Before this day is over I have to tell you that it is National Poinsettia day in the USA. We love poinsettias, give us the red ones please and don't dust any glitter over them, thank you! I'm sure that I have told you before that they were brought back from Mexico by a man by the name of Joel Poinsett. Something that I just learned about him recently is that he was instrumental in the development of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C.
(Smithsonian Gardens, which is a division of the museum, has two thousand poinsettias.) Why has no one thought to make a film about Joel Roberts Poinsett? I think he is fascinating, you may read about him here.
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Something I read on the BBC about Olivia Newton John...did you see it? Remember the black leather jacket she wore in "Grease"? She put that up in an auction and it sold for 185,000 pounds. (I think that is about $243,000!) The buyer gave it BACK to her!
Isn't that something? He said, "It should not sit in a billionaire's closet for country club bragging rights." Don't know about you, but that just made my day!
I saw Olivia Newton John in the 1970's. My sister and I saw her at Six Flags Over Georgia, an amusement park near Atlanta. She was great in concert! Before it started, she was brought up in a small golf cart and she glided right past us on the pathway to the stage. She is even more beautiful in person than she is on film. Olivia Newton John is currently taking cancer treatments. In 2012, she set up the Olivia Newton John Cancer Wellness and Research Centre in Melbourne.
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Mt. Everest is named after Sir George Everest. Guess what, he never climbed it and it is doubtful that he ever laid eyes on it! Remember when I told you that I had been saying Andrew Carnegie's name wrong? George Everest, having been born in Wales, pronounced his name like this...EVE-rest. So...should we really say Mt. EVE-rest instead of EVER-est? This does make me wonder...did those who wanted it named after him try their best to make folks pronounce it the way he said it?
Anyway, I find the story of his life fascinating also! You may read more about him just here.
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A was once an apple pie...
Pidy, widy
Pidy, tidy,
Nice insidy
Apple Pie!
(Our son always loved Edward Lear's alphabet.) And Richard really liked this gluten free apple pie I made him!
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Hope all of you are looking forward to the Christmas holidays, they are right around the corner now!
Silent...listen...tinsel.
(What do those three words have in common?)
The three words are all anagrams of each other :-)
ReplyDeleteAnother lovely eclectic post about fascinating people, beautiful plants and a wonderful apple pie to top it all! Thank you! (Reading this while I am having my muesli - rather late this morning, but I am working from home today and therefore do not need to catch any trains.)
Thanks, Meike! Tee hee, I knew you would get those three words! I have trouble seeing anagrams myself, I have a kind of brain that just sees a word as it is, hard for me to see it any other way.
DeleteI need to do a post about anagrams, I find them interesting.
I like Poinsettias at Christmas too. We have one growing and still blooming despite our hot weather. It was originally a Christmas gift in a pot. Olivia Newton John is an Aussie, of course, and we think we own her :) I read her biography when it came out and enjoyed it very much. So sad she has cancer. Her wellness centre is a wonderful place, and she has a heart of gold.
ReplyDeleteRichard is able to keep poinsettias alive! I think our oldest one is about 6 years old, it is like a tree! And you should be proud of Olivia Newton John, she is great! Take care, Down Under!
DeleteAll have the same letters. I like Poinsettias too my father in law use to bring me a very large one each year once he died it seemed to not be as wonderful as it was to get a poinsettia.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas
Cathy
My Dad adored getting plants and flowers, so I also think of my father, who just died this year. Sure to miss him.
DeleteMerry Christmas to you. xx
That apple pie looks delicious. About Everest, I think it's funny that we have been pronouncing it wrong all this time.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny, isn't it? I wrote to Richard for 9 years and yet, when we met and he introduced me to someone, I laughed at the way he pronounced my last name! He emphasized the last syllable when it should be the first.
DeleteMy apple pie was good! xx
Such interesting facts and pretty pictures. I do think each of those words do have the same letters. Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas !
ReplyDeleteYes! You got it right! Rustic Citrus...there's another two!
DeleteHappy Christmas to you!
I didn't know that about Everest. I wonder if the mountain has a Tibetan name? There's a movement nowadays to replace colonial/imperialist names for landmarks with their original names given by the people who actually live there. That's a good thing, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteDebra, You have reminded me that I meant to mention about the man who first "discovered" Mt. Everest. (He determined it was the tallest mountain in the world.) Sir George Everest had great respect for him. (I should have really stressed that the mountain being named from George Everest really had nothing to do with him personally, it was from his colleagues who had great admiration for him.)
