Author: Lisa Mungovan

There’s a rare fungus in Australia, that looks like a bunch of fingers. Known as tea-tree fingers, the fungus is disappearing off the mainland. Scientists have found a large colony of tea-tree fingers on nearby French Island, curling around branches of freshly fallen wood. Volunteers are working to protect the area.

A tiny fossil discovered in China, is somewhere between a bird and a dinosaur. The 120,000,000-year-old skull is similar to a Tyrannosaurus rex, but its body is thin and delicate like a sparrow. Scientista think it belongs in a group called enantiornithines, or opposite birds. It was small enough to fit in your hand!

Do you know how to recognize a rip current, at the beach? The fast-moving current, can pull you quickly out to sea. The water might look calmer, between the sections where waves are breaking, but that’s the most dangerous area. If you get caught in a rip, swim parallel to shore, to escape it.

What do you do when it’s Pineapple Day, Onion Day, Ice Cream Cake Day, and Orange Blossom Day? Make a pineapple-onion-upside-down-ice-cream-cake, with orange blossom tea. Put on your shades, and enjoy it outside in the sunshine while playing Bingo, because it’s also Sunglasses Day and Bingo Day! That’s a lot to celebrate.

Today is Log Cabin Day. Laura Ingalls Wilder’s book, Little House in the Big Woods, described how Laura’s father built their log house, step by step. You can build a miniature one of your own! If cutting wood is too much work, just celebrate the day by building with Lincoln Logs. It’s much easier!

The National Weather Service picked up an unusual pattern on radar yesterday. It was a swarm of mayflies in Minnesota! Mayflies are small aquatic insects, that live in clean streams and lakes. They spend most of their life underwater. When they mature, they come out in huge swarms, and only live for a day.

Today is Great American Picnic Day. Pack a cooler with food, and head outdoors to enjoy the last Saturday in June! If you want to also celebrate Great American Campout Day, bring your tents and sleeping bags too. Many parks hold special activities for campers, but you can also camp in your own backyard.

In 19 28, Peyo was born. He created the Smurfs, the tiny blue creatures who live in mushroom-shaped houses. Smurf boys start growing beards in their 400’s. They live to nearly 1000 years old, but Grandpa Smurf is in his thousands! Today is Global Smurfs Day, so wear blue, and sing a happy song!

Have you heard of Summersgiving? The first Saturday after the first day of summer, have an American-style Thanksgiving feast! Give thanks for refrigerators, to store your leftovers, because it’s also World Refrigeration Day. Before refrigerators, people used ice houses, with snow or ice blocks that stayed cold under sawdust. Caves also kept things cool.

It’s Chocolate Pudding Day! I wish I had a whole lake full of chocolate pudding. Since it’s also Canoe Day, I’d get in a canoe and paddle around, splashing everyone with pudding! It’s Coconut Day as well, so my imaginary lake has coconut palm trees growing around it. It’s fun to imagine weird things!