Yummy Thankfuls

Since i am writing this when i am hungry, this week i am going to list the foods for which i am most thankful.

Spinach and bananas top the list.  Cold baby spinach leaves, a frozen banana or two, some ice cubes, and a Vita-mix equals green smoothie magic.

Cashew nuts, macadamia nuts, mostly any kind of nuts.  And nut butters.

Sunflower seeds, chia seeds, sesame seeds, and pepitas (pumpkin seeds).

Avocados!!!  (The best breakfast ever is avocado-mango salad.)

Trader Joe's Contemplates Inner Peas.

Grapes and peaches and mangos and oranges and grapefruit and pineapple and any kind of melon.

Berries of all shapes and sizes and colors.

Broccoli, and most other veggies, too.

Brussels sprouts, raw, and Brussels sprouts sautéed in coconut oil with a bit of sea salt. 

Raw cacao nibs.

Okay, now i really need to go fix myself some dinner.  List the foods for which you are most thankful, or anything else you are thankful for and want to list, and join up with Ten Things of Thankful.  You will always be glad you did.

Today is:

Antique Marine Engine Exposition -- Mystic Seaport, Mystic, CT, US (annual exposition of pre-WWII marine engines and models; through tomorrow)

Battle of Blue Licks Celebration -- Blue Licks Battlefield State Park, Mount Olivet, KY, US (to commemorate the Revolutionary War Battle of Blue Licks with living history demonstrations, arts, crafts, games, reenactments and more; through tomorrow)

Bike Van Buren -- Van Buren County, IA, US (a leisurely two-day bike tour of villages, landmarks and landscapes)

Black Cow Root Beer Float Day -- the ice cream and root beer combination was supposedly first served on this date in 1893 by Frank J. Wisner, owner of Cripple Creek Brewing, and he named it after the local Cow Mountain 

Ferret Buckeye Bash -- Colombus, OH, US (ferret show)

Gai Jatra -- Kathmandu Valley, Nepal (cow festival, celebrated in remembrance of all people who have died in the previous year; one of Nepal's most popular festivals with tourists)

Hanawa Bayashi -- Kazuno City, Japan (parades and music in the merchant's quarter, through tomorrow)

Hartjesdagen -- Amsterdam and Haarlem, Holland ("Little Hearts Day"; the folklore is that this was the day non-nobles could hunt deer in the woods around Haarlem, and became a two-day cross dressing festival, all men dressed as women, and women as men, to see how the other half lived; revived in recent years on the 3rd weekend of August, because the 3rd Monday was the original celebration, and is still the biggest day)

Hot & Spicy Food Day

International Federation of Library Associations Annual Conference -- Wroclaw, Poland; through the 25th

International Geocaching Day 

International Homeless Animals Day® -- International Society for Animal Rights 

Jeshen -- Afghanistan (Independence Day)

Leadville Trail 100 Ultramarathon -- Leadville, CO, US (race 100 of the toughest miles in the country through the Rocky Mountains beginning at 4am; you have 30 hours to complete the course to the ghost town of Winfield and back)

Manuel Luis Quezon Day -- Quezon City, Philippines

Minnesota Renaissance Festival -- Shakopee, MN, US (one of the countries largest and finest; weekends through the beginning of October)

Mt. Hagen Cultural Show -- Mt. Hagen, Papua New Guinea (one of the biggest cultural shows in Papua New Guinea; through tomorrow)

National Aviation Day -- US

National Honey Bee Day -- US (this year's theme is For a Natural High: Smoke Some Bees!)   

Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival -- Pittsburgh, PA, US (relive the days of yore, watch artisans practice the olde crafts, and have a high good time; weekends through September)

Potato Day

St. John Eudes' Day (Patron of Baie-Comeau, Quebec, Canada)

St. Sebald's Day (a/k/a Sebaldus) (Patron of Bavaria, Germany; Nuremburg, Germany; against cold weather and freezing)

Vinalia Rustica -- Ancient Roman Calendar (Festival of Ripening Grapes)

Vuelta a Espana -- Spain (the third of cyclings' prestigious Grand Tours; through Sept. 10)

Watch the Pot Wednesday -- Fairy Calendar (sometimes actually occurs on a Wednesday, more often not)

Woodward Dream Cruise Day 2017 -- Detroit, MI, US (what began in 1995 as a fundraiser for a soccer field has grown into the largest one-day classic car show in the world)

World Humanitarian Day -- UN

Birthdays Today:

Snuffleupagus (year unconfirmed)

Jennifer Morrison, 1979

Matthew Perry, 1969

LeAnn Womack, 1966

Kyra Sedgwick, 1965

Kevin Dillon, 1965

John Stamos, 1963

Adam Arkin, 1956

Cindy Nelson

Peter Gallagher, 1955

Mary Matlin, 1953

Jonathan Frakes, 1952

John Deacon, 1951

Gerald McRaney, 1948

Tipper Gore, 1948

Bill Clinton, 1946

Jack Canfield, 1944

Jill St. John, 1940

Diana Muldaur, 1938

Franklin Story Musgrave, 1935

Willie Shoemaker, 1931

Don Ho, 1930

Gene Roddenberry, 1921

Malcolm Forbes, 1919

Jimmy Rowles, 1918

Ring Lardner, Jr., 1915

Philo T. Farnsworth, 1906 (forgotten inventor of television)

Ogden Nash, 1902

Coco Chanel, 1883

George Bellows, 1882

Orville Wright, 1881

John Dryden, 1631

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Animal Clinic" and "Acrobat Ranch"(first Saturday morning children's programs, on ABC), 1950

Today in History:

The Roman Senate is compelled to elect Octavian, later Augustus Caesar, Consul, BC43

Augustus Caesar dies, 14

Crusaders defeat the Saracens in the Battle of Ascalon, 1099

Mary Queen of Scots arrives in Leith to assume the throne, 1561

Five people are executed for witchcraft in Salem, Mass., 1692

Presentation of Jacque Daguerre's new photographic process to the French Academy of Sciences, 1839

The New York Herald reports the discovery of gold in California, 1849

The first All-American Soap Box Derby is held in Dayton, Ohio, 1934

Hurricane Dianne kills 200 and does about $1 Billion in damage, 1955

Leonard Bernstein conducts his final concert, ending with Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, 1990

Several hundred East Germans cross the frontier between Hungary and Austria during the Pan-European Picnic, part of the events which began the process of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, 1989

A series of strong storms lashes Southern Ontario spawning several tornadoes as well as creating extreme flash flooding within the city of Toronto and its surrounding communities, 2005

A team of divers discover the wreck of a Swedish warship, part of King Erik XIV's fleet, that sank in 1564 in the Baltic Sea, 2011