A bit of trivia for your Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July to all of you celebrating, wherever you are. Here are a few trivia questions that will give you A LEG UP on your knowledge of the history surrounding this holiday. See how many of them you already know without scrolling down for the answers or looking them up.

     A LEG UP (an advantage; a boost)

1. How many stars and stripes does the U.S. flag have? Hint: The photo above does not show the answer. :-) 
2. What do the stars and stripes on the U.S. flag represent?  
3. In which year did the American colonies officially declare independence from Britain?
4. Who became the first U.S. President?
5. At which New York City landmark did this first President take the oath of office?
6. What is the title of the U.S. National Anthem?
7. What are two nicknames for the U.S. flag?

Happy 1st day of summer!

 A sweet, succulent peach for this year's summer solstice. Could it be a sign?

It's a beautiful summer day in New York City. After a few warm and sometimes hot days this past week, the temperatures have dipped slightly, and with almost no clouds in the sky, it's the perfect first day of summer. 

• DIPPED - decrease slightly

The first day of summer, of course, also marks the summer solstice and the day of the year with the most amount of daylight. I'm always fascinated by what happens in the heavens whenever the solstices and the equinoxes come around and love the fact that the amount of daylight increases and decreases throughout the year. I guess I like being reminded of the bigger picture and that larger phenomena are at work beyond what we see here on earth. 

• THE HEAVENS - outer space; stars and planets
• SOLSTICE - beginning of summer and winter; days with the least or the most amount of daylight in the year
• EQUINOX - beginning of spring and fall; days with about equal amounts of daylight and night time
• COME AROUND - arrive
• PHENOMENON - event; fact (phenomena, pl.)

Going through a brutal allergy season

Beautiful, but a source of allergy-causing pollen, which is supposedly much
plentiful this year making the allergy season particularly brutal.

I read today that allergy season here in #NYC is particularly rough this year because of the cold winter and the large amount of snow that we got. The cold temperatures delayed the ONSET of pollen production, and all the snow served to PRIME the plants to produce plenty of pollen. :-| 

I, myself, had a rough couple of days although I don't think it's any worse than in past seasons as some people are saying. However, the article says this Sunday is supposed to be BRUTAL, so I don't want to speak too soon.

If you also suffer from HAY FEVER, I found an article that you might find helpful. It lists just 5 natural remedies that are supposed to help ALLEVIATE allergy symptoms. I like this list because it includes foods that I already consume: yogurt, walnuts, green tea, and cocoa. Actually, there is a fifth one--springing nettle, but I'm not sure what that is exactly. :-|

vocabulary:

• ONSET - start
• PRIME - prepare; make ready 
• BRUTAL - rough; difficult 
• HAY FEVER - allergies from pollen 
• ALLEVIATE - make less worse; make more bearable