Olympia the snow woman is 122 feet, one inch high and set a new Guinness world record.
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
Olympia the snow woman is 122 feet, one inch high and set a new Guinness world record.
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
The Snowman
anonymous
Once there was a snowman
Stood outside the door
Thought he’d like to come inside
And run around the floor;
Thought he’d like to warm himself
By the firelight red;
Thought he’d like to climb up
On that big white bed.
So he called the North Wind,
“Help me now I pray.
I’m completely frozen,
Standing here all day.”
So the North Wind came along
And blew him in the door,
And now there’s nothing left of him
But a puddle on the floor!
My Snowman has a Noble Head
Jack Prelutsky
My snowman has a noble head,
he’s broader than he’s tall,
his ears are tin, his eyes are coal,
he has no neck at all.
Beneath his ragged hat he wears
a wig of tangled wool,
his barrel chest is buttoned up,
his belly’s rather full.
My snowman has a handsome face
complete with carrot nose,
his arms are long, his legs are short,
he hasn’t any toes.
He wields a broom, he puffs a pipe,
his smile is wide and bright,
“He looks like me!” my father says,
you know . . . he may be right!
Snowman
Helen H. Moore
Snowflakes falling
Thick and fast,
Build a snowman
Make him last . . .
Snowflakes falling,
Swirling, slow,
My snowman melted –
Where’d he go?
Peter, the Snowman
Winifred C. Marshall
It would not seem like winter,
Without a snowman tall;
I’ve worked on one all morning,
With Ted and little Paul.
This is a jolly snowman,
With such a friendly smile,
We’ll ask you out to meet him,
In just a little while.
His hat belongs to Daddy,
His button eyes are blue,
His bright red scarf and mittens
Were knit by Cousin Sue.
We’re going to call him Peter,
We’d like to have him stay,
But sometime when we’re all at school,
He’s sure to slip away.
Snow Sentry
Kate Monroe
See the snowman
all in white –
stnading still
and silent-like
as soft snow
settles light
on this cool
long frosty night.
Crystal flakes spin
round and fall,
covering him
beyond recall.
Still he’ll stand
sentry tall,
keeping night-watch
over all.
Snow Woman
Nancy Dingman Watson
Snow woman, snow woman,
What do you know?
You sit so still
And silent in the snow.
Snow woman, snow woman,
Do you like your hat?
You sit so quiet
And comfortable and fat.
Snow woman, snow woman,
Do you like your clothes?
Your apron and your mittens
And your big carrot nose?
Snow woman, snow woman,
Sitting in the night
Does the dark scare you
Or the cold moonlight?
Snow woman, snow woman,
Here comes the sun
Are you afraid of melting
And being all done?
My Snowman Friend
I call him Mr. Frosty-Face!
He brings us so much fun,
With black coal eyes, and a carrot nose,
With a smile for everyone!
If we play Ring-a-Roses,
Then all our friends join in!
But, when the game is “Statues”,
He always knows he’ll win!
When I talk, I know he’ll listen
To every word I say.
I can shout, or knock his hat off,
And he’ll never run away!
But, when the weather’s warmer,
Then Frosty-Face must go –
Until the next time that he comes
With winter’s ice and snow.
Father’s Day is an important day world wide. It is a fine opportunity to honor the Dad’s or Father’s of the world.
In Australia, Father’s Day is celebrated on the First Sunday in September.
Father’s Day in Canada, is celebrated on the third Sunday in June.
In the U.K. Father’s Day is celebrated on the third Sunday in June.
In the United States it is celebrated on the third Sunday in June.
Many Catholics call St. Joseph’s Day, on March 19th, Father’s Day because Joseph was the father of Jesus.
Another tradition of Father’s Day is that of the Flowers, Red roses are worn on Father’s Day to signify that one’s father is living. White roses mean one’s father has died.
Tick-tock the wife collects clocks
They cover the walls
There is even one in the hall,
And in the living room
Some are small and some are tall,
She even bought one off an old bloke
Who lives down the road,
But one or two of them are broke
Now she’s bought a Cuckoo clock
But that’s the only one
That does not go tick tock,
Some clocks chime like a little rhyme
But not one will tell me the right time
DID YOU FORGET TO PUT YOUR CLOCK BACK
TODAY?
