Today is Sunday, May 13 and there are only 113 days until Labor Day, so start watching for the Back to School sales.  Today we remember the birthdays of Henry William Stiegel, Daphne du Maurier and Ritchie Valens.  On this day in 1607 English colonists landed near the James River in Virginia, in 1830 the Republic of Ecuador was founded, with Juan Jose Flores as president and in 1970 the Beatles movie “Let It Be” premiered.  In the US it is Mother’s Day, National Crouton Day, National Fruit Cocktail Day and National Apple Pie Day.

I would be remiss if I did not address this important day.  Croutons have become an important part of salads and deserve to be recognized.  No, seriously, Mother’s Day is a celebration honoring the mother of the family, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, most commonly in the months of March or May.  In the US, celebration of Mother's Day began in the early 20th century. It is not related to the many celebrations of mothers and motherhood that have occurred throughout the world over thousands of years.

The modern holiday of Mother's Day was first celebrated in 1908, when Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother at St Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia.  Her campaign to make Mother's Day a recognized holiday in the United States began in 1905, the year her mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, died. Ann Jarvis had been a peace activist who cared for wounded soldiers on both sides of the American Civil War, and created Mother's Day Work Clubs to address public health issues. Anna Jarvis wanted to honor her mother by continuing the work she started and to set aside a day to honor all mothers because she believed a mother is "the person who has done more for you than anyone in the world".  Owing to the efforts of Anna Jarvis, by 1911 all U.S. states observed the holiday.  That should take care of your holiday trivia folder.

I have been trying to work on getting rid of my winter weight, but am having some difficulties.  One of the problems I have is that the weather has not exactly been cooperating.  Another issue is that it is far too easy to talk myself out of doing it and coming up with some minor chore as a reason.  My biggest problem is that when I get back from my two-mile walk, I am usually hungry.  I eat breakfast before I walk and have my second cup of coffee when I get back.  While I sit and drink my coffee, my mind keeps saying that I should have a snack because walking worked up my appetite.  I usually finish the walk early enough that I cannot say that I will have lunch, so I am still trying to shed those pounds.  I need to get going on this or it will be winter and I will be adding more weight.

The other day, I had an opportunity to see Karma in action.  I was sitting at a red light.  Sitting a couple cars behind me was a police car.  Parked on the other side of the road was an 18-wheeler, sitting there, big as life, with its flashers on.  Even though it infringed on the traffic lane, there was sufficient room to pass it.  As I sat there, I looked up to see a pickup making a left turn.  The driver was on his cell phone having an animated conversation and not really paying attention.  To make a long story short – have you ever noticed that when people say “to make a long story short” they don’t.  Sometimes they make it longer … but I digress.

Anyway, to make a long story short, as the truck came around the corner, the policeman saw the driver on the phone and turned on his lights.  A couple seconds later, the driver ran into the back end of the 18-wheeler, which he probably would have seen if he had not been on his phone.  As much as I wanted to, I did not hang around to enjoy the aftermath.  However, I did chuckle about it for some time afterward.

The other night, as I was driving home, I watched a small group of deer run across the road, causing the car in front of me to brake quickly.  One of the deer seemed to stop and look back at the car and then run off.  I began to wonder what deer do when they get back to wherever they go at the end of an evening.  I can see them hanging around an area, eating grass, drinking water and talking about their day.  “What a good time Joan and I had last night.  We went to this one neighborhood, with Bob and Harriet, and ate just about every arborvitae we could find.  We left some very interestingly shaped bushes behind.”

“I know what you mean.  Several of us were out last night running in front of cars and scaring the doo-doo out of drivers.  They always seem so surprised, even though there are signs warning them that we are in the area.  The other night, Charlie went down on the side of the road.  When the driver got out to check on him, Charlie jumped up and ran off.  We laughed so hard, we had to stop and use some backyard as a bathroom.”  

This week our fact tells us that most toilets flush in the key of E flat.  I have listened to my toilet on a number of occasions and can honestly say that, to my ear, there is nothing musical about it.  I would love to have watched the person doing the research on this.  Part of that person had to be wondering why they were doing it and who really cared.  For anyone who is interested, as long as it flushes, I don’t care what key it is in.