The weekend pretty much got away from me. I have no excuse other than that I was doing other things. After sleeping in a bit late Saturday – and loving every second of it – I woke up to the sound of the rain pounding on the roof. It was so loud! After making coffee cake and bacon (it was National Coffee Cake Day afterall!) for brunch, we headed out to town to get a few things we need, just in case the windstorm they are predicting hits. We figured fuel for the generator would be a good thing to have on hand and we didn’t have much left from the last storm. After spending some time in a few stores, we had an early dinner – Steak Fajita Salads! YUM! We were so fortunate that the worst of the storm either passed us by, or it didn’t end up being as bad as was predicted, because though it is still a little blustery out as of 11:00 or so on Sunday morning, it certainly isn’t terrible. Thank God for that! Because it’s already late in the morning, and I know I’m going to be busy working on sorting tax paperwork, I’m going to include Monday’s celebrations along with these, since I don’t know if I’ll get back to the computer for the rest of the day.
Verse of the Day
April 7, 2018
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Thoughts on the Verse of the Day
When we were baptized into Christ, we shared in his crucifixion and we were raised up to be a new person. Christ is alive in us. The real challenge is for us to be Christ alive in our world! Our motivation? Not to earn salvation, which has already been given us by grace, but to honor him who sacrificed all to save us. (See Romans 6:1-14)
April 8, 2018
If, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life.
Thoughts on the Verse of the Day
Jesus didn’t just die for my sins; he lives for me. In fact, he is at God’s right hand claiming me as his own (see 1 John 2:1-2). If he was willing to die to save me, what will he withhold now that he lives victorious over death?
April 9, 2018
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
Thoughts on the Verse of the Day
Jesus was God with us. No imitation, knock off, or clone, he was God with us. To this day, he sustains all creation with his word — so much for “Mother Nature.” But now God-with-us has paid for our sins and is not just God-with-us, but he is also God-for-us at the Father’s side.
Holy Humor Month / National Humor Month
A boy asks his father, “Dad, are bugs good to eat?” “That’s disgusting. Don’t talk about things like that over dinner,” the dad replies. After dinner the father asks, “Now, son, what did you want to ask me?” “Oh, nothing,” the boy says. “There was a bug in your soup, but now it’s gone.”
Food for Thought
I was standing on the front porch around 2:30 a.m. Saturday while Moose was sniffing around to find the perfect blade of grass, listening to a frog chorus. There were so many of them enjoying a pleasant, mild morning, all singing the same song and enjoying their time together, when all of a sudden I heard one loud frog, off on its own, singing a different song all by itself. It dawned on me that that is how I feel so much of the time. Turn on the news, any news pretty much, and you can see a group of frogs, all singing the same tune at the same time, in agreement with each other over topics they probably know nothing about. Once in a great while a voice will rise up above them and speak a message of truth, different from the rest, not following blindly where there are instructed to go. I don’t know about you, but I prefer being the lonely frog, rather than being part of the chorus. Where are you in the choir of life?
April 7 –
Every Day is Tag Day – Do you have pets? If you do, then I know you’d be so sad at the thought of them being lost and alone in a big, scary world. We never think anything will happen to our furbabies, after all, they are safe and sound at home with us, right? But sometimes things happen, and they may get out unexpectedly and in their fear and disorientation, get lost. They may wander off, even if they never have before, and be gone all of a sudden. It can happen to anyone, and the sad statistic is that of the millions of dogs and cats that are taken to animal shelters each year, only about 15% of the dogs and cats that are taken in as strays each year without an ID tag or a microchip find their owners again. Today is a celebration started by the American Humane Association – Every Day Is Tag Day, to encourage pet owners to tag and chip their furry friends. Are your “babies” all set if the unthinkable happens and they wander off?