By
Thomas Sims
I remember all my Valentines
They are deep within my heart
Every one was so special
Until the day we had to part
You see my loved one past away
After many years together
All the memories of Valentines Day
To me I will always treasure
Red roses were always given to me
And a candlelit meal for two
Every time Valentines comes around
My everlasting love I send to you
And on this special day
I place by your picture frame
A bunch of red roses in memory
To ease my heartache and pain
Malcolm Bradshaw
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY GILLIAN LOVE FROM HUSBAND THOMAS XXXX Eight YEARS
It is that time of year again. We start off the new year singing “Auld Lang Syne.” One of my all time favorite movies, “When Harry Met Sally” has clever dialogue about the song. Harry: What does this song mean? My whole life, I don’t know what this song means. I mean, ‘Should old acquaintance be forgot’? Does that mean that we should forget old acquaintances, or does it mean if we happened to forget them, we should remember them, which is not possible because we already forgot? Sally: Well, maybe it just means that we should remember that we forgot them or something. Anyway, it’s about old friends.
Making New Year’s Resolutions are also quite popular at the stroke of midnight. Some will last until the next New Year’s Eve while others don’t make it a day into the new year. Some interesting statistics… A 2007 study by Richard Wisemen from the University of Bristol involving 3,000 people showed that 88% of those who set New Year resolutions fail, despite the fact that 52% of the study’s participants were confident of success at the beginning. Men achieved their goal 22% more often when they engaged in goal setting, (a system where small measurable goals are being set; such as, a pound a week, instead of saying “lose weight”), while women succeeded 10% more when they made their goals public and got support from their friends.
Here are the 10 most popular New Year’s Resolutions:
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
YOU CAN SEND YOURS TO THIS WEBSITE
EMAIL – poetreecreations@yahoo.com
http://www.poetreecreations.org
NOW
The term “armistice” means a cessation of hostilities as a prelude to peace negotiations. In the context of the First World War ‘the armistice’ is generally referred to in context of the agreement between the Germans and the Allies to end the war on November 11, 1918.
For the Fallen by Lawrence Binyon
With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.
Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.
They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
They mingle not with laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England’s foam.
But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;
As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.
Ich hatt’ einen Kameraden by Ludwig Uhland
Ich hatt’ einen Kameraden,
Einen bessern findst du nit.
Die Trommel schlug zum Streite,
Er ging an meiner Seite
In gleichem Schritt und Tritt.
Eine Kugel kam geflogen:
Gilt’s mir oder gilt sie dir?
Sie hat ihn weggerissen,
Er liegt zu meinen Füßen
Als wär’s ein Stück von mir
Will mir die Hand noch reichen,
Derweil ich eben lad’.
“Kann dir die Hand nicht geben,
Bleib du im ew’gen Leben
Mein guter Kamerad!”
Remembrance Sunday is held “to commemorate the contribution of British and Commonwealth military and civilian servicemen and women in the two World Wars and later conflicts
Autumn, ah it’s a painting on canvas
With splashes of colour everywhere
It’s not hidden away from view
It is an occasion for all to share
An artist has created it
With colours of every shade
The vibrant shades of beauty
In their splendor are on parade
Each tree and shrub stands proud
Making an hypnotic colourful display
Of leaves falling gently to the ground
Creating a carpet of colour where they lay
As the winter winds grow stronger
They tantalize the fallen leaves
All whipped up in frenzy
Stripping all the shrubs and tree’s
Now the canvas has been completed
The paints and brushes packed away
Mother Nature displays her painting
Of the perfect Autumn Day
Arms outstretched in delight
Smile stretching wide
Laughter bubbling –
Drenched in joy.
The Legend of St. George and the Dragon
St. George travelled for many months by land and sea until he came to Libya. Here he met a poor hermit who told him that everyone in that land was in great distress, for a dragon had long ravaged the country.
‘Every day,’ said the old man, ‘he demands the sacrifice of a beautiful maiden and now all the young girls have been killed. The king’s daughter alone remains, and unless we can find a knight who can slay the dragon she will be sacrificed tomorrow. The king of Egypt will give his daughter in marriage to the champion who overcomes this terrible monster.’
When St. George heard this story, he was determined to try and save the princess, so he rested that night in the hermit’s hut, and at daybreak set out to the valley where the dragon lived. When he drew near he saw a little procession of women, headed by a beautiful girl dressed in pure Arabian silk. The princess Sabra was being led by her attendants to the place of death. The knight spurred his horse and overtook the ladies. He comforted them with brave words and persuaded the princess to return to the palace. Then he entered the valley.
As soon as the dragon saw him it rushed from its cave, roaring with a sound louder than thunder. Its head was immense and its tail fifty feet long. But St. George was not afraid. He struck the monster with his spear, hoping he would wound it.
The dragon’s scales were so hard that the spear broke into a thousand pieces. and St. George fell from his horse. Fortunately he rolled under an enchanted orange tree against which poison could not prevail, so that the venomous dragon was unable to hurt him. Within a few minutes he had recovered his strength and was able to fight again.
