Warm Spring

Today I am celebrating a beautiful warm spring day spent with lovely family members.  Hours of Scrabble on the back deck with Mom and a luscious dinner at a local restaurant with Mom and Sister. A good steak, Mac and Cheese and green beans with a follow up of Deep Chocolate Brownie and homemade vanilla ice cream.  That's all I have to say....Celebrate Today with ME!

April 15th

I went through all of my research material and decided to leave them behind and not celebrate the Carpathia saving so many people who survived the sinking of the Titanic. Or, I could have focused on any one of the scores of 'famous' people who were born or died on this day including Leonardo Di Vinci (Mona Lisa, etc); Elizabeth Montgomery (Bewitched); and Roy Clark (Thank God and Greyhound She's Gone). But I have decided to celebrate the end of worrying about Filling out those DREADFUL federal forms known as 1040s.

Many people fill out their forms in February, shortly after receiving their W2s, 1099s and other forms that summarize their previous year's income. I usually like to do mine the first part of March. This year I waited until the beginning of April because of many extracurricular influences, real or imaginary. 

It took me a little over 3 hours to fill out the form using a computer program. I can't tell you how long it took me prior to sitting down at the keyboard to gather all the paperwork required to answer the questions. I don't know if that is high or low for filers similar to me, but I don't feel too badly about the time. I know that once I hit the file button I felt relief that it was over.

Monday, I went online to "find out where your return is", and discovered that it hadn't filed. OH NO. I opened my program and discovered that it had not been e-filed. I quickly hit the red button and filed. I am so glad I checked before the deadline. But talk about a stomach turn! Shortly after pressing that submit button, I received an email confirming my submission and the next day, an email notifying me that my form was accepted. 

So, today, I celebrate not worrying about filling out another IRS 1040 for at least 9 months. Hope you can celebrate with me.

Aventure, Courage, Celebration

45 years ago today three American astronauts became the center of the world almost 200 miles from home.

Many people experienced this first hand and even more watched the movie starring Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton as the ill-fated astronauts.  If you have not seen the movie, I highly recommend it. And if you have no idea of the story, stop reading now and watch the movie or read your favorite history book.

Really, you can stop, I won't be angry.....




Approximately 3 days, 15 hours later the crew splashed down in the Pacific Ocean where they were picked up by the USS Iwo Jima after 45 minutes of floating. The three men in good spirits and mostly good health.

I ask that we Celebrate Today

1-the adventurous spirits of humans who wish to explore unknowns;
2-the courage of those who work through seemingly unbeatable problems;
3-the quick-to-celebrate nature we have when finally fear and anxiety have passed. 

Celebrate Today. Celebrate Everyday.

Sixty is the New Forty

Today marks the 65th Birth Anniversary of David Cassidy.

When you finish catching your breath, picking yourself up off the floor and cleaning up your spilt iced tea, go ahead and start counting on your fingers to make sure that I'm not wrong. Sorry, I'm not.

David Cassidy was one of my all time heartthrobs back in the day. I wanted so badly to live next door to the Partridge Family. Although I probably would have been pestered day and night by that dreaded Danny!

Until this Celebrate Today Post, I hadn't realized he was that much older than me. I suppose that is the magic of TV and the fact that the phrase "Sixty is the new Forty" going around it stands to reason that looking younger now had to start decades ago, say a twenty year old playing a high school student.

So, Celebrate today, the 65th Birthday of David Cassidy and look in the mirror and realize that you still look good for your age and Celebrate that as well.

End of American Civil War

Today, April 9, 2015, marks the 150th anniversary of the end of the nearly 4 year long War Between the States (aka the American Civil War).

In this little slice of my opinion I am not going to celebrate the war itself or even the ending of the war. I am not a Civil War buff, nor a history buff (per se), and I don't know too much about the matter.

What I am celebrating is my connection to the surrender. I know I am probably stretching it, but While researching my family history, I discovered that a great, great, great cousin, several times removed had moved from Richmond and rented the McLean house (which was now owned by John Pascoe who had purchased the bank owned house at auction in November, 1869).

"Cousin" Nathaniel Ragland then purchased the home from Pascoe for $1250 and lived their until his death. His Widow (Martha, I believe) then sold the home in 1891 to a Yankee from Niagara Falls, NY for a whopping $10,000.

I wonder, was she a genius marketer and used the historical past to make such a wonderful profit?

So, today, I celebrate a distant cousin who really had nothing to do with the surrender of Robert E. Lee and his Confederate Army at the McLean House in Appomattox, VA on this sesquicentennial anniversary!

April 4th Decisions

Well, who would have thought that I would be having decision making problems for too many celebratory worthy things happening today.

Do I urge you to celebrate the first portable phone call in 1973 in NYC.  Or the release of one of my dad's favorite movies Planet of the Apes in 1968? Or the birth of Bill France, Jr, the son of NASCAR founder and the one who had brought the sport into more mainstream national events from its southern roots?

Oh, Decisions Decisions.

Okay, I'll let you decide. Choose one and celebrate in what ever fashion fits the event. OR how about watching Planet of the Apes on your cell phone during a NASCAR race? Sounds perfect to me!

PS:  Happy Birthday Grumpy Cat, Heath Ledger, James Roday, Nancy McKeon, Craig T Nelson, Kitty Kelly, Anthony Perkins, Maya Angelou, Muddy Waters, John Cameron Swayze, Arthur Murray, Tad Lincoln, Dorothea Dix, and Linus Yale, Jr (just to name a few). If you are having a birthday today or know someone who is, please feel free to add in the comments area below.

