June 9, 2013

Today we celebrate:

National Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie Day – It's strawberry and rhubarb season so it's the perfect time to make this pie for your family. My son would devour the whole thing himself if I let him and then finish it up by eating the leftover raw rhubarb. Yes, I know, he is very odd.

Abused Women and Children's Awareness Day – Celebrated on the 2^nd Sunday in June, this is a day to prayerfully end violent behavior in American homes, schools, workplaces and communities. You can help to stop the violence in America that endangers the lives of our women and children.

Multicultural American Child Day – Also celebrated on the second Sunday in June, this is a day to appreciate the talents and uniqueness of all children of every culture. We can share our culture with the whole country and the nation and our children will be stronger for it.

Race Unity Day – Yet another celebration on the 2^nd Sunday in June, this day was begun in 1957 by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States. The purpose is to promote racial harmony and understanding, which I personally find to be an admirable goal. The Baha'is believe that racial prejudice is the most challenging moral issue that we face in this country so they wish to focus attention on that today.

Children's Sunday – This day is added to the list of celebrations that are always on the 2^nd Sunday in June. There was a movement going to get 100,000 signatures by June 3, 2013 in order to petition the President to officially proclaim this day as Children's Day. This day has been unofficially celebrated since the mid 1800's and many cities have proclaimed this day along with many churches and denominations In fact, this day has been Children's Sunday at my church for as long as I can remember and we will be there today celebrating this year as well. http://www.nationalchildrensday.us/

World APS Day – On this day in 2005, the APSFA (Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome Foundation of America) was created. Therefore, this is the day that was chosen in 2007 to have World APS Day. You are encouraged to wear burgundy ribbons to help spread awareness of this autoimmune disease and to demonstrate encouragement to those who live with this disease in some way either as a patient, friend, family member or caretaker. To find out more about this disease see this website: http://www.apsfa.org/faq/faq1.htm#2

To celebrate today, gather some supplies that are needed by young families and drop them off at a local shelter for abused women and children. Then head to church to participate in Children's Sunday. On the way home, discuss with your children your feelings about how we should combat racial prejudice. Problems such as this are solved one family at a time. When you get home, have some strawberry-rhubarb pie while you watch documentaries on the different cultures in our countries. Then research more about APS and find out what you can do to spread the word about it so people who have it can be properly diagnosed.

June 8, 2013

Today we celebrate:

Best Friends Day – If you have a best friend, this is the day to celebrate that very special person. Spend some time with the one who has had your back no matter what.

National Caribbean American HIV/AIDS Awareness Day – Approximately 240,000 people in the Caribbean are infected with HIV/AIDS. This day was created in order to provide Caribbean-Americans with HIV/AIDS education, the resources to combat the disease and the opportunity to get important, life lengthening treatments.

Belmont Stakes – This is a famous Thoroughbred horse race that is held every year in Belmont Park in Elmont, NY. It is a 1.5 mile race for 3 year old thoroughbreds. The winner gets a million dollars which is pretty powerful incentive for the owners. I'm not too sure if the horses care. Maybe they are racing for an extra apple.

Upsy Daisy Day – This day is to be celebrated by the three G's. Getting up out of bed this morning gloriously, gratefully and gleefully. You're supposed to do this every morning, but since I know there are a number of you out there who are not morning people, and I don't want you to hurt yourselves, you really only have to do it this morning. I won't rat you out to the glorious morning police, although I can't promise you that your housemates will be that considerate.

World Oceans Day – This is a day dedicated to protecting the oceans of the world. This day is promoted by The Ocean Project and The World Ocean Network and has been celebrated since 2002. There are many activities planned for this day all over the world. See this web site to find one near you. http://worldoceansday.org/

International Young Eagles Day – Celebrated on the 2^nd Saturday of June, this is a day to focus on providing introductory airplane flights to children ages 8-17 who are interested in flying. This day is sponsored by the EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association), which is an organization of people who are passionate about aviation and committed to helping the spirit of aviation soar. http://www.youngeagles.org/

Name Your Poison Day – Nothing but speculation out there regarding the origins or meaning of this day. The meaning I prefer to utilize is the idea that this day is about making a choice between the lesser of two evils. Approach any choice you need to make today with this in mind. Pick the thing that is less likely to be bad for you.

To celebrate today, get up in a gratefully, gleefully, gloriously, good mood this morning, grab your best friend and head to Elmont, NY for the Belmont Stakes. After the horse you pick comes in first, grab your winnings and head to the airport to watch the expression on the faces of the young people when they come back from their first flight in a small plane. They will either be excited or sick. Next, head to the nearest ocean and walk the beach and pick up whatever garbage you find so that it doesn't wash back out into the ocean. Then treat your best friend for dinner and name your poison. Finally, finish up the day by going online and seeing what you can do to help the HIV/AIDS situation in the Caribbean.

June 7, 2013

Today we celebrate:

National Chocolate Ice Cream Day – Any kind of ice cream is good ice cream, but an ice cream that has chocolate involved is a great ice cream. Ice cream is far older than I ever imagined. Apparently it's origins can be traced back to the 4^th century B.C. I'm sure that what they made doesn't in any way resemble what we eat today, but it must have been pretty delicious for the basic concept to have endured for so long.

Banana Split Days – Invented in 1904 by David Evans Strickler, an apprentice Pharmacist at Tassel Pharmacy, this delectable dessert combines all kinds of delicious tastes in one dish. I found reference to celebrating this day on June 8^th as well. You might be wondering why a pharmacist was messing around in the kitchen. The answer would be that this particular pharmacy, as was common at that time, had a soda fountain in it. Soda fountains served lots of ice cream, snacks and sodas. Bananas were a new food at the time as well since they had just begun to be imported to this country.

National Doughnut Day – Celebrated on the first Friday of June, this day was created by the Salvation Army in 1938 to honor women who served doughnuts to our soldiers during World War I. This day started as a fund raiser for the Salvation Army as they worked to help the large numbers of needy people during the Great Depression.

Daniel Boone Day – Supposedly, on this day in 1769, Daniel Boone saw the forests and valleys of what is now Kentucky for the first time. The Kentucky Historical Society has been celebrating this day for more than 100 years. If you haven't read about Daniel Boone's life, you should. He was a fascinating man.

VCR Day – We still have a working VCR because we still have some old VHS tapes that we watch now and then. For those of you who are too young to know, VCRs are the devices that brought movies into our homes. Prior to this ingenious invention, you had to go to the movie theater if you wanted to see a movie and seeing the same movie 100 times was really not a viable option. VCR's paved the way for the DVD players we have now. And yes, I have one of those too. I'm not so old that I don't embrace new technology....at least some of it.

To celebrate today, you're going to have to put the diet on hold. Locate an old VCR movie about Daniel Boone and watch that while you eat doughnuts and banana splits with chocolate ice cream. I don't know about you but I could really get into a day like this.

June 6, 2013

Today we celebrate:

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. There was a time when I baked with applesauce instead of oil all the time, until I discovered that the fructose in apples was making my son sick. That's a pretty unusual food allergy, in most cases, 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. They lost more than 9,000 soldiers on that day.

National Yo-Yo Day – This is believed to possibly be Donald Duncan Sr.'s birthday, maybe. 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, 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.

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.

To celebrate today, make some applesauce cake to share with the family later today. Then, read up on what happened on D-Day. Take your time because the drive-in doesn't open until dark. When it gets dark, grab your yo-yo and head to the drive-in to see whatever movie they have playing tonight. You can get out of your car and walk around if you want and play with your yo-yo while the movie is playing and you won't even bother anyone.