~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
July 11th

★~ Today’s Quote: “Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.” E.B. White

★~ Cheer Up the Lonely Day: 
Today is the day to cheer up the lonely and downtrodden. Haven’t we all been there from time to time? Sometimes all it takes to brighten a day is a visit or phone call from a friend. A smile from a stranger or a cheerful hello can turn the day around for someone who may have been feeling forgotten and lonely. Celebrate today by making a genuine effort to connect with and brighten someone else’s day

★~ Day Of The Five Billion:
“World Population Day.” An eight-pound baby boy, Matej Gaspar, born at 1:35 AM, EST, in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, was proclaimed the five billionth inhabitant of Earth. The United Nations Fund for Population Activities, hoping to draw attention to population growth, proclaimed July 11 as “World Population Day,” noting that 150 babies are born each minute.

The UN established this day to raise public awareness about the global population issues at hand. This way, we can all help form a better future for our fellow humans.

★~Blueberry Muffin Day:

The pop of a blueberry amongst the sweet and delicious muffin cake makes the oversized, berry laden, blueberry muffin a perfect way to start your week. Celebrate blueberry muffin day by enjoying one for breakfast, after breakfast, before lunch, for lunch, after lunch, before dinner, at dinner, after dinner, as dessert, or as a midnight snack

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1914 – Babe Ruth debuted in the major leagues with the Boston Red Sox. Ruth made $2,900 his rookie season. Just six years later, his paycheck was worth $125,000 when he became a member of the New York Yankees.

♥~ 1960  – “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about childhood innocence and racial injustice in a small Southern town during the Great Depression, was first published.

♥~ 1964 – 18-year-old Millie Small was riding high on the pop music charts with My Boy Lollipop (#2, 7/04/64). Listen carefully to the tune and you’ll hear Rod Stewart playing harmonica. Millie Small was known as the ’Blue Beat Girl’ in Jamaica, her homeland.

♥~ 1971 – The U.S. Department of Agri­culture was allocated $19,520 to deter­mine if a woman’s place was in the home.

♥~ 1985 – Zippers for stitches were announced by Dr. H. Harlan Stone. The surgeon had used zippers on 28 patients whom he thought might require additional operations because of internal bleeding following initial operations. The zippers, which lasted between five and 14 days, were then replaced with permanent stitches.

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1754 – Thomas Bowdler , a medical doctor, gave up his medical practice to practice surgery on the works of William Shakespeare. He removed all those words “…which cannot with propriety be read aloud in a family” or which are “…unfit to be read aloud by a gentleman to a company of ladies.” He removed all the words and expressions which he considered to be indecent or impious from his ten volumes of Shakespeare’s writings. But that wasn’t enough to satisfy Bowdler. He moved on to Edward Gibbon’s History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and then he boldly bowdlerized the Old Testament. In doing so, he irritated a lot of people – so many that his name became synonymous with these acts. To  “Bowlderize” something means to self-righteously remove or modify passages one considers vulgar or objectionable.

♥~ 1899 – E.B. (Elwyn Brooks) White author: Stuart Little, Charlotte’s Web, Is Sex Necessary?, The Elements of Style; died Oct 1, 1985

♥~ 1915  –  Yul Brynner (Taidje Khan) Academy & Tony Award-winning actor: The King and I [1956, 1951 resp.]; The Ten Commandments, The Magnificent Seven, Anastasia, The Brothers Karamazov, Futureworld, Westworld; died Oct 10, 1985

♥~ 1934 – Giorgio Armani fashion designer: Outstanding International Designer Award [1981]

♥~ 1956 – Sela Ward actress: Sisters, The Fugitive, Child of Darkness, Child of Light

★~ Did You Know: 

♥~ The Blueberry is one of the few fruits that are native to North America (along with cranberries and concord grapes).

♥~ If all the blueberries grown in North America in one year were spread out in a single layer, they would cover a four-lane highway stretching from New York to Chicago.

♥~ The wild blueberry is Maine’s native berry – 60,000 acres of blueberries grow naturally in the state, which is equivalent to about 45 million pounds.

♥~ The nutritional value of blueberries is so off-the-charts high that you’ll be hard-pressed to find anything healthier to put in your mouth.

♥~ The calories in blueberries amount to only 80 per cup.And those blueberry calories  come with lots of dietary fiber.

♥~ Wild blueberries tend to contain more brain-saving bioflavonoids than the domestic ones.

♥~ In Sweden, dried blueberries are used to treat childhood diarrhea.  This use is attributed to anthocyanosides, a natural substance found in blueberries which is believed to be lethal to E.Coli. (www.atlanticblueberry.com/main_nut_health.html)

♥~ In the US, July is National Blueberry Month.

★~ Todays Giggle: 

Three little pigs went out to dinner.   It’s a very fancy restaurant, and all the little piggies are dressed in their best tuxes.  The waiter comes over and says, “Hello there, my name is Ned and I’ll be your waiter tonight.   Can I start you guys with something to drink?”  The first pig orders a fine red wine, the second pig gets a gin and tonic, and the third pig orders ice water.  Ned brings the drinks back and asks for their appetizer order.  The first pig gets the calamari, the second pig gets the bruschetta, and the third pig asks for another ice water.

After enjoying their appetizers, the pigs order the entree.  The first pig gets the NY Strip steak with mushroom sauce, a baked potato, and the vegetable of the day with a house salad and blue cheese dressing.  The second pig orders the filet of salmon with the garlic mashed potatoes, cole slaw, and a bowl of Manhattan clam chowder.  The third pig orders an ice water.

After dinner, Ned takes the dessert order.  The first pig orders the chocolate mousse with extra whipped cream and a dollop of cinnamon, as well as a  decaf coffee.  The second pig orders a slice of the restaurant’s finest blueberry pie and a Bailey’s Irish coffee.  The third pig orders ice water.

When Ned brings back the order, he is just so curious he has to ask the third pig, “Excuse me sir, but why do you keep ordering just ice water when there is all this fine food around you?”

The third pig answers, “Well, someone has to go wee-wee-wee all the way home!”

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We are having blueberry muffins the minute Cole wakes up. I am using “The Awesome-est Blueberry Muffin” recipe by The Pioneer Woman. Usually her recipes are pretty awesome, easy to make, and turn out pretty well. I will let you know, though, if we think my from scratch homemade muffins are as good as the ones I usually make from a mix I buy at the grocery store that includes a tin of “real blueberries.”  We will muse about Blueberry muffins later this morno and I will share all.

Hope you have a marvelous Monday! Leave a comment if you have a morno moment…Odd Loves Company!