It is Sunday, April 13.  There are 82 days until the 4^th of July, so now is a good time to slip across the river into PA and stock up on those illegal fireworks so that you can scare your neighbors in style.  Today is the birthday of Frank W Woolworth, Paul Sorvino and Kabaka of Buganda.  On this day in 1741, Dutch people protested the bad quality of bread, in 1863 the Hospital for Ruptured and Crippled in New York became the first orthopedic hospital and in 1965 the Beatles recorded “Help.”  Alabama and Oklahoma are celebrating Thomas Jefferson’s birthday, in Maryland it is John Hanson Day and in the US it is Huguenot Day.

I can see you all with that puzzled look on your face.  What is Huguenot Day?  It is a day that celebrates the Huguenots (thank you Captain Obvious).  But why?  I did some research and here is what I have discovered.  The Huguenots were French Protestants.  The Tide of Reformation reached France in the early 16^th century and the Huguenots were part of the religious fomentation of the times.  The religion was quickly embraced by members of the nobility, the intellectual elite and professionals in trades and medicine.

The Huguenot Church grew rapidly.  At its first synod in 1559, 15 churches were represented.  Over 2000 churches sent representatives to the synod in 1561.  Unfortunately, 90% of France was Roman Catholic and the Catholic Church was determined to remain the controlling power.  As a result, the Huguenots were subjected to outrageous persecutions.  There were clashes between Catholics and Huguenots, many erupting into bloodshed.  Civil wars followed the St Bartholomew’s Day massacre in 1572, when thousands of Huguenots were slaughtered by soldiers and organized mobs during a gathering in Paris for a wedding.

The Edict of Nantes was issued on April 13, 1598 (the tie-in, finally) and granted the Huguenots toleration and liberty to worship in their own way.  On October 18, 1685, the Edict was revoked and practice of the religion was forbidden.  Over 300,000 troops were hired to hunt down the “heretics” and confiscate their property.  

The Huguenots left France – over half a million of its best citizens.  Many of them came to the American colonies and settled along the east coast of North America.  They showed a preference for what are now the states of Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and South Carolina.  Just as France suffered a notable loss, the American colonies gained.  George Washington was the grandson of a Huguenot and Paul Revere was also related to a Huguenot, to name just two well-known people connected to that group.  Today, people of Huguenot origin are found in all parts of our country. So that is why we recognize Huguenot Day.  I hope that resolves your confusion.

Moving on, I spent the past few days toiling on my front lawn.  I dethatched it, raked it, seeded and fertilized it and have set the sprinkler on a timer to make sure it gets watered so the seed will grow.  The entire time I was doing this I kept wondering why.  As soon as the grass starts growing, I will have to cut it.  The edging will have to be done and I will have to deal with weeds and dandelions and all the other problems associated with keeping my lawn neat.  I could have left it alone and it would have been greenish and it would need cutting every once in a while, but not as often as it will now.  I could have just let the weeds grow and not worried about it, but no, I had to work to make it nice.  Why?  I really have no idea.  I suppose I want the front of the house to look good so people don’t drive by and shake their heads wondering what kind of uncaring slob lives here.

A number of years ago I went through the trouble of doing the lawn and making it look really good.  I paid a company to fertilize it and spray weed killer and bug control and the lawn looked great.  After a couple years, I decided not to spend the money on them, believing I could do it myself.  Turns out I couldn’t and the lawn turned to junk.  The following year I was able to get it looking good, again, only to have a grub infestation that killed it.  I worked to bring it back, but swore that if it ever happened again, I was going to just brick the whole thing over, like in Williamsburg.  I didn’t do it, but I should have.  After the past couple days, I am more convinced than ever that the bricks would look great out there.

It is after this kind of effort that I really start to realize that I can do all the things I used to do, but it takes me longer to get them done and longer to recover from the effort.  I take time to analyze what I am doing, what steps I think I can skip and how much effort will be needed to make the corrections needed from skipping those steps.  In the past, I have tried to take short cuts in an effort to get things done faster and easier.  Take this piece of advice from one who knows – do not try to skip.  It never works out the way you want it to and you end up doing more work than you avoided.

Recently you heard me complain about the phone calls I have been getting lately from people trying to sell all sorts of wonderful things.  My one complaint was the gap of time between my answering and their responding.  The other day I answered a call and then waited about five seconds for the person to respond.  The call went like this:

“Hello”

Five second gap and then, “Am I speaking …”

“Ooh, too late.  Goodbye.”  And I hung up.  I have decided that if these people are going to bother me, I am going to have some fun.  You should try it.  It can be very satisfying.

This week our fact tells us that a penguin only has sex twice a year.  I guess that is why they are always dressed up.  You want to be sure you are ready when the moment arrives.