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Not for the faint of heart.

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Delivery driving is not for the faint of heart, especially when it is raining.


Yesterday, there were dribs and drabs of rain off and on, until the torrent hit just in time for evening traffic.  When that happens, the whole area locks up tighter than the pastor's wife's girdle at the all you can eat pancake breakfast.

An example of that is that #1 Son worked ten hours, came home, and they wanted him to come back and help out with a wedding.  (He's the only person who works there who can assemble sandwiches, wait tables, and wash dishes.  Everyone else just does one job, he will work on any of them.)

He tried to get there, he really did.  In the 20 minutes he was on the road, he couldn't even get across the highway from our neighborhood.  He called them and then came home.

It was an average day for deliveries, i got in 28 completed with no returns on 3 runs.  We called time when the heavens opened and the traffic was getting untenable.  That was just in time for me to meet the girls at the shelter so we could feed and water the cats and kittens.

There are four mama cats with babies there, too.  It felt like it was raining kitties, indoors and out!  We have a pure white cat who is deaf up for adoption.  The only kind you can vacuum to get the hair the easy way!

With today not being a work day, we might get a break in some of the traffic, especially if the rain is as sporadic as forecast.

Meanwhile,  this is how we feel after a couple of days of rapid fire deliveries.

Dog tired.



Today is:

Albany Tulip Festival -- Albany, NY, US (celebrate spring and Albany's Dutch heritage; through tomorrow)

Astronomy Day 2014 / Spring Astronomy Day -- Saturday at or before the first quarter moon between mid-April and mid-May
     sponsored by The Astronomical League; find out what your local astronomy society is doing today, and go enjoy

Birth Mother's Day -- the day before Mother's Day, for all the women who have made an adoption plan for their babies

Clean up Your Room Day -- one of those holidays that no one knows how it got started, but it's a good idea, especially if your house is decorated by teens in "Recently Ransacked" style!

Constitution Day -- Federated States of Micronesia

Cornelia de Lange Syndrome Awareness Day -- shedding light on this rare genetic condition

Golden Spike Day -- finishing the first US Trancontinental Railroad in 1869

Houston Art Car Parade -- Houston, TX, US (the world's oldest and largest art car parade)

International Migratory Bird Day -- original date second Saturday in May, but the IMBD organization encourages you to celebrate when birds are migrating in your area; one special celebration on this date:
     International Migratory Bird Celebration -- Chincoteague, VA, US (walks, talks, tours, art, and children's activities, all outdoors with the birds)

Jamestown Day -- Jamestown, Williamsburg, VA, US (special demonstrations and programs for the anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, America's first permanent English colony)

Letter Carriers "Stamp Out Hunger" Food Drive -- US

Mother Ocean Day -- celebrate the wonders of the ocean, wherever you happen to be; day originally proposed by the South Florida Kayak Fishing Club

Mother's Day -- Belize; El Salvador; Guatemala; Mexico

National Babysitter's Day -- US, giving recognition to the babysitters who make your date nights possible

National Bake Sale Day -- US (recognizing the tradition of raising money and expanding waistlines through the old fashioned bake sale)

National Miniature Golf Day -- this one should be in every country, mini golf is too much fun to hog!

National Shrimp Day

National Train Day -- US (a day to explore why trains matter)

O. Henry Pun-Off World Championships -- Austin, TX, US (presented by The P.U.N.Y. [Punsters United Nearly Yearly])

Randwick Wap Cheese Rolling -- Randwick, Gloucestershire, England (Yes, they roll cheeses that were blessed last Sunday around the church and give the Mayor a good dunking in the pond; yes, they've been doing it for 700 years; no, no one is quite certain why, though many stories are told of the origin.)

Stay Up All Night Night -- as declared by George Mahood of Northampton, England, everyone needs to relive the excitement of staying up late like you always wanted to as a kid at least once a year

St. Cathal's Day (Patron of blind people, drought relief, epileptics, paralyzed people; Taranto, Italy; against blindness, drought, epilepsy, hernias, paralysis, plagues, storms)

St. Father Damien of Moloka'i's Day (Patron of lepers, outcasts, those with HIV/AIDS; Hawaii)

St. Job the Patriarch's Day (Patron against depression and ulcers)

Sun Awareness Day -- like Melanoma Monday, a few days back, a day to remember the damage the sun can do to skin and stock up on sunscreen, if you haven't already

Trust Your Intuition Day -- practice, and you'll get better at it

Windmill Day -- Netherlands (on the second Saturday of May each year, more than 600 windmills, including many that are now national monuments, are open to the public)

World Belly Dance`Day --  to celebrate the wonderful art of belly dance

World Fair Trade Day -- sponsored by the World Fair Trade Organization

World Lupus Day -- information here



Birthdays Today:

Kenan Thompson, 1978
Amanda Borden, 1977
Jason Brooks, 1966
Paul "Bono" Hewson, 1960
Phil and Steve Mahre, 1957
Donovan, 1946
Dave Mason, 1946
Marie-France Pisier, 1944
Judith Jamison, 1943
Gary Owens, 1936
Barbara Taylor Bradford, 1933
Pat Summerall, 1930
Ara Raoul Parseghian, 1923
Nancy Walker, 1922
T. Berry Brazelton, 1918
"Mother" Maybelle Carter, 1909
David O. Selznick, 1902
Fred Astaire, 1899
Max Steiner, 1888
Karl Barth, 1868
George Ross, 1730
Emperor Fushimi of Japan, 1265
Emperor Claudius, 213


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Twister(Film), 1996
"The Rest of the Story"(Radio), 1976
Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major(Shostakovich Op. 102), 1957


Today in History:

The Roman armies under Titus open a full scale assault on Jerusalem, 70
Vienna's church orders all Jews to wear a distinctive garb, 1267
Scottish nobles recognize authority of English king Edward I, 1291
Amerigo Vespucci allegedly leaves on a voyage to the New World, 1497
Christopher Columbus "discovers" the Cayman Islands, 1503
Jacques Cartier visits Newfoundland, 1534
Scottish Protestants under John Knox uprise against queen-mother Mary, 1559
England forcefully annexes Jamaice from Spain, 1655
Benjamin Franklin first tests the lightning rod, 1752
Louis XVI becomes King of France, 1774
The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the United States of America, 1801
New York City banks fail, and unemployment reaches record levels, 1837
In India, the first war of Independence begins, 1857
The First Transcontinental Railroad, linking the eastern and western United States, is completed at Promontory Summit, Utah (not Promontory Point, Utah) with the golden spike, 1869
Romania  declares itself independent from Turkey, 1877
The Supreme Court of the United States rules in Nix v. Hedden that a tomato is a vegetable, not a fruit, under the Tariff Act of 1883, 1893
The first Mother's Day is observed, 1908
J. Edgar Hoover is appointed Director of the FBI, 1924
First successful launch of a V-2 rocket at White Sands Proving Ground, 1946
Bill Haley & His Comets release "Rock Around the Clock", the first rock and roll record to reach number one on the Billboard charts, 1954
The nuclear submarine USS Triton completes Operation Sandblast, the first underwater circumnavigation of the earth, 1960
The Federated States of Micronesia  becomes self-governing, 1979
François Mitterrand becomes the first Socialist President of France in the French 5th republic, 1981
Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa's first black president, 1994
Deadliest day on the mountain: a rogue storm on Everest claims 8 lives, including experienced climbers, 1996
The Maeslantkering, a storm surge barrier in the Netherlands that is one of the world's largest moving structures, is opened by Queen Beatrix, 1997
Solicitor General Elena Kagan is the youngest Justice and third woman nominated for the Supreme Court of the United States, 2010
Microsoft announces plans to purchase Skype, 2011

Silly Sunday: Mother's Day

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Silly Sunday is sponsored by Sandee at Comedy Plus.  It's easy to do, just laugh and link up!

The last two days were spent delivering smiles.  Sixty-five of them in town, four out-of-town, in seven runs over two days.

When i got home yesterday, very late, Little Girl was in the library and quickly hid what she was doing, yelling, "I'm not doing anything!"  Of course, i just smiled at her and went the other way into the kitchen.

 With it being Mother's Day, of course i have to tell a joke on Boudreaux's mother.

Boudreaux's mama, Magdelaine, was telling Boudreaux dat she felt like she was out of shape somet'in' terrible, she was out of breath so early now when she dance at de Fais do do on Friday.  So she done axed her doctor if she could go to de gym and work out. 

She tell him, "De doctor say it's good for me to go to de gym, so I join an' I go buy some of dem nice work out clothes, the lady tell me it's de nicest stuff to wear for de senior aerobic classes I done sign up for.

"Den I go an' when I get dere I bend, an' I twist, an' I jump up an' down an' gyrate an' I work me up a good sweat for about an hour, and mais, by de time I done got dat leotard an' de rest of dat work out outfit on, de class be over!"

Happy Mother's Day, everyone!




Today is

Blow Bubbles for Your Cat Day -- internet generated entertainment urged for human and feline like

Cormorant Fishing Festival -- Nagara River, Gifu, Japan (traditional fishing with trained cormorants is celebrated nightly under the light of blazing torches through mid-October)

Eat What You Want Day -- since none of the "experts" can totally agree on what's good and what isn't, today, ignore them all! sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Fairy Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Royal Humans Founded -- Fairy Calendar

Holiday of the City of Miskolc -- Miskolc, Hungary

Hostess Cupcake Day -- the Hostess Cupcake, the first cmmercially produced cupcake, went on sale on this day in 1919

Infant Mortality Awareness Day -- as we celebrate mothers today, let's remember those who have lost children

Lemuralia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (second day)

Lokadagur -- Iceland (Final Day, festival to mark the end of the fishing season in the south-west of the country)

Mother's Day -- Anguilla; Antigua and Barbuda; Aruba; Australia; Austria; Bahamas; Bangladesh; Barbados; Belgium; Bermuda; Bonaire; Botswana; Brazil; Brunei; Canada; Cambodia; Chile; China(People's Republic of China); Colombia; Croatia; Cuba; Curaçao; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; Dominica; Ecuador; Estonia; Ethiopia; Fiji; Finland; Germany; Ghana; Gold Coast; Greece; Grenada; Guyana; Honduras; Hong Kong; Iceland; India; Italy; Jamaica; Japan; Kurdistan; Latvia; Liberia; Liechtenstein; Macao; Malaysia; Malta; Myanmar; Netherlands; New Zealand; Pakistan; Papua New Guinea; Peru; Philippines; Puerto Rico; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Samoa; Singapore; Sint Maarten; Slovakia; South Africa; Sri Lanka; Suriname; Switzerland; Taiwan; Tanganyika; Tonga; Trinidad and Tobago; Turkey; Uganda; Ukraine; United States; Uruguay; Vietnam; Venezuela; Zambia; Zimbabwe                 

National Mocha Torte Day

National Technology Day -- India

Nisga'a Day -- Nisga'a (one of the First Nations of Canada [ effective date of treaty])

Punch's Birthday / Covent Garden May Fayre and Puppet Festival -- St. Paul's Cathedral, London, England (Punch, of Punch and Judy, celebrates his birthday on the Sunday closest to May 9 with a fair and by preaching at the cathedral to other puppets and their puppeteers, or "professors".)

Resistance and Liberation Day -- Lebanon

Root Canal Appreciation Day -- Dr. Chris Kammer, the 'rock and roll dentist', declared this day back in 2005 because he said the much maligned procedure saves millions of teeth a year and needs an image make over

State Flag and State Emblem Day -- Belarus

St. Gengulf's Day (Patron of knights, separated spouses, victims of adultery or unfaithfulness; against unhappy marriages)

St. Mamertus' Day (first of the Ice Saints, whose days are supposed to herald the last frost)

Tubeless Tire Day -- B. F. Goodrich Company announced the development of a tubeless tire on this day in 1947

Twilight Zone Day -- no, it didn't premier on this day, nor was Rod Serling born or died on this day; it's today on the internet for no particular reason except that someone decided to celebrate it today

Witching Day -- Isle of Man (Mayday Eve based on the OS calendar, be careful of the spirits today)


Anniversaries Today:

Sammy Davis, Jr., marries Altovise Gore, 1970
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is founded, 1927
Glacier National Park established, MT, US, 1910
Minnesota becomes the 32nd US state, 1858


Birthdays Today:

Corey Monteith, 1982
Jonathan Jackson, 1982
Natasha Richardson, 1963
Boyd Gaines, 1953
Robert Jarvik, 1946
Mort Sahl, 1927
Bernard Fox, 1927
Foster Brooks, 1912
Phil Silvers, 1911
Salvador Dali, 1904
Martha Graham, 1894
Irving Berlin, 1888
Charles Warren Fairbanks, 1852
Chang and Eng Bunker, 1811


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Once Upon a Mattress"(Musical), 1959


Today in History:

Constantinople becomes the capital of the Roman Empire and is also called Nova Roma and Byzantium, 330
Peter Stuyvesant arrives in New Amsterdam, 1647
Captain Robert Gray becomes the first documented European to sail into the Columbia River, 1792
The waltz is introduced into English ballrooms, and becomes popular in spite of being called "riotous and indecent," 1812
William Lawson, Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth lead an expedition westwards from Sydney, opening the interior of Australia for settlement, 1813
Indian rebels seize Delhi from the British, 1857
Luxembourg  gains its independence, 1867
U.S. Congress  establishes Glacier National Park in Montana, 1910
Mercedes-Benz is formed by Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz merging their two companies, 1924
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is founded, 1927
Siam officially changes its name to Thailand  for the second time, 1949
Israel joins the United Nations, 1949
In Baltimore, Maryland, the first heart-lung transplant takes place, 1987
In New York City, more than 170 countries decide to extend the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty indefinitely and without conditions, 1995
IBM Deep Blue, a chess-playing supercomputer, defeats Garry Kasparov in the last game of the rematch, becoming the first computer to beat a world-champion chess player in a classic match format, 1997
In Nepal, Sherpa Apa Sherpa achieves a new record by climbing Mount Everest for the 21st time, 2011

Awww Monday: It's a Big World!

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Awww Monday is hosted by Sandee, of Comedy Plus.  It's easy to play along, just post a picture that makes everyone say, "Awww!"  After all, on Monday morning, we could all use something cute to to awww about.

Appleblossom is figuring out that it's a big world out there.


Staring out at the big, wide world.






