~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
January 25, 2014

★~ Today’s Quote: The snowdrop and primrose our woodlands adorn, and violets bathe in the wet o’ the morn. ~Robert Burns

★~ Burns Night Super:

The annual celebratory tribute to the life, works and spirit of the great Scottish poet, Robert Burns (1759-1796). Every year on the anniversary of his birth, people all across the world pay tribute to his legacy with a traditional Burns Night Supper.

Robert Burns rose from humble beginnings, wrote his first poem at the age of fifteen, and published his first book of verses, “Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect,” at the age of twenty-seven. He became instantly popular among the upper classes and was also celebrated as the poet of the common man. Perhaps one of his most famous contributions to modern-day culture is the song, “Auld Lang Syne”!

Some of the more colorful Burns Night traditions include: a bagpipe procession in honor of the haggis, men dressed in kilts, a designated whisky-bearer, recitations of Burns’ poetry, and a toast to the lassies.

Recite one of Rabbie’s verses, sing one of his songs, or try a bit of haggis to celebrate Burns along side Scotland.

★~ Opposite Day: 

Rooted in playground tradition Opposite Day is a fictional holiday, in which everything you do or say means exactly the opposite. Often used at the end of a sentence to negate what you just said. “You look nice…. on Opposite Day!” However, obviously this is wrong, because if everything is opposite, than opposite day cannot exist. And no, it can’t go the other way, obviously, since there is no opposite day.

Wishing you a sad un-Opposite Day.

★~ Irish Coffee Day:

Irish coffee is a cocktail made with black coffee, sugar, Irish whiskey, and whipped cream.

Joe Sheridan, a bartender at Foynes Airbase in Ireland, invented the drink in 1942. A group of passengers stopped at the bar after a miserably cold eighteen-hour journey across the Atlantic Ocean. Joe brewed hot coffee, added a splash of whiskey, and offered the concoction to the travelers. According to legend, one of the passengers asked him, “Is this Brazilian coffee?” and Joe laughed and said, “No, that’s Irish coffee.”

Ten years later, Jack Koeppler, the owner of the Buena Vista bar in San Francisco, and travel writer Stanton Delaplane teamed up to bring Joe’s famous Irish coffee to the States. They experimented for months before they got the taste just right and put it on the menu. The popularity of the drink soon spread nationwide and it’s been a favorite ever since.

6 ounces brewed coffee
2 sugar cubes
1 1/2 ounces Irish whiskey (one jigger)
heavy cream, lightly whipped

Directions:

Fill glass with very hot water to pre-heat, then empty.
Pour hot coffee into hot glass until it is about three-quarters full.
Drop in two cocktail sugar cubes.
Stir until the sugar is thoroughly dissolved.
Add full jigger of Irish Whiskey for proper taste and body.
Top with a collar of whipped cream by pouring gently over a spoon.
Enjoy it while piping hot.

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1533 – King Henry the 8th secretly married his second wife, Anne Boleyn. Henry’s desire to end his first marriage and take a new wife led to a major split with the Catholic Church.

♥~ 1858 – After Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March” was played at the wedding  ceremony of Princess Victoria, daughter of England’s Queen Victoria, many future couples chose to use the song at their weddings making it the “official wedding march.”

♥~ 1870 – G.D. Dows patented the ornamental soda fountain. The marble fountain featured a double stream draft arm and sold for $225!

♥~ 1905 – The world’s largest cut diamond, The Cullinan (3,106 carats, 621.2 grams or 1 and 1/4 pounds) was discovered in the Premier Mine, near Pretoria, South Africa.

♥~ 1915 – Alexander Graham Bell in New York spoke to his assistant (Thomas Watson) in San Francisco, inaugurating the first transcontinental telephone service. Click for fascination phone facts.

♥~ 1964 – The Beatles reached the #1 spot on the music charts, as their hit single, I Want to Hold Your Hand, grabbed the top position in Cash Boxmagazine, as well as on the list of hits on scores of radio stations. It was the first #1 hit for the Beatles.

♥~ 1984 – Apple’s Macintosh computer went on sale. Price tag: $2,500.

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1759 –  Robert Burns beloved Scottish poet. See more under Burns Supper

♥~ 1882 – Virginia Woolf author: Mrs. Dalloway, Orlando, Golven;

♥~ 1938 – Blues, soul, and gospel singer Etta James.

★~Good to Know: 

Some new ways to describe the cold.

It’s so cold the milked cows gave icicles.

Cold as blixen

I hasn’t been this cold since eighteen hundred and froze to death (one of my favorites)

As cold as Finnegan’s feet they day they buried him.

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I’m dashing out the door to breakfast be back in a bit to catch up. Life’s run a muck in a good way. More soon.

Odd Loves Company!

♥

 

P.S. The flowers? I’m taking a virtual vacation over the next ten days. I’ll tell you about after breakfast. 😀