Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

  Today begins the beginning of the Lunar New Year. For my family, it is the Chinese New Year - the Year of the Tiger , or more specifically  the Year of the Black Water Tiger.  There are many predictions published about  what this new year will bring.  ( just try Google - Year of the Tiger )  While individual predictions vary according to  your birth year and  your Chinese Z odiac animal, there is a general agreement amongst astrologers who say the tiger denotes strength, vitality and growth. These are qualities that will hopefully stand us all in good stead as we look to move past the uncertainty of COVID-19 in the past couple of years .  Here is a guide to find out  your own Chinese Zodiac animal  - Always check the new year's date if you are born in the early months of the year,  because t he first day of Chinese New Year begins on the new moon that appears between January 21 and February 20. According to your year of ...

Diary Doodle - Wilma Simmons 2017  It's THAT time of the year again.  For the last few years, I have posted a daily post for Advent, featuring some interesting and sometimes weird information about all things Christmas. You can always go back and have a look at these posts from previous years  by searching for the tags " Christmas " or " Christmas Countdown."  This year, I am going to explore the facts, the speculation, the stories and my interpretation of Christmas "FIRSTS" ...and today, 1 December, let's have a look at the first time Christmas was actually celebrated.  The first recorded date of Christmas being celebrated on  December 25th  was in 336 AD, during the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine (he was the first Christian Roman Emperor). A few years later, Pope Julius I officially declared that the birth of Jesus would be celebrated on the  25th December . For at least three hundred years, birthdays were obviously not days of cel...

Today we are celebrating Father's Day in Australia.. lots of families enjoying the day out or  BBQs at home,  lots of presents like " Best Dad" coffee mugs, chocolates, socks and undies ... so how did all this begin? The first Father’s Day was reported  in Washington , USA on June 19, 1910. A woman  Sonora Smart Dodd came up with the idea of honouring and celebrating her father while listening to a Mother’s Day sermon at church in 1909. She felt as though mothers were getting all the acclaim while fathers were equally deserving of a day of praise. Sonora’s dad was quite a man. William Smart, a veteran of the Civil War, was left a widower when his wife died while giving birth to their sixth child. He went on to raise the six children by himself on their small farm in Washington. To show her appreciation for all the hard work and love William gave to her and her siblings, Sonora thought there should be a day to pay homage to him and other dads like him. She initi...