Hey Hey and a Big G'Day toya,

No, not you!
And not you!
Nor you or you or you or you or even you!
 
This Hey Hey and a Big G'Day is for one person only and that is Mar Kettle!
 
Ya poor bugger, stuck in bed with the flu!
Bloody hell mate! Who gets the flu on Mothers Day?
Rise and shine and give the flu to Par Kettle or your other son or daughter for the day.
I'm sure they will be happy to bare your burden because that's what loves about right!
 
And that's what you do for ya Mar/Wife on Mothers Day!
 
Luvya Mar, you are a bloody beauty mate!
This steaming bowl of noodles & cold beer is for you.
Thanks for always being there especially even after I've been a little bugger!
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The soundtrack to this entry was Mar Kettles favourite 'John Farnham'
The album was 'Full House'
What a voice!
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Below is some info I found on Mothers Day for anyone interested
 
Is Mothers Day Popular in China?
 
Well I've been here nearly three and a half years and I can't say I have heard much about it but what I can say is that it is Chinese friends who actually remind me that Mothers Day is approaching.
 
If they didn't remind me then I would have no way to know it was coming up.
 
I would say that in the 'big cities' that have much more Western influences that Mothers Day would be celebrated big time by the younger generation...and so it should!
 
Anyhow, there really isn't much more I can write about Mothers Day here in China so if you wish continue to read below and fill your brain with the history of Mothers Day!
 
First a short news article I found on Mothers Day in China this year.
 
The best sold flowers are carnation in China Sunday, Mother's Day, which is becoming popular in the country. In Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province, lots of young people crammed 10,000 flower shops to buy their mothers a bunch of carnation.
 
Mr. Yuan at his 30s said he knew the day three years ago and he bought his mother carnation each year since on. A flower shop girl said her shop had sold 300 carnation in the morning, whose dense petals symbolize mother's care and love.
 
Yu Shang, a university student in Wuhan, sent a E-mail of regards to his mother in neighboring Jiangxi Province. Though Mother's Day was originated in the United States, people in China take it with no hesitance because it goes in line with the country's traditional ethics -- respect to the elderly and filial piety to parents.
 
Local enterprises and newspapers in Wuhan Sunday launched a program to collect 10,000 people's signature under the them -- " for mother's smile."
 
Universities and colleges in Wuhan campaigned to raise money to help poor mothers. Luo Pei'en, a social science professor with the Wuhan University, said the popularity of the day is significant to carry forward Chinese traditional ethics of respecting parents and inspiring love between mother and children. A award ceremony for ten distinguished mothers was held on the eve of Mother's Day at the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing.
 
Before the ceremony, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Li Peng, and Vice-Chairwomen Peng
 
Peiyun and He Luli, met with the 10 mothers, who have made remarkable contributions to their families and society and were cited as "China's Most Outstanding Mothers."
 
Project Happiness, one aimed at helping poor mothers, was launched in 1995 by the China Population Welfare Foundation, Family Planning Association of China and China Population News. The project is set to help mothers in China's poverty-stricken areas out of poverty, illiteracy and poor health conditions.
 
In 1997, the organizing committee set Mother's Day as the day to help poor mothers, reminding people of those poor mothers in rural areas, who need help. Wang Guangmei, chairwoman of the organizing committee, said, "I have a mother and I am also a mother. Mothers in poor areas work hard and need help which can change the fate of their families."
 
Over the past five years, nearly 100 million yuan has been spent, under Project Happiness, to help 65,000 poor mothers in 337 counties across the country, benefiting more than 300,000 people. Wang said 60 percent of the relief programs were carried out in China's west, and this trend would continue as China's west development strategy is moving on.
 
(The article was from an English/Chinese newspaper. I left it as I found it)
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MOTHERS DAY CELEBRATIONS
 
History
 
Some historians believe that the earliest celebration's of Mother's Day was the ancient spring festival dedicated to mother goddesses. The ancient Greek empire had a spring festival honoring Rhea, wife of Cronus and mother of the gods and goddesses.
 
In Rome there was a Mother's Day-like festival dedicated to the worship of Cybele, also a mother goddess. Ceremonies in her honor began some 250 years before Christ was born.
This Roman religious celebration, known as Hilaria, lasted for three days. This festival was held around the Vernal Equinox around Asia Minor and eventually in Rome itself from the Ides of March (15 March) to 18 March.
 
The ancient Romans also had another holiday, Matronalia, that was dedicated to Juno, though mothers were usually given gifts on this day. In some countries Mother's Day began not as a celebration for individual mothers but rather for Christians.
 
Mothering Sunday in Britain and Ireland
 
Mothering Sunday, also called "Mothers' Day" in the United Kingdom and Ireland falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent (exactly three weeks before Easter Sunday). It is believed to have originated from the 16th century Christian practice of visiting one's mother church annually, which meant that most mothers would be reunited with their children on this day.
 
Most historians believe that young apprentices and young women in servitude were released by their masters that weekend in order to visit their families. As a result of secularization, it is now principally used to celebrate and give thanks for mothers, although it is still recognised in the historical sense by some churches, with attention paid to Mary the mother of Jesus as well as the traditional concept 'Mother Church'.
 
Mothering Sunday can fall at earliest on March 1st (in years when Easter Day falls on March 22nd) and at latest on April 4th (when Easter Day falls on April 25th).
 
Mother's Day in the United States
 
The United States celebrates Mother's Day on the second Sunday in May.
 
In the United States, Mother's Day was loosely inspired by the British day and was imported by social activist Julia Ward Howe after the American Civil War. However, it was intended as a call to unite women against war. In 1870, she wrote the Mother's Day Proclamation as a call for peace and disarmament. Howe failed in her attempt to get formal recognition of a Mother's Day for Peace.
 
