Sunny/Temperature ~ Picture of the Day ~ Chewing Gum ~ Easy Peach Cake ~ National No Rhyme (Nor Reason) Day

Good 56º clear sky morning. 

 

 

Another pretty clear sunny day yesterday. We warmed to 96º. Dude is always happy when it's sunny.....

 

 

 

Picture of the Day ... two trees sharing the same branch!

 

 

Interesting about chewing gum.........

 

Chewing gum is a soft, cohesive substance designed to be chewed without being swallowed. Modern chewing gum is composed of gum base, sweeteners, softeners/plasticizers, flavors, colors, and, typically, a hard or powdered polyolcoating. Its texture is reminiscent of rubber because of the physical-chemical properties of its polymer, plasticizer, and resin components, which contribute to its elastic-plastic, sticky, chewy characteristics.

The cultural tradition of chewing gum seems to have developed through a convergent evolution process, as traces of this habit have arisen separately in many of the early civilizations. Each of the early precursors to chewing gum were derived from natural growths local to the region and were chewed purely out the instinctual desire to masticate. Early chewers did not necessarily desire to derive nutritional benefits from their chewable substances, but at times sought taste stimuli and teeth cleaning or breath-freshening capabilities.

Chewing gum in many forms has existed since the Neolithic period. 6,000-year-old chewing gum made from birch bark tar, with tooth imprints, has been found in Kierikki in Finland. The tar from which the gums were made is believed to have antiseptic properties and other medicinal benefits. It is chemically similar to petroleum tar and is in this way different from most other early gum. 

The Mayans and Aztecs were the first to exploit the positive properties of gum, they used chicle, a natural tree gum, as a base for making a gum-like substance and to stick objects together in everyday use. Forms of chewing gums were also chewed in Ancient Greece. The Ancient Greeks chewed mastic gum, made from the resin of the mastic tree. Mastic gum, like birch bark tar, has antiseptic properties and is believed to have been used to maintain oral health. Both chicle and mastic are tree resins. Many other cultures have chewed gum-like substances made from plants, grasses, and resins.

Variations of early chewing gum worldwide 

Ancient civilization	Chewing gum precursor
Ancient Greece	Mastic tree bark
Ancient Maya	Chicle
Chinese	Ginseng plant roots
Eskimos	Blubber
Native Americans	Sugar pine and spruce sap
South Americans	Coca leaves
South Asia (India)	Betel nuts
United States (early settlers)	Tobacco leaves

 

Although chewing gum can be traced back to civilizations around the world, the modernization and commercialization of this product mainly took place in the United States. The American Indians chewed resin made from the sap of spruce trees. The New England settlers picked up this practice, and in 1848, John B. Curtis developed and sold the first commercial chewing gum called The State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum. In this way, the industrializing West, having forgotten about tree gums, rediscovered chewing gum through the First Americans. Around 1850 a gum made from paraffin wax, which is a petroleum product, was developed and soon exceeded the spruce gum in popularity. To sweeten these early gums, the chewer would often make use of a plate of powdered sugar, which they would repeatedly dip the gum into to maintain sweetness. William Semple filed an early patent on chewing gum, patent number 98,304, on December 28, 1869.

The first flavored chewing gum was created in the 1860s by John Colgan, a Louisville, Kentucky pharmacist. Colgan mixed with powdered sugar the aromatic flavoring tolu, a powder obtained from an extract of the balsam tree (Myroxylon), creating small sticks of flavored chewing gum he named "Taffy Tolu". Colgan also lead the way in the manufacturing and packaging of chicle-based chewing gum, derived from Manilkara chicle, a tropical evergreen tree. He licensed a patent for automatically cutting chips of chewing gum from larger sticks: US 966,160 "Chewing Gum Chip Forming Machine" August 2, 1910 and a patent for automatically cutting wrappers for sticks of chewing gum: US 913,352 "Web-cutting attachment for wrapping-machines" February 23, 1909 from Louisville, Kentucky inventor James Henry Brady, an employee of the Colgan Gum Company.

Modern chewing gum was first developed in the 1860s when chicle was brought from Mexico by the former President, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, to New York, where he gave it to Thomas Adams for use as a rubber substitute. Chicle did not succeed as a replacement for rubber, but as a gum, which was cut into strips and marketed as Adams New York Chewing Gum in 1871. Black Jack (1884), which is flavored with licorice, Chiclets (1899), and Wrigley's Spearmint Gum were early popular gums that quickly dominated the market and are all still around today. 

Chewing gum gained worldwide popularity through American GIs in WWII, who were supplied chewing gum as a ration and traded it with locals. Synthetic gums were first introduced to the U.S. after chicle no longer satisfied the needs of making good chewing gum. By the 1960s, US manufacturers had switched to butadiene-based synthetic rubber, as it was cheaper to manufacture.

 

 

 

Easy Peach Cake is filled with the flavors of summer! Just one bite of this cake is all that you need to to fall in love with juicy peaches that are baked into this southern classic.

 

• 1 (15.25-ounce) package butter-flavored yellow cake mix
• 3/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans
• 1 (21-ounce) container peach pie filling
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• powdered sugar for sprinkling on top after cooked...

