Monday Musings: N'tl Napping Day & DLST

CAM, THE NARRATOR OF "WIOB" GETS HER BEAUTY SLEEP

It's the Monday after the onset of 2018's Daylight Savings Time (DLST) and Cam, my visiting cardinal (pictured above where she is taking a nap under the 'Tamukeyama' which grows in a container that's within my rooftop garden).

This is a picture of Cam that you might recognize as I've featured it in a prior post here on Blogger, and if you have read volume one of her book series, Words In Our Beak (which can be seen in the image directly below), you might recall that it is featured at the conclusion of her story.

SEE PRESS RELEASE

In any  event, Cam has brought it to my attention that any Monday occurring after the onset of DLST, is considered to be a holiday known as National Napping Day.

According to a web-page, "National Napping Day is observed annually the day following the return of daylight saving time.  National Napping Day provides everyone with the opportunity to have a nap and catch up on the hour of sleep they lost due to the spring forward time change."

The aforementioned page goes on to explain the history of this holiday stating: "William Anthony, Ph.D., a Boston University Professor and his wife, Camille Anthony, created National Napping Day in 1999 as an effort to spotlight the health benefits to catching up on quality sleep."

Anthony and his wife proclaim,“We chose this particular Monday because Americans are more ‘nap-ready’ than usual after losing an hour of sleep to daylight saving time."

I confess that I've never heard of National Napping Day, but there is no time like the present to take advantage of it! And just to make sure that I don't miss any more National Napping Days going forward, I've made a list of when they will occur in the coming years.

I've posted the list below for your convenience, dear reader:

March 12, 2018

March 11, 2019

March 9, 2020

March 15, 2021

March 14, 2022

March 13, 2023

March 11, 2024

March 09, 2025

Meanwhile, I hope to get a nap in on this National Napping Day, and if you are so inclined, I suggest that you take one too!

ADDENDUM FALL 2018: 

The digital versions of Volume One within the Words In Our Beak book series that are mentioned in this entry may only remain available for a limited time, but hardcover versions of Volume One, Two and Three can now be found wherever books are sold.

MY BOOK SERIES

Please click here to go to my blog post that provides details as to where you can get these books. Additionally, I have rendered some images from these books into other formats and they are available via Fine Art America (FAA). Some of my other photographs (Black & White Collection, Kaleidoscopic Images and the famous Mandarin duck who visited NYC) can also be found on my FAA pages.

ADDENDUM SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER 2021:

When the third volume of the hard-cover version of Words In Our Beak was released, I withdrew from promoting my former versions of Words In Our Beak. 

The very first one is an iBook and went into Apple's book store in 2015.

This was followed by an ePub version...

... that is available on Amazon and was also published in 2015.

Subsequently, Words In Our Beak's digital versions were published as a soft-cover book (with slight variations) by MagCloud in 2017.

Its press release can be read by clicking here.  

Now with the release of BIRD TALES....

... I've been advised to make mention of my early versions of volume one of Words In Our Beak, they do vary ever so slightly in content from the hard-cover version of volume one.

As of this addendum, I do not intend to create digital or soft-cover versions of Words In Our Beak Volume Two or Words In Our Beak Volume Three.

"If it's Tuesday, it must be . . ." tumblr. Week Six

Tuesday is here again, and you know what that means, dear reader — if it's Tuesday, it must be tumblr. However,  before I send you there, I would like to share a few thoughts about November, since today is also November First.

This past Thursday, when I was walking home to my studio apartment in the Upper Westside of Manhattan, the rain was falling heavily, and even though it was only somewhere between five-thirty and six in the evening, it was quite dark, prompting me to think that soon we'd be changing the clocks  (fyi, the date to do this is the second Sunday in November to leave daylight savings time), and that it would be getting darker much earlier in the evening.

In like a lamb . . .

Approximately a month ago I posted an entry about the fact that  Chuck and Phil, the famous groundhogs of the northeast, were in agreement that an early spring was in the works. However, the weather since that time has been very cold.

At least today, the first of March (which is coming in like a lamb so may go out like a lion, delaying spring), brings the promise that there will soon be more daylight. (Daylight Savings Time begins in twelve days on March 13th 2011). 

