Saturday, 6 July 2013

July Birthday Girl: Beatrix Potter

Helen Beatrix Potter was born on 28 July 1866. Nope, she's not related to Harry Potter. She may not have a magic wand but she has the magic to tell cute stories and illustrated them all by herself.

There is an official website that presents a pictorial timeline starting from her birth, her death, and up to the most recent animated series based on her illustrated tales such as Peter Rabbit. Have a look at http://www.peterrabbit.com/uk/beatrix_potter/beatrixs_life.

There was a movie created that tells her life story beautifully. It was a movie titled "Miss Potter" starring Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor. I had my share of laughter and tears when I watched this film.

How am I connected to Miss Potter? When I was a tiny baby in the 20th century, I received a gift of a Peter Rabbit book and a plush toy of Peter Rabbit's mother. Both the book and the toy were loved to bits. My Peter Rabbit book show wear and tear on the binding and missing hardbound covers. The toy had a big hole on one foot, and lots of stuffing spilled out. As a souvenir of the past, I still keep the same tattered book. I had to part with the toy since it was worn and forgotten-- most likely disposed of. But sometime in the 21st century, I received a Peter Rabbit plush toy on one Easter. I still have it in fabulous condition.

Another connection I have with Miss Potter is I can relate with her as an author-illustrator. I feel happy for her that her books made it to brick and mortar stores while she is still alive. I also understood how joyful she was when her idea of printing her books in grayscale was dismissed. She wanted to cut cost on printing so that the books will be more affordable. She was blessed that her publisher insisted on full-color printing because he was enchanted on how Miss Potter colorfully painted her drawings.

Feminists would be touched that Miss Potter made it as female author-illustrator in a male dominated world. And, she lived to see her published books sell successfully.

Happy birthday, Miss Potter! You have been an inspiration to children, authors, illustrators, and especially women. Thank you very much.

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"Let us rise up and be thankful; for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so let us all be thankful."

--Buddha

Saturday, 1 June 2013

Qwirky Kooky Calendar for the Month of June

Image courtesy of arztsamui / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

In one of my online surfing adventures, I came across a FUN calendar for the month of June. What did I find?

The calendar had a list of fun events and trivia. Before you have a look, let me give you a brief synopsis...

On this calendar you'll find birthdays of famous stuff. There are celebrity people (Helen Keller), Sesame Street characters (Oscar the Grouch), cartoon characters (Donald Duck), inventions (toothbrush), organizations (National Organization of Women), and movies (ET).

You will also find ____ Day like "Power of a Smile Day", "Fly a Kite Day", "Stand for Children Day". The other fill-in-the-blank for " ____ Day" also celebrates the day for food (Donut Day), genius gadgets (Camera Day), outer space things (Meteor Day), and an international event (International Picnic Day).

And there are some FIRSTS recorded in this calendar. (First UFO Day, First Apple II computers sold, First Ford Car made...)

Click and have a good look at: http://www.theteacherscorner.net/calendars/june.php

For more information on each entry of this calendar, click on the clickable underlined links or the Amazon.com icon.

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--Buddha

Sunday, 5 May 2013

A Mother's Day Special

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Mother's Day is getting close by. Ever received Motherisms from your Mom? I found an interesting article about some popular ones. Maybe you have heard about one or more of them too. Here is a list I found from www.mothersdaycentral.com:

1) "Stop cracking your knuckles… it will give you arthritis!"

2) "If you shave your facial hair, it will come back thicker."

3) "Watching TV too close will hurt your eyes and make you go blind!"

4) "It's cold outside - if you don't bundle up you're going to get sick!"

5) "Make sure to clean behind your ears - if not, potatoes will start growing there."

6) "If you swallow a watermelon seed, it will grow inside your stomach!"

7) "Don't swallow that gum - it will stay in your stomach for seven years!"

8) "You're too young to start drinking coffee - it will stunt your growth."

9) "Eating your carrots will improve your eyesight enough to see in the dark."

10) "Stop playing with the toad - you'll just get warts on your hand!"

11) "Wait an hour after eating before getting into the pool or you'll get cramps and drown!"

12) "If you keep making that face, it might stay that way forever!"

13) "You're going to poke someone's eye out with that!"

14) "Eating too many spicy foods will give you ulcers."

15) "Get down from there - you're going to fall and crack your head open!"

16) "If you keep playing with it, it will fall off someday."

Wouldn't we love to bust these myths? They have been busted alright. You may read it at http://www.mothersdaycentral.com/mothers-day-fun/mom-myths/ and see why these are not true. It seems that tapping at our fear conscience works when we were children. I wonder if it works on grown-ups… ;-)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, MOMS!

