January 13, 2014

Today we celebrate:

National Peach Melba Day – Invented by the great French chef, Auguste Escoffier, in 1892 at the Savoy Hotel and named for the famous Australian Soprano, Dame Nellie Melba, this delicious dessert combines peaches, raspberries and vanilla ice cream.

Make Your Dream Come True Day – This is a day to work toward making your dreams come true. Do you dream about becoming an actress? Audition for a local theater group today. Do you dream about becoming a writer? Work on your Great American Novel and submit it to a publisher today. Would love to own your own business? Sign up for some classes at your local community college to learn how to make it work. Whatever it is you dream about, take steps to make it come true.

Poetry Break Day – This is a day to take a break and read some poetry. You can find some poetry books in your local library or you can search for poetry online. You can find thousands of poems here: http://www.poets.org/

National Rubber Ducky Day – Rubber Ducky, you're the one! You make bath time lots of fun! Rubber Ducky, I'm awfully fond of you! Today is Ernie's rubber ducky's birthday.

National Clean Off Your Desk Day – Celebrated on the second Monday in January, this is a day to clean off your desk. I know you've got stacks of important papers and not so important papers and assorted nicknacks and other such things that are there because you didn't know what to do with them. Well, today is the day to figure it out and clean it up.

Public Radio Broadcasting Day – On this day in 1910 the first public radio broadcast was made. It was an experimental transmission of a live Opera performance but only a few radios were able to pick up the signal and the microphones were so bad that most of the singing couldn't be heard at all plus there were tremendous amounts of static and interference. So it was mostly a failure. Fortunately, Public Radio has improved a great deal since then.

Stephen Foster Memorial Day – I wonder how many of you know who Stephen Foster was? He was a songwriter in the 19^th century who wrote Oh Suzanna!, among other songs you've probably heard of. He died on this day in 1864.

Coming of Age Day – A holiday in Japan on the second Monday in January, this is a day to celebrate everyone who has reached the age of majority (20 years old) in the past year. There are coming of age ceremonies and parties among family and friends. This has been celebrated in Japan since 714 AD but it became official in 1948.

To celebrate today, clean off your desk while you listen to public radio, sing Oh, Suzanna!, and plan how to make your dreams come true. Take a break to read some poetry and have a bath with your rubber ducky. Tonight share some peach melba with someone you know that has turned 20 years old this past year.