"Mom, why is it 'Roses are red, Violets are blue' when violets are actually violet or purple?"

Little Girl was getting her gear together to walk to the pool across the street for swim practice when she set me this poser.

Well, i answered, they are a bluish-purple, and it's an old nursery rhyme, no one knows exactly who started it.

"Yeah, well, as I read on Tumblr, 'Roses are red, This much is true, But violets are purple, Not flippin' blue!'"

My guess is you edited that, i noted.

"Yes, they aren't so careful of their language on Tumblr," she responded with a grin.  "But it's still true!"

She headed out the door, towel draped over her shoulder, clutching swim goggles and cap, and i wondered, in 100 years, if we haven't "extincted" ourselves by then, will our descendants even know these rhymes or have them in the same form?

Have a great weekend, everyone!


Today is

Armed Forces Day -- Great Britain

Autonomy Day -- French Polynesia

Camera Day -- internet generated, but a fun one to celebrate

Feast Day of Saints Peter and Paul -- Christian
     St. Paul, Patron of Greece, Malta, rope makers, tentmakers, upholsterers
     St. Peter, Patron of clockmakers, fishermen, Russia; against fever, foot trouble, wolves
     a recognized holiday in Chile; Holy See; Italy; Malta[l-Imnarja]; Peru; GR and TI, Switzerland; Wallis and Fortuna
     Haro Wine Festival -- Haro, LaRioja, Spain (a festival that includes a Battle of Wines, where wine is thrown from buckets at opposing teams; on the feast day of the city's patron, San Pedro)
     Rat-Catcher's Day -- often cited because some of the earliest legends of the Pied Piper claim he took the children on the Feast Day of Sts. Peter and Paul

Gettysburg Civil War Relic and Collectors Show -- Gettysburg, PA, US (featuring leading collectors and dealers; through tomorrow)

Great American Picnic Day -- various dates given, with the most common being the final Saturday of June

Hug Holiday -- while the National Hug Holiday Week has been moved to the beginning of May, this is the original day, and was for quite a while, so go give someone a big hug!

Independence Day -- Seychelles

Kirkpinar Oil Wrestling Festival -- Kirkpinar, Edirne, Turkey (since 1362, the oldest wrestling festival in the world as well as the oldest continually running, sanctioned sporting event in the world, in which men clad in leather britches and covered in olive oil wrestle; through Friday)

Ladies of Country and Bluegrass Music Show -- Waretown, NJ, US (at the historic Albert Music Hall)

Montreaux Jazz Festival -- Montreaux, Switzerland (through July 14; one of the world's greatest music festivals)

National Almond Butter Crunch Day

Oharai/Grand Purification Festival -- Shinto

Runic Half-month Feoh (wealth) commences

Tour de France -- through Sunday, July 21

Veterans Day -- Netherlands

Waffle Iron Day -- don't know why today, but it's a great gadget, and if you have one, pull it out and use it today

Wicked Fairies Summer Debate -- Fairy Calendar (i'd love to hear this!)


Birthdays Today:

Fred Grandy, 1948
Richard Lewis, 1947
Gary Busey, 1944
Robert Evans, 1930
Ray Harryhausen, 1920
Slim Pickens, 1919
Nelson Eddy, 1901
Antoine de Saint-Exupery, 1900
William James Mayo, 1863


Today in History:

An Irish monastic chronicler records a solar eclipse, 512
Jacques Cartier makes the European discovery of Prince Edward Island, 1534
The Globe Theatre in London, England burns to the ground, 1613
Alexander Macdonell and over five hundred Roman Catholic highlanders leave Scotland to settle in Glengarry County, Ontario, 1786
Coal is discovered on Vancouver Island, 1850
Ninety-nine people are killed in Canada's worst railway disaster near St-Hilaire, Quebec, 1864
France annexes Tahiti, 1880
The first known recording of classical music, Handel's "Israel in Egypt", is made on a wax cylinder, 1888
Street railway in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, commences operation, 1891
Doukhobors burn their weapons as a protest against conscription by the Tsarist Russian government, 1895
France grants 1 km² at Vimy Ridge "freely, and for all time, to the Government of Canada, the free use of the land exempt from all taxes," 1922
Joseph-Armand Bombardier of Canada receives a patent for sprocket and track traction system used in snow vehicles, 1937
Isabel Perón is sworn in as the first female President of Argentina, 1974
The Seychelles  become independent from the United Kingdom, 1976
The space shuttle Atlantis docks with the Russian Mir Space Station for the first time, 1995
Two car bombs are found at Piccadilly Circus, in the heart of London, 2007