28th February: Yellowstone National Park

On this date in 1871 Yellowstone became the first US National Park. 10 things you might not know about Yellowstone:

1. 96% of Yellowstone National Park is located in the U.S. state of Wyoming, 3% is in Montana and 1% in Idaho.
2. It was established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872, making it the first national park in the world, It was established 20 years before any of the three states it sits in were even states.
3. Yellowstone National Park is 63 miles long and 54 miles wide and occupies an area of 3,468.4 square miles (8,983 km2) - that is larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined.
4. There are thought to be as many as 1283 geysers in the park, although only about 465 are active. The most famous is Old Faithful, which famously erupts every 91 minutes.
5. Yellowstone has more than 350 waterfalls, with the tallest reaching 1,200 feet. More than 80-percent of the park’s waterfalls are not visible from trails or roads.
6. The park is sitting on top of an active super volcano, one of only 30 in the world, and the only one located on land.
7. Yellowstone National Park has approximately 2000 earthquakes yearly virtually all of which are undetectable to humans.
8. The park is home to more than 1,000 archaeological sites.
9. Twelve major rivers originate in the Greater Yellowstone area.
10. Yellowstone National Park even has its own prison. It also has a court and a magistrate. About 150 people get arrested in the park every year, although they are not likely to stay in the Yellowstone jail for more than 48 hours. The prison is small - four cells and the capacity to hold up to 18 inmates.

27th February: Dominican Republic Independence Day

Dominican Republic became independent from Haiti, this date in 1844. 10 things you might not know about the Dominican Republic.

1. The Dominican republic is one of two separate nations on the island of Hispaniola (the other being Haiti) making Hispaniola the only island in the world that houses two sovereign and independent nations.
2. It is the location of the first permanent European settlement in the Americas. The capital and largest city, Santo Domingo, is the oldest continuously inhabited city and the first seat of the Spanish colonial rule in the New World, founded by the brother of Christopher Columbus.
3. The Dominican Republic is home to the tallest mountain peak, (Pico Duarte) and the the largest lake and lowest elevation (Lake Enriquillo) in the Caribbean.
4. It is the only country in the world to have a Bible depicted on its flag.
5. Nearly 70% of the people are Roman Catholics and nearly 20% are Protestant. There is a very small Jewish population (0.01%) most of whom live in the city of Sosúa, which was founded by a group of Jews fleeing from the Nazis during the second world war.
6. In the national anthem, the term "Dominican" is not used. Instead the word "Quisqueyans" is used. Quisqueyanos is a poetic name for the country often used in songs, and is a word from the language of the first inhabitants, the Taino Indians. It means, "Mother of all Lands".
7. World famous fashion designer Oscar de la Renta was born in the Dominican Republic in 1932, although he became a US citizen in 1971.
8. The Dominican Republic is the most popular tourist destination in the Caribbean.
9. During colonial times, Spain created a system of racial stratification, known as casta. The Spaniards considered people of Spanish and other European lineage to have a higher social status. The effects of this are still felt today, with most of the richest people there being of Spanish descent.
10. The national flower is the Bayahibe Rose; the national tree is the West Indian Mahogany and the national bird is the Cigua Palmera or Palmchat ("Dulus dominicus").

Bonus fact - Dominican Republic is mentioned in my novel Death and Faxes. Two characters plan to go there for their honeymoon.

Paperback - CreateSpace or Amazon RRP £8 but sometimes Amazon offer it for less!

Or get the E-book: Amazon Kindle Where you can use the "Look Inside" function and read the first few pages for free! And it's less than £2 to buy for your Kindle!

Don't want to risk it without reading a review? Visit Comfy Chair.

AND/OR:

Like my Writer Facebook Page

Read my thoughts on writing, short stories and book excerpts on My writing blog

26th February: Victor Hugo

26 February 1802 was the birth date of Victor Hugo. Here are 10 Victor Hugo quotes:

1. Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.
2. Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.
3. When a woman is talking to you, listen to what she says with her eyes.
4. Life is the flower for which love is the honey.
5. Initiative is doing the right thing without being told.
6. The wicked envy and hate; it is their way of admiring.
7. Forty is the old age of youth; fifty the youth of old age.
8. All the forces in the world are not so powerful as an idea whose time has come.
9. The wise man does not grow old, but ripens.
10. Whenever a man's friends begin to compliment him about looking young, he may be sure that they think he is growing old.

