Friday, April 22, 2016

Earth Day April 22, 2016

DIANE'S CORNER ... Celebrate Earth Day
Celebrate and protect our natural environment by taking part in Earth Day. Join with community groups to explore environmental and ecological issues on local and international scales, and work towards making a difference to our habitat.
If you’re really committed, why not learn the words to the Earth Day anthem (sung to the tune of ‘Ode to Joy’):
Joyful joyful we adore our Earth in all its wonderment
Simple gifts of nature that all join into a paradise
Now we must resolve to protect her
Show her our love through out all time
With our gentle hand and touch
We make our home a newborn world
Now we must resolve to protect her
Show her our love through out all time
With our gentle hand and touch
We make our home a newborn world

Word of the Day

graver 


Definition:(noun) A tool used by an engraver.
Synonyms:pointel
Usage:The jewelry designer's studio was attached to her shop, so customers could watch her hammer metals and draw elegant designs with her graver.

Idiom of the Day

desperate times call for desperate measures

 — Extreme and undesirable circumstances or situations can only be resolved by resorting to equally extreme actions. Derived from the proverb, "Desperate diseases must have desperate remedies.

History

First Earth Day Celebrated (1970)


The first Earth Day was organized in 1970 to promote ecological ideas, encourage respect for life on earth, and highlight growing concern over pollution of the soil, air, and water. Earth Day is now observed in more than 140 nations with outdoor performances, exhibits, street fairs, and television programs that focus on environmental issues.

Henry Fielding (1707)


Fielding was an English novelist and dramatist known for his humor and satire. He settled in London in 1729 and began writing comedies, farces, and burlesques, including Tom Thumb. Two of his satires attacked the Walpole government and provoked the Licensing Act of 1737, which initiated censorship of the stage and ended his career as a playwright. He thereupon turned to writing novels, publishing his most popular work, Tom Jones, in 1749.

First Evening of Passover


Passover is an eight-day celebration (seven days in Israel and for Reform Jews) of the deliverance of the Jews from slavery in Egypt. Jewish families today eat a ceremonial dinner called the Seder at which they retell the story of the Exodus from Egypt and eat various symbolic foods—including meat of the Paschal Lamb, bitter herbs, and wine (symbolizing the fruitfulness of the earth). The matzoh (unleavened bread) is meant to symbolize the haste with which the Jews left. In strictly religious Jewish homes today, all foods made with leavening are prohibited during this season. 

Why We Sleep Badly on Our First Night in a New Place


When you check into a hotel room or stay with a friend, is your first night of sleep disturbed? Do you toss and turn, mind strangely alert, unable to shut down in the usual way? If so, you're in good company. 
READ MORE:


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 1876 - The first official National League (NL) baseball game took place. Boston beat Philadelphia 6-5. 

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 1915 - The New York Yankees wore pinstripes and the hat-in-the-ring logo for the first time. 

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 1931 - James G. Ray landed an autogyro on the lawn of the White House.

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1976 - Barbara Walters became first female nightly network news anchor. 

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 1993 - The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum was dedicated in Washington, DC. 
DAILY SQU-EEK

If You Were Born Today, April 22

You are a perfectionist with an unusual perspective on the world. Both imaginative and conservative,  you have a knack for bringing both worlds to whatever you do. While you are charming and witty, you can be impatient with others when they are not following quickly enough or they are otherwise in your way! Famous people born today: Jack Nicholson, Glen Campbell, Peter Frampton, Amber Heard, Francis Capra, Aaron Spelling.


Picture of the day
Massachusetts pound
A banknote for two Massachusetts shillings, or 1/10 of a Massachusetts pound, dated 1 May 1741.Massachusetts was the first of the Thirteen Colonies to have its own currency, authorizing the issuance of paper money in 1690; South Carolina would follow with its own pound in 1703. The pound saw heavy inflation and, in 1749, Massachusetts withdrew its paper money from circulation and returned to specie.

 Picture of a grizzly bear caught by a camera trap in Yellowstone National Park

Bearly Noticeable

Photograph by Michael Nichols with Ronan Donovan and the National Park Service
A camera trap caught a grizzly reaching for fruit in the branches of an apple tree. Grizzlies are frequent visitors to yards like this one in front of a historic house along Yellowstone’s northern boundary.


knit, MOTHER'S DAY

 knit

 knit

 knit, 6 - 18 mths
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knit



crochet, MOTHER'S DAY

 crochet

 crochet, must register

 crochet

 crochet



RECIPE, PASSOVER
Potato and Carrot Gratin Passover Recipe



CROCKPOT RECIPE
CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS
Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings Recipe and Video - Easy, creamy chicken and dumplings made from refrigerator biscuits, slow cooked to comfort-food perfection.


