Hogmanay is the Scots word for the last day of the year and is synonymous with the celebration of the New Year (Gregorian calendar) in the Scottish manner. It is normally followed by further celebration on the morning of New Year’s Day (1 January) or, in some cases, 2 January—a Scottish bank holiday. The …
Category: Interesting stuff
Aug 21
ICYMI
Today’s the day! Here in Fairfax, the Eclipse will be about 81 percent of the sun covered. The City of Fairfax will have a viewing party at Old Town Hall (3999 University Drive Fairfax). The event runs from 1 p.m.-4 p.m. featuring family-friendly activities like stories, crafts, music, and more while the eclipse becomes visible. You …
Jul 10
Palindrome Week Returns!
The above image is from last year, but you get the idea. You should feel very balanced this week. Why? Because it’s palindrome week! July 10 – July 19, 2017 are all Palindrome Days (m/dd/yy). A palindrome exists when letters, numbers, or phrases are the same forward and backward. For example, the words “racecar” …
Jun 03
The Wartime Spies Who Used Knitting as an Espionage Tool – Atlas Obscura
DURING WORLD WAR I, A grandmother in Belgium knitted at her window, watching the passing trains. As one train chugged by, she made a bumpy stitch in the fabric with her two needles. Another passed, and she dropped a stitch from the fabric, making an intentional hole. Later, she would risk her life by handing …
May 25
Remember Your Towel Today!
Each year, May 25 is Towel Day. Do you know why? Towel Day is celebrated every year on 25 May as a tribute to the author Douglas Adams by his fans. On this day, fans carry a towel with them, as described in Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, to demonstrate their appreciation for …
May 05
A Shell of a Day
I needed gas for my car last week. I was on my way to bell rehearsal so I didn’t have time to go to my usual place. Instead, I stopped by the station that was on my way. I had stopped going to this particular gas station many years ago when I thought that …
Mar 15
Ides of March
Everyone knows we’re supposed to beware the Ides of March and may even remember they’re from William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” but what exactly do they mean? The Ides of March marked the day the Julius Caesar was assassinated by members of the Roman Senate in 44 B.C.E. A soothsayer, or psychic, warned Caesar …
Mar 06
Found on Facebook
From My Heart Will Always be in Scotland Wha’s like us? The average Englishman, in the home he calls his castle, slips into his national costume, a shabby raincoat, patented by chemist Charles Macintosh from Glasgow, Scotland. En route to his office he strides along the English lane, surfaced by John Macadam of Ayr, …
Mar 04
National Grammar Day!
National Grammar Day is observed across the United States each year on March 4th. According to Global Language Monitor, the estimated number of words in the English language is 1,025,109. There is some controversy to that number, but it’s safe to say it is over a million. Language is something to celebrate. Some people might suggest …
Music
- 🕶️ Star Wars DayEvery year on May 4th, Star Wars fans around the globe unite to celebrate Star Wars Day, a fan-created holiday that has gained immense popularity since its inception. The date was chosen for the easy pun on the famous catchphrase from the films, “May the Force be with you” — “May the Fourth be with […]
- 🔟 Ten Events happening today- Feed Fairfax 5k - STEM Adventures - Neighborhood Plant Clinic - Spring Farm Day - Ballet Storytime - Plant Swap - Mahjong - Star Wars Day Jedi Training - Alice GuZheng Ensemble - Live Concert: Celebrations!
- 🚀 Revenge of the 5th May 5May the Fourth might be “Star Wars Day,” but don’t forget the Revenge of the Fifth! Join us for a geeky good time and make a pool-noodle light sabre for fun!
- 📟 One-on-One Technology Help May 5Our volunteers can answer questions and help with basic issues, such as setting up email accounts, creating word documents, help with phones etc.
- 📆 O'Connor Music Studio CalendarUpdated daily with music and Northern Virginia events.
- 🎶 Learn to Play the Ukulele, May 7Celebrate Hawaiian culture during Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month & learn to play the ukulele.
- 👩🏽🍳 Let ‘em Cook: Teen Cooking May 6Learn the basics of preparing a meal for dinner at home and leave the delivery behind. Becky will be covering stove top, sous vide, and instant pot cooking for a wide variety of kitchen skills that you can use at home.