International Beaver Day – Beavers are pretty intriguing animals. With their flat tails and luxurious fur they have been revered by the American Indians, and hunted by trappers for generations. They have been called the “sacred center” of the land because they create such rich, watery habitats for other mammals, fish, turtles, frogs, birds and ducks. We know that the damming done by the beavers provides essential ecosystem and biodiversity that rivals tropical rain forests for various species/ Almost half of the endangered and threatened species in North America rely on wetlands for their survival, and freshwater wetlands have been rated as the world’s most valuable land-based ecosystem. Beavers are instrumental in reliably and economically maintaining wetlands that sponge up flood waters, alleviate droughts and floods – because the beaver dams keep water on the land longer- reduce erosion, raise the water table and act as the “earth’s kidneys” to purify the water. This purification happens because several feet of silt collect upstream of older beaver dams, and toxic substances such as pesticides, are broken down by microbes in the wetlands that beavers create. Because of this water downstream of beaver dams is cleaner and needs less treatment for human use. See how wonderful these creatures are?! What a wonderful animal to celebrate today.
International Snailpapers Day – This is an interesting celebration that was started by newspaper lover Dan Bloom. He said that International Snailpapers Day is an opportunity to pause for a moment and read a real newspaper, smelling the newsprint and feeling it in your hands, before it is gone forever. His idea was to turn off televised news, to log off of the Internet news sites, and sit down with a good, old-fashioned paper. I can see that, and I could even encourage that . . . if most of the news printed, online OR on TV wasn’t so full of tripe. Can’t believe a word of it because independent, straight forward, unbiased news is disappearing. It’s a nice thought though. If you still enjoy a newspaper, go for it. Enjoy it while you can. I admit I do like the Sunday edition for the coupons. I’ll celebrate this one on a Sunday morning.
International Pillow Fight Day – We were all kids at one point. Some of my readers may still be kids now! But chances are pretty high that you’ve had a few pillow fights over the years. It was likely with childhood friends, brothers or sisters, or other family members. Pillow fights are loads of fun – as long as the pillows are soft. I never did understand hard pillows anyway, but doggone, if you’re hit with one, it can hurt! Apparently there are people who decided that they didn’t want to grow up (sort of like the Toys R Us kids!) and have set up in a massive pillow fight each year. Today is an annual celebration that encourages friendly pillow fights wherever you live. Big parties are set up where friends and even strangers gather to pummel each other in a friendly pillow fight. Cities who are known to participate are Amsterdam, Berlin, London, Hong Kong, Mexico City, Oslo, Paris, Quebec City, Toronto, Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas/Ft Worth, Denver, Los Angeles, New York City and Washington DC. I’m sure there are others, but these are the main ones mentioned. The current Guinness World Record for the largest pillow fight was in 2008 with 3,706 people participating! That’s a LOT of pillows being swung around!
Here’s how it works – The fights are free for people of all ages, so obviously keeping things kid friendly is important. When the official signals the start, it’s time to begin swinging and letting those pillows fly! There are rules though:
* Soft feather-free pillows are required – no hard pillows or pillows filled with down are allowed. (I used to work in a feather factory – trust me, flying down can cause you to choke uncontrollably, it gets in the eyes, and it naturally dusty so it could really hurt someone with an allergy.
* Do NOT put any other items into the pillow case other than the pillow
* Pajamas are encouraged – keeping the kid friendly thought in mind.
* Wait for the official signal to start.
* All glasses must be removed for safety.
* Do NOT swing at people who don’t have a pillow or who are taking pictures.
* Swing gently.
* All participants must help clean up when the fight is over.
Sounds like fun! Maybe this is something you can start in your neighborhood with your family and friends!
National Beer Day – Well, yesterday marked the anniversary of the end of prohibition April 6th, 1933 . . . and today is the anniversary of when it would become legal to sell beer in the United States again, on April 7th, 1933, provided that the state in question had also enacted its own law allowing the sale of beer too. The beer had to have an alcohol content of less than 3.2%, compared to the .5% limit of the Volstead Act, because 3.2% was considered too low a percentage to cause intoxication. On the evening of April 6th people lined up outside of breweries and taverns, waiting for midnight when they would be able to legally purchase beer for the first time in 13 years. Since that year the night of April 6th has been referred to as “New Beers Eve” and April 7th as National Beer Day.
