~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
February 14,2013

★~ Today’s Quote:  All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.  Charles M. Schulz

★~ Valentine’s Day:

^^^^Click on tree to play your card! ^^^^

The history of Valentine’s Day–and the story of its patron saint–is shrouded in mystery. We do know that February has long been celebrated as a month of romance, and that St. Valentine’s Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition.

The Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.

Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages, though written Valentine’s didn’t begin to appear until after 1400. The oldest known valentine still in existence today was a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. (The greeting is now part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London, England.) Several years later, it is believed that King Henry V hired a writer named John Lydgate to compose a valentine note to Catherine of Valois.

In addition to the United States, Valentine’s Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France and Australia. In Great Britain, Valentine’s Day began to be popularly celebrated around the 17th century. By the middle of the 18th, it was common for friends and lovers of all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes, and by 1900 printed cards began to replace written letters due to improvements in printing technology. Ready-made cards were an easy way for people to express their emotions in a time when direct expression of one’s feelings was discouraged. Cheaper postage rates also contributed to an increase in the popularity of sending Valentine’s Day greetings.

Americans probably began exchanging hand-made valentines in the early 1700s. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland began selling the first mass-produced valentines in America. Howland, known as the “Mother of the Valentine,” made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as “scrap.” Today, according to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated 1 billion Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year, making Valentine’s Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year. (An estimated 2.6 billion cards are sent for Christmas.) Women purchase approximately 85 percent of all valentines.

★~ National Organ Donor Day:

Donate Life encourages us to heart one another in a different way on Valentine’s Day, by asking us to sign our organ donor card. You can register now by clicking.

♥~ International Quirkyalone Day:

Yeah, it’s Valentine’s Day too, but if you’re unattached, today’s also the day to declare your independence and celebrate you.  These single-serving treats are perfect for numero uno.

Single Serving Baked Bacon, Egg & Cheese
S’mores Oatmeal for One
Creamy Macaroni & Cheese for One
Hot Cocoa for One
Easy Omelete for One
Vegetable Stir-Fry for One
Single Strawberry Daiquiri

♥~ National Crème filled chocolate day:

It’s Valentine’s Day. Enjoy what ever kind of chocolate makes your heart happy. I was gifted with a 2 pound box of Sees chocolate and my Brother-In-law, the chocolate maker, brought Cole and I two lovely boxes of chocolates filled with gooey goodness. I’m in chocolate heaven!

★~ Today in History:

♥~ Roswell, New Mexico’s lawmaker’s,  proposal to celebrates every second Tuesday in February as “Extraterrestrial Culture Day” won approval in the House.  The state hopes that by setting aside a day to honor these aliens, it will enhance relationships among all citizens of the cosmos, known and unknown.

♥~ 1859 – Oregon was admitted to the Union as the 33rd state. The state animal is the beaver,  state nickname: Beaver State; state bird: western meadowlark; state flower: Oregon grape.  “She flies with her own wings” (Alis volat Propriis) is Oregon’s state motto. The state capital Salem,

♥~ 1912 – Arizona became the 48th state of the Union. From its beautiful deserts come the state bird: the cactus wren; the state flower: the saguaro cactus’ flower; state capital Phoenix. From the Grand Canyon to the Painted Desert, Arizona is proof of its state motto: Ditat Deus (God enriches).

♥~ 1929 – Seven men were shot to death in a Chicago garage, in what became known as the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, the most famous gangster-related murders of the 1920s.  The victims were associated with the “Bugs” Moran gang in Chicago.  Rival gang leader Al Capone was blamed for the killings.

♥~ 1979 – Twenty-year-old rookie Don Maloney of the New York Rangers scored his first goal in the National Hockey League. It came on his first ever NHL shot!

♥~ 2009 – Mexico City set a new record when nearly 40,000 people locked lips in the city center for the world’s largest group kiss. “We did it! Long live Mexico,” said Mexican singer-actress Susana Zavaleta, who serenaded the crowd before the kiss with the classic Mexican ballad, Besame Mucho, or Kiss Me a Lot, also the name of the event.

 

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1859 – George Ferris Gets A Google Doodle ^^ for his birthday! George Washington Gale Ferris, American engineer and inventor. Among his many accomplishments as a civil engineer, Ferris is best remembered as the inventor of the Ferris wheel, which he developed for the World’s Columbian Exposition at Chicago, IL, in 1893. Built on the Midway Plaisance, the 250-foot-diameter Ferris wheel (with 36 coaches, each capable of carrying 40 passengers) was one of the fairs greatest attractions.

