★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
May 30, 2013

★~Today’s Quote: 

This old world that we’re livin’ in
Is might hard to beat.
You get a thorn with every rose
But—ain’t the roses sweet? —FRANK STANTON

★~ Water A Flower Day!

April showers bring May flowers!

Without much effort on my part May has brought some beautiful blooms to my yard!  Show and tell time!

Cole bought me this Azalea bush for Mother’s Day about 4 years ago, and while the bush stays pretty small, the flowers seem to grow bigger every year! 

My lilacs bloom late, but they are worth waiting for…my yard smells so good! 

Our peony bush has been flowering on the side of my house for over 25 years, maybe longer.  It requires nothing more than to be admired.

★~Mint Julep Day:

On the first Saturday in May we celebrate the Kentucky Derby. But on May 30 we celebrate “National Mint Julep Day,” the signature drink of the Run for the Roses. Historians believe the mint julep originated in the 1700s, somewhere along the east coast of the United States. It first appeared in print, however, in 1803, described as a “dram of spirituous liquor that has mint in it, taken by Virginians in the morning.”

Furthermore…

“The preparation of the quintessence of gentlemanly beverages can be described only in like terms. A mint julep is not the product of a FORMULA. It is a CEREMONY and must be performed by a gentleman possessing a true sense of the artistic, a deep reverence for the ingredients and a proper appreciation of the occasion. It is a rite that must not be entrusted to a novice, a statistician, nor a Yankee. It is a heritage of the old South, an emblem of hospitality and a vehicle in which noble minds can travel together upon the flower-strewn paths of happy and congenial thought.

So far as the mere mechanics of the operation are concerned, the procedure, stripped of its ceremonial embellishments, can be described as follows.”  Intrigued? Click for the recipe 

★~ Back in the Days

[youtube]http://youtu.be/QTEIWK9CaEs[/youtube]

♥~ 1431- Joan of Arc was 19 years old when she was burned at the stake as a witch in Rouen, France but declared innocent 25 years later.  Joan of Arc has been portrayed in more than 20 films; the first was made by director Georges Méliès in 1899. And she’s the subject of more than 20,000 books.  St. Joan was canonized in 1920 by Pope Benedict XV.  My guess (and I did not know her…) is that Joan would have declined being made a saint by the same church that burned her at the stake.

♥ ~ 1539 – Hernando de Soto landed in Florida with nine ships, 632 men, 223 horses, and 13 pigs.

♥ ~ 1783 – The Pennsylvania Evening Post, was the first daily paper published in the United States. It was published by Benjamin Towne in Philadelphia, PA

♥ ~ 1848 – W.G. Young of Baltimore, MD patented the ice-cream freezer.

♥~ 1872 – Mahlom Loomis, patented his wireless telegraphing inventions (whilst working as a dentist in Washington DC).

♥ ~ 1927  – Toronto attorney Charles Miller set off the goofiest race in history when he died and willed his $568,000 estate to the Toronto woman who could give birth to the most children in the ten years following his death. Ten years later, on this date in 1937, four women split the purse in the so-called Stork Derby. Each had produced nine children.

♥~ 1933 – Sally Rand made a name for herself as she introduced her exotic and erotic fan dance to audiences at Chicago’s Century of Progress Exposition.

♥ ~ 1975 – Alice Cooper received a gold record for the romantic album, Welcome to My Nightmare. Alice’s real name was Vincent Furnier. He changed his name to Alice Cooper in 1966 and was known primarily for his bizarre stage antics. He appeared in the film Prince of Darkness in 1987 and had 11 hits on the pop/rock charts in the 1970s and 1980s, including a pair of million-selling singles: I Never Cry and Poison.

♥~ 1988 –  REM released Green, arguably one of R.E.M.’s best albums and one that pretty much made them, for a time, the biggest band in the world.

★~ Born Today:

♥ ~ 1908 –  Mel Blanc ‘the man of a thousand voices’: cartoon voice: Barney Rubble, Dino the Dinosaur, Bugs Bunny, Tweety Bird, Daffy Duck, Yosemite Sam, Quick Draw McGraw; actor: Jack Benny Show [radio]

♥ ~ 1909 –  Benny Goodman Welcome to My Nightmare clarinetist, bandleader: Jersey Bounce, Taking a Chance on Love, Let’s Dance, Sing, Sing, Sing, Stompin’ at the Savoy, Alexander’s Ragtime Band, St. Louis Blues, Goodnight My Love, One O’Clock Jump, Perfidia; Benny Goodman

♥ ~ 1964 –  Wynonna Judd (Christina Claire Ciminella) Grammy Award-winning singer: with her mother, Naomi: The Judds

★~Good to Know: Flowers: Legends and Lore 

♥~ Aster – Because of their wildflower beauty and lush texture, asters have long been considered an enchanted flower. The name is derived from the Greek word for “star,” and the star-like flowers can be found in a rainbow of colors—white, red, pink, purple, lavender, and blue, with mostly yellow centers. According to one legend,  the goddess Astraea, whom Zeus had placed amongst the stars as the constellation Virgo, began to cry when she looked down upon the dark, starless earth. It is said that asters bloomed where her tears fell. In ancient times, it was thought that the odor from an aster’s burning leaves could drive away evil serpents.