Her idea was influenced by Ann Jarvis, a young Appalachian homemaker who, starting in 1858, had attempted to improve sanitation through what she called Mothers' Work Days. She organized women throughout the Civil War to work for better sanitary conditions for both sides, and in 1868 she began work to reconcile Union and Confederate neighbors.
 
When Jarvis died in 1905, her daughter, named Anna Jarvis, started the crusade to found a memorial day for women. In 1907, she passed out 500 white carnations at her mother's church, St. Andrew's Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, West Virginia-one for each mother in the congregation. The first Mother's Day service was celebrated on 10 May 1908, in the same church, where the elder Ann Jarvis had taught Sunday School. Anna chose Sunday to be Mother's Day because she intended the day to be commemorated and treated as a Holy Day. Later commercial and other exploitations of the use of Mother's Day infuriated Anna and she made her criticisms explicitly known throughout her time.
 
Originally the Andrew's Methodist Episcopal Church, the site of the original Mother's Day commemoration, where Anna handed out carnations, this building is now the International Mother's Day Shrine (a National Historic Landmark). From there, the custom caught on-spreading eventually to 46 states. The holiday was declared officially by some states beginning in 1912, beginning with West Virginia. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson declared the first national Mother's Day, as a day for American citizens to show the flag in honor of those mothers whose sons had died in war.
 
Nine years after the first official Mother's Day, commercialization of the U.S. holiday became so rampant that Anna Jarvis herself became a major opponent of what the holiday had become. Mother's Day continues to this day to be one of the most commercially successful U.S. occasions. According to the National Restaurant Association, Mother's Day is now the most popular day of the year to dine out at a restaurant in the United States.
 
For example, according to IBISWorld, a publisher of business research, Americans will spend approximately $2.6 billion on flowers, $1.53 billion on pampering gifts - like spa treatments - and another $68 million on greeting cards.
 
Mother's Day will generate about 7.8% of the US jewelry industry's annual revenue in 2008. Americans are expected to spend close to $3.51 billion in 2008 on dining out for Mother's Day, with brunch and dinner being the most popular dining out options.



Mother's Day Trivia, Folk Customs, Myths and Fun Facts from Around the World
 
Some tribes of people, like the Assam in Africa, don't call themselves families. They call themselves "maharis", or "motherhoods."
 
Rosa Parks was the mother of bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama that launched the Civil Rights Movement.
 
Chinese family names are often formed (begin) with a sign that means "mother". It's a nice way of honoring their moms long past.
 
The ancient Greeks celebrated Mother's Day in spring, like we do. They used to honor Rhea, "mother of the gods" with honey-cakes and fine drinks and flowers at dawn. Sounds like the beginnings of the Mother's Day tradition of breakfast in bed!
 
Mother Shipton was a Prophetess in Britain 500 years ago. She could see the future, and predicted that another Queen Elizabeth would sit on the throne of England. (QE II)
 
Japan's Imperial family trace their descent from Omikami Amaterasu, the Mother of the World.
 
Julia Ward Howe wrote the Battle Hymm of the Republic and was a staunch fighter for women's rights. She staged an unusual protest for peace in Boston, by celebrating a special day for mothers. Julia wanted to call attention to the need for peace by pointing out mothers who were left alone in the world without their sons and husbands after the bloody Franco-Prussian War.
 
Hindu scripture credits the Great Mother, Kali Ma, with the invention of writing through alphabets, pictographs and beautiful sacred images.
 
George Washington once said, "My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her."
 
The Greek word "meter" and the Sanskrit word "mantra" mean both mother and measurement.
 
Mother Goose is one of the most popular of all children's entertainers. Her books and stories have been loved for many generations.
 
Native American Indian women have long been honored with the name, "Life of the Nation" for their gift of motherhood to the tribes.
 
Ancient Egyptians believed that "Bast" was the mother of all cats on Earth, and that cats were sacred animals.
 
Rose Kennedy once said, "I looked on child-rearing not only as a work of love and duty, but as a profession that was fully as interesting and challenging as any honorable profession in the world, and one that demanded the best that I could bring it."
 
Buddha honored mothers when he said, "As a mother, even at the risk of her own life, loves and protects her child, so let a man cultivate love without measure toward the whole world."
 
Mother's Day is now celebrated in many countries around the world. Australia, Mexico, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Belgium, Russia, China, Thailand, all have special celebrations to honor Mothers, but not in the same way or on the same day as the United States.
 
In the Bible, Eve is credited with being the "Mother of All the Living."
 
During the 1600's, England celebrated a day called "Mothering Sunday." Servants would go home to see their families, bringing cakes and sweets to their moms. This custom was called "going a-mothering". Each mother would recieve a simnel-cake (Latin for "fine flour) and mother's would give a blessing to their children.
 
Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia began the campaign that brought about the official observance of Mother's Day in the United States. Her mother died, and Anna wanted all mothers to be remembered. She asked that white carnations be the official mother's day symbol. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed the orders that made Mother's Day a national holiday.
 
Just nine years later, Anna filed a lawsuit in an effort to stop the over- commercialization of Mother's Day. She lost her fight. Now, cards, letters, candy and dinners out mark Mother's Day for most families. Anna had hoped for a day of reflection and quiet prayer by families, thanking God for all that mothers had done.
 
Mother Earth is also known as "Terra Firma". That title is a Latin translation of some lines from one of the Greek poet, Homer's, greatest poems.
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The soundtrack to this part of the entry was by the freaky Chemical Brothers
The album was 'Exit Planet Dust
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