★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥
February 3, 2014

★~ Today’s Quote: Worrying is like praying for what you don’t want. (unknown)

★~ Carrot Cake Day:

Carrot Cake has been around since the Middle Ages. At that time, sugar and other sweeteners were rare and very expensive, so people used sweet vegetables to flavor their puddings.

This technique became obsolete for several hundred years, but resurfaced in the 20th century. During World War II, many luxury foods and household staples including sugar were rationed. To appease the cravings for sweet desserts, recipes for carrot puddings, carrot-filled pies, and carrot cakes were promoted.

FYI: The first wild carrots were red, white, yellow and purple. It took 16th-century Dutch farmers crossing a red with a yellow to honor the House of Orange, the royal family, to create the orange roots we enjoy in one of America’s favorite cakes today.

Carrot Cake is a favorite of El Morno Friend Debbie’s son and she will attest to the fact that it’s  just as good without the walnuts.

Carrot Cake recipe

★~ Cordova Ice Worm Day:

In 1898 a young man named E.J. “Stroller” White was struggling to make it as a journalist in Dawson, Alaska. He got a job with the Klondike Nugget on the condition that he increase sales. Luck was with him, because a huge storm soon hit the area, and in the wake of the storm White excitedly announced that a new creature had been discovered: ice worms.

The ice worms that White described were quite bizarre. Being cold-loving creatures, the extreme chill of the recent storm had apparently caused them to crawl out of their holes in a nearby glacier in order to “bask in the unusual frigidity in such numbers that their chirping was seriously interfering with the slumbers of Dawson’s inhabitants.”

The worms soon became the talk of the town and sales of the Klondike Nugget soared as White continued to write about them. People went out on expeditions to find them, carefully listening for their characteristic chirping. And bartenders in town began serving a drink called ‘Ice Worm Cocktails.’

As the years passed and the ice worms retreated back into their home inside the glacier, the tiny creatures became something of a legend, often depicted on local postcards.

Every year the town of Cordova, Alaska celebrates the ice worm with a winter carnival that is held during the last week of January or the first week of February. The festival includes the election of an ice worm king and queen.

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1959 –The Day The Music Died – Singers Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper were killed when their plane crashed near Clear Lake, Iowa, shortly after their last concert at the nearby Surf Ballroom.

♥~ 1971- America’s first man in space, Alan Shepard, landed on the lunar surface with Edgar Mitchell during the Apollo 14 mission.

♥~ 1973 – The No. 1 Billboard Hit was “Crocodile Rock,”  by Elton John. The single was the singer’s first No. 1 song  in the United States.

★~Born Today:

♥~ Charles Lewis Jensen – My dear Daddy and grandaddy extrodinair. Bird watcher, Genealogist, Fig Newton Lover.

♥~ 1874 – Gertrude Stein –  When she was 30 years old, she moved to Paris and lived there for almost the rest of her life. She once said, “America is my country and Paris is my hometown.” She covered the walls of her house in Paris with paintings by Cézanne, Picasso, Renoir, Gauguin, and others. Her house became known as “The Salon,” and writers and artists came from all over to get advice and encouragement from her. Ernest Hemingway once said, “Gertrude was always right.”

♥~ 1894 – Norman Rockwell artist: widely known for his realistic, homespun cover art for The Saturday Evening Post; died Nov 8, 1978

♥~ 1950 – Morgan Fairchild (Patsy McClenny) actress: Dallas, Flamingo Road, North and South, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Writer’s Block

★~ Good to Know: Facts about February 

♥~ February was named after the ancient Roman purification ritual ‘Februa’.

♥~ Until 713BC, the Romans had no names for January and February, on the grounds that the winter months did not deserve them. Or something like that.

♥~ Until Julius Caesar’s changes in 45BC, February was the only month with an even number of days.

♥~ ‘February’ is an anagram of ‘bare fury’ (if you are feeling angry) or ‘bury fear’ (if you are brave)

♥~ In Old English, February was called ‘Solmonath’ (mud month) or ‘Kalemonath’ (cabbage month).

♥~ February is the only month that can pass without a full moon. This last happened in 1999 and will next happen in 2018.

♥~ Much Ado About Nothing is Shakespeare’s only play naming February: “You have such a February face, So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness.”

♥~ Because of calendar change, Sweden and Finland had 30 days in February in 1712.

♥~ The US White Pages phone directory lists 57 people with the surname February. Of all months, only September (also 57) has so few.

♥~ Mercury in Retrograde. February 6, 2014 to the 27th. More about this on Thursday

♥~  The birthstone for February is amethyst which is purple quartz. Amethyst was a symbol of royalty in the Middle Ages. It also symbolizes clear-headedness and quick-wittedness.

♥~ The flower for the month of February is the iris which is Greek for rainbow. The iris represents faith, wisdom and hope. An alternate flower for February is the violet. It represents faithfulness, modesty and virtue.

♥~ Aquarius and Pisces are the astrological signs for February. Birthdays from February 1st through the 18th fall under the sign of Aquarius. February 19th through the 29th birthdays fall under the sign of Pisces.

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I enjoyed the Super Bowl Commercials last night, did you?  Did you have a favorite commercial? I really liked the Steer ad, and of-course the Budweiser, the Doritos ads were great, and I’m pretty sure I need Geico insurance. State Farm is so boring, Coke the best!  Renée Fleming sung beautifully and the half-tine show was pretty good. Except for the actual game, I would say it was a good Super Bowl.

Have a Merry Monday!

Odd Loves Company!