I hope that you all had a safe and sane 4th of July. One of the more foolish (although fortunately harmless) pranks I was involved in took place on the 4th of July, 1961; while my parents and aunt were at the local bar, I helped my cousin put firecrackers in a couple of my mom’s flower pots and light them. For some reason, my cousin thought that all the sand we packed into the pots would prevent them from blowing up! Maybe some of the safety laws that municipalities have passed in the years since are due to this and more serious pranks. Oh yeah, my cousin asked me not to tell my mother what happened; as mothers so often do, she found out anyway!
July 20th marks the 48th anniversary of the moon landing, Apollo 11, with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin doing the honors. This was the first of six manned flights which ended in late 1972. Armstrong was quoted as saying ‘one small step for man, one large step for mankind.’ He died in 2012 at the age of 87; Aldrin is still alive at the age of 87.
Famous people born in July include Selena Gomez (July 22), Tom Hanks (July 9) Gerald Ford (July 14), George W. Bush (July 6), Malala (I am Malala) Yousafzai (July 12), and Jennifer Lopez (July 24). More importantly, July is the beginning of a lot of outside entertainment venues such as Campbell’s Music in the Park on Thursdays, Los Gatos Jazz on the Plazz and weekend entertainment at Vasona Park, as well as venues sponsored by San Jose Jazz; many, if not all of these are free.
Check out national AARP ‘Summer of Service to Seniors’ at aarpfoundation.org/summerofservice; the site gives you information about a nationwide initiative to help older adults across the U.S. who don’t have enough to eat; it shows how you can support these seniors.