Apt Description

In an article from the New York Times about mindful eating came this apt description of how so many people now eat: "that reflexive urge to plow through your meal like Cookie Monster on a shortbread bender."

That about sums it up.

When Sweetie and The Mouth were teens, they would spend 14 hours a day in the hay fields in the summer. It was hot, horrible, exhausting work. They would go through the whole day without a meal, just on the cup of coffee they had when they woke up.

Each person out there would consume about a gallon of water an hour and never use the restroom. That's how much they were sweating.

When the two would come home, each would grab a tv tray and use it as a plate. They would split a whole loaf of bread, a gallon of milk, and everything their mother had left for them on the stove, which was always a substantial meal.

They would then shovel their food like the aforementioned Cookie Monster in a desperate attempt to get in enough calories in one stint to do it all again the next day.

It is an unfortunate fact that many people in our culture today eat in a similar manner. It is more like shoveling coal than enjoying a meal. Then we wonder where all the weight is coming from, because few of us burn off as much as a farm hand.

If you are a fast eater, maybe challenge yourself today to slow down and enjoy a meal more.

It really can make a difference, i believe, in our quality of life if we slow down and appreciate real food, simply prepared.


Today is:

Feast of Apollo -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Narvik Sun Pageant (Vinterfestuka) -- Norway (to honor the sun goddess)

National Bagels and Lox Day

National DAV (Develop Alternative Vices) Day -- internet generated, in hopes that bad habits will be altered to positive coping mechanisms

Pizza Pie Day

Read in the Bathtub Day -- another one that no one will claim to have invented

St. Apollonia's Day (Patron against toothaches)

St. Maroun's Day (Lebanon)

Tales of Kelp-Koli begin -- Fairy Calendar (through the 16th)

Toothache Day -- and someone thought this needed a day because...? Okay, I guess because there is a patron saint for it. Or against it. However that works.

Weather Day -- US (Weather Service Founding)


Birthdays Today:

David Gallagher, 1985
Ziyi Zhang, 1979
Travis Tritt, 1963
Charles Shaughnessy, 1955
Mia Farrow, 1945
Alice Walker, 1944
Joe Pesci, 1943
Carole King, 1942
Roger Mudd, 1928
Brendan Behan, 1923
Kathryn Grayson, 1922
Gypsy Rose Lee, 1914
Ernest Tubb, 1914
Carmen Miranda, 1909
Ronald Colman, 1891
Amy Lowell, 1874
William Henry Harrison, 1773


Today in History:

The Synod of Breslau orders Jews of Silesia to wear special caps, 1267
The first recorded race meet in England in Roodee Fields, Chester, 1540
The British ex-premier Walpole becomes the Earl of Oxford, 1742
After no presidential candidate receives a majority of electoral votes in the election of 1824, the United States House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams President of the United States, 1825
– The U.S. Weather Bureau is established, 1870
The first Japanese immigrants arrive in Hawaii, 1885
The Davis Cup competition is established, 1900
The first forestry school is incorporated at Kent, Ohio, 1909
Snow falls on Mauna Loa, Hawaii, 1922
Brazil becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty, 1922
Year-round Daylight saving time is re-instated in the United States as a wartime measure to help conserve energy resources, 1942
Joanne Woodward receives the first star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, 1960
Jamaica becomes an independent nation within the Commonwealth of Nations, 1962
The Beatles make their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, performing before a "record-busting" audience of 73 million viewers, 1964
First test flight of the Boeing 747, 1969
Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro League player to be voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, 1971
Space Shuttle astronauts Bernard A. Harris, Jr. and Michael Foale become the first African American and first Briton, respectively, to perform spacewalks, 1995