May 29

Memorial Day 2017

Thanks, Grandpa…  You weren’t American, but you fought valiantly for the cause overseas.

I never met my grandfather.  He had died in Peshawar, India, fighting for the Black Watch during World War l.  Peshawar was on the northern frontier of British India, near the Khyber Pass.

In 1947, Peshawar became part of the newly independent state of Pakistan after politicians approved merger into the state that had just been carved from British India.

peshawar

We have a trunk of his belongings, though, and it’s very interesting to recreate his life.

My dad was born in Scotland in 1913.

In 1914, my grandfather was involved in this:

On the outbreak of war there were seven Black Watch battalions – for in addition to the Regular 1st and 2nd Battalions and 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion there were a further four Territorial ones which had become part of the Regiment in 1908. They were the 4th Dundee [Mary O’Note: I’m pretty sure this was his, since that’s where my dad was born], 5th Angus, 6th Perthshire and the 7th Battalion from Fife. The 1st Battalion was in action at the very start of the war taking part in the Retreat from Mons before turning on the Germans at the River Marne and the subsequent advance to the Aisne. Trench warfare then set in and the 2nd Battalion arrived from India, both battalions taking part in the Battle of Givenchy. Meanwhile the Territorial battalions had been mobilised at the start of the war but only the 5th was in action in 1914.

From http://www.theblackwatch.co.uk/index/first-world-war

black watch

Black_Watch2

I guess this is why I love the Pipes and Drums of the Black Watch so much.

blackwatch-pipers

Thanks, Grandpa!

Last summer, we went to the Edinburgh Tattoo for the second time. This had been on my bucket list for a long time since my grandfather was in the Black Watch and I just love to hear bagpipes. Even my cellphone ringtone is Scotland, the Brave.

 

My mom says that my Grandfather’s name is inscribed as a war hero in Edinburgh Castle, where the Tattoo is held.

When we were there last time, I didn’t quite make it to the top of the hill but this year, maybe…

You know, I’ll find that, sooner or later.

Thanks again for your service, Grandpa – and everyone who served!

May 25

It’s Also National Tap Dance Day!

tap-dance-day

 

Another of the Who Knew?-type posts. It’s National Tap Dance Day.  When I was a little kid, I took the “required” ballet and tap classes for a year.  My mom has a picture of me in my tutu and one in my majorette costume for the tap recital.  I imagine I only took for the year because those costumes cost extra money.

Later on, I bought tap shoes – still unused – and signed up with a friend for a local adult tap class.  Unfortunately, we were the only ones who signed up for the class and it was cancelled.  It was a major nightmare trying to get our money back.  They wanted to give us a credit for the next time, but that would cost more money which we didn’t want to pay.

But, I digress.

National Tap Dance Day falls on May 25 every year and is a celebration of tap dancing as an American art form. The idea of National Tap Dance Day was first presented to U.S. Congress on February 7, 1989 and was signed into American law by President George H.W. Bush on November 8, 2004. The one-time official observance was on May 25, 1989.

Tap Dance Day is also celebrated in other countries, particularly Japan, Australia, India and Iceland.
National Tap Dance Day was the brainchild of Carol Vaughn, Nicola Daval, and Linda Christensen. They deemed May 25 appropriate for this holiday because it is the birthday of Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, a significant contributor to tap dance.

 

 

Even Legos can tap to Puttin’ On The Ritz! A tribute to Fred Astaire, in the classic scene from the 1946 musical, Blue Skies, with the music and lyrics by Irving Berlin. Although originally written for vaudevillian Harry Richman in 1930, the lyrics were readapted along with a brand new dance sequence some 16 years later.

 

 

Here’s the original from Blue Skies, although some has been cut with stills of Fred inserted:

 

 

And another version, with Michael Jackson 🙂

 

 

Just for comparison, the real original 1930 movie footage of Irving Berlin’s world-famous song, sung by Harry Richman, from the film of the same name.

 

 

And something completely different with my old favorites, The Nicholas Brothers from the film Stormy Weather.

