The Hidden Almanac for Friday August 1st, 2014 |
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Episode 139 |
Previous episode: 2014-07-30 |
Next episode: 2014-08-04 |
Summary[]
Today we remember the incident with the aardvark. It is also the birthday of the other Cicero. It is the Feast Day of Cod, and in the garden, there are mushrooms.
Be Safe, and Stay Out of Trouble.
Transcription[]
Welcome to the Hidden Almanac, I’m Reverend Mord.
Today is August 1st, 2014.
Where does the time go?
It was on this day in mythical times that a fairy godmother cursed a royal infant on the day of her christening, stating that if the princess saw sunlight before her sixteenth birthday, she would turn into a white aardvark. The fairy was removed from the event and the care and feeding of aardvarks carefully researched. When a suitable aardvark keeper had been found, the princess was exposed to sunlight and duly changed. After a number of years, the white aardvark fell in love with the aardvark keeper’s son and they were married. The children in that kingdom are notable for having long noses and particularly heavy claws.
Fairy godmothers are banned from all family events by law today, to prevent incidents.
And it is the birthday of the ancient philosopher Cicero. Not the famous one, but a different one. He wrote that gardening and fire were the only things that separated man from the beasts, and thus advised acts of gardening and celebratory arson as part of a well-rounded life. His work has largely fallen out of favor, but there was a movement in the 1800s to build “Ciceronian Gardens” which involved gardens built around large central firepits.
It is the Feast Day of Cod. Take time today to celebrate this useful fish, which led to so many great advances in exploration, as the cod-fishing fleet travelled in pursuit of the schools. Consider how you can integrate cod into your life.
In the garden, recent rains have brought out many mushrooms. Many gardeners are unduly afraid of mushrooms. Mushrooms are often beautiful and they will not hurt your plants. Yes, a good many of them are poisonous, but if you are the sort of person who runs about putting strange fungus into your mouth, you have to expect there to be consequences. The world is full of many things that are not good to eat. I do not know why mushrooms are so demonized when people seem perfectly comfortable not eating cars, mailboxes, and small rocks.
The Hidden Almanac is brought to you by Red Wombat Tea Company, purveyors of fine and inaccessible teas. Red Wombat --- “We Dig Tea.”
Also brought to you by Mare Eggs! These rare freshwater bacteria form large gelatinous spheres! Doesn’t that sound delightful? Why not buy one today? Why not buy two? Why not buy seven thousand and help us clear out our stock from a very foolish business decision to go into Mare Egg sales!
That’s the Hidden Almanac for August 1st, 2014. Be safe, and stay out of trouble.
Outro[]
Out of Character
The Hidden Almanac is a production of Dark Canvas Media, and is written by Ursula Vernon. Our exit music is Red in Black and our into music is Moon Valley, both by Kosta T. You can hear more music from Kosta T at the Free Music Archive. The Hidden Almanac is copyright 2013-2014, Ursula Vernon.