Today is:

Aso ote Tala Lei -- Tuvalu (Gospel Day)

Day of Purification of All Things -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Fairy Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Royal Humans Disbanded -- Fairy Calendar (and don't ask how we blew it)

Fibromyalgia Awareness Day -- some information about this chronic illness here

Hug Your Cat Day -- another date given on many sites, and here's some advice about how to do it safely

International CFS/ME Awareness Day -- bringing awareness about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

International Nurses Day -- birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale

Limerick Day -- birth anniversary of Edward Lear

National Nutty Fudge Day

Odometer Day -- actually first called a "roadometer", it measured wagon wheel revolutions, as 360 of them made a mile, and was invented and first used this day by William Clayton, Orson Pratt, and Appleton Milo Harmon, Mormon pioneers traveling to Utah in 1847

Olde May Day (Julian Calendar)

Pilgrimage to Fatima -- Fatima, Portugal (procession, mass, and etc. to commemorate the first appearance of the Virgin of the Rosary to the three shepherd children on this day in 1917)

Rotuma Day -- Rotuma, Fiji

Saint Andrew, the First Called Day -- Georgia

Snellman Day/Day of Finnish Identity -- Finland

St. Diomma of Kildimo's Day (Patron of Kildimo, County Limerick, Ireland)

St. Francis Patrizi's Day (Patron of reconciliations)

St. Pancras' Day (2nd Ice Saint; Patron of children, oaths, treaties; Albano, Italy; Iserlohn, Germany; Pontevico, Italy; Sestino, Italy; against cramps, false witness, headaches, and perjury)

Women's Check-up Day 2014 -- US (always the Monday after Mother's Day, encouraging women to be proactive about their health



Anniversaries Today:

Mick Jagger marries Bianca De Macias, 1971
Eddie Fisher marries Elizabeth Taylor, 1959
Coronation of George VI of England, 1937
Maria Theresa of Austria is crowned Queen of Bohemia, 1743
National University of San Marcos is founded in Lima, Peru (oldest in the Americas), 1551
Jagiellonian University is fouded in Krakow, Poland (oldest in Poland), 1364
Richard I (Lionheart) of England marries Berengaria of Navarre, 1191


Birthdays Today:

Emily VanCamp, 1986
Cheryl Burke, 1984
Jason Biggs, 1978
MacKenzie Astin, 1973
Christian Campbell, 1972
Jamie Luner, 1971
Kim Fields, 1969
Tony Hawk, 1968
Stephen Baldwin, 1966
Emilio Estevez, 1962
Ving Rhames, 1961
Kim Greist, 1958
Bruce Boxleitner, 1951
Gabriel Byrne, 1950
Lindsay Crouse, 1948
Steve Winwood, 1948
Millie Perkins, 1938
George Carlin, 1937
Tom Snyder, 1936
Frank Stella, 1936
Burt Bacharach, 1929
Yogi Berra, 1925
Mary Kay Ash, 1918
Katharine Hepburn, 1907
Florence Nightingale, 1820
Edward Lear, 1812


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Lena Horne: The Lady And Her Music"(Musical revue), 1981
"Mary Had a Little Lamb"(Paul McCartney & Wings single release), 1972
"The Poisoned Kiss, or The Empress and the Necromancer"(Opera), 1936
The Symphony No. 1 in F minor(Shostakovich Op. 10), 1926
"L'elisir d'amore / The Elixir of Love"(Opera), 1832


Today in History:

Antipope  Nicholas V, a claimant to the papacy, is consecrated in Rome, 1328
Rao Jodha, a Rajput chief  of to the Rathore clan, founds Jodhpur, India, 1459
Philip Lenzi places the first ice cream advertisement, in the NY Gazette, 1777
Society of St Tammany is formed by Revolutionary War soldiers; it later becomes an infamous group of NYC political bosses, 1789
The Manitoba Act is given the Royal Assent, paving the way for Manitoba to become a province of Canada on July 15, 1870
US District Court Judge J. Dundy rules, in Standing Bear vs. George Crook, that Native Americans are persons within the meaning of the laws of the United States, 1879
Tunisia  becomes a French protectorate, 1881
In the North-West Rebellion, the four-day Battle of Batoche, pitting rebel Métis against the Canadian  government, comes to an end with a decisive rebel defeat, 1885
Ten weeks after his abduction, the infant son of Charles Lindbergh is found dead in Hopewell, New Jersey, 1932
Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world's first working programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin, 1941
A formal North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement is signed between the United States and Canada, 1958
West Germany and Israel establish diplomatic relations, 1965
The U.S. merchant ship Mayaguez seized by Cambodian forces in international waters, 1975
South Africa prisoner Nelson Mandela sees his wife for 1st time in 22 years, 1984
Amy Eilberg is ordained in New York as 1st woman Conservative rabbi, 1985
Fred Markham of the US becomes the first person to pedal a bike at 65mph unaided by wind, 1986
Ingrid Baeyens becomes the first Belgian woman to ascend Mount Everest, 1992
Russia and Chechnya sign a peace agreement after 400 years of conflict, 1997
The Texas, US, legislature is brought to a standstill when 59 Democratic lawmakers go into hiding in a dispute with Republicans over redistricting, 2003
An 8.0 earthquake in southwest China kills more than 69,000 people, 2008
Queen Elizabeth II becomes the second-longest-reigning monarch in British history, 2011

The long and short of it.

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So, i asked myself as i took Miss Lizzie's dog for a walk, how did i get into this situation?

It's one of those stories.  You know the kind, where you just aren't sure where to start, or if you should.

For any who don't know, Miss Lizzie is a young woman, about 11 years older than Bigger Girl, who has "problems." (Read, on disability for PTSD due to being molested as a child, ADHD, OCD, Borderline Personality,  scoliosis, kyphosis, bulging discs in her neck, impinged nerves in both elbows and wrists which cause chronic pain -- added together, there's always something wrong.)

She lived with us for a short time while trying to get herself together enough to get her own apartment.  She now has that, but with Miss Lizzie, the sailing is never smooth.

Yesterday, she was trying to get to an appointment with a new pain management doctor, because she wants to get a referral to someone who can do surgery on her impinged nerves, once she gets over the eye infection she currently has, and the infection in her feet, whatever that is.  The infectious disease specialist hasn't figured that one out yet.  As i said, it's never easy for her.

Anyway, she had a flat tire, and Bigger Girl was having finals.  So i picked her up, got her to the appointment, then took her to the BigBoxStore to get her prescriptions.

That can't go smoothly, either.  One script her Medicare wouldn't pay for, and it's going to take a few days to see if Medicaid will pick it up.  The other, that pharmacy was out of it.

By the time i had picked her up, gotten her to the appointment, and then back around to the store, it was way too late to cook dinner anyway, so it was rotisserie chicken, potato wedges, and a veggie tray, which i dropped off on the way to another pharmacy, that way the troops could eat.

When i finally got her back to her place, helped her put her groceries away, threw her garbage out, and walked her poor dog who practically had his legs crossed by this time, she said, "You know, it's been a long short day!  Or maybe a short long day.  You know what I mean, right?  One of those days where it's a long day, but you don't get anything much done that you had wanted to get done."

That is precisely what the day was -- a long day, with a lot done, but not the stuff you wanted.

Today, Bigger Girl has time to help Miss Lizzie deal with her car.  From now on, on the days when everything happens and nothing planned gets done, i'm going to remember that line.  It's a long short day.


Today is

Arlington National Cemetary Day -- US (the first serviceman to be interred here was Private William Henry Christman, on this date in 1964

Bun Bung Fai (Rocket Festival) -- Yasothon, Thailand (through the 14th, teams compete to build the highest flier, with no regard for safety!)

Celtic Tree Month Huath (hawthorn) commences

Fairy King and Queen Jumping Competition -- Fairy Calendar

Frog Jumping Day -- original date for celebrating Twain's short story

Garland Day -- Abbotsbury, Dorset, England

King Norodom Sihamoni's Birthday -- Cambodia

Lemuralia -- Ancient Roman Empire (third day)

Leprechaun Day -- spread around the internet, presumably by the little people themselves, as since St. Patrick gets a day, so should they!

National Apple Pie Day

National Fruit Cocktail Day

St Julian of Norwich's Day (Author of what is believed to be the first book written by a woman in the English language, Sixteen Revelations of Divine Love, around 1393)

St. Servatus' Day (3rd Ice Saint, Patron for success; against foot problems, lameness, leg problems, mice, rats, rheumatism, vermin)



Birthday Today:

Debby Ryan, 1993
Robert Pattinson, 1986
Samantha Morton, 1977
Darius Rucker, 1966
Stephen Colbert, 1964
Julianne Phillips, 1962
Dennis Rodman, 1961
Frances Barber, 1957
Stevie Wonder, 1950
Bobby Valentine, 1950
Franklyn Ajaye, 1949
Tim Pigott-Smith, 1946
Mary Wells, 1943
Ritchie Valens, 1941
Harvey Keitel, 1939
Beatrice Arthur, 1923
Joe Louis, 1914
Arthur Sullivan, 1842
Maria Theresa, 1717


Debuting/Premiering Today;

Let It Be(Film), 1970
"Paint It Black"(Single release), 1966
"The Pajama Game"(Musical), 1954
Schelomo: Rhapsodie Hébraïque for Violoncello and Orchestra (Bloch concerto), 1917
"Apollo et Hyacinthus"(opera, Mozart K 38), 1767


Today in History:

The forces of Mary, Queen of Scots, are defeated by a confederacy of Scottish Protestants under James Stewart, Earl of Moray, her half-brother, 1568
A major earthquake in Santiago, Chile, kills 1/3 of the population, 1643
Captain Arthur Phillip leaves Portsmouth, England  with eleven ships full of convicts (First Fleet) to establish a penal colony in Australia, 1787
Ecuador  gains its independence from Gran Colombia, 1830
The first performance of Finland's national anthem, 1848
Queen Victoria declares Britain neutral in the US Civil War, 1861
The Great Comet of 1861 is discovered by John Tebbutt of Windsor, New South Wales, Australia, 1861
Thomas Edison performs the first test of his electric railway, 1880
The Royal Flying Corps (now the Royal Air Force) is established in the United Kingdom, 1912
Igor Sikorsky becomes the first man to pilot a four-engine aircraft, 1913
The first commercial FM radio station in the United States (WDRC-FM) is launched in Bloomfield, Connecticut, 1939
Winston Churchill makes his "blood, toil, tears, and sweat" speech to the House of Commons, 1940
The trade mark Velcro is registered, 1958
The Free Speech Movement is born at UC Berkeley, 1960
Dr. Zakir Hussain becomes the third President  of India and the first Muslim President of Indian Union, 1967
Large groups of students occupy Tiananmen Square and begin a hunger strike, 1989
Johnny Carson makes his last television appearance on Late Show with David Letterman, 1994
A 33 years old British mother, Alison Hargreaves, became the first woman to conquer Everest without oxygen or the help of sherpas, 1995
Star Trek: Enterprise broadcasts its final show in the U.S., 2005
Construction of the Calafat-Vidin Bridge between Romania and Bulgaria begins, 2007
In Belize, a construction company requiring road fill gravel destroys a 2,300 year-old Mayan pyramid, 2013

In her natural habitat.

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Since her mom really does need a night out once a month to attend her Circle meeting, it looks like i'll be taking care of Gracie regularly, which is a good thing.

It was a great time with Gracie in her natural habitat.

She's as much an acrobat at home as anywhere else:


Gracie got skillz!


Gracie's "brother and sister":

Otis and Matilda.
There was a very nice supper waiting for her, and you should have seen the huge bites she took on that big fork.  She loves sweet potatoes and plowed through a huge bowlful.  Yes, she even eats the broccoli.

Healthy dinner, followed by raisins for dessert.
Her favorite things to do are play tickle games, and read.  So we played tickle games, and we read.


Fun magazines from the library.

A fun evening, except for the dogs, who were upset that they couldn't steal any of her chicken!


Today is

Armed Forces/Amateur Radio Crossband Test Day -- US (ham operators and the US military team up to test ham operators ability and expertise in contacting appropriate military radio stations in an emergency)

Cannes Film Festival -- through the 25th

Carabao Festival -- Pulilan, Philippines (to honor their patron, St. Isidro [St. Isadore the Farmer], hundreds of carabaos [water buffalo] are dressed up and paraded, and eventually blessed in front of the church; through tomorrow)

Dance Like a Chicken Day -- no idea why today, but i'm waiting for wedding season

Donate a Days Wages to Charity Day 2014 -- onedayswages.org

Drunk Driving Memorial Day -- not sponsored by MADD, or anyone else i can find, but let's all work and pray for the day drunk driving by anyone is just a bad memory

French Fairy Awareness Day -- Fairy Calendar

Full Flower Moon / Corn Planting Moon / Milk Moon
     Buddha Day/Vesak/Waisak  -- Bhuddist's Buddha Day; date varies with many celebrating tomorrow, and some areas already started the celebrations yesterday; sometimes called "Buddha's Birthday"
     Kasone Full Moon -- Myanmar
     Vesak Full Moon Poya Day -- Sri Lanka
     Waisak/Vesak Festival -- Borobudur Temple, Java, Indonesia (on the day of the full moon, a stunning and spiritual celebration of Buddha's birthday)

Gesta de Independencia -- Paraguay

Izumo-taisha Shrine Grand Festival -- Izumo-taisha, Japan (through tomorrow)

Marshmallow Fluff Day -- Mr. Durkee and Mr. Mower announced, on this day in 1920, that they were in business producing this sweet confection

Mars Invictus Festival -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Midnight Sun at North Cape -- Norway (the sun will not set until July 30)

National Buttermilk Biscuit Day

National Night Shift Workers Day/Third Shift Workers Day -- US (remembering those intrepid souls who keep things running smoothly through the night)

National Receptionist Day -- US (because that first impression is important; National Receptionists Association)

National Unification Day -- Liberia

President Kamuzu Banda's Birthday -- Malawi

Royal Windsor Horse Show -- Windsor, England (through the 18th)

Runic Half-Month Ing (expansive energy) commences

"Stars and Stripes Forever" Day -- first public performance this day in 1897

St. Bonifatius' Day (4th Ice Saint)

St. Matthias the Apostle's Day (Patron of carpenters, reformed alcoholics, tailors; Gary, Indiana; Great Falls-Billings, Montana; against alcoholism and smallpox)

Underground America Day -- Malcolm Wells wants us to imagine what our landscapes would look like if more of our buildings were under ground


Anniversaries Today:

Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark marries Mary Donaldson, 2004
Carlsbad Caverns National Park established, NM, US, 1930


Birthdays Today:

Miranda Cosgrove, 1993
Amber Tamblyn, 1983
Dan Auerbach, 1979
Martine McCutdcheon, 1976
Cate Blanchett, 1969
Danny Wood, 1969
Jose Da Silveira, 1965
Suzy Kolber, 1964
Tim Roth, 1961
Valerie Still, 1961
Ronan Tynan, 1960
David Byrne, 1952
Robert Zemechis, 1951
Meg Foster, 1948
George Lucas, 1944
Jack Bruce, 1943
Atanasio "Tony" Perez, 1942
Bobby Darin, 1936
Laszlo Kovacs, 1933
Patrice Munsel, 1925
Otto Klemperer, 1885
Robert Owen, 1771
Thomas Gainsborough, 1727
Gabrile Daniel Fahrenheit, 1686


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Kids Are Alright"(Documentary), 1979
“It’s Time for Ernie"(Ernie Kovacs' TV premier), 1951
"When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd: A Requiem for those we love"(Hindemith composition), 1946
"Die Hebriden/The Hebrides"(Mendelssohn Op. 26), 1832


Today in History:

Jamestown, Virginia is settled as an English colony, 1607
Edward Jenner administers the first smallpox  vaccination, 1796
The Lewis and Clark expedition sets out, 1804
Paraguay  gains independence from Spain, 1811
The first edition of the London Illustrated Times is published, 1842
Gail Borden patents her process for condensed milk, 1853
Vaseline, the first petroleum jelly, is marketed, 1878
Lina Medina becomes the world's youngest confirmed mother in medical history at the age of five, 1939
Israel is declared to be an independent state and a provisional government is established; immediately after the declaration, Israel is attacked by the neighboring Arab states, triggering the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, 1948
Kuwait joins the United Nations, 1963
Skylab, the United States' first space station, is launched, 1973
The Institute for War documents publishes Anne Franks complete diary, 1986
The last episode of Seinfeld airs, with commercials going for $2M per 30 seconds, 1998
Scientists at Stanford University invent a working bionic eye the is powered only by focused light; the eye could eventually restore the sight of millions of people suffering from macular degeneration and retinal pigmentosa, 2012

All the news my brain can remember right now.

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As opposed to all the news that's fit to print, because there might be more that i just happen to have forgotten.

Anyway.

We finally, thanks to Grandpa, found a contractor to fix the house where Little Girl had her Oops and ran the vehicle into the house.  That's the good news.

The rest of the news is not so good, in that he has figured out the damage is much more extensive than we first thought, and the cost is probably going to more than double.  Thus i have to contact the insurance agency and tell them their adjustor missed a whole side wall being bowed out and knocked off the anchor bolts.  We will see where that leads.

Next up, we have news about #2 Son.  He will probably be finished with those last two classes within the next couple of weeks, and be given his diploma.  He will be thrilled beyond measure to know he's done with algebr.  Once he goes to culinary school, he won't have to take that again.  They require some math for the Associates in Culinary Arts degree, but it's not so rigorous.

Bigger Girl will again be working at the uni's reproductive biology research station this summer.  They can't wait, as she not only helps them with some of the animal work, she takes over the sterilization room and the liquid nitrogen room work.  She will also be taking a math course at the junior college so that she can go straight into some of her sciences in the fall.

#1 Son no longer needs to find a second job.  His current employer told him they only wanted part time workers, so he began searching for a second part time job.  Then they started working him so much that he was getting overtime.  They seem to like the fact that he can expedite, serve, and be a dishwasher.  Everyone else only does one thing or another.