February 25th: Bananas are back

On this date in 1946 the first bananas arrived in Britain after the war. Here are some things you might not know about bananas:

1. Bananas don't grow on trees. The banana "tree" is actually the world's largest herbaceous plant. Bananas are not fruit, either - they are technically berries and do not produce seeds.
2. The clusters of five or six bananas sold in supermarkets are not bunches - they are called hands. A bunch is made up of anything up to twenty hands. The largest bunch on record was grown in 2001 in the Canary Islands and contained 473 bananas. The technical term for a single banana is a "finger".
3. Bananas are radioactive. More so than any other fruit, anyway. This is because they are high in Potassium which naturally contains some of the isotope potassium-40. The banana equivalent dose of radiation is sometimes used in nuclear communication to compare radiation levels and exposures.
4. Despite this, they're good for you. Bananas are an excellent source of vitamin B6, manganese and dietary fibre as well as 15% of your daily recommended Vitamin C. Bananas are the only fruit to contain the amino acid tryptophan plus vitamin B6, which together help the body produce seratonin, the natural chemical which alleviates mental depression - so eating one can even cheer you up.
5. This wouldn't work on bees, though - the chemical compound that gives the banana its taste is the same as the pheromone that makes bees agitated.
6. Bananas are a staple food in many parts of the world and are thought to be the fourth most important crop after Rice, wheat and maize. They are grown in over 100 countries. India is the biggest producer - they grow 18% of the world's bananas, but don't export very many - presumably the large population munch most of them themselves. Ecuador is the country that grows bananas to export - 29% of the bananas exported come from here. Uganda, not India, is the biggest consumer. Ugandans eat around three bananas a day. They’re so important to the country’s diet that the Ugandan word for food, “matoke”, is also the name of their banana-based national dish.
7. As apples have cooking and eating varieties, so do bananas. The less sweet and more starchy cooking varieties are called plantains.
8. Bananas are picked before they are ripe and when they arrive at their destination they are stored in special airtight rooms filled with ethylene gas, which is a ripening agent. This is what makes bananas so vividly yellow. A tree-ripened banana would be more of a greenish yellow. Sometimes bananas in shops are green. To ripen them quickly, leave overnight in a brown paper bag with an apple or a tomato.
9. When all the bananas in a bunch have been picked, the remaining heart can be cooked as a vegetable - it tastes a bit like Artichoke. The leaves are often used as disposable plates in Asia. The trunk of the "tree" can be used to make textiles and paper.
10. The best selling sheet music ever is a song about bananas - Yes! We Have No Bananas was written by Frank Silver and Irving Cohn and originally released in 1923.

February 24th: Estonia Independence Day

Estonia has two Independence Days. It first achieved independence from the Soviet Union on February 24, 1918 and again on August 20, 1991 after 51 years of occupation. The second date is known as the “Restoration of Independence Day.” 10 facts about Estonia:

1. Estonia is a world leader in terms of technology. It was the first country to adopt online voting in 2005, and Skype, Hotmail and Kazaa were founded and developed in Estonia. All schools and most homes have Internet access.
2. They're not so big on religion, though. Only 14% of the population claim to have any religious beliefs.
3. The Estonians love music - the country has the biggest collection of folk songs in the world with written records of 133,000 folk songs. More recently, in 2001, Estonia was the surprise winner of the Eurovision song contest. with the song Everybody, which was sung by Dave Benton and Tanel Padar. This made history; it was the first time a black performer had ever won the Eurovision Song Contest.
4. The highest mountain, Suur Munamägi, is only 318 meters (1,000 feet) high.
5. Estonia has the highest number of Meteorite craters per land area in the world.
6. The literacy rate is 99.8% - second place in the world. You could argue it's the highest as first place presumably goes to Vatican City, where it's 100%, but people only become citizens of the Vatican by getting a job there, and to do that, it probably helps to be able to read and write.
7. Estonia has more than one capital city. The official and administrative capital is Tallinn, but Tartu is the cultural capital and Parnu is the "Summer Capital".
8. Because Estonia is quite far north, and nights are long in winter, it is a legal requirement there for all cyclists and pedestrians to wear reflectors at night.
9. Since January 2013, anyone who is a registered citizen of Tallinn can use their public transport system for free. Which attracts more people to live in the city, so there are more people paying local taxes, more people supporting local shops and businesses, and means there are fewer cars on the road.
10. An unusual sport in Estonia is kiiking, meaning "swinging". It involves standing on a steel swing which can rotate 360 degrees, and doing full turns.

