“LOST MUSKET DIARY” Wednesday July 16, 2014

June Gloomy 76F/ C in Rancho Las Musket

Buon giorno,

“June Gloomies” in July? Hey, blame it on Global Warming! Or maybe same sex marriage! Better yet, let’s blame it on OBAMA!

                June Gloomies, gentle reader is a meteorological phenomenon that befalls Southern California every year, just about. If March roars in like a lion and April brings May showers. Then, June creeps in on little cat feet. (Thank you, Carl Sandburg.) “Daylight come, an de overcast crawls in,” Harry Belafonte could have sung if he’d lived in Rancho Santa Margarita in the 1950s. But, he lived in Jamaica, mon, and sang about other stuff. No sir! June “Gloomies” is a condition that sees seemingly endless days of low clouds and overcast along the coast. Sometimes extending far inland. After a few days, it can give you the “willies.” One Saturday long ago I woke up on another overcast morning, rolled over and said to Donna. “Brush your teeth and pack your weekend stuff, we’re getting the hell out of Dodge.” Naturally, she asked me what I was thinking. “I have had enough of ‘June Gloomies, my beloved. We are getting in the car and heading east until the sun comes out. Wherever that is! And there we will spend the weekend. Be sure to grab your swim stuff.”  And, away we went. East. Until we arrived in Palm Desert, California, more than 100 miles away from “June Gloomies.” And there, it came to pass, that we had a wonderful weekend, just the two of us. And, that, gentle reader is the old Bohemian folk remedy for June Gloomies. Pretty lady. Travel. Lots a sunshine.

                That’s what I thought about when I woke up this morning, and that’s what I’m grateful for today, a memory like that.

                On this day in History: (Thanks to Historyorb.com)

463 - Start of Lunar Cycle of Hilarius. He was Pope until 468. Nothing in his history would give you the slightest feeling that he was funny.

622 – This is a biggie! Prophet Muhammad begins flight from Mecca to Medina (Hegira). The rest is history.

1439 - Kissing is banned in England (to stop germs from spreading). Today we call it “abstinence.”

1618 – Capt. John Gilbert patents 1st dredger in Britain.

1945 - 1st test detonation of an atomic bomb, Trinity Site, Alamogordo, New Mexico

Famous Birthdays include these great names in history:

1887 - "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, black sox player (“Say it ain’t so, Joe”)

1888 – “Pa Kettle,” Percy Kilbride, San Francisco CA, actor was born. (Egg & I, Ma & Pa Kettle)

1907 - Orville Redenbacher, Brazil Indiana, American popcorn King (Orville Redenbacher's Gourmet)

Also, let us not forget:

599 - Monulphus, bishop of Tongeren-Maastricht (St Servaaskerk), dies. Tongeren-Maastricht hasn’t been the same since.

And, so it goes. I think I need another cup of coffee.

Ciao,

MikeBo