He smote the beast with his sword, but the dragon poured poison on him and his armour split in two. Once more he refreshed himself from the orange tree and then, with his sword in his hand, he rushed at the dragon and pierced it under the wing where there were no scales, so that it fell dead at his feet.
Easter time is upon us
Spring has come at last
Displaying all her beauty
Like a carpet she has cast
Out of the dreary winter
With colours of every shade
A breath-taking panorama
That Mother Nature has made
Frogs in the Lilly ponds
With frogspawn all around
Soon there will be tadpoles
Jumping up and down
Birds are also busy
Building with haste and zest
Making ready for new life
As they build their precious nest
Children prepare their Easter bonnets
Decorated with chicks eggs and glue
Display them at the Easter Parade
For the delights of me and you
It’s a time of new beginnings
To focus on new things to do
Be more positive in your thinking
To create a better future for you
Mothers Day will be upon us soon
How are we going to celebrate this event?
Shall we buy her chocolates and flowers?
Or buy her an expensive bottle of scent
We all take mothers for granted
Expecting she will always be there
She is always a good listener
And all your problems she will share
She sometimes becomes a nurse and a doctor
When you have hurt yourself at play
She will sit you upon her lap
Until the pain goes away
She will do these things all of your life
In sickness and in health
She will never give up on you
For a mother never thinks of her self
A champion to all of the family
At times she will have her say
For a mother is the kingpin of the family
So show your appreciation on this her special day
Mothers Day will be upon us soon
How are we going to celebrate this event?
Why not dedicate a poem to your Mother
This Sunday
SEND YOUR DEDICATIONS OR POEMS
TO
poetreecreations@yahoo.com
The world’s tallest snowman 113 feet, 7 inches was built in this western Maine town back in 1999. In the photo below the tallest snowman, “Angus, King of the Mountain”, stands tall over a crowd of people gathered to attend a ceremony in Bethel, Maine, in February, 19 1999.
Now the Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce will attempt to build the world’s tallest snowman (snowwoman) again. It is told that the work will start on Jan. 22 and take up to 20 days to complete, said Executive Director Robin Zinchuk.
“We definitely learned a lot the first time around and that’s helping us know what we need to do. We really didn’t know what we were doing last time,” Zinchuk said. The giant snowman was named “Angus, King of the Mountain” in honor of former Gov. Angus King. Angus was so big that his nose was 8 feet long, his hat was 20 feet in diameter and the scarf around his neck was 120 feet long. His eyes were 4-foot wreaths, and his smile was made from automobile tires.
There was also a raffle as to when Angus would melt, which with our Maine weather, was anyone’s guess. The official melt date was June 10, 1999. The raffle was divided by 22 winners. Fashion ideas being tossed around for a giant snowwoman include making a skirt out of snow, adding a pink scarf and painting tires lipstick red for her mouth.
Jim Sysko, the chief architect and engineer nine years ago, will again lead the construction team. He’ll be assisted by an engineer and a longtime snowmaker from the nearby Sunday River ski resort, which has a new snowmaking gun that could help ease the effort.
For a name, the chamber is considering holding a naming contest. The giant snowman was named by a radio station disc jockey. “I haven’t heard from Angus (King) yet, but I’m sure he will be thrilled that we’re doing it again. He’s all about doing fun things,” Zinchuk said.
Detail of the to-be-dethroned tallest snowman are:
The snowman’s hat was made by seventh graders at Telstar Middle School. His six-foot nose was made by local elementary school students and as a special touch, has the imprints of the student’s hands.
Maine’s governor, Angus King, whom “Angus, King of the Mountain” was named after, came to participate in the ceremony to honor the citizens of Bethel who achieved their goal and “made it” into the Guiness World Book of Records for the World’s Largest Snowman. He stated he felt honored to have had the snowman named after him, but wondered if “Willie Melt” might not have been a more appropriate name! (source )
The snowman is listed in Guinness Book of Records 2002, page123.
CAN THIS BE THE TALLEST SNOWMAN
on a hot, splendid day in Louisberg, Missouri, USA, something strange was happening. A man was doing crazy things with pancakes. Not just a few pancakes, but actually close to 1,000 of them. Guinness World Records™ was invited along to see what exactly was going on.
Allow us to introduce Steve Hamilton (USA). Now, Steve is a normal guy with a wonderful family and an even more wonderful ambition. Steve wants to be known as the Pancake King. No, he wants to be the Pancake God. No, scratch that again. Steve. Is. Pancakes. For many years now, Steve and his team have been serving all sorts of sweet and savoury goodies across the USA. From French toast to flapjacks, Steve has been pleasing crowds with his culinary masterpieces for over 20 years.
