~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
December 21, 2013

Posted Updated: December 21, 2014

★~  Today’s Quote:  “Don’t cry, Karen, Frosty’s not gone for good. You see, he was made out of Christmas snow and Christmas snow can never disappear completely. It sometimes goes away for almost a year at a time and takes the form of spring and summer rain. But you can bet your boots that when a good, jolly December wind kisses it, it will turn into Christmas snow all over again.” Frosty the Snowman

★~ Winter Solstice:

All of the Northern Hemisphere on Saturday will experience the darkest day of the year. Specifically, at 12:11 p.m. ET, we will witness the winter solstice. In the U.S., we’ll have just nine hours, 32 minutes of daylight.

The winter solstice occurs when the sun is shining farthest to the south, directly over the Tropic of Capricorn. There’s no duration to the event, per se. Paul Stokles, a meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration refers to the winter solstice as a “single event.”

Of course, the sun isn’t actually moving, the Earth is. At 12:11 p.m. ET, the North Pole is tipped about 23 degrees away from the sun. When summer rolls around, the South Pole is tipped 23 degrees away from the sun. During the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, the Earth is not tilted in either direction.

The winter solstice doesn’t always occur on Dec. 21. Sometimes it comes on Dec. 22, which will happen again in 2015. The hour of day also fluctuates. Last year, the solstice came at 11:12 a.m. ET. Next year, it occurs at 11:03 p.m.

★~ Kiwi fruit Day: 

Originally discovered in the Chang Kiang Valley of China, kiwifruit was considered a delicacy by the great Khans who relished its emerald green color and dazzling flavor. By the mid 1800s, the fruit had found its way into other countries which nicknamed it Chinese gooseberry, and it wasn’t long before New Zealand growers were exporting the exotic fruit to specialized markets around the world.

Fast-forward to 1962, when a California produce dealer began importing New Zealand gooseberries to satisfy the request of a lone Safeway shopper. The dealer renamed the product “kiwifruit” because of its resemblance to the fuzzy brown kiwi — New Zealand’s funny-looking national bird. By the late 1960s, California began producing its own kiwifruit in the Delano and Gridley areas.

Production of California Kiwifruit skyrocketed in the 1980s, rising 667% in just five years to keep up with soaring demand. As its popularity grew, so did its reputation being a nutrition power fruit,  research found kiwifruit to be the most “nutrient dense” of all major fruits, containing more vitamin C than an orange and more potassium than a banana. In 1992, kiwifruit was ranked among the top ten most nutritious foods.

Kiwifruit protects against Cancer and aids in DNA repair: Eating kiwifruit daily can provide substantial protection against DNA damage that can trigger cancer and, more significantly, greatly speeds the repair of DNA damage.

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1913 – The crossword puzzle—that staple of newspapers across the country—turns 100 years old today.  The first crossword puzzle was compiled by Arthur Wynne and published in a supplement to the New York World. Be sure to check out the interactive google doodle.

♥~ 1937 – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs film premiere anniversary.  America’s first full-length animated feature film (and also the first Technicolor feature) premiered on this date at the Carthay Circle Theater, Hollywood, CA. The labor of love from Walt Disney—who for years wanted to create a feature-length cartoon—involved more than 750 artists and 1,500 colors in four years of development. The film features the classic songs “Some Day My Prince Will Come” and “Whistle While You Work.” Walt Disney received a special Oscar for Snow White—along with seven miniature Oscars. Can you name the  seven recipients of the miniature Oscars?

♥~ 1966 – The Beach Boys received a gold record for the single, Good Vibrations. A-one, and a-two and… “…I’m pickin’ up good vibrations. She’s givin’ me excitations…”

♥~ 1967 – The Rolling Stones LP, Their Satanic Majesties Request, was released. It cost $50,000 to produce and came complete with a 3-D photograph of the Stones on the cover.

♥~ 1974 – Harry Chapin’s Cat’s in the Cradle rose to the #1 spot on the Billboard “Hot 100″. “…And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me; He’d grown up just like me. My boy was just like me…”

♥~ 1985 – Bruce Springsteen’s album, Born in the USA, passed Michael Jackson’s Thriller to become the second longest-lasting LP in the top 10. It stayed there for 79 weeks. Only The Sound of Music, with Julie Andrews, lasted longer: 109 weeks.

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1935 – Phil Donahue TV talk show host: Donahue; married to actress Marlo Thomas

♥~ 1937 – Jane Fonda Academy Award-winning actress: Coming Home [1978], Klute [1971]; Barbarella, The China Syndrome, Cat Ballou, They Shoot Horses Don’t They, On Golden Pond; ex-wife of Time-Warner’s Ted Turner; daughter of actor Henry Fonda; sister of actor Peter; exercise videos; Vietnam-era peace activist

♥~ 1939 – Wes Farrell producer, songwriter: Come On Get Happy, Come a Little Bit Closer, Boys, Jungle Jim at the Zoo, Old Man Willow, Hang On Sloopy, The Partridge Family TV theme;

♥~ 1940 – Frank Zappa musician, songwriter, singer: group: Mothers of Invention; Valley Girl [w/daughter Moon]

♥~ 1954 – Chris Evert tennis champion

♥~ 1955 – Jane Kaczmarek actress: Malcolm in the Middle

♥~ 1957 – Ray Romano comedian, actor: Everybody Loves Raymond

★~ Odds and Ends:

♥~ 92-Year-Old Grandmother Creates Amazingly Complex Temari Balls

♥~  6 science-based conversation hacks

♥~ More and more DEA agents who made careers out of busting up drug operations are now working as financial advisers for people thinking about investing in the legal marijuana industry

♥~ Target apologizing for data breach so they offer a 10% discount this weekend so you can experience it all over again.

♥~  Oh Pleeeeese….I think not.

♥~ Possessed

♥~ Evil Eye

♥~ Do I look like I care?

♥~ Audra Fordin has been working in the family garage since she was a kid, but 5 years ago, she realized her industry needed a tune-up. Since then, she’s made it her mission to empower every woman that sets foot into a repair shop.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/Sd1xYp4MgWs[/youtube]

♥~ Grab a tissue: Apple creates holiday commercial

♥~ And finally my teen recited the poem I Want A Girl Who Can Read by Mark Heist on his blog post Challenge: Mini-Project Outside My Comfort Zone

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/82057072[/vimeo]

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I know, commenting on Odd has been challenging lately. They jiggled some wires yesterday, so hopefully it is fixed. I miss hearing from you all and appreciate that you aren’t quitters. As of this morning at 7am, there still seems to be some comment issues. It is STILL being worked on. Thank you for your patience, I appreciate your readership 😀 and now I am going to go and torture someone.

The picture at the top of El Morno is of Susie Cutie, one of my campers. Her brother stared in my first Christmas Card as the Christmas Tree. In case you are wondering, Susie is a Scottish Deerhound. More pictures of our Christmas photo shoot will be shared over the next few days.

The weather. Vickie (our friend and camp helper) took one look at my yard yesterday, and said OHHH which conveyed beautifully what she was thinking. A combination of melting snow, and rain has turned my yard into a muddy, wet mess. The temp is suppose to drop today, and we are suppose to have snow. Let us all pray.

We will celebrate the Winter Solstice with a Fondue dinner. It’s a tradition, I started when Cole was little. Looking back, I’m not sure why, Fondue and little kids aren’t a natural combination, but it worked the first year and we just kept doing it.  We start with cheese fondue and end with chocolate. Maybe, we will dip some Kiwi in chocolate this year!

Wishing everyone a Happy Saturday Solstice. Do you have any fun plans for the day?

Odd Loves Company!