RenoVous

  Just a little bouquet I made from my yard. Because today we're celebrating the birthday of Carl Rittner, founder of the Rittner School of Floral Design in Boston. In Massachusetts, the governor officially proclaimed National Floral Design Day in 1995. The school claims they are "the real thing," not just classes offered in the back of some floral shop.  They teach for the business entrepreneur, the hobbyist, or someone just looking for some relaxation. Surely you've seen or even received a beautiful and creative arrangement. Here are a few from their Facebook. Dead, real, or fake flowers - drawings, paintings, etc - get your art on! Floral School

  Angela Bassett Zendaya Cate Blanchett Danielle Deadwyler Laura Linney Ana de Armas Jenna Ortega Austin Butler And the wonderfully weird. Michelle Yeoh Julia Garner Michelle became the first Asian Best Actress winner, and her costar, Ke Huy Quan, became the first Asian male to win Best Supporting Actor.

  The Giant Jellyfish - The Lion's Mane - Arctic Red - Hair Jelly It is one of the largest known species of jellyfish, attaining a bell diameter over 6 feet.  The bell is divided into eight lobes, and each lobe contains 70-150 tentacles arranged in four rows.  Their sting is painful, but not poisonous, although some people could have a severe allergic reaction. Along the bell margin is a balance organ, called the rhopalium, which helps the jellyfish orient itself. They reside in the cold waters of the northern oceans as well as the English Channel, Irish Sea, North Sea, and western Scandinavian waters.  It may drift into the Baltic Sea but it cannot breed there due to low salinity. Their life cycle is just a year long.  The female carries her eggs in a tentacle where they grow into larvae.  She then deposits them on a hard surface where they grow into polyps.  These reproduce asexually, creating small creatures known as ephyrae.  Individuals break...

 W.E.B. Du Bois was born on this day in 1868 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. In 1884 he became the first African American graduate of the town's racially integrated high school, and went on to enroll at Harvard in 1888.  He received his BA in 1890, MA in 1891, and PhD in 1895. Influenced by history and philosophy, he devoted most of his life's work to studying Black Americans from a sociological point of view.  His doctoral thesis was titled, "The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the United States of America, 1638-1870," published in 1896. Du Bois was then invited to conduct a study of the Seventh Ward in Philadelphia, which produced The Philadelphia Negro  in 1899.  During his time there, he also delivered an address, "The Study of the Negro Problem."  He was advancing the purpose and methods for scholarly examination of the condition of black people, and he was passionate about the conservation of the African American culture and identity. Mo...

  Stopped at the warm springs again. We found Wall Canyon Reservoir frozen over. So Hubby wanted to see about fishing Smoke Creek. "The willows are in the way of passing easily up the stream..."

  Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, is the celebration before Lent that begins on Ash Wednesday.  It also marks the end of a week long event known as Carnival. While it is now a Christian holiday, the tradition dates back to pagan celebrations of spring and fertility, and the parties in New Orleans are certainly more than a religious gathering. We've all heard of throwing beads from the floats, but while listening to a live feed I became aware of coconut throws.  These come from the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club, one of the oldest traditionally African-American krewes.   Krewes were established in the 1830's to bring order to the chaotic and drunken parades.  The first was the Mystic Krewe of Comus.  Among the most famous is the Krewe of Rex, founded in 1872.  Since then, a prominent person is chosen each year to be Rex, the King of Carnival. The Krewe of Rex began bead throwing, and they chose their colors from the Russian Grand Duke Alexis' royal ...

  Florence Pugh Jodie Turner-Smith Ho Yeon Gwendoline Christie Cynthia Erivo Sophie Turner Nicola Coughlan Angela Bassett Anya Taylor-Joy Julianne Moore Bonus for being interesting: Andreea Cristea Sandy Powell

  Craighead Caverns in Tennessee are home to America's "Lost Sea."  It is the largest non-subglacial underground lake in the US, and the second largest in the world.  But no one's really sure just how big it is...  Divers have tried to find the end, but all attempts have failed. Archaeologically, the cave holds evidence of giant Pleistocene jaguars.  Later, it was used by the Cherokee as a shelter where they left behind pottery, arrowheads, weapons, and jewelry. More recently, it was mined by Confederate soldiers for saltpeter to make gunpowder and moonshiners would hide their supplies within during the Prohibition era. Geologically, it is home to an array of crystals, stalagmites and stalactites along the limestone walls. The lake itself was discovered in 1905 by a young boy playing in the cave.  He was small enough to crawl through the tunnel that dropped him in knee-deep water.  That entrance has since been blasted for larger entry. Beneath the surf...

 Earlier in the week I was listening to my Pandora, which I have pretty well set to what I like and don't like.  This song played purely by suggestive algorithm, and then I saw it is #3 on the Billboard Top 10 Hard Rock Songs. It has many nice surprises for you. Hubby came across these next two. Apparently they'll be teaming up with Dropkick Murphys themselves.

  On this day in 1953, Tenley Albright became the first female US figure skater to win a world title. All seven judges gave her the first place vote. Tenley had contracted polio as a young child, so her accomplishment was all the much greater. She landed a double axel, double loop, double rittberger and double salchow - "Such combinations never have been seen performed before by a woman," the Associated Press reported. Three years later, Tenley became America's first female skating gold medalist.  After the Olympics, she attended Harvard Medical School and was a noted surgeon for 23 years.  In 1976, she was chief physician for the Winter Olympics team, and she is currently the director of the MIT Collaborative Initiatives.   In 1983 she was inducted into the International Women's Sport Hall of Fame.  ***** Also in the world of figure skating, remember 2002 in Salt Lake City?  It was on this day that the IOC confirmed fraud by a French judge.  As p...

  I came across the cutest video this morning! But it's not just for the otters! "Love is universal." ❤️

  Jodie Turner-Smith Lizzo Shania Twain Leigh-Anne Pinnock Harry Styles Naomi Ackie Salma Hayek Kim Petras Nova Twins And then there's Sam Smith.