It's International Polar Bear Day, to raise awareness

"Polar bear with young - ANWR"

Polar Bears International's Polar Bear Day is an opportunity to raise awareness and bring attention to these iconic polar bears' struggle as they face a warming Arctic and lets us know how we can help. 
 Find out more click here

Love this video of a Polar Bear Swimming!

In Honor of International Polar Bear Day, Check out these Links
Spectacular Pictures of a Threatened Species
National Geographic‎


Polar Bears International
The world's leading polar bear conservation group—dedicated to saving polar bears by saving their sea ice habitat.

Teach your kids about Polar Bears with this wonderful Sound Book. Click the image for more info.



Paul Goldstein has bought together his favorite images of the majestic predator. Click here to view

If you live in the U.S., 

urge Congress to take action 

on the issue of climate change.

Image "Polar bear with young - ANWR" by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters.
Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Today is Toss Your Fruitcake Day

One of my favorite holiday traditions as a kid was enjoying my grandmother's fruitcake. Have you ever tasted a really good fruitcake? My grandmother made the most awesome fruitcake in the world! Assumption Abbey Bakery in Southwest Missouri makes an awesome fruitcake almost as good as my grandmother's! The Abby is located near Ava, Mo., nestled in the foothills of the Missouri Ozarks.

Jasper Mirabile, Jr. recently interviewed Assumption Abbey’s Father Cyprian on his ‘Live! From Jasper’s Kitchen’ radio show and wrote an article about the interview on kansascity.com.

He writes that "only eight monks, tirelessly and lovingly work at producing these cakes each day" and that "the task begins early each morning when one of the monks begins cracking 265 eggs."

What makes the cakes so good? Mirabile writes that the fruit is first soaked in burgundy wine, added to the batter then baked. Then the monks inject each cake "with over 1 ounce of rum and then soak them in corn syrup." After each cake if finished, the monks gather and pray over each cake.

This is a quote from the Abby's website:

"O GOD, CREATOR OF ALL THINGS
BLESS NOW THESE CREATIONS OF OUR HANDS.
THAT THESE CAKES MAY BE RECEIVED
AS TOKENS OF YOUR LOVE
AND SHARED WITH FRIENDS AS HINTS
OF YOUR EUCHARISTIC FEAST...."

If you're not a fruitcake lover, this dark, rich, traditional style fruitcake will make you one! Each cake is made with raisins, pineapple, currants, citron, walnuts, and wine and laced with rum.

The monks of Assumption Abbey produce 125 fruitcakes a day! That's almost 25,000 cakes per year. You can order you cake here:  Assumption Abbey Bakery  It comes in a decorative, re-useable tin and weighs about 2 lbs.

A good fruitcake is aged. If it contains alcohol and is wrapped in alcohol-soaked linen before storing, it could remain edible for many years. 

Tell me about your fruitcake experience in the comments!

Happy National Sugar Cookie Day!

Tea Cup Sugar Cookies

Today we honor a food that is simple, versatile, and delicious.

The recipes for sugar cookies are simple with 6 ingredients and they can be dropped for an everyday treat or cut out with themed cookie cutters and decorated with frosting or sprinkles for a special celebration.


Love this photo of Tea Cup Sugar Cookies used with permission
from Oh Sugar Events




How To Make Sugar Cookies with Icing

Do you have a recipe for sugar cookies? 
Share it in the comments.

More Cookie Photos
Cookies: Teacups

Check out this 101-Piece Cookie Cutter Set
Looking for cookie cutters for that special occasion cookie? Try this cookie cutter collection. Click the image to see what shapes are included and get the current price.

These can also be used for playdough!

Memorial Day in Hawaii

Originally created after the Civil War to honor the fallen Union soldiers, Memorial Day has now evolved to commemorate every American soldier and service member. FoxNews.com recently listed the top 10 destinations to celebrate and honor America’s heroes in the "Top 10 moving Memorial Day Getaways."  The article listed Honolulu and Waikiki as #1 for a deeply memorable Memorial Day Weekend with a trip over to Waikiki to check out Oahu's most visually breathtaking annual event The Lantern Floating Hawaii ceremony at Ala Moana Beach Park that honors ancestors and those who have sacrificed their lives in war.

