International Women’s Day (March 8th)

Future dancers or entertainers

We all have, and have had, special women and girls in our lives, and we love and honor them all year. But, on this special day maybe we can celebrate them especially. I’m including photos of some of the most important special women and girls in my life as a way to illustrate this post, and a couple of young girls who obviously will contribute to society. So, this is a more personal post than usual.

Who knows what these girls’ future is, but they are certainly giving this day, a hot July 4th

My late mother a few years before she passed—a proud matriarch of a large clan

My late mother-in-law, a grande dame in all ways

My twin sisters. Sadly R, on the left, passed away in 2010

International Women’s Day (IWD) on May 8^th is one of the most important days of the year to celebrate women’s family, economic, social, political and cultural achievements. It is celebrated in more than 100 countries and is an official holiday in around 25 countries (not in the USA). In the USA, March is Women’s History Month so International Women’s Day fits right into that. 

Num, a lovely maid at my sister’s farm in South Africa, showing my granddaughter where to pick strawberries. Later they went and collected fresh eggs

My sister on the farm

My 3 sisters with our mother on the farm, 2015

One of my sisters

Increasingly, International Women’s Day is a time to reflect on progress made in women’s lives, to call for change, and to celebrate small acts of courage and determination by ordinary women, who have tried to help their countries and communities.

Companies, organizations, and institutions celebrate and support IWD in different ways, with appreciation breakfasts or lunches, coffee hours, panel discussions, talks, conferences, a fun run etc. Well-known charities such as Oxfam have actively supported IWD, as have many celebrities and business leaders.

My 2 sisters-in-law

Sister-in-law

Jackie, the great carer for my mother-in-law at the end of her life. Not a great photo, but you can see Jackie’s caring and love

The history of International Women’s Day stretches back more than 100 years. Some say the first International Women’s meeting was on March 8, 1907 in the US. This was to commemorate the garment workers’ strike 50 years earlier, an event that many think was the trigger for a deeper consciousness about women’s issues.

Nora, the amazing carer for my mother on the farm at the end of her life

Nora and my mother

My late grandmother, who lived to be 100

In 1910 at a meeting in Copenhagen, German socialist Clara Zetkin proposed an International Women’s Day, to commemorate the US demonstrations and honor working women the world over.

On March 19, 1911 the first official International Women’s Day was celebrated in Europe. At that time, in many European nations, such as Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland, as well as in the USA, women’s rights and women’s suffrage were hot topics. On that day more than one million women and men attended IWD rallies campaigning for women’s rights to work, to vote, to be trained, to hold public office, and to end discrimination.

My granddaughter with her guinea pigs

My daughter

However, it was only in 1975 that the United Nations began celebrating International Women’s Day on 8 March during International Women’s Year 1975. In 1996 the UN started assigning themes to that day, the first one being “Celebrating the Past, Planning for the Future.” This year, 2023, the theme is “Embrace Equity”, and “Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality.”

As I’ve said before, these goals are great, but it’s also important to recognize and celebrate all women, whether famous and powerful, or not. Because, whatever women do, however menial, contributes to the good of society in some way.

My daughter-in-law

My other daughter-in-law and granddaughter

I just discovered that the colors for IWD are purple, white and green. The suffragettes in the US and the UK adopted white and purple as symbols of their movement, to signify solidarity with the struggle for gender equality, and the tradition continues. Purple symbolizes justice and dignity, and white purity, although this is sometimes controversial. Green symbolizes hope.

purple iris

white peony

green bells-of-Ireland

The flower that is the symbol of IWD is the mimosa, chosen by feminists in Italy in 1946, as a symbol of strength, sensibility and sensitivity (I had no mimosa pics).

Photo by Dina Nasyrova on Unsplash

Photo by Bertrand Borie on Unsplash

Some of the questions I may get my ESL students to talk about are:

—who is a woman in your life that you look up to?

—who is a woman in your life that has made a contribution to society?

—Why is it important that women have careers in science and math?

—Do you think men and women have different perspectives? Why or why not?

—Research some inventions inspired by women.

—Read a book written by a female author.

—Read a book with a female main character.

—Read a book about a woman you find inspiring.

See a short Youtube video on Women’s History Month:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVrvMJWrJlk

And find lots more information and history about IWD on their official website:

https://www.internationalwomensday.com

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Florida: Holiday Lights in St Augustine

St Augustine Holiday Lights

Called Nights of Lights, this famous night lights display in St Augustine ran every evening from November 19, 2022, to January 31, 2023. This is apparently the 29^th year of the special lights. According to the local website, Nights of Lights has been listed among the top ten holiday lights displays in the world by National Geographic. 

We were staying Vilano Beach nearby, but stayed in the old town one evening for dinner on New Year’s Day and were able to see the lights. Millions of tiny, mostly white, lights adorn the buildings, trees, fences, and outline the roof lines in old St Augustine, especially along the waterfront, and the roughly 20 blocks of the historic district of the oldest continuously-occupied city in the USA (founded in 1565). They all create a special glow, and lovely reflections in the waters of the Matanzas River around the famous Bridge of Lions. We had fun walking along the waterfront on Avenida Menendez looking at the lights and all the people (and traffic). 

Taken from close to the famous Bridge of Lions

It is very pretty, but I’m not sure about it being in the top ten!!