My novel, Death and Faxes is available: why not treat yourself?

Paperback - CreateSpace or Amazon RRP £8 but sometimes Amazon offer it for less!

Or get the E-book: Amazon Kindle Where you can use the "Look Inside" function and read the first few pages for free! And it's less than £2 to buy for your Kindle!

Don't want to risk it without reading a review? Visit Comfy Chair.

AND/OR:

Like my Writer Facebook Page

Read my thoughts on writing, short stories and book excerpts on My writing blog

Follow me on Twitter: @JulieHowlin

23rd February: Guyana Republic Day

On 23 February 1970, Guyana officially became a republic. 10 things you didn't know about Guyana:

1. Guyana is the only English-speaking country in South America and one of very few Caribbean nations to be situated in South America.
2. The name Guyana derives from Guiana, the old name for the region, which in turn comes from an Amerindian word meaning "land of many waters."
3. It is home to one of the largest waterfalls in the world, Kaieteur Falls. It's not the tallest in the world, although is is about six times the height of Niagara Falls, but it is the largest single drop waterfall by volume.
4. The longest river is the Essequibo at 1,010 kilometres (628 mi) long.
5. Guyana doesn't have a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Not yet, anyway. This is not through want of trying - it signed up to the UNESCO Treaty in 1977 - it was the first Caribbean state to do so - and has applied with respect to three different sites: Kaieteur National Park (where the waterfall is), Shell Beach and Historic Georgetown. The National Park was deemed too small and other sites were given priority by UNESCO.
6. Guyana has the tallest wooden church in the world - St George's Anglican Cathedral, situated in the capital, Georgetown. The only other wooden place of worship which is taller is a temple in Japan.
7. Guyana's darkest hour may well have been in 1978, as it was the location of Jonestown, the settlement created by Jim Jones for his People's temple Cult. It was here that over 900 people, including 300 children, died in a mass suicide.
8. The highest mountain is Mount Roraima at 2,810m or 9,219 feet, which along with the table-top mountains, is said to have been the inspiration for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novel The Lost World.
9. Guyana is said to have the largest rain forests in the world - 70-80% of the country is covered in rain forests.
10. The national motto of Guyana is “One People, One Nation, One Destiny.” Victoria Amazonica is the national flower of Guyana, while its national bird is the hoatzin, locally known as Canje Pheasant.

22nd February Yo-Yos

It's Walking the Dog Day - walking the dog being a yo-yo trick, so 10 things you might not know about yo yos.

1. Some historians believe the yo-yo originated in China around 1000 BC. However, there are no records that actually prove it. There is, though, an old Chinese toy called a diablo which is similar to a yo yo.
2. There are records of yo yos in ancient Greece around 500BC. There is a vase painting dating back to this period which shows a boy playing with one.
3. There are also written records which say that there were yo yos made from wood, metal or terra cotta in ancient Greece. The terra cotta ones may not have been toys, but rather a ceremonial object which boys presented to the gods when they came of age - symbolically giving up the things of youth.
4. Yo yos were popular in 18th century France, particularly among the nobility. They were toys for adults there, and thought to have come from India. They were not called yo yos then, but bandalores, or quizzes.
5. In 1791, the Swedish writer Johan Henric Kellgren mentions the yo-yo as 'joujou de Normandie' in the poem Dumboms leverne.
6. In Alaska, they have their own type of yo yo. The skill with these is to rotate two sealskin balls on string made out of caribou sinew in opposite directions.
7. The yo yo was first patented in 1866 in the US by James L. Haven and Charles Hettrick showed a new way of making a yo-yo using a central rivet to hold the two halves together.
8. In 1928 Pedro Flores immigrated from the Philippines to the USA and started selling yo-yos. Pedro trademarked the term 'yo-yo'.
9. In about 1930 Donald F. Duncan bought Flores' company and so obtained the rights to the trademark "yo-yo".In 1965 Duncan got into a legal battle over the use of the term 'yo-yo', resulting in the court ruling that the term had become generic and so could be not trademarked.
10. The World Yo-Yo Contest is held every year in Orlando, Florida, and normally consists of two parts, a set of compulsory tricks and a freestyle.

