On June 2014

June starts on Sunday, so it’s time to set the stage for the month ahead.

Some say the month is named after Juno, the Roman goddess and wife of Jupiter. Others proclaim it is from a Latin word meaning the younger ones

June was the fourth month with 29 days in the early Roman calendar, but Julius Caesar changed it to the sixth month with 30 days because he could

Astrological sign Gemini starts the month, but Cancer starts June 21st

June’s birthstones include Pearl, Moonstone, and Alexandrite

June’s birth flowers are honeysuckle and the rose

As with any of the 12, June is loaded with month-long celebrations to meet your fancy. Time to get your calendars and record the ones that are most significant to you.

Animals
Adopt a Cat, Adopt a Shelter Cat, Pet Preparedness, Pest Control

Behaviors
Smiles, Naked Bike Ride, Bathroom Reading, Effective Communications, Entrepreneurs “Do It Yourself” Marketing, Rebuild Your Life, Potty Training Awareness, Happy Women, Recycling, People Skills

Entertainment
African-American Music Appreciation, Audio Book Appreciation, Accordion, Surf Music, GLBT Books

Food
Country Cooking, Dairy Alternatives, Georgia Blueberries, Turkey Lovers, Dairy, Candy, Fruits & Vegetables, Iced Tea, Soul Food, Steakhouses, Papaya, Seafood, Beef Steak, Frozen Yogurt

Health Awareness
Migraines, Congenital Cytomegalovirus, Aphasia, Men’s Health Education, Childhood Cancer, Child Vision, Cataracts, Cancer from the Sun, Antiphospolipd Antibody Syndrome, Scoliosis, Professional Wellness, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Scleroderma, Vision Research, World Infertility, Hernias, Pharmacists Declare War on Alcoholism

Outdoors
National Rivers, Camping, Perennial Gardening, Great Outdoors, Roses, Zoos & Aquariums, Women’s Golf, Skyscrapers

Personal
GLBT Pride, Caribbean-Americans, Celibacy Awareness

Safety
All Safety, Lane Courtesy, Fireworks Safety, Student Safety, Drive Safe, Burglary Prevention

Do you have a special event for June in your area or personal life? Hope you can tell us!

If a June night could talk, it would probably boast it invented romance. (Bernard Williams)

In June as many as a dozen species may burst their buds on a single day. No man can heed all of these anniversaries; no man can ignore all of them. (Aldo Leopold)

Wine and cheese are ageless companions, like aspirin and aches, or June and moon, or good people and noble ventures. (M. F. K. Fisher)

There are two seasons in Scotland: June and Winter (Billy Connolly)

Opinions in the Shorts: Vol. 222

On Politics
In his initial campaign, President Obama pledged to get the troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan … and he has moved accordingly. Therefore, the stress on the Veterans Administration (VA) should not be a surprise.

On the other side of the coin, as Congressional Republicans aim to politicize the VA situation, let us not forget they are the ones who wouldn’t expand VA funding without cutting other programs to pay for the expansion.

I said this after the 2008 election, and it’s a good time for it again. I wish President Obama would appoint Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) to lead the VA … and then overhaul the organization.

Here’s is an interesting article by columnist George Will regarding the 2016 presidential election.

The Affordable Care Act’s “employer mandate” continues to bother me, thus maybe why I found this article interesting.

Although Cincinnati is in Ohio, Kentucky is across the river … which means Cincinnati television stations broadcasts into Kentucky. The senate race between Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R) and Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes (D) may be the most expensive senate campaign in history (which means the Ohio side of the river will get to see many campaign ads.) According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, most of the campaign money (to date) has come from outside Kentucky: 86% (McConnell), 75% (Grimes).

