RenoVous

  2022!! Once again, I have Friday off for the holiday.  We haven't really talked about what we'll be doing to ring in the New Year, but I know I'll get a New Year's kiss! While the exact origin of this tradition is unknown, it can be traced back to such winter festivals as Saturnalia in Rome and Hogmanay in Scotland.  The latter is a Viking celebration which did involve a New Year's kiss for good luck.  Saturnalia was a drunken winter solstice party, so kissing would be expected. One of the earliest literary mentions of a New Year's kiss comes from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, written in the Middle Ages.  You may recall, that was our end of the year read-along last year. Speaking of a read-along, I read a quickie last night. A New Year's Eve How one chance meeting can change your direction... Anyway, I wish you all the very best and thank you for another wonderful year here at RenoVous!!! xoxo MClen

  Ku Stevens runs cross-country for the Yerington High School team, and he won the best time in the state for the 5K course - 16 minutes and 28 seconds. He has also organized the Remembrance Run.  To honor his great-grandfather, he ran 50 miles across the desert to bring awareness to the history of the  Stewart Indian School in Carson City. In 1913, Frank "Togo" Quinn was taken from his Paiute family in Yerington and taken to the boarding school.  Only 7 or 8 at the time, he escaped, crossing the desert to return home.  Three times he was returned to the school before they finally let him stay. Following the discovery of unmarked graves outside an Indian boarding school in Canada, state and tribal officials now plan to use ground-penetrating radar to see if there are more outside Stewart.  Currently there is a small graveyard across the street from the school site. That is when Stevens decided to duplicate his great-grandfather's trek across the desert....

  On this day in 1973, President Richard Nixon signed what is considered one of the most significant and influential environmental laws in American history. Actions to protect certain animals began as early as 1900, when it became apparent that hunting, industry and deforestation were capable of wiping out entire species.  The near-extinction of the bison was evidence enough, as was the death of the last passenger pigeon in 1901. By 1967, though the Department of the Interior was publishing a list, it did not have adequate powers to help animals in need.  The new Act would prohibit federal agencies from jeopardizing species on the list and empowered the government to do more to protect animals. In its first 30 years, less than one percent of the plants and animals added to the list went extinct, and more than 100 showed a 90% recovery rate. Today, 17 species are considered Critically Endangered. African Forest Elephant Amur Leopard Black Rhino Bornean Orangutan Cross Rive...

  First, I wanted to share the TLO Top 5 Celebrity Style Looks: Kelly Marie Tran Anya Taylor-Joy Bad Bunny Kumail Nanjiani And their best went all the way back to Inauguration Day... Lady Gaga Among the best fashion moments of the year.... Larissa Leon spent 163 hours creating her prom dress from Duct Tape in order to win a $10,000 scholarship from Duck Brand. Zendaya and her partnership with stylist, Law Roach Billie Eilish for Vogue The "Squid Game" tracksuit Iris Apfel turned 100 In a fashion face-off between Zendaya and Anya Taylor-Joy, who's your winner? And what's your favorite look of the year?

  I had so many sweet treats at my sister's last night. I'll be getting off early today and I'm off tomorrow for the holiday. It's been many years now, but I have fond memories of seeing The Nutcracker around Christmas, so I found a few sources for us. First, the ballet. This  is a pdf of the ballet script. This  is a link to the book itself, written by E.T.A. Hoffmann.

 Launch day has been postponed (again) due to adverse weather in Kourou, French Guiana. It is now set for December 25, but since I won't be here posting that day, I wanted to set a spot for us. James Webb is the successor to Hubble, with missions to find the first galaxies formed in the universe and to peer through dusty clouds to see stars forming planetary systems. Ultraviolet and visible light emitted by the very first luminous objects has been stretched, or "redshifted" by the continual expansion of the universe and arrives today as infrared light.  Webb is designed to see this light with unprecedented resolution and sensitivity. Using a technique called transmission spectroscopy, Webb will examine starlight filtered through planetary atmospheres to learn about their chemical compositions.  It will observe exoplanets to determine if and where signatures of habitability may be present. After launch, Webb will travel about a million miles from Earth and undergo six mont...

 Woke up to some frozen fog over the weekend so I took a walk down the street and through our yard. I figured this would be a good showing for the first day of Winter. Bit of that backyard view again. Happy Solstice!

  Rather, the green carpet... Keanu Reeves Carrie-Anne Moss -Detail Zoom- Jada Pinkett-Smith Ellen Hollman Priyanka Chopra Madelyn Cline Yahya Abdul-Mateen II Nail Patrick Harris Freema Agyeman Jaden Smith Even San Francisco City Hall went green for the event, held at Castro Theater.