National Girl Me Too Day – This one was first celebrated last year, and I am sorry I missed it. It would have likely not left such a bad taste in my mouth if I knew about it before the infamous “Me Too” movement that we have seen this year, which of course, made every single comment a man said into harassment, and every single bad decision made by women something to be whined about as being the man’s fault and as such, a crime. This has nothing to do with that movement though, so I’ll try to look beyond the unfortunate similarity of the names and to what the celebration was actually intended to be. OK, sorry, I got off topic. This day was intended to bring the focus on the strength and endurance of women of all ages and a chance to support each other. If we were to ask any woman we know one thing that they had to overcome to make it to where they are in life, they would have a story to tell, to which we would very likely be able to say “Girl, Me Too!” Barriers and divisions between women from all walks of life could be torn down if we would all just realize that we all have things to overcome and deal with – we are all very much alike in many ways. We can lift each other up by listening to each other, helping mend the past and make a things better for future generations.
National Love Our Children Day – Today is special. It is National Love Our Children Day, which is celebrated annually across the country on the 1st Saturday in every April. It is set up to honor children, strengthen families and to raise awareness for efforts to protect children. We see so many horrible stories in the news about nightmarish atrocities being committed against children and it not only breaks my heart, it makes me so angry! This day was created to acknowledge the value of children, ALL CHILDREN, and to educate parents on the importance of giving them love, protection and respect – something so many children are deprived of by their own parents. These elements are necessary for children to grow up to become strong and successful adults. By promoting healthy and happy kids, and strengthening families, we can keep kids safe and hopefully break the cycle of violence. I know that it feels like every day is for the kids, but today, take some special time to honor your children, for the blessings that they are. Children touch our hearts, and regardless of whether someone has children of their own, we all have children who touch our hearts and lives in some way. It may be a relative’s kids, the kids of a friend or neighbor, it doesn’t matter. We all are necessary for teaching kids respect for each other by example. Children are our treasures on this earth, blessings from God in every way. Honor God’s gifts by showing love, respect, gentleness and kindness to the children who touch your life. I suddenly really want to hug my kids and grandkids. *sniff*
No Housework Day – This is a great one for folks who happen to be home today. It is the chance to take a Monday off from chores and do anything . . . except housework. Let’s face it, housework is a daily, endless, repetitive group of tasks are never, ever done. We finish them up and start all over again. And sadly, the person – or people – who do most of the chores are pretty much taken for granted. Until they aren’t done, then everyone is wondering what is wrong with the resident Cinderella. So if you’re that person who is home today doing all the housework, just stop and relax. The chores will be waiting for you. If you have kids that are old enough to help out, or even do the chores themselves, perhaps put them to work doing them. For this one day it won’t hurt them and maybe, just maybe, it will give them a better idea of how hard you work. Just a thought.
Tangible Karma Day – Today is a celebration of giving – giving of your time, of your love, your talents and of your “extras”. Giving feels as good as receiving, and today is the day to set aside some time to become aware of the needs of those we are in contact with and actively do something to help fill those needs. This is also called being Christian and doing what Jesus instructed us to do all of the time. I suppose for the secular community calling it Karma day makes sense to them. The bottom line is that being kind to others and being aware of their needs is very important all of the time.
April 8 –
All is Ours Day – This one is interesting. The person who registered this holiday made up their mind that it was going to be a spectacular day for anyone celebrating it! They wanted everyone to think of the concept and imagine the possibilities. The title is all inclusive for everyone, leaving no doubt that today we get everything we want. Wouldn’t that be nice? Enjoying today completely is an awesome way to celebrate it . . . how you choose to do that is entirely up to you. Don’t be disappointed if you don’t actually get ALL that you actually want. Set your goals to something achievable for today and just go for it!
