October 24th is National Food Day!

Today marks the second national Food Day!

A celebration of healthy eating created by Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and powered by a diverse coalition of food movement leaders, organizations, and you.

There is no life without food. Food is health, family, connectedness, and pleasure. It is joy. Yet our American diet is contributing to health problems at a severity never seen before, for children and grownups alike. Our food isn’t just making us sick, the way it’s produced is also harming farmers, the environment, and the animals we rely on to keep us well fed. We’ve made cooking a chore and replaced the pleasure of simple home cooked foods with the cheap high that comes from the extreme sweet and salt of processed foods.

The food issues that we face as a nation of parents caring for the first generation of children with a life expectancy shorter than our own—along with financial pressures, limited family time, and sheer exhaustion—have stolen our joy for food. Today I ask you to stand with me and take one step towards reclaiming it.

The Food Day site will tell you that today is about sustainable food options, eradicating hunger, farm worker justice, access to and knowledge about healthier choices. To me, though, Food Day is about bringing joy back to the family table. The joy of feeling good about what you put in your body. The joy of knowing that you’re doing right by your family. The joy of knowing that your choices support your local and global community. The joy of taking pleasure in small actions.

Food Day isn’t about making a fancy farm-to-table meal (unless you want it to be!). For us busy parents, today is about moving the needle towards joy, even if just by a hair. We can transform our diet and we can even work together to transform the American diet, but even revolutions start with small actions. And small actions earn dedication when they bring joy.

So, today, to celebrate Food Day, do just one thing around just one family mealtime that celebrates the joy of healthy eating. Whatever it is—whether scrambling eggs from a local farm for a simple dinner or asking a farmer at the market to tell you about a vegetable you’ve never eaten before—seek out the same easy joy you feel when biting into a perfectly ripe peach or sitting down to a holiday meal with people you love. 

Those moments crystallize the joy of food and we can choose to feel them everyday. Starting today.

“Food should be healthy, affordable, and produced with care for the environment, animals, and the women and men who grow, harvest, and serve it. But too often, our policies fall short of that ideal. Food Day aspires to celebrate our food system when it works, and fix it when it’s broken.” —Food Day founder and CSPI executive director Michael F. Jacobson

If you’d like to do more, check out the Food Day 2012 site for info on how to get involved.

http://onehungrymama.com/2012/10/celebrating-joy-this-food-day-2012/

Downtown Placerville, California Halloween Spooktacular

Downtown Placerville Spooktacular – happens every year on October 31.

Whether it’s a goat in a hometown Fourth of July parade or a horse being led along a crosswalk on Main Street, “Only in Placerville…” is a common sentiment among people of the community.

Amanda Anderson, Style Magazine, Oct 6 2012

The Downtown Placerville Spooktacular – happens every year on October 31 and transforms Main Street into a magical place of costumes and candy.

The Placerville Downtown Association, City of Placerville, Placerville Active 20/30 Club and Placerville Lion’s Club will come together to create a safe environment of fun and frivolity. More than 500 people will start the evening on Placerville’s historic Main Street with trick-or-treating from 4-6 p.m. (many stores will stay open late). Families with children ages 10 and under are invited to the children’s carnival at Town Hall from 4-6 p.m.; free games, prizes and treats will all be provided by the Placerville Lion’s Club.

Attendees will also enjoy family-friendly beats, as a DJ broadcasts live from the Bell Tower until 7 p.m. At 6:10 p.m., the costume contest begins around the Bell Tower. Remember, creativity counts! Placerville’s Active 20/30 Club will award prizes for the best costumes in all age groups: 3 and under, 4-6, 7-9, 10-13, 14-17 and adults. Grand prizes will be awarded for best overall costumes.

“Only in Placerville” will you have such a fab-boo-lous time at the Downtown Placerville Spooktacular!

Portions of Main Street will be closed from 3-8 p.m.; parking will be available at the downtown parking garage and various City lots. For more information, please call the City of Placerville Recreation & Parks Department at 530-642-5232 or visit www.cityofplacerville.org

http://www.inedc.com/1-2360

 

'I Love Lucy' Voted the Best TV Show of All Time

Nominees were determined by an all-star panel of TV writers, producers, actors & directors. 

More than 60 years after it premiered, the iconic television sitcom "I Love Lucy" nabbed top honors with TV fans in a survey conducted by ABC News and People Magazine for "Best in TV," a special edition of "20/20" that aired Tuesday night.

"Lucy" was voted the best show of all time, beating out finalists "Seinfeld," "M*A*S*H," "All in the Family" and "Cheers." All five finalists were comedies.

"We were not surprised Americans chose comedies as their favorites of all time," said ABC News' Barbara Walters, who hosted the special. "We all like to laugh and these shows still make us laugh today."

During a rare interview in 1977, "I Love Lucy" star Lucille Ball told Barbara Walters that she didn't think she was funny.

In a recent interview with Barbara Walters, Ball's now-adult children, Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr. explained that their mother had a dry sense of humor.

She was witty, with "a Will Rogers kind of sense of humor...great humor, but not like Lucy (on the show)," Desi Arnaz Jr. said.

