Do you know a muffin man?

Not yet, but at the rate at which she is going, Little Girl may become a muffin woman.  Meanwhile, she decided, spur of the moment, to try her hand at scones.

"Mom, what does it mean to cut in butter" she asked.

Pulling out my pastry cutter, i explained how to put cold butter into the dry ingredients and work it in until it resembled coarse crumbs.

She measured flour and leavening and sugar, then cut in the butter.  "Is this right?" she asked, and i told her yes.

Then she put in the wet ingredients, and mixed, and i showed her how to turn it out onto a floured surface and knead in a bit more flour.

When i saw her trying to form it with her hands, i grabbed my trusty rolling pin and got her started on rolling it into a square so she could cut them into the traditional wedge shape. 

Pulling out the shortening, she greased the cookie sheet and set them in the oven.  Nervously, she paced back into the kitchen multiple times while they were baking to check on them.

After about 15 minutes, it was time for hot, buttered scones.  And except for me helping a little in a couple of places, she did it herself.

Today is:

Alcatraz Day -- the first prisoners arrived this day in 1934

Carnaval del Pueblo -- London Pleasure Gardens Royal Victoria Docks, London, England (promoting and preserving world heritage in London)

Day of Honor for Oddudua -- Santeria religion (cognate of the Roman Catholic St. Clare of Assisi; credited with the creation of humans)

Dog Days end -- yes, supposedly, in this heat, at least in some traditions

Don't Wait, Celebrate! Week -- 2nd full week of August each year; because spontaneous and frequent celebrations are good for you

Feast of St. Attracta -- Irish Catholic Saint (founded a hospice and convents, and supposedly slayed a dragon; Patron of Achonry, Ireland; Men of Lugna)

Independence Day -- Chad(1960)

Ingersoll Day

Melon Day -- Turkmenistan (the country that really loves its muskmellons)

National Peacekeepers Day -- Canada (obs. on Sunday closest to the 9th)

National Raspberry Bombe Day or Raspberry Tart Day -- whichever one you like best, or both, if that's the way you roll

Osaka Castle Takigi-noh -- Osaka Castle, Osaka City, Japan (free Noh performances, through tomorrow)

Palio Del Golfo -- La Speza, Italy (a special, traditional rowing contest over a 2,000m course)

Play in the Sand Day -- as per many internet sites; yeah, like at the beach, nothing like sand in your shorts, i get enough of that on vacation, thank you

Presidential Joke Day**

Son and Daughter Day -- the day to give your son(s) or daughter(s) the gift of time

St. Clare of Assisi's Day -- (Foundress of the Order of Poor Ladies [Poor Clares] Franciscan nuns; Patron of embroiderers, eyes, gilders/gold workers/goldsmiths, good weather, laundry workers, needle workers, telegraphs, telephones, and television writers; Assisi, Italy; Santa Clara Indian Pueblo; against eye disease)***; related observance
     Fiesta de Santa Clara -- Santa Clara Pueblo, NM, US (Native American celebration of St. Clare of Assisi, their Patron saint, with a corn dance and prayers for rain)

St. Philomela's Day (Patron of babies, children, desperate causes, forgotten causes, impossible causes, lost causes, orphans, poor people, priests, prisoners, sick people, students, test takers, toddlers, young people; against barrenness, bodily ills, infertility, mental illness, sickness, sterility)


Birthdays Today:

Hulk Hogan, 1953
Arlene Dahl, 1928
Mike Douglas, 1925 (Note: he also died on this date in 2006)
Alex Haley, 1921
Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici, 1667 (Last of the Medicis)


Today in History:

First day of the Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar, used my the Maya and other pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations, BC3114
Traditional date of the defeat of Bel by Hayk, progenitor and founder of the Armenian nation, BC2492
Battle of Artemisium, naval battle of the Greco-Persian War, fought at the same time as the Battle of Thermopylae of the same war; Leonidas, King of Sparta, dies in the land battle, BC480*
Papandayan Java volcanic eruption kills 3,000, 1772
Charles Lawrence gives expulsion orders to remove the Acadians from Nova Scotia beginning the Great Upheaval, 1755
The world's first roller rink opens in Newport, RI, 1866
The first civilian prisoners arrive at Alcatraz, 1934
Actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil receive a patent for a frequency hopping, spread spectrum communication system that later became the basis for modern technologies in wireless telephones and Wi-Fi, 1942
A bomb explodes on Pan Am Flight 830, en route from Tokyo to Honolulu, killing one teenager and injuring 15 passengers, 1984
NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history, 2003


*some historians give different dates

**because presidents have a sense of humor, too, as shown this day in 1984 when Reagan thought the microphone was off and joked about Russia being outlawed

***why tv? because when she became too ill to attend mass at the end of her life, a miraculous image of the service would display on the wall of her room