On This Week’s Headlines from The Onion
Wise oracle proclaims at barbecue that he felt a raindrop
Elderly man hailed as alert
Study: Human ability to cooperate most strongly exhibited when ordering pizza
Woman confusingly tells man she’s not interested in him
Modernized space camp allows kinds to simulate frustration over lack of funding

Interesting Reads
China and its rare-earth elements
Quack medical devices
Pew Research Center about views of evolution
A book review: James Madison: A Life Reconsidered by Lynne Cheney
Video about bacon’s smell

Two from Bloggers
Dark Side of a Kiss
Who Owns the North Pole

On Potpourri
I got so behind on replying to comments, Wednesday morning I responded to almost 50 overdue comments. Shame on me!

Last weekend we stopped by Local Fest, a festival featuring locally grown and made products by local vendors. It was at Grailville, a retreat and educational center … and amazingly, they have over 300 acres of land. (What a peaceful view in the midst of suburbia.) Their mission statement states, Called by our spiritual values, The Grail envisions a world of peace, justice and renewal of the earth, brought about by women working together as catalysts for change.

Being this is Vol. 222 of this Friday series, I’m reminded of a television show from the early 1970s. Does anyone remember Room 222? Of course, I do because I had a crush on Karen Valentine – click for a video.

No Saturday Classic Cartoon post this weekend, but I may have a Saturday post (if I complete it).

Your weekend celebrations

• (Fri) Mint Julep Day, My Bucket has a Hole in It Day
• (Sat) What You Think Upon Grows Day, Macaroon Day, No Tobacco Day
• (Sun) Heimlich Maneuver Day, Say Something Nice Day, Go Barefoot Day, Oscar the Grouch Day, Global Day of Parents, Children’s Awareness Memorial Day, Stand for Children Day, Cancer Survivors Day, Hazelnut Cake Day, Fisherman’s Memorial Day

To send you into the weekend, here’s The Alan Parsons Project with Games People Play. Have a safe weekend and in the words of Garrison Keillor, Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.

On OTR

 

From the Cincinnati Enquirer 05 Apr 2014

Italianate: An architectural style familiar to Cincinnatians; to me, this word means history, it means culture and the effect of row after row of rooftops overlooking the city. – David Falk, Cincinnati restaurateur, Huffington Post  

Over-the-Rhine (“über dem Rhein.” in German) is a Cincinnati neighborhood that got its name from the Germans that transformed the area in the mid-1800s from farms and gardens to a vibrant community. Its name came from the fact that residents had to cross the Miami-Erie Canal that separated the neighborhood from downtown. (Today, the former canal is Central Parkway, a large thoroughfare.)

It was this wave of working-class German immigrants that brought Italianate architecture to Cincinnati. This scale-down version of Italian palaces met their needs because there were affordable to build on narrow lots.

At one time, more than 45,000 people lived in Over-the-Rhine (OTR), of which 75% were first or second generation German-Americans. Given the German culture’s love for beer, Cincinnati’s historic brewery district was born, which also employed thousands. OTR also became home to Cincinnati landmarks as Music Hall, Findlay Market, historic churches, Washington Park, Memorial Hall, and more.

Many left the neighborhood due to the anti-German sentiment of World War I. Coupled that with Prohibition, OTR changed. Although many Appalachians became residents, the neighborhood remained vibrant. The 1960s brought interstates to urban areas, and OTR became flanked by I-75 and I-71. Suburbia began to grow, and the neighborhood’s demographics continued to change – eventually leaving this neighborhood to the poor.

By 2000, the once-proud neighborhood was the poster for urban blight – deteriorating buildings, walls separating, broken windows, unsanitary living quarters, drugs, shootings, and high crime. With an average median income of $10,000 per household, OTR was also the home for many social agencies.

“One of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the country” would be added to a neighborhood that in 1983 received distinction of a historic district listed in the National Register of Historic Places that has significance to other historic neighborhoods as in Savannah (Georgia), Charleston (South Carolina), the French Quarter (New Orleans), and Greenwich Village (New York City).

In 2003, Cincinnati Center City Development Corp (3CDC) formed to transform the area. After all, the 360 acres of historic distinction was home to 943 buildings of Italianate architecture from the 19th century. Besides, given the historic distinction, tearing down buildings is not an option – so change became the order.

