PEACE ROSE DAY

Sunday, April 29th: Today’s celebration had its start back in the 1930’s. Today celebrates PEACE ROSE DAY. French hybridizer, Francis Meilland, discovered notes about the development of a new cross bred rose. The family, who had developed many delightful roses, was attempting “to produce a new rose of great hardiness with very long shoots and with a robust and decorative foliage. …”

Meilland recalled that the seedling then was not very sturdy. Work continued and in June 1939 notes state, “this plant proved the great revelation of the season and attracted the most attention among visitors.”

That summer, buds were sent toGermany,Italy, and theUnited States. Then, September 3, 1939, “all communications withFranceceased, After the invasion in June, 1940, the same thing happened withItalyand thenEngland. The result was that the German firm which was to have distributed this rose, No. 3-35-40, put it on sale under the name of ‘Gloria Dei,’ and the Italian firm sold it under the name of ‘Gioia.’ InFrance, my father decided to dedicate this rose to the memory of my mother, Mme. A. Meilland, who had died a few years previously.”

The notes continued, “Until June, 1945, we had not the least idea as to what had become of this rose in the United States, It was only then that the Conard-Pyle Company told us of the successful experiments it had been making in cultivating it, and that in agreement with certain other rose growers of repute, it had decided to call it ‘Peace,’ to symbolize, as it were, the happy event to make the end of the (war’s) trials and suffering.”

Peace was scheduled to be baptized under the auspices of the American Rose Society on April 29, 1945, coincidentally the dayBerlinfell.

When the United Nations first met in San Francisco, heads of the 49 delegations received a single Peace rose, accompanied by this message from the Rose Society: “This is the Peace Rose which was christened at the Pacific Rose Society Exhibition in Pasadena on the day Berlin fell. We hope the Peace Rose will influence men’s thoughts for everlasting World Peace.”

What a great day to celebrate, a beautiful rose, named for the noble idea of ‘Peace’. Celebrate life; celebrate peace!

Y’s celebration is for YOU WOULDN’T BELIEVE IT: a SAVE THE FROGS DAY

Saturday, April 28^th: Y’s celebration is for YOU WOULDN’T BELIEVE IT: a SAVE THE FROGS DAY. People across theUS andUK are banding together today in a celebration of the frog.

According to http://www.savethefrogs.com, “Amphibian populations have been rapidly disappearing worldwide and nearly one-third of the world’s amphibian species are on the verge of extinction. Up to 200 species have completely disappeared since 1979. Frogs and other amphibians face an array of threats from climate change to habitat destruction; pesticide use; over-collection for frog legs and dissections; invasive species; and infectious diseases spread by human activity. Frogs eat mosquitoes, provide us with medical advances, serve as food for birds, fish and monkeys, and their tadpoles filter our drinking water. Plus they look and sound cool, and kids love them!

Founded in 2008, SAVE THE FROGS! isAmerica’s first and only public charity dedicated to amphibian conservation. Our mission is to protect amphibian populations and to promote a society that respects and appreciates nature and wildlife. We work inCalifornia, across theUSA, and around the world to prevent the extinction of amphibians, and to create a better planet for humans and wildlife.”

Go green today, do something good for our planet, help save a frog.

X’s celebration is for X-CELLENT JOB BABE RUTH

Friday, April 27^th: X’s celebration is for X-CELLENT JOB BABE RUTH. Today is BABE RUTH DAY, a day commemorating a baseball legend. On this day, in 1947, Babe Ruth, also known as “The Bambino” or “The Sultan of Swat” attended Yankee Stadium to be honored at Babe Ruth Day. It was the next to last time he was at the stadium, also known as “The House that Ruth Built”.

In 1927, “The Bambino” was the first player to hit 60 home runs in one season. Wikipedia.com states, “Ruth set career records for home runs (714), slugging percentage (.690), runs batted in (RBI) (2,217), and on-base plus slugging (OPS) (1.164).” In 1961 Roger Maris surpassed Ruth’s record with 61 home runs. And, Hank Aaron beat Ruth’s lifetime record of 714 home runs in 1974. Regardless of his records being topped, Ruth’s popularity has not dimmed.

W’s celebration is for WELL, I’LL BE – Is that a POEM IN YOUR POCKET?

Thursday, April 26^th: W’s celebration is for WELL, I’LL BE – Is that a POEM IN YOUR POCKET? The Academy of American Poets sponsors NATIONAL POEM IN YOUR POCKET DAY every April 26^th. They claim it’s simple. Just select a poem. Carry it in your pocket today. Share it with family, friends, and co-workers. Share it on your Facebook status. Tweet it, if it’s short enough.

There are other ideas on their web page (http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/406).

