Category: Travel and Leisure
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You and Your Guts
I assume you have all been wisely hibernating these winter months away. Smart choice! So have I. Those extra pounds you put on from stuffing yourself full of Halloween candy served you well! But now it’s time to get back on track and start thinking about your beach body!
But wait! Before you dust off that old Nautilus in the garage and crank up the Nazareth, I want to make sure you know about you and your gut health!
If you even sort of pay attention to all those YouTube commercials, you know there are many, many experts out there on how you and your parasites may or may not be affecting your health. But allow me to throw my hat in the ring, yes?
If this all bums you out, don’t worry. We will all be dead soon. Stay Tuned for tomorrow’s post:
Cooking and Caring for Your Parasites
References
Because science.
-Bridgette, Instatritionist**Please note Bridgette holds no relevant authority or substantive scientific education beyond the publishing wisdom of Conde Naste, but damn, she looks hot holding a smoothie, right?? Please continue to send her your money.
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Lions, and Tigers, and Pie
View of Hyde Park Corner Turnpike, Westminster, London, 1792. Civil engineer John Metcalf, also known as Blind Jack, was born on August 15, 1717. Blind from the age of six, he has a surprising legacy in pioneering modern road construction, along with John MacAdam and Thomas Telford.
Also born on August 15th:
Napoléon Bonaparte, 1769
Writer Sir Walter Scott , 1771.
Writer and abolitionist Eliza Lee Cabot, 13th child of Samuel and Sarah, 1785.
Founder of the Labour Party, Keir Hardie, 1856.
“The Frog asks to be allowed to enter the Castle”, illustration for The Frog Prince, Walter Krane, 1874Artist Walter Crane,1845. He is remembered especially for his illustrations in children’s literature, and in popularizing the Arts and Crafts movement.
Magical writer and poet Edith Nesbit, 1858.
Composer Samuel Coleridge Taylor, 1875.
Baseball player and controversial manager and owner of the Chicago White Sox, Charles Comiskey, 1859.
Actresses Ethel Barrymore, 1879 and Estelle Brody, 1900
Expressionist painter Jack Tworkov, 1900
Chef, author, and teacher Julia Child, 1912
Graphic designer Paul Rand, 1914
Artist Leonard Baskin, 1922
On August 15th:
Aug. 15, 1939: Munchkins join the “Wizard of Oz” festivities at the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. (Gordon Wallace / Los Angeles Times) The Panama Canal opened in1914.
The Wizard of Oz premiered in Los Angeles in 1939.
Woodstock opened in 1969.
According to the Calendar of Weird Holidays, August 15th is National Leathercraft Day, Lemon Meringue Pie Day, and National Relaxation Day. The Old Farmers Almanac says August 15th is a good day to plant aboveground crops, breed animals, slaughter livestock, brew beer or cider, and begin a diet to gain weight, so go get on that pie I guess?
Tonight’s moon is the first quarter moon and in the astrological sign Scorpio. The Sun is all by itself in Leo.
What all of this means for the rest of your weekend:
I don’t know. Today I learned that a large part of the modern road system over which we transverse was conceived and executed by a blind man, so I have some thinking to do.
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Write No More Than the Tale of Troy
Portrait of Hedda Sterne by the Waintrob Brothers, c. 1960 from the Hedda Sterne Foundation website. It’s later than you think
Artist Hedda Sterne was born on August 4, 1910. See more of her work at https://heddasternefoundation.org/
Poet Robert Hayden was born on August 4, 1913.https://scopeandhorror.com/media/2414500739fe877d270a50479cb72353
Mathematician and philosopher John Venn was born on August 4, 1834. I think we can all agree he invented the best kind of diagram.
John Venn before being elected to the Royal Society in 1883 The youngest winner of the Tour de France, Henri Cornet was born on August 4, 1884. He won in 1904, ten days shy of his 20th birthday.
John Henry Twachtman circa 1900 American impressionist painter John Henry Twachtman was born on August 4, 1853.
Percy Bysshe Shelley, poet, and husband of Mary, was born on August 4, 1792. I will close out today with the end of one of his most famous poems, Hellas:
If only.
For today: enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think.
Cat Power, We Dance -
Make a Vision Board
I’m so sorry I’ve been neglecting you! For those of you in the know, fiscal years turn over July 1st and it just gets crazy busy for us financial wizards!
Anyway, a project for you during your long holiday weekend: make a vision board and hang it in a prominent place in your home where you will see it frequently to keep you motivated when I can’t be there, reminding you to keep working towards your hopes and dreams.
For the non-creative types, I made one for you this morning. You are free to print, share, and copy as you wish.
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As the World Turns
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Great Comet of 1819, C/1819 N1, discovered July 1, 1819 by Johann Georg Tralles.July 1st is the 202nd anniversary of the discovery of The Great Comet of 1819. In 1770, Lexell’s Comet came closer to the Earth than Considered a lost comet, Lexell’s Comet came in the closest proximity to Earth of any comet ever recorded. It came “super close” (not very close), and then sped off into the emptiness of space, and has never been seen again.
Born on July 1st: Writers George Sand, co-author of Elements of Style William Strunk Jr., and Irna Phillips. Known as “Queen of the Soaps, Phillips created Guiding Light, As the World Turns, and Another World.
Amy Johnson c. 1930 Also born on July 1st: painter and naturalist Willard Metcalf, mountaineer and founder of the Sierra Club David Brower, mathematician Jean Dieudonné, cosmetics entrepreneur Estée Lauder, and English pilot Amy Johnson.
Tonight the waning moon enters the last quarter moon. Half-lit by the sun, the moon has completed 3/4ths of its orbit. Some astrologers suggest we are more accident-prone during this time, or at least a little more clumsy. The moon is in Aires, which could make us fiery and impulsive.
Overall a wonderful setup for a soap opera script which I would like you to draft using the cast of characters above. Bonus points if you can work in getting ghosted by a comet.
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Carry Moonbeams Home in a Jar
Would You Like to Swing on a Star? from the 1976 album Sunday Street by Dave Van Ronk. I would very much prefer it if you listen to this while you read about June 30th. June 30th is the birthday of singer Lena Horne, musician Stanley Clarke, folk singer Dave Van Ronk; and Lithuanian poet Czesław Miłosz. Also born on June 30th: Engineer and inventor of the modern hot air balloon Ed Yost; magician Harry Blackstone Jr, and sports broadcaster Harry Wismer.
Dave Van Ronk at Newport Folk Festival, 28th July 1963. (Photo by John Byrne Cooke Estate/Getty Images) Today I will just send my sincerest congratulations along with an anecdote about Wismer as told by sportswriter George Plimpton: “He was an odd man. He used to say ‘Congratulations’ to many people he met, on the grounds that they had probably done something they could be proud of.”[18]
Publicity photo of sportscaster Harry Wismer. Public domain. One For My Baby (and One More for the Road), Lena Horne, 1957 -
Crossfit and Cross-promotion #3
Do you get the sense like I do that this kid had it all figured out? Sorry, sorry I will get back to these soon, but I excel only at working on many things and nothing all at once. I assume everyone is sleepy and full of fried turkey anyway.
June 28th: She’s Been Married Seven Times Before
Second Verse, same as the first:
Henry VIII was born today in 1457. Flemish painter Sir Peter Paul Rubens was born on June 28, 1577. Violinist Stefi Geyer was born in Budapest on June 28, 1888. Heir presumptive Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated today in 1914, igniting factor of World War I. Coincidentally, the Treaty of Versailles was signed exactly five years later, officially calling an end to the war.
I can’t believe this was on primetime television, and that people screamed for it.