On 23 June 2006, Steve claimed the Guinness World Records title formost pancakes made in one hour by an individual with an impressive total of 555 pancakes. This feat was beaten in 2008 by Canadian Bob Blumer with 559 pancakes. Steve wanted to reclaim the title. Bad.
On 6 May 2009 at Louisberg Middle School in Missouri, and with Guinness World Records Adjudicator Stuart Claxton presiding, the stage was set for Steve to prove his pancake-making supremacy. Right from the start, Steve was all action: pouring, flipping, toasting and serving. It seemed endless. We could hardly keep up with the man! And 60 minutes later, there we were… 956 pancakes served and flipped – a new Guinness World Records achievement! Mr Hamilton, we salute you.
But that wasn’t all. No sir. The very next day, Gregg Zimmerman and Brent A. Busch (both USA) beat off some stiff competition to claim the Guinness World Records title for the highest pancake toss ever. The record to beat was 7.3 m (24 ft), set by Dominic Michael Cuzzacrea (USA) on 20 June 2008. With the sun pouring down, the sweat streaming down their brows and passion in their pancake-shaped hearts, the boys matched each other at every turn… or toss. Finally they shook hands and shared the record. Both men tossed their pancakes an amazing 7.77 m (25 ft 6 in) and were crowned for their Guinness World Records achievement by Stuart Claxton.
The same day, Stuart had yet another feat to adjudicate. “School day at the K” is a special day for all the kids at Kauffman Stadium, home of the Kansas City Royals baseball team. For the past 11 years, FOX 4’s Mike Thompson and his weather team have given a fantastic weather lesson in front of thousands of local kids. This year they were going for something special. They were going to go for the largest meteorology lesson ever. Starting at around 10 a.m. on 7 May 2009, the kids started pouring in to the stadium for the special class. About one hour later, after experiments, displays and superb instruction by the team, Adjudicator Stuart Claxton presented Mike Thompson with a Guinness World Records certificate in front of 16,110 students!
Well done one and all!
Make the citrus butter by mashing together the softened unsalted butter with the icing sugar, grated zest and juice of ½ orange and the grated zest of ½ lemon. Cover and chill until ready to use.
Prepare the pancake batter by sifting the flour and sugar into a large mixing bowl. Whisk the eggs and milk together in a jug then pour half onto the dry ingredients, whisking as you do until you have a thick, smooth batter. Pour the rest of the wet ingredients onto the dry and whisk until you have the right consistency of batter.
When ready to cook the pancakes, melt a knob of the citrus butter in a frying pan over a moderate heat until it stops foaming; make sure you keep some citrus butter in reserve. Add the batter and tilt the the pan so that it covers the surface evenly, adding a little more if it doesn’t. Flip the pancakes once they are set on one side and cook the other side until golden and slightly crispy on the outside.
Arrange on a plate lined with a sheet of aluminium foil that is large enough to be wrapped around the pancakes loosely to keep them warm. Fold the pancakes into triangles and arrange on a serving plate.
Melt the reserved citrus butter in a saucepan over a moderate. Pour over the pancakes, garnishing with the julienned orange and lemon zest before servin
Charlies -Basic Pancakes
Basic Pancakes
Modern Valentine’s Day symbols include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have given way to mass-produced greeting cards. Saint Valentine’s Day, commonly shortened to Valentine’s Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrsnamed Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD. It was deleted from the General Roman Calendarof saints in 1969 by Pope Paul VI. It is traditionally a day on which lovers express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as “valentines“). The day first became associated withromantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.
Numerous early Christian martyrs were named Valentine. The Valentines honored on February 14 are Valentine of Rome (Valentinus presb. m. Romae) and Valentine of Terni (Valentinus ep. Interamnensis m. Romae). Valentine of Rome was a priest in Rome who was martyred about AD 269 and was buried on the Via Flaminia. His relics are at the Church of Saint Praxed in Rome, and at Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland.
Valentine of Terni became bishop of Interamna (modern Terni) about AD 197 and is said to have been martyred during the persecution under Emperor Aurelian. He is also buried on the Via Flaminia, but in a different location than Valentine of Rome. His relics are at the Basilica of Saint Valentine in Terni (Basilica di San Valentino).
The Catholic Encyclopedia also speaks of a third saint named Valentine who was mentioned in early martyrologies under date of February 14. He was martyred in Africa with a number of companions, but nothing more is known about him.
No romantic elements are present in the original early medieval biographies of either of these martyrs. By the time a Saint Valentine became linked to romance in the 14th century, distinctions between Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni were utterly lost.