- 🥁 Fun with Music for Preschoolers, MondaysStep into a world of giggles and song with “Fun “with Music at Pender! This is not just any music class – it's a journey through sound and imagination designed especially for preschoolers and their favorite grown-ups. Since 2013, Jim and Roberta Pont have been creating a space where tiny toes tap, and little voices […]
- 🎁 Mother’s Day Gift Making Grade School Program May 7Children, tweens, and teens are invited to join us for this DIY event. All soapmaking, balt salts, and Mother’s Day card supplies will be provided by the library and you will take the finished product home.
- 🔍 Mystery Book Club, May 7Whether you like your detectives hard- or soft-boiled, professional or amateur, join us each month as we delve into a different mystery novel.
Little Free Library
- Dying To Date: Love, betrayal, murder—a great first dateBy a good friend of mine! When dying to date Mr. Right leads to finding Mr. Wrong—it’s deadly. Relationship expert Kristina Truly has a proven track record of dating the wrong men. However, her highly publicized romantic failures don’t stop her fans from attending her Finding Mr. Right, Not Mr. Perfect seminars and reading her […]
- The Poisoned PeerThe 99-year-old Earl of Middlemop has had his future cruelly snatched from him. Who could have poisoned the richest man in Wessex? The answer lies within the walls of Gripedown Hall where family secrets and bitter rivalries prevail. Senior sleuths Churchill and Pemberley investigate on the behest of their friend Tryphena Ridley-Balls. However, another friend […]
- Murder in the ManorMURDER IN THE MANOR (A LACEY DOYLE COZY MYSTERY—BOOK 1) is the debut novel in a charming new cozy mystery series by Fiona Grace. Lacey Doyle, 39 years old and freshly divorced, needs a drastic change. She needs to quit her job, leave her horrendous boss and New York City, and walk away from the […]
- Murder on a Midnight ClearA snowbound country mansion, a missing butler, and a Christmas case . . . Olive and Jasper have never been closer—except in one area. Jasper is still reticent about his frequent disappearances from polite society. With the holidays approaching and no paying client on the books, Olive decides to shadow Jasper when he’s unexpectedly called […]
- Discerning GraceAs the first full-length novel in The White Sails Series, DISCERNING GRACE captures the spirit of an independent woman whose feminine lens blows the ordered patriarchal decks of a 19th century tall ship to smithereens. Wilful Grace Baxter, will not marry old Lord Silverton with his salivary incontinence and dead-mouse stink. Discovering she is a […]
- The Thursday Murder Club: A Novel (A Thursday Murder Club Mystery Book 1)A New York Times bestseller | Soon to be a major motion picture from Steven Spielberg at Amblin Entertainment “Witty, endearing and greatly entertaining.” —Wall Street Journal “Don’t trust anyone, including the four septuagenarian sleuths in Osman’s own laugh-out-loud whodunit.” —Parade Four septuagenarians with a few tricks up their sleeves A female cop with her […]
- Body on Baker Street (A Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery Book 2)The amateur sleuths at the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop must call upon the powers of deduction in order to rid Baker Street of a ruthless killer Gemma Doyle and Jayne Wilson are busy managing the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium on Baker Street and adjoining Mrs. Hudson’s Tea Room in anticipation of the store’s upcoming book […]
- The Devil and the Dark Water (A Locked-Room Historical Mystery)A murder on the high seas. A remarkable detective duo. A demon who may or may not exist. It's 1634, and Samuel Pipps, the world's greatest detective, is being transported to Amsterdam to be executed for a crime he may, or may not, have committed. Traveling with him is his loyal bodyguard, Arent Hayes, who […]
- Too Many WomenAh, sweet mystery, when Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin plunge into a case of murder brimming with luscious, lethal ladies. Who murdered Waldo Wilmot Moore? Well, there were five hundred female employees at the Wall Street firm where poor Waldo had worked. Any one of them might have done it. And there was also the […]
- Christmas Cupcake MurderAs December turns Lake Eden, Minnesota, into the North Pole, the heat is on in Hannah Swensen’s kitchen to honor two Christmas promises: baking irresistible holiday cupcakes and preventing an attempted murderer from succeeding the second time around! While Hannah speeds through a lengthy holiday checklist, drama in town grows like Santa’s waistline on Christmas […]