Our family group

The traffic continually streams by

There is a lot of traffic and it’s very hard to find parking nearby, but the city does provide some shuttles from parking areas further away. 

For more information and a link to a short YouTube video, see here: 

https://www.floridashistoriccoast.com/nights-lights/

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International Nurses Day and Nurses Week

International Nurses Day was yesterday (May 12), but I thought that today (Friday 13th) would be a lucky day to write about it! I (obviously) do not have any photos for this, as I don’t want to post personal nurse pictures.

Our daughter is a nurse, so this is dedicated to her. Times have been very tough for healthcare workers, especially nurses, in the last few years mostly due to the pandemic, and they deserve a break. With more than 3 million licensed nurses in the US today, nurses make up the highest percentage of the US healthcare workforce. And that is likely true in many other countries. However, there is a serious nursing shortage, which is impacting healthcare and needs to be addressed. Perhaps if nurses were treated better in the healthcare setting and given proper recognition that might begin to help. 

Nurses…those caring, compassionate people we’ve probably all had dealings with. More than likely, either we or our family or friends have been ill or in trouble and have been helped and cared for by a nurse. Nurses…those warm people who see us at our worst moments, but still care and help. Often described as an art and a science, nursing is a profession of dedicated people who work in emergency rooms, on hospital floors, in clinics, in school-based clinics, in nursing homes, and homeless shelters, for example. Some of our nursing experiences have also been at home, when a family member (likely mother), tended to us. Nurses have many roles—from staff nurse to educator to nurse practitioner to nurse researcher—but the one we imagine most easily is that of “ministering angel”, that person we can call on for any physical need. Whatever their roles and wherever they work, these wonderful people deserve to be recognized, even more so now with the very stressful role they have played during the pandemic. 

So, it seems fitting that there is special day and week to honor all nurses.

International Nurse’s Day (IND) is celebrated on May 12th all over the world, the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth. Florence Nightingale is commemorated as the founder of modern nursing. Florence Nightingale (May 12, 1820-August 13, 1910) was an English nurse who became famous for her pioneering nursing work during the Crimean War, where she helped wounded soldiers. There she earned the nickname of “Lady of the Lamp“, because of her habit of making rounds at night, holding her lamp. In 1860 she set up a nursing school at St Thomas Hospital in London, the first secular nursing school in the world. New nurses, even today, take the Nightingale Pledge, named in her honor.

In addition, National Nurse’s Day, also known as National RN Recognition Day, is celebrated on May 6th every year in the United States. It begins the week-long celebration, May 6-12, known as National Nurses Week, sponsored by the American Nurses Association (ANA).

Each year there is a new theme for Nurse’s Day and National Nurses’ Week.

The theme for 2022 International Nurses Day is: Nurses: A Voice To Lead. Invest in Nursing and Respect Rights to Secure Global Health

The 2022 theme for National Nurses Week is: #WeAnswerTheCall

For International Nurses Day, the International Council of Nurses (ICN) commemorates this day each year by producing and distributing the International Nurses’ Day (IND) Kit. The kit contains educational and public information materials for use by nurses everywhere.  The ICN has celebrated International Nurses Day since 1965.

More information here https://www.nursingtimes.net/news/global-nursing/international-nurses-day-2022-will-demand-real-investment-in-nursing-21-04-2022/

National Nurses Week is one of the largest healthcare events in the USA, recognizing the contributions and commitments nurses make, and educating the public about the significant work they perform and the variety of schedules nurses work. At the national and local level, there will typically be banquets and recognition dinners, continuing education seminars, and other community events.  Nurses are often honored with gifts, dinners, and flowers by friends and family members, co-workers, and patients who want to show their appreciation.

Background to National Nurses Week:

The day was first proposed as a holiday to President Eisenhower in 1953 by Dorothy Sutherland of the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, who suggested proclaiming a “Nurse Day” in October the following year. The proclamation was never made, but the following year National Nurses Week was observed from October 11-16, marking the 100^th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s time in Crimea during the Crimean War. 

In 1974, President Nixon proclaimed a “National Nurse Week” and in 1981, nurses in New Mexico initiated a new resolution to have May 6^th declared “National Recognition Day for Nurses”. In 1982, the US Congress designated May 6^thto be “National Recognition Day for Nurses” and President Reagan signed the proposal. The ANA (American Nurses Association) Board of Directors expanded it in 1990 to a week-long celebration (May 6-12) known as “National Nurses Week.”

As part of National Nurses’ Week, National Student Nurses Day is celebrated each year on May 8^th. And from 2003, the ANA declared that National School Nurse Day is also celebrated as part of National Nurses Week.

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St Patrick’s Day, Annually on March 17th

May the Luck of the Irish be with you on March 17th

Often found on T-shirts

Ireland (and the USA) will again be able to celebrate this tradition with a colorful green past.

Another T-shirt we saw in Dublin—clovers, green, and references to drinking!

During the pandemic the St Patrick’s Day parades and festivities were cancelled in Ireland, the USA and other places in the world with a large Irish population. But, this year, 2022, St Patrick’s is back. The main festival every year in Ireland is in Dublin, but the last time they held it was in March 2019. It was one of the first events to be cancelled in March 2020 as COIVD-19 started to spread around the world. This is very good news for Ireland, as the festival brings in many tourists who add a lot to the country’s economy. The main festivities will be on Thursday 17^th March and the next day will be a public holiday too, as a way to honor people who have served during the pandemic.

