When I was browsing Valentine cards at the drugstore, I was shocked and appalled to discover that there were no Benjamin Franklin themed cards. Are you kidding me? Mr. Franklin was the heart throb of the 1700s! The ladies in Paris were nuts for him. If he was alive today, Benjamin Franklin would be a rocking sex symbol.
I did my best to remedy the situation and designed my own card for you. Maybe next year I will release my own series of Founding Father Valentines. Heck, maybe I'll just design an entire line of cards! Thomas Jefferson wishes you a happy birthday, George Washington hopes you get well soon, Alexander Hamilton wishes you a happy anniversary... (don't worry, I'll still keep blogging even after I become a greeting card magnate).
Happy Valentine's Day!
Benjamin Franklin was born 305 years ago today - sort of. He was actually born on January 6, 1705, but then the entire calendar was overhauled and his birthay was moved to January 17, 1706. How unsettling would it be to have your date of birth changed?
For his birthday, I tried to get my favorite founding father a card... but Hallmark does not seem to make any cards to mark a historical figure's 305th birthday. I don't understand. Hallmark makes cards to mark every possible occasion (including some holidays that Hallmark invented itself) - shouldn't there be specialty birthday cards for the founding fathers?
Instead of a card, I will wish Old Ben "many happy returns!" right here on my blog. (I'm sure Ben F. would have been a prolific blogger if he lived until the present day, so this is fitting - in a weird way).
I would like to thank the City of Pasadena for its swift response to the damage caused by last night's Santa Ana wind storm. I have been listening to the musical stylings of chainsaws all afternoon as clean-up crews attack the fallen trees. I cannot imagine how long it will take to clear all of the debris, but it seems like the City effectively triaged the situation.
I would also like to commend my postman, who is still delivering the mail, despite the fact that half of the blocks in my neighborhood are impassable. Benjamin Franklin, the first United States General Postmaster, would be proud:
And finally, as I wrap up these storm posts, my thoughts and prayers are with my neighbors who suffered serious damage to their homes and personal property.
It's only 2011, but I hope this was Pasadena's "Storm of the Century."
I hope you have a safe, festive and happy Thanksgiving. I am baking an exciting pumpkin cheesecake today for my extended family's gathering. I need 24 ounces of cream cheese for the cheesecake, and there are exactly 24 ounces of cream cheese in the fridge. If anything goes wrong, I am going to have to return to the Heart of Darkness (aka the grocery store). In retrospect, I should have bought 48 or maybe even 1000 ounces of cream cheese.
Also, here's a random Benjamin Franklin fact: did you know that Benjamin Franklin thought our national bird should be the turkey, and not the bald eagle? If Benjamin Franklin had had his way, would we still be eating turkey on Thanksgiving? You can't eat the national symbol, right? So it would have to be something else, like the Thanksgiving meatloaf or the Thanksgiving chicken enchilada. Or, if we wanted to stick with the large bird genre, I suppose we could eat the Thanksgiving peacock or the Thanksgiving ostrich.
When I started writing this post, I had no idea I would use the phrase "Thanksgiving ostrich." It's my brain, but I can't always control it.
Happy Thanksgiving!