In the 1969 revision of the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints, the feast day of Saint Valentine on February 14 was removed from the General Roman Calendar and relegated to particular (local or even national) calendars for the following reason: “Though the memorial of Saint Valentine is ancient, it is left to particular calendars, since, apart from his name, nothing is known of Saint Valentine except that he was buried on the Via Flaminia on February 14.” The feast day is still celebrated in Balzan (Malta) where relics of the saint are claimed to be found, and also throughout the world by Traditionalist Catholics who follow the older, pre-Second Vatican Council calendar. February 14 is also celebrated as St Valentine’s Day in other Christian denominations; it has, for example, the rank of ‘commemoration’ in the calendar of the Church of England and other parts of the Anglican Communion.
Saint Valentine of Terni and his disciples.
The Early Medieval acta of either Saint Valentine were expounded briefly in Legenda Aurea. According to that version, St Valentine was persecuted as a Christian and interrogated by Roman Emperor Claudius II in person. Claudius was impressed by Valentine and had a discussion with him, attempting to get him to convert to Roman paganism in order to save his life. Valentine refused and tried to convert Claudius to Christianity instead. Because of this, he was executed. Before his execution, he is reported to have performed a miracle by healing the blind daughter of his jailer.
Since Legenda Aurea still provided no connections whatsoever with sentimental love, appropriate lore has been embroidered in modern times to portray Valentine as a priest who refused an unattested law attributed to Roman Emperor Claudius II, allegedly ordering that young men remain single. The Emperor supposedly did this to grow his army, believing that married men did not make for good soldiers. The priest Valentine, however, secretly performed marriage ceremonies for young men. When Claudius found out about this, he had Valentine arrested and thrown in jail.
There is an additional modern embellishment to The Golden Legend, provided by American Greetings to History.com, and widely repeated despite having no historical basis whatsoever. On the evening before Valentine was to be executed, he would have written the first “valentine” card himself, addressed to a young girl variously identified as his beloved, as the jailer’s daughter whom he had befriended and healed, or both. It was a note that read “From your Valentine.
Though popular modern sources link unspecified Greco-Roman February holidays alleged to be devoted to fertility and love to St. Valentine’s Day, Professor Jack Oruch of the University of Kansas argued that prior to Chaucer, no links between the Saints named Valentinus and romantic love existed. Earlier links as described above were focused on sacrifice rather than romantic love. In the ancient Athenian calendar the period between mid-January and mid-February was the month of Gamelion, dedicated to the sacred marriage of Zeus and Hera.
In Ancient Rome, Lupercalia, observed February 13–15, was an archaic rite connected to fertility. Lupercalia was a festival local to the city of Rome. The more general Festival of Juno Februa, meaning “Juno the purifier “or “the chaste Juno”, was celebrated on February 13–14. Pope Gelasius I (492–496) abolished Lupercalia.
Geoffrey Chaucer by Thomas Occleve(1412)
The first recorded association of Valentine’s Day with romantic love is in Parlement of Foules (1382) by Geoffrey Chaucer Chaucer wrote:
For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make.
[“For this was Saint Valentine’s Day, when every bird cometh there to choose his mate.”]
This poem was written to honor the first anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia. A treaty providing for a marriage was signed on May 2, 1381. (When they were married eight months later, they were each only 15 years old).
Readers have uncritically assumed that Chaucer was referring to February 14 as Valentine’s Day; however, mid-February is an unlikely time for birds to be mating in England. Henry Ansgar Kelly has pointed out that in the liturgical calendar, May 2 is the saints’ day for Valentine of Genoa. This St. Valentine was an early bishop of Genoawho died around AD 307.
Chaucer’s Parliament of Foules is set in a fictional context of an old tradition, but in fact there was no such tradition before Chaucer. The speculative explanation of sentimental customs, posing as historical fact, had their origins among 18th-century antiquaries, notably Alban Butler, the author of Butler’s Lives of Saints, and have been perpetuated even by respectable modern scholars. Most notably, “the idea that Valentine’s Day customs perpetuated those of the Roman Lupercalia has been accepted uncritically and repeated, in various forms, up to the present”.
Using the language of the law courts for the rituals of courtly love, a “High Court of Love” was established in Paris on Valentine’s Day in 1400. The court dealt with love contracts, betrayals, and violence against women. Judges were selected by women on the basis of a poetry reading. The earliest surviving valentine is a 15th-centuryrondeau written by Charles, Duke of Orléans to his wife, which commences.
Je suis desja d’amour tanné
Ma tres doulce Valentinée…—Charles d’Orléans, Rondeau VI, lines 1–2
At the time, the duke was being held in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt, 1415.