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--Buddha

Wednesday, 3 April 2013

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PIGEON!

http://shelf-life.ew.com/2012/03/27/mo-willems-pigeon-duckling-cookie/

Image Credit: Marty Umans

This 01 April 2013 was the 10th birthday of this famous blue pigeon. There is an article about him written in this blog: http://mowillemsdoodles.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/happy-birthday-pigeon.html

Mo Willems is one of my favorite picture book artists. He writes and draws for his books all by himself. These are his books I had fun reading and looking at the pictures. The ones about:

1) The Pigeon series (It is funny to watch the pigeon struggle to do what he wants.)

2) The Elephant and Piggie series (No matter what happens, this elephant and pig will always be best friends. Or maybe not?)

3) The Knuffle Bunny series (Readers will witness how important the bunny is to the little girl.)

4) The dressy Mole Rat (An amazing tale of a dressed mole rat that shocked the naked mole rats.)

5) Edwina the dinosaur (Edwina meets a school boy who tries to explain to her that dinosaurs are extinct. Does that bug her?)

6) Leonardo the monster (Even if this is a terrible monster, there's something good about him.)

If you observe carefully, you will find the blue pigeon hidden in the other books that are not about the same bird. It became my habit to look for him. Seriously.

I admire picture book authors who can put their own words and pictures together. Dr Seuss did. So did Mo Willems. It is a bonus when these artists show their own brand of humor and wit.

I am not condemning imitation. I'm aware it is part of the learning process of being a prolific original. If babies imitate the speech patterns around them and live to be originals, so do budding artists who make sketches of existing works. I'm glad artists like Dr Seuss and Mo Willems were able to let go of imitating and head towards the road to being first rate originals.

If you are in the process of imitating your favorite celebrity, I hope one day you will let go of copying and allow yourself to shine being the best you that you can be.

Thank you, Mr Willems, for sharing with us your passion in creating picture books, that bring cheer to the young and the young at heart. Thank you for being you.

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--Buddha

Friday, 1 March 2013

Month-of-March's Dr Seuss

http://www.freecodesource.com/picture/i43/e377/CWPinky/Seuss.jpg

Dr Seuss, also known as Theodor Seuss Geisel (pron.: /ˈɡaɪzəl/; March 2, 1904 – September 24, 1991), is one of my favorite picture book author/illustrator. If you'd like to read an online encyclopedia entry about him, click: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr_seuss.

The first time I heard about him was from a childhood book whose title I still remember as "There's a Wocket in my Pocket". I had no idea what a "wocket" was until somebody told me it is just a made up word to rhyme with "pocket".

I recall that I asked what kind of doctor is Dr Seuss. Someone told me that is just his pretend name. I guess I understood that than anyone telling me that is his pseudonym or nom de plume.

My Mom bought us his other books. My favorite among the bunch was "Mr Brown Can Say Moo! Can You?" I love it that Dr Seuss can put sounds into words with a fantastic entertaining rhyme scheme.

When I read stories to children, my favorite Dr Seuss tale to read aloud is "Green Eggs and Ham". We all enjoyed the pages where Sam I Am does everything he can to convince the other guy to eat some green eggs and ham. The suspense was killing us when he had a bite in slow motion.

The last book of Dr Seuss, "Oh, the Places You'll Go!", was a beautiful way for Mr Geisel to express his last colorful piece. It was like a diploma that marked the completion of the fun and lessons he taught us. He offers amazing advice to all the graduates ranging from Pre-schools to Universities and beyond. Thanks to this book, I will always remember that Life is a Great Balancing Act.

An interesting trivia I was informed was, "Seuss" really rhymes with "voice". Most of us thought that it rhymes with "goose". I guess Dr Seuss is just as memorable as Mother Goose.

Thank you for the life and works you shared with us, Mr Geisel. You are one of the few writers that write words beyond the limits of an unabridged english dictionary. I appreciate your example as the one who thinks beyond the box.

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--Buddha

Friday, 8 February 2013

Valentine's Day Trivia

Image courtesy of digitalart at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

facts-about-valentines-day.html to read more.

ST. VALENTINE

There is no one accepted explanation for the connection between St. Valentine and love. Etymologists report that the letters “v” and “g” were once interchangeable in common speech. The Norman word galantin, meaning a “lover of women,” was at one time both written and pronounced valanta or valentin, from which “Valentine” could have been derived.

Throughout history, there have been approximately eight St. Valentines. Three of them had special feast days in their honor. The two St. Valentines who most likely inspired Valentine's Day are Valentine of Terni and Valentine of Rome, though some scholars speculate they are actually one person.