Draw a Picture of a Bird Day – I am NOT an artist. I can say that without any reservations or hesitation. This could be an awesome day for artists who love to draw, and are bird lovers to create some beautiful pictures of our feathered friends. It doesn’t matter if you are young or old, or somewhere in the middle. If you like to draw then today is the day to draw some pictures of some birds. Never know! If it’s really good, maybe someday you will become famous!
National Dog Fighting Awareness Day – I don’t know if there are words to adequately describe how horrific thing that dog fighting is. It is an insidious crime set up to make money at the expense of beautiful animals, a form of animal cruelty that is incredibly vicious. It is estimated that dog fighting has been going on since the late 1800s, and now takes a place throughout the country and in all economic brackets. When people who perpetuate this crime against animals get away with it, especially when they are famous, and they go on to profit rather than not being punished, it is a disgusting insult against everything that is good and right in this world. Intentionally killing, torturing and maiming dogs is NOT a mistake, it is a crime. I don’t care who you are, or how famous, it is wrong. For example, Michael Vick was fully involved in a six year pattern of illegal activity that included savagely electrocuting, drowning and beating dogs to death. Profits were high and greed was at the bottom of this multi-million dollar dog fighting operation, and everyone involved should spend their lives in prison. Some may say that this is making too much of it, but cruelty to other creatures should NEVER be tolerated, under any circumstances. What is sad, that we heard about this one because Michael Vick is famous – disgusting, but famous – but there are profitable dog fighting rings in many cities, rural and suburban areas across this country. The fighters are attracted to states with weaker penalties for dog fighting and animal cruelty, many of them in the south, so stronger laws could discourage the activity. Likely it’ll just send it further underground, but everything we can do helps.
Trading Cards for Grown-Ups Day – Why is it that trading cards are viewed as something for children? Trading Cards are very valuable things, and quite honestly, putting them into the hands of children tends to mess them up and reduce their value greatly. I’ve known many adults who collect trading cards, holding onto them for years and years. If you have a collection, hang onto it! Never know when the time will come when you need to sell a couple to use the money for something special. Ever see the movie “Blast From the Past” with Brendan Frasier? Collector Trading Cards played a HUGE role in that movie. It’s also one of my very favorite movies. If you have a chance, watch it and see what I mean!
Zoo Lovers Day – I love the zoo. We have two wonderful zoos within a couple of hours of where we live, both very different and having their own broad variety of animals that they house there. The history of zoos is long and colorful, bringing strange new animals from far off places of the world into the heart of civilization, allowing people who will never visit those places to see some pretty amazing creatures. Did you know that Harrod’s in London has a zoo section? Talk about a unique shopping experience! The word zoo is actually short for Zoological Garden and mostly used when we are speaking about our modern concept of zoo. Before this the word menagerie was used, reaching all the way back to the ancient world. During an archeological dig in Egypt in 2009 they found what is believed to be the oldest collection of animals, including hippos, baboons, elephants, wildcats and something called a hartebeest. (I’m going to have to look up what that is.) The sort of zoo we are familiar with was established in 1752 at the order of Emperor Francis I, in Vienna Austria. It was only supposed to be fore the viewing pleasure of the imperial family, but in 1965 they opened it up to the public. Another zoo opened in Madrid in 1775, and yet another in Paris in 1795. After that there was an explosion of interest in opening zoos filled with strange and exotic animals from around the world. Today many of the animals in the zoo are there for preservation purposes, and in some cases are the only known living animals in their species being nurtured and cared for with the intent of growing their populations so they can eventually be released and live again in the wild.