SWEETS, PASSOVER
PASSOVER CHOCOLATE MANDELBROT
Passover Chocolate Mandelbrot


CRAFTS, EARTH DAY



CHILDREN'S CORNER ...  MOTHER'S DAY craft



PUZZLE



QUOTE
Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity. - Khalil Gibran


In 2015, a record 98 shark attacks occurred worldwide. -------------------- The extremely rare brain condition hyperthymesia allows a person to remember every single detail of their life no matter how small. -------------------- One of the world’s most expensive brews, Black Ivory Coffee, is made from beans eaten and pooped by Thai elephants!



CLEVER

Coffee Pot Terrarium

My DIY Coffee Pot Terrarium


EYE OPENER

What you need to know about the festival of freedom.

myjewishlearning
Passover, or Pesach in Hebrew, is one of the three major pilgrimage festivals of ancient Israel. Originally a combination of a couple of different spring festivals, it is a commemoration of the Exodus from Egypt–especially the night when God “passed over” the houses of the Israelites during the tenth plague–and of the following day, when the Israelites had to leave Egypt hurriedly. Centered on the family or communal celebration of the seder (ritual meal), Passover is one of the most beloved of all Jewish holidays.

Passover History

The origins of Passover lie in pre-Israelite spring celebrations of the first grain harvest and the births of the first lambs of the season. Within a Jewish context, however, it celebrates God’s great redemptive act at the time of the Exodus, leading the Israelites out from slavery in Egypt to freedom. Together with Shavuot (the Festival of Weeks) and Sukkot (The Festival of Booths), Pesach is one of the ancient Israelite pilgrimage festivals, during which adult males journeyed to the Temple in Jerusalem to offer sacrifices and bask in the divine presence. Since the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, the focus of Pesach celebration shifted to the ritual meal, called the seder, that takes place either in the home or in the community.
seder table

Passover At Home

In anticipation of Passover, it is traditional to engage in a thorough spring cleaning. During the holiday, Jews’ food reflects the major theme of Passover, reliving God’s great redemptive act, albeit in a vicarious manner. Because the Israelites had no time to let their bread rise, Jewish law forbids eating (or even possessing) any food that can contain leaven.Therefore, a major part of the preparations for Passover consists of removing all traces of leavened foods from the home and replacing them with unleavened foods (though many Jews prefer to “sell” their unused leaven products to a non-Jew for the duration of the holiday). This necessitates both a massive cleanup and the replacement of one’s ordinary dishes with special Passover ones. It also requires a shopping expedition to stock the kitchen with special kosher-for-Passover foods.

The central ritual of Passover is the seder, a carefully choreographed ritual meal that takes place either in the home or in the community. A number of symbolic foods are laid out on the table, of which the most important are the matzah, the unleavened “bread of affliction,” and the shankbone, which commemorates the Pesach sacrifice in the Temple. The seder follows a script laid out in the Haggadah, a book that tells the story of the redemption from Egypt and thanks God for it. Although the Haggadah is a traditional text, many people — particularly in the modern world — add to it and revise it in accord with their theology and understanding of God’s redemptive actions in the world.

Passover In the Community

Although the focus of Passover observance is on the home, it should not be forgotten that Pesach is a holiday, on the first and last days of which traditional Judaism prohibits working. There are special synagogue services, including special biblical readings, among which one finds Shir ha-Shirim, “The Song of Songs” and Hallel, Psalms of praise and thanksgiving for God’s saving act in history. The last day of Passover is one of the four times a year that the Yizkor service of remembrance is recited.

Dura_Europos_fresco_Jews_cross_Red_Sea


Passover Theology and Themes

The overarching theme of Passover is redemption. After all, this is the holiday that celebrates God’s intervention in history to lead the Israelites from slavery to freedom. It is a time to celebrate God as the great liberator of humanity. The divine redemption of the Israelites thus becomes the blueprint for the Jewish understanding of God and divine morality and ethics, which can be seen in Jewish participation at the forefront of movements for social justice.








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