And it’s exciting for us in central Illinois, USA, because our university’s marching band are going to perform in Dublin’s parade. The band is called the Marching Illini and they are touring the Emerald Isle right now (300 student performers and 100 family members), visiting various sights before performing in Dublin’s annual St Patrick’s Day parade. I’m happy to hear that people from our state are helping Ireland’s economy rebound and are part of the revival of this special event. The Marching Illini first performed there in 1992 and they have returned seven times.

The lovely Dingle Peninsula in Ireland—everywhere we went the landscape was as green as this

I’ve not personally walked in a St Patrick’s Day parade, but we’ve seen part of one in Chicago (and the green river; more of that to come). We’ve visited Ireland though and can personally attest that it is a very “green” country, with people who love music and having a good time.

Us inside a typical convivial Irish bar

The Chicago River dyed green on St Patrick’s Day

Some of the parade costumes

What is St Patrick’s Day?

St.  Patrick’s Day is a many-sided holiday, a religious, political, and joyous affair.  On St. Patrick’s Day, a day of parades and “wearing o’ the green”, there could be a little bit of the Irish in all of us. The Irish, who love to relax, love to sing, want to be happy, love to tell a story and a joke. Just remember, though, that more “Blarney” is probably spoken on this day than usual! (blarney=flattery and cajoling). Have you heard of the Blarney Stone? It’s in a 15th century castle in the village of Blarney in central Ireland and many people make a pilgrimage to the stone.  Supposedly, if you kiss this stone you’ll be blessed with amazing eloquence! Both castle and kissing the stone were closed during the pandemic, but I believe they are both open again.

So cute!

A typical scene in Ireland

Who was St Patrick?

In Ireland, Patrick is honored as the man who brought Christianity there and ended the rule of the Druids.  He was not born in Ireland, but possibly in Scotland. The year of his birth is also uncertain, but around AD 387 seems to be agreed on. March 17th is the day of his death, perhaps in 460 or 461. What we know of his life is taken from his two works: the “Confession”, and a public letter written to a British chief who raided Ireland. At age 16 he was captured by pirates and taken to Ireland where he was made a slave of the Chieftain of Ulster. At 22 he escaped to France where he became a monk. In AD 423 he returned to Ireland after seeing a vision that his mission in life was to take Christianity to Ireland. For the rest of his life, he started more than 300 Christian churches, schools, and at least one college, and baptized more than 120,000 Irish citizens.

He is the patron saint of Ireland: the church started a feast day honoring him on March 17, 1631, and in 1903 March 17 became a national holiday in Ireland. So, we can see that this holiday has very old roots.

I bought this clover plant about 5 years ago for St Patrick’s Day. It is still doing fine—I like to think it’s a symbol of the resiliency of the Irish

What else did St Patrick do?

Legend tells us that Patrick drove all poisonous snakes from Ireland by beating his drum. There are no native snakes in Ireland today and there never were in the first place, so the reference might be to the pagans he drove away. He also popularized the shamrock, by using the three leaves of this clover plant to symbolize the Holy Trinity, or the Three Gods in One, which is part of the Christian belief. As he preached to his converts, Patrick used the shamrock as an example: he pointed to the three leaves, saying one was the Father, one the Son, one the Holy Spirit, three, yet one, just like the shamrock. By the 18th century it had become the patriotic symbol in Ireland, and was later adopted as the theme of defiance against English rule. “The rose will fade, but the shamrock will shine forever”, are the words of an old revolutionary song. At any St Patrick’s Day festivities these days you’ll see many clover leaves in many different forms.

Here you can clearly see the 3-in-1 type leaf

Ready to go!

We enjoyed the music in the Temple Bar in the Temple Bar area of Dublin

St Patrick’s Day in the USA

Most of the “real” celebrating of this holiday occurs in the USA and other countries where Irish immigrants settled. Many left Ireland because of the potato famine in the 1840’s and it’s estimated that more than 31 million people in the USA are part Irish. St. Patrick’s Day was first celebrated in the USA in Boston in 1837 and the idea spread to other cities, such as New York, Chicago, San Francisco Bay area, and St Louis, as a way to remember their country, music and families. In those places, huge parades are staged, usually on the closest Saturday or Sunday to 17th March. It is said that the famous parade in New York is the largest and oldest in the world, and will take place again this year. Other parades, for example, will be in Savannah, GA, Boston (on Sunday March 20), St Louis (on March 12), and Chicago (March 12), which will turn the Chicago River green again.

Chicago and its green river

 

GREEN is the color of St. Patrick’s Day, because it is the color of Ireland, the “Emerald Isle”. People wear green clothes, or at least something green, and make green food, with vegetables or green food color. In Chicago, they even put green food dye in the Chicago River to make it turn green! Quite a sight. This tradition started in 1962 and this year the Plumbers Local 130 will dye the river. The river was green last year (2021) but there was no parade. About 50 pounds of food dye are put into the river over a period of 45 minutes and the green river can last 2-4 days. The dye is apparently safe and even environmentalists do not oppose it. 

Many breweries make green beer too. My first experience with green beer was a little disconcerting, but actually the taste doesn’t really change.

