I was born on this date and here are some other July 16th events:
Amundsen, Roald (Birth Date)
Atomic Bomb Tested (65th Anniversary)
Big Sky State Games
Bolivia: La Paz Day
Canada: Vancouver Folk Music Festival
Comet Crashes Into Jupiter
District of Columbia Establishing Legislation
Earthquake Jolts Philippines (20th Anniversary)
Eddy, Mary Baker (Birth Date)
Honda US Open of Surfing Championship Presented by O'neill
Kentucky State Championship Old-Time Fiddler's Contest
Mission San Diego de Alcala (Founding Anniversary)
Natchitoches–northwestern State University Folk Festival and the Louisiana State Fiddle Championship
Rafle Du Vélodrome D'hiver
Reynolds, Joshua (Birth Date)
Rogers, Ginger (Birth Date)
Sherwood Robin Hood Festival
Show-Me State Games
Space Milestone: Apollo 11 (US): Man Sent to the Moon
Stanwyck, Barbara (Birth Date)
Targhee Fest
Wells, Ida B. (Birth Date)
Yarmouth Clam Festival
Birthdays on July 16, 2010
Ruben Blades, 62, singer, actor (Crossover Dreams, The Milagro Beanfield War), born Panama City, Panama, July 16, 1948.
Phoebe Cates, 47, actress (Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Gremlins), born New York, NY, July 16, 1963.
Stewart Copeland, 58, composer, musician (The Police), born Alexandria, VA, July 16, 1952.
Corey Feldman, 39, actor (Stand by Me, The Lost Boys), born Reseda, CA, July 16, 1971.
Will Ferrell, 43, comedian, actor (Semi-Pro, Blades of Glory, Stranger Than Fiction, Anchorman), born Irvine, CA, July 16, 1967.
Michael Flatley, 52, dancer (Lord of the Dance, Feet of Flames), born Chicago, IL, July 16, 1958.
Mark Indelicato, 16, actor (“Ugly Betty”), born Philadelphia, PA, July 16, 1994.
Bess Myerson, 86, former Miss America (1945), former government official, born New York, NY, July 16, 1924.
Barry Sanders, 42, former football player, born Wichita, KS, July 16, 1968.
Pinchas Zukerman, 62, violinist, born Tel Aviv, Israel, July 16, 1948.


I do admit being torn on how to celebrate this year. The Fiddlers' contest would be fun but many of the instruments are poor and I have perfect pitch. 
La Paz Day would be fine but things are still unsettled in Bolivia. Anything in Canada would be … Canadian.
So it stands between the Robin Hood Festival and the Clam Festival. If I could find my green tights, the issue would be resolved and I don't care that much for bottom feeders unless bacon is involved, like politicians and that makes for a double comparison.
I do like the group of Bess Myerson, Ginger Rogers, Barbara Stanwyck and ME. Three of the four of us had great legs and I am one of them.
It is not clear how the folk in the islands are going to mark the 20th anniversary of the earthquake. Maybe a bean dish for breakfast.
For me I will look through a few hundred photos and chromes. I will read through some journals and do some travel to revisit places on Google earth.
Oh, how speedily that program works on my new i7 machine with Windows 7 Pro!
Maybe I will get to talk with some family and friends and then perhaps a late evening walk.
When I gave myself permission to celebrate my birthday for an extended season it really opened the possibilities to endless fun. There just may be time to get to the Targhee Fest before everyone closes shop.
Happy Birthday, Bess, Ginger and Barbara! I'm happy to have finally joined you, in a tiny way, on the big screen.
Now, for that Boston Cream Pie and a wobble down memory lane as I plot out the next happy hazy crazy days! © tim www.timjohnsonphoto.com

Birthdaze 2010 Style

If the convenience stores and pharmacies can sell Christmas merchandise in October, I can damn well celebrate my birthing experience on more than a single day.

My mom was super pregnant with me for a long time and had a few false starts at labor which could have led to my birth on any June or July day – but the delivery (what a pristine word for such a brutal process) date was the 16^th of July.

We go to the event which took place in Princeton, WV, instead of my hometown of Narrows, VA, since mom was very pregnant but spunky and wanted to go shopping. I was not born IN Kresge's, but did leave a warm, watery mess for someone to clean up. We did manage to make it to Princeton Memorial Hospital, not General Hospital by any means.

I was a “live birth” and was able to go home pretty quickly. They did not ask me about hanging on to my foreskin, though we were not Jewish and I think I have a vague memory of wanting to smack somebody for being rude to me and my parts.

You have to know I loved nursing. My mom was great at it and there was just something about the warmth, the heartbeat and the … mind your business.

I have had 61 birthdays prior to this one and some have been cool and others have been less than cool.

I never cared for birthday cake – preferring, if you can imagine a 6 year-old having a preference, Boston Cream Pie. Dark Chocolate and the creamy pudding in the middle of grand sponge cakes. Hmmmmm and yum. Mom made them from scratch, of course, because Duncan Hines had not yet met Betty Crocker.

My favorite foods were mom's spaghetti, her fine salads, potato salad and the love she put into her cooking.

Then we would play and there might be presents or not – but no matter, it was still a party.

When the Glen Lyn 4H Club was formed we had special birthday celebrations for every one of our 5 members. Dress up, cook up, eat up and party down as best as we were able.

On some birthdays my significant seniors would pass along important items like pocket knives, guns, shoeshine kits, tools and knowledge.

I have my grandfather's mother-of-pearl “church” pocket knife he gave me when I turned 21. It is a treasure that will go, along with the story, to one of the grandsons.

There came a time that, because of my proficiency in calligraphy, people would not send me birthday cards. Pity. I am not judgmental except for the crap Hallmark prints.

The twins even got to the point that they knew I could always use AA or AAA batteries or some picture frames or some fine HP printing paper and these made fine presents along with black shirts and black Hanes underwear.

Spending time and talking with these wonderful grown-up offspring and their children and spouses is the BEST year-round gift of all.

This year, my best friend did bestow on me a beautiful book. Another thing people who don't understand me fear to do. I am a book lover and love people who love me enough to give me a book. Lover.

This is a special edition of a volume I have read and studied, but never owned. It is signature, sewn bound, and has gilt edges. Gold edges keep dust and insects from invading manuscripts since the gold sheets adhere to each other and form an airtight bond. The book suits the hand and fills the heart and it came from a heart that cares.

The book jacket is grand and the contents will be a pleasure to read again – with 40 years of the lenses of life to peer through at the words.

So, what is left for the 16^th and beyond is the need for TWO HOT DOGS, maybe a Hot and Now Krispy Kreme or 3 and the colored pencils with which to color in the empty spaces remaining on the majestic and wonderful image that is my LIFE, so far. © tim www.timjohnsonphoto.com