Saint Valentine is the patron saint of lovers and engaged couples. He is also the patron saint of epilepsy (which he is said to have suffered), plague, greetings, travelers, young people, and bee keepers.

VALENTINE'S DAY

Valentine’s Day was first introduced to Japan in 1936 and has become widely popular. However, because of a translation error made by a chocolate company, only women buy Valentine chocolates for their spouses, boyfriends, or friends. In fact, it is the only day of the year many single women will reveal their crush on a man by giving him chocolate. The men don’t return the favor until White Day, a type of “answer day” to Valentine’s Day, which is on March 14.

Valentine’s Day is a $14.7 billion industry in the U.S.

During the ancient Roman festival Lupercalia (an ancient precursor to Valentine’s Day), two boys would run through crowds of people swinging strings made from goatskins. If the strings touched a girl, it was divined that she would have healthy children when she grew up. The goatskins were called februa, which means to make clean and from which “February” derives.

Pope Gelasius established Valentine’s Day in A.D. 500 in an attempt to appropriate the ancient pagan Roman fertility festival, Lupercalia, into Christianity.

Valentine’s Day may have been named after Valentine of Terni, a priest who married Roman soldiers against orders from Claudius II. He was arrested and killed on February 14 in the year 269. It is said that an almond tree near his grave burst with pink flowers and all the birds chose mates, hence the term “love birds.”

On Valentine’s Day 2010, 39,897 people in Mexico City broke the record for the world’s largest group kiss.

Valentine’s Day may have been named after the priest Valentine of Rome, who refused to follow Claudius II’s ban on Christianity. While he was imprisoned, children would pass him notes through the jail window. Before he was killed on February 14, he wrote one last note to the jailer’s daughter with whom he had fallen in love and signed it “From Your Valentine.”

On Valentine’s Day, James Cook was kill by natives in Hawaii (1779), Oregon and Arizona were admitted to the Union (1859 and 1912, respectively), James Polk became the first president photographed while in office (1848), UPS (United Parcel Service) was formed (1919), the League of Women Voters was established (1920), Aretha Franklin recorded “Respect” (1967), Richard Nixon installed a secret taping system in the White House (1971), the U.S. performed a nuclear test at the Nevada Test Site (1976), and Voyager I took a picture of the entire solar system (1990).

According to Welsh tradition, a child born on Valentine’s Day would have many lovers. A calf born on Valentine’s Day, however, would be of no use for breeding purposes. If hens were to hatch eggs on Valentine’s Day, they would all turn out rotten.

Shakespeare mentions Valentine’s Day in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and in Hamlet.

Madame Royale, daughter of Henry the IV of France, loved Valentine’s Day so much that she named her palace “The Valentine.”

In 1653, English puritanical leader Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protector of the Realm and, subsequently banned St. Valentine’s Day customs. Valentine’s Day wasn’t observed again until Stuart King Charles II was restored to the English throne in 1660.

In 2005, a U.S. man was charged with using an Internet chat room to organize a mass suicide on Valentine’s Day.

FEBRUARY 14

The popular medieval folk belief that birds choose their mates on February 14 made doves a favorite symbol for Valentine cards. The dove was sacred to Venus and other love deities and was known for choosing a lifelong mate.

Groundhog Day was originally observed on February 14.

There is a town in Texas called Valentine, but for not for a romantic reason. The first train to arrive there happened to do so on February 14.

The first recorded association of Valentine’s Day with romantic love occurs in Chaucer’s “Parlement of Foules.” Chaucer writes (in modern translation): “For this was on Saint Valentine’s day/When every bird comes there to choose his mate.” However, Chaucer may have been referring to Valentine of Genoa, whose saint’s day was May 2, a more likely time for birds to be mating than February 14.

VALENTINE TOKENS

Valentine candy “conversation hearts” have a shelf life of five years.

Nearly 10 new candy “conversation heart” sayings are introduced each year. Recent additions have included “Yeah Right,” “Puppy Love,” and “Call Home.”

Americans spend around $277 million on Valentine cards every year, second only to Christmas. On Valentine’s Day, nearly 189 million stems of roses are sold in the U.S.

Approximately one billion Valentine cards are sent each year around the world. An estimated 2.6 billion cards are sent during the Christmas holidays.

The symbol of the ribbon, which often adorns modern-day Valentines, is rooted in the Middle Ages. When knights competed in tournaments, their sweethearts often gave them ribbons for good luck.

Some of the oldest handmade Valentines are rebuses, which is Latin for “things” or “that which is indicated by things.” A rebus is a kind of puzzle or riddle, and the pictures indicate the meaning of the card. For example, a picture of a bee and a picture of a gold mine would indicate the sentiment “Be mine.”

