Saturday, January 27, 2018

Still Life with Robin: From Kazoo Day to Groundhog Day


by Peggy Robin

The next days ahead are marked by some fun and useful events:

Sunday, January 28 is National Kazoo Day – for the 166th time! If you’ve got 4 minutes to waste, take a look at this video history of the kazoo: http://www.nationalkazooday.com/ I'm sure you'll learn something - I know I did!

Monday, January 29 is National Puzzle Day. You can observe this day by doing any sort of puzzle you like, whether jigsaw, crossword, or sudoku, or the Jumble in today’s Post. More about National Puzzle Day here: https://nationaldaycalendar.com/national-puzzle-day-january-29/ (just to prove I’m not making this one up!)

Tuesday, January 30 is National Croissant Day. Food days are the easiest to celebrate. Eat, eat! Go to a bakery and get yourself a nice, flaky crescent pastry – and tell them it’s National Croissant Day. Maybe you’ll get a discount….

Wednesday, January 31: Now we get to the most splendid event of the week, the triple play in the sky: It’s the Super Blue Moon/Blood Moon/Lunar Eclipse. According to the Washington Post, “the last time we had an eclipse on the second full moon of a calendar month in the Americas was in late March 1866, more than 150 years ago.” (See: http://wapo.st/2EeDnS6. For a readable but accurate scientific description of this coming celestial stunner, go to Smithsonian.com: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/wake-early-january-31-super-blue-lunar-eclipse-180967903/
The best viewing will be out West, but NASA will be livestreaming it so that wherever you may be, you won’t miss the view: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/super-blue-blood-moon-coming-jan-31

Thursday, February 1: It’s National Change Your Password Day. Not the most exciting day of this eventful week, I grant you. If you’re like me, you’ve got too many passwords for too many sites, apps, and accounts to change them all on one day. I’ve got a password manager program that keeps track of all that for me. But if you are still handling it manually, go ahead and observe this special day in a cryptological way. See: https://blog.knowbe4.com/bid/372392/feb-1st-is-national-change-your-password-day

Friday, February 2: It’s that famous, popular holiday that tells us how long the rest of winter will last. Yes, it’s that furry little rodent’s shadow-or-no-shadow gambit called Groundhog Day. You don’t need to drive to Punxsutawney, PA to find out what the groundhog will do. Just get yourself down to Dupont Circle to see our own local version:“At 8:30 sharp Potomac Phil Potomac Phil, the National Groundhog, will make an appearance and offer weather and political predictions. Phil will let us know whether to expect six more weeks of winter or an early spring. Live accordion music, polka dancers, puppet show, VIP celebrities and more. Dupont Circle, at the fountain. Potomac Phil will emerge at approximately 8:30AM or whenever he damn well pleases.”

If that isn’t enough to keep you hopping until next weekend….I can’t imagine what would be!

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Still Life with Robin is published on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Saturdays.    

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