FYI Friday--fun facts for your summer's end

The season of Summer is ending, though technically there's a month left. It seems that most are ready to welcome Fall at this point. I'm ready (always have been a Fall and Winter girl), now that school has started. Summer isn't really summer to me once school is back in session. So bring on Fall!

But, before we leave summer. . .I thought I'd share just what I learned this summer. Emily shares what she's learned at the end of each month, but I thought I'd just cover the summer for my first "go" at it. . .

A Few Things I've Learned This Summer

 (the Important to the Trivial and Everything In-Between)

1. Every full moon has a name. I learned this from my friend Sarah and thought this was such a fun fact and tid-bit to have tucked away! Apparently this dates back to the Native Americans, when they named full moons to keep track of the seasons. You can check out more details on the Farmers Almanac, but here are the names in the meantime.

January: Wolf Moon

February: Snow Moon

March: Worm Moon

April: Pink Moon

May: Flower Moon

June: Strawberry Moon

July: Thunder Moon

August: Green Corn Moon

September: Harvest Moon

October: Hunter's Moon

November: Frost Moon

December: Long Night's Moon

2. You need to have a fine mesh strainer to make quinoa. I tried my first quinoa recipe this summer, but found out that a fine mesh strainer make the preparation LOTS easier! No big deal--just run to Target and pick one up! There's no quinoa recipe from me this week, due to a 2 hour doctor appointment that ran until 5:45 last night, but I'll be back with another next week! In the meantime, my sister @ cookingonthebrightside comes through with this quinoa dish. . .

3. An okapi can clean its ears with its tongue. Cool! What is an okapi you ask? It's this. . .

And we are getting some of these in our amazing zoo next year! But I learned this info while reading Ranger Rick Jr. with my Charlie--we even tried to clean our ears with our own tongues. Didn't work. :) His bigger bro reads Ranger Rick, but both are awesome magazine subscriptions we receive! If you want a fun, gift that keeps on giving, for boys and girls, then check out these magazines, chock full of info and stories all about animals!

4. And finally, Ann Voskamp has written a new book! Yep, she just shared that information today! It's called The Greatest Gift and it's something she's been alluding to all week! And since I just ordered it, here's how Amazon is describing her book. . .  

Beginning with Jesse, the father of David, The Greatest Gift retraces the epic pageantry of mankind, from Adam to the Messiah, with each day's profound reading pointing to the coming promise of Christ, so that come Christmas morning you find that the season hasn't blurred past you but your heart's fully unwrapped the greatest gift you've always yearned for. 

I just love Ann and her writing and Christmas and Jesus and just cannot wait to start the holiday season with this book!

That's it!

Happy College Football Weekend to you!!