Re: Happy Birthday - Round Two!
Posted: Jan 17, 2018 2:40 pmThank you for your good wishes, GlimGlum, johobbit, fantasia, and coracle, now I've reached the portentous "three score and ten" shelf -life. 
It is nice to remember that it is still my birthday for a few hours yet, and that I can also savour the sweetness of a second nice fresh crisply cool morning before the heat starts to close in for our next round of heatwaves. 
Happy birthday to anyone else who shares a January birthday with me.
(Not only Al Capone on the 17th, whoever he was 
) I hope, Fantasia, and Ellesar, that you both had a lovely birthday, along with Australia, itself. Did you know that 1st January 1901 was the day that the Commonwealth of Australia was formally announced in Melbourne? We've only just finished hearing about the annual Elvis Presley festival, in Parkes, New South Wales and for the rest of the month, there will be a Country Music festival in a place in New South Wales called Tamworth.
Our own National day will be later this month, on 26th January, with the usual arguments on how suitable a National Day it is. Never mind, the anniversary of 26th January, 1788, would always remain Foundation Day for New South Wales. It might have marked the end of the Dreamtime, but it was also the day Australia entered Modern History, as much a consequence of American Independence as was the later French Revolution. It is also marks the end of the holidays and the start of school.
I'm sure that breakfast would have been nice to have, at least today, even in this part of the world.
But a lot depends on where one is, what the climate is like and who is doing the cooking. Poor Shasta would have been starving by that time in the book, so I doubt he would have minded much how appealing such a meal looks on the Internet. It would be the delicious smell that mattered more.
It is nice to remember that it is still my birthday for a few hours yet, and that I can also savour the sweetness of a second nice fresh crisply cool morning before the heat starts to close in for our next round of heatwaves. Happy birthday to anyone else who shares a January birthday with me.
(Not only Al Capone on the 17th, whoever he was ) I hope, Fantasia, and Ellesar, that you both had a lovely birthday, along with Australia, itself. Did you know that 1st January 1901 was the day that the Commonwealth of Australia was formally announced in Melbourne? We've only just finished hearing about the annual Elvis Presley festival, in Parkes, New South Wales and for the rest of the month, there will be a Country Music festival in a place in New South Wales called Tamworth. Our own National day will be later this month, on 26th January, with the usual arguments on how suitable a National Day it is. Never mind, the anniversary of 26th January, 1788, would always remain Foundation Day for New South Wales. It might have marked the end of the Dreamtime, but it was also the day Australia entered Modern History, as much a consequence of American Independence as was the later French Revolution. It is also marks the end of the holidays and the start of school.
johobbit wrote:I was actually trying to find a picture of a full plate of mushrooms, bacon, eggs, toast, and a bowl of porridge, such as the Dwarves fed Shasta after his grueling hike over the mountains, but in virtual form, it somehow didn't look all that appealing. Although I have no doubt that it was absolutely scrumptious in real life.
I'm sure that breakfast would have been nice to have, at least today, even in this part of the world.
But a lot depends on where one is, what the climate is like and who is doing the cooking. Poor Shasta would have been starving by that time in the book, so I doubt he would have minded much how appealing such a meal looks on the Internet. It would be the delicious smell that mattered more.
Hopefully birthday wishes for cooler weather are effective, regardless of how counter-intuitive lighting candles during high summer might seem. 
Have a great new year! 
