Which President Decreed Thanksgiving?

 

#113 November 16^th:  Which president decreed Thanksgiving?  The answer is several had a hand in it.  According to the paper today, Washington made the first Thanksgiving proclamation in 1789 claiming November 26 as THE day to render “sincere and humble thanks” to God “for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country.”  Jefferson wasn’t pleased with the combination of church and state, so the holiday was largely forgotten until Lincoln revived it in 1862, setting the 4^th Thursday in November as THE day.  Roosevelt (FDR), the capitalist, tried to change to day to prolong the Christmas shopping season, but Congress codified the 4^th Thursday in 1941.  11/23

The crowds were thicker than this!

The logo has changed - What happened to the Partridge in a Pear Tree?

 #112 November 15:  The Southern Christmas Show: Emily and I had a mother–daughter day at the Southern Christmas Show today.  The time with my daughter was as delightful as ever:  she is funny and we shop at the same pace and usually like to look at the same things. I hadn’t been to the show since several years before the pandemic.  Here are a few things I learned at the show.  The ratio of vendors with handmade vs. mass produced products (probably made in China) has flipped in the last 7 years.  The show used to be at least 60% locally-made (at least Southern) now most the vendors were selling mass produced products (made in China?).  I was expecting pottery and wood works.  It was there but you had to really hunt to find it.  Laser cut anything from ornaments, signs, and even vinyl records were plentiful, along with screen printed T shirts and sweaters.  The other thing I learned is since the pandemic, I have a much lower tolerance for crowds.  I thought a Monday morning would thin the crowd some; NOT.  Traffic was even backed up on Independence for over a mile.  I can only imagine (and don’t want to!) what Saturday was like!  Emily and I had to park at Ovens and hike through the tunnel to The Park.  After 3 hours of crowds, I happily gave a donation to the Shriners, complete with Fez who drove us to our car (up the hill!) in a golf cart.  We finished the day with a late lunch at Lupies.  What I learned there is the menu hasn’t changed in 15 years!  11/13

The Army Drives Thru McDonald's

 #110 November 13:  This weekend we celebrate Veteran’s Day.  Besides keeping our country safe, the military also gave us McDonald’s Drive-thru. The drive-thru has become ubiquitous and sometimes controversial. McDonald’s drive-thru window was added so that members of the armed forces could drive up and get their burgers.  In 1975, military personnel were not allowed to go into public places in uniform, so the drive-thru let them get their burger without changing clothes.  The first one was in Sierra Vista Arizona near the Mexican border and Fort Huachuca.  It was so successful by 1979 more than half of McDonald’s 5000 locations featured them and today 70% of McDonald’s sales come from their drive-thru windows, used by both civilians and the military alike.  I remember when McD’s came to Columbia in the ’60s.  I could have sworn it had a drive-thru then, but maybe not.  11/10

You can tell these pictures are from the original 1975 McDonalds from the big arches and they had only sold 6 billion. Here is that McDonald's today.  And they are featuring 99-cent burgers!

It's time to Vote! Why we vote on Tuesday

 #108 November 11:  Why is voting day the first Tuesday in November?  This was new to me: we used to vote in federal elections over a 34-day period leading up to the first Wednesday in December.  As you can imagine early voting results swayed many votes.  This part I “partially” knew:  The first Tuesday (after the first Monday!) in November came from process of elimination in an agrarian society in 1845.  Farmers naturally wanted to vote after the harvest was in and since Wednesday is often market day and Sunday was reserved for religion and it often took a day to travel to the poll, so they settled on Tuesday.  Why not vote near the market?  I guess multi-tasking wasn’t “in vogue”.  LOL  Regardless TODAY is voting day and our School Board is depending on you!  VOTE!  11/7

And the Times.... They are A-Changing!

Thank you, my friend Ron, for this great meme!

 #103 November 6:  This weekend we will “fall back” and change the time.  Dark will move from about 6:30 to 5:30 p.m.  I hate it and all research points to it being unhealthy.  An article in today’s paper said that the first attempt to change the time was suggested by Ben Franklin in 1784 to save candles!!  It wasn’t enacted until 1918 as an energy saving experiment. It only lasted 7 months.  It was reinstituted during WWII and named War Time and finally codified in the Uniform Time Act of 1966, though states were allowed to opt out and Hawaii and most of Arizona took advantage of the loop hole.  The Sunshine Act has been offered in Congress and passed by the Senate for several years and most Americans support having just one universal time without seasonal changes.  However, the House has yet to take it up.  The article offered a compromise:  adjust just ½ hour and leave it there.  Sounds sensible to me!

The Hollywood Sign turns 100!

 

 

#107 November 10: Another icon turns 100:  The Hollywood Sign.  The first 2 times I went to Los Angeles, I looked for it, and never got a view, so its not as prominent as Easterners might think.  The 3^rd time was the charm and the last time we were in LA we visited our friends Matt and Kate Simmons (the Wassum’s daughter) and their lovely home sits on a hill across the valley from the sign and has a view of it from almost every room of the house.  I did not know the “whole” history of the sign until reading an article in today’s paper.  I did know this; the sign originally said “Hollywoodland”.  It was constructed in 1923 to advertise a new housing development and was lit up.  The housing development was “Caucasians only”.  UGH, but definitely a historical anachronism.  Today there is a trust that maintains the sign.  Hugh Hefner and Alice Cooper have been instrumental in raising money for the trust at least twice.  Plans to have a big Centennial celebration were nixed because of the actors’ strike and a big push to use public money to address the homeless population vs. an “inanimate object”.  The neighborhood around the sign (I guess the original white one – and I’d guess it’s still pretty tony and white) actually hates the sign, especially on the times it is lit (a political hot potato because of sign ordinances) because it brings “riff-raff” and tourists to their neighborhood.  The trust is trying to obtain land to build a visitors’ center to partially alleviate that problem.  It pains me to know the sign has a racial history. 11/4

I wonder how much THAT house is worth?!!

The Hollywood sign from Kate's rooftop deck

A Wordle WIN... or is it?

 #104 November 7:    I scored a ONE at Wordle today!  But I learned there is a downside.  Now I need a new “pilot” word, for they won’t repeat it and it will totally waste a turn!  Anyone want to share their great pilot word? 11/1

BOO! One more Halloween Observation!

 

#102 November 5:  One more Halloween observation:  I love trick-or-treaters.  I loved making costumes when my children were young, though I never figured out how to handle the bounty of candy they brought home:  do you just let them pig out for a day and then dump it… or put it on top of the refrigerator and dole it out slowly?  Of course you confiscate the Snickers!  This year we participated in a “trunk-or-treat” at our church that was well attended with a diversity of children from our preschool and the neighborhood.  At my house, we had one lone trick-or-treater.  Uptown just doesn’t have many children.   One of my favorite things to do is to turn the “trick or treat” around on the children and ask them for a trick (especially the 8-10-year-olds.) Here is my observation:  after giving me a puzzling look, they “get it” and then invariably do a cartwheel!  That is a trick for a 10-year-old!  LOL… Even my lone trick-or-treater in 4^th Ward did a cartwheel! I only had one exception:  a real cutie dressed in green wings, thought about it for a minute, gave me great eye contact and then said, “Boo!”… I gave them all extra candy, but she got double! 11/1