The parade can be a boisterous affair, gorgeous with green and white balloons and costumes, floats decorated with green-dyed carnations and many shamrock motifs, happy singing and dancing with traditional musical instruments like a penny whistle or a harp, that perfectly capture some of the catchy Irish tunes or soulful Irish ballads. Costumes can be over-the-top, but many leprechauns frolic. This naughty little creature rather like a goblin, who likes to hide things, is another symbol of this day. The story goes that if a person doesn’t wear green on March 17 they’ll get pinched by a leprechaun, because green makes you invisible to leprechauns. Everyone can watch but many folks also manage to join in, as the spirit of the parade is very communal. Many eating places will offer snacks of corned beef, cabbage, mashed potatoes, soda bread, and green beer—all traditional Irish food items.

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March 8: International Women’s Day (IWD)

Catherine helping with a flower business in Kwa- Zulu Natal, South Africa

Nora helping with the same flower business

Alice was our guide on a tour of a nutmeg plantation in Grenada

This day is celebrated on March 8^th each year, in varying ways in different parts of the world, supported by many different organizations and institutions. In some countries it is a national holiday but not in others, in which case they celebrate in other ways: a fun run, a dinner gala, conferences, breakfasts, festivals, tech talks etc. In the USA, March is Women’s History Month so International Women’s Day fits right into that.

Since the early years, International Women’s Day has taken on a global dimension for women in both developed and developing countries. Well-known charities such as Oxfam have actively supported IWD, as have many celebrities and business leaders. Increasingly, International Women’s Day is a time to reflect on progress made to the lives and role of women, to call for change and to celebrate small acts of courage and determination by ordinary women, who have tried to help their countries and communities.

April getting married in Harare, Zimbabwe. We were lucky enough to be invited to the Shona wedding

Budding ballerinas at a festival in Arcola, Illinois

Each year, the UN picks a different theme for IWD. For example, in 2015 it was “Empowering Women. Empowering Humanity.” This year, 2022, the theme is “Break the Bias”.

Lin, a Chinese grad student in Beijing, was assigned to us as a guide one year when we visited

Cong and Ziaoli, also grad students in Beijing, were assigned as our guides another day

These goals are all good, but I think it’s also a time to just celebrate women and honor them all, whether famous, powerful or not; to acknowledge what they do, however menial, as it contributes to the good of their society in some way.

My late mother-in-law at 92. She was a grande dame in the true sense of the word

A trinket seller in Grenada

Kirsty from Sweden was a grad student at our university

A woman from a small village in South Korea sets out to do her shopping

To that aim, here are some pictures we’ve taken over the years of various women in different countries, involved in a number of differing activities, or just smiling for us. I have permission to use all of these photos. Scroll through and enjoy.

My late grandmother on her 100th birthday. She was a former British citizen and was determined to get a birthday card from the Queen!

Mayuko from Japan at her bridal shower

If you are interested, after the photos there’s the rest of the article on the history of International Women’s Day.

See the official website:

http://www.internationalwomensday.com

My late mother, proud matriarch of a large clan!

A singer at a special dinner we attended at a conference in Outer Mongolia

This woman in Zimbabwe has made these lovely painted fabrics for sale.

A bit of history

On March 19, 1911 the first official International Women’s Day was celebrated in Europe. At that time, in many European nations, as well as in the USA, women’s rights and women’s suffrage were hot topics. 

It was honored in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on 19 March. More than one million women and men attended IWD rallies campaigning for women’s rights to work, to vote, to be trained, to hold public office and to end discrimination.

However, many people believe that there were earlier events that were a build-up to this first official IWD. Some say the first International Women’s meeting was on March 8, 1907 in the US. This was to commemorate the garment workers’ strike50 years earlier, an event that many think was the initial trigger for a deeper consciousness about women’s issues. 

What happened 50 years before? On March 8, 1857, garment workers in New York City marched and picketed, demanding improved working conditions, a ten-hour day, and equal rights for women. Police broke their ranks, quite violently.

One year after the women’s gathering in 1907 there was another march. On March 8, 1908, the garment workers’ sisters in the needle trades in New York marched again, honoring the 1857 march, demanding the vote, and an end to sweatshops and child labor. The police were present on this occasion too.

The first official meeting in 1911 came about because earlier in 1910 at a meeting in Copenhagen, German socialist Clara Zetkin proposed an International Women’s Day, to commemorate the US demonstrations and honor working women the world over.

After 1911, because of WW1, the Depression, and WW2, interest in a women’s day was low, but in the 1960s the women’s movement began a new revival, mainly because there was a growing sense that “history” as taught in school was incomplete and had a male bias.

In 1975, the United Nations began celebrating International Women’s Day (IWD) on 8 March during International Women’s Year 1975. And in 1987, a group of women in the US campaigned with representatives from museums, schools and libraries to expand the celebration, and Congress responded by declaring the entire month of March as National Women’s History Month.

On the 100th anniversary of IWD, March 8, 2011, the IWD Organization collaborated with women’s organizations around the world to present gatherings and celebrations in 152 countries.  In the United States, President Barack Obama honored the day and the then-Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, launched the “100 Women Initiative: Empowering Women and Girls through International Exchanges“. In the UK, celebrity activist Annie Lennox lead an amazing march across one of London’s iconic bridges, to raise awareness in support of the global charity, Women for Women International. 

