Although the custom of setting aside a day to honor mothers has ancient roots, our observance of Mother’s Day originated in 1907 with the efforts of a devoted daughter, Anna M. Jarvis of Philadelphia, who conceived the idea of an annual nationwide celebration. The public and the press quickly embraced the idea, and villages, towns, cities, and states soon began unofficial Mother’s Day observances. On May 8, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation designating the second Sunday in May Mother’s Day, and within a few years, the idea gained worldwide prominence. The day is now characterized by gift giving, sending greeting cards and flowers, and giving mother a “day off” by taking the family out to eat.
Daily Calendar for Sunday, May 14, 2023
Question of the Day
I’m putting up an eight-foot cedar fence to shelter a brick patio area from the north winds. What can I grow on its shady side?
We assume you’re looking for a climbing vine, as opposed to a ground cover or shrub, although you could certainly use all three. To climb the cedar poles, your best bet might be winter creeper (Euonymus fortunei radicans), which can extend up to 12 feet and is a hardy evergreen vine for Zone 5 (and even somewhat north of that). It shows a glossy, variegated leaf and thrives in partial or full shade and ordinary soil. It’s a member of the bittersweet family, but it displays a pale pink fruit and greenish white flowers. If you want something more fragrant, you might try a shade-loving clematis vine. Unlike the large-flowered clematis plants that love sun, ‘Sweet Autumn’ clematis is well adapted for shade and known for its autumn fragrance and small white flowers. It likes rich, well-drained soil. Prune it back for winter; you’ll want new growth in the spring. As for shrubs and ground covers, there’s no end to the shade-loving varieties.
Advice of the Day
Add salt to the water under a double boiler; it will make the water boil faster.
Home Hint of the Day
Duct tape is a fibered tape known for its strength, durability and water resistance. It’s a quick fix for everything from leaky canoes to ripped seat covers to damaged pipes to broken furniture.
Word of the Day
Mammatus Cloud
Sinking air in thunderstorms can form sack-like clouds known as mammatus, or mammo, clouds. They look ominous but are actually a sign that a thunderstorm is weakening. These clouds look like upside down pans of biscuits or a cow’s udder.
Puzzle of the Day
What did the owl do when he lost his voice?
He didn’t give a hoot!
Born
- Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit (physicist) –
- Bobby Darin (singer) –
- George Lucas (filmmaker) –
- David Byrne (musician) –
- Cate Blanchett (actress) –
- Amber Tamblyn (actress) –
- Rob Gronkowski (football player) –
- Miranda Cosgrove (actress) –
Died
- Henry John Heinz (founder of the H. J. Heinz Company) –
- Billie Burke (actress) –
- William Lear (inventor) –
- Rita Hayworth (actress) –
- Harry Blackstone Jr. (magician) –
- Frank Sinatra (singer & actor) –
- Robert Stack (actor) –
- Anna Lee (actress whose career in films and television spanned nearly 70 years) –
- Stanley Kunitz (United States poet laureate 2000-01, Pulitzer Prize winner) –
- B. B. King (blues legend) –
- Tim Conway (comedian & actor) –
- Grumpy Cat (feline celebrity with a grumpy expression) –
Events
- Jamestown, Virginia, became the first permanent British settlement in North America–
- 4-year-old Louis-Dieudonné (Louis XIV) became King of France –
- Lewis and Clark’s expedition left St. Louis for the West. The Corps of Discovery, as it was later to be called, originally included approximately 45 people.–
- 34 cavalry disembarked at Indianola, Texas–
- Copyright registered for J. Phillip Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever” march”–
- The Sparrow and the Hawk, a serial for kids, was broadcast for the first time over CBS radio–
- President Eisenhower broke ground for the Lincoln Center–
- First manned U.S. space station launched–
- The final episode of Seinfeld aired–
- Statue honoring the women athletes of the All-American Professional Baseball League installed at the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, New York–
- Racehorse Winning Brew ran 43.97 mph–
- Racehorse Winning Brew ran a quarter mile in 20.57 seconds at the Penn National Race Course in Grantville, Pennsylvania–
Weather
- Ten degrees below zero F at Climax, Colorado–
- The fourth-longest dry spell in Texas ended with 0.01 inch of rain in Brownsville–