Where Are They?

The Twinkies, of all things.

Yes, really. The toxic waste of junk food. That's how i've always thought of them, especially as the original package of Twinkies brought to the first snack food convention over 20 years ago are still brought each year. They are perfectly preserved, although probably quite stale inside that cellophane sleeve.

Gives credence to my children who say that if there is ever a nuclear war, the only survivors will be cockroaches and Twinkies, and the roaches will starve to death.

Although the younger two love the things.

Thus, when i set out the other day to buy Twinkies as a prop for Sunday School -- yes, really, the parrot puppet was supposed to mistake the word twinkle for Twinkies, and throw a pack off the stage -- i was in for a surprise.

First stop, the mom and pop store around the corner. No luck. The regional chain that carries some snack food, but mostly other stuff, that is next door to the mom and pop. Nope.

Everyone kept saying Wal-Mart, but it was one of those occasions where i just didn't have time to fight my way over to the Wally world parking lot, stand in an express line for 20 minutes, and then have the aggravation of trying to get back out of that ill designed lot.

So, on to the chain drug store. Nada. Then, 3 different convenience stores later, i finally settled for Dolly Madison Zingers instead. They look a lot like the real thing, and, in my mind, because of their early association as one of the sponsors of all of the Peanuts specials on TV in my childhood, a bit more wholesome.

Amazing about that early branding, what they now do on purpose and call "kiddie branding," but that's another post.

The children at church didn't care, especially as everyone got a Zinger to eat as part of the snack that day.

So, when did the Twinkies disappear from every store but the Behemoth? It's an interesting question, but i'm not interested enough to go dig up the answer.

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A blessed and beautiful Thanksgiving to all in Canada! May your harvests be plentiful, your winter an easy one.


Today is:

Aashurah -- Muslim (commemoration of the death of Hussain bin Ali, grandson of the Prophet, in battle)

Alex Kivi Day a/k/a Kivi Day -- Finland (The Day of Finnish Literature)

Ana-hachimangu Yabusame -- Tokyo, Japan (demonstration of ancient art of horseback archery)

Arbor Day -- Poland

Bonza Bottler Day

Columbus Day -- US (obs.)

Double Tenth Day -- Taiwan (In remembrance of the revolution against the Imperial Manchu Dynasty.)

Festival of Juno Moneta -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Health-Sports Day -- Japan

Independence Day / Deed of Cession Day -- Fiji

Kruger Day -- South Africa

Moi Day -- Kenya

Mop Fair -- Twekesbury, England (through tomorrow; festival dating back to the 12th century, originally a fair in which prospective employers came to find laborers)

Naha Festival -- Okinawa, Japan (tug-of-war involving a 27 ton rope)

National Angel Food Cake Day

National Cake Decorating Day -- some websites say today, some say the 17th

National Kick-Butt Day -- a day to kick yourself in the rump, jump start yourself to doing something you've been wanting to do and making excuses for not doing

National Women's Day -- Morocco

Native Americans' Day -- US

Naval Academy Day -- US

St. Francis Borgia's Day (patron of Portugal; against earthquakes)

St. Paulinus of York's Day

Thanksgiving Day -- Canada

Virgin Islands - Puerto Rico Friendship Day

World Day Against the Death Penalty -- International

World Mental Health Day -- International

World Rainforest Week begins -- International


Anniversaries Today:

The United States Naval Academy opened with 50 midshipmen and 7
professors, 1845


Birthdays Today:

Dale Earnhardt, Jr., 1974
Brett Favre, 1969
Tanya Tucker, 1958
Charles Dance, 1946
Ben Vereen, 1946
Harold Pinter, 1930
Richard Jaeckel, 1926
Thelonious Monk, 1917
Edward D. Wood, Jr., 1924
Helen Hayes, 1900
Giuseppe Verdi, 1813
Henry Cavendish, 1731 (discovered hydrogen)


Today in History:

The Great Hurricane of 1780 kills 20,000 to 30,000 in the Caribbean, 1780
The first non-Native American settlement is founded in Oklahoma, 1802
William Lassell discovers Neptune's moon Triton, 1846
The first "Dinner Jacket" is worn to the Autumn Ball at Tuxedo Park, NY, 1886
President Woodrow Wilson triggers the explosion of the Gamboa Dike thus ending construction on the Panama Canal, 1913
Ho Chi Minh enters Hanoi after the French pull out of the city, 1954
U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologizes to the finance minister of Ghana, Komla Agbeli Gbdemah, after he is refused service in a Dover, Delaware restaurant, 1957
The Windscale fire in Cumbria, U.K. is the world's first major nuclear accident, 1957
The opening ceremony at The 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, is broadcast live in the first Olympic telecast relayed by geostationary communication satellite, 1964
The Outer Space Treaty, signed on January 27 by more than sixty nations, comes into force, 1967
In Montreal, Quebec, a national crisis hits Canada when Quebec Vice-Premier and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte becomes the second statesman kidnapped by members of the FLQ terrorist group, 1970
Sold, dismantled and moved to the United States, London Bridge reopens in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, 1971
After having closed borders for about two hundred years, Armenia and Turkey sign protocols in Zurich, Switzerland to open their borders, 2009