  Start a “poems for pockets” give-a-way in your school or workplace

  Post pocket-sized verses in public places

  Handwrite some lines on the back of your business cards

  Distribute bookmarks with your favorite immortal lines

  Add a poem to your email footer

  Post a poem on your blog or social networking page

  Project a poem on a wall, inside or out

  Text a poem to friends

What? You don’t have a favorite poem, no idea what you want to carry and share? Poems are available here: http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/59. There’s even an i-phone app. Happy Poem in your Pocket Day!

V’s celebration is for VICTIMS RIGHTS WEEK

Wednesday, April 25th: Hear ye, hear ye! V’s celebration is for VICTIMS RIGHTS WEEK. (Technically National Crime Victims’ Rights, but I needed a ‘V’ for the A to Z blog challenge, so please excuse the author liberties taken.) By order of Presidential Proclamation, this week is hereby proclaimed ‘National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, 2012’. According to the proclamation, “During National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, we commemorate the efforts of all who bring hope to crime victims during their darkest hour. As we reflect on the progress we have made toward ensuring fair treatment and full support for all crime victims, let us renew that fundamental American impulse to stand with those in need.”

The Albany Herald states, “According to the federal government, 18.7 million people fell victim to crime and physical violence in 2011.” Victims and their families benefit from help in several different ways. They need emotional and moral support, witness support during the judicial process, and practical support such as financial assistance, medical treatment, or insurance claims assistance.

Local agencies provide assistance and most can use volunteer help or donations. Local crimes frequently hold candlelight vigils or memorial readings, where a helping hand is appreciated. Contact your local police or social services departments to locate agencies in your own backyard to help. Or check with one of these organizations:

The NationalCenterfor Victims of Crime: www.ncvc.org

Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation: http://www.mvfr.org/

Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights: http://www.mvfhr.org/

Victim Support Foundation facilitates direct victims of violent crime as well as those who may have been indirectly affected such as a neighbor, family member or witness. http://tntvsf.org/?page_id=6

U’s celebration is for UNARGUABLY A GOOD IDEA – It’s NATIONAL TEACH YOUR CHILDREN TO SAVE DAY

Tuesday, April 24^th: U’s celebration is for UNARGUABLY A GOOD IDEA – It’s NATIONAL TEACH YOUR CHILDREN TO SAVE DAY. The American Bankers Assn Education Foundation (ABAEC) sponsors this day where more than 12,000 bankers visit classrooms acrossAmerica to teach children of all ages the importance of saving and making fiscal fitness a lifetime habit.

The ABAEC shares some tips for teaching your children about finances:

1. Talk openly about money with your kids. Communicate your values and experiences with money. Encourage them to ask you questions, and be prepared to answer them – even the tough ones.

2. Explain the difference between needs and wants, the value in saving and budgeting and the consequences of not doing so.

3. Set up a chore chart and give your children an allowance for completing their tasks. Require them to save at least a small portion each week. The three jars method, one for spending, one for saving and one for charitable contributions is a good way to impart a sense of responsibility.

4. Open up a savings account at your local bank for your children and take them with you to make deposits, so children can learn how to be hands-on in their money management.

5. Be an example of a responsible money manager by paying bills on time, being a conscious spender and an active saver. Children tend to emulate their parents’ personal finance habits.

For more money smart ideas, see some of the recommendations on these pages:

Teach your Children to Save Day: http://www.aba.com/ABAEF/tcts.htm

Finance tips for children: http://www.aba.com/ABAEF/FinanceTipsChildren.htm

At Your Library, in their Connect with Your Kids series, share ideas for ‘Money Smart Kids’ here: http://atyourlibrary.org/connectwithyourkids/money-smart-kids

T’s celebration is for TALK LIKE SHAKESPEARE DAY

Monday, April 23^rd: Aye Matey! No, no … methinks that I chooseth the wrong tongue. T’s celebration is for TALK LIKE SHAKESPEARE DAY. April 23^rd, Shakespeare’s birthday (many, MANY years ago) has been officially proclaimed as ‘Talk Like Shakespeare Day’. Thou sayest that you don’t know how to dispense prose like the bard? Here are two sites that will help thee out a mite. Good morrow mistresses, knights and knaves.

http://www.talklikeshakespeare.org/

http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/games-puzzles-and-worksheets/Talk-Like-Shakespeare.html

Food for thought: Earth Day 2012

And Man created the plastic bag and the tin and aluminum can and the cellophane wrapper and the paper plate, and this was good because Man could then take his automobile and buy all his food in one place and He could save that which was good to eat in the refrigerator and throw away that which had no further use.  And soon the earth was covered with plastic bags and aluminum cans and paper plates and disposable bottles and there was nowhere to sit down or walk, and Man shook his head and cried: “Look at this Godawful mess.”  
~Art Buchwald, 1970

Only when the last tree has been cut down,
Only when the last river has been poisoned,
Only when the last fish has been caught,
Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten.
— Cree Indian Prophecy

