~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
July 1, 2014

★~ Today’s Quote: “The key to good decision making is not knowledge. It is understanding. We are swimming in the former. We are desperately lacking in the latter.” ― Malcolm Gladwell,

★ ~ Canada Day:

Canada Day! On July 1, 1867, the nation was officially born when the Constitution Act joined three provinces into one country: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the Canada province, which then split into Ontario and Quebec. However, Canada was not completely independent of England until 1982. The holiday called Dominion Day was officially established in 1879, but it wasn’t observed by many Canadians, who considered themselves to be British citizens. Dominion Day started to catch on when the 50th anniversary of the confederation rolled around in 1917. In 1946, a bill was put forth to rename Dominion Day, but arguments in the House of Commons over what to call the holiday stalled the bill.

The 100th anniversary in 1967 saw the growth of the spirit of Canadian patriotism and Dominion Day celebrations really began to take off. Although quite a few Canadians already called the holiday Canada Day (Fête du Canada), the new name wasn’t formally adopted until October of 1982.

Happy Canada Day, El Morno Friend Joanne

★ ~ International Joke Day:

Are we all giggling?! Good! Today is all about silly jokes and laughter.  Most of the time we tell jokes too fast, our timing is off, and we forget the punch-line—but really, that is part of the fun. So, celebrate today by sharing your favorite joke—even if it’s so old the Dead Sea was just getting sick the first time someone told it!  I’ll start.

In an emergency, how do you get a bunch of Canadians out of a crowded swimming pool?
A: You say, “Please get out of the swimming pool.”

★ ~ Ice Cream Month

July is Ice Cream Month, officially designated by Ronald Reagan in 1984. To kick the month off, we are invited to create our own ice cream flavor or try a new flavor combination.

★~ Today in History:

♥ ~ 1847 – The first adhesive postage stamps went on sale. Ben Franklin graced the nickel stamp while George Washington was pictured on the ten-cent stamp. Prior to 1846 all United States mail was sent without postage affixed and was either prepaid or paid by the recipient with the markings and cancels indicating the method of payment and the method of transportation.

♥ ~ 1874 – The first zoo in the United States opened in Philadelphia, PA. Over 3,000 visitors paid 25 cents (adults) or 10 cents (children) to see the 1,000 animals housed in the Philadelphia Zoological Society zoo

♥ ~ 1910 – Black and Decker was founded by Duncan Black and Alonzo Decker. They started in Baltimore, with milk bottle cap machines and candy dippers. The partners introduced their first major tool in 1917 – a portable 1/2-inch electric drill with patented pistol grip and trigger switch, with can now be viewed at the Smithsonian.

♥ ~ 1941 – Bulova Watch company sponsored the first TV commercial. Remember “It’s Bulova Watch Time?” It was broadcast over WNBT-TV in New York City, and was a familiar advertising message on TV, radio and in print for many years. That first TV ad, incidentally, cost the watchmaker $9.

♥ ~ 1989 –  Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner and former Playmate Kimberly Conrad were married in Los Angeles. He was 63 and she was 26.

★~ Born Today:

♥~ 1908 – Estée Lauder  cosmetics mogul; died Apr 24, 2004

♥ ~ 1934 – Sydney Pollack director: The Firm, Out of Africa, Tootsie, Absence of Malice, They Shoot Horses Don’t They, Three Days of the Condor, The Way We Were; died May 26, 2008

♥ ~ 1934 – Jamie Farr (Jameel Joseph Farah) actor: M*A*S*H, The Blackboard Jungle, Scrooged, Cannonball Run, With Six You Get Egg Roll

♥ ~ 1951 – Daryl Anderson, Actor (“Lou Grant”)

♥ ~ 1952 – Dan Aykroyd comedian, actor: Driving Miss Daisy, Sneakers, Coneheads, Saturday Night Live, Dragnet, Ghostbusters, The Blues Brothers, Pearl Harbor

♥ ~ 1961 – Princess Diana (Spencer) Princess of Wales; killed in car crash in Paris, France, August 31, 1997

♥ ~ 1963 – Mr. Zip of the United States Post Office. He’s the familiar character seen on the sides of mailboxes and on posters. Mr. Zip was introduced to help educate people to use the 5-digit ZIP (Zone Improvement Program) code. Mr. Zip now has new members of the family. There are four digits after the original five, to get that mail to you even faster.

♥ ~ 1977 – Liv Tyler model, actress: Silent Fall, Heavy, That Thing You Do!, Armageddon, Cookie’s Fortune, Lord of the Rings series

♥ ~ Good to Know: Here are  some of the items that Canadians love, and other countries can’t have. Ok, some of these products can be bought in specialty stores around the world, but they are marketed for and sold primarily in Canada.

Ruffles All Dressed potato chips are delicious explosions of flavour, and only sold in Canada. Rumor has it that Amazon might sell these without carding you for citizenship.

Milk in bags. Odd. Very Odd.

Beavertails — deep-fried dough with sweet toppings like chocolate spread, bananas, and cinnamon. In recent years, Beavertails has expanded to the Middle East with plans to expand to Colorado and Tokyo. But for now it remains a mainly Canadian guilty pleasure.

Crispy Crunch candy bars: These chocolate bars are much-loved by Canadians.

Canadian mittens sold exclusively at The Bay, and a must have for want to be Canadian tourists.

Canadians love ketchup chips. And who wouldn’t? These Lay’s chips are only available in Canada and the US is very jealous. But the real question is do they put ketchup on their hot dogs?

Molson Canadian beer is available in other countries, under the name of Molson Export, but is a Canadian beer by any other name still a Canadian beer? We think not.

This cereal is a breakfast tradition in many Western Canadian homes. It was first created in 1924 in Manitoba.

 Swiss Chalet’s famous chalet sauce. Canadians love this chicken so much, it has its own channel on TV.

Chapman’s ice cream is churned by, the country’s largest independent ice cream manufacturer. You can only get this creamy goodness in Canada.

Peanut Butter – Thanks to my Canadian friends I have done my own taste test and Canadian peanut butter is much better than American peanut butter.  I have no idea why. Maybe it has something to do with the cute little bears on the jar.

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My teen is hot with a fever, shaking from being cold, and has a very sore throat and headache. I am guessing a virus. I’m making tea, adjusting covers, and trying to decide if a run to the doctor is necessary. My concern is strep throat, but strep usually comes without all the other symptoms. I thought about telling Cole that I graduated from Motherhood when he graduated from High school but I’m not sure the humor would be appreciated.

Lightening, thunder, and hail roared through our neighborhood last night. I love a good thunderstorm but this one went on a little long even for me. It was hard to find an opportune moment to take my pups outside and even harder to convince them they wouldn’t melt. I’m not sure of the forecast for today…I am hoping to see the itsy bitsy spider come out again. Time for a little sunshine.

Hope you have a terrific Tuesday, but if it fails to meet your expectations feel free to rant – it’s Rant Tuesday.

Odd Loves Company