Little Girl has passed all of her EOC (End of Course) tests, and post tests, and is going to be exempt from finals.  In fact, tomorrow may be her last day, as she really has no more work to do.  School doesn't officially get out until the end of next week, but they let students leave early who've passed everything just to make it easier for teachers to concentrate on the kids who need more time.

As for me, i'm working again today.  While i am technically a janitor/housekeeper, and part time delivery driver, today i am a laundress.  The lady whose house i cleaned last week didn't have a washing machine for about 3 weeks, and the only way to catch back up is to get all the backlog together and go to a laundromat, which is the plan for the day.

Young Jacob has been conscripted to help Miss Lizzie with the flat tire situation.  Bigger Girl and he got her back to her car, got the tire off, and she and Bigger Girl will be getting a new tire put on that rim.  Then Young Jacob will put it back on the car this evening after work.  That will be one more crisis taken off the list.

That's all the news my brain can think of right now.



Today is:

Aoi Matsuri -- Kyoto, Japan (Hollyhock Festival, a pageant reproducing ancient imperial processions)

Brown Bag-It Thursday -- it's cheaper and healthier

Calaveras County Fair and Frog Jumping Jubilee -- Calaveras Fairgrounds, Angel's Camp, CA, US (the "Super Bowl" of frog jumping contests; through Sunday)
     Frog Jumping Day -- for those of us who don't live in Calaveras County, you can still celebrate Mark Twain's famous story and go play with a frog

Cold Sophie's Day (5th Ice Saint; according to Nordic legend, this day may be very cold, but there will be no more frosts after this)

Flip Your Mattress Day -- because it's a good thing to do

Hyperemisis Gravidarum Awareness Day -- bringing attention to morning sickness that becomes life-threatening

Ides of May -- Ancient Roman Calendar; related observances
     Feast of Maia and Vesta
     Mercuralia -- festival for Mercury
     Sacrifice day to the Tiber River

Independence Day -- Paraguay(1811)

International Conscientious Objectors' Day

International Day of Families -- UN

International MPS Awareness Day -- here for details about these inherited diseases

Kan Phuetchamongkhon -- Thailand (Royal Plowing and Farmers Day) 6th day 4th lunar month

La Corsa del Ceri -- Gubbio, Italy (festival on the eve of the saint day of the city's patron, St. Ubaldo)

Miles City Bucking Horse Sale -- Miles City, MT, US (a celebration worthy of the city that inspired "Lonesome Dove;" through Sunday)

Mother's Day -- Paraguay

National Chocolate Chip Day

National Safety Dose Day -- cannot confirm they sponsor a day any more, but the Safety Dose people still want us to remember that more is not necessarily better when it comes to taking medicines, and to dose them correctly for children

Nylon Stockings Day -- they went on sale at stores around the US this date in 1940

Over the Rainbow Day -- birth anniversary of Lyman Frank Baum

Police Officer/Peace Officer Memorial Day -- US (National Association of Chiefs of Police sponsor the main memorial event at the American Police Hall of Fame and Museum in Titusville, FL, but there may be services where you are also)

Relive Your Past By Listening to the First Music You Ever Bought No Matter What It Was No Excuses Day -- no, i can't find out who started this, or why; maybe we should all take a pass at this one

Sea Monkey Day -- because somebody really loves theirs, and wants you to love them, too

St. Dymphna's Day (Patron of epileptics, family happiness, incest victims, martyrs, mental asylums/hospitals, mental health caregivers and professionals/psychiatrists/therapists, mentally ill people, nervous disorders, neurological disorders, possessed people, princesses, rape victims, runaways, sleepwalkers, those who have lost parents; against sleepwalking, epilepsy, insanity, mental disorders, mental illness)

St. Hallvard's Day (Patron of Oslo; protector of innocence and virtue)

St. Isidore of Madrid's Day (a/k/a Isidore the Farmer; Patron of agricultural workers/farm workers/farmers/field hands/husbandmen/ranchers, day laborers, livestock, rural communities; Angono, Philippines; Asturias, Cebu, Philippines; Bukidnon, Mindanao, Philippines; Carampa, Peru; Castalla, Spain; Cuz Cuz, Chile; Digos, Philippines; Estepona, Spain; La Celba, Honduras; Leon, Spain; Lima, Peru; Lucban, Philippines; Madrid, Spain; Malaybalay, Philippines, diocese of; Morong, Philippines; Nabas, Philippines; Orotava, Spain; Pulilan, Philippines; Pulupandan, Philippines; Sabana Grande, Puerto Rico; San Isidro, Argentina; Saragossa, Spain; Sariaya, Philippines; Seville, Spain; Tavalera, Philippines; Tayabas, Philippines; United States National Rural Life Conference; against the death of children)
     Carabao Festival -- San Isidro, Pulilan, and Angono, Philippines (second day and main festival; on St. Isidore of Madrid's Day; the farming communities celebrate their beasts of burden and have them blessed)
     Municipal Holiday -- Madrid
     San Isidro Day -- Mexico

St. Sophia of Rome's Day (considered by some to be among the Ice Saints, and invoked for protection against frost)

Straw Hat Day -- just as you don't wear white after Labor Day, you don't wear straw hats before today, the unofficial start of summer and the official start of straw hat season

Teacher's Day -- Mexico; South Korea

Theravadin New Year -- Buddhist (through the 18th; dates can vary locally)

Tuberous Sclerosis Global Awareness Day -- information here


Anniversaries Today:

Mary, Queen of Scots, marries James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, 1567
Airmail service begins between NYC, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, 1918


Birthdays Today:

Jamie-Lynn Sigler, 1981
David Krumholtz, 1978
David Charvet, 1972
Sam Trammell, 1971
Emmit Smith, 1969
Giselle Fernandez, 1961
Dan Patrick, 1956
Lee Horsley, 1955
George Brett, 1953
Chazz Palminteri, 1951
Brian Eno, 1948
David Cronenberg, 1943
Lainie Kazan, 1942
Madeleine Albright, 1937
Trini Lopez, 1937
Anna Maria Alberghetti, 1936
Jasper Johns, 1930
Richard Avedon, 1923
Eddy Arnold, 1918
Max Frisch, 1911
James Mason, 1909
Joseph Cotten, 1905
Abraham Zapruder, 1905
Katherine Anne Porter, 1890
Arthur Schnitzler, 1862
Ellen Louise Axson Wilson, 1860
Pierre Curie, 1859
L. Frank Baum, 1856


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Esclarmonde"(Opera), 1889


Today in History:

Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, is sentenced to death, 1536
Bartholomew Gosnold becomes the first European to see Cape Cod, 1602
Johannes Kepler confirms his discovery of the third law of planetary motion, 1618
James Puckle, a London lawyer, patents the world's first machine gun, 1718
The Seven Years' War begins when Great Britain declares war on France, 1756
Diego Marín Aguilera flies a glider for "about 360 meters", at a height of 5-6 meters, during one of the first attempted flights, 1793
George III survives two assassination attempts in one day, 1800
Opening of the first private mental health hospital in the United States, the Asylum for the Relief of Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason (now Friends Hospital) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1817
Francis Baily observes "Baily's beads" during an annular eclipse, 1836
Rama IV is crowned King of Thailand (The King and I), 1851
Opening of the present Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, 1858
Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the National Woman's Suffrage Association, 1869
Las Vegas, Nevada, is founded, 1905
The United States Supreme Court  declares Standard Oil to be an "unreasonable" monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act and orders the company to be broken up, 1911
The Winnipeg General Strike begins; by 11:00 a.m., almost the whole working population of Winnipeg, Manitoba had walked off the job, 1919
In an attempted Coup d'état, the Prime Minister of Japan Inukai Tsuyoshi is killed, 1932
The Moscow Metro is opened to public, 1935
The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3, 1958
Mercury-Atlas 9 astronaut L. Gordon Cooper becomes the first American to spend more than a day in space, 1963
President Richard Nixon appoints Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington the first female United States Army Generals, 1970
Portrait of Doctor Gachet by Vincent van Gogh is sold for a record $82.5 million, the most expensive painting at the time, 1990
Edith Cresson becomes France's first female prime minister, 1991
California becomes the second U.S. state after Massachusetts in 2004 to legalize same-sex marriage, 2008
Jessica Watson, age 17, becomes the youngest person to sail, non-stop and unassisted around the world solo, 2010
U.S. scientists develop a device that can generate electricity from genetically-engineered viruses; these piezoelectric materials are a step toward the development of personal power generators, 2012

Photo-Finish Friday: Lizard Love

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Little Girl may be 16 now, but she still loves catching lizards, specifically the little anoles that we like to keep around, as they eat the Ugh! bugs.  (If you don't know what an Ugh! bug is, you've never lived where there are roaches the size of matchbox race cars.  If anything can make you say Ugh! it's one of those.)

Get a plastic container and make holes in the top.
Gather sticks, grass, clover, and a small cap from a jar in which to keep water.
Catch and observe your small reptile.

Yes, she always lets them go after watching a while.


Photo-Finish Friday is the brainchild of Leah, who blogs at The Goat's Lunch Pail.


Today is

Art Fair and Winefest -- Washington, MO, US (the largest tasting if state wines, juried art show, and more; through Sunday)

Asakusa Sanja Matsuri -- Tokyo, Japan (sake and processions of elaborate mini shrines celebrate the goddess of mercy and the three fishermen; through Sunday)

Bath International Music Festival -- Bath, UK (with musicians from more than 30 countries, this is truly a premier festival; through the 26th)

Bats Day in the Fun Park -- Anaheim, CA, US (includes The Bats Day Happy Haunts Swinging Wake: A Costumed Celebration, a Bat's Day Holiday Black Market, and a Spooky Trip to Disneyland; through Sunday)

Bike to Work Day 2014 -- the League of American Bicyclists have urged you to celebrate this day the third Friday of May ever since 1956http://bikeleague.org/content/bike-month-dates-events-0

Biographer's Day -- anniversary of the day Boswell met Johnson in 1763

Endangered Species Day -- http://www.endangered.org/campaigns/endangered-species-day/

Fishing Has No Boundaries, Hayward Event -- Hayward, WI, US (sponsored by Fishing Has No Boundaries, Inc., a non-profit with the goal of opening the great outdoors through the sport of fishing to the disabled; the Hayward event is their biggest each year, and runs through tomorrow)www.fhnbinc.org

Hires Root Beer Day -- pharmacist Charles Elmer Hires created it on this day in 1866

International Virtual Assistants' Day -- acknowledging the dedication, experience, expertise, and determination of virtual professionals; no longer sponsored, but the The International Virtual Assistant's Association is still around

Love a Tree Day -- and read about the love of a tree, in Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree

Magnolia Blossom Festival and World Championship Steak Cook-Off -- Magnolia, AR, US (all the usual fun, with a steak eating contest, live entertainment, and an art show;through tomorrow)

Maifest -- Mainstrasse Village, Covington, KY, US (celebrating German tradition and welcoming the first spring wines; through Sunday)

Middlesex Day -- Middlesex, England (although it is only a postal county now, many celebrate the heritage of what was once the county that included London)

Mike the Headless Chicken Festival -- Fruita, CO, US (it all started with a chicken that kept trying to eat even after the farmer lopped off his head to prep him for the stew pot; Mike's indomitable spirit and will to live is a legend here and the basis of a two day festival celebrating the fact that you can live a normal life even after you have lost your mind!)

National Coquilles St. Jacques Day

National Defense Transportation Day -- US (remembering the contributions of people working in the transportation industries)

National Pizza Party Day -- as declared by Garlic Jim's Famous Gourmet Pizza, on the 3rd Friday of May

Rhododendron Festival -- Florence, Oregon, US (parades, flower show, car show, carnival and more; through Sunday)

Rhubarb Festival -- Intercourse, Pennsylvania (come on out and enjoy the music, games, rhubarb-inspired foods, and lots of family fun, including the Rhubarb Race Car Derby and best pie contest; through tomorrow)

Sea-Monkey® Day -- as declared by someone who likes these little brine shrimp as pets; for info on keeping Sea Monkeys, check herehttp://www.sea-monkey.com/; for ideas about how to celebrate there is a site about how to worship sea monkeyshttp://www.seamonkeyworship.com/nationalday.html

Sing "Row Row Row Your Boat" in Rounds Day -- but not around me, please, or i might do something drastic

Sneeze Without Embarrassment Day -- because of pollen levels, as declared by Karen Richmond, of Eastport, MI, US

Spaghetti-Os Day -- they were first sold on this day in 1966

St. Brendan the Voyager's Day (Patron of boatmen/mariners/sailors/watermen, travelers, whales; Ardfert, Ireland; Clonfert, Ireland; Kerry, Ireland)

St. Honorius of Amiens' Day (Patron of bakers[especially bakers of communion wafers], cake makers, candlemakers, chandlers, confectioners, florists, flour merchants, oil refiners, pastry chefs; against drought)

St. John of Nepomuk's Day (Patron of bridges, bridge builders, confessors, discretion, good and right confession, running water, silence; Bohemia; Czech Republic; Slovakia; against calumnies, floods, indiscretions, and slander)

Store Bededag -- Denmark; Faroe Islands; Greenland (Great Prayer Day)

Syttende Mai -- Stoughton, WI, US (come celebrate the Norwegian heritage of this town with a three day colorful gala; through Sunday)

Sudan People's Liberation Army Day -- South Sudan

Teachers' Day -- Malaysia

U.S.Nickel Day -- the first U.S. five-cent nickel was minted on this day in 1866

Wear Purple for Peace Day -- the idea being that until we become a peaceful species, the aliens won't visit


Anniversaries Today:

Louis-Auguste, Dauphin of France, marries Marie Antoinette, 1770
Edgar Allen Poe marries his cousin Virginia Clemm, 1836


Birthdays Today:

Megan Fox, 1986
Matt Ryan, 1985
Jim Sturgess, 1981
Tori Spelling, 1973
David Boreanaz, 1971
Gabriela Sabatini, 1970
Tracey Gold, 1969
Janet Jackson, 1966
Mare Winningham, 1959
Joan Benoit Samuelson, 1957
Olga Korbut, 1955
Debra Winger, 1955
Pierce Brosnan, 1953
Bob Edwards, 1947
Bill Smitrovich, 1947
Billy Martin, 1928
Liberace, 1919
Woody Herman, 1913
Louis "Studs" Terkel, 1912
Margaret Rey, 1906
Henry Fonda, 1905
Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, 1804
William Seward, 1801


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Top Gun(Film), 1986
"McCartney II"(album release), 1980
"Listen to What the Man Said"(Single release), 1975
"Annie Get Your Gun"(Musical), 1946
"Dalibor"(Opera), 1868


Today in History:

The Florentines drive out the Medici for a second time and Florence is re-established as a republic, 1527
Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor of England, 1532
Samuel Johnson meets his future biographer, James Boswell, in London, 1763
Denmark abolishes slave trade, 1792
The first major wagon train heading for the Pacific Northwest sets out on the Oregon Trail, 1843
Charles Elmer Hires invents root beer, 1866
A naval Curtiss aircraft NC-4 commanded by Albert Cushing Read leaves Trepassey, Newfoundland, for Lisbon via the Azores on the first transatlantic flight, 1919
Pope Benedict XV canonizes Joan of Arc, 1920
Chaim Weizmann is elected the first President of Israel, 1948
The first regularly scheduled transatlantic flights begin between John F Kennedy International Airport (then Idlewild Airport) in New York City and Heathrow Airport in London, operated by El Al Israel Airlines, 1951
Theodore Maiman operates the first optical laser, at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California, 1960
China's Cultural Revolution begins, 1966
The Soviet Venera 5 spacecraft lands on Venus, 1969
India annexes Sikkim  after the mountain state holds a referendum in which the popular vote is in favour of merging with India, 1975
Junko Tabei becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest, 1975
The Seville Statement on Violence is adopted by an international meeting of scientists, convened by the Spanish National Commission for UNESCO, in Seville, Spain, 1986
A report by United States' Surgeon General C. Everett Koop states that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine, 1988
Queen Elizabeth II becomes the first British monarch to address the US Houses of Congress, 1991
Kuwait permits women's suffrage in a 35-23 National Assembly vote, 2005
The oldest water ever found is discovered in a Canadian mine; the water dates back 2.6 billion years, 2013

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So, how was your movie? i asked.