April 9 –
Appomattox Day – Today is a HUGE day in history! Today is the anniversary of the day the Civil War ended in 1865. It happened in the village of Appomattox Court House, Virginia when Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant of the Union Army accepted the surrender of General Robert E. Lee of the Confederate Army. By all the accounts I’ve read it was pretty civilized and polite. The Confederate soldiers were allowed to keep their horses and return to their homes. The officers were allowed to keep their side arms and swords also. To me it feels like the two officers met, one said, OK, we’re done. The other accepted it, everyone picked up their stuff and went home. This conflict had lasted for four bloody, awful, terrifying and heart breaking years, costing more than a half million lives, and just like that, with a polite few words, it was over. The biggest celebration of this day so far was in 1965 during the Civil Warm centennial year. Thousands of people attended the ceremonies at the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park. It was a pretty big deal that two of the participants in the celebration were Ulysses S. Grant III, the grandson of the Union Leader, and Robert E. Lee, IV, the great-grandson of the Confederate leader. There were costumed pageants, books and articles about the war, concerts of martial music and reenactments. This anniversary isn’t observed on a yearly basis, but there are still reenactments of the historical surrender from time to time.
Jenkins Ear Day – I love history, I loved it in school, and I love it now. We learn so much about where we, as human beings, were before now, and we recognize the places we continue to repeat. They say history repeats itself, and quite honestly, wars are one of the things that humanity seems doomed to repeat. This one is pretty interesting and I’ll try to keep it brief, but it’s a bit of a story. Hope you have a cup of coffee or tea handy! As a part of the Treaty of Utrecht which ended the War of the Spanish Succession, Britain received a 30-year trade agreement from Spain which allowed the British merchants to trade up to 500 tons of goods with the Spanish colonies each year, and it also allowed them to sell an unlimited number of slaves. (I hear the gasp of horror at the word slavery from here – no, the settlers in the Americas did not have a corner on the slave market – as awful as slavery is, it’s been a part of human history since nearly the beginning of time, so unwad your panties at this point, OK? Nobody is saying slavery is fine – this is history. Can’t change what happened by not talking about it.) Throughout this time, even though there was a treaty in effect, the operation of day to day business of trading was not running smoothly because of military conflicts that were going on between the two nations. After the Anglo-Spanish War (1727-1729), Britain granted Spain the right to stop British ships to make sure that the terms of the agreement were being followed. Since the Spanish authorities believed that the British were taking advantage of the treaty and smuggling, they began to board and seize British ships, as well as holding and torturing their crews. This, of course, led to an increase in tensions between the two countries, and there began an anti-Spanish sentiment in Britain. First Minister Sir Robert Walpole anted to avoid war, of course, and was pressured into sending more troops to Gibraltar and sent a fleet to the West Indies. To counter this move, King Philip V suspended the treaty and confiscated British ships in Spanish ports. Both sides said the wanted to avoid a military conflict – though it’s hard to see that through their actions to this point – so they met at Pardo to see if they could reach a diplomatic resolution. The result was the Convention of Pardo, which was signed in early 1739, but it proved to be pretty unpopular in Britain and the public was clamoring for war. Both sides violated the conventions terms repeatedly, and though he was reluctant to do so, Walpole officially declared war on October 23, 1739. The term “War of Jenkins’ Ear” comes from Captain Robert Jenkins who had his ear cut off by the Spanish Coast Guard in 1731. When he was asked to appear in Parliament to tell his story, Captain Jenkins displayed his ear during his testimony. In one of the first actions of the war, Vice Admiral Edward Vernon descended on Porto Bello, Panama with six ships, attacking the Spanish town, which was poorly defended. He captured it quickly and stayed there for three weeks. At the early part of 1740, both sides thought that France would enter the war on the side of Spain, which resulted in invasion scares in Britain and resulted in most of their military strength staying in Europe. Meanwhile, here in the Americas, Governor James Oglethorpe of Georgia set off on an expedition into Spanish Florida with the goal of capturing St. Augustine. Starting in June he began to bombard the city, while Royal Navy forces blocked the port. The Spanish were successfully able to penetrate the blockade and the English were forced to abandon the siege and go back to Georgia. At this point, even though the Royal Navy was focused on defense at home, they did form a squadron in late 1740, under Commodore George Anson, to raid Spanish possessions in the Pacific. Anson’s squadron departed British shores on September 18, 1740, encountering severe weather and horrible disease. They were reduced to one ship, but he still succeeded in capturing the treasure galleon Nuestra Señora de Covadonga off the Philippines coast on June 20, 1743. Bolstered by this success, several other attacks were launched, some successfully, some not, over the following months and years. Back in George, Oglethorpe was still in command of the colony’s military forces even though he had failed in St. Augustine. In the summer of 1742, Governor Manuel de Montiano of Florida advanced north and landed on St. Simon’s Island. Oglethorpe’s forces moved to meet this threat, and won the Battles of Bloody Marsh and Gully Hole Creek, making Montiano to retreat back to Florida. While ALL this was going on in the War of Jenkin’s Ear (which seems odd to me to name it that since there’s very little actually said historically about Jenkin’s ear at all), the War of the Austrian Succession had broken out in Europe. To bring this to a quick end, when all was said and done, after all the blood shed, the grief, the loss . . . Spain brought BACK the treaty for 100,000 pounds (I don’t know how to make the symbol for that) while agreeing to let Britain trade freely in its colonies. Seriously? All of that grief could have been avoided way back in the beginning because they were BACK where they started! And so the world goes around and around doomed to repeat its mistakes and not learning from them.