AND DON'T FORGET TO CELEBRATE TODAY!

Movies

ON this day, 1902, the first full time movie theater is opened by Thomas Tally on South Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles.

 Movies released that year included Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves; A Trip to the Moon (a fave of mine); Snow White; and The Coronation of Edward VII. All tickets sold for a dime. The movie house was such a hit they had to expand their original 7:30-10:30 pm hours to include a daylight matinee showing.

In the news recently, I saw an article that questioned if Hollywood had run out of ideas. What do you think. I agree it may seem like it with tons of remakes and sequels but I don't think that they have run out of ideas. I think that the powers that be are just not ready to accept a challenge and make a movie that might not be a mega-million maker.

In the mean time, let's visit a theater and Celebrate. I wonder where I can get a copy of A Trip to the Moon....

International Children's Book Day

Today is the anniversary of Hans Christian Andersen's Birth (1805 - 1875) and International Children's Book Day. No, not a coincidence.

Hans Christian Andersen is one of my favorite writers. He was a prolific writer most known for his fairy tales, hence International Children's Book Day. My favorite is The Princess and the Pea, no, wait, The Ugly Duckling, no wait... Too many to choose just one.

I have a wonderful hardback book called Christine's Picture Book. A scrapbook of stories, cutouts and drawings that he compiled with Christine's grandfather Adolph Drewsen for the little girl's 3rd birthday.  It is a wonderful collection, that I discovered, that was not unique. The two men worked on books for all three of Drewson's grandchildren. Will have to look into getting copies of the other two. If you are interested in this book I discovered in my research today that it is available as a free download.

For a fairy tale version of Hans Christian Andersen's life, try watching the 1952 movie (of the same name) starring the Fabulous Danny Kaye!

In celebration of Int'l Children's Book Day, let's pick up a copy of H.C. Andersen's works and read to kid, or ourselves, on this wonderful day. If you can't commit to the length of a fairy tale, Seuss or Aesop might be an acceptable alternative.

CELEBRATE WITH ME.

Sunshine

There are so many events that happen each day. Happenings on this day on the research sites I use go back as far as 240BC when it was recorded that a Comet was visible in the night skies. Eventually it would be named Halley's Comet.

Also, in 1981, US President Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinkley. I remember this event, kept news articles about it. Not really a celebratory type of event, but nonetheless, noteworthy.

Today I would like to chat about Sunshine. No it is not the anniversary of the birth of our sun, but the anniversary of a song celebrating the sun.

Sunshine on My Shoulders, by John Denver, made it to number one on this day in 1974. A sad song? No, but that is what John was feeling when he wrote it. He was feeling a little blue and tried to show it through song. It didn't work, in my opinion.

It always seems to make me happy when I hear it. There are some nice versions on YouTube that you can play to help you CELEBRATE TODAY.

BRRR!

BRRRR!
March 29th

167 years ago today the water flowing over the falls at Niagara stopped.

A few panicked hours later, the sun rose. Many people jammed churches with fears of the end of the world.  Some feared divine retribution, some feared retaliation over the war with Mexico.

Once the sun rose, people began walking the bed of the river avoiding flopping fish (maybe picking a few up for dinner??) and scrambling turtles. Many collected debris that had been thrown into the river in years past such as bayonets, tomahawks and guns as souvenirs. (Apparently none of these people were concerned that the ice jam/dam could be cleared as quickly as it built up.)

The relatively new Maid of the Mist tour boats took the opportunity to clear away some large boulders that had caused needed tricky maneuvers from boat captains during their tour rides.
Soon, news finally arrived  (from Buffalo 3-hours away) that ice on Lake Erie had been blown by strong southwest winds into the mouth of the Niagara River, blocking the flow.

Many businesses had to close down, waterwheels that powered mills shut down. People began to flock to Niagara to see this historic event.

The falls would be quiet for a total of thirty to forty hours, when, after sundown on March 31st, a huge thunderous rumbling could be heard coming from the south. As it became louder, a wall of water rushed toward Niagara and returned the little town back to normal.

As I write this story of events of those couple of days, I recall the super cold and snowy winter we have had here on the east coast. Could this happen again?  Could Niagara stop running again? Maybe this year? Who knows, but I would love to know what wonderful things could be found on the bed of the great and awesome river after 167 years of not seeing drylight.

Celebrate a spectacular weather event Today!

Hello?

HELLO! Long time no visit....I have been so negligent in my posting, but will try, again, to keep up. I really enjoy coming up with reasons to celebrate.

I sat down this morning to post today when I got a call from my sister in Mississippi. Even in this age of instant messaging, Facebook and cell phones it has been a good little while since we 'chatted'. All of these technologies still can't help the brain remember things.

So, while listening to Keeks fill me in on the family, I scrolled through a few lists of historical happenings and special days when one jumped out at me as appropriate for my day today:

On March 27, 1884 the first long distance call made from Boston, Mass to New York, NY was placed.

Although other long distance lines had been erected and used, this was the inaugural use of this particular line. Another first for the day, this particular phone line used copper rather than galvanized iron. I don't know much about galvanized iron, but it sounds quite heavy. AND since, until recently when fiber optics were invented, all phone lines began using copper, it was probably provided a better quality to all calls.

I wonder what Bell, Grey, Edison, Morse, Manzetti, Reis and the scores of other inventors thought of or built of what turned out to be known as the telephone if they were here today. Making a call on our cell phones and talking across distances without wires and sending "letters" without paper and ink.