21st February: Erma Bombeck

The US comic writer Erma Bombeck was born this date in 1927. Here are 10 of her pearls of wisdom:

1. Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died.
2. On vacations: We hit the sunny beaches where we occupy ourselves keeping the sun off our skin, the saltwater off our bodies, and the sand out of our belongings.
3. God created man, but I could do better.
4. Housework, if it is done properly, can cause brain damage.
5. When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me'.
6. Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the Titanic who waved off the dessert cart.
7. It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else.
8. Worry is like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do but never gets you anywhere
9. Laughter rises out of tragedy when you need it the most, and rewards you for your courage.
10. When you look like your passport photo, it's time to go home.

20th February: Gloria Vanderbilt

Gloria Vanderbilt was born on this date in 1924. 10 things she said:

1. The fame you earn has a different taste from the fame that is forced upon you.
2. I'm in love with beauty and things and people and love and being in love, and those things, I think, on the inside, show on the outside.
3. You must always have great, secret, big fat hopes for yourself in love and in life. The bigger, the better.
4. I've always believed that one woman's success can only help another woman's success.
5. The heart of another is a dark forest.
6. Everything in life is elusive.
7. I don't think age has anything to do with what you write about.
8. I love to think that animals and humans and plants and fishes and trees and stars and the moon are all connected.
9. I've had many, many loves. I always feel that something wonderful is going to happen. And it always does.
10. In anything there has to be dark and light. There's a lot of joy in my paintings and a lot of darkness.

19th February: The Women's Institute

On this date in 1897 The Women’s Institute was founded in Ontario, Canada by Mrs Adelaide Hoodless. A Mrs Watt introduced the WI to Britain during the First World War.

1. Despite its reputation as an organisation in Britain, the WI was founded in Canada. The very first members were the wives of members of the Farmer's Institute, hence the name, "Women's Institute."
2. The idea spread to the UK in 1915. The location of the first meeting was a borrowed building in the village of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch in Anglesey, Wales. Also famous for having the longest place name in the UK.
3. Membership is only open to women, although there were two males who were members of the first group in Anglesey - Colonel Richard Stapleton-Cotton and his dog Tinker. The Colonel was the husband of the first President and played an important role in the setting up of the first branch. He was, according to local historian Gerwyn James, somewhat eccentric, but passionate about anything that would help rejuvenate the rural economy. He paid membership fees for both himself and Tinker.
4. Although men cannot become members, they can serve on the committee - in 2010, Peter Bryant was appointed the new secretary of the Gloucestershire Branch of the WI after officials checked that there was no rule against a man having the job. He was not allowed to actually join. From 2007 to 2011, the editor of the WI's magazine, WI LIfe, was also a man, Neal Maidment.
5. In the beginning, the movement's purpose was to encourage women to become more involved in food production during the first world war, and it was funded by the Board of Agriculture.
6. Eventually, though, the movement became self-supporting, and in spite of its early history, today it is completely independent from any political party, religion or institution.
7. The movement's association with the hymn Jerusalem began in 1924. The activities of many branches included choirs by then, and the institute organised a training day for the conductors. Sir Walford Davies was asked to write an arrangement of the hymn especially for the choirs, and after the training day, W.H. Leslie, their music advisor, suggested that the choirs perform the new arrangement at the WI AGM. It was so well-received that it became a permanent feature, and local branches began singing it at the start of their meetings as well. However, Jerusalem has never officially been adopted as the movement's anthem.
8. If you're interested in the history of the WI, their archives are open to the public. They can be found at the Women's Library at the Library of the London School of Economics ref 5FWI.
9. Think the WI is for somewhat straight-laced, middle-aged women? Not necessarily. The youngest president of a WI branch was Georgiana Mannion, who founded a branch in Leeds when she was just 24.
10. There is an "alternative" branch in Merseyside called the Iron Maidens WI, founded in 2012 as an option for women interested in rock music, burlesque, goth culture, steampunk, retro, etc. It is not at all unusual for members of this group to have tattoos, piercings and unusual coloured hair.

