"If it's Tuesday, it must be tumblr . . . " Week No. 33 + also in Honor of Charlie Brown...

Today is Tuesday, so in TLLG's cyber venues, it must be tumblr! But it is also October the second, and, therefore, the anniversary, of the Charlie Brown comic strip, which is one of my faves (as evidenced by my previous posts here on Blogger), even though the strip debuted in 1950 — long before I was born!

Subsequently, in 1967, Woodstock was introduced by the strip's creator, Charles Schultz, a man I have admired here in cyber-space as well as "real life!"

It has been said that Charlie Brown was a character who was "possessed of endless determination and hope, but who is ultimately dominated by his insecurities . . . "

GOOD GRIEF! It's February 12th Again!

Last year, on February 12th 2016, my post here on Blogger featured the very same photograph seen here (above), atop that particular entry. The image is of a Macy's Ballon rendered in the likeness of Charlie Brown for one of The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parades. On last year's blog post, this image was followed by pictures of other balloons featured in Macy's Parades. The ones I am referring to were designed in the likeness of Snoopy and Woodstock. And in that entry I stated: "The pictures posted atop today's entry, February the 12th of 2016 are in honor of Charles Schultz who lived on this earth between the years 11/26/1922—2/12/2000, but, to this day, lives on in the hearts and minds of countless people."

A year has passed since the aforementioned blog post; and the legacy of Schultz, as well as the cast of characters he created, continue to inspire and delight innumerable people! Moreover, the ballon rendered to look like Charlie Brown recently got a make-over; and, it was the leader in this past Macy's Thanksgiving Parade! The following pictures feature Charlie Brown's new "balloon look."

As you can see, he now carries his beloved kite. Charlie Brown's efforts to fly a kite were so heart wrenching! This is a topic, I covered in a post on Go Fly a Kite Day, which was February the eighth. 

Be that as it may, in terms of Charlie Brown's latest role in The Macy's Parade, he came close to side-swiping a lamp post (as seen below).

Now that's what I call a Good Grief moment! However, Charlie Brown did not give into his usual rhetoric of putting himself down! Instead he joked about giving those whom he was leading down the parade's route, a green light!

It was great to see him persevering in his role of parade leader. Often Snoopy and Woodstock bring up the rear when participating in the parade, but at this past November's event, they were no where in sight!

O Mio Babbino Caro

On Tuesday, August 7th 2012, when Juan V came to work with me in my garden (he comes every 10-12 days), he said, "we've got a real problem." 

The problem he spoke of was an infestation of spider mites on my beloved Actinida kolomikta and Actimida (Kiwi Vines), and, as many of my readers know my Actinida kolomikta has been busy peparing for the sequel to my first garden themed movie (which he narrated), titled The Kiwi Speaks! Fifteen Minutes of Fame . . . almost! 

As most gardeners know, by the time one can see spider mites, the infestation is already problematic. And since I'm visually challenged, by the time I would notice them, it would probably be too late. Even when Juan V showed them to me, I still couldn't detect them, especially on the back side of foliage.

Wednesday's Wisdom is from PEANUTS

It's National Sunglasses Day which celebrates the importance of wearing shades to protect your eyes from the sun’s harsh ultraviolet (UV) rays.

Therefore, this Wednesday's Wisdom "episode" for my blog, is a good time to remind readers of the necessity of wearing sunglasses. Woodstock already heeds the memo, as evidenced in the comic strip atop this blog post.

And Woodstock is not the only PEANUTS character to offer wisdom, Charlie Brown's experience (as seen below) is a reminder of one reason a person needs heed the wisdom to BEWARE Of THE DOG.

It's Christmas Card Day!

I recently came across the Peanuts comic strip (posted above) in my TLLG FB newsfeed. Evidently it was originally published on December 2, 1972. Since today, December 9th is Christmas Card Day, I think it's a good time to share Woodstock's wisdom, as well as Snoopy's skepticism with his lesson learned.

Draw A Bird Day 2019

Today is Draw A Bird Day, a longstanding holiday which was created in honor of the dearly departed, Dorie Cooper, who died when she was a child. In bygone years, I have written about little girl and her "role" in the  creation of the holiday. 

Within some of the aforementioned entries, I've included a a copy the photograph atop this post that features one of the ways I was taught to draw a bird by using my hand as a model. In any event, it seems birds learn to draw humans in a similar manner, as evidenced in the cartoon directly below.

That being said, in terms of humans drawing birds, Charles Schultz often comes to my mind.

It's beginning to look a lot like Spring in my garden. (Tuesday's Truths WK 118)

For Snoopy, it is Woodstock returning from the other side of the doghouse that causes him to think Spring must be near, for me its the fact that my crocuses are poking their heads out from under their mulch that makes me think the season is truly upon us.

My First Comic Strip! A Fagus sylvatica's (Beech Tree) Romantic Evening

As anyone who has followed my blog can surmise, I "love" the comics! This is evidenced by my including strips from Dagwood's antics (from the comic strip Blondie); as well as Snoopy's observations (from Charles Schultz's Peanuts; and the beloved animal tales found in Patrick McDonnell's Mutts; in various posts here on TLLG.

I particularly enjoy the human traits, feelings and habits that Schultz attributed to Snoopy as well as Woodstock; and, McDonnell does this frequently in his cast of characters which include Earl, Mooch, Guard Dog, Woofie, and Shtinky Puddin'.

