~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
May 20, 2014

★~ Today’s Quote: “A little magic can take you a long way.”  Roald Dahl 

★~ Levi Day:

In 1873 Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis received a patent for work pants reinforced with metal rivets, the pants that came to be known as “blue jeans.” Read Good to know for more information about the iconic Levi jeans.

★~ Millionaire Day:

POOF! You are a millionaire  . . . now what?  What will you spend your million dollars on?

★~ Pick Strawberries Day: 

Wild strawberries were discovered by Europeans in Virginia when their ships landed there in 1588. Native Americans began to cultivate the berries as early as 1643. Today, California grows more than 80 percent of the country’s strawberries and can produce 21 tons of strawberries on just one acre of land. Now that’s a lot of daiquiris!

Strawberry season is just getting started, so it’s time to stock up on your favorite shortcake topper and smoothie ingredient. Slather on some sunblock, gather the kids, and head to the strawberry fields to pick a few baskets and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Plan B: Go to your nearest Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, or Farmers’ Market, and buy some juicy red strawberries.

★~ Quiche Lorraine Day:

Quiche Lorraine! Named after the Lorraine region of France, and borrowing from “kuchen,” the German word for cake, which was eventually altered to “kische,” the quiche Lorraine is a hallmark French dish that dates back to the 16th century and is still served in France as a light lunch, available at boulangeries, or a first course, or hors d’oeuvre, at dinnertime.

Quiche Lorraine
Greek Spinach Quiche
Crustless Quiche
Mozzarella, Tomato & Basil Quiche

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1916 ’s: Norman Rockwell first cover on The Saturday Evening Post appeared. The illustration was of a young boy having to care for his baby sibling while his little buddies left him and went off to play ball. The forlorn child pushing a baby carriage tugged at the heart strings of all who saw it.

♥~ 1927: ‘Lucky’ Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field in New York aboard the small airplane Spirit of St. Louis, en route to Paris, France. Thirty-three and one-half hours later, Charles A. Lindbergh arrived at his destination — and flew into history.

♥~ 1978:  Mavis Hutchinson, Mavis Hutchison is a South African athlete. Her career began as a race walker, and her first record was in the 50-mile walk known as the Rand Daily Mail Big Walk in 1963. At the age of  53, Mavis made it to New York City to become the first woman to run across America. The 3,000-mile trek took her 69 days. She ran an average of 45 miles each day.

♥~ 1988: Champ bull rider Lane Frost became the first cowboy to ride Red Rock to the 8-second bell. In the previous eight years, 312 cowboys had tried unsuccessfully to ride Red, the rodeo circuit’s toughest bull.

♥~ 1999: Robbie Knievel jumped a 200-foot-wide chasm of the Grand Canyon with his motorcycle. The 37-year-old’s previous world record was 223 feet.

★~Born Today:

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♥~ 1908 : (Jimmy) James (Maitland) Stewart Academy Award-winning actor: Philadelphia Story [1940]; The Glenn Miller Story, It’s a Wonderful Life, Harvey, Rear Window, Anatomy of a Murder, Bell, Book and Candle, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Vertigo, The Man from Laramie.

♥~1944: Joe (John Robert) Cocker singer, songwriter: With a Little Help from My Friends, She Came in through the Bathroom Window, The Letter, Up Where We Belong [w/Jennifer Warnes], You are So Beautiful, When the Night Comes, Cry Me a River

♥~ 1946: Cher (Cherilyn Sarkisian LaPierre) singer: group: Sonny [Bono] & Cher: I Got You Babe, The Beat Goes On, All I Really Want to Do; solo: Bang Bang, Gypsys, Tramps and Thieves, The Way of Love, Dark Lady; Academy Award-winning actress: Moonstruck [1987]; The Witches of Eastwick, Silkwood, Mask

♥~1977: Matt Czuchry, actor,  perhaps best known for his role as Logan in “Gilmore Girls.” His additional television credits include “Friday Night Lights,” “Veronica Mars,” “7th Heaven,” “The Practice”, “Young Americans and “The Good Wife”

★~ Good to Know: 

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♥~ May 20th is the official birthday of Blue Jeans as it marks the day that Levi Strauss patented the rivets no.139,121.

♥~ Denim was first worn by workers in the 18th century and was a wardrobe staple during the gold rush because of its durability.

♥~ Levi Strauss originally wanted to sell his denim material to miners to make tents and wagon covers.

♥~ Levi Strauss never wore a pair of jeans during his lifetime. In 1873, when Levi’s were first created, they were pants for laboring men, not mature, wealthy businessmen. But Strauss insisted that the pants be of the highest quality, even though they were workwear.

♥~ American Soldiers in World War II wore jeans when they were off-duty and in doing this introduced them to the world.

♥~ ‘Denim’ is an Americanisation of the French word ‘serge de Nimes’ and the word ‘Jeans’ is derived from the French word ‘Genes’

♥~ Levi’s jeans sometimes have orange stitching, which was originally designed to match the copper rivets first used in jeans by Nevada tailor Jacob Davis.

♥~ One out of 10 red Tabs on the back pocket of a pair of Levi’s jeans is a blank red Tab and does not include the name Levi’s. Check your red Tab and see if your pair is one of them!

♥~ Levi’s receives countless requests from customers asking to help identify if their Levi’s are a collector’s item. If you want to know how old your Levi’s jeans are, send a photo of them to the Levi’s historianbit.ly/lRoafK

♥~ Iconic movies such as Rebel without a Cause and The Wild One first made jeans popular with teenagers, a demographic that was only starting to emerge as a distinct group in the 1950s.

♥~ Indigo dye was first used for jeans because of its durability and ability to hide dirt when not washed.

♥~ Americans own, on average, 7 pairs of wearable jeans. Americans buy about 450 million pairs of jeans each year.

♥~ The YKK that appears on many zippers stands for Yoshida Kogyo Kabushikikaisha. The company, Yoshida Industries Limited, makes 90% of the world’s zippers across 52 countries.

T♥~ he world’s oldest pair of jeans is dubbed the “XX”, these Levi’s brand jeans were made in 1879 and are stored in a guarded fire-proof safe at Levi Strauss & Co. Archives in San Francisco, Calif. Today, they’re worth over $150,000.

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I think it is interesting that Levi’s were patented on May 20, 1873, and 105 years later, on May 20, 1978, Lane Frost rode the impossible to ride bull Red Rock. My bet is Frost was not wearing Lucky Brand jeans despite his good fortune. There  are often connections to dates in history on El Morno some more obvious than others.

Hope everyone has a terrific Tuesday and if it isn’t terrific feel free to rant. It’s rant Tuesday!