~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
June 21, 2014

★~ Today’s Quote: “Then followed that beautiful season… Summer….Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; and the landscape, Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood.” — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

★~ Summer Solstice 

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“Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumber’d here, While these visions did appear. And this weak and idle theme, No more yielding but a dream, Gentles, do not reprehend: if you pardon, we will mend: And, as I am an honest Puck, If we have unearned luck, Now to ‘scape the serpent’s tongue, We will make amends ere long; Else the Puck a liar call; So, good night unto you all. Give me your hands, if we be friends, And Robin shall restore amends. “ (Shakespeare-Mid Summer Night)

With Puck’s words, the “Midsummer Night’s Dream” ends, but on June 21st, we celebrate the summer solstice.

For those of us who live in the Northern Hemisphere of our planet, we are reaching Midsummer, the peak celebration of the Summertime when the days are longer than the nights. Physically we are experiencing more *light* and since the beginning of time, our ancestors have marked this period with ritual and celebration. As you know, there are thousands of ancient sites created around solstices and equinoxes that were built to honor our connection to the Sun as the source of our light.

It is a time of celebrating the fullness of life and of taking the time to raise our energy to regenerate abundance and manifest our dreams. How can we modern folk do this? Well through doing something symbolic to honor this time. In doing so we are not merely reviving something of the past but rather tapping into something that is eternal. We need not only honor our dependence on the physical Sun but also honor the spiritual fire within each and every one of us. Now that’s reason to celebrate and be grateful!

★~ Skateboarding Day:

Skateboarding originated in the 1940s. According to an urban legend, the idea came from surfers in California who wanted something to “surf” while the water was flat. Today, people all around the world enjoy this recreational action sport, but California remains the epicenter of the skateboard community.

Some of the most popular skateboarding tricks are aerials, ollies, grinds, kickflips, and spins. The annual X Games competition features some of the most accomplished skateboarders in the world. In 1999, Tony Hawk became the first skater to land a “900,” which requires two and a half revolutions with the skateboard.

Don’t have a skateboard at home?  Well, you could take the wheels off those rollerblades hiding in your closet and slap em on the bottom of your tabletop ironing board. No?  Ok, maybe just go to the park and skip saying, “Gosh dangit those kids on skate boards will be the death of me…”

★~  Peaches and Cream Day:

The peach is a drupe, similar to the cherry, plum, or any fruit with a hard stone. Recipe for celebrating today: get one large fresh peach—peeled, pitted, and sliced—one teaspoon of brown sugar, two tablespoons of sour cream, and one tablespoon of chopped pecans.  Place the sliced peach in a small serving dish.  Sprinkle with brown sugar, and spoon sour cream on top. Sprinkle with pecans (optional, of course).  Now, isn’t that just a peachy way to celebrate the summer Solstice?

Peaches & Cream Pie

Peaches & Cream Cake

★~ Today in History:

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♥~ 1958 – Splish Splash, Bobby Darin’s first million-seller, was released by Atco Records. The song, written by Darin and Jean Murray, was Atco single #6117, recorded Apr 10, 1958. Today is our Bird Solstices anniversary–she came to live with us 5 years ago today, hating me at first sight.  The video is of her performing to Splish Splash.

♥~ 1975 – The Captain and Tennille’s Love Will Keep Us Together jumped into the #1 slot on the Billboard Hot 100, and stayed there for four weeks.

♥~ 1976  – For a movie remake, a 110-foot artificial King Kong was dropped off the World Trade Center in New York City.

♥~ 1989 – A 15-year-old West Palm Beach, Florida, girl received $81.25 in damages after she sued her prom date for standing her up.

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1905 – Jean-Paul Sartre Nobel Prize-winning philosopher, writer: Being and Nothingness; playwright: No Exit, The Flies, The Age of Reason; rejected Nobel Prize for literature [1964]. In 1964 Sartre rejected the Nobel Prize for Literature when it was awarded to him. In Being and Nothingness, he wrote:  “Man can will nothing unless he has first understood that he must count on no one but himself; that he is alone, abandoned on earth in the midst of his infinite responsibilities, without help, with no other aim than the one he sets for himself, with no other destiny than the one he forges for himself on this earth.”

♥ ~ 1947 – Meredith Baxter actress: Family Ties, Bridget Loves Bernie, Til Murder Do Us Part

♥ ~ 1947 – Michael Gross actor: Family Ties, Firestorm: 72 Hours in Oakland, In the Heat of Passion 2: Unfaithful

♥~ 1982 – Prince William (William Arthur Philip Louis Windsor) Duke of Cambridge

♥~Good to Know: The Birthday Paradox at the World Cup

The Birthday Paradox states that in a group of just 23 people, the odds that two of those people will have the same birthday is 50%. If the size of the group goes up to 70 people, there is more than a 99% chance that two or more of them will share a birthday -and it is likely that more than one pair will have shared birthdays.

But perhaps the best data-set of all to test this on is the football World Cup. There are 32 teams, and each team has a squad of 23 players. If the birthday paradox is true, 50% of the squads should have shared birthdays.

Using the birthdays from Fifa’s official squad lists as of Tuesday 10 June, it turns out there are indeed 16 teams with at least one shared birthday – 50% of the total. Five of those teams, in fact, have two pairs of birthdays.

The list is: Spain, Colombia, Switzerland (x2), USA, Iran (x2), France (x2), Argentina (x2), South Korea (x2), Cameroon, Australia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Russia, Netherlands, Brazil, Honduras and Nigeria.

One of Argentina’s pairs, Fernando Gago and Augusto Fernandez, share the same actual birth date – 10 April 1986.

The fact that soccer players were born in the same year is not at all surprising, considering the narrow age range for world-class athletes, but finding the exact results predicted by the Birthday Paradox is rather neat. (read more here)

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Happy Summer Solstice. As is our tradition, we will fondue and wish Solstice our bird Happy Anniversary. Seven years ago, Solstice came to live with us.  Cole and I made a Jewel grocery store run to pick up fondue stuff, and when we came out to the car, a yellow bird in a dirty cage was sitting in the parking spot next to mine. A note was attached to the cage: “Please give me a good home.” No, I thought. Just No. Cole said, “Hi bird!” and without missing a beat, opened the side door of my van, picked up the bird’s cage and suggested we make a run to PetSmart for bird food. Fine. We would find her a good home. We did. Happy Anniversary Solstice.

My teen wore soccer shirts to school during most of his grade school years. He loved all his jersey’s but his soccer loyalty is with Italy. We watched Italy lose yesterday, but it’s not over, hope springs eternal. I like watching soccer and actually know more about it than any other sport since Cole played for so many years. Which isn’t saying much, but I have the basics down. Heck, I can even call off-sides, which of-course you don’t see much of in a World Cup match.

And by the way of an update: The little shit  Cookie the chihuahua owners are home. Cole and I celebrated with champagne. DONE.

Off to do a few things in the yard. The rain has stopped and the mild temps are delightful. How are you spending your day?

Odd Loves Company,

♥~