June 6, 2017

Today we celebrate:

National Eyewear Day - People have long needed something to help them see better. There are lots of reasons for needing this kind of help whether it’s only sometimes or all the time. Eyeglasses were invented several hundred years ago and have improved in both style and personalized magnification so that they fit their wearer perfectly.

National Higher Education Day - This is a day to motivate high school students to pursue higher education and get a degree. Finding scholarships, financial aid, and deciding on a college as well as figuring out what to study are all very complicated issues to navigate. So today is a day to find out more information and find out who can help you.

National Hunger Awareness Day - There are thousands of Americans who are hungry every day. Many who have to choose between food, warmth, shelter, and medicine because they just don’t have enough money to pay for it all. Perhaps you can find a food bank in your area and donate some non-perishable food that they can distribute to families in need in your local area.

Atheist Pride Day - We had one of these back in March, and I just found out about this one as well. I’m not sure why there are multiples days for this, perhaps they are celebrated by different groups of people. In any case, for all of the atheists out there, this is a day to be proud of your beliefs or lack thereof. We live in a free country where everyone is still able to believe or not believe in anything they choose so revel in the ability to exercise that right today and don’t let anyone make you feel ashamed of it.

UN Russian Language Day - One of the six official United Nations languages, this day commemorates the birthday of Aleksandr Pushkin, a Russian poet who is credited with being “the father of modern Russian literature.”

National Gardening Exercise Day – Today is a day to get some exercise in the garden. Weeding, planting, weeding, watering, weeding, hoeing, weeding, and finally...resting while you watch the weeds grow. Get some fresh air and exercise those muscles at the same time.

National Applesauce Cake Day – This is a cake that has applesauce as a main ingredient. It is very moist, and shouldn't need any oil. Unless you have unusual food allergies like some of the people in my household do, this is a very good thing because apples are much healthier than oil to bake with.

D-Day – On this day in 1944, Allied troops invaded Normandy, France. More than 5,000 ships and 13,000 aircraft were involved and at the end of the day, our troops had a foothold in Normandy but the cost was great. We lost more than 9,000 soldiers on that day.

National Yo-Yo Day – This is believed to possibly be Donald F. Duncan, Sr.'s birthday... maybe. I’m not real sure about that and it appears that no one else is either. Why is that important, you ask? Well, I'll tell you. Yo-yo's have been around for well over two thousand years. In ancient Greece they were made from wood, or clay. In more recent times (1928), Pedro Flores began making yo-yo's to sell in California. Well, in 1929, Donald F. Duncan, Sr. felt that this new fad was going to go places and bought the Flores Yo-yo Corp. and registered the name Yo-yo as a trademark and really took off with it. We have all been yo-yoing ever since.

Drive-in Movie Day – There was a time when the Drive-in was THE place to go on a date. You could find one in almost any town. Nowadays, you'd be hard pressed to find one in every state. I happen to have one in my town, but that just makes me lucky. On this day in 1933, Richard Hollingshead's drive-in opened in New Jersey. His advertisement stated that “The whole family is welcome, regardless of how noisy the children are.” The first film they showed was called Wife Beware. The drive-in idea just took off from there and before long, they were everywhere.