BRIGHT SIDE ARCHIVES FROM AOL:

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE

JULY 18TH, 2006

TODAY'S THOUGHT

One word frees us of all the weight and pain in life:

That word is love.

Sophocles

TODAY’S ACTION

Learn to find comfort in the fact that life is unpredictable.

The hurdles of today are the training ground of hope for tomorrow.

TODAY’S QUOTE

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.

Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy

HAPPY TUESDAY !

Today showers are supposed to bring us some relief from the Hot Spell we’ve been having ! Amen!!

This evening is Dulcimer Night. We haven’t gotten together for quite a while so it should be fun. We are not great musicians but we do know how to laugh a lot !

Have a great day all ! Another wonderful one on the Way !

TODAY IS…SIDEWALK FRYING DAY!

Have you heard that old saying, "It's hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk!"? Well, it can definitely be done. If the temperature at your house gets up to 95 degrees F (that's 35 degrees C), the heat reflected off the cement will cook like your kitchen stove. At temperatures a bit lower, you just need to be creative. Use a mirror or a piece of aluminum foil to heat it up a notch.

And one final hint: don't eat the final product

TODAY’S TRIVIA

Today is Wienermobile Day, honoring the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile on its birthday. Oscar’s nephew Carl Mayer invented the Wienermobile in Chicago in 1936.

The Wienermobile tours around the U.S. fascinating children of all ages as it promotes the famous Oscar Mayer wiener. For those of you who have never seen it - it’s a giant hot dog on wheels - there’s just no other way to describe the Wienermobile.

Today is Make A List of the People You Love Day. Keep it handy, so you can add to it.

Today is Chrysanthemum Day.

(It is perfectly ok to be a late bloomer )

1953: 18-year-old Elvis Presley recorded "My Happiness" at the Memphis Recording Service in Tennessee as a gift for his mother.

TODAY’S SMILE

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500s:

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water . The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water..

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying . It's raining cats and dogs.

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house.. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, Dirt poor.

The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway. Hence the saying a thresh hold.

(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme, Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old ..

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, bring home the bacon. They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat..

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the upper crust.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a wake.

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be, saved by the bell or was considered a ..dead ringer..

And that's the truth...Now, whoever said History was boring ! ! ! > > Educate someone. Share these facts with a Friend

I received this in an e-mail from a friend so I’m sharing with you all !

TODAY’S WORD

nes·cience noun.

1. Absence of knowledge or awareness; ignorance.

2. Agnosticism.

Synonyms for nescience : ignorance, nescience, crassignorance, unfamiliarity, unacquaintance, unconsciousness, darkness, blindness; incomprehension, inexperience, simplicity.

TODAY’S REFLECTION

Even in laughter the heart is sad, and the end of joy is grief.

Proverbs 14:13

Life is a mixture of

Sunshine and rain,

Teardrops and laughter,

Pleasure and pain.

Helen Steiner Rice

Accept disappointments as well as joys . . . even a beautiful rose has a few thorns.

From Daily Guideposts

TODAY’S ADVICE FROM THE OLD FARMER’S ALMANAC

Compost should be watered during dry periods so that it can remain active.