So, what's a comic-strip loving gardener, such as yours truly (who has little talent for drawing), to do when she observes emotions and human characteristics in the things she grows?

Plush Animal Lovers Day 2018

IMAGE CREDIT

Today a number of folks are celebrating the fact that it is #PlushAnimalLoversDay!

As I've said before in an entry here on Blogger,  "According to daysoftheyear.com, 'Plush Animal Lovers Day is a day of celebration that is held every year to show your favorite stuffed toy some extra special love and appreciation. There’s an urban legend that says that the Teddy Bear, one of the worlds most popular plush animal pets, was invented when American President Theodore Roosevelt saw a baby bear on a hunting trip, and refused to shoot it...

"'...The original origins of the day’s creation are vague but there is an unconfirmed Urban Legend that the day first came about after a collectibles dealer named Royal Selangor came up with the idea of a Teddy Bears Picnic Day in the late eighties. Other stuffed toys became jealous that Teddy Bears were being singled out for their own celebration and demanded a special day all of their own! Not long after, Plush Animal Lovers Day quickly replaced Teddy Bears Picnic Day in popularity!"'

Another resource (cute-calendar.com) explains that when it comes to plush animals, "Textiles commonly used include plain cloth and pile bodys like oranges plush or terrycloth. Common stuffing materials are synthetic fiber batting, cotton, straw, wood wool, plastic pellets or beans. The first commercial concern to create stuffed toys was the German Steiff company in 1880. Steiff used new technology developed for upholstery to make their stuffed toys."

A plush animal who is rendered in the likeness of a male cardinal (seen below) is featured in the first volume of my Words In Our Beak book series, where Cam (the female cardinal who is the story teller states:  "... Folks often dismiss me and focus on the males in my 'breed;' even choosing their likeness to create figurines and stuffed animals.."

The one rendered in the likeness of a polar bear (seen in the next picture) represents a polar bear who lived at the Central Park Zoo.

Moreover, with Halloween just around the corner (this coming Wednesday, October thirty-first), I'm including another picture of a plush animal within this entry.

Tomorrow's The Parade!

Sponge Bob, the popular Macy's ballon pictured above, is here with me to announce that the 90th Macy's Thanksgiving Parade will take place in NYC tomorrow! I began blogging about this event on November 15th 2016, with an entry where I included photos of various Macy's balloons including one with Woodstock riding on Snoopy; and ones rendered in the likeness of Thomas The Tank, as well as Spider Man. From what Sponge Bob tells me, Spider Man will not participate this year.

Sunday's Sequel: Answering the Question, "How low can you go?"

In my Thanksgiving Eve entry here on  Blogger, I mentioned warnings that unusually high winds could prevail on Thanksgiving, causing the grounding of balloons who were set to "march" (fly) in the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Parade.

And as I said in my subsequent entry which I published on the day after the official holiday (where I featured the Macy's balloon who is rendered in the likeness of Chase from Paw Print), "Indeed, there were VERY high winds, but the balloons were allowed to participate..."

I concluded my aforementioned entry by stating, "THE QUESTION OF THE DAY WAS: 'How low can you go?' Stay tuned for photo-ops (in subsequent entries) re the answer to this question!"

Now, two days after I published that entry, I'm still not sure how low a Macy's ballon can go, but I am able to give you a pictorial accounting of what happened in the case of several of them.

In the first picture atop this entry, Sinclair's Dinosaur, can be seen heading south down CPW during this year's parade.

56 Yr Old Peanuts Strip Speaks to me Today!

CONFESSION: I'm a hunt and peck typist which slowed me down in writing my three volume book series, Words In Our Beak.  If only I'd known Snoopy could type (as evidenced by the PEANUTS comic strip which is included with this posting and was published on this day of December 2nd in 1962); I might've asked him!

Wednesday in the 2019 Octave of Easter

Today is Wednesday in the Octave of Easter. And it is also Wednesday of Earth Week (since Earth Day was celebrated this past Monday. I've written about the event in prior entries here on Blogger.

This year, I'm honoring the official holiday a couple of days later with this poignant Peanuts Comic Strip featuring Woodstock doing the right thing. There is nothing I can add to Schulz's strip except refer you to bit of history re it, which may be found by clicking here.

No April Fools Day Prank OR Fake News: Dandelion has been retired!

On this April Fool's Day, I'm sorry to report that the announcement made by Crayola yesterday, regarding their retiring the crayon color known as dandelion; was not a pre-April Fool's Day prank!

And it was not fake news either!

The crayon known as dandelion (pictured above) will no longer be a part of any of their crayon collections. It is my understanding that some type of blue color will be replacing dandelion, which seems problematic to me given Vincent van Gogh's philosophy on the color yellow. He is known to have claimed, "There is no blue without yellow and orange," which is something I wrote about here on Blogger in 2011!

Yellow has been an important color in my urban garden, as evidenced by the members of the fauna community who visit my place; as well as by the flora which has grown here.

Plush Animal Lover's Day 2017

Today is Plush Animal Lover's Day, and the image atop this entry of a plush animal rendered in the likeness of a male cardinal, is my way of paying honoring this holiday, but please don't tell Cam I'm doing this!