I met this little guy on Sat, last, at the Deland https://mainstreetdeland.org/ Art Festival, he wasn’t sure he liked me but I told his dad (also pictured) to check him out on my blog this week–so here he is still looking skeptical of my ability as a photographer.

 

 

 

Months that begin on a Sunday always have a Friday the 13th in them.

 

 

 

 

 

Sam Heughan Is the Hottest Nerd Ever.

 

 

 

 

 

It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery has in it.

 

 

 

I’M LOST IN A TIME WARP TODAY—-

I JUST WATCHED GONE WITH THE WIND A CIVIL WAR ERA DRAMA MADE IN THE 1930s

AND NOW I’M WATCHING  HAIR  A COUNTER CULTURE MUSICAL OF MY GENERATION

I FEEL A BIT LOST IN TIME SO TODAY I’M JUST GONNA DO INTRESTING FACTS ABOUT WHAT EVER HAPPENS—“DO YOU UNDERSTAND ABOUT COSMIC CONCIOUSNESS AND ALL THAT.” Lafayette.  “Easy to be cold.”

PS main picture is my hotel (Embassy Suites) in Tampa–all the others that are mine are back at Ybor City.

 

 

 

 

The largest recorded snowflake was 15 inches wide and 8 inches thick.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SANFORD USE TO HAVE THE THIRD LARGEST CAMPHOR TREE IN THE STATE:  The species is originally from Southeastern Asia and this one was believed to be planted in the mid 1880s.  In June 1999 it was measured at 27′ 8″ in circumference and stood over 52 feet high (crown ranged from 67′ – 96′.)  It was at one time recognized as a Florida Champion Tree,  Alas all that remains (where it was planted) is a very large stump in front of the Seminole County History Museum http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/departments-services/leisure-services/parks-recreation/museum-of-seminole-county-history/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Because there was no such thing as copyright and play theft was common, actors in Shakespeare’s plays didn’t get their lines until the play was underway. Lines would very often be whispered to an actor shortly before he was supposed to deliver them. Pressure.
http://metro.co.uk/2015/04/23/here-are-eight-bizarre-and-little-known-facts-about-shakespeare-5163283/#ixzz3sXgAR89j

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh and did you know that on today’s date 11/25 (only in 1864) the south tried to burn down NYC?  8 southern operatives out to revenge Sherman’s march to the sea (it was said that so little was left of the land his troops ravaged that a bird flying over it would have to bring his own provisions to survive.  Read more:  http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/shermans-march-sea).  They called themselves The Confederate Army of Manhattan.  On this date well over 100 years ago the 8 spread out over the city some time after 8 pm and lit fires in 19 hotels and several other buildings, but none of their fires were successful and all were extinguished without any major damage.  Only one man was ever identified of the 8 and that was Robert Cobb Kennedy when he was apprehended a few months later coming into the US from Canada.  He was charged with setting a fire in the American Museum, tried and hung on March 24, 1865 (only 4 months from the initial incident).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hillary Clinton gutted fish at a processing plant in Alaska one summer during her law school years. It was her job to scoop out entrails, but the plant soon fired her for asking too many questions about how long the flippered creatures had been dead. “I found another job,” she said, according to The New York Times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On September 7, 1940, the man who keeps history TV on the air, Adolph Hitler unleashed Blitzkrieg, or lightening war–on the capital London  and cities across the UK.  His theory was that by bringing the death and destruction  direct to the citizens he would break their morale and get Britain to surrender or at least sign a treaty allowing him to rule in conquered Europe.  He obviously didn’t know the Brits–They took 71 hits between September and May 1941.  The man on the street’s reply:  “we can take it.”  They lived in their destroyed cities, sang irreverent songs about the Nazis and in London alone 150,000 slept in makeshift beds in the underground (subway) stations.  The psychiatric wards set up to deal with shell  shocked civilians closed due to so few coming to it.   On September 13, 1940 a bomb hit the palace.  The king and queen none-the-less refused to leave the city and during the daytime following the attacks went to visit the bombed areas and the survivors.   Oh and those  posters so popular now with the crown that sometime say  “stay calm”  Back then always said it along with     ” And Carry On” –they were invented for morale in Britain during this time and now you know where that comes from.

PS I was in London for that same queen’s (Elizabeth, the Scottish born queen mum) funeral.  I had the honor to speak with a lovely older lady who lived in London during the war and told of how ( this when an ancient Spit Fire flew over the Funeral procession) when the fighter planes were over London they knew they were safe and wouldn’t have to bare a German assault that night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the beginning of the war (WWI), tanks were grouped according to their ‘gender’. The male tanks had cannons attached while the females carried machine guns. The prototype tank was named Little Willie.  http://www.history.co.uk/shows/the-world-wars/articles/10-little-known-facts-about-ww1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CORKS VS. SCREW TOPS ON WINE—Until just recently no respectable wine would come with anything but a cork–Corks have been used forever:  The Egyptians used them to help with both food and drink storage thousands of years ago.  But the cork’s big break came in the 1600’s when it was found to be better for sparkly wines than the wooden stoppers which had been in use.  From then on the cork developed along with the standardized shapes of glass bottles.  Cork which is produced from the bark of the Quercus Suber oak Tree, has over several centuries shown just how well it functions in the wine’s aging process.  Problems with it are that it can leak, it’s susceptibility to cork taint which can destroy the wine’s taste and last, but not least the fact that it takes special equipment to get it and thus the wine out of the bottle.

The special screw caps only made the scene in the 1970’s at an Australian winery.  They were working on another cork issue:  Get the wine reclosed if it’s not all drank.  They were successful and it was soon popular with Australian wine makers.   This is turn was picked up in California.  Proponents insist that  wine with screw caps does continue to age and develop and ultimately have 50% longer ability to age than corked bottles.

 

 

 

 

The song “When Irish Eyes are Smiling,” synonymous with Ireland and all things Irish, was written by two Americans, George Graff and Chauncey Olcott, in 1912. There are no records to show that they ever even visited Ireland.              http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/strange-and-wonderful-top-ten-random-weird-facts-about-ireland-130552548-237785351.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Andrew Jackson’s bird had a potty mouth
Jackson taught his parrot how to curse to the extent that the parrot had to be removed from the president’s funeral because it was cursing too much. That’s one way to leave a legacy.    http://www.techtimes.com/articles/33090/20150216/44-surprisingly-weird-facts-you-probably-didnt-know-about-u-s-presidents.htm