May 22

National Buy a Musical Instrument Day

Piano 8

 

 

Each year on May 22 we observe National Buy a Musical Instrument Day.  The day is all about playing music.  If you are a musician, it might be time for a new instrument.  Maybe you can learn to play a second or third one.  If you have never played an instrument before, National Buy A Musical Instrument Day might be the motivation you need to start.

Naturally, here at the O’Connor Music Studio, a piano, keyboard with weighted keys (and 88 of them!) or organ is recommended but this day is for all types of instruments and is for people of all ages.  Grandpa can play his ukulele while the grandkids play the drums, trombone, and flute. Together they can all make terrific music!

Adapted from http://www.nationaldaycalendar.com/national-buy-a-musical-instrument-day-may-22/

 

May 13

Mother’s Day :)

happy-mothers-day

 

Mother’s Day is a celebration honoring the mother of the family, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, most commonly in the months of March or May. It complements similar celebrations honoring family members, such as Father’s Day and Siblings Day.

In the United States, the celebration of Mother’s Day began in the early 20th century.

It was in 1905 when Mother’s Day was finally introduced successfully by Anna Jarvis. She started a dedicated letter-writing campaign to declare an official Mother’s Day. Through Andrews Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia, the first Mother’s Day was observed on May 10, 1908.

This day, to honor Anna Jarvis’s mother grew into a National Observance until in 1911 every state participated. Soon it was spreading internationally and on May 9, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Mother’s Day a national holiday to be held on the second Sunday of May.

 

May 12

It’s Dogmother Day

This picture reminds me so much of our dog and her siblings.  Mimi, unlike our most recent past dog, refuses to wear a bandana, though!

 

Last Dogmother’s Day (second Saturday in May), Mimi shared this on her blog (yes, of course my dog has her own blog):

 

My human mom had a friend who said she was my dog mother so when mom saw this she took a pikture.

I thought it would be good for today since it’s Dogmother’s Day.

Here’s me and my sisters and brother just after our mom had us.

Happy Dogmother’s Day from Mimi (who thinks it’s MeMe!)

 

May 11

XOR’s Hammer

From my son, the math genius!

 

Source: Making Money Disappear Through Infinite Iteration, Now In YouTube Form! – XOR’s Hammer

May 06

The Shell You Say

This is from last year but I still won’t go back…

 

 

I needed gas for my car last week.  I was on my way to bell rehearsal so I didn’t have time to go to my usual place.  Instead, I stopped by the station that was on my way.

I had stopped going to this particular gas station many years ago when I thought that they were adding water to the mix.  My engine had sputtered whenever I’d put in gas from there.

Anyway, I was in a rush, so I went there, to the first pump I came to.  The gas flowed into my car, no problem.  The hose clicked off as always.

When I removed it from my tank, gas sprayed everywhere.  On me, on the car.  I dropped the hose on the ground until I figured out how to turn it off manually.

I looked at the meter and I wasn’t charged for the extra gas.  Good thing!

I grabbed a lot of their paper towels and cleaned my car off as best I could.  Used a LOT of hand sanitizer on me and headed to rehearsal.

First rehearsal went fine.  At the beginning of the second, someone mentioned smelling gas and I said it was me – and related my tale.  Someone else said they could smell it on my car in the parking lot.  <sigh>

Got home, took a l-o-n-g shower and extra cortisone.

DH went up to the gas station to have a word with them.  The person on duty said this happens “a lot”.

Wednesday, DH called the station owner who suggested it was my fault.  Then he called the main company “Customer Service” who offered us back $.25 (yes, 25 cents)  for spraying myself with gas and becoming a possible fire hazard.

DH explained the concept of class action suit when I did a Google search and found over 2 million hits for “gas pump sprayed me”

 

That was over a week ago.  “Customer service” was supposed to call back.  Of course, they haven’t yet.

Stay tuned!

2018 Postlude: My DH tried this pump about a month ago and the same thing happened.

May 05

Cinco de Mayo!

cinco-de-mayo

 

May 04

May the 4th Be With You!

may4th

 

 

May 02

Virginia International Tattoo

We went back to the Virginia International Tattoo again and it was everything I remembered from 2016.  A wonderful, but very exhausting time!  There will be a journal of the rest of the weekend on my Travel Blog

This time around we went to some of the band competition, then went back to the hotel for a nap before the show.  Fortunately, most of the afternoon events were live-streamed on Facebook so I didn’t miss much.

All of the 2018 Tattoo is on YouTube already.

A couple of my favorite acts:

and

 

And the Finale:

 

When they showed the videos of the Medal of Honor recipients, I thought it was amazing.  There is no way I could do any part of what they had done.

Just before leaving, I bought a teeshirt which said “More Bagpipes”.

May 01

May Day!

mayday

 

May Day is observed annually on May 1.  In many ancient calendars, May 1 was the first day of summer.  This was a cause for celebration.  One of the more popular rituals was harvesting flowers and giving them to neighbors and strangers in cone-shaped baskets. These “May Baskets” become more commonly known as “May Day Baskets”.  The current tradition is observed by hanging a cone-shaped basket full of flowers or other gifts on the outside doorknob, then knocking or ringing the doorbell and run away.

May Day has been a traditional day of celebration for centuries, with some of the earliest appearing in pre-Christian times.  In English tradition, May Day is celebrated by crowning a May Queen and dancing around a maypole.  The Finnish tradition is a carnival-type celebration in the streets that includes a special type of lemonade that is made with lemons, brown sugar and yeast.  In France, it is correct to give people either dogwood or lily of the valley to celebrate May Day.  In Italy, a seasonal feast is held to celebrate the arrival of spring.

When we were kids, we learned how to dance a Maypole dance but no one else I’ve ever asked remembers doing this.  Maybe it was just my small town?  This was the town that gave out cherry pies for Washington’s birthday, too.

I don’t remember much about learning how to do this, other than we always got the strands tied up, possibly on purpose.

 

 

 

Apr 30

National Bugs Bunny Day

 

National Bugs Bunny Day is observed each year on April 30.  Bugs Bunny is the famous cartoon character best remembered for his roles in Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies produced by Warner Bros.  He is known  for his popular catchphrase “What’s up, doc?”

Bugs Bunny first appeared in a short film on April 30, 1938, and has since been enjoyed by millions of viewers.

 

Load more