Celebrate  Pistachio Day by making Pistachio Baked Salmon, enjoying a scoop of Pistachio ice cream, or just crack open some raw Pistachio nuts.

★~ Today in History:

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♥~ 1919 – Congress established Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.

♥~ 1977 – The Eagles went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘New Kid On Town’, the group’s third US No.1.

♥~ 1991 – The U.S. issued a patent (#4,995,374) to William Black of Margate, Florida, for his Automatic Throw and Fetch Doggie Toy. The device will throw a ball, which a dog can fetch, return, drop into the funnel on top, and the machine will throw it again. And again and again.

♥~ 1997 – It took three people to wrestle a pet python named Squeezer into a sack after it broke out of its aquarium and went on a rampage in the owner’s home in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Animal control officials said 2-year-old pythons can become very aggressive.

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1802 – Victor Hugo the author of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831), and Les Misérables (1862). Hugo was also a poet, playwright, and politician. By the time he died in 1885, at the age of 82, he was a national hero; journalists recorded everything he said on his deathbed, and 2 million mourners watched his funeral procession go

♥~ 1829 – Levi Strauss: created the world’s first pair of jeans—Levi’s 501 jeans—for California’s gold miners in 1850.

♥~ 1852- John Harvey Kellogg, doctor and cereal pioneer.

♥~ 1920 – Tony Randall (Leonard Rosenberg) actor: The Odd Couple, Pillow Talk, Seven Faces of Dr. Lao, Fatal Instinct, The Alphabet Murders; regular cameo appearances on David Letterman’s Late Show; died May 17, 2004

♥~ 1932 – Johnny Cash guitarist, Grammy award-winning country singer: Folsom Prison Blues [1968]; I Walk the Line, Don’t Take Your Guns to Town, A Boy Named Sue,Ring of Fire; TV show with wife June Carter; died Sep 12, 2003

♥~ 1953 – Michael Bolton Grammy Award-winning singer: When a Man Loves a Woman [1991], How Am I Supposed to Live Without You [1989]

★~ Did You Know: 

♥~ More than 75 different species of mammals, 300 species of birds, 50 species of reptiles, 5 species of amphibians and 25 species of fish call The Grand Canyon home.

♥~ The earliest inhabitants of this beautiful place included the American-Indians such as the Hopi tribes, Navajo tribes, Havasupai, Paiute and Hualapai tribes. European, Spanish and American explorers have explored this rocky terrain thousands of years ago.

♥~ There have been approximately 685 deaths recorded so far in the Grand Canyon including accidental falling, hiking mishaps, suicides, airplane crashes, etc. There is even a book: “Over the Edge: Death in the Grand Canyon”, by Thomas Myers and Michael Ghiglieri.

♥~ One man (petrified of rattlesnakes) named Cochrane from California, died of heart failure, after being scared to death by a rattlesnake. One man even died faking a fall at the Canyon. While faking, his feet actually lost footing and he fell 400 feet.

♥~ According to scientists, this magnificent beauty took about 3-6 billion years to form. It is even older than the dinosaurs, which is why dinosaur fossils cannot be found here.

♥~ The temperature at the bottom of the canyon is much warmer than at the top.

♥~ The Spanish “discovered” the Grand Canyon in 1540 while searching for native riches. Francisco Vázquez de Coronado was looking for the mythological Seven Cities of Gold when his expedition encountered the Grand Canyon. They explored the canyon only briefly due to lack of water.

♥~ The widest point of the Grand Canyon is farther than the average American’s commute to work. The average commute is only about 15 miles, and the widest part of the Grand Canyon is 18 miles!

♥~ People have been in the Grand Canyon for at least 3,000 years. Human artifacts discovered in the Grand Canyon date back to about 3 or 4 thousand years, so people have lived in and around the canyon for a very, very long time. In addition, not much has changed about the way it looks over that amount of time, so think about that when you’re standing at the South Rim — what you’re seeing isn’t much different than what people saw thousands of years ago!

♥~ The Grand Canyon was a holy site for the native peoples in the area. People have been making trips to the Grand Canyon long before it became a popular tourist destination. The canyon had important spiritual meaning for the Pueblo Indians, and therefore the focus of many pilgrimages.

♥~ The Havasupai Indians still live in the Grand Canyon. Supai Village is only accessible via helicopter or horse and mule trails that climb in and out of the canyon. Tourists can stay in the village and hike and camp in Havasu Canyon, which is part of the Grand Canyon.

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Cole’s favorite fairy tales was The Three Little Pigs and every time we read it, he would ask me to confirm that our house was made of brick. Naturally, I assured him that we were safe and sound inside our brick house. Later, he felt sorry for the wolf who just wanted a little bacon. After all, who doesn’t like bacon. So much for the sensitivity of kids.

Do you have a favorite fairy tale? One of my favorites is Billy Goat Gruff.

Odd Loves Company!

♥~