♥~ 1894 Jack Benny (Benjamin Kubelsky) violin-playing, perennial-39-year-old comedian of radio, television and vaudeville.

♥~ 1934 – Florence Henderson opera singer, actress: The Brady Bunch

♥~ 1960 – Meg Tilly Actress, The Big Chill, Agnes of God

♥~ 1972 –  Rob Thomas, Rock singer (Matchbox 20)

★~ Did You Know:  If you want information about candy and flowers click on EL Morno–St Valentines Day 2012. This year… we remember back to when Chicago was about speakeasies, boot legging and Al Capone…The St. Valentine Day Massacre.

♥~ Torrio, with Capone, arranged the killing of Dion O’Banion in 1924, Then Capone arranged the killing of O’Banion’s successor, Hymie Weiss (’26). After a police detective then killed Weiss’s successor, Vincent “Schemer” Drucci (’27), leadership of the North Side gang devolved on George “Bugs” Moran. When Moran had the idiot idea of hijacking Capone shipments of top quality booze (Old Log Cabin) from Detroit, Capone set up one of his signature killings.

♥~ Although Moran maintained a business headquarters in the Loop, and his gang generally hung out about two miles north at the Wigwam, a bar in the Marigold Hotel, his booze warehouse remained the focus of gang activity. It occupied a garage (for the gang’s beer trucks) at 2122 North Clark, on the near North Side, the sign outside reading “S.M.C. Cartage.”

♥~ Capone arranged for some never-identified free-lance hijackers to sell Moran at least one load of Old Log Cabin at a good price, with promise of more to come. Then the hijackers offered a really big load at the excellent price of $57 a case, to be delivered to Moran at the Clark Street garage on February 14, 1929—a date that found Capone still vacationing at his Palm Island, Florida, home. Indeed, Capone had been summoned on that St. Valentine’s Day to the office of the Dade County solicitor for a 12:30 meeting with a New York assistant DA investigating the recent murder of Frankie Yale (which Capone had, in fact, orchestrated).

♥~  Lookouts had moved into rooming houses at 2119 and 2135 North Clark, across the street from the garage/warehouse. During the early morning, the watchers saw seven men (and one dog) drift into the place, all there by around 10 am. Probably the last to arrive was Albert R. Weinshank, who ran a speakeasy and was Moran’s point man for muscling into Chicago’s cleaning and dyeing industry. He bore a considerable resemblance to Moran in his chunky, middle-height build, and that day wore a hat and gray overcoat that matched Moran’s usual winter garb. The watchers could easily mistake him for Moran—who, in fact had not yet arrived.

♥~ About 10:30, a Cadillac that looked exactly like a detective squad car, complete with a siren, running-board gong and gun rack behind the driver’s seat, pulled up, having just endured a slight fender-bender with a delivery truck. Four men got out, leaving the driver at the wheel, and entered the garage. Two of the four wore police uniforms. This may have been seen by Moran, himself, plus two of his henchmen, all three approaching the garage when the Cadillac arrived and the “police” went in. All three naturally skedaddled.

♥~  Inside, the seven were lined up against a wall and blasted with sub-machine gun and shotgun fire. All but one died instantly, the other dying in the hospital early that afternoon, refusing to tell the cops anything. No one hurt the dog; but Highball wasn’t talking either.

♥~ Witnesses saw four men exit the garage, the two in civilian clothes with their hands in the air, covered by the two in uniform. All four drove off in the Cadillac, soon found—partly dismantled and partly burned—in a rented garage about two miles away, next to the Circus Café, headquarters of Claude “Screwy” Maddox, a Capone ally.

♥~ The two sub-machineguns that ballistics identified as the murder weapons were found ten months later in the possession of Fred R. “Killer” Burke, when he senselessly shot a policeman, following a trifling auto accident in Saint Joseph, Michigan. Burke was a flake with no known ties to Capone. He died years later in a Michigan prison, never tried for the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.

♥~ In fact, no one ever stood trial for it.

(I am really glad they did not kill the dog)

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I asked the question, “What do you love?” on Facebook last night and it might just be the age of my Facebook friends but warm, soft, socks were high on the list. To quote friend Adelaide, ” …. because there is nothing better than warm, dry feet…” Here is a tip for you from another sock lover…always carry a pair of socks in your pocket because nothing warms you up quicker than a nice pair of socks. For example, if you are at a movie and your feet become cold, just slip on your socks and you will be warm and toasty.” Even tho, I wear Ugg boots from October to April, I thought this was good advice. Another friend shared that Target sells knee high, soft socks for $5.00.  And on that note I will wish you a Happy Valentines Day and ask the question….

What do you love…?

Odd Loves Company!