Sweetie had just seen Godzilla with Brother-in-Law, The Mouth.

"It was big, I liked it.  They spent a lot of time building tension by focusing on the human interaction and the fights were pretty amazing.  Tha monster lizard was tired at the end, that's for sure."

Glad you liked it, i told him.

"Mom, I've read that the original Godzilla movies are really about the collective Japanese consciousness of how they felt after losing the war, and that as they recovered, the monster got friendlier and became their ally in later movies.  Is that true?" Bigger Girl asked.

Well, i've read the same, and it wouldn't surprise me, i told her.

"Good.  My friend Cally wants to go see the new one, and wants me to go.  It figures that my friend the "Kentucky fried soldier" would want to see this one." 

Isn't she the Afghan War vet?

"Yes, and the one who helped me get Miss Lizzie's tire back on the car after Young Jacob had gotten it off the day before.  She's handy to have around!  By the way, how did doing the laundry for that lady go?"

It was a 12 hour day, i answered.  It took $83 in quarters to do over 20 loads, including all of their bedding and mattress pads, then folding it all and getting it back to her house and remaking the beds.

"Wow!" was her response.  "I hope you don't have to do that again!"

No, i won't, she has a new washer and dryer now, i noted.  When i go clean for her each week now i'll just wash the bedding while i'm doing the housework and she will do the other loads the rest of the week.


Today is

All Wright Housewalk -- Oak Park, IL, US (formerly called Wright Plus, The Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust’s annual house walk features rare interior tours of privately owned homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and his contemporaries in the historic community of Oak Park)

Armed Forces Day -- US (honoring those currently serving in the US military)

Birthday of the Raja -- Perlis, Malaysia

Celebrate Your Elected Officials Day 2014 -- unless you don't like them, then get to work electing better ones; if you know of a good one, take time today to thank her/him

Constitution Day -- Nauru; Norway; Svalbard and Jan Mayen

Dermott's Annual Crawfish Festival -- Dermott, AR, US (mud bugs aren't just for Cajuns any more! carnival, music, street dances, tons of crawfish and more through tomorrow)

Dea Dia Festival -- Ancient Roman Calendar (goddess of growth)

Dia de las Letras Gallegas -- GA, Spain (Galician Literature Day in Galacia, an autonomous region of Spain)

Do Dah Day -- Rhodes and Caldwell Parks, Birmingham, Alabama (fun while fundraising for local animal charities)

Falling Off a Log Night -- Fairy Calendar

Feast of Azamat(Grandeur) -- Baha'i

Grand Spring Festival -- Toshogu Shrine, Nikko, Japan (through tomorrow; includes horseback archery, processions in costume, and more)

International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia

Iris Festival -- Greeneville, Tennessee, US (the community's major festival of the year, featuring artists, craftsmen, merchants, food vendors and entertainers from across the country; through tomorrow)

Lag B'Omer -- Judaism (begins at sunset)

Lewis & Clark Heritage Days -- St. Charles, MO, US (reenacting the 1804 encampment just before their departure, with activities including a parade with drum and fife corps, and even a church service; through tomorrow)

Liberation Day -- Democratic Republic of the Congo

Merry-Go-Round Day -- the first merry-go-round, powered by horses, opened this day in 1620

Morel Mushroom Festival -- Muscoda, WI, US (the "Morel Mushroom Capital of Wisconsin" celebrates the end of the peak morel season in style, with everything including an antique tractor pull, Fireman's Steak Feed, and even a parade; through tomorrow)

National Cherry Cobbler Day

National Learn To Swim Day -- US (with summer just around the corner, remember that drowning is the second-leading cause of unintentional injury-related death for children ages one to 14, so please, learn to swim and teach your kids!)

National Walnut Day -- declared in 1949 by the Walnut Marketing Board

Navy Day -- Argentina (anniversary of the victory at the Battle of Montevideo in 1814)

Pack Rat Day -- come on out and admit it, you are a pack rat, too!

Pithi Chrat Preah Neanng Korl -- Cambodia (Royal Ploughing Ceremony)

Preakness Stakes-- Pimlico Race Course, Baltimore, MD, US (139th annual; the second jewel in horse racing's Triple Crown)

Rubber Band Day -- patented this day in 1845, and aren't we pack rats glad.

Shunki Reitaisai -- Toshogu Shrine, Nikko, Japan (Grand Festival of Spring, through the 18th)

St. Madron of Cornwall's Day (Patron against pain)

Syttende Mai -- Stoughton, WI, US (celebrating Norwegian heritage; through Sunday)

Tell An Umpire "I Love Your Outfit" Day -- only if he has a sense of humor or you can duck quickly

Watch a Baby Fall Asleep Day -- because few things in the world are as funny and precious

Wisconsin Dells Automotion -- Noah's Ark Waterpark, Wisconsin Dells, WI, US (showcase of more than 1,000 classic cars, music, food, and family fun; through tomorrow)

^*World Hypertension Day -- learn to control your blood pressure

World Neurofibromatosis Day --  there are two good sites on which to learn about this disease, here and here.

World Telecommunication and Information Society Day -- UN


Birthdays Today:

Nikki Reed, 1988
Tahj Mowry, 1987
Drew Roy, 1986
Andrea Corr, 1974
Sendhil Ramamurthy, 1974
Mia Hamm, 1972
Jordan Knight, 1970
Trent Reznor, 1965
Craig Ferguson, 1962
Enya, 1961
Sugar Ray Leonard, 1956
Bob Saget, 1956
Bill Paxton, 1955
Debra Winger, 1955
Christian Lacroix, 1950
Dennis Hopper, 1936
Maureen O'Sullivan, 1911
James "Cool Papa" Bell, 1903
Joseph Norman Lockyer, 1836
Edward Jenner, 1749


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Information Please!"(Radio), 1938
"Shéhérazade"(Ravel song cycle), 1904
Comic Cuts(Comic Paper, first publication), 1890
"Cavalleria rusticana/Rustic Chivalry"(Opera), 1890


Today in History:

Italian Jesuit Niccolo Zucchi becomes the first to see 2 belts on Jupiter's surface, 1630
Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve founds the Ville Marie de Montréal, 1642
Frontenac becomes governor of New France (Canada), 1672
Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette begin exploring the Mississippi River, 1673
England passes the Molasses Act, putting high tariffs on rum & molasses imported to the colonies from a country other than British possessions, 1733
The US Continental Congress bans trade with Canada, 1775
The New York Stock Exchange is founded, 1792
John Hawkins & Richard French patent the Reaping Machine, 1803
Napoleon I of France  orders the annexation of the Papal States to the French Empire, 1809
Occupation of Monaco changes from French to Austrian, 1814
Antoine Joseph Sax patents the saxophone, 1846
Rosalía de Castro publishes Cantares Gallegos, the first book in the Galician language, 1863
Aristides wins the first Kentucky Derby, 1875
Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais discovers the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient mechanical analog computer, 1902
The Columbia Lions and the Princeton Tigers play in the first-ever televised sporting event, a collegiate baseball game in New York City, 1939
The United States Supreme Court hands down a unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, 1954
Soviet Venera 6 begins its descent into the atmosphere  of Venus, sending back atmospheric data before being crushed by pressure, 1969
Thor Heyerdahl sets sail from Morocco on the papyrus boat Ra II to sail the Atlantic Ocean, 1970
Maoist guerrilla group Shining Path attacks a polling location in the town of Chuschi, Ayacucho, starting the Internal conflict in Peru, 1980
Lebanon, Israel, and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, 1983
After 18 years as the mayor of Paris, Jacques Chirac takes office as President of France, 1995
Three days of popular protests against the government of Prime Minister of Thailand Suchinda Kraprayoon begin in Bangkok, leading to a military crackdown, 1992
Zaire is officially renamed Democratic Republic of the Congo, 1997
Massachussetts becomes the first US State to legalize same-sex marriage, 2004
The aircraft carrier USS Oriskany is sunk in the Gulf of Mexico as an artificial reef, 2008
Dalia Grybauskaite is elected the first female President of Lithuania, 2009
The brightest lunar meteor impact ever observed is recorded by NASA, 2013

Silly Sunday: Digitus Impudicus

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Silly Sunday is hosted by Sandee at Comedy Plus.  It's easy to laugh and link up!

"Hey, mom!  Did I ever tell you my very favorite joke in the whole world?" Little Girl asked.

No, you haven't, i told her.

"An ancient Roman walks into a bar and holds up two fingers and says, 'I'll have five beers, please!'" she said.  "Get it?"

Yes, i told her.  A V for the Roman numeral for five!  That's clever!

"You did get it!" she said.  "So many people I tell that to just don't get it the first time!"

Her joke reminded me of a Cajun joke, of course.

Pierre was workin' at de plant when he done had a terrible accident.   He cut off all his fingers, and he rushes to Dr. Boudreaux.

Dr. Boudreaux tell him, "Mais, dat's bad, but now we done got dat microsurgery, so we can sew dem fingers back on.  Where is dey?"

"What you mean, 'Where is dey?'" Pierre axed.  "Dey's at de plant!"

"Why you done left dem?" Dr. Boudreaux ax.

"Mais, how could I pick dem up?"


Today is

Apollon Day -- Ancient Roman Calendar (god of music, poetry, sunlight)

Aunt's Day -- you honored your mother last week, if you have an aunt who has been good to you and a good influence, call today and let her know

Battle of Las Piedras Day -- Uruguay

Bay to Breakers 12k Race -- San Francisco, CA, US (the oldest and largest footrace in the world, with 70,000+ runners, followed by a festival)

Flag and University Day --  Haiti

HIV Vaccine Awareness Day/World AIDS Vaccine Day -- because it has to happen someday

I Love Reeses Day -- as voted in by lovers of the candy a few years ago

International Museum Day -- International Council of Museums (ICOM)

Lag B'Omer -- Judaism (began sunset yesterday)

Mifune Matsuri -- Kurumazaki Shrine, Kyoto, Japan (Boat Festival, with over 20 different kinds of traditional Japanese performing arts and costumes of the Heian Period)

Moonbeam Hopping Gala -- Fairy Calendar

National Cheese Souffle Day

National Pike Festival -- Fayette County, Pennsylvania, US (through the 20th)

National Stationery Show -- NYC, NY, US (if you love beautiful paper, or quirky cards, or all forms of stationery, this is a show for you; through the 21st)

Neighbor Day -- Rhode Island, US (a "Day of Special Observance" here, and they encourage everyone, before summer starts, get to know your neighbors so you will have more people with whom to enjoy the season)

No Dirty Dishes Day -- spread around the internet by a mom who needed the break, possibly; go ahead, break out the paper plates just on this day

Restoration of Somaliland Sovereignty Day -- Somaliland Region, Somalia

Revival, Unity, and Poetry of Magtymguly Day -- Turkmenistan

Stepmothers' Day -- the too often overlooked and unsung heroines of families; if you have one, and she has been there for you, thank her today

Store Bededag -- Denmark; Faroe Islands; Greenland (Great Prayer Day)

St. Eric's Day (Patron of Sweden)

St. Theodotus' Day (Patron of hotel keepers and innkeepers)

Visit Your Relatives Day -- if they are great, go have fun; if awful, go remind yourself why you moved so far away!

World Goodwill Day -- commemorates the opening meeting of 26 nations in the First Hague Peace Conference, 1899


Anniversaries Today:

Henry II of England marries Eleanor of Aquitaine, 1152


Birthdays Today:

Tina Fey, 1970
Jari Kurri, 1960
Chow Yun-Fat, 1955
Rick Wakeman, 1954
George Strait, 1952
James Stephens, 1951
Tom Udall, 1948
Reggie Jackson, 1946
Brooks Robinson, 1937
Dwayne Hickman, 1934
Robert Morse, 1931
Pernell Robers, 1930
Pope John Paul II, 1920
Margot Fonteyn, 1919
Perry Como, 1912
Big Joe Turner, 1911
Meredith Willson, 1902
Frank Capra, 1897
Wilhelm Steinitz, 1836
Omar Khayyam, 1048


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Le roi malgré lui / King in Spite of Himself"(Opera), 1887


Today in History:

The Principality of Antioch, a crusader state, falls to the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in the Battle of Antioch, 1268
Vasco da Gama reaches the port of Calicut, India, 1498
Playwright Thomas Kyd's accusations of heresy (under torture) lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe, 1593
John Winthrop takes the oath of office and becomes the first Governor of Massachusetts, 1631
Rhode Island passes North America's first anti-slavery law, 1652
Fire destroys a large part of Montreal, Quebec, 1763
The first United Empire Loyalists reach Parrtown, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada after leaving the United States, 1783
Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed Emperor of the French by the French Senate, 1804
The destruction of Saturdays forever after:  Edwin Budding of England signs an agreement for manufacture of his invention, lawn mower, 1830
The Disruption in Edinburgh of the Free Church of Scotland from the Church of Scotland, 1843
The United States Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson that separate but equal is constitutional, 1896
A mass panic on Khodynka Field in Moscow during the festivities of the coronation  of Russian Tsar Nicholas II results in the deaths of 1,389 people, 1896
Bram Stoker's Dracula is published, 1897
The Earth  passes through the tail of Comet Halley, 1910
Jackie Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier, 1953
Under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon, 1974
Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington, United States, killing 57 people and causing $3 billion in damage, 1980
In France, a modified TGV train achieves a new rail world speed record of 515.3km/h (357.2 mph), 1990
Photos from the Hubble Space Telescope confirm the existence of two additional moons, Nix and Hydra, around Pluto, 2005
A landmark bill passes in Nepal curbing the power of the monarchy and making it a secular country, 2009

Awww Monday

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Awww Monday is hosted by Sandee at Comedy Plus, because we could all stand to start the work week with a picture that makes us say, "Awww!"

It's difficult to get a picture of a kitten when you are bottle feeding it yourself, but i tried.


Appleblossom loves her bottle.
For good measure, here's one of Lorax.


Lorax, chilling out.





Today is

Accounting Day -- promoting the profession of accounting and financehttp://www.accountingday.org/

Boy's Club Day -- founding in 1906

Circus Day -- the four Ringling Brothers opened their first circus on this day in 1884

Dance to Mark the Third of January -- Fairy Calendar (Third of January is when the Founding Fairy Fathers and Mothers arrived in what is now called Fairyland [no one knows where they lived before, or what lived in Fairyland before], so it is one of their most important days; no one knows why it is celebrated in May, either, although some suspect it's that the weather is better)

Discovery Day -- Cayman Islands

European Maritime Day -- European Council (this year's host for the conferences is Germany; through tomorrow)

Greek Genocide Remembrance Day -- Greece

HerrinFesta Italiana -- Herrin, IL, US (a whole week of celebrating all things Italian, with a Midwest Pasta Sauce Contest, races, music, grape stomp, and more; through Memorial Day)

May Ray Day -- to celebrate being able to go out into the sun's rays as summer nears

National Asian & Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day -- US (information at Banyan Tree Project)

National Devil's Food Cake Day

National Geographic Geography Bee -- National Geographic Society Headquarters, Washington, D.C., US (through Wednesday, with the finals aired then)

New England's Dark Day*

Oulu Children's Theatre Festival -- Oulu, Finland (a week-long festival for children and young people, presenting 80 or more performances centering on traditional and contemporary children's theater; through the 24th)

Plant Something Day -- because it's fun, and summer is coming so you can!