I am still not ready to unwrap the shrubs and trees that we wrapped in bubble-wrap as well as burlap (from on-line fabrics) this past December (as seen in the photo posted above this entry taken at that time) to prepare them for winter and will probably not do so until April — even if Spring Fever attacks. I have learned the hard way about the consequences of having an eager-beaver-green-thumb, and can almost be certain that other gardeners have done the same, especially after a long dreary winter.

All I can say to my urban gardener comrades is this: those that wait upon the onset of warmer temperatures renew their strength and benefit their gardens.

Reflections on "MYSTERIES OF LIFE"

One of my favorite mini essays by E.B. White is, "Mysteries of Life." Recently I referred to it when commenting on an entry on The Writer's Almanac's Facebook Page. And I thought of White's "mysteries" essay again the other morning, prompting me to share it here:

MYSTERIES OF LIFE (9-22-28 E.B. White):

"About once a year the human soul gets into the papers, when British scientist convene. Once a year the mystery of life, the riddle of death, are either cleared up or left hanging. The reports of the learned man enthrall us, and there have been moments when we felt that we were really approaching an understanding of life’s secret. We experienced one of those moments the other morning, reading a long article on the chemistry of the cell. Unfortunately, when we finished we happened to glance into our goldfish tank and saw there was a new inhabitant. Frisky, our pet snail, had given birth to a tiny son while our back was turned. The baby mollusk was even then hunching along the glassy depths, wiggling his feelers, shaking his whelky head. Nothing about Frisky’s appearance or conduct had given us the slightest intimation of the blessed event; and gazing at the little newcomer, we grew very humble, and threw the morning paper away. Life was as mysterious as ever."

The essay came to my mind, not because I was reading through the newspaper to check on the reports of "the learned man," and missed the birth of a creature in the process; rather, I thought of the essay when I woke up this morning after a difficult night caused by my having spent too much time going over and over things I had or hadn't done that made me disappointed in myself.

Monday's Memo: It's N'tl Napping day!

I beg to differ with Mooch on this first Monday in Day Light Savings Time (DLST) the future is getting here fast enough...

"There is no blue without yellow and orange." Insights & Controversy Regarding the Color Yellow PART ONE

Today has the unusual "feature" in having the date of 11-11-11 and in honor of that, today's posting will not be my new "feature" of having Friday being Follow-Up Friday (mentioned here), but instead I have three parts (one for each eleven). Part One is being published at 11:11 AM, Part Two is being published at 1:11 PM, and Part Three at 11:11 PM.

The setting or scene for this three-parter is evident in the image posted above, which is an aerial (partial) view of my rooftop garden (in NYC) and it is what is featured in the image at the top of part one of today's blog entry. 

This image was recently posted on both facebook and nybg's (New York Botantical Garden) tumblr, and it was taken by Juan V this past Tuesday. To the right of his photograph, you can see my Actinida kolomikta and Actimida AKA Kiwi Vines, and in the lower lefthand corner of the picture, you can see my ornamental grass known as Hakanechola Macra AKA Japanese Forest Grass All Gold. They are the protagonists in this three part blog entry for this And now, "11, 12, 13" weekend. And now, without furthur ado, I give you PART ONE:

DLST 2018 Begins at 2:00 AM Tomorrow!

IMAGE CREDIT

Just a  reminder to those who live in certain areas: Daylight Savings Time (DLST) begins a couple of hours after midnight. I've written about DLST in bygone years here on Blogger. If you'd like to refer to my posts re this subject, please click here.

Information re a free shipping offer by FAA* (*Fine Art America)

AVAILABLE VIA FAA

The image of one of my 2018 greeting cards that is posted atop this entry, may look familiar to you, dear reader, as I've featured it in prior posts here on Blogger.

I'm now thankful to say that Chris Deatherage posted it on my behalf to my TLLG FB Page and stated the following: "For anyone who prefers to send a generic greeting card during the holiday season, you should consider 'Mac Watching it Snow' in my shop on Fine Art America. And I have just learned that Fine Art America is offering FREE ground shipping on all orders placed through its web portal today, November 3rd, and tomorrow, November 4th until midnight. Here's the link: https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/patricia-youngquist, and feel free to share this special offer with your friends."