Valentine’s Day is mentioned ruefully by Ophelia in Hamlet (1600–1601):
To-morrow is Saint Valentine’s day,
All in the morning betime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your Valentine.
Then up he rose, and donn’d his clothes,
And dupp’d the chamber-door;
Let in the maid, that out a maid
Never departed more.—William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 5
John Donne used the legend of the marriage of the birds as the starting point for his Epithalamion celebrating the marriage of Elizabeth, daughter of James I of England, andFrederick V, Elector Palatine on Valentine’s Day:
Hayle Bishop Valentine whose day this is
All the Ayre is thy Diocese
And all the chirping Queristers
And other birds ar thy parishioners
Thou marryest every yeare
The Lyrick Lark, and the graue whispering Doue,
The Sparrow that neglects his life for loue,
The houshold bird with the redd stomacher
Thou makst the Blackbird speede as soone,
As doth the Goldfinch, or the Halcyon
The Husband Cock lookes out and soone is spedd
And meets his wife, which brings her feather-bed.
This day more cheerfully than ever shine
This day which might inflame thy selfe old Valentine.—John Donne, Epithalamion Vpon Frederick Count Palatine and the Lady Elizabeth marryed on St. Valentines day
The verse Roses are red echoes conventions traceable as far back as Edmund Spenser‘s epic The Faerie Queene (1590):
She bath’d with roses red, and violets blew,
And all the sweetest flowres, that in the forrest grew.
The modern cliché Valentine’s Day poem can be found in the collection of English nursery rhymes Gammer Gurton’s Garland (1784):
The rose is red, the violet’s blue
The honey’s sweet, and so are you
Thou are my love and I am thine
I drew thee to my Valentine
The lot was cast and then I drew
And Fortune said it shou’d be you.
In 1797, a British publisher issued The Young Man’s Valentine Writer, which contained scores of suggested sentimental verses for the young lover unable to compose his own. Printers had already begun producing a limited number of cards with verses and sketches, called “mechanical valentines,” and a reduction in postal rates in the next century ushered in the less personal but easier practice of mailing Valentines. That, in turn, made it possible for the first time to exchange cards anonymously, which is taken as the reason for the sudden appearance of racy verse in an era otherwise prudishly Victorian.
Paper Valentines became so popular in England in the early 19th century that they were assembled in factories. Fancy Valentines were made with real lace and ribbons, with paper lace introduced in the mid-19th century. In the UK, just under half of the population spend money on their Valentines and around 1.3 billion pounds are spent yearly on cards, flowers, chocolates and other gifts, with an estimated 25 million cards being sent. The reinvention of Saint Valentine’s Day in the 1840s has been traced by Leigh Eric Schmidt. As a writer in Graham’s American Monthly observed in 1849, “Saint Valentine’s Day… is becoming, nay it has become, a national holyday. In the United States, the first mass-produced valentines of embossed paper lace were produced and sold shortly after 1847 by Esther Howland (1828–1904) of Worcester, Massachusetts.
Her father operated a large book and stationery store, but Howland took her inspiration from an English Valentine she had received from a business associate of her father. Intrigued with the idea of making similar Valentines, Howland began her business by importing paper lace and floral decorations from England. The English practice of sending Valentine’s cards was established enough to feature as a plot device in Elizabeth Gaskell‘s Mr. Harrison’s Confessions (1851): “I burst in with my explanations: ‘”The valentine I know nothing about.” ‘”It is in your handwriting”, said he coldly. ince 2001, the Greeting Card Association has been giving an annual “Esther Howland Award for a Greeting Card Visionary.
Since the 19th century, handwritten notes have given way to mass-produced greeting cards. The mid-19th century Valentine’s Day trade was a harbinger of further commercialized holidays in the United States to follow.
In the second half of the 20th century, the practice of exchanging cards was extended to all manner of gifts in the United States. Such gifts typically include roses and chocolates packed in a red satin, heart-shaped box. In the 1980s, the diamond industry began to promote Valentine’s Day as an occasion for giving jewelry.
The U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately 190 million valentines are sent each year in the US. Half of those valentines are given to family members other than husband or wife, usually to children. When you include the valentine-exchange cards made in school activities the figure goes up to 1 billion, and teachers become the people receiving the most valentines. In some North American elementary schools, children decorate classrooms, exchange cards, and are given sweets. The greeting cards of these students sometimes mention what they appreciate about each other.
The rise of Internet popularity at the turn of the millennium is creating new traditions. Millions of people use, every year, digital means of creating and sending Valentine’s Day greeting messages such as e-cards, love coupons or printable greeting cards. An estimated 15 million e-valentines were sent in 2010.[
Valentine card, 1862: “My dearest Miss, I send thee a kiss” addressed to Miss Jenny Lane of Crostwight Hall, Smallburgh, Norfolk.