“A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.”
— Franklin Delano Roosevelt

“To forget how to dig the earth and tend the soil is to forget ourselves.”
— Mahatma Gandhi

“What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Eventually we’ll realize that if we destroy the ecosystem, we destroy ourselves.”
— Jonas Salk , American physician and microbiologist, 1914-95

“When the earth is sick and polluted, human health is impossible…. To heal ourselves we must heal our planet, and to heal our planet we must heal ourselves.”
— Bobby McLeod (Koori activist, aboriginal)

“There are 70 pesticides that are listed as known or probable carcinogens, based on animal testing. Of those 70, 44 are in use today, and 23 are used on our food.”
— Gina Solomon, specialist in internal medicine [2001]

There is hope
if people will begin to awaken that spiritual part of themselves,
that heartfelt knowledge
that we are caretakers of this planet.
~ Brooke Medicine Eagle ~

Oh Beautiful for smoggy skies, insecticided grain,
For strip-mined mountain’s majesty above the asphalt plain.
America, America, man sheds his waste on thee,
And hides the pines with billboard signs, from sea to oily sea.
~ George Carlin ~

We never know the worth of water till the well is dry.
~ Thomas Fuller, ‘Gnomologia’ 1732 ~

The sun, the moon and the stars would have disappeared long ago… had they happened to be within the reach of predatory human hands.
~Havelock Ellis, The Dance of Life, 1923

The packaging for a microwavable “microwave” dinner is programmed for a shelf life of maybe six months, a cook time of two minutes and a landfill dead-time of centuries.
 ~David Wann, Buzzworm, November 1990

Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names the streets after them.
~Bill Vaughn

The activist is not the man who says the river is dirty. The activist is the man who cleans up the river.
 ~Ross Perot

What poor as well as rich families leave on the sidewalks these days for the Sanitation Department to cart away looks to me like the stuff people used to load on moving vans, not on dump trucks.  I see lamps, umbrellas, TV sets, playpens, baby carriages, bicycles, tables, refrigerators – all cut down in the prime of life.  We have been educated to use; we shall now have to be reeducated to reuse, restore, renew and conserve.
-Sam Levinson, New York Sunday News, 28 November 1971

Walk lightly in the spring – Mother Earth is pregnant. 
–Kiowa

Today I’m celebrating a healthier ME! S’s celebration is for SOY FOODS MONTH.

Saturday, April 21^st: Today I’m celebrating a healthier ME! S’s celebration is for SOY FOODS MONTH. Part of celebrating every aspect of life includes living a healthier life that gives us energy and vitality. April is Soy Foods Month. Incorporating more soy into my diet is one way (one of several) towards better health. And besides, what better way to annoy those you love (and those you don’t love) than to live longer?

According to www.soyfoodsmonth.org, “Soyfoods are a key part of a plant-based diet. Here’s why:

• Heart health. A good source of plant protein, soy is one of only a few food components that reduces blood cholesterol.
• Weight management. Soy can help people achieve lower body weight and may help to redistribute unhealthy fat deposits away from the body core.
• Wholesome nutrition. Eating more soyfoods in place of animal-based protein sources lowers saturated fat, cholesterol, and calories in the diet, while increasing important nutrients like dietary fiber, foliate, iron, and other minerals.
• Satisfying and delicious. Soy-based alternatives look, smell, and taste just like meat, chicken, and fish. And, packed with protein and fiber, soyfoods are just as filling.”

For some recipes to get you started, see: http://www.soyfoodsmonth.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/NSM12_QuickandEasyRecipesBrochure.pdf

Check this out for information on the health benefits of soy: http://www.soyfoods.org/soy-information/soy-benefits-brochure

R’s celebration is for REASONS: It’s CLEANING FOR A REASON WEEK (April 17-23).

Friday, April 20^th: R’s celebration is for REASONS: It’s CLEANING FOR A REASON WEEK (April 17-23). No, it doesn’t entail hard work. I saw this and immediately images were conjured up of all the reasons I needed to clean. But, NO! It’s even better than that. You don’t have to clean at all. This celebration was established by the Cleaning for a Reason Foundation in 2009 to raise awareness that there is an organization that works to provide free residential cleaning to women who are undergoing treatment for cancer. Activities will be held nationwide to let women know that there is a foundation that allows them to focus on their health while the foundation focuses on their home.

As their website states (http://cleaningforareason.org/), “Fighting cancer is difficult enough, but living with it is even tougher and that’s where Cleaning For A Reason steps in. As a nonprofit serving the entire United States and Canada, we partner with maid services to offer professional house cleanings to help women undergoing treatment for cancer, any type of cancer. To date, we have helped more than 9,000 women with cancer with more than $1 million in donated cleanings.” Go check out the web site, sign up for their newsletter and see how you can help with the gift a cleaning.