18th February: Snow in the Sahara

On this date in 1979 Snow fell in Sahara Desert for the only time in recorded history. Here are 10 things you might not know about snow:

1. The world's largest snowflake recorded fell at Fort Keogh, Montana on January 28, 1887. It was reportedly 38 cm wide and 20 cm thick.
2. The average snowflake is made up of 180 billion Water molecules and has a top speed of 1.7 metres per second (3mph).
3. Snowflakes are always hexagonal but the majority are not perfectly symmetrical - uneven temperatures, dirt and other factors usually cause them to be lopsided. Is every one different? Personally, I don't see how anyone can know, since nobody has looked at all of them. Scientists in Japan have been casting doubt on this generally accepted fact, though. While they say it's highly likely that the more complex ones actually are unique, they have classified 35 basic types of snowflake, and some of the less complex ones actually do appear to look the same. For would-be snowflake nerds there is an infographic here: http://www.compoundchem.com/2014/12/10/snowflakes/
4. A single snowstorm can drop 40 million tons of snow, carrying the energy equivalent to 120 atom bombs.
5. Chionophobia is a fear of snow.
6. The world's largest snowman was actually a snow woman. She was made in Bethel, Maine  in 2008 and measured 122 ft. She had 30 ft spruce trees for arms and skis for eyelashes.
7. Snow is colourless. It only appears white because of the light reflected off it. Deep snow can sometimes appear to be blue because layers of snow create filters which absorb more red light.
8. It is a popular urban legend that the Inuit or Eskimos have an unusually large number of words for snow. In reality, the Eskimo-Aleut languages have about the same number of distinct word roots referring to snow as English does. It's quite possible that skiers and snowboarders have more words for snow than Eskimos do!
9. A snowstorm can only be described as a blizzard if the wind speed is 35 miles an hour or more, visibility is less than a quarter of a mile, and the storm lasts for more than three hours.
10. Ten inches of snow becomes just 1 inch of water when it melts.

My Christmas Novella!

A Very Variant Christmas

Last year, Jade and Gloria were embroiled in a bitter conflict to win back their throne and their ancestral home. This year, Queen Jade and Princess Gloria want to host the biggest and best Christmas party ever in their palace. They invite all their friends to come and bring guests. Not even the birth of Jade's heir just before Christmas will stop them.

The guest list includes most of Britain's complement of super-powered crime-fighters, their families and friends. What could possibly go wrong?

Gatecrashers, unexpected arrivals, exploding Christmas crackers and a kidnapping, for starters.

Far away in space, the Constellations, a cosmic peacekeeping force, have suffered a tragic loss. They need to recruit a new member to replace their dead colleague. The two top candidates are both at Jade and Gloria's party. The arrival of the recruitment delegation on Christmas Eve is a surprise for everyone; but their visit means one guest now faces a life-changing decision.

Meanwhile, an alliance of the enemies of various guests at the party has infiltrated the palace; they hide in the dungeon, plotting how best to get rid of the crime-fighters and the royal family once and for all. Problem is, they all have their own agendas and differences of opinion on how to achieve their aims.

Not to mention that this year, the ghosts who walk the corridors of the palace on Christmas Eve will be as surprised by the living as the living are by them.

Available from Createspace, Amazon and Amazon Kindle

My novel, Death and Faxes is available: why not treat yourself?

Paperback - CreateSpace or Amazon RRP £8 but sometimes Amazon offer it for less!

Or get the E-book: Amazon Kindle Where you can use the "Look Inside" function and read the first few pages for free! And it's less than £2 to buy for your Kindle!

Don't want to risk it without reading a review? Visit Comfy Chair.

AND/OR:

Like my Writer Facebook Page

Read my thoughts on writing, short stories and book excerpts on My writing blog

Follow me on Twitter: @JulieHowlin

16th February: President's Day

The third Monday in February is Presidents' Day in the US, because it is close to the birth dates of both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. 10 facts about US Presidents:

1. The youngest elected president was John F. Kennedy at age 43. The oldest elected president was Ronald Reagan at age 69. Most presidents were between the ages of 50 and 59 when they were elected.
2. James Madison was the smallest president. He was only 5' 4" tall and weighed less than 100 pounds (about 7 stone). Abraham Lincoln was the tallest president at 6' 4” and the heaviest was William Howard Taft who weighed in at 325 pounds (23 stone). It's said he was so fat that he often got stuck in the Bath in the White House and his staff had to come and pull him out.
3. No president has ever been an only child.
4. Only one president never married - James Buchanan. He had a close relationship with Alabama senator William King, which has led historians to speculate that he may have been the first gay US president. Only one president has ever been divorced - Ronald Reagan. Nancy was his second wife.
5. Richard Nixon was the first US president to visit all 50 states.
6. William Henry Harrison holds the record for the longest inauguration speech. It was 8,578 words long and lasted an hour and 40 minutes. However, he was only president for one month, the shortest presidency ever, because he caught pneumonia while making his speech, and it killed him.
7. Woodrow Wilson was the only president to have earned a PhD. Perhaps all the more remarkable because he didn't learn to read until he was ten.
8. US presidents usually have other careers: Abraham Lincoln was also a licensed bartender and co-owned a saloon in Illinois. Grover Cleveland was a hangman and Andrew Johnson was a tailor and only ever wore suits that he had made himself.
9. James Garfield could write Latin with one hand and Greek with the other hand simultaneously.
10. Barack Obama collects comic books, especially Spiderman and Conan the Barbarian.