"My mother was a clown, and she could turn funny, brilliantly funny written things into magic...But she didn't think funny," Lucie Arnaz said.

"Best in TV" featured a countdown of winners in a number of other categories, from Favorite TV Reality Show to Favorite TV Drama to Favorite TV Mom. In addition to the categories featured on the TV Special, ABC News and People also polled Americans in several other categories like Favorite TV Soap Opera, Favorite TV Game Show, and Most Memorable TV Moment of All Time. See the finalists in these categories online at www.bestintelevision.com.

Nominees in all categories were determined by an all-star panel of television writers, producers, actors and directors. And from the list of nominees, Americans registered more than one million online votes earlier this summer at www.bestintelevision.com. Click through to see the winners and finalists in each category featured on the "Best in TV" special.

To read more about the shows nominated go to the link below:

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/Best_In_TV/love-lucy-voted-best-tv-show-time/story?id=17263942#.UFppkLJlQWl

Remembering the Victims & Heroes of September 11th!

N.Y. marked 11th anniversary of 9/11 attacks with a simple ceremony.

Family members read the names of the dead, accompanied by music, on the 9/11 memorial plaza between the waterfalls now marking footprints of the two towers.

While there was no master of ceremonies and no speeches or readings were planned, many family members made tearful statements—in English, Spanish and Italian—as they named their own loved ones.

"We miss you Sunday mornings, when you would wake us for breakfast," said Allison Adams, speaking to her late husband, Patrick. "We miss that."

"Cheers, Dad," said Peter McGinley.

"Your crazy Irish spirit lives on, Ma," said Larry McGovern.

Last year's 10th anniversary was a major milestone that coincided with the opening of the 9/11 Memorial. President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush attended the nationally televised ceremony.

The 9/11 Museum was supposed to have opened in time for this year's anniversary. But construction on the project has been held up by a dispute between Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the governors of New York and New Jersey.

Monday evening, city and state officials announced that they had reached a deal to resolve the nearly year-long impasse. The Port Authority, which is controlled by the two governors, will resume construction on the museum as soon as the end of this month.

Read more:   http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444554704577644053333702124.html?mod=WSJ_NY_MIDDLETopStories 

Statistics From September 2002, Source: CNN & Reuters 

The Pentagon & Flight 93 Washington & Shanksville		The World Trade Center New York City
Total Deaths All 9/11 Attacks	3,030	*Total Deaths WTC 9/11 Attack	2,801
Total Injured All 9/11 Attacks	2,337	Total Injured WTC 9/11 Attack	2,261
Total Deaths 9/11 AttackThe Pentagon (Ground)	124	Firefighter Deaths WTC 9/11 Attack	343
Total Injured 9/11 AttackThe Pentagon	76	Police Deaths WTC 9/11 Attack	75
American Airlines Flight 77 The Pentagon	64	American Airlines Flight 11 WTC North Tower	92
United Airlines Flight 93 Shanksville, PA	40	United Airlines Flight 175 WTC South Tower	65
*In December 2002 the Total Deaths from the WTC Attack was revised to 2,792.

*9/11/2001 Statement by President Bush in His Address to the Nation.

THE PRESIDENT: Good evening. Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts. The victims were in airplanes, or in their offices; secretaries, businessmen and women, military and federal workers; moms and dads, friends and neighbors. Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror.

The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge structures collapsing, have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness, and a quiet, unyielding anger. These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed; our country is strong.

A great people has been moved to defend a great nation. Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shattered steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.

America was targeted for attack because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world. And no one will keep that light from shining.

Today, our nation saw evil, the very worst of human nature. And we responded with the best of America -- with the daring of our rescue workers, with the caring for strangers and neighbors who came to give blood and help in any way they could.

Immediately following the first attack, I implemented our government's emergency response plans. Our military is powerful, and it's prepared. Our emergency teams are working in New York City and Washington, D.C. to help with local rescue efforts.

Our first priority is to get help to those who have been injured, and to take every precaution to protect our citizens at home and around the world from further attacks.

The functions of our government continue without interruption. Federal agencies in Washington which had to be evacuated today are reopening for essential personnel tonight, and will be open for business tomorrow. Our financial institutions remain strong, and the American economy will be open for business, as well.

The search is underway for those who are behind these evil acts. I've directed the full resources of our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and to bring them to justice. We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.

I appreciate so very much the members of Congress who have joined me in strongly condemning these attacks. And on behalf of the American people, I thank the many world leaders who have called to offer their condolences and assistance.

America and our friends and allies join with all those who want peace and security in the world, and we stand together to win the war against terrorism. Tonight, I ask for your prayers for all those who grieve, for the children whose worlds have been shattered, for all whose sense of safety and security has been threatened. And I pray they will be comforted by a power greater than any of us, spoken through the ages in Psalm 23: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me."

This is a day when all Americans from every walk of life unite in our resolve for justice and peace. America has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time. None of us will ever forget this day. Yet, we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world.

Thank you. Good night, and God bless America.
President George W. Bush
September 11, 2001