On a Sugary Monday

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Cincinnati has been warmer than normal this past week. Fortunately, some cooler (and more normal) weather is on the way for the upcoming week … but the warm temperatures didn’t stop us from enjoying our weekend. How did you spend you weekend?

Our weekend was full with two nights on the ballroom floor (including participating in a Quickstep formation), work, and golf. The Quickstep formation wasn’t a train wreck … a good thing, but I’m glad it’s over. Mother’s Day (Sunday in the US) wasn’t big in our house because we don’t have kids, and our mothers passed away in 1987 (mine) and 2013 (my wife’s). I thought the handbell choir did a good job with Morning Is Broken.

Meals: The Musical returns this week. Meat is the Act 4’s theme, so song titles must include meat(s) or any meat. Use a normal menu as a guideline. For instance, beef, steaks, and hamburger are acceptable, but cows are not. Sausage, ham, and pork are acceptable examples, but pigs are not. Seafood items are not acceptable. The producer is amicable to common sense. Curtain time is Wednesday, 9:30 pm (Eastern US).

Celebrations for Your Week

• (Week) Hamburger Week, Craft Beer Week, Bike Week, Saluting to Moms 35+ Week, Reading is Fun Week, Women’s Health Week, Transportation Week, Return to Work Week, Nursing Home Week, Police Week, Food Allergy Awareness Week, Family Week, Work at Home Moms Week, Bike to Work Week, Etiquette Week, Neuropathy Awareness Week, Stuttering Awareness Week
• (Mon) Eat What You Want Day, Hostess Cupcake Day, Root Canal Appreciation Day, Twilight Zone Week, Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Awareness Day, Jigsaw Puzzle Day, Mocha Torte Day, Women’s Check-up Day
• (Tues) Limerick Day, Odometer Day, Nurses Day, Nutty Fudge Day, Fatigue Syndrome Day
• (Wed) Blame Someone Else Day, Crouton Day, Donate a Day’s Wages to Charity Day, Third-Shift Workers Day, Receptionists Day, Apple Pie Day, Fruit Cocktail Day, Leprechaun Day, Cough Drop Day
• (Thurs) Chicken Dance Day, Buttermilk Biscuit Day, Crazy Day, Marshmallow Fluff (Creme) Day

To start your week, here’s Sugar Chile Robinson from a 1946 clip, which means Mr. Robinson is currently 76 years old. Enjoy and have a good week.

On Welcoming March 2015

Why? Because everybody knows that one can count on John Phillips Sousa for a good march.

March in other languages includes Marzo (Italian), mars (Albanian), Hlyd-monath (Anglo Saxon), mart (Armenian), br’ezen (Czech), Marts (Danish), and dawa-ssumpa (Tibetian) … so feel free to contribute others

March was named for Mars, the Roman god of war, who was also the guardian of agriculture

The name of March comes from Latin Martius, the first month of the earliest Roman calendar

Martius was the beginning of the season for both farming and warfare, so and festivals held in his honor during the month were mirrored by other festivals in October, which closed the season for farming and warfare

March in the northern hemisphere is the seasonal equivalent to September in the southern hemisphere

March starts the same day of the week as November every year, and February – but only in common years

March ends on the same day of the week as June every year

Because this is 2015 (preceding a leap year), March 2016 will start on the same day as September and December 2015. However, March 2015 ends on the same day of the week as May 2016

March’s birth flowers are the daffodil and jonquils

March’s birthstones, which symbolize courage, are aquamarine and bloodstone

March’s Zodiac signs are Pisces (until March 20) and Aries (March 21 and thereafter)

Full Moon on March 5th (6:05 pm UTC), and the New Moon displays on March 20th (9:36 am UTC)

March moon are called Crow Moon, Lenten Moon, Sap Moon, Seed Moon, and Worm Moon

Solar Eclipse on March 20 with the total eclipse of the sun being visible in Ireland, Europe, northern Africa, Europe, and Asia