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March 3, 2022: World Wildlife Day

A female kudu—what beautiful antelopes they are

Male kudu

A serval

In Honor of World Wildlife Day

World Wildlife Day will be March 3, 2022, and the theme is “Recovering Key Species for Ecosystem Restoration.” The main celebration will be online and will try to bring together representatives from the UN, many environmental and conservation organizations, the private sector, and anyone interested who cares about preserving the amazing diversity of wildlife around the world—animals and plants.

On December 20, 2013 the United Nations General Assembly declared March 3 as UN World Wildlife Day, so this year will be the 9^th celebration. As we must all be aware of by now, there are so many threats to wildlife around the world, so the more we can all raise awareness of the plight of these creatures and plants the better.

An Agamid lizard

A cormorant

A klipspringer (a rock jumper)

To celebrate World Wildlife Day and to celebrate these wonderful animals, I decided to choose a selection of photos that we have taken over the years. These are all of African animals that we saw on various trips to National Parks, mostly in South Africa (in Kruger National Park, Pilansberg, and Hluhluwe-Umfolozi), but also a trip to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, and a trip to the Masai Mara in Kenya. Almost always we do a self-drive safari, as we find that much more satisfying and flexible, but on a couple of occasions we’ve done a game-ranger drive. We have literally hundreds, maybe thousands, of photos, so it’s really difficult to know how best to try and capture all that we have seen and to show the great diversity. I don’t think it’s possible, so I chose a random selection. I hope you can scroll through and enjoy. As you scroll, let’s try to imagine how we can all help these animals to survive in the years to come.

Two impala, being affectionate it seems

A male nyala, another magnificent antelope

Hippos on land

We saw this hippo in the river from the boat

Hippos (hippopotamus, which is from the Greek meaning river horse) are the world’s deadliest large land mammal, killing an average of 500 people per year in Africa. They might look large and lumbering, but they can move fairly quickly and they have very large teeth, as we saw when this one opened its mouth in the Zambesi River when we were on a boat on the river. They are estimated to have the strongest jaws of any herbivore. They can be aggressive and will definitely defend their territory both in and out the water, which is why they’ve been known to capsize small boats. 

That hippo opened its moth. You certainly don’t want to get involved with the hippo mouth and jaws!

Lion and lioness relaxing under a bush

Lion looks very docile!

King cheetah

Lions, on the other hand, are responsible for around 200-250 human deaths a year, mostly linked to defending their cubs, territory, and carcasses of some animal they have killed. So, they are still considered dangerous, and all visitors should be careful and sensible. This actually applies to any animal on the wild. You don’t always see lions on every drive you do in a Game Park, so we have mostly been very lucky. 

Cheetahs, and Leopards (which are nocturnal) are even more elusive, but we’ve been lucky enough over the years to see a few of each of these in the wild.

Leopard lounging in a tree

Male elephant taking a sand bath

At a water hole

They seem to be greeting each other

Elephants are usually quite plentiful and are some of our favorite animals. They are very intelligent and can show emotion. Because of their huge size they can sometimes kill people and can charge at around 30 mph if frightened or wounded. Many conflicts come in places where humans and animals are in competition for land, vegetation and crops. In that situation the elephants unfortunately usually are the losers, unless the community can come up with a solution of who the co-exist. Sadly, too, in many places elephants are still poached for their tusks, as the ivory is very valuable. I read an interesting article recently about elephants in Mozambique, where many are now being born tuskless, especially the females, so Mother Nature is coming to the rescue in an unusual way.

White rhinos

More white rhinos

Rhinos and Cape buffalo at a water hole

Rhinos (rhinoceros, from the Greek rhino=nose, and ceros=horn), both black and white, have been heavily poached too for their tusks, because many people in Asian countries believe that the tusks have medicinal properties, especially as an aphrodisiac. The tusks are sold for an exorbitant amount of money. Luckily, between 2015 and the present, annual poaching figures in Southern Africa have fallen due to strong conservation efforts. The estimate for current rhino numbers is 5,000 black rhinos (down) and 18,000 white rhinos (up). They are all grey and the difference is in their mouths. Most of the remaining rhinos in southern Africa are in Botswana, South Africa and Namibia. We’ve been very lucky over the years to see quite a number of rhinos, very large, tank-like herbivores that belong to the odd-toed ungulates.

Blue wildebeest

Wildebeest and zebra grazing together

There are tons of antelope and other herbivores too. A fascinating one is the Blue Wildebeest, or Gnu. It was first named by Dutch settlers around 1700. Because it looked like a wild cow, they called it wildebeest, which means wild cow, or wild ox. They are in the antelope family and related to cattle, goats and sheep. They really are quite strange-looking animals and there is an old African legend that goes like this to explain the wildebeest appearance: When God created the wildebeest he used body parts left over from 5 other animals: a buffalo’s horns, a locust’s head, a cow’s body, a lion’s tail, and some spare goat’s legs. 

A Burchell’s zebra

Wildebeest often graze in mixed herds with zebras, which gives them all more awareness of potential predators: the wildebeest has a good sense of hearing and smell, and the zebras have good eyesight. There are 3 types of Zebras—Plains or Burchell’s Zebra, and Mountain Zebra, both found in southern Africa, and Grevy’s Zebra found in East Africa. The ones that we’ve mainly photographed are the Plains or Burchell’s Zebra—those wonderful “stripey horses”.