 

May 25

Nashville

Next week I’m going to a conference in Nashville for one of my jobs.  The last time – actually the only other time – I was there, it was for a Cushing’s Conference.

There are two albums of photos on Facebook from that conference.  Part one and Part two (Duh!)

It makes me sad just thinking about that conference.  Since that time, three of my close Cushie friends in attendance have died.  Sue, Natalie, and Diana.  Cookie had died the previous year but she had also been a force to reckon with. All died too young.  All the Cushies who have died have been too young.  I hate this disease/syndrome.

On the other hand, had it not been for Cushing’s, I never would have even met those wonderful friends.

In church one Sunday, one of the questions the pastor asked in the sermon was “What would your best friend think about…” and all I could think of was that nearly all my friends have died.  There’s no “best” one left.  And, I’m too young for this to be.

Last week, I was asked what I had on my Medic Alert bracelet and I responded with the words and a picture of the bracelet.  I also mentioned that mine is the same as the one Natalie always wore, in memory of her.

But, I’m hoping for a much cheerier visit to Nashville this year.  After all, this is the same conference we went to last year in Baltimore…

Read more about last year’s conference on my travel blog here: http://maryoblog.com/2016/08/19/acs-conference-in-baltimore-md-may-31-june-3-2016/

 

May 25

Why a Towel?

From The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy…

 

 

May 25

Remember Your Towel Today!

Each year, May 25 is Towel Day.  Do you know why?

towel

Towel Day is celebrated every year on 25 May as a tribute to the author Douglas Adams by his fans.

On this day, fans carry a towel with them, as described in Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, to demonstrate their appreciation for the books and the author.

The original quotation that explained the importance of towels is found in Chapter 3 of Adams’ work The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitchhiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have “lost.” What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

Hence a phrase that has passed into hitchhiking slang, as in “Hey, you sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There’s a frood who really knows where his towel is.” (Sass: know, be aware of, meet, have sex with; hoopy: really together guy; frood: really amazingly together guy.)

—Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

towel-day

 

This book is important to me because I read it while I was at NIH waiting for pituitary surgery.

 

 

 

In case you like poetry, you might be interested in this: Vogon Poetry Generator.

 

 

Here’s mine:

 

See, see the old sky
Marvel at its big grey depths.
Tell me, Clyde do you
Wonder why the armadillo ignores you?
Why its foobly stare
makes you feel yucky.
I can tell you, it is
Worried by your qwerty facial growth
That looks like
A tofu
What’s more, it knows
Your rolf potting shed
Smells of pea.
Everything under the big old sky
Asks why, why do I even bother?
You only charm fish.

 

May 23

Every Time It Rains…

 

 

 

Lucky-Penny-Day

 

See a penny, pick it up… All day long you’ll have good luck.

When you are out and about today, look on the ground for pennies. It just might be your lucky day!

My mom is forever picking up pennies – or anything that’s cash-looking.  She’s made a record over the years of how much money she’s found on the street and the total amount is pretty staggering.

Finding a penny has long been considered a good omen, suggesting something good will happen in the life of the finder. Some superstitious people believe that you should only pick up a penny that’s lying face up.

Some believe we should no longer mint pennies because they cost more to make than they are worth.

Years ago a penny was able to buy something – like penny candy. Today, due to inflation, the penny does not buy much of anything. The metal value and cost of minting pennies exceed their face value. Many nations have stopped minting equivalent value coins and efforts are being made to end the routine use of pennies in several countries including the United States.

The U.S. minted 8 billion pennies in 2014, spending almost $132 million for currency worth less than $50 million, according to Citizens to Retire the Penny, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to educating the public on why the U.S. should ditch the penny.

1793 – The first pennies in the United States were made of copper.

National Lucky Penny Day is observed each year on May 23rd.

A commercial but cute, nonetheless:

 

May 14

Happy Dogmother’s 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, 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 14

Happy 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, 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 08

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

My son, the math genius!

 

 

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

May 05

A Shell of a Day

 

 

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!

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