Killing Me Softly

Sebastian Garrett is an assassin. It wasn’t his first choice of vocation, but nonetheless, he’s good at it, and can be relied upon to get the job done. He’s on top of his game.

Until he is contracted to kill Princess Helena of Galorvia. She is not just any princess. Sebastian doesn’t bargain on his intended victim being a super-heroine who gives as good as she gets. Only his own genetic variant power saves him from becoming the victim, instead of Helena. 

Fate has another surprise in store. Sebastian was not expecting to fall in love with her.

Available on Amazon:

Paperback

E-book

17th February: Kosovo Independence Day

Kosovo Independence Day. Kosovo is one of the world's newest countries, having declared independence from Serbia on February 17 2008.

1. The capital and largest city is Pristina.
2. Another of Kosovo's cities is Prizren. There is a legend which states that anyone who drinks from the water fountain there is guaranteed to return to the city.
3. The name Kosovo, roughly translated means "Field of Blackbirds".
4. Kosovo is landlocked, and is about the size of the US state of Connecticut.
5. There was an international competition to design the country's flag. The United Nations-backed Kosovo Unity Team organised the contest, and almost one thousand people entered. The winner was Muhamer Ibrahimi - a modified version of his design is in use today.
6. The flag consists of the outline of Kosovo in gold on a blue background, with six white stars in an arc above it. The stars represent the major ethnic groups of Kosovo: Albanians, Serbs, Turks, Gorani, Roma, and Bosniaks.
7. 50% of the 1,859,203 population live below the poverty line, making it one of the world's poorest countries. The conflicts in the 1990s and international sanctions seriously damaged the economy.
8. There are reserves of Lead, Zinc, Copper, Silver, Gold, brown coal, bauxite, lignite and nickel. Mining is a major industry, along with agriculture. Kosovo produces both red and white Wine which is exported to Germany and the USA.
9. Kosovo is a mountainous country and the highest peak is Đeravica (2,656 m or 8,714 ft).
10. Although it is not a member of The EU, Kosovo's currency is the Euro.

15th February: Canada Flag Day

Today is Canadian Flag Day. Here are 10 lesser known facts about Canada:

1. Canada had existed as a country for 100 years before it got its own flag, the 11 pointed maple leaf on a white square, in 1965. Before that it used the British flag.
2. Canada got its name through a mistake in translation. The name Canada comes from an Iroquoian word, "kanata" meaning settlement or village. When French Explorer Jaques Cartier arrived in the country, local people invited him to their kanata, ie, their village, but Cartier's party thought it was their name for the country.
3. Canada is the second largest country in the world. In fact, it is bigger than the entire European Union put together. It even has national parks which are bigger than countries: Nahanni National Park Reserve in the Northwest Territories is bigger than Albania and Israel. Wood Buffalo National Park in Alberta and the Northwest Territories is bigger than Denmark and Switzerland.
4. Yonge Street in Ontario is the longest street in the world - 2000 kilometers. Canada also has the longest highway in the world - the Trans-Canada Highway which is over 7604 kilometers (4725 miles) long. A third longest record is that Canada has the longest coastline in the world at 202,080 kilometers. The border between it and the USA is the longest unprotected national boundary in the world.
5. At the other extreme, the world's smallest prison is in Ontario, and measures only 24.3 sq metres.
6. The most northern permanently inhabited place in the world is in Canada - Alert, Nonavut. It is just 817 kilometers from the North Pole. It isn't a town, as such, but a home to military and scientific personnel while they are working in the area. The area of Nonavut is home to fifty percent of the world's polar bears. At one time, vehicles registered there would have Polar Bear shaped licence plates.
7. On the subject of Bears, a bear cub called Winnipeg was exported to London Zoo in 1915, where a little boy called Christopher Robin Milne fell in love with him and used to call him "Winnie" for short. So Winnie the Pooh was named after a Canadian bear.
8. The only walled city in North America is in Canada - Quebec City's walls were built by the French in the 17th century. The walls now form part of a UNESCO World heritage site.
9. It can get very cold in Canada. The coldest temperature ever recorded on earth was in Canada. A temperature of -63 C (-81.4 F) was recorded in the small village of Snag on February 3, 1947, which is roughly the same temperature as the surface of Mars.
10. Canada also has a desert. It's in British Columbia, is 15 miles long, and is the only desert in the world which has a boardwalk for tourists to walk on.