Giraffe

Very tall but very graceful

A giraffe browsing

Giraffes are, sadly, now also threatened. These herbivores are mostly browsers but can also graze. Many people assume that, because giraffe have such long necks, they must have many bones in their necks. But, in fact they have only 7 large bones called cervical vertebrae. Nearly all mammals—from humans to mice, to whales, to kangaroos—have 7 cervical vertebrae, no matter how long or short their necks.

The Nile Crocodile is the most common type of crocodile found in southern and eastern Africa. They are found in rivers, freshwater marshes, estuaries, and mangrove swamps. They are semi-aquatic and still need access to land. They can be up to 14 ft in length and swim up to 22 miles an hour. They can be dangerous to humans and kill hundreds of people every year in Africa, so never swim anywhere there are crocodiles! 

Nile crocodile

The Cape Buffalo is a very large aggressive African bovine that has not been domesticated, unlike its Asian counterpart the water buffalo. Cape buffalo and water buffalo are not closely related to American bison. We can often see Cape buffalo in large herds, but also in small groups.

A Cape buffalo enjoying a bath

A tssesebe relaxing on the warm earth after a wildfire has died down

We saw many more different animals—from baboons and Samango monkeys, to various insects and glorious birds, to reptiles to a variety of antelope. I can’t cover them all here but all are important and all deserve to be celebrated and protected.

Ostriches and vervet monkeys

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Black History Month in USA

I had this published quite a few years ago on a website called Helium, which covered all sorts of topics, from travel, to economics, to entertainment, to recipes. That site folded a number of years ago, and all the content seemed to have disappeared with it, so I decided to repost this here. I don’t have photos for this article, so please just enjoy the words!

In the USA, Black History Month is an annual observance in February of the past achievements and current status of black Americans. 

During Black History Month, the nation celebrates the lives of black Americans whose lives have made a difference in this country or around the world. Yet history is not just a celebration of events that took place in the nation’s past. History is a living thing that is being rewritten every day by people winning new victories, breaking the old rules, or setting new standards for leadership and excellence.

This is especially true for African Americans, whose opportunities were often severely limited at certain times in the past. This makes Black History Month the perfect time to celebrate the breakthroughs that changed that. Those past events are the foundation for the achievements of today, which in turn will be the foundation for the future.

Today’s African Americans have come to succeed in all fields and to influence all parts of American culture: sports, business, politics, entertainment, music, journalism, art, oratory. 

African American history began in 1619, when the first African slaves arrived in Jamestown colony; continued through slavery, Civil War, segregation, two World Wars, the Civil Rights Movement; and it continues today with the election of Barak Obama as the first African American as U.S. president. (And now, the possibility of the first Black woman as a nominee for the US Supreme Court).

The idea for an observance honoring the accomplishments of black Americans was proposed by historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Woodson’s parents were former slaves and he spent his childhood working in the Kentucky coal mines. He only enrolled in high school at age 20, but graduated within two years and later went on to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard. In his studies he discovered the distressing fact that history books mostly ignored the black American population, and that when blacks did feature, it was usually as people in a socially inferior position.

Woodson decided that he had to write black Americans into the nation’s history. He established the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History in 1915, and a year later founded the respected Journal of Negro History. In 1926, he initiated Negro History Week as a way of bringing national attention to the contributions of black people throughout American history.

In the early 1970s, the observance became known as Black History Week. Later, it was expanded to include the entire month of February.

Woodson chose the second week in February because it coincided with the birthdays of two men who greatly influenced black Americans: Frederick Douglass (February 14, 1818) and Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809). Douglass (1818-1895) was an American abolitionist, son of a black slave and an unknown white father. In 1838 he successfully escaped slavery on his second attempt and took the name Douglass from Scott’s hero in “The Lady of the Lake”.

However, February is significant in black American history for many other events, besides the births of Douglass and Lincoln. For example:

*February 23, 1868: W.E.B. DuBois, an important civil rights leader and co-founder of the NAACP, was born.

*February 3, 1870: The 15^th Amendment was passed, granting blacks the right to vote.

*February 25, 1870: The first black U.S. senator, Hiram R. Revels (1822-1901) took his oath of office.

*February 12, 1909: The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded by a group of concerned black and white citizens in New York City.

*February 1, 1960: In a Civil-Rights Movement milestone, a group of black Greensboro, N.C., college students began a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter.

*February 21, 1963: Malcolm X, the militant leader who promoted Black Nationalism, was shot to death by three black Muslims.

With so many talented African Americans to choose from, it’s hard in a short article to know whom to single out to honor.

A random sampling might include:

*Thurgood Marshall was the first African-American U.S. Supreme Court Justice.

*Shirley Chisholm was America’s first black Congresswoman.

* Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou have written wonderful poems.

*Gordon Parks, a self-taught photographer, also made films and wrote novels and music. His ballet “Martin”, about the life of Martin Luther King Jr., has been performed around the world.

*Scott Joplin introduced a new style of music known as Ragtime.

*Martin Luther King Jr. was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement in the mid 1900s.

As history continues to unfold, a new hot debate has broken out about the relevance of this Black History Month. Many say that, with the election of Barak Obama as the first U.S. black president, celebrating this month is no longer necessary. As Earl Ofari Hutchinson said in New America Media on February 11, 2009, “The proposal got a lot of tongues wagging on Web sites, in chat rooms and e-blasts. The debate even stirred up enough controversy to get some ink from AP.” 