The most popular flower on Valentine’s Day is a single red rose surrounded with baby’s breath. The red rose was the flower of Venus, the Roman goddess of love. Teachers receive the most Valentine’s cards, followed by children, mothers, and wives. Children between the ages of 6-10 exchange more than 650 million Valentine cards a year.

Small pieces of mirror were sometimes used on the more expensive and elaborate Valentine cards produced during the golden ages of Valentines (1830s-1850s). “Mirror” comes from the same Latin verb as “admire”: mirari, “to wonder.”

Richard Cadbury produced the first box of chocolates for Valentine’s Day in the late 1800s.

Lace is often used on Valentine decorations. The word “lace” comes from the Latin laques, meaning “to snare or net,” as in to catch a person’s heart.

A kiss on Valentine’s Day is considered to bring good luck all year.

On Valentine’s Day, many people buy flowers. Different colored roses have different meanings. Red means love, yellow means friendship, and pink means friendship or sweetheart. Red carnations mean admiration, white carnations mean pure love, red chrysanthemums mean love, forget-me-nots mean true love, primrose means young love, and larkspur means an open heart.

The first recorded Valentine was sent February 1415 by the English duke of Orleans. He sent of love letter to his wife from his jail cell in the Tower of London after the Battle of Agincourt. It is currently on display in the British Museum.

Both garters and gloves are traditionally popular Valentine tokens. The word “garter” comes from the Old French word garet, meaning “bend in the knee.” And “glove” is derived from the Old English word glof, meaning “palm of the hand.”

Commercially, Valentine cards didn’t appear in England until almost the 1800s, though handmade cards had been popular for some time.

In 2010, 25% of adults bought flowers or plants as a Valentine’s gift. Of these, 60% were men and 40% were women. Men mainly bought flowers for romantic reasons, while women bought flowers for their mothers and friends as well as their sweethearts.

The first American Valentine was produced in 1834 by New York engraver Robert Elton.

The first European post boxes appeared in Paris in the late eighteenth century, which revolutionized the way Valentine cards were produced and delivered.

A True Love Knot, or Endless Knot of Love, was a very popular Valentine in England and the U.S. in the seventeenth century. As their name implies, these Valentines were drawn as a knot and could be read from any line and still make sense.

Esther Howland (1828-1904) was the first person to create Valentines to sell in the United States. She first patented a lacy Valentine in 1844—and by 1860, her factory was selling thousands of Valentines, earning over $100,000.

"Valentine Writers” were booklets written in 1823 by Peter Quizumall to help those who couldn’t think up Valentine verses on their own.

VALENTINE TRADITIONS

Red hearts are a ubiquitous Valentine symbol. Red is traditionally associated with the color of blood. At one time, people thought that the heart, which pumps blood, was the part of the body that felt love. In fact, when the Egyptians mummified their dead for burial, they removed every organ but the heart because they believed the heart was the only part of the body necessary for the trip through eternity.

The saying “wearing your heart on your sleeve” is from the Middle Ages. Boys at this time would draw names of girls to see who would be their “Valentine” and then wear the name pinned on their sleeve for a week.

During the 1700s in England, a girl would pin four bay leaves to her pillow and eat a hard-boiled egg, including the shell, on the eve of St. Valentine’s Day. Supposedly, if she dreamed of a boy that night, she would soon marry him. Girls would also write boys’ names on small pieces of paper, cover them with clay, and drop them into the water. When the clay broke, the papers floated to the top. The first name the girls could read would predict whom they would marry.

Traditionally, young girls in the U.S. and the U.K. believed they could tell what type of man they would marry depending on the type of bird they saw first on Valentine’s Day. If they saw a blackbird, they would marry a clergyman, a robin redbreast indicated a sailor, and a goldfinch indicated a rich man. A sparrow meant they would marry a farmer, a blue bird indicated a happy man, and a crossbill meant an argumentative man. If they saw a dove, they would marry a good man, but seeing a woodpecker meant they would not marry at all.

Each year 300,000 letters go through Loveland, Colorado, to get a special heart stamp cancellation for Valentine’s Day.

In Germany, girls would plant onions in a pot on Valentine’s Day, and next to the onions, they placed the name of a boy. They believed they would marry the boy whose name was nearest the first onion to grow.

A common symbol of Valentine’s Day is Cupid (“desire”), the Roman god of love. The son of Venus and Mars, he was originally depicted as a young man who would sharpen his arrows on a grindstone whetted with blood from an infant, though now he is commonly presented as a pudgy baby. This transformation occurred during the Victorian era when business owners wanted to promote Valentine’s Day as more suitable for women and children.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY, EVERYBODY!

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