Advertisement for Prang’s greeting cards, 1883
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp,
And surely I’ll be mine!
And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
We twa hae run about the braes,
And pu’d the gowans fine;
But we’ve wandered mony a weary fit
Sin’ auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
We twa hae paidled i’ the burn,
Frae morning sun till dine;
But seas between us braid hae roared
Sin’ auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere,
And gie’s a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll tak a right guid-willie waught
For auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
By
The great Scottish poet Robbie Burns
Friday the 13th
By Adele Swift
Oooh! Aaaah!
Stay home
Little frightened ones!
Today is Friday the 13th!
You know what that means!
Ooooh!
Bad luck
Because you feel guilty
For all the things
You’ve done to hurt people
For which you’ve
Yet to be caught.
Habits
By Brenda Braene
I find a penny
I pick it up
I give it to my sister
So she has good luck.
I skip the cracks
No broken backs
I knock on wood
To keep it good.
I cross my fingers
So good luck lingers.
I laugh and play
To save the day.
The 13th of Friday
By Cassandra Oleander
Frost on the glass
Creates patterns that blast
Away fears from the day.
Peeking through Jack Frost’s
Gifts given in the night
Seeing land so clean and bright.
It’s quiet because people
Move carefully, clearly
Fearing a misstep.
Their fear makes them polite.
Superstition takes them to
New heights.
Frost on the glass
Creates patterns that blast
Away fears from the day.
Peeking through Jack Frost’s
Gifts given in the night
Seeing land so clean and bright.
It’s quiet because people
Move carefully, clearly
Fearing a misstep.
Their fear makes them polite.
Superstition takes them to
New heights.
By Cassandrar Oleande
How the Black Friday Tradition Got Started
While it wasn’t called “Black Friday” until the 1960s, and then not popularly called such until the last two decades, retailers have been trying to push people to shop the Friday after Thanksgiving since the late 19th /early 20th century. Around this time, it was very popular for various department stores, such as Macy’s and Eaton’s, to sponsor parades that would occur the day after Thanksgiving. These parades would typically be a major part of Christmas advertising campaigns by these stores. This, in turn, would ultimately result in a lot of people going shopping after the parades were over. Over time, this melded into a commonly accepted unwritten rule among most major department stores to hold off on their major Christmas advertising pushes until after Thanksgiving; specifically, to hold off until after these parades were over.
By the 1930s, the Friday after Thanksgiving had become the official start of the Christmas shopping season among the vast majority of retailers out there. However, this tradition ultimately resulted in retailers being unhappy with the length of the Christmas shopping season on Novembers where the last Thursday was the fifth Thursday in November (Thanksgiving at that time was always on the last Thursday of November). Thus, with the strong encouragement of lobbyists for various retailers, President Roosevelt, in 1939, decided to change the official date of Thanksgiving to be on the second to last Thursday in November, in order to lengthen the Christmas shopping season as much as possible. This lasted two years before Congress was forced to stepped in, due to the controversy Roosevelt’s switch had caused. Their solution was a compromise between the two camps, setting Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday of November.
How the Friday After Thanksgiving Came to Be Known as “Black Friday”
The term “Black Friday” wasn’t coined to describe the day after Thanksgiving until the mid 1960s. Even then, it wasn’t a popular term nationally until around the last twenty years.
In the 1980s, retailers, unhappy with the negative connotations of what appears to be the real origin of the term (see below), decided to start pushing that the actual origin was that most retailers operated in a financial loss for most of the year and Black Friday was named such because it was the day of the year when the retailers would finally see a profit, moving out of the red and into the black. This of course, simply isn’t true. While there are some retailers that depend on the Christmas season’s profits to make a profit for the year, most retailers see profits every quarter based on the quarterly SEC filings of those major retailers. There are also no references to this potential origin predating around the 1980s and there are numerous references to the following theory of the origin of the term “Black Friday” before that time.
The most likely origin, which is reasonably well documented, is from Philadelphia police officers, bus drivers, and taxi cab drivers who dreaded the day after Thanksgiving due to the traffic problems from the massive amount of people out and about.The earliest documented reference to this was in January 1966, written by Bonnie Taylor-Black of the American Dialect Society: “‘Black Friday’ is the name which the Philadelphia Police Department has given to the Friday following Thanksgiving Day. It is not a term of endearment to them. “Black Friday” officially opens the Christmas shopping season in center city, and it usually brings massive traffic jams and over-crowded sidewalks as the downtown stores are mobbed from opening to closing.” Over the next decade, more and more references can be found in various newspaper archives, primarily in the New England area, of this particular Friday being called “Black Friday” for this reason.