People in favor of eliminating this month celebration say that the accomplishments of black people are generally recognized and admired. It is true that most people know of Oprah Winfrey, Denzel Washington, Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, Martin Luther King Jr. and Josephine Baker, for example. And what about musicians such as Miles Davis, Chuck Berry, and Buddy Guy? And, many millions of people were captivated by young Amanda Gorman, who read her poem “The Hill We Climb” at the Inauguration of Joe Biden as President of the USA in January 2021. But, how many know the achievements of the Tuskegee Airmen, of Rosa Parks, of Zora Neale Hurston, or of the hundreds of other black geniuses who are unknown in the mainstream?

Most of the discussions appear to conclude that we need to continue with this celebration. Even President Obama issued a proclamation on February 2, 2009, asking for the celebration to remain. He said, “It’s a chance to examine the evolution of our country and how African Americans helped draw us ever closer to becoming a more perfect union.”

So, it would appear that Black History Month is still relevant, that black history should continue to be fully explored in schools and educational institutions, as there is still a tendency to focus on white history. Recent events (Black Lives Matter, race riots, the killing of many young black men, for example) have highlighted this.

The co-existence of many cultures in the country is part of what makes the U.S. great, so understanding these different cultures and histories is important. Many people have also suggested that an Asian-American Month, a Hispanic-American Month, a Muslim-American Month, a Native American Month and so on, would also be appropriate.

Thought-provoking ideas.

More Information on Black History:

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhm1.html (probably one of the better sites I found: If you read through all the entries, there’s an amazing amount of information, covering history and contemporary issues, notable biographies, demographics, economics, holidays, awards, education, and more.)

A very small sampling of Books:

* ”Tell All the Children Our Story. Memories and Mementos of Being Young and Black in America”, by Tonya Bolden.

* ”The Drinking Gourd”, by Jeanette Winter.

* ”Families: Poems Celebrating the African-American Experience”, by Dorothy Strickland and Michael Strickland.

* “Makes Me Wanna Holler: A Young Black Man in America “, by Nathan McCain.

Other resources:

* PBS four-part TV series, “Slavery and the Making of America”.

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Groundhog Day, February 2nd, 2022.

February 2, 2022. Is Spring on its Way? Let’s Ask a Groundhog.

(I’ve never been to the Groundhog Day Festival, so have no personal photos. But, it’s possible to find pictures of actual groundhogs on the public domain, or of cute cards for the day, so I’ll add a few here).

As I write this on the morning of February 2^nd, in east central Illinois, we are in the middle of a huge winter storm event, so it’s hard to imagine that spring is on the way!! And Punxsutawney saw his shadow and told us there will be 6 more weeks of winter!! So, what is all this?

Looking out our front door this morning

And onto our deck

If you hear mention of Groundhog Day, chances are you think of the famous weather-predicting rodent from Pennsylvania and/or the well-known movie Groundhog Day. This Groundhog, called Punxsutawney Phil, is the only mammal to have a day named in its honor, as far as I know. How did this happen?

Peeping out of a burrow

According to legend, if the Groundhog (also known as a woodchuck, a kind of marmot, or a whistle-pig because, if alarmed, it will emit a high-pitched whistle as a warning to the groundhog colony) sees its shadow on February 2nd when it leaves its burrow after hibernation, there will be six more weeks of winter weather. He will be afraid of his shadow and return to his burrow to wait for warmer weather. But, if he does not see his shadow, there is a good chance that spring is on its way. 

This folkloric tradition goes back many centuries to the distant past when nature and the seasons had a bigger influence on people’s lives. These traditions guided ordinary folk, such as helping farmers know when they should plant their crops. 

Photo courtesy of Jack Bulmer on Unsplash

The tradition behind the more modern Groundhog Day stems from similar beliefs associated with pagan Candlemas Day, or Festival of Lights, which falls in the mid point between the winter solstice and spring equinox (February 2). The Roman legions carried this tradition to the north in Europe, to the Teutons (or Germans) and to the English. The early Christians in Europe took the symbolism of the pagan tradition of lights and used the day as the special time to bless all the candles that would be used in the coming church year and to distribute candles to people in the dark winter. For them, the weather on that day was also important; if the sun came out, it meant six more weeks of winter. The Catholic Church also called this day the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Nowadays, this day is mostly connected to weather lore, although in Europe, especially France, it is traditional to eat crepes on that day too.

An old English Candlemas song goes like this:

       If Candlemas be sunny and bright,

 winter again will show its might.

If Candlemas day be cloudy and grey

winter soon will pass away.

This tradition of weather prediction was brought to the USA in the 1700s and 1800s by German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania.  In Germany they used the badger (or some say, the hedgehog) as their predicting animal, but the new immigrants could not find badgers in Pennsylvania, so they adopted the groundhog. 

The tradition with the groundhog started in the town of Punxsutawney in Pennsylvania, where the earliest American reference to Groundhog Day is February 4^th, 1841 (in the Pennsylvania Dutch Folklore Center). The Delaware Indians had settled in Punxsutawney in the early 1700s and they considered groundhogs as honorable ancestors. 