The March equinox on the 20th at 10:46 pm UTC, which means sometime March 21st for many of the world … thus the day marking the transitions of winter to spring or summer to autumn

March has national celebrations in Australia, Bangladesh, Gibraltar, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, and South Korea

March 1st celebrations include Compliment Day, Daughters & Sons Day, Black Women in Jazz & the Arts Day, Wear Yellow Day (Endometriosis Day), Go Bowling Day, Horse Protection Day, Fruit Compote Day, Peanut Lovers Day, Pig Day, Plan a Solo Vacation Day, Refired not Retired Day, Seals Day, Self-Injury Awareness Day, Share a Smile Day, Zero Discrimination Day, Namesake Day (mine is after my Dad’s Army buddy from SF – we went sometime in the 1990s)

March promotes adopting a rescued guinea pig, expanding girls’ horizons in science & engineering, women’s health, dietetic nutrition, cheerleading safety, color therapy, eye donors, literacy, social work, women’s history, fire prevention, transgender healthcare equality, singing with your child, saving your vision, and playing the recorder

March celebrates crafts, child life, deaf history, ideas, mad for plaid, athletic training, kidneys, on-hold, supply management, and American Red Cross

March embraces credit education, employee spirit, Honor Society, expecting success, Irish-American heritage, music in schools, optimism, small press, spiritual wellness, youth art, hexagons, March Madness, and Francophones

March increases awareness in Alport Syndrome, brain injuries, colic, colorectal cancer, deep vein thrombosis, endometriosis, listening, malignant hypertension, caffeine, chronic fatigue syndrome, ethics, essential tremor, multiple sclerosis, nutrition, poison prevention, Trisomy, vascular abnormalities, and epilepsy

March appreciates humorists as artists, mirth, frozen foods, kites, peanuts, umbrellas, quinoa, maple sugar, sauces, flour, noodles, no meat, moustaches, hamburger & pickle, and dolphins

Which music did you enjoy? Do you have any personal celebrations in March?

On an Aspect of Health

This story started early last November (2011) as we were at our first handbell rehearsal after returning from cruising the southern Caribbean. We only missed one rehearsal, but it still good to see our handbell friends. At the end of the rehearsal, my wife and one other choir member convinced our dear friend that she needed to get return to the doctor to tell them that whatever they gave her was not working.

By the end of the week, our friend and her husband went to the hospital for routine x-rays. Doctors admitted her and eventually diagnosed her with lung cancer. She never smoked and never had any other cancer. We never saw her again as she died three weeks later at age 56. Her passing was difficult for us, and some of you may remember I shared my feelings along this journey – and eventually dedicated this post to her.

This past February I celebrated my 59th birthday – thus I am now older than my mother who passed away one month short of 59. Yes, it was cancer. She smoked for many years, but after a breast cancer diagnosis and a radical mastectomy, she stopped smoking – but in the end, liver cancer shortened her life. I spoke at her funeral, thus recounted that journey in a three-part post starting here (for anyone interested).

Also in early November, a handbell player unexpectedly left the choir because of her out-of-town mother’s health issues. Recently, and out-of-the-blue, doctors diagnosed our former handbell player with lung cancer. That news is relatively new, so we don’t know about her prognosis. Nonetheless, many are shocked.

I find it interesting that we hear so much about breast cancer, yet my wife recently heard that more women die of lung cancer than breast cancer. With the recent news and because I wanted verification, I found this graph from the American Cancer Society. (The full report)

Because the Dancing with the Stars is what got us interested in taking ballroom dance classes, it’s no surprise that we regularly watch the show. We love the waltz, and this one by professionals Anna Trebunskaya and Jonathan Roberts (a married couple) is wonderful; however, as the video shows, there is more to the story. As I end this post linking handbells, ballroom dance, friends, relatives, and cancer, I hope you take four more minutes for this video and consider telling others about this post.