~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
March 29, 2013

★~ Today’s Quote: The worst blast comes on the Borrowing Days. ~ March Lore

★~ March: Borrowing Days:

The Borrowing Days (or Borrowed Days) are the last three days of March (and sometimes the first three of April, making in all six days). Traditionally, these days are cold and stormy, at a time when we are looking forward to the sweet, warm showers of April.

March borrows of April three days, and they are ill;
April borrows of March again three days of wind and rain.

One of the legends is that a shepherd once promised March a lamb if the month would guarantee good weather. March did so, but when he went to get his promised payment, the shepherd, seeing that there were only three days left in the month and his flock was flourishing, reneged on the agreement. March, in disgust, took his last three days, borrowed three from April, and for the six days sent such terrible weather that the entire flock perished.

March borrows from April
Three days and they are ill;
April returns them back again,
Three days and they are rain.

March does from April gain
Three days and they’re in rain,
Returned by April in ‘s bad kind,
Three days and they’re in wind.

And Remember  “Beware the blackthorn winter” —leave those winter clothes in your closet for a bit longer.

‘Blackthorn winter’ is the traditional name for a period of warm days at the end of March or beginning of April – which fools the blackthorn (and other trees) into blooming – followed by a period of cold weather. If the cold is severe enough, the blossoms are liable to be blasted then and there, and for fruit-bearing trees, this would be a catastrophe.

★~ Mom-and-Pop Business Owner Day:

A day to celebrate small, family-run businesses, and the hard work and perseverance it takes to make them great– the independent bookstores, the B&B’s, the diners . Scroll down to “Did You Know” to read about how some of America’s most popular brands started off as mom-and-pop shops.

★~ Smoke and Mirrors Day:

The Phyllida also known as Leaf insects is a master of smoke and mirrors! The insect uses camouflage to take on the appearance of a leaf. They do this so accurately that predators often aren’t able to distinguish
them from real leaves. In some species the edge of the leaf insect’s body even has the appearance of bite marks. To further confuse predators, when the leaf insect walks, it rocks back and forth, to mimica real leaf being blown by the wind.

★~ Lemon Chiffon Cake Day:

Lemon chiffon cake is a light, refreshing, lemon-flavored dessert that is perfect for any occasion. The secret to its texture is to beat the egg whites separately from the yolks. The recipe also calls for vegetable oil instead of butter or conventional shortening. The result is a fluffy and moist cake!

Chiffon cake was invented by Harry Baker in 1927, and it was the first type of new cake to be invented in over a century. Mr. Baker often sold his cakes to the Brown Derby restaurant in Los Angeles. In 1947, he sold his chiffon cake recipe to General Mills and its popularity spread nationwide.

Celebrate today with Lemon Chiffon cake!

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1848 – For the first time in recorded history, Niagara Falls stopped flowing. An ice jam in the Niagara river above the rim of the falls caused the water to stop. Tours were canceled … and  ticket prices were refunded.

♥~ 1886 – John Pemberton brewed the first batch of Coca-Cola in his backyard in Georgia. I believe this should be a national holiday!!

♥~ The juries in two famous murder trials reached verdicts on March 29th, 1971. One jury convicted Lt. William Calley of murdering Vietnamese civilians in 1968, in what became known as the My Lai massacre. The other jury recommended death sentences for cult leader Charles Manson and three of his female followers.

♥~ 1917 – Man o’ War, the famous American race horse, was foaled.

♥~ 1937 – The radio serial, Our Gal Sunday, debuted. The question, “Can this girl from a small mining town in the West find happiness as the wife of a wealthy and titled Englishman?” was asked each day as the show continued for the next 22 years!

♥~ 1959 – Some Like It Hot with Marilyn Monroe and Jack Lemmon was released in the U.S.

♥~ 1992 – Democratic presidential front-runner Bill Clinton acknowledged experimenting with marijuana “a time or two” while attending Oxford University, adding, “…I didn’t like it and I didn’t inhale.”

★~Born Today:

[youtube]http://youtu.be/rKn9pB8YzKI[/youtube]

♥~ 1927 ~ John McLaughlin, TV host (“The McLaughlin Group”)

♥~ 1936 ~ Judith Guest, Author

♥~ 1943 ~ Eric Idle, Comedian (“Monty Python”)

♥~ 1943 ~Vangelis, Composer (“Chariots of Fire”)

♥~ 1955 ~ Earl Campbell, Football Hall of Famer

♥~ 1961~ Amy Sedaris, Comedian, actress (“Strangers With Candy”)

♥~ 1967 ~ John Popper, Rock musician (Blues Traveler),

♥~ 1968 ~  Lucy Lawless, Actress (“Xena: Warrior Princess”)

★~ Did You Know: Big Brands that began as Mom and Pop shops. 