Name Yourself Day – We all know someone who really isn’t fond of their name. I personally really like mine – though if you had asked me that in the 1st grade I may have had a different answer. (The kids used to call me Purina Cat Chow – Karina/Purina – it’s a stretch, but they were kids!) People who don’t care for their names may have a name in mind that they would prefer if they were given a choice. If so, today is the day to change your name. Now, you can change it just for the day to see how you like it . . . IF you can get other people to call you by the new name of course. If you do that, make sure it’s catchy and matches your personality. At the end of the day, if it worked out well and it made you happy, you may wish to make it a permanent change. It may be a good idea to discuss this plan with your parents – if you have a relationship with them – because they chose your name for a reason and it could hurt their feelings a LOT if you change it. I would be crushed if either of my children changed their names because I really like them!
National Cherish an Antique Day – If you look around your house, can you see something that was passed down from your Parents, Grandparents, or Great Grandparents that is special to you? Today is a really good day to learn the story and history behind this treasure. Antiques are often loved and appreciated because of our personal emotional connection, and the family history that comes with them. My treasures are two miniature tea sets from my Grandmother. They sat on a corner shelf in her kitchen and every time I would go to my Grandma’s house I would climb up on a chair and look at them. I don’t know if you can see it in this picture or not but to the left of the picture are two little corner shelves. On each shelf, behind other miscellaneous treasures, sat the two tea sets. Sometimes Grandma would take a set down, wash it up and we would have a little tea party at the kitchen table. Every time she would tell me that someday these little rose covered tea sets would be mine. I remember worrying when other Granddaughters came along that Grandma would forget and give the sets to one of them, but Grandma was always very verbal about it to everyone, who got what was a common topic in their house. I would give the sets back if it meant having my Grandma with us again, but I know she’s happier in heaven, so these little teapots and cups hold memories of happy times with her. Someday Baby B will have one, and if I ever end up with another Granddaughter, she will get the other. These are pretty special to me and I cannot wait to have little tea parties with my sweet girl(s).
National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day – As much as I hate talking about anything that paints the resident of the White House in a good light, I do think that this is an important recognition day. I’ve copied and pasted the actual proclamation.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
Under the flag of the United States, generations of women and men, united in a common cause greater than themselves, have served to defend the ideals that bind us together as a Nation and that preserve our country as a beacon of hope and freedom around the world. On National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day, we salute the selfless service members throughout our history who gave of their own liberty to ensure ours, and we renew our commitment to remaining a Nation worthy of their extraordinary sacrifices.
In wars and engagements since America’s founding, brave patriots have experienced indescribable suffering as prisoners of war. Often physically and mentally tortured, starved, and put through the worst most of us could imagine, these heroes are owed a debt we can never fully repay, and their families — who exhibited tremendous fortitude in the face of grueling uncertainty — are worthy of our profound gratitude. The values of honor, courage, and selflessness that drive our Armed Forces are particularly acute in those who have been taken as prisoners of war, sustaining them through days, weeks, and sometimes years of profound hardship endured for the sake of securing the blessings of liberty for all.