Lantern floating is an Asian spiritual tradition, part of a traditional Buddhist rite which originated in Japan, that beautifully symbolizes the wish for all beings to live in peaceful coexistence...in remembrance of loved ones, or as symbolic prayer for a harmonious future. Those who cast afloat lanterns hope that Lantern Floating Hawai`i brings you a sense of peace and warm remembrance of your departed loved ones. The ceremony also features live music and speeches.

Live streaming of the ceremony will be available here on May 27, 2013, 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Hawai‘i-Aleutian Standard Time.

Lantern Floating Hawaii in 2010
at Ala Moana Beach Park, Honolulu, HI

Watch this video for a brief history of the journey of lantern floating ceremony to Hawaii.

Visit Lantern Floating Hawaii on Facebook
More Info Lantern Floating Hawaii
See the photos from last year Here

International Children's Book Day

My grandson eating his first book!

Today we are celebrating International Children's Book Day, a yearly event sponsored by the International Board on Books for Young People. This day is celebrated to inspire a love of reading and to call attention to children's books.

Instilling a love of reading promotes a lifetime of learning and enjoyment. I have created a page Best Children's Books For The Early Years that promotes the books that I enjoyed reading to my children and my grandchildren.
 
 "There is a whole host of fabulous children's books out there waiting to be discovered - not just by children but by adults who are young at heart too!"

To find out more about the day and events happening near you, visit International Childrens Book Day website.

What is your favorite children's book? (or 2 or 3)

Click here for More April Holidays and Celebrations

Happy Saint David's Day For My Welsh Friends

St David. Late 19th Century.

Happy Saint David's Day 

(Welsh: Dydd Gŵyl Dewi) to all of the Welsh people who celebrate.

March 1 is the feast day of Saint David, the patron saint of Wales, in remembrance of the death of Saint David in 569. The date was declared a national day of celebration within Wales in the 18th century, and a public holiday in 2000.

Public celebrations of Saint David's Day are held in Wales with an annual parade, concerts are held in pubs, clubs, and other venues, and food festivals.

The Los Angeles St. David's Day Festival - National Day of Wales is the largest annual event of its kind in the United States. 

For more celebrations see:

March Holidays and Celebrations
Celebrate Everyday

Update 3/3/15
I found a lovely site that I want to share with you here. 
Tuesday Cuppa Tea, St. David's Day, 
Shelley Daffodil Time Teacup, Things Welsh


Image: Stained glass window in Jesus College Chapel, Oxford, showing St David. Late 19th century.
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic

A Busy Week For Celebrating

This week is a busy week for celebrating. As this is the midpoint between Winter and Spring, and some of us are suffering from not enough sunlight, spending too much time indoors and sometimes unfriendly weather, the holidays this week come at a good time to lift spirits and help us remember that life is to be celebrated.

Today is the new moon which means that in addition to being the dark time of the year, it's also a dark night. Chinese New Year officially falls on the second new moon after the Winter Solstice.

Holidays we will be observing this week.

Chinese New Year
Celebrated around the world 2013 is the Year of the Yin Black Water Snake - The year of feminine wisdom & renewal. This holiday is also called the Spring Festival  and the the Lunar New Year.

Mardi Gras
Observed by various locales usually historically associated with Catholic populations, Mardi Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday," the day before Ash Wednesday/ It's also called "Shrove Tuesday," or "Pancake Day".


Lincoln's Birthday
Abraham Lincoln's Birthday is a legal holiday in some U.S. states including California, Connecticut, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, and Indiana.

It is observed on the anniversary of the slain president's birth on February 12, 1809. The day is marked by traditional wreath-laying ceremonies at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.

Celebrate Lincoln's birthday by seeing the award winning film Lincoln.

Will you be celebrating one of these Holidays? How will you celebrate?

Paper Cut-Out Art - Chinese Zodiac - Year of the Snake
Mardi Gras Image cc by DoctorWho
Lincoln Image cc by  Jeff Kubina

edited 2/9/16

World War II Memorial Day or V-J Day.

Celebrate the 67th anniversary of the end of World War II when we recognized the World War II generation, both veterans and those on the home front and honor the sacrifices of veterans who fought and were lost in World War II.

Originally known as World War II Memorial Day, the day is now known as Victory over Japan Day or V-J Day.  It was a nationally recognized holiday, but it has since been removed because of the nature of the war's ending, following the dropping of the atomic bomb on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima on Aug. 6 and Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945.  Due to the devastating ending of the war, critics argue the name is insensitive to the Japanese.