February 14th: St Valentine

Here are 10 facts about Saint Valentine:

1. Actually nobody knows all that much about the life of St Valentine. There could be as many as three St Valentines, all celebrated on the same day - an African martyr, a Roman priest, and a bishop of Terni. The stories of the latter two are so similar that they could well be the same person.
2. The miracle he is known for is restoring the sight of the blind daughter of the judge who was holding him prisoner. The judge was so impressed that he and his household all converted to Christianity.
3. The emperor Claudius was not so easily persuaded. Although he took a liking to Bishop Valentine at first, he grew angry when Valentine tried to convert him - so angry that he had him executed on the Via Flamina.
4. On the day of his execution, the saint is said to have left a note for the girl whose blindness he'd cured, signing it "Your Valentine."
5. According to legend, Valentine's original crime for which he was imprisoned was not so much preaching the gospel but marrying Christian couples so that the men would not have to go to war. As there was a shortage of single men to fight at the time, this was an irritation to the emperor.
6. The name Valentine means "containing valour".
7. There are no churches in England dedicated to St Valentine.
8. The flower-crowned skull of St. Valentine is on display in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome.
9. There is nothing in early Christian writing to connect Valentine with lovers - this connection is thought to have been invented by Geoffrey Chaucer in the fourteenth century.
10. As well as lovers, Valentine is the patron saint of Bee keepers and is invoked against fainting, plague and epilepsy.

February 13th: Day of the Hare

In the French Revolutionary calendar, today is Day of the Hare, so let's have ten facts about hares.

1. Hares belong to the genus Lepus, so they are related to Rabbits, but there are several differences between hares and rabbits. Hares are bigger, have longer ears, and are more solitary than rabbits which tend to live in groups.
2. Unlike rabbits, young hares (or leverets) are born with fur and with their eyes open. They can fend for themselves when they are an hour old. Since hares do not live in burrows underground as rabbits do, but in shallow nests above ground, this is important.
3. They are usually shy but in spring they behave differently. They can be seen running around chasing each other and boxing. It was always assumed that boxing hares were males competing for dominance and the pick of the females, but closer observation has shown that it is usually a female fighting off a randy male because she isn't in the mood. The animals' behaviour at this time is thought to be the origin of the phrase "mad as a March hare."
4. Unlike their cousins the rabbits, hares are never kept as pets, although there is a type of pet rabbit that has been selectively bred to look like a hare.
5. They don't escape getting eaten, though. (Except by Jewish people as they are not kosher.) Jugged hare is a well known dish. The first step of the original recipe is said to be "First, catch your hare."
6. Easier said than done as The European brown hare (Lepus europaeus) can run up to 56 km/h (35 mph).
7. The hare was regarded as an animal sacred to Aphrodite and Eros because of its high libido. Live hares were often presented as a gift of love.
8. Brer Rabbit is really a hare. The Brer Rabbit stories are based on African folk tales featuring the hare as trickster.
9. Many cultures, including the Chinese, Japanese, and Mexican, see a hare in the pattern of dark patches in the Moon (easier to see if you look at the moon upside down).
10. In English and Irish tradition hares are associated with witches and Fairies. In one tale a witch goes out hunting disguised as a white hare. In these stories, anyone who harms a hare is asking for trouble.

My novel, Death and Faxes is available: why not treat yourself?

Paperback - CreateSpace or Amazon RRP £8 but sometimes Amazon offer it for less!

Or get the E-book: Amazon Kindle Where you can use the "Look Inside" function and read the first few pages for free! And it's less than £2 to buy for your Kindle!

Don't want to risk it without reading a review? Visit Comfy Chair.

AND/OR:

Like my Writer Facebook Page

Read my thoughts on writing, short stories and book excerpts on My writing blog

Follow me on Twitter: @JulieHowlin