♥~ Chrysanthemum – In Celtic folklore, chrysanthemums in the garden were considered a meeting place for the faeries.

♥~ Daffodil – The ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians all regarded the daffodil as the flower of death. Roman soldiers were said to have a sachet of daffodil bulbs among the other items in their sack. If a soldier received a mortal wound, he was instructed to consume several bulbs; and because daffodil bulbs have narcotic toxic properties, the soldier would experience a painless death. In medieval times, there was a legend that if you looked a daffodil and it drooped, it was an omen of death. It is believed that daffodils should never be present at a wedding because they may cause vanity in the bride.

♥~ Daisy – The daisy was once known as “Day’s Eye” by the Anglo-Saxons because it opened and closed with the sun’s rays. According to Celtic legend, the spirits of children who died in childbirth scattered daisies on the earth to cheer their grieving parents. Ancient Romans believed the daisy was once a lovely wood nymph who shrank into a timid daisy when Vertumnus, the god of spring, expressed his love for her. Associated with Venus, the goddess of love, the daisy is commonly used as a lovers’ divination by plucking the petals while chanting “s/he loves me, s/he loves me not.”

♥~ Forget-me-not – An Austrian legend tells of a man and his betrothed walking along the banks of the Danube on the night before their wedding. They saw a small blue flower in the water being swept past them by the river’s currents. The woman cried that such a lovely flower should be lost; so the man jumped into the water to save it, but was swept away. His final act was to throw the flower onto the river bank with the shout “forget me not, my love!”

♥~ Geranium – Ancient legend tells us that the geranium first grew when the Prophet Mohammed hung his shirt on a mallow plant to dry in the sun. Mohammed was so pleased by how well the plant held his shirt up to the sun, he covered the plant with velvety red blossoms that filled the air with a fragrance.

♥~Lilac – According to one Greek legend,  the lilac’s flowers came into being when Spring drove away snow from the fields and raised the sun higher; a rainbow appeared. Spring then gathered sunbeams and rainbow colors and scattered them to Earth. Where white and violet colors fell, small fragrant pale lavender flower bushes appeared; in other places where white colors fell, there were white lilac bushes. The pale lilac was said to bring enchantment and faithfulness. It was believed that a bath in lilac water would enable one to catch a glimpse of a future love.

♥~ Lily of the Valley – In Irish lore, lily of the valley are said to form ladders for faeries to climb to reach the reeds they use to weave their cradles.

♥~Pansy – The legend of the pansy says the flower was originally white but turned bright purple where it had been pierced by Cupid’s arrow.  It is said that, if you stare into a pansy, you can see the face of a loved one. In “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Shakespeare had his characters concoct a love potion from pansy juice which, when applied to a person’s eyelids while sleeping, made the person fall in love with the first living thing they saw upon awakening.

♥~ Rose – From the time of Solomon, the rose has been the flower most closely linked with love.  According to one Greek legend, the rose was created by Chloris, the goddess of flowers. Chloris fashioned the rose from the body of a lifeless nymph she found in the woods. The three Graces encircled the flower and bestowed on it gifts of brightness, charm and joy.

♥~Sunflower – There is a Greek legend about a maiden, who may have been a princess or a water nymph, named Clytie. Clytie fell in love with the sun god, Helios. Helios loved Clytie for a while, then abandoned her for another and left her deserted. Clytie stripped herself and sat naked, with neither food nor drink, for nine days on the rocks, yearning for Helios and watching him ride his chariot across the sky. After nine days the gods took pity on her and transformed her into a sun-flower. It is said that this is why the sunflower keeps it eye on the sun.

♥~ Wedding – The bridal bouquet had its earliest beginnings in antiquity. Greek and Roman brides wore garlands of fresh herbs in their hair to discourage evil spirits from getting close to the couple. During the Victorian era, the flowers in a bridal bouquet were carefully chosen based on each flower’s special meaning. The practice of the bride tossing her bouquet after the wedding ceremony is said to have started in the 14th century, when taking a piece of the bride’s clothing, or something else that belonged to her, was considered good luck. Today, the bouquet is tossed into a group of female guests—it is said that the one who catches it, will be next to marry. The groom’s boutonnière is a nod to medieval times when a knight proudly wore his lady’s “colors” for all to see.

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What about our Awesome Chicago Blackhawks!!  I love Chicago teams when they win! Sorry Detroit.

This video made me laugh really hard, and then I had the sobering thought, what if Cody was camping at my house?  Noooooo.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/N2cJkCjLInQ[/youtube]

Wishing you a terrific Thursday!

Odd Loves Company!