1. Preheat oven to 350 º. Coat a 9- x 13- inch baking pan with cooking spray, set aside. 
    
2. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients; mix well. Pour batter into prepared baking pan.
    
3. Bake 40 to 45 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Allow to cool slightly and serve warm, or when cool, cover until ready to serve

 

 

Historically this date.....

1914 – The last passenger pigeon, a female named Martha, dies in captivity in the Cincinnati Zoo.

.... interesting read, click on "passenger pigeon".

1939 – Adolf Hitler signs an order to begin the systematic euthanasia of mentally ill and disabled people.

 

1979 – The American space probe Pioneer 11 becomes the first spacecraft to visit Saturn when it passes the planet at a distance of 13,000 miles.

 

And births this date include...

1922 – Yvonne De Carlo, Canadian-born actress (d. 2007)

  

1928 – George Maharis, American actor
 

  

1939 – Lily Tomlin, American actress and comedian

1946 – Barry Gibb, English singer (Bee Gees)

1950 – Phil McGraw, American talk show host

1961 – Christopher Ferguson, American astronaut

 

 

 

All I know. Nuff said. Happy Sunday. Ciao.

xo Sue Mom Bobo

 

National No Rhyme (Nor Reason) Day on September 1st recognizes words which do not rhyme with any other words in the English language.

While September celebrates many random and capricious days, this observance focuses on specific words. Words that don’t rhyme with any other word are called refractory rhymes. Poets reason that avoiding these words helps keep their poetry consistent. However, refractory words only interrupt poems where rhyme and reason matter.

The less fickle poet takes on these challenging words. Toss out the rhymes. Say farewell to meter. Be whimsical and playful. The Jabberwocky never stopped Lewis Carrol. Dilly dally in a world of mishmash and find a verse that fits the spirit of the day. Deliver an envelope full of words directly up the chimney. Tilt the accent one way and lilt it another until the word fits in fluttery ways.

There need be no reason, nor rhyme for that matter. Not all poems do. Then again, you could dive deep like Alexander Atkins did in 2014 and search a little bit harder for the perfect rhyme. Check out his blog that stretches the edges of the language to fill the void left by refractory rhymes. 

Some un-rhymable words in the English language include:

• Orange
• Month
• Silver
• Spirit
• Chimney
• Purple
• Woman
• Ninth
• Pint

 

Sunny/Temperature ~ Picture of the Day ~ Redheads ~ Mr. Food's Favorite Casserole ~ Edda Gahm ~ Breakfast ~ National Trail Mix Day

 

Good 51º clear sky morning. 

 

We stayed cloudy for a bit yesterday then it cleared up and was beautiful.  We topped at 97º. 

 

 

Picture of the Day ... father and son 1940 and then in 2009...

 

 

 

Interesting about redheads.....

 

Red hair (or ginger hair) occurs naturally in one to two percent of the human population, appearing with greater frequency (two to six percent) among people of Northern or Northwestern European ancestry and lesser frequency in other populations. 

Red hair varies in hue from a deep burgundy or bright copper, or auburn, to burnt orange or red-orange to strawberry blond. Characterized by high levels of the reddish pigment pheomelanin and relatively low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin, it is associated with fair skin color, lighter eye color, freckles, and sensitivity to ultraviolet light.

Cultural reactions to red hair have varied from ridicule to admiration with many common stereotypes in existence regarding redheads. The term redhead has been in use since at least 1510.

Red hair is most commonly found at the northern and western fringes of Europe; it is centered around populations in the British Isles. Redheads today are commonly associated with the Celtic nations.

In Ireland, the percentage of population with red hair is estimated to be at around 10%, making it the world's highest concentrated population of red heads. According to Ireland's DNA, 34.7% of the Irish population carry the allele for red hair, although this doesn't directly translate proportionally into births of red-haired children.

Scotland also has a high percentage with around 6% of the population having red hair, with Edinburgh being the redhead capital of the world. The most redheaded region is the south-east of Scotland with Edinburgh as a red head hot spot. There, four-in-10 carry one of the three most common red hair genes. Scotland as whole has a higher percentage than Ireland, 36.5 per cent as against 34.7 according to a survey taken by Britain's DNA.

England has a red hair prevalence of around 4%, with 28.5% of population having the allele; while in Wales 38% of Welsh people carry the red-haired allele. A 1956 study of hair color among British Army recruits from Great Britain found higher levels of red hair in Wales and the Scottish border counties of England.

Red hair is the rarest natural hair color in humans. The non-tanning skin associated with red hair may have been advantageous in far-northern climates where sunlight is scarce.

Melanin in the skin aids UV tolerance through suntanning, but fair-skinned persons lack the levels of melanin needed to prevent UV-induced DNA-damage. Studies have shown that red hair alleles in MC1R increase freckling and decrease tanning ability. It has been found that Europeans who are heterozygous for red hair exhibit increased sensitivity to UV radiation.