Praia Municipal Day -- Praia, Cape Verde

St. Dunstan of Canterbury's Day (Patron of armourers, blacksmiths, blind people, gold workers and smiths, jewelers, lighthouse keepers, locksmiths, musicians, silver workers and smiths, swordsmiths; Charlottetown, PEI, Canada)

St. Peter Celestine's Day (Patron of bookbinders; Aquila, Italy)

Victoria Day -- Canada

World Autoimmune Arthritis Day -- The International Foundation for Autoimmune Arthritis sponsors an online virtual convention in all time zones around the world from today through Wednesday

Youth and Sports Day / Commemoration of Atatürk -- North Cyprus; Turkey


Anniversary Today:

Eric Clapton marries Pattie Boyd, 1979


Birthdays Today:

Rachel Appleton, 1992
Jordon Pruitt, 1991
Eric Lloyd, 1986
Kevin Garnett, 1976
Kyle Eastwood, 1968
Grace Jones, 1952
Joey Ramone, 1951
Archie Manning, 1949
Andre the Giant, 1946
Pete Townshend, 1945
Nora Ephron, 1941
James Fox, 1939
Francis R. Scobee, 1939
David Hartman, 1937
James Lehrer, 1934
Malcolm X, 1925
Ho Chi Minh, 1890
Nancy Astor, 1879
Johns Hopkins, 1762


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith(Film), 2005
Smokey and the Bandit,(Film), 1977
"Room Service"(Play), 1937
Gone With The Wind(Publication date), 1936
"L'heure espagnole / How They Keep Time in Spain"(Ravel comédie musicale), 1911


Today in History:

Jacques Cartier sets sail on his second voyage to North America, 1535
Anne Boleyn is beheaded, 1536
Queen Elizabeth I orders the arrest of Mary, Queen of Scots, 1568
French forces under the duc d'Enghien decisively defeat Spanish forces at the Battle of Rocroi, marking the symbolic end of Spain as a dominant land power, 1643
The Long Parliament declares England a Commonwealth, and England remains a republic for the next 11 years, 1649
King George II of Great Britain grants the Ohio Company a charter of land around the forks of the Ohio River, 1749
*A combination of thick smoke and heavy cloud cover causes complete darkness to fall on Eastern Canada and the New England area of the United States at 10:30 A.M, 1780
Napoleon Bonaparte founds the Légion d'Honneur, 1802
Mexico ratifies the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo thus ending the Mexican-American War and ceding California, Nevada, Utah and parts of four other modern-day U.S. states to the United States for $15 million USD, 1848
Jan Matzeliger begins the first mechanized shoe production, 1885
Oscar Wilde is released from Reading Gaol, 1897
White women win the right to vote in South Africa, 1930
Margaret Mitchell's Gone With The Wind is published, 1936
Churchill and Roosevelt set May 1, 1944 as their goal date for D-Day (it had to be delayed over a month because of weather), 1943
The Soviet Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly-by another planet by passing Venus, 1961
Croatians vote for independence, 1991
The Sierra Gorda Biosphere, the most ecologically diverse region in Mexico, is established as a result of grassroots efforts, 1997
Hundreds of Albert Einstein's scientific papers, personal letters and humanist essays were make available on the Internet. Einstein had given the papers to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in his will, 2003
A rare 19th century torpedo is discovered off the coast of California by the US Navy dolphins, 2013

Dirt Transplant

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"Hi, mom!"

#1 Son walked into the kitchen from work, and when i glanced up from the dishes i was washing i did a bit of a double take.  He looked like he had done a dirt transplant onto his pants!

What happened? i asked.

"Oh, yeah," he said.  "Well, I spend about 8 hours on my knees today, scrubbing every inch of the undersides and legs of everything in the kitchen and dining area.  So all this is dirt from the floor, which we mop daily, but it's a kitchen floor, so it gets dirty again every day.  Then I spent a couple of hours on a ladder, dusting all of the light fixtures that are 15 feet up.  And I kept almost forgetting I was on a ladder and almost stepping off.  That would have been bad.

"Oh, and this was a great day to wear my brand new work pants, look!"

He pointed out the rip in what had been, until that morning, pristine khaki pants.

"Now I'm not so sure what I'm going to do.  It's not in my budget to get new ones until next payday, and my old ones aren't exactly acceptable any more, either.  I hate that the day I wear the nice, new ones they make me do this stuff!"

It's okay, i said as i pulled out a new pair i had just bought for him that morning.  When you told me your old ones were too old and you were only going to have one pair for a while, i went and got you another pair.

"Wow!  Thanks!" he said, with a huge grin.  "How do you always seem to know?"

Mommies are magic, i reminded him as he walked toward his room with the new pants.


Today is

Be a Millionaire Day - now we all can go for that

Blue Jeans Day -- Levi Strauss and David Jacobs received the patent for their denim pants with riveted pockets on this day in 1873

Dainty-Four Remembrance Day  -- Fairy Calendar

Eliza Doolittle Day* -- in honor of Shaw and his famous fictional character, to encourage proper use of one's native language

Emancipation Day -- Florida, US

Festival of Mjollnir -- Ancient Norse Calendar (feast of Thor's Hammer, date approximate)

Flying Solo Day -- Lindberg began his historic flight on this day in 1927

Grudie Rosnoe -- Slavic Pagan/Asatru (ten days of sacrifices to Rod for rain and good harvests)

Independence Day -- East Timor(2002)

Hari Kebangkitan Nasional Indonesia -- Indonesia (Indonesian National Awakening Day)

Mecklenburg Day -- North Carolina, US (commemoration of the signing of a declaration of independence from England by the citizens of Mecklenburg County on this day in 1775)

National Day -- Cameroon

National Quiche Lorraine Day

Norman Rockwell Day -- his first Saturday Evening Post cover appeared this day in 1916

Pick Strawberries Day

RHS Chelsea Flower Show -- Chelsea, London, England (the world's greatest flower show celebrates its 101st anniversary;through Saturday)

St. Bernadine of Siena's Day (Patron of advertising and advertisers, communications personnel, compulsive gamblers/gambling addicts, public relations work and personnel; Italy; Aquila, Italy; Capri, Italy; Castelspina, Italy; Trevignano, Italy; the diocese of San Bernardino, California; against compulsive gambling, chest, lung, and respiratory problems and hoarseness of the throat)

St. Ives' Day (an honest lawyer; in the Anglican tradition, Patron of abandoned children and orphans, advocates, canon lawyers, judges, lawyers, and notaries; in the Roman Catholic tradition, Patron of Saint Ives, Cambridgeshire, England)

T'veer Chong Kamhaeng -- Cambodia (Day of Remembrance, anniversary of Khmer Rouge regime takeover in 1975, a day to remember all who died at their hands and work for peace)

Weights and Measures Day / World Metrology Day -- anniversary of the treaty in 1875 which established the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in Sevres, France

**"One evening the King will say, "Oh, Liza, old thing,
I want all of England your praises to sing,
Next week on the twentieth of May,
I proclaim Liza Doolittle Day."


Birthdays Today:

Tahmoh Penikett, 1975
Tony Stewart, 1971
Tony Goldwyn, 1960
Bronson Pinchot, 1959
Ronald Prescott Reagan, 1958
David Paterson, 1954
Cher, 1946
Joe Cocker, 1944
Stan Mikita, 1940
Anthony Zerbe, 1936
George Gobel, 1919
Jimmy Stewart, 1908
Henri Julien Felix Rousseau, 1844
William Fargo, 1818
John Stuart Mill, 1806
Honore de Balzac, 1799
Dolly Madison, 1768


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Elegie für junge Liebende / Elegy for Young Lovers(Opera), 1961
Norman Rockwell's First Saturday Evening Post Cover, 1916


Today in History:

The first Ecumenical Council in the Christian Church, the Council of Nicea, opens, 325
An earthquake kills about 300,000 people in Syria and Antiochia, 526
John Cabot sets sail from Bristol, England, on his ship  Matthew looking for a route to the west, 1497
Cartographer  Abraham Ortelius issues the first modern atlas, 1570
Shakespeare's Sonnets  are first published in London, 1609
Napoleon Bonaparte reinstates slavery in the French colonies, revoking its abolition in the French Revolution, 1802
Otto is named the first modern king of Greece, 1835
HMS Erebus and HMS Terror with 134 men under John Franklin sail from the River Thames in England, beginning a disastrous expedition to find the Northwest Passage in which all hands are lost, 1845
U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law, 1862
Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a U.S. patent for blue jeans with copper rivets, 1873
The Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy is formed, 1882
Krakatoa begins to erupt (the volcano's final and most notable explosion will occur on August 26), 1883
The first public display of Thomas Edison's prototype kinetoscope, 1891
Cuba gains independence from the United States, 1902
The Saturday Evening Post publishes its first cover with a Norman Rockwell painting ("Boy with Baby Carriage"), 1916
Montreal, Quebec radio station XWA broadcasts the first regularly scheduled radio programming in North America, 1920
By the Treaty of Jedda, the United Kingdom recognizes the sovereignty of King Ibn Saud in the Kingdoms of Hejaz and Nejd, which later merge to become the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 1927
At 07:52 Charles Lindbergh takes off from Roosevelt Field in Long Island, New York, on the world's first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean, 1927
Amelia Earhart takes off from Newfoundland to begin the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot, 1932
In a referendum in Quebec, the population rejects by a 60% vote the proposal from its government to move towards independence from Canada, 1980
First publications of the discovery of the HIV virus that causes AIDS in the journal Science by Luc Montagnier and Robert Gallo individually, 1983
The Chinese authorities declare martial law in the face of pro-democracy demonstrations, setting the scene for the Tiananmen Square massacre, 1989
In a second referendum in Quebec, the population rejects by a slight majority the proposal from its government to move towards independence from Canada, 1995
The independence of East Timor is recognized by Portugal, formally ending 23 years of Indonesian rule and 3 years of provisional UN administration (Portugal itself is the former colonizer of East Timor until 1976), 2002
Scientists at the Craig J. Venter Institute announce they have successfully created the world's first artificial life form by transplanting a synthesized genome into an existing cell, 2010

Can't Confuse That

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"Hey, Alec!" Bigger Girl said to the out of town friend who had come to visit the boys.

"Hey, yourself!" Alec responded.  "How have you been?  You look great!"

"Oh, I'm doing fine.  I'm done with the spring semester, and I don't start summer school or my summer job until June.  So I think I'm going to go to the library for a little while.  How are you?"

"I'm fine, too.  We're going to be getting the house finished soon so I can have the trailer back to myself.  Or, I should say, myself and Sparrow the Cat." Alec then changed the subject completely and said, "I like your outfit.  How would you define the style of outfits you wear?"

"I like to think of myself as a combination of hippie and goth," Bigger Girl answered.  "I like the dark material, and the dog collar, and lace, but I like to do it with a hippie flair.  I've never really thought about it before.  I guess you could call me a 'goppie'!  I like that, a goth hippie would be a 'goppie'!  Not to be confused with 'agape' or 'a guppy!'"

By the time she finished saying that, all of us were laughing.

"No, there'd be no confusing them, or you!" Alec noted.

She does have her own style.


Today is

American Red Cross Founder's Day -- established by Clara Barton on this

Anastenarides Feast -- Greece (feast to St. Constantine and St. Helen)

Battle of Las Piedras Day -- Uruguay

Circassian Day of Mourning -- Circassians

Día de la Afrocolombianidad -- Columbia (Afro-Colombian Day; commemorates Columbia's abolition of slavery on this date in 1851)

Dia De Las Glorias Navales -- Chile (Navy Day)

Elf Fest -- Lothlorien Nature Sanctuary (near Needmore, Indiana; through next Monday)

Emergency Medical Services for Children Day -- because children need different care, they aren't just tiny adults

Festival for Vevodus -- Ancient Roman Calendar (god of the dead, swamps, and volcanic movements, and sometimes regarded as the king of the Di Manes)

Honvédelem Napja -- Hungary (Day of Patriots and Military)

Independence Day -- Montenegro

"I Need A Patch For That" Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays, which notes that since everything else has a patch, why shouldn't you?

Lilies and Roses Day -- London, England (memorial of the death of Henry VI on this day in 1471; held at the Tower of London with representatives of Eton College and King's College, which he founded.)

National Employee Health & Fitness Day -- US (information here)

National Golf Day -- We Are Golf sponsors this day, and is holding an event on Capitol Hill today, too

National Memo Day -- an internet holiday with no known origin, just take a memo

National Strawberries and Cream Day

National Waitstaff Day

Passion Play Day -- the first Oberammergau, Germany, Passion Play was staged this date in 1634

Sister Maria Hummel Day -- birth anniversary of the Franciscan nun and artist

St. Constantine's Day (Greek Orthodox Church; Patron of Greece)

St. Eugene de Mazenod's Day (Patron of dysfunctional families)

St. Helen's Day (Greek Orthodox Church; Patron of Greece)
     St. Helena Day -- St. Helena

Turn Beauty Inside Out Day -- the day to remember what really counts is who you are, not just what you look like

World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development -- UN


Anniversary Today:

Humphrey Bogart marries Lauren Bacall, 1945


Birthdays Today:

Sarah Ramos, 1991
Ashlie Brillault, 1987
Lisa Edelstein, 1966
Judge Reinhold, 1957
Mr. T, 1952
Ian McEwan, 1948
Leo Sayer, 1948
Janet Dailey, 1944
Bobby Cox, 1941
Heinz Hollinger, 1939
Peggy Cass, 1924
Andrey Dmitriyevich Sakharov, 1921
Raymond Burr, 1917
Dennis Day, 1917
Harold Robbins, 1916
Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel, 1909
Fats Waller, 1904
Armand Hammer, 1898
Glenn Hammond Curtiss, 1878
Elizabeth Gurney Fry, 1780
Alexander Pope, 1688
Albrecht Dürer, 1471


Debuting/Premiering Today:

The Empire Strikes Back(Film), 1980
"Gypsy"(Musical), 1959
"Le Fils prodigue / The Prodigal Son"(Prokofiev ballet, Op. 46), 1929
"Pagliacci"(Opera), 1892


Today in History:

Syracuse, Italy is captured by the Muslim sultan of Sicily, 878
The island of Saint Helena is discovered by the Portuguese navigator João da Nova, 1502
The nobility elect John Sobieski King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, 1674
The Order of St. Alexander Nevsky is instituted in Russia by the empress Catherine I; it would later be discontinued and then reinstated by the Soviet government in 1942 as the Order of Alexander Nevsky, 1725
Mary Campbell is abducted from her home in Pennsylvania by Lenape during the French and Indian War, 1758
Slavery  is abolished in Colombia, South America, 1851
Russia declares an end to the Russian-Circassian War and many Circassians are forced into exile, 1864
French troops invade the Paris Commune and engage its residents in street fighting, 1871
The American Red Cross is established by Clara Barton, 1881
The Manchester Ship Canal in England is officially opened by Queen Victoria, 1894
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) is founded in Paris, 1904
Charles Lindbergh touches down at Le Bourget Field in Paris, completing the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean, 1927
Bad weather forces Amelia Earhart to land in a pasture in Derry, Northern Ireland, and she thereby becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, 1932
Oskaloosa, Iowa, becomes the first municipality in the United States to fingerprint all of its citizens, 1934
A Soviet station becomes the first scientific research settlement to operate on the drift ice of the Arctic Ocean, 1937
The National War Memorial in Canada is unveiled by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in Ottawa, 1939
Physicist Louis Slotin is fatally irradiated in a criticality incident during an experiment with the Demon core at Los Alamos National Laboratory, 1946
The opening of the Ninth Street Show, otherwise known as the 9th Street Art Exhibition – a gathering of a number of notable artists, and the stepping-out of the post war New York avant-garde, collectively know as the New York School, 1951
Michelangelo's Pietà in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome is damaged by a vandal, 1972
Democratic Republic of Yemen and North Yemen agree to a unity, merging into Republic of Yemen, 1990
The Ethiopian Civil War ends, 1991
Suharto, Indonesian president of 32 years, resigns, 1998
The clipper Cutty Sark is badly damaged by fire in London, England, 2007
JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, launches the solar-sail spacecraft IKAROS aboard an H-IIA rocket, 2010
The most active volcano in Iceland, Grimsvotn, erupts and triggers 50 small earthquakes, 2011

MomAndPop Store

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"Good morning!"

The nice stock clerk that i say hello to each week when i go to the MomAndPop Store for milk and tortillas and the best tomatoes and other produce in the area greeted me with his usual smile, and i greeted him back.

Then he stopped me and said, "By the way, since you shop here every week, I thought you should know, we're moving!"

Moving? i asked.

