Matter of Fact Monday: Fruit

Matter of Fact Monday
Fruit Facts – Strawberries
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Did you know that strawberries:
~ were cultivated in ancient Rome!
~were used as a medicinal herb in the 13th century?
~are not really a fruit or a berry but the enlarged receptacle of the flower?
~are grown in every state in the U.S. and every province in Canada?
~are a member of the Rose family!
~have a museum dedicated to them in Belgium?
~were first cultivated back in the 16th and 17th centuries!
~are very high in vitamin C, potassium, and antioxidants?

Matter of Fact Monday: Presidents

Matter of Fact Monday
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The oldest president inaugurated was Reagan (age 69); the youngest was Kennedy (age 43). Theodore Roosevelt, however, was the youngest man to become president——he was 42 when he succeeded McKinley, who had been assassinated.

The tallest president was Lincoln at 6′4″; at 5′4″, Madison was the shortest.

14 presidents served as vice presidents: J. Adams, Jefferson, Van Buren, Tyler, Fillmore, A. Johnson, Arthur, T. Roosevelt, Coolidge, Truman, Nixon, L. Johnson, Ford, and George Bush.

Matter of Fact Monday: Witchcraft

Matter of Fact Monday
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“Witchcraft” is a popular song from 1957 composed by Cy Coleman with lyrics by Carolyn Leigh. It was released as a single by Frank Sinatra, and reached number twenty in the U.S., spending sixteen weeks on the charts .

Witchcraft (from Old English “sorcery , necromancy”), in various historical, anthropological, religious and mythological contexts, is the use of certain kinds of supernatural or magical powers.

Witchcraft is the first in a series of horror thriller films. The film was directed by Rob Spera from a screenplay written by Jody Savin. The film starred Anat Topol, Gary Sloan, Mary Shelley (actress), Elizabeth Stocton, Deborah Scott, Alexander Kirkwood, Lee Kissman, and Ross Newton. The movie was released on video in 1988, and re-released October 15, 1997, on DVD.

Matter of Fact Monday: Sky

Matter of Fact Monday
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I found some beautiful sky photos!

Matter of Fact Monday: Baseball

Matter of Fact Monday
Hosted at http://matteroffactmonday.blogspot.com/
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1. Baseball fan and comedian George Carlin states it this way: “In baseball the object is to go home.” It can’t get much simpler than that (though while playing the game is simple, laying out the field is another matter). Yet when one attempts to determine what players are the most skilled at “going home”, or are the most talented at helping their teammates “go home”, obtaining answers isn’t so simple.

2. Babe Ruth wore a cabbage leaf under his cap while playing baseball, and he used to changed it every two innings.

3. The starting point for much of the action on the field is home plate, which is an irregular white rubber pentagon 17 inches by 8 1/2 by 12 by 12 by 8 1/2 inches (defined in the rule book as a one-foot square with “two of the corners filled in”). Adjacent to each of the two parallel 8 1/2-inch sides is a batter’s box. The point of home plate where the two 12-inch sides meet at right angles, is at one corner of a ninety-foot square. The other three corners of the square, in counterclockwise order from home plate, are called first base, second base, and third base. Three canvas bags fifteen inches (38 cm) square mark the three bases. These three bags along with home plate form the four bases at the corners of the infield.

Matter of Fact Monday: Holidays

Matter of Fact Monday
Hosted at http://matteroffactmonday.blogspot.com/
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Halloween, or Hallowe’en, is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31.
Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, ghost tours, bonfires, costume parties, visiting “haunted houses”, carving Jack-o’-lanterns, reading scary stories and watching horror movies. Irish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century. Other western countries embraced the holiday in the late twentieth century. Halloween is celebrated in several countries of the Western world, most commonly in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Ireland, Puerto Rico, Japan, New Zealand, and occasionally in parts of Australia. In Sweden the All Saints’ official holiday takes place on the first Saturday of November.

The Origin of Halloween
Halloween’s roots can be traced back to Celtic culture in Ireland. According to their “Druid” religion, November 1st was New Years’ on their calendar. The celebration would begin on October 31st ,and last into the following day. The spirits of all who died in the prior year, would rise up and roam the earth on this night.

This is an evil night when spirits roamed the streets and villages. Lord Samhain, the lord of Darkness, would arrive in search of the spirits to take them to the underworld.

Halloween as it is currently celebrated with costumes, trick or treat, and superstitions, takes from this Druid Holiday.