July
- July’s birthstone is the ruby, which symbolizes contentment.
- Its birth flowers are the Larkspur or the Water Lily.
- The zodiac signs for the month of July are Cancer (until July 22) and Leo (July 23 onwards).
Canada’s National Aboriginal Day is annually held on June 21 to celebrate the unique heritage, diverse cultures, and outstanding achievements of the nation’s Aboriginal peoples. There are three Aboriginal groups in Canada – the First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.
-To wash no-wax floors, add ½ cup of white distilled vinegar to a half-gallon of warm water.
-Window cleaning with vinegar will make your windows gleam and will not leave the usual film or streaks on the glass. Mix equal parts of white distilled vinegar and warm water. Dry with a soft cloth.
-Bathtub film can be removed by wiping with white distilled vinegar and then with soda. Rinse clean with water.
-Ant invasions can sometimes be deterred by washing counter tops, cabinets and floors with white distilled vinegar.
-If you visit Dawson City, Yukon, you can join the “Sourtoe Cocktail Club” — all you have to do is finish a drink (of anything!) with a real human toe in the bottom. The club’s motto says, “You can drink it fast, you can drink it slow — but the lips have gotta touch the toe.”
-Forget the Loch Ness Monster: Canada has its own mysterious lake creature, Ogopogo, who reportedly lives in Lake Okanagan, British Columbia.
-Between 1984 and 2008, it was illegal to sell pop in cans in PEI. All carbonated drinks had to be purchased in refillable glass bottles. PEI was the only place in North America to have a “can ban.”
Cuenca, Spain
Known as the walled city because of its “hanging houses” atop (or actually part of) walls carved out of a rocky hillside in the 15th century, Cuenca’s fortress-like facade sits imposingly above the Jucar River gorge. The houses, which bake in the high summer temperatures, are now home to an abstract art museum reached by crossing a wooden pedestrian swinging bridge.
Mont Blanc
The highest mountain in the Alps lies between Italy and France, and you’ll feel the altitude—15,782 feet (4,810 meters) above sea level—if you are not accustomed to it. Its location lends itself to prime skiing and snowboarding, and the blaze of ice and snow at the top is a sharp contrast to the warmth and glow coming from the shops and cafés in Chamonix, France, at its base.