"Yeah, the whole store is moving."

So, they aren't closing, and you won't lose your jobs, you will just be working in a new building? i continued.

"Yeah, everything's cool, we just gotta be outta here by July 31.  That's our last day here.  Then another store will be moving in"

Thanks for letting me know, and you know i'll follow you guys to your new location, i grinned.

"Heh, heh, I thought you would!" he responded with a huge grin.

This shouldn't have come as a surprise to me.  Just over 50 years ago, when Mom and Pop started the MomAndPop Store, it was on property they owned.  When they opened their second location, same thing.  Then they opened the third store, but couldn't buy the building.

For over 40 years, they have rented from Mr. Slum Lord.  The man would tell them that his people had come out and looked at the roof, and there was no leak, and the next day it would rain and part of the roof would fall in.  That kind of Mr. Slum Lord.  Someone who didn't care to keep up the property, just get more rent out of it.

About 6 months or so ago, there was talk of Mr. Slum Lord selling the property.  This had been discussed over and over for years, and every sale had fallen through based on the fact that one of the stores in the strip mall style buildings is a dry cleaner, and when they opened years ago there was less environmental regulation, and so the ground near that part of the building always tested as requiring remediation work that potential buyers wouldn't do.

This potential buyer would do it, apparently, and the sale went through.  The new owners have promised renovations, but have told Mom and Pop's kids, who still run the stores, that the rent will go up much more than they are willing to pay.

The end result was on the front page of the paper yesterday, thus the employee meeting the day before that to make the announcement of the move.  They will reopen on August 1 in their new place, just a few miles up the road.  Not as convenient for me, but i will get by there weekly anyway, as it's near the shelter.

The building will be renovated, and a different grocery, much more upscale, will be opening around Thanksgiving.   No, i'm not impressed.  Upscale usually equally pricier than i am willing to pay.

As for the other tenants of the other stores, including Dr. Bea, my veterinarian, i haven't heard.

All i know is, it will be worth stopping at MomAndPop Store's new location once a week while i'm at the shelter anyway, and if the new landlord repairs the parking lot here it will be a blessing, even if i'm only there for the vet or dollar store.  Mr. Slum Lord let it get so bad that i've even been bruised when the shopping cart went into a pot hole and bucked back and hit my let.



Today is

Abolition Day -- Martinique

Bear Waking Day -- Norway (traditionally said to be the day the bears awaken from their hibernation, at least according to many sites)

Buy a Musical Instrument Day -- even just a kazoo, and have some fun making music; maybe if this one spreads around the world and enough of us do it, it will foster some harmony in our lives

Harvey Milk Day -- The Harvey Milk Foundation


Hay Festival of Literature -- Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales (largest annual festival of literature in a beautiful market town in the Black Mountains of the Welsh marches; through June 1)

Independence Day -- Montenegro

International Day for Biological Diversity -- UN

Kodiak Crab Festival -- Kodiak, AK, US (there's more than bears up here, you know! through Monday)

Memory Days -- Grayson, KY, US ("East and West Carter Working Together" is this year's theme, with a parade, art show, music, Firefighter's Dinner and more; through Sunday)

Mudbug Madness -- Shreveport, LA (festival of crawfish and Cajun heritage, arts, entertainment, and more; through Sunday)

National Maritime Day -- US (commemorating the first transoceanic voyage under steam power)

National Sovereignty Day -- Haiti

National Vanilla Pudding Day

St. Julia's Day (Patron of torture victims; Corsica, Portugal; Livorno, Italy)

St. Rita of Cascia's Day/La Abodada de Impossibles (Patron of desperate causes, difficult marriages, forgotten causes, illness, lost causes, parenthood, sick people, sterile people, victims of physical spousal abuse, widows, wounded people; against abuse, infertility, loneliness, sickness, sterility, wounds, unhappy marriages; Cascia, Italy; Dalayap, Philippines; Igbaras, Philippines)

Toad-Pinching Day -- Fairy Calendar (Pixies)

Toothpaste Tube Day -- the tube was invented on this day in 1892 by dentist Washington Wentworth Sheffield, who wanted to replace the unhygenic practice of dipping the brush into a jar of dental cream

Unity Day / National Day -- Republic of Yemen

World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest -- Peoria, IL, US (competition and festival of ragtime, honky-tonk and old-time music; through Monday)

World Goth Day -- get in touch with your own inner Goth


Birthdays Today:

Apollo Anton Ohno, 1982
Ginnifer Goodwin, 1978
A.J. Langer,1974
Naomi Campbell, 1970
Morrissey, 1959
George Best, 1946
Paul Winfield, 1941
Michael Sarrazin, 1940
Frank Converse, 1938
Richard Benjamin, 1938
Susan Strasberg, 1938
Garry Wills, 1934
Peter Nero, 1934
Charles Aznavour, 1924
Judith Crist, 1922
Sun Ra, 1914
Sir Laurence Olivier, 1907
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859
Mary Cassatt, 1844
Richard Wagner, 1813


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood"(TV), 1967
"Paulus / St. Paul"(Oratorio, Mendelsshon Op. 36), 1836


Today in History:

The Macedonian army of Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of the Granicus, BC334
The Hashshashin (Assassins) attempt to murder Saladin near Aleppo, 1176
Pope Gregory XI issues five papal bulls to denounce the doctrines of English theologian John Wycliffe, 1377
Richard, Duke of York, defeats and captures King Henry VI of England, 1455
A grand jury indicts former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr on a charge of treason, 1807
On the second and last day of the Battle of Aspern-Essling (near Vienna), Napoleon is repelled by an enemy army for the first time, 1809
The SS Savannah leaves port at Savannah, Georgia, United States, on a voyage to become the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean; the ship arrived at Liverpool, England on June 20, 1819
HMS Beagle  departs on its first voyage, 1826
The transporting of British convicts to the New South Wales colony is abolished, 1840
Farmers Lester Howe and Henry Wetsel discover Howe Caverns, 1842
The Blackwall Tunnel under the River Thames is officially opened, 1897
The Wright brothers are granted U.S. patent number 821,393 for their "Flying-Machine", 1906
Lassen Peak erupts with a powerful force, and is the only mountain other than Mount St. Helens to erupt in the continental US during the 20th century, 1915
The most powerful earthquake ever documented, the Great Chilean Quake, measures 9.5 and strikes southern Chile, 1960
The nuclear-powered submarine the USS Scorpion sinks with 99 men aboard 400 miles southwest of the Azores, 1968
Ceylon adopts a new constitution, thus becoming a Republic, changes its name to Sri Lanka, and joins the Commonwealth of Nations, 1972
Namco releases the highly influential arcade game Pac-Man, 1980
Microsoft  releases the Windows 3.0 operating system, 1990
Johnny Carson retires from The Tonight Show after 30 years, 1992
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia join the United Nations, 1992
A jury in Birmingham, Alabama, convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murders of four girls in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church, 2002
Sarah West, a British naval officer Commander is appointed commander of HMS Portland, the Royal Navy frigate; she is the first female officer to take command of a major British warship, 2012

Feline Friday: Don't Scare Me Like That!

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Feline Friday was started by Steve, The Burnt Food Dude, and i'm going to believe it's because he likes cats.

On Wednesday morning, i had an awful scare.  Coming downstairs to start the morning and feed kittens, i found Lorax lying on his side, eyes glazed, breathing hard, and i could see where he had thrown up just a little bit away from there.

Scooping him into a carrier, i rushed him to the vet.  They ran tests, gave him fluids, and figured out his white count was up and he probably has some kind of sinus thing going.  No wonder, of course, with that big cleft in his palate.  He was put on an antibiotic and sent home, feeling his old, chipper self.

Feeling better after finally getting home and having his dinner.




Today is

Ancient Roman Festivities today:
     Festival for Vulcan -- god of fire, volcanoes, and smiths
     Rosalia -- rose festival
     Tubilustrium -- ceremony to purify the trumpet used in sacred rituals

Azalea Festival -- Brookings, OR, US (with a parade and street fair and bonsai, as well as azaleas and more; through Memorial Day)

Bluebell Day -- Fairy Calendar

Celebrate Commemorate Memorial Day -- Waterloo, NY, US (the 148th observance at the National Birthplace of Memorial Day includes a car show, crafts, food, races, a biker rally and more; through the 26th, and again on the 30th)

Coal Miner Days -- Novinger, Missouri, US (a turn of the century coal mining town celebrates its heritage; through the weekend)

Declaration of the Bab -- Baha'i

Don't Fry Day -- another day to raise awareness of the need for sun protection through the summer

Down East Spring Birding Festival -- Cobscook Bay, ME, US (through Monday)

Florida Folk Festival -- White Springs, FL, US (a true celebration of Florida's folk heritage; through Sunday)

Go For A Walk in Your Swim Fins Day -- no, i don't know who comes up with this stuff, and i don't want to

Heat Awareness Safety Day -- US (your guv'mint at work)

Iris Festival -- Sumter, SC, US (fun, food, music, and beautiful flowers; through Sunday)
 

Linnaeus Day -- Stenbrohult, Sweden (birth anniversary of Carolus Linnaeus on the OS calendar)

Lucky Penny Day -- just a fun one, see if you find a penny today

National Death Busters Day -- because the upcoming Memorial Day weekend in the US is the most dangerous for driving; be careful out there!

National Labour Day -- Jamaica

National Polka Festival -- Ennis, TX, US (everyone is invited to enjoy this festival, through Sunday)

National Taffy Day

National Wig Out Day -- US (on the Friday before Memorial Day, don your wig and your alter ego and have fun!  there are events around the country)

Northwest Folklife Festival -- Seattle, WA, US (ethnic and traditional arts event celebrating world cultures; through Monday)

Pitlochry Festival Theatre -- Pitlochry, Perthshire, Scotland (plays, concerts, exhibitions, tours and talks; through early November)

Sacramento Music Festival (formerly the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee) -- Sacramento, CA, US (some of the best music from around North America; through Monday)

Sacrifices to Leto, Pythian Apollon, Zeus, Hermes and the Dioscuri in the deme of Erchia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate)

Suigo Itako Ayame Matsuri -- Maekawa Ayame-en, Itako, Japan (Iris Flower Festival, with over a million blooms of 500 species, special dance and demonstrations on weekends; through June 30)

Spoleto Festival USA -- Charleston, SC, US (a premier performing arts festival; through June 8)

St. Euphrosyne of Polotsk's Day (Patron of Belarus)

Students' Day -- Mexico

St. William of Rochester's Day (Patron of adopted children)

World Crohn's and Colitis Day

World Turtle Day -- sponsored by American Tortoise Rescue


Anniversaries Today:

South Carolina becomes the 8th US state, 1788


Birthdays Today:

Kelly Monaco, 1976
Ken Jennings, 1974
Jewel, 1974
Mitch Albom, 1958
Drew Carey, 1958
“Marvelous” Marvin Hagler, 1954
Marvin Hagler, 1952
Charles Kimbrough, 1936
Robert Moog, 1934
Joan Collins, 1933
Barbara Barrie, 1931
Rosemary Clooney, 1928
Helen O'Connell, 1920
Scatman Crothers, 1910
Artie Shaw, 1910
Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., 1883
Belle Aurelia Babb Mansfield, 1846
Margaret Fuller, 1810
Franz Mesmer, 1734
Carolus Linnaeus, 1707
Emperor Qinzong of China, 1100


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Tommy"(Album), 1969
"Shuffle Along"(Musical comedy revue), 1921
"Il bugiardo / The Liar"(Comedy), 1750


Today in History:

Joan of Arc is captured by the Burgundians while leading an army to relieve Compiègne, 1430
The marriage of King Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon is declared null and void, 1533
The Netherlands declare their independence  from Spain, 1568
The Second Defenestration of Prague precipitates the Thirty Years' War, 1618
After being convicted of piracy and of murdering William Moore, Captain William Kidd is hanged in London, 1701
Benjamin Franklin announces his invention of bifocals, 1785
Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned King of Italy, 1805
South American independence  leader Simón Bolívar enters Mérida, leading the invasion of Venezuela, 1813
The Báb announces his revelation, founding Bábism (the Baha'i Faith), 1844
Organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Battle Creek, Michigan, 1863
The Canadian  Parliament establishes the North West Mounted Police, the forerunner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, 1873
The fist transcontinental train arrives in Vancouver, BC, 1887
The first talking cartoon of Mickey Mouse, "The Karnival Kid", is released, 1929
American bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde are ambushed by police and killed in Black Lake, Louisiana, 1934
Tibetans sign the Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet with the People's Republic of China, 1951
Prime Minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion announces that Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann had been captured, 1960
The first version of the Java programming language is released, 1995
The Good Friday Agreement is accepted in a referendum in Northern Ireland with 75% voting yes, 1998
The fastest roller coaster in the world, Kingda Ka, opens at Six Flags Great Adventure, 2005
Alaskan stratovolcano Mount Cleveland erupts, 2006
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) awards Middle Rocks to Malaysia and Pedra Branca (Pulau Batu Puteh) to Singapore, ending a 29-year territorial dispute, 2008
Fifteen months after President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in Egypt by a revolution, voters go to the polls for a presidential election, 2012

Casual

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"Oh, hey, mom, Mrs. L said I've completed my work, and when she and her husband get back from visiting Dallas next week, I can go get my diploma."

With this casual nonchalance, #2 Son announced that he has graduated from high school!

Last year, he hoped to simply take his GED and be done.  He had aced the practice tests, and was ready to go take the real thing.  The State has a different idea, though, and makes you take other tests.  They won't just give you the practice or real GED, they make you jump through a bunch of other hoops.  It proved to be easier to send him back to the private school to be tutored in geometry and algebra, and earn a diploma that way.

Thus he came home from school with this announcement.  When i congratulated him and asked him if he would now try to enroll in culinary school again, he said, "Well, I'm not sure if I want to do that right away.  After all, they are talking about moving me into an assistant manager position at work.  Oh, and this morning, I did set ups.  It usually takes two people about forty-five minutes to an hour to set up both sides, and I did both sets ups in half an hour!  So I think I just want to work for a while, have some managing experience when I get to culinary school."

That's fine if he wants to take a breather and wait a bit.  He's got his high school diploma, he can bask in that for a while.