America’s former prisoners of war — and all who don our uniform to keep us safe — have helped make our Nation the strongest and most prosperous in the history of the world. Our eternal obligation is to care for them and uphold our everlasting promise to never leave our men and women on the battlefield behind. Let us reaffirm our adherence to these ideals and honor our former prisoners of war by paying them the gratitude and respect they deserve.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 9, 2016, as National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day. I call upon all Americans to observe this day of remembrance by honoring all American prisoners of war, our service members, and our veterans. I also call upon Federal, State, and local government officials and organizations to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand sixteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fortieth.
BARACK OBAMA
Winston Churchill Day – Today we honor a great man, and we do it today because on this day in 1963, Winston Churchill became an honorary U.S. citizen . . . the first person ever to become an honorary citizen. Sadly, he was given this honor posthumously. I have to wonder how he would have felt about it if he had been alive. And honestly, if he were alive today, considering how horribly our current administration has insulted Churchill and his country, he’d probably give it BACK! I can’t say I’d blame him. It’s humiliating the faux pas that have gone on in the last few years. Anyway, there have only been 6 people – two are a married couple who received it together) to be given this honor. So, what does it take to become an honorary citizen? Well, you have to have made extraordinary accomplishments or contributions in your life, a law must be drafted and voted on by the U.S. Senate. The best way I can say to celebrate this one would be by reading and learning about Winston Churchill, Britain’s Prime Minister during WWII.
This Day in History –
April 7, 1949 – The musical South Pacific, by Rodgers and Hammerstein, opens on Broadway.
April 7, 1948 – The World Health Organization (WHO) is founded.
April 8, 1974 – Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hits his 715th home run to surpass Babe Ruth’s 714 home run record.
April 9, 1865 – Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, ending the Civil War.
April 9, 1691 – French explorer LaSalle reaches the Mississippi river.
April 9, 1963 – The U.S. Senate passes a law making Winston Churchill the first honorary U.S. citizen.
Food Celebration of the Day –
April 7 –
National Coffee Cake Day – Who’s up for a coffee break? These cakes taste delicious alongside a cup of coffee, whether for breakfast or an afternoon pick-me-up. I made a pretty good coffee cake for brunch on Saturday – we had some for breakfast on Sunday too. Here’s the recipe for Low-Carb Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake. Baked goods without grains have a different texture. I thought ahead this time and added nuts, which really helped with the texture.
Lemon-Pecan Sunburst Coffee Cake
Calypso Coffee Cake With Butter Rum Glaze
Chocolate Sour Cream Coffee Cake
April 8 –
National Empanada Day – The Spanish and South American answer to the pot pie, these little savory pastries are impossible to resist. You can easily make low-carb empanadas by using fathead mozzarella dough, or magic mozzarella dough. If you do a search you can find a recipe for it, make little rounds out of it, fill it up with your favorite filling, and bake it like any of the recipes below. Here’s one to give you the idea. Guilt free and delicious!
Empanadas with Ham, Cheese & Olives
April 9 –
National Chinese Almond Cookie Day – Cookbook author Yuan-Shan Chi declared these cookies “as Chinese as blueberry pie” in 1960. Authentic or not, they’re still a treat at the end of a meal. I did find a low-carb/keto recipe for this one. I am thinking about trying it out for lunch treats this week! I’ll let you know how it turns out.
New York Bakery Chinese Cookies
Oh my – I didn’t realize how much I was awake and listening to the wind last night, but I feel like I hit a wall. It may be a good thing to have a bit of a nap! That is what Sunday afternoons are for, right? Well, I do need to get a few things done, so God bless you and I’ll see you on Tuesday.
Celebration lists and information are sourced from the following websites:
www.brownielocks.com; www.holidayinsights.com; www.thenibble.com; www.foodimentary.com and www.verseoftheday.com
Quite an entertaining blog. I enjoyed reading about your experiences. Each day really should be celebrated.