With 3CDC leading the charge, millions have been spent to rehabilitate the historic neighborhood to restore buildings, renovate Washington Park, improve streetscape, add green space, and develop commercial space. Yes – OTR is rapidly changing. Suburban friends of ours recently purchased a building to rehabilitate into their future home.

Last October, a friend and I decided to walk around Over-the-Rhine. Transformation is evident by site of active construction workers and buildings are various stages of restoration. Mixed within the new, social agencies remain to care for the many that remain needy – causing me to wonder where they will go. Nonetheless, vibrancy is returning to this historical, once-vibrant neighborhood. After all, a Graeter’s has also arrived in OTR.

You (Cincinnati) are no longer that embarrassing girlfriend I don’t tell my friends about, insecure and self-conscious. You are alive and breathing in gasps of energy, and I scream my love for you from the Italianate rooftops. David Falk, Cincinnati restaurateur, Huffington Post

On a beautiful day, we walked a lot, saw a lot, and always felt safe. Enjoy the pictures of this historic Cincinnati neighborhood. Any thoughts?

Additional References

• Historic brewery district info
• 3CDC
• David Falk’s Love Letters: Cincinnati in the Huffington Post
• An article featuring renovations
• A photo gallery that includes renovated interiors
• A video of clips of Italianate architecture in OTR

On Satire Bits: Vol. 96

How’s your week going so far? The long weekend helped put my blogging endeavors behind schedule. Then there is the continually challenges at the new address. Oh well … stuff happens.

After a delightful weekend, high humidity has arrived. YUK! I hate it … but it’s still better than this past winter. Meanwhile, my golf game is steady, plus  handbell season ends in two weeks.

Dive into the extra challenge by using the words in the headlines below to form your own original headline. ‘My Combo” is at the end. Have a good rest of the week.

Embed from Getty Images

Brutally honest new Revlon campaign reminds customers you can’t change who you are

Music in bar could stand to be louder, worse

Tiger always checked-out at local zoo

NASA discovers that Earth might be what its been searching for all along

Deeply held conviction dropped after friend half-heartedly disagrees

James Cameron says future of movies will be watching them from his lap

Woman a leading authority on what shouldn’t be in poor people’s grocery cart

Report: Average American has just about 28% of what it takes

Bus rider acting like fight not happening four feet away

Wedding DJ assures anxious man he hasn’t forgotten “Build Me Up Buttercup” request

My Combo: At local bar with loud music, brutally honest James Cameron requests “Build Me Up Buttercup” and half-heartedly checked-out leading woman for his movies from his lap

On a Monday Salute

It’s a three-day holiday week for we Americans, so how did you spend your weekend?

I imagine you’ll be surprised to see that we had a wide variety of activities that included ballroom dance, a local festival, among the hoards of people at the Taste of Cincinnati, a Reds baseball game (we lost), a cookout with neighbors, and some decorating planning time … and we still have one day to go! Other than hosting my father-in-law in the afternoon for a simple meal, we are hoping for a low-key day.

Celebrations for your week

• (Week) Week of Solidarity with the People of Non-Self-Governing Territories, Hurricane Preparedness Week, Shoe Week, Pickle Week, Safe Boating Week, Good Stewardship Week, Frozen Yogurt Week, American Beer Week
• (Mon) Memorial Day, Blueberry Cheesecake Day, Cherry Dessert Day
• (Tues) Grape Popsicle Day, Cellophane Tape Day
• (Wed) Senior Health & Fitness Day, Slugs Return from Capistrano Day, Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Day, Brisket Day, Hamburger Day
• (Thurs) Learn about Composting Day, Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, Coq au Vin Day, Put a Pillow on Your Fridge Day

Given the Memorial Day holiday, this Monday Morning Entertainment focuses on the armed forces instead of humor. Many communities will celebrate Memorial Day with a parade and a remembrance event for fallen soldiers. Although this is a USA holiday, I know this blog is read in countries that also remember their warriors. Even though our Memorial Days may not be on the same day, this post is also for you. Have a good week!