WWII officially ended Aug. 15, 1945 when Japan surrendered, but because of the time zone difference, the United States was informed of the victory on Aug. 14. There was quite a celebration all over the country as you can see on this Archive Newsreel August 14, 1945 Newsreel V-J Day 

Photo: 
Each of the 4,048 gold stars represents 100 Americans who died during the war
used with permission by flickr user dbking

To read more click the following links:

Dad's Story August 6th, 1945  60th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima

Dad Was In World War 2 US Navy 

Dad Was On The USS PCE 884

Dad And The USS Missouri

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

"Best wishes and congratulations. Have a prosperous and good year."

Also called the Spring Festival, this is China's major traditional holiday and is one of the most popular festivals in China and in other parts of Southeast Asia, including Vietnam where New Year's Day is called "Tet", Malaysia, Taiwan, and of course, Hong Kong. It is also known as the Lunar New Year.

Photo by sanxki (Flickr)

Year of the Rabbit
Is this Year of the Rabbit your Lucky Year? If you want to know more, check out Chinese Astrology.

See Photos of Chinese New Year 2011

Happy St. Patrick's Day

For a few hours each year, millions of Irish and non-Irish commemorate the life of a 1500-year-old saint in a boisterous display of parading and revelry, festooned in the shamrock and emerald green.

There are over 34 million Irish Americans living in the U.S., making St. Patrick's Day one of the most widely celebrated holidays in America.

The obvious ways to celebrate St. Patty’s Day in Kansas City is to start with breakfast at Brown's Irish Market, head over to the St. Patrick's Day Parade, followed by lunch and more at Kelly’s Westport Inn, located in the heart of Westport, or to an Irish Pub like O'Dowds Little Dublin.

How will you celebrate Pi Day?

For most of the world, today is March 14th, or 3/14. To most, that date doesn't have any special meaning. But to math nerds, it means today is Pi Day!

There are a large variety of ways of celebrating Pi Day and most of them include eating pie and discussing the relevance of π.

Jim Stingl writes:
"Math geeks and calendar freaks collide today. Pi is 3.14, and the date is 3/14."

By the way, today is also Albert Einstein's birthday.

I'll get you started on pi: 3.141592653589793. The mathematical constant goes on without any repeating patterns right into infinity...

Read more of Stingl's article Geometry fans rejoice - it's Pi Day

Check out EducationalRap.com’s Pi Day Rap page, including quite a few Pi rap songs you can listen to. Lines like “If I’m buyin’ rims for a car – circumference – hey, yo, 2 Pi r…”

Also, TeachPi.org has a Pi music page with downloadable lyrics to several songs.

Leave a comment and tell me what is your favorite thing about Pi?

Learn more about Pi Day from Wikipedia.

Image Pi Pie at Delft University 
Public Domain

updated 3/122/17

Read to Me

What a great way to begin Celebrating!

The first week of March, Feb 27- March 3, is "Read to Me Week" or "Read With Me Week" or "Read Me Week." This week overlaps with the National Education Association’s Read Across America day on March 2.

In celebration, I ordered three books today.

*Wayne Dyer's new book just released today--Inspiration. "Inspiration, Dyer writes, is the opposite of motivation and goal-oriented thinking, the latter, 'grabbing an idea and carrying it through to an acceptable conclusion.' Inspiration, on the other hand, is when 'an idea has taken hold of us from the invisible reality of Spirit.'" Click the image for reviews and to purchase.

Taoist Cosmic Healing : Chi Kung Color Healing principles for Detoxification and Rejuvenation. Description on Amazon "This book will be very useful for anyone interested in learning how to work with 'Cosmic' or spiritual healing." Click the image for reviews and to purchase.

One Degree Beyond is an engaging introduction to Reiki, the rapidly growing art form that has proven to be an avenue for many to alleviate tension, manage stress, and expand powers of perception. It's an easy-to-follow guide to discovering Reiki as both a methodology and a life-force energy. Click the image for reviews and to purchase.

I'm looking forward to receiving these books. In the meantime, I'm reading Steeped in the world of Tea, a compilation of rich, beautiful stories about tea that span the globe.

A quote from the book:

Monkey-Picked Oolong

Meditating on this Yellow Liquor
pale and shimmering in a porcelain cup,
I become liquid myself,
poised on nothingness,
a quiet monk in a forgotten valley.

~~Marc E. Hofstadter

Click the image for reviews and to purchase.

I hope your week is filled with good reading and great Tea!

updated 8/9/18