Black Friday Facts:
Black Friday Myths:
Myth: The Naming of Black Friday Came From a Stock Market Crash:
A theory that is sometimes spread about how “Black Friday” got its name, came from the stock market crash in late 1929 which kicked off the Great Depression. In fact though, that event happened on a Tuesday, not a Friday. The actual “Black Friday” stock market scare happened in 1869, was in September, and had to do with gold prices. So neither stock market crash had anything to do with shopping or the Friday after Thanksgiving.
Myth: Black Friday is the Biggest Shopping Day of the Year:
Black Friday is not the biggest shopping day of the year. In fact, it’s typically not even in the top five, though has cracked the ranks a few times in recent years. The real biggest shopping day of the year is nearly always the Saturday before Christmas, excepting a few occasions where it typically then ends up being the Thursday or Friday before Christmas, when Christmas falls on a weekend day. Thus, the procrastinators seem to outnumber the early birds in this respect. Besides people’s naturally tendency to procrastinate, this should not be a surprise as most people are simply trying to get specific great deals on Black Friday and aren’t tending to look to get all their Christmas shopping done in one day. So while there might be a lot of people in the stores, most of them aren’t coming home with a lot of items, according to consumer reports. On the other hand, the last Saturday before Christmas is the last convenient time for many shoppers to get their shopping done.
*While it may not be the biggest shopping day of the year, Black Friday still rakes in an amazing amount of money, typically bringing in $15-$20 billion worth of revenue each year for the last three years in the United States.
Myth: Cyber Monday is the Biggest Online Shopping Day of the Year:
Another myth online retailers would love for people to start believing is that the Monday following Black Friday, which is beginning to be known as “Cyber Monday”, is the busiest online shopping day of the year. In fact, Cyber Monday historically doesn’t even make the top ten and before the term was coined and promoted, it wasn’t even typically in the top 30. Most of the actual biggest online shopping days of the year tend to fall between December 5th and December 15th. As someone who once owned a reasonably successful online store, I can attest to the fact that the online shopping days between around December 5th-ish to about the 20th, for my store, would see normal sales jump about fifteen times the normal volume per day on average, during that span; then typically tailing off a bit, but staying well above average until around January 5th, at which point sales tend to see their worst rates of the year until around the end of January or early February when things would begin to get back to normal. The last two Cyber Monday’s I owned that store, I actually saw below average sale rates on that day.
1 Paint eggs. Armed with a colouring set, box of eggs, and newspaper spread over the kitchen table, you can keep kids quiet for hours. House of Fraser stocks an egg slicer (£5) with a handy “spike” to help at the hollowing-out stage.
2 Learn about chocolate. The eggheads at London’s Natural History Museum are giving a fun, free talk on everyone’s favourite Easter treat tomorrow. Cromwell Road, London SW7, 020 7942 5792,
3 Go to a Punch and Judy show. The 30-minute shows run from today to Easter Monday at the Pleasure Gardens at Blenheim Palace (Woodstock, Oxfordshire.
4 Throw a doll’s tea party. Serve tiny food – mini eggs will be popular – in a doll’s tea service, sandwiches cut into shapes with cookie cutters, and you’ll keep a roomful of little girls happy.
5 Build an indoor den. Blankets draped over furniture will do for younger children. Older ones might prefer to convert the cupboard under the stairs.
6 Introduce them to karaoke. Give kids a microphone and tell them to rehearse their favourite songs for a Eurovision-style performance. Retreat out of earshot. For those with a games console, invest in SingStar, which comes with two microphones and various tracks (£49.99 from music stores nationwide).
7 Play party games. There’s no reason why musical statues, musical chairs and blind man’s bluff should only be trotted out at children’s parties.
8 Do experiments. Kitchen-table science is educational as well as entertaining. Baking soda, vinegar and food colouring are the key ingredients to create a foaming lava from a worktop volcano.
9 Put on an Easter play. Assign roles, invite your oldest to oversee action sequences, and leave room for the others to improvise.
10 Get cooking. Children love spending quality time in the kitchen. Teach them – or learn yourself – how to make hot cross buns.
I want one so bad I begin to itch
But the more I have the more I get a stitch,
When I have one I feel satisfied
But the more I have the more I might die,
The one after tea is definitely the best
But the more I have,the more pains in my chest,
I used to run,I used to be fit
I need to cut down or definitely quit,
From freshness to blackness I can’t understand
My body was good,but now it is bad
All of them kill,no matter the brand,
You can kick it,yes you can,
Put it out before you choke
Trust me mate, please don’t smoke
By Christopher Wolvett