Red hair and its relationship to UV sensitivity are of interest to many melanoma researchers. Sunshine can both be good and bad for a person's health and the different alleles on MC1R represent these adaptations. It also has been shown that individuals with pale skin are highly susceptible to a variety of skin cancers such as melanoma, basal cell carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma.

A common belief about redheads is that they have fiery tempers and sharp tongues. In Anne of Green Gables, a character says of Anne Shirley, the redheaded heroine, that "her temper matches her hair", while in The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield remarks that "People with red hair are supposed to get mad very easily, but Allie [his dead brother] never did, and he had very red hair."

** My mother was Scottish and had strawberry blonde hair. I have a nephew with red hair and my son Brian was born with red hair...

 

 

 

From Mr. Food...

There's nothing homier or more welcoming than a hearty casserole at the end of a busy day. My Family's Favorite Casserole is a different one that's even better the day after, if there's any left!

 

• 3/4 cup uncooked elbow macaroni
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup sliced celery (about 2 stalks)
• 1/2 cup diced onion (about 1/2 of a small onion)
• 1 (28-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, broken up (undrained)
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350º. 
    
2. In a medium pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta just until tender; drain. 
    
3. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, brown beef over medium-high heat; drain off excess liquid. 
    
4. Combine all ingredients in a 2-quart casserole dish and bake, covered, for 30 minutes. 
    
5. Uncover and bake 30 additional minutes, or until top is light golden and crunchy.
   
   

 

 

 

 

Special friend's birthday today... Edda Gahm is celebrating her 81st! HAPPY BIRTHDAY EDDA!!! xo

 

 

Historically this date...

1997 – Diana, Princess of Wales, her companion Dodi Al-Fayed and driver Henri Paul die in a car crash in Paris.

2006 – Stolen on August 22, 2004, Edvard Munch's famous painting The Scream is recovered in a raid by Norwegian police.

 

And births this date include....

1903 – Arthur Godfrey, American radio and television host (d. 1983)

 

1924 – Buddy Hackett, American actor and comedian (d. 2003)

1928 – James Coburn, American actor (d. 2002)

1945 – Itzhak Perlman, Israeli violinist

............ amazing talent!

1949 – Richard Gere, American actor

    .... too weird for my taste! But of course... his middle name is Tiffany!!! Read about his personal life and activism ... interesting!

 

Breakfast.... two eggs cooked and topped with shredded mozzarella, banana, watermelon, honeydew melon, cantaloupe, and pineapple.

PERFECT!!

 

 

 

 

All I know. Nuff said. Happy Saturday the LAST day of August! Ciao.

xo Sue Mom Bobo

 

Observed annually on August 31, National Trail Mix Day honors the mix developed as a healthy snack to be taken along on hikes.

Filled with nuts, dried fruit, and grains, trail mix packs a boost of carbohydrates when the body needs it most. The nuts supply good fats as well as sustained energy, too. Since it’s lightweight, trail mix travels easily, as well.  On long trails or while camping, trail mix keeps without spoiling since most of the ingredients are dried.

Two California surfers claim the creation of trail mix. In 1968, they blended peanuts and raisins for an energy snack. However, in the 1958 novel The Dharma Bums written by Jack Kerouac, the two main characters mention trail mix when planning meals for their hiking trip. 

Trail mix is sometimes referred to as Gorp.

Regardless of who created trail mix, the food has become an integral part of camping, hiking, and outdoor life for generations. When preparing for a hike, selecting a favorite combination of ingredients comes down to balancing flavor and nutrition.  Some factors to keep in mind:

• Portability – Be sure all the components can withstand heat and bouncing around. For example, potato chips and caramel baking bits probably won’t survive the trek or heat. However, pretzel rods, M&Ms, and other candy-coated chocolates hold up under stress.
• Protein – Choosing the right nuts and seeds adds healthy proteins and fats, too. The following are the top protein-producing seeds and nuts to add to your trail mix:
  • almonds, peanuts, pistachios, hemp, pepito, sunflower, flax, sesame, chia, cashews, walnuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts
• Salty & Sweet – Not only does the flavor factor increase but the salt, along with drinking plenty of water throughout your hike prevents dehydration. When we sweat, we lose essential electrolytes, and trail mix helps to replenish them. The salt comes from the ingredients already added to the mix. There’s no need to add more. And the sweet? Well, that all depends on your tastes and how much additional glucose your physical needs require.
• Spice – Kick the flavor profile up a notch with some spice. Here are a few combinations to try:
  • Fall blend – cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, ginger
  • Savory blend– garlic powder, dill, lemon pepper
  • Spicy blend – wasabi, mustard powder, lemon pepper, dried cilantro, dried lime zest
  • Spicy sweet blend – paprika, cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, a touch of brown sugar
• Energy Booster – For a twist, add chocolate covered roasted coffee beans to your mix. This is especially nice if you don’t have time or a way to make a cup of java while roughing it. You’ll get your caffeine and your breakfast while seeking the next fantastic view.

HOW TO OBSERVE

You can make your own trail mix using your favorite ingredients.  Many varieties of trail mix are available at your favorite grocery or convenience store.

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