Today is Sunday, May 6 and there are only 179 days until National Calzone Day.  Today we remember the birthdays of Ferdinand III, Robert Edwin Peary and Willie Mays.  On this day in 1536 King Henry VIII ordered a bible to be placed in every church, in 1787 the first Black Masonic Lodge was formed at Prince Hall, Boston and in 1960 President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1960.  In Bulgaria it is Shepherd’s and Herdsman’s Day, in Denmark it is Prayer Day and in the US it is National Beverage Day, National Crepe Suzette Day and National Lemonade Day.

Because it is a new month let me give you some information on May.  May is the fifth month of the year in the Gregorian and its predecessor, the Julian calendar.  Named after the Greek goddess, Maia who is also identified Bona Dea (the Roman goddess of fertility), May is the time of spring in the Northern Hemisphere.  Originally the third month of the year, May later moved to the fifth month when January and February were added to the calendar.  Some Nаtіvе Amеrісаn tribes called the Mау full moon The Full Flower Mооn, The Corn Planting Mооn or the Milk Mооn.  It is believed that pеорlе who are born in May are more lіkеlу to асhіеvе higher success and more love in their life.  The bіrthѕtоnе for May is Emerald.  That should cover May for you.

The other night I was driving home from choir practice and discovered that I had missed the announcement that it was Drive 10 MPH Under the Speed Limit Night.  It was bad enough driving on the local roads.  There is one section that is two lanes in each direction.  The right lane is a mess and there are a lot of ruts and potholes.  The car in front of me did not like that lane, but apparently did not want to be in the left lane, either.  He decided to straddle the two lanes and go 10 MPH under the limit.  I am not sure why everyone decided to go slower that night.  The weather was nice.  It was not snowing or raining.  There was not a lot of traffic, but no one wanted to do the speed limit.

I was sure that once I got on the highway things would pick up, but NOOOO!  What made it more interesting was that cars in each of the three lanes were going slow, making it necessary to keep switching from lane to lane.  For a time I was wondering if I was going too fast and kept checking my speed.  I was doing the speed limit.  I felt like I was driving an obstacle course on a video game.  I kept waiting for a target to pop up so I could hit it and win coins.

Earlier this past week, the weather was perfect to go out and do something.  It had finally stopped snowing and the temperature was up in the 90’s.  Barbara and I decided to take a ride down the shore.  I wanted to show her a beach that is much bigger than other beaches we have been to.  We drove there and enjoyed walking the beach and watching the waves.  Barbara was appropriately impressed.  After a while we continued on the journey I had planned.  We went on down to Cape May to stroll a shopping area that is a favorite place of mine.  We walked, shopped, had ice cream and bought fudge.  A great day!

Little did I know that the fun was just beginning.  I had heard about a distillery that was down in that area and we decided to go check it out.  When we got there we took a short self-guided tour that was informative.  Then we went into the bar area.  A sign warned us that we would need ID, but the young girl smiled and said that would not be necessary.  I wasn’t sure if I should be insulted or not.  I’m still mulling that over.  We sat at the bar and talked to a very nice young lady about sampling the liquors. For $5 per person we got a shot of rum, a shot of gin and a shot of vodka.  If we were smart, we would have stopped there.  We were not.  They offered an array of cocktails that featured the various liquors and we felt that it was important to taste them in a mixed drink.  We did and they were quite good.    Normally, we are not adversely affected by drinking; however, all we had to eat prior to this was some cereal at breakfast, pretzels in the car, a sample of fudge and ice cream.  This is not a diet I would recommend if you are planning to do a tasting at a distillery.  They did put a bowl of pretzel nuggets out for us, but I think that was after they saw us slumping over the bar and laughing a lot.  To show our appreciation, we also purchased a bottle of rum and a bottle of vodka.  

Fortunately, I was fairly well under control.  Barbara gets quite happy when she drinks, so we spent a lot of time laughing.  We went to another area and did a little more shopping, but decided we really should go have dinner.  We finished the evening with a delicious meal at a great restaurant and headed home full and very happy.  

This week our fact tells us that a turkey will explode if you do not thaw it completely before deep frying it.  Just one more reason to start the thawing process by the end of September, to be on the safe side.  And be sure to take the bag with the guts out.  If that explodes it will just cause more of a mess.