DeleteAnd I so agree with you about proper names! Mt. McKinley in Alaska being an example...as a travel agent, when I learned that is was Denali, which means "the high one , or the great one in the native language, I knew which one I wanted! President Obama did that for us in 2015!
Poinsettias always look to me as if they are made of paper.
ReplyDeleteThe apple pie looks delish. I've never made one. I always make apple crumble - usually apple and rhubarb crumble.
Given how wet it is here on Lewis it's not surprising that Western Isles (Lewis is one of the Western Isles) is an anagram of wetnes riles.
The red part of the poinsettia are the "bracts", the flower part is the yellow bit in the middle. (I'm sure you know that already, just putting it here for others to read!)
DeleteApple and rhubard crumble sounds lovely.
How do you like my name as an anagram...YAK.
That's appropriate! :-)
As near as I can tell the three words are anagrams. How clever of you.
ReplyDeleteI have a list of them at my desk at work...just some I have jotted down over the years when I have done crossword puzzles during my lunchtime breaks! I am terrible at wordplay really, I have to think really hard where other folks (like my husband) can see them instantly.
DeleteI had heard years ago she had cancer, but I thought she had beaten it. Sad. Love the story about the jacket. Interesting about the pronunciation. I don't think anyone is going to change it now!
ReplyDeleteI have climbed Mt. EVE-rest! No, I doubt it will be changed!
DeleteHave you read the book "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer? It is well worth reading although I have some criticisms of it.
Glad you liked the story of the jacket being returned to Olivia Newton John. I like reading the BBC, very often I will read something on there but we won't hear one thing about it here.
What a fun alphabet poem, i will have to look up the rest of them.
ReplyDeleteEvery person is a fascinating story, a universe of wonder. That's what i believe, and i'm sticking to it.
You know I agree with you! Each person is unique and has his or her own story. A universe of wonder, that is it exactly!
DeleteAnd please do look up the alphabet poem, our son had it read to him over and over and over but we didn't mind, we loved it too.
Our son loved the alphabet by Edward Lear! I must have read it a lot to him, sometimes those little rhyme will just pop into my head. Brilliant red poinsettias are bright and cheerful when all the leaves are gone and the skies are grey. Thanks for your comment! xx
ReplyDeleteGlad I made you laugh! Or Edward Lear, anyway! :-)
ReplyDeletethey all have the same letters, of course.
ReplyDeleteI love anagrams. Here is a name one...see if you can get it...Flit On, Cheering Angel. (And those words are a good description of this woman.)
DeleteOh Lord, Kay, I looked at the three words and came up with Christmas Eve. I enjoyed each of the stories you shared. It's sad to think of how long ONJ has been battling cancer. How lovely that the buyer returned her jacket!
ReplyDeleteI have an Everest story to share with you. My former mycology professor, Dr. Grund, passed up an opportunity to join Hillary's expedition to summit Everest the first time. He had just received a full ride scholarship to the University of Washington (Seattle) to do his Ph.D. in mycology, and this was his big dream! When he shared that in class, I was amazed; but now I see how wise he was. I always remember that Hillary wasn't the first person to climb Everest. It was he and Tenzing Norgay. So much emphasis has been put on Hillary and so little on Norgay ~ At least that's finally changing. I always said EVE-rest ~ perhaps that pronunciation is an English/Canadian thing. Hugs to you!
Ha ha, Louise, you are like me...I look at the word itself, it doesn't occur to me to just look at the letters!
DeleteI didn't say one word in my post about the SHERPAS that practically carry people up Mt. Everest, they have my greatest respect, I am sure that you feel the same way.
And as for Tenzing Norgay...why in the world has no one done a film about him? Don't you think it would be FANTASTIC?
Tee hee...you say EVE rest, you Canadians always get things right! TAke care, my friend and hugs to you too!
You always have the most interesting stories to share, Kay. And I think I had that poem either in The Brimful Book or in the Bumper Book. Sweet Memories. My son is very ill again and in the hospital and I am working to find my Christmas spirit...
ReplyDeleteOh, I am so sorry. I do hope he is better soon. Do I remember that you said that he had a very bad reaction to the mixture of steroids and antibiotics? I must tell you, I had something similar in October and November. However, I only took ONE dose of the antibiotics and stopped taking them...I really just followed my gut on that one and honestly, I think that was the best thing I ever did. I am no doctor, I only know that I have NEVER had anything like that before and just felt it had to be the medication. Steroids? Hmm...I will have to think very hard about that again.
DeleteAnyway, I do so hope your son will be better soon. Hugs to you. xx