Today is

Aldersgate Day -- Methodism

Alma Highland Festival and Games -- Alma College, Alma, Michigan (annual celebration of Scottish heritage, with world class entertainment and fun; through tomorrow)

ARMAD: Amateur Radio Military Appreciation Day -- US ("Ham it up for the troops!" is the motto of amateur ham radio operators on the Saturday before Memorial Day)

Battle of Pichincha Day -- Ecuador

Bermuda Day -- Bermuda

Brooklyn Bridge Day -- the most often sold bridge in the US (or so i've been told) opened on this day in 1883

Brother's Day -- celebrate all forms of brotherhood, biological, adopted, fraternity brothers, or members of your labor union

Cape May Music Festival -- Cape May, NJ, US (world class music performances of many genres; through June 12)

Day for the Naming of Rocks and Planets -- Fairy Calendar

European Day of Parks -- Europe

Feast of Hermes Trismegistus -- Hellenistic Egyptian Calendar (thrice-blessed Hermes, patron of alchemy, date approximate)

Grubstake Days -- Yucca Valley, CA, US (parade, carnival, rodeo, fun! this year's theme is "Honoring All Who Serve")

Hug Your Cat Day -- created by Apricat, star of books written by Marisa D'Vari, who says no matter how aloof, your cat really does want a hug

Independence Day -- Eritrea(1993)

International Jazz Day -- as originally set by the New Jersey Jazz Society, on the Saturday before US Memorial Day

International Tiara Day -- ladies, celebrate your powers of leadership in your life; tiara wearing is optional, it's the fact that you rule that mattershttp://internationaltiaraday.com/

Isle of Man Tourist Trophy -- Isle of Man (through June 6; two weeks of the finest road racing on earth)

Julia Pierpont Day -- she came up with Decoration Day, the precursor to US Memorial Day; prepare veterans' graves for Memorial Day today

La Fete des Saintes Maries -- Les-Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, France (Roma [gypsy] festival, to honor St. Sara, St. Marie Jacobe, and St. Marie Salome, their patrons; through the 25th)

Last Bell -- Russia (tradition of closing schools for the year by having a formal ceremony with the children, and a first grader rings the school bell for dismissal)

Little Lamb Day -- publication anniversary, in 1830, of the original poem "Mary Had a Little Lamb"

Lobster Days -- Mystic Seaport, CT, US (a New England lobster bake on the banks of the Mystic River; through Monday)

Lubiri Memorial Day -- Buganda Region, Uganda

Morse Code Day -- anniversary of Morse's first message in 1844 (Morse Code Day is also celebrated on his birth anniversary, April 27)

National Escargot Day

Sovereign's Day Holiday / Commonwealth Day-- Belizeusually24th

Sara-la-Kali -- St. Sara, or St. Sara the Black's Day -- patron of the Roma (Gypsy) Peoples (pilgrimage)

Skerpla Month begins -- Traditional Icelandic Calendar (Sharpness)

Sts. Cyril and Methodius's Day (Orthodox Church celebration; Patrons of Macedonia) related observances
     Bulgarian Education and Culture and Slavonic Literature Day -- Bulgaria
     Slavonic Enlighteners' Day -- Republic of Macedonia

St. Susanna's Day (Patron of martyrs)

Taste of Cincinnati -- Cincinnati, OH, US (6 blocks of Downtown Cincinnati is turned into a big food extravaganza; through Monday)

Tivoli Fest -- Elk Horn, IA, US (annual celebration of the area's Danish roots; through tomorrow)

Tohoku Rokkon Matsuri -- Yamagata City, Japan (a special matsuri, bringing together six major festivals from the district that was hard hit by the 2011 earthquake; through tomorrow)

Tour of Somerville -- Somerville, NJ, US (the oldest continuously run major bicycle race in America, always on observed Memorial Day)

Utica Old-Fashioned Ice Cream Festival -- Utica, OH, US (local artisans, pony rides, antique gas engines, car show, motorcycle show, magic show, and more, plus tons of ice cream! through Monday)

War of Jenkin's Ear Living History Demonstrations -- Wormsloe State Historic Site, Savannah, GA, US (a colonial living-history event with musket demonstrations, military drills, tomahawk throwing and more; through Monday)


Birthdays Today:

Billy Gilman, 1988
Alyson Hannigan, 1974
Joe Dumars, 1963
Kristin Scott Thomas, 1960
Rosanne Cash, 1955
Alfred Molina, 1953
Jim Broadbent, 1949
Priscilla Beaulieu  Presley, 1945
Patti LaBelle, 1944
Gary Burghoff, 1943
Bob Dylan, 1941
Tommy Chong, 1938
Lilli Palmer, 1914
"Engineer Bill" Stulla, 1911
Samuel I. Newhouse, 1895
Lillian Moller Gilbreth, 1878
Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, 1819
Emanuel Leutze, 1816
Abraham Geiger, 1810
Gabriel Fahrenheit, 1686


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Spy Hard(Film), 1996
Indiana Jones and Last Crusade(Film), 1989
View to a Kill(film), 1985
"Jumpin' Jack Flash"(Single release), 1968
"Mame"(Musical), 1966
"Le roi l'a Dit / The King Has Spoken"(Opera), 1873


Today in History:

The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt, 1218
Peter Minuit buys Manhattan, 1626
The English  Parliament  passes the Act of Toleration protecting Protestants; Roman Catholics are intentionally excluded, 1689
John Wesley is converted, essentially launching the Methodist movement; the day is celebrated annually by Methodists as Aldersgate Day, 1738
Antonio José de Sucre secures the independence of the Presidency of Quito, 1822
"Mary Had a Little Lamb" by Sarah Josepha Hale is published, 1830
The first passenger rail service in US, from Baltimore to Elliots Mill, Maryland, begins, 1830
Samuel FB Morse taps out the first telegraph message, "What hath God wrought", 1844
The Brooklyn Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic after 14 years of construction, 1883
The United Kingdom annexes the Orange Free State, 1900
Amy Johnson lands in Darwin, Northern Territory, becoming the first woman to fly from England to Australia (she left on May 5 for the 11,000 mile flight), 1930
Igor Sikorsky performs the first successful single-rotor helicopter flight, 1940
Conclusion of the Sixth Buddhist Council on Vesak Day, marking the 2,500 year anniversary after the Lord Buddha's Parinibbana, 1956
Cyprus enters the Council of Europe, 1961
FLQ separatists bomb the U.S. consulate in Quebec City, 1968
The drilling of the Kola Superdeep Borehole begins in the Soviet Union, 1970
The International Court of Justice calls for the release of United States embassy hostages in Tehran, Iran, 1980
Eritrea  gains its independence from Ethiopia, 1991
Israel conducts Operation Solomon, evacuating Ethiopian Jews to Israel, 1991
15-year-old Sherpa  Temba Tsheri becomes the youngest person to climb to the top of Mount Everest, 2001
North Korea bans mobile phones, 2004
London's Metropolitan police remove belongings and sleeping bags of homeless people as part of 'a policy of reducing the impact of rough sleepers on the community', 2013

Silly Sunday: Pastor's Sense of Humor

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Silly Sunday is the place to link up for laughs.  Thanks to Sandee at Comedy Plus for bringing us Silly Sundays!

One of our associate pastors' has a great sense of humor.

Last Wednesday at prayer meeting, right before we began, he was reminded of a joke he'd heard, and told us.

Jimbo and Bubba were talking, and Jimbo said he was tired of not having much education.

"It's time I did better for myself," he said.  "You'n me should go down to that there Junior College and sign up for some classes."

Bubba wasn't so sure about that, but the next day, Jimbo went down to the College and talked to the Dean, who congratulated him on wanting to improve his mind and continue his studies.

"I will sign you up for some basic courses," the Dean told Jimbo.  "You can take basic English, basic Math, the first course of World History, and Logic."

"Well, I know what the rest of them are, but what is Logic?" Jimbo asked.

"I'll tell you what logic is," the Dean said.  "Tell me, do you have a weed eater?"

"Yes, I do have a weed eater," Jimbo answered.

"Then, logically speaking, you must have a yard," the Dean said,

"Yes, I sure do!" Jimbo said.

"Since you have a yard," the Dean continued, "then logically speaking, you must have a lawn mower, too."

"Why, I sure do!" Jimbo said, becoming amazed.

"I'm not done," the Dean said,  "Because you have a lawn mower and a weed eater and a yard, then logically speaking you want to keep the lawn looking nice with the lawn mower and weed eater."

"Yes, yes, I do keep my lawn nice!" Jimbo said, mouth agape.

"I'm not quite finished," the Dean said,  "Since you keep the lawn nice, then logically speaking you must also have a house."

"Wow, yes, I do have a house," Jimbo said.

"And logically speaking, since you have a house, you must have a family," the Dean continued.

"Oh, yeah, I got a big family!" Jimbo said.

"So logically speaking, you must have a wife," the Dean said.

"Yes, I have a wife," Jimbo answered.

"Then logically speaking, you must be a heterosexual," the Dean finally concluded.

"You are so right, I am a heterosexual!  Wow, you managed to figure all of that out just because I have a weed eater!" Jimbo almost shouted.  "I can't wait to take Logic!"

Jimbo was so excited, he went to find Bubba.

"Bubba, I did it!" Jimbo yelled.  "I went to the College and the Dean signed me up for some classes!  I'll be taking English, and math, and history, and Logic!"

"What's logic?" Bubba asked.

"Well, I'll tell you," Jimbo answered.  "Bubba, do you own a weed eater?"

"No," Bubbba replied.

"Well then logically, you must be a homosexual!" Jimbo told him.


As we all laughed, the pastor got up and handed each of us a copy of a book called Intercessory Prayer, by author Dutch Sheets.

When we asked him how much we owed him for the books, which all of us had expressed an interest in reading the week before, he answered that we didn't owe him anything.

"I'm just going to tell Barry that I bought them.  And he will say, 'Oh, but the church budget!' and I will say, 'Well, Barry, since these people gather every single week to pray for our church, the city, the nation, and the world, if we can't give each of them a book that will help them do the important work of prayer, then how about I tell them to take the next few weeks off, because logically speaking it means you will come and have prayer for them!'"

Don't you love a pastor with a sense of humor?


Today is

Africa Day / African Liberation Day  -- African Union; related observance
     Heroes' Day -- Lesotho
     President Yajya Jammeh's Birthday -- Gambia

Arbor Day -- Aston-on-Clun, Shropshire, England (a Poplar tree in town is decorated and left that way year round; probably associated with Oak Apple Day)

First Patriotic Government / National Day -- Argentina (Dia de la Revolucion de Mayo)

Flitting Day -- parts of England; Scotland (traditional day on which leases were up for the year and people moved)

French Open Tennis Tournament -- Roland-Garros Stadium, Paris, France (part of the Grand Slam of Tennis, annually since 1925; through June 8)

Geek Pride Day / Nerd Pride Day -- celebrate the geek / nerd in you!  Geek culture is the obvious choice to laud when it's Glorious 25 May, Star Wars Day, and Towel Day at the same time; began in Spain as "Día del Orgullo Friki"

Glorious 25 May -- in Terry Pratchett's Discworld

Grand Prix de Monaco -- Monaco (premier Formula 1 race through the streets of Monte Carlo, run since 1929; through the 27th)

Hanswijk Procession -- Mechelen, Belgium (since the year 1272, the Sunday before Ascension Thursday, the town celebrates Our Lady of Hanswijk, in thanks for the ending of plague and war)

Independence Day -- Jordan(1946)

Indianapolis 500 -- Indianapolis, IN, US (the world's single largest one day sporting event)

Liberation Day -- Lebanon

Mother's Day -- Algeria; Dominican Republic; France; French Antilles; Haiti; Mauritius; Morocco; Sweden; Tunisia

National Brown-Bag-It Day

National Missing Children's Day -- US (promoting awareness of the problem of missing children)

National Tap Dance Day -- US, birth anniversary of Mr. Bojangles

National Wine Day

Offering to Demeter -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate)

Palio Dei Balestrieri -- Gubbio, Italy (the last Sunday of May always sees a medieval crossbow contest between the town of Gubbio and the town of Sansepolcro, with medieval costumes and arms)

Poetry Day -- Florida, US (since 1947, the state legislature declared this for all public schools in the state; if you don't live in Florida, enjoy a poem today, anyway)

Procession of the Statue of Artemis -- Ancient Greek and Roman Calendars, at Ephesus (date approximate, but always near the Thargelia)

Self-Reliance Day -- an internet originated holiday, based on the idea that we should all become more self reliant in this day when it is a dying art.

Star Wars Day -- Part IV, A New Hope was released this date in 1977

St. Bede the Venerable's Day (Patron of lectors; Father of English History)

St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi's Day (Patron of the ill; against illness and sexual temptation)

Towel Day -- Douglas Adams fans, unite!  Always know where your towel is.


Week of Solidarity with the People Of Non-Self-Governing Territories begins -- United Nations


Anniversary Today:

Lord Guildford Dudley marries Lady Jane Grey, 1553


Birthdays Today:

Brian Urlacher, 1978
Ethan Suplee, 1976
Lauryn Hill, 1975
Justin Henry, 1971
Jamie Kennedy, 1970
Anne Heche, 1969
Stacy London, 1969
Mike Myers, 1963
Connie Sellecca, 1955
Jessi Colter, 1947
Karen Valentine, 1947
Frank Oz, 1944
Leslie Uggams, 1943
Ian McKellen, 1939
Raymond Carver, 1938
Tom T. Hall, 1936
K.C. Jones, 1932
Beverly Sills, 1929
Robert Ludlum, 1927
Miles Davis, 1926
Jeanne Crain, 1925
Claude Akins, 1918
James Joseph "Gene" Tunney, 1898
Igor Sikorsky, 1889
Philip Murray, 1886
Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, 1878
John Alexander Dowie, 1847
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi(Film), 1983
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope(Film), 1977
"The Subject Was Roses"(Play), 1964
"H.M.S. Pinafore"(Comic Opera), 1878


Today in History:

First recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet, BC240
Alfonso VI of Castile  takes Toledo, Spain back from the Moors, 1085
Henry the Navigator is appointed governor of the Order of Christ, 1420
The Diet of Worms ends when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, issues the Edict of Worms, declaring Martin Luther an outlaw, 1521
Richard Cromwell resigns as Lord Protector of England following the restoration of the Long Parliament, beginning a second brief period of the republican government called the Commonwealth of England, 1659
Jews are expelled from Warsaw by Marshall Mniszek, 1784
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, delegates convene a Constitutional Convention to write a new Constitution for the United States, 1787
In the May Revolution, citizens of Buenos Aires expel the Viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros during the Semana de Mayo, 1810
The Patriots of Lower Canada (Quebec) rebel against the British for freedom, 1837
The first telegraphed news dispatch is published in Baltimore Patriot, 1844
Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore opens at the Opera Comique in London, 1878
The Republic of Formosa is formed, with Tang Ching-sung as the president, 1895
John T. Scopes is indicted for teaching Charles Darwin's theory of evolution in Tennessee, 1925
Henry Ford stops production of the Model T to begin the Model A, 1927
Jesse Owens of Ohio State University breaks five world records and ties a sixth at the Big Ten Conference Track and Field  Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1935
The first ascent of Kangchenjunga (8,586 m.), the third highest mountain in the world, by a British expedition, 1955
In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Organisation of African Unity is established, 1963
Star Wars (retitled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope in 1981) is released in theaters, inspiring the Jediism religion and Geek Pride Day holiday, 1977
Bangladesh is hit by a tropical cyclone and storm surge, which kills approximately 10,000 people, 1985
Israel withdraws its army from most of the Lebanese territory after 22 years of its first invasion, 2000
32-year-old Erik Weihenmayer, of Boulder, Colorado, becomes the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, 2001
Oprah Winfrey airs her last show, 2011
The first commercial spacecraft, SpaceX Dragon, docks with the International Space Station when it completes docking at 12:02pm EDT, 2012

Awww Monday: She loves her buddy!

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Awww Monday is brought to us by Sandee of Comedy Plus.  After all, it's Monday, we could use a little Awww! in our morning.

Appleblossom loves her big brother.


All snuggly.

The three big boys, including this one, are getting "fixed" today, even though they didn't know they were broken.  Their sister will be taken care of on Friday.

An update on Lorax.  If you are a praying person, please do pray.  He became very ill again on Saturday.  That morning began with a toilet that was supposed to have been repaired proving it wasn't.  Next, the washing machine conveniently filled with water to wash the clothes and then died.  The evening ended with Lorax being taken to the emergency vet, and he's been hospitalized to receive fluids and IV antibiotics.  He's doing better, but until he has his surgery, he can continue to get infections in his sinuses.


Today is

Bob Day -- an internet holiday i couldn't confirm, but if your name is Bob, you deserve a special day just for having that name!