Pennsylvania’s official celebration of Groundhog Day began in 1886 when the editor of the local Punxsutawney newspaper proclaimed the town the “Weather Capital of the World” and gave the animal his name— Punxsutawney Phil, or just Phil.

Photo courtesy of Ralph Katie on Unsplash

Punxsutawney Phil has become one of the most famous weather forecasters in the USA, and Groundhog Day has evolved into a big tourist event.

But Phil’s fame may be too much for his small hometown to handle as it now hosts various festivities. Punxsutawney is a sleepy town of about 6,000 people. Each year on February 2^nd, Phil is rousted from his burrow, as crowds of tens of thousands of people gather to watch him emerge from his nest (some years the numbers have been as high as 35,000). 

Events are held from late January to February 3^rd, with the highlight being on the morning of February 2^nd. The crowds gather on Gobbler’s Knob, which opens at 3am, with a bonfire, waiting for Phil’s appearance at 7:25am. Up on Gobbler’s Knob, Phil is placed in a heated burrow underneath an artificial tree trunk on a stage before he is pulled out at 7:25am to make his annual prediction. According to his new local handlers, Ben Hughes and John Griffiths (Bill Deeley retired), Phil weighs 15-20 pounds and is about 22 inches long. He thrives on greens, fruits and vegetables, and sometimes dog food and even icecream, in his climate-controlled home at the Punxsutawney Library. 

Town officials credit the 1993 hit movie Groundhog Day for most of the increased attention to their town and its tradition. The movie stars comedian Bill Murray as a TV weatherman sent to Punxsutawney to report on the groundhog ceremony (5 stars on Rotten Tomatoes).

However, not everyone in town is happy about the event’s increased popularity. The groundhog ceremony was traditionally a family event that parents and children could enjoy together. But frequently now thousands of rowdy college students jam into the town square. Loud music blares and some students even strip down to their underwear and prance around in sub-freezing temperatures. The town council and police had to work out ways to control the groundhog fans, so, for example, there are two viewing areas on Gobbler’s Knob, one for families, and one for students.

Many other towns around the USA and also in Canada have their own Groundhog Day festivities: Check the local newspapers. They are all a lot of fun, and Phil even appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show in 1995.

How accurate is Phil?

The National Geographic Society has said that the accuracy of the groundhog’s predictions is only around 28% over 60 years. His official website says it’s around 35%.

Well, this year he was accurate!

Here are a couple of photos from 2018 https://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/news/nation/2017/02/01/punxsutawney-phil-through-the-years/97370698/

And a look at the people who handle Punxsutawney Phil https://www.groundhog.org/inner-circle

https://www.groundhog.org/legend-and-lore (this site has a lot of information on its pull-down menus)

For more information, some of it for teachers and children

https://radio.wpsu.org/2018-02-01/inside-the-inner-circle-with-punxsutawney-phils-handlers

www.groundhogs.com (for stories and games)

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A Very Tall Glass Christmas Tree

Our town, Champaign-Urbana in Illinois, was in the news recently, for a happy reason in these turbulent pandemic times. It was the place where a world record was broken: the world’s tallest glass Christmas tree.

There was a mobile glass furnace on site

A helper brings molten glass to add to the tree

The helper approaches the slowly revolving tree

The base

A local artist, Jason Mack, built a glass Christmas tree in Champaign. His aim was to build the world’s tallest glass Christmas tree, and it seems that he succeeded. We visited on the final Sunday, December 20, and it was then 31 feet tall. The current world record is 27.5 feet tall in Italy. Apparently, the aim was also to reach a circumference at the bottom of 52 feet, but I’m not sure if that was reached. 

Mack built it on a public plaza in downtown Champaign and the public was invited to watch him (and some helpers) at work many weekends in December. He also asked people to help by donating glass objects (bottles, jars, vases) that he could melt in his mobile glass furnace that was on site. That way, the community became part of the project too. He started with a revolving metal Christmas tree frame and slowly added the glass to the frame.

Applying the molten glass

As the tree revolves, the molten glass snakes downwards and then cools

He prepares more molten glass to add

Many other people also came to see the tree the day we were there, posing for photos and watching the process. It was fun to see one of Mack’s helpers bring molten red glass out the furnace and add it to the revolving tree—revolving so that the glass would stick on it.

What fun! We’re very glad that we were able to see this work of art.

Jason Mack lives in Champaign now and teaches at Parkland College, our local Community College. 

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Happy New Year!

Getting the outside reindeer ready

Well. It’s finally 2021 and thankfully we can say goodbye to 2020, which for so many reasons was not a good year for most people. In fact, we can even say that it was basically a terrible year! It certainly was not good for travel, so all the travelers out there were getting very frustrated. 

So, Happy New Year and may 2021 be a much better year for all. My apologies for a long break in posting—life was getting in the way!!

Cutting down our Christmas tree one year

Decorating a Christmas tree one year

Family tree this past Christmas (it’s still up!)

For our family and friends in the west, Christmas festivities and New year are very much intertwined, so usually Christmas and New Near make up a long holiday season. Over the years, and in many different countries, we’ve taken probably thousands of photos, so here are just a few general shots, hoping to capture the happiness of the season. It’s a time to be happy and hopeful, and now we’re ready to look forward and hopefully can begin to plan some trips outside of our state and even outside of the country. 

enjoying some ‘smores

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