Have a Joe Potato

It's not often that i write a book review, but in this case, i can't help myself.

Joe Potato's Real Life Recipes:  Tall Tales and Short Stories by Meriwether O'Connor is one i'm going to keep on the shelf by the bed and reread and revisit.  In fact, i can't help but do so, as i can't get some of these characters out of my mind.

O'Connor has a voice that speaks of real people (and animals and plants!), even if she made up the stories.  You would expect to meet these characters in rural Appalachia, and to be served some of the recipes as well.

Some of the stories are dark and hard, but the characters are people i want to get to know.  There's enough humor here for even me, as i love books to laugh over.

As for the recipes, well, it might be hard to come by crow, but i'm sure you could come up with "apartment rabbit" quite easily.

While i'm glad i have the paperback version, some people may want the Kindle edition instead.



Today is:

Be Bald and Be Free Day -- Wellcat Holidays wants everyone who is "shiny" to be proud of it!

Chisinau Day -- Chisinau, Moldova

Dessert Day -- another one?

Doburoku Matsuri -- Shirakawago, Japan (unrefined sake festival and harvest festival; through the 19th)

Festival for the Penates -- Ancient Roman Calendar (gods of the storeroom)

First Fiddle of the Month -- Fairy Calendar

Flag Day/Jour de la Proclamation de la Premiere Republique -- Madagascar (flag adopted this day in 1958)

Liberation Day -- Yemen

Mega Kenka Matsuri -- Hyogo, Japan (Roughhouse Festival, wrestling for a blessing; through tomorrow)

Mother's Day -- Belarus

Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Day -- Tanzania (climax of the Uhuru Torch Race)

National Chocolate Covered Insect Day -- i'll pass, sorry

National Education Day -- Poland

National Frump Day -- National FRUMPS of America (to honor the frugal, responsible, unpretentious, and mature people everywhere)

national lower case day -- someone wants us to not use all caps

Republic Day / October Revolution Day -- Yemen

St. Callistus' Day (Patron of cemetery workers)

St. Donatian of Rheims's Day (Patron of Bruges, Belgium; Rheims, France; West Flanders, Belgium)

St. Petca Paraskeva's Day (Patron of embroiderers, needle workers, spinners, weavers, and all who do needlework of any kind)related observance
     Petkouden -- Bulgaria

Svetitskovloba/Living Pillar Cathedral -- Georgia (celebration of the first Christian church in Georgia)

The NILE (Northern International Livestock Exposition) -- MetraPark, Billings, MT, US (rodeo, trade show, horse clinics, and livestock sales; through Saturday)

Vinternatsblot, a/k/a Haustblót -- Asatru (to bid Winter welcome; at the approximate date of the start of winter in the Old European Calendar of the Norse

World Standards Day -- International

Youth Day -- Zaire (Democratic Republic of the Congo)



Birthdays Today:

Usher, 1978
Natalie Maines, 1974
Greg Evigan, 1958
Harry Anderson, 1952
Sir Cliff Richard, 1940
Ralph Lauren, 1939
John Dean, 1938
Gary Graffman, 1928
Roger Moore, 1927
Charles Everett Koop, 1916
John Wooden, 1910
Eugene Fodor, 1905
e.e. cummings, 1894
Lillian Gish, 1893
Dwight Eisenhower, 1890
Eamon De Valera, 1882
Francis Lightfoot Lee, 1734
William Penn, 1644


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Rescue from Gilligan's Island(TV film), 1978 (the first TV film follow up of a TV series)
Winnie-The-Pooh(publication date), 1926


Today in History:

William the Conqueror wins England in the Battle of Hastings, 1066
Robert the Bruce of Scotland defeats King Edward II of England at Byland, forcing Edward to accept Scotland's independence, 1322
Mary, Queen of Scots, goes on trial for conspiracy against Elizabeth I of England, 1586
Massachusetts enacts the first punitive legislation against the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), 1656
Rabbi Judah Hasid & Chayim Molocho arrive in Jerusalem, 1700
Henry Blair receives a patent for a corn planter, becoming the first black to obtain a US patent, 1834
The 15th and the last military Shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate resigns in Japan, returning his power to the Emperor of Japan and thence to the re-established civil government of Japan, 1867
George Eastman patents paper-strip photographic film, 1884
Theodore Roosevelt is shot while campaigning in Milwaukee on the "Bull Moose" ticket, 1912
The children's book Winnie-the-Pooh, by A.A. Milne, is first published, 1926
Ethel Merman makes her Broadway debut in "Girl Crazy", 1930
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, the Indian Untouchable caste leader, converts to Buddhism along with 385,000 of his followers, 1956
Queen Elizabeth II becomes the first Canadian Monarch to open up an annual session of the Canadian Parliament, presenting her Speech from the Throne in Ottawa, Canada, 1957
The Cuban Missile Crisis begins when a U.S. Air Force U2 Reconnaissance pilot takes pictures of Soviet missiles being installed in Cuba, 1962
The city of Montreal, Quebec, begins the operation of its underground Montreal Metro rapid-transit system, 1966
The first live telecast from any manned spacecraft, the Apollo 7, 1968
The Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, The Prime Minister of Israel, Yitzhak Rabin, and the Foreign Minister of Israel, Shimon Peres, receive the Nobel Peace Prize for their role in the establishment of the Oslo Accords , 1994
Indonesian rights groups applaud the end of a Suharto-era law that bans books deemed 'offensive' or a 'threat to public order,' 2010
A colony of stromatolites is discovered at the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland, 2011