Bolder Boulder 10k -- Boulder, CO, UK (a fun way to spend Memorial Day)

Crown Prince's Birthday -- Denmark

Dracula Day -- Bram Stoker's Dracula went on sale this day in 1897

Dzien Matkl -- Poland (Mother's Day)

Festival of the Valley -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (celebration of the movement of Amun from the East Bank of Thebes to the West Bank; it involved giving flowers and sharing food with the dead)

Goblin Races -- Fairy Calendar

Holiday of the Receiving of Ra -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Independence Day -- Georgia(1918); Guyana(1966)

Lailat al Miraj -- Islam (observance of Mohammed's night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem; begins at sundown, local customs and dates may vary)

Memorial Day -- US and Territories (obs.)
     Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day -- US (on observed Memorial Day, an interfaith encouragement to pray and work for permanent peace in the world)

National Blueberry Cheesecake Day

National Cherry Dessert Day

National Day of Healing -- Australia (formerly called National Sorry Day; to express regret for the ill treatment of Aboriginal Peoples of Australia)

National Heroes' Day -- Turks and Caicos Islands

National Paper Airplane Day -- not an official holiday, but go make one, and have a blast; some people even organize contests

Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole Day -- Hawai'i

Sally Ride Day -- US (birth anniversary of America's first woman in space)

Spring Bank Holiday -- UK
     Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling and Wake -- Cooper’s Hill, England (ancient tradition -- pre-Roman -- of rolling a large wheel of Double Gloucester cheese down the hill; winner of the races to catch it wins the cheese, and the rolling is now always held on the Monday Spring Bank Holiday)
     Tetbury Woolsack Races -- Gumstool Hill, Tetbury, England (this formerly important wool producing town still holds races up and down the hill, from the Royal Oak Pub up to the Crown Pub and back; part of traditional Whitsuntide folklore customs, which is now always held on the Monday Spring Bank Holiday)

St. Augustine of Canterbury's Day (First Archbishop of Canterbury and Patron of England; feast day in the Anglican Communion and most Eastern Churches)

St. Philip Neri's Day (Patron of Gravina, Manfredonia-Vieste-San Giovanni Rotondo, and Rome, Italy; the United States Army Special Forces)

Thargelia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (birthday festival of Apollo and Artemis; through tomorrow, date approximate)

World Lindy Hop Day -- Frankie Manning's birth anniversary



Anniversary Today:

Boston University is founded by the Massachusetts legislature, 1869


Birthdays Today:

Helena Bonham Carter, 1966
Lenny Kravitz, 1964
Genie Francis, 1962
Sally Ride, 1951
Pam Grier, 1949
Philip Michael Thomas, 1949
Hank Williams, Jr., 1949
Stevie Nicks, 1948
Brent Musburger, 1939
Miles Davis, 1926
James Arness, 1923
Peggy Lee, 1920
Jay Silverheels, 1919
Frankie Manning, 1914
Peter Cushing, 1913
Robert Morley, 1908
John Wayne, 1907
Dorothea Lange, 1895
Al Jolson, 1886


Today in History:

Armenian rebels battle the Sassanid empire and win the right to openly practice Christianity, 451
An earthquake  strikes Kamakura, Japan, killing about 30,000, 1293
Geneva  expels John Calvin and his followers from the city, 1538
Alse Young becomes the first person executed as a witch in the American colonies, 1647
Lewis and Clark first see the Rocky Mountains, 1805
The Indian Removal Act is passed by the U.S. Congress, 1830
Dred Scott is emancipated by the Blow family, his original owners, 1857
The impeachment trial of U.S. President Andrew Johnson ends with Johnson being found not guilty by one vote, 1868
Nicholas II becomes Tsar of Russia, 1894
Charles Dow publishes the first edition of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, 1896
The first major commercial oil strike in the Middle East is made, 1908
The world's longest-lasting tornado, lasting for over 7 hours and traveling 293 miles, strikes Mattoon, Illinois, 1917
British Guiana gains independence, becoming Guyana, 1966
Apollo 10 returns to Earth after a successful eight-day test of all the components needed for the forthcoming first manned moon landing, 1969
The Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 becomes the first commercial transport to exceed Mach 2, 1970
Willandra National Park is established in Australia, 1972
George Willig climbs the South Tower of New York City's World Trade Center, 1977
A 7.7 magnitude earthquake strikes Japan, triggering a tsunami that kills at least 104 people, injures thousands. Many people go missing and thousands of buildings are destroyed, 1983
The European Community adopts the European flag, 1986
Zviad Gamsakhurdia becomes the first democratically elected President of the Republic of Georgia in the post-Soviet era, 1991
The Supreme Court of the United States rules that Ellis Island, the historic gateway for millions of immigrants, is mainly in the state of New Jersey, not New York, 1998
Sherpa Lakpa Gelu climbs Mount Everest in 10 hours 56 minutes, 2003
The New York Times publishes an admission of journalistic failings, claiming that its flawed reporting and lack of skepticism towards sources during the build-up to the 2003 war in Iraq helped promote the belief that Iraq possessed large stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, 2004
The May 2006 Java earthquake kills over 6,600 people, leaves 200,000 homeless, 2006*

*Occurred 22:54 GMT May 26, 05:54 Local Time May 27, so some sources date it today, some tomorrow

The latest from Kittyville.

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The Lorax is back home.  Both of his front legs were shaved where they had IVs in them, and he's still on the antibiotic.  His cleft now has to be flushed after each feeding, and they are seriously considering doing his surgery sooner than they thought.  They don't want him to keep getting ill.

On a more practical aspect, the cat rescue can't afford to keep treating him if he gets ill, too.  Yes, the vet gives us a discount, but the surgery is probably going to be a good $500 even so.  Add the day he went to the vet last week, and then this weekend spent at the emergency vets (same place, but they charge more for after hours), and you are talking about $1,000 for the little guy, plus his formula and canned food and inoculations, not to mention neuter and microchip.

His adoption fee, even if it was doubled for the family that's taking him because he's a purebred, doesn't even begin to cover it all.

For right now, though, we are just happy he's home and feeling better.

In other kitty news, Appleblossom, bless her tiny little heart, is already trying to eat dry food!  She can barely get the pieces of kibble in her mouth, but she chomps away at them like a trooper.  Plucky girl.

The three boys got "fixed" yesterday.  Their combo test was negative, they are microchipped and freshly bathed, and came home feeling so sleepy.  How sleepy is a cat after surgery, you ask?  This sleepy:

He's asleep.

Yes, he's asleep, the weight of his sleepy head tilting the bowl!

They come home hungry and exhausted, both, and don't know whether to eat or sleep first.  So they end up trying to do both.   That's how sleepy they are when they come home.


Today is

Abolition Day -- Guadeloupe; Saint Martin

Buttercup Day -- an internet holiday that just sounds fun

Cellophane Tape Day -- patented this date in 1930

Children's Day -- Nigeria (a school holiday)

FindleFritter's Stoat-Wheedling Event -- Fairy Calendar

Frigga Blot -- Slavic Pagan/Asatru (honoring Frigga)

Lailat al Miraj -- Islam (observance of Mohammed's night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem; began at sundown yesterday, local customs and dates may vary)

Mother's Day -- Bolivia

National Grape Popsicle Day

Pop-up Toaster Day -- Charles Strite applied for his patent on the first pop-up toaster on this day in 1919

St. Augustine of Canterbury's Day (Roman Catholic Church observance; Patron of England)

St. Melangell's Day (Patron of hares)

Sun Screen Protection Day -- an annual, and unsponsored, reminder to use that SPF protection, every day!

Throw the B*st@rds Out Day -- originally directed at politicians, (and if you want to do that, too, great!), and celebrated on various days on various sites, but whomever is making your life miserable, toss them out!  or at least, toss them out of your thoughts for today.

Yom Yerushalayim -- Israel (Jerusalem Day; begins at sunset)



Birthdays Today:

Chris Colfer, 1990
André Benjamin, 1975
Jamie Oliver, 1975
Jack McBrayer, 1973
Joseph Fiennes, 1970
Jeremy Mayfield, 1969
Todd Bridges, 1965
Pat Cash, 1965
Adam Carolla, 1964
Peri Gilpin, 1961
Richard Schiff, 1955
Bruce Weitz, 1943
Louis Gossett, Jr., 1936
Ramsey Lewis, 1935
Lee Meriwether, 1935
John Barth, 1930
Henry Kissinger, 1923
Christopher Lee, 1922
Herman Wouk, 1915
Sam Snead, 1912
Hubert H. Humphrey, 1911
Vincent Price, 1911
Dolores Hope, 1909
Rachel Louise Carson, 1907
Dashiell Hammett, 1894
Isadora Duncan, 1878
Arnold Bennett, 1867
Wild Bill Hickock, 1837
Julia Ward Howe, 1819
Amelia Bloomer, 1818
Cornelius Vanderbilt, 1794


Debuting/Premiering Today

From Russia With Love(Film). 1964
The Three Little Pigs(Disney animated short), 1933


Today in History:

Habeaus Corpus Act, codifying how the writ of habeaus corpus is to be used, passes in UK, 1679
Peter the Great founds St. Petersburg, 1703
In Bolivia, the Battle of La Coronilla, in which the women from Cochabamba  fight against the Spanish army, 1812
In Canada, American forces capture Fort George, 1813
Bubonic plague breaks out in San Francisco, California, 1907
The NC-4 aircraft arrives in Lisbon after completing the first transatlantic flight, 1919
The 1,046 feet (319 m) Chrysler Building in New York City, the tallest man-made structure at the time, opens to the public, 1930
Richard Gurley Drew receives a patent for his adhesive tape, later manufactured by 3M as Scotch tape, 1930
The Walt Disney Company releases the cartoon  The Three Little Pigs, with its hit song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?", 1933
In California, the Golden Gate Bridge opens to pedestrian traffic, , 1937
Toronto's CHUM-AM, (1050 kHz) becomes Canada's first radio station to broadcast only top 40 Rock n' Roll music format, 1957
Australians vote in favor of a constitutional referendum granting the Australian government the power to make laws to benefit Indigenous Australians and to count them in the national census, 1967
In Culpeper, Virginia, actor Christopher Reeve is paralyzed from the neck down after falling from his horse in a riding competition, 1995
Russian President Boris Yeltsin meets with Chechnyan rebels for the first time and negotiates a cease-fire, 1996
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands indicts Slobodan Milosevic and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity, 1999
The May 2006 Java earthquake strikes at 5:53:58 AM local time (22:53:58 UTC May 26) devastating Bantul and the city of Yogyakarta killing over 6,600, 2006
Scientists in Canada bring 400 year-old bryophyte specimens left behind by retreating glaciers during the Ice Age back to life, 2013

Beautiful

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He was a rather average looking Asian gentleman.  He was old enough to have gray hair, but didn't appear to be elderly.  He ran a laundromat.

The building itself was a simple, low brick structure, nothing out of the ordinary to look at.  Since it was a beautiful day, he had the doors wide open, although i've since found out he almost always has the doors wide open, unless it's sweltering or freezing.

As i came in, i told him that i had a lot of laundry, more than 20 loads.  He smiled, and i said, "My boss' washing machine broke, and they haven't done laundry for 3 weeks!" At that he grinned a bit wider, and said, "I like!" We both laughed, and he showed me where the larger machines were, in the back.

Bringing in load after load, he eyed me for a bit, then sat back down to his paper.  One of the nice ladies who was already there helped me when i ran into trouble from the start with a recalcitrant coin slot.  She got it unstuck for me.

As the day wore on, i washed, and dried, and washed, and dried, and, as the loads started to get done, i folded and folded.

When i said more than 20 loads, i wasn't exaggerating.  Sheets, towels, mattress pads, undergarments, day clothes, night clothes, sports uniforms, and even blankets, i had hauled all of it in.  Eventually i ran out of detergent, and had to make a run to a store to get that and clean garbage bags in which to haul back the cleaned and folded items.

He sat most of the time, getting up once in a while to tend a machine for the people who paid him to do their laundry for them, or to give change.  Then he noticed that i was struggling with a particularly troublesome sheet, he got up and helped me.  Then, silently, he began grabbing baskets of the clean stuff and folding alongside me.

Thanking him over and over, he said, "I can see you are tired!" Indeed i was, and by the time i left, 8 hours after i had arrived, i was even more tired.  In fact, i know i wouldn't have finished before closing time if he hadn't assisted.

After the last load had been put back into the van, i thanked him again for his help.  He said, "You were tired, and I am lazy now!  I don't sew clothes now, I just sit.  So I help."

You are not lazy! i told him.  Lazy people don't help!

He just smiled.

"You come back tomorrow?" he asked.

No, i said.  This was all the laundry the boss had, but i will tell everyone i know that yours is the best laundromat, and if i ever need one, i will come here!

He was an average looking, older Asian gentleman, but after the much needed help he gave me, he was beautiful in my eyes.


Today is

Annapolis Valley Apple Blossom Festival -- Windsor to Digby, Nova Scotia, Canada (lots of fun in apple blossom time; through June 2)

Araw ng Watawat -- Philippines (Flag Day)

Armed Forces Day -- Croatia

Contemplate Your Vicissitudes Day -- no, i still don't know who thinks up this stuff, i can think of much better things to contemplate, thank you

Day of Pin-Hiding and Button-Losing -- Fairy Calendar

Downfall of the Dergue Day/National Day -- Ethiopia

National Brisket Day

National Hamburger Day

National Senior Health and Fitness Day -- US (don't let age get in the way of staying healthy!)

Republic Day -- Armenia; Azerbaijan

Republic Day -- Nepal

Slugs Return From Capistrano Day -- where they spent the winter, so don't go out on the patio barefoot until the first frost; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

St. Bernard of Montjoux's Day (Founder of Alpine hospices; Patron of Alpinists, the Alps, mountain climbers, mountaineers, skiers, and travelers in the mountains)

Whooping Crane Day -- US (birth anniversary of the first crane born in captivity; because those born in captivity refused to breed after they grew up, the attempt to restore numbers this way was discontinued, but these are beautiful birds worth saving)

Women in Trousers Day -- US (on this day in 1923, the US Attorney General announced his determination that it was indeed legal for women to wear trousers anywhere)

World Hunger Day -- The Hunger Project

World MS Day -- information here

Yom Yerushalayim -- Israel (Jerusalem Day; began sunset yesterday, ends sunset today)


Anniversaries Today:

Amnesty International is founded, 1961
Sierra Club is founded, 1892


Birthdays Today:

Joseph Cross, 1986
Carey Mulligan, 1985
Jesse Bradford, 1979
Sicily Yoder, 1969
Kylie Minogue, 1968
Glen Rice, 1967
Christa Miller, 1964
Sondra Locke, 1947
John Fogerty, 1945
Rudolph Guiliani, 1944
Gladys Knight, 1944
Annette, Cecile, Emilie, Marie, and Yvonne Dionne , 1934
Carroll Baker, 1931
Barry Commoner, 1917
Ian Fleming, 1908
Jim Thorpe, 1888
Louis Agassiz, 1807
William Pitt, 1759


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Magic Show"(Musical), 1974
"Lock Up Your Daughters"(Musical), 1959
Melody(Disney cartoon film, first ever in 3-D), 1953
"Zoo Parade"(TV), 1950
"Louisiana Purchase"(Musical), 1940
"Mathis der Maler / Matthias the Painter"(Opera), 1938
"L'Arianna / Ariadne"(Opera), 1608


Today in History:

A solar eclipse occurs, as predicted by Greek philosopher and scientist Thales, while Alyattes is battling Cyaxares in the Battle of the Eclipse;this leads to a truce and becomes one of the cardinal dates from which other dates can be calculated, BC585
James IV of Scotland and Margaret Tudor are married according to a Papal Bull by Pope Alexander VI and a Treaty of Everlasting Peace (which lasted 10 years) between Scotland and England is signed, 1503
The Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, sets sail from Lisbon heading for the English Channel (it will takes until May 30 for all of the ships to leave port), 1588
In the first engagement of the French and Indian War, Virginia militia under 22-year-old Lieutenant Colonel George Washington defeat a French reconnaissance party, 1754
Big Ben is drawn on a carriage pulled by 16 horses from Whitechapel Bell Foundry to the Palace of Westminster, 1859
In San Francisco, California, John Muir organizes the Sierra Club, 1892
In the Russo-Japanese War, the Battle of Tsushima ends with the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet by the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1905
John B Gruelle patents Raggedy Ann doll, 1915
The US Attorney General says it is legal for women to wear trousers, 1923
The first all color talking picture, "On With the Show", is shown in NYC, 1929
The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California, is officially opened, 1937
Neville Chamberlain becomes British Prime Minister, 1937
The women of Greece are given the right to vote, 1952
The Palestine Liberation Organization is formed, 1964
Fifteen West African countries sign the Treaty of Lagos, creating the Economic Community of West African States, 1975
Eritrea and Monaco join the United Nations, 1993
NATO declares Russia a limited partner in the Western alliance, 2002
The Mars Odyssey finds signs of large ice deposits on the planet Mars, 2002
The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly of Nepal formally declares Nepal a republic, ending the 240-year reign of the Shah dynasty, 2008
'Le Monde' reports the Assad regime in Syria continues to use chemical weapons, 2013

Out Of My Ordinary

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It's not ordinary for me to do a plug for something that someone is selling.  For one thing, i'm not