♥~ Whole Foods: The original Whole Foods (WFM) was an ordinary neighborhood grocery store in Austin, Texas — the brainchild of John Mackey, who along with his girlfriend, Rene Lawson, and two other local businessmen. In 1981, a year after they opened their supermarket dedicated to natural foods, a flash flood destroyed the store. But members of the local community came together to rebuild it, and 10 years later Whole Foods Market went public. Today, there are more than 330 Whole Foods Markets.

♥~Yankee Candle Company: The next time you luxuriously inhale the scent of your Yankee Candle, enjoy this fun fact: The scented candle that launched it all in 1969 was handcrafted out of melted crayons. Seventeen-year-old Mike Kittredge was too broke to buy his mother a Christmas present, so he made her one. Some neighbors were impressed, and asked if he would make any for sale: He did so, used the proceeds to purchase wax in bulk to make more candles, and, with help from a couple of high school friends, founded the company that would eventually be taken private in 2007 in a $1.6 billion deal.

♥~ Wrigley: In 1891, William Wrigley Jr.’s gave away free gum to attract customers to his general store in Chicago. But he soon realized that the gum was more popular than necessities like soap and baking powder, and took the opportunity to start producing his own. His biggest challenge was to break the then-prevalent stereotype that only women chewed gum. He started to market his product to the younger people, and then during the 1893 depression, created two brands that people still enjoy today: Wrigley’s Spearmint and Juicy Fruit. He later mortgaged everything he owned to fund an advertising campaign that got the whole nation chewing.

♥~ Mattel: Long before Mattel (MAT) created the iconic Barbie doll, it was a company of three people making picture frames in Southern California garage. But it was the doll furniture they made out of their scrap wood that started gaining them popularity, and eventually led them to change their focus to toy production. Uke-A-Doodle, a toy ukulele, was the company’s first hit. The company went on to produce toys for the popular “Mickey Mouse Club,” before creating the toy that changed girlhood: Barbie.

♥~ “Pete’s Subway” was one ambitious student’s attempt to fund his medical school expenses. It failed in that regard, because his passions changed as his venture kept growing. Fred DeLuca partnered with Dr. Peter Buck to open the first Subway sandwich shop in Bridgeport, Conn. When he decided not to go back to school, DeLuca and Buck set a goal of opening 32 subway stores within 10 years. They eventually realized that they would have to franchise their humble restaurant in order to reach that goal, and today serve sandwiches across the globe.

♥~ Ben & Jerry’s:  Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield were childhood friends who couldn’t figure out what to do after college (in Bens case, after dropping out), and decided to go into business together. With little experience as entrepreneurs, they split the $5 cost of taking a correspondence class from Penn State University in ice cream-making, then renovated an old gas station in Burlington, Vermont, into an ice cream parlor, where they created and sold the chunk-filled, swirl-laden ice cream flavors they themselves had always craved. That first venture failed to turn a profit, but their second try took off, and today, their many distinctive flavors are available worldwide.

♥~ The Body Shop:  Anita Roddick was raised by a frugal mother who had experienced the hardships of World War II. She had also travelled the world, learning various homemade beauty rituals. So when she wanted to make a livelihood for herself, she combined the two experiences to create a “green” business in England. Her brand struck a chord in the 1970s, when Europe was becoming more environmentally-friendly, and now her stores with their trademark green decor are famous worldwide. But few know that the green paint color was chosen to hide the mold on the walls of Roddick’s humble first establishment.

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Our Mom and Pop business Camp Run-A-Pup , has been tail-wagging strong for over 12 years. While we certainly miss Pop, our camp team is strong, with Son taking on more responsibility each year—and, of course, whatever would we do without our friend and helper, Vickie. Mom and Pop businesses flourish because of the support of their customers and clients and without a doubt, Camp-Run-A-Pup has the best customers-friends ever …two legged and four!!

Peep report coming soon. A FUN dinner out last night, house full of campers, and the desire to move a little slower and enjoy the sunshine has put me a bit behind. This might be the theme for the weekend–easy peasey, light and breezy, stop and soak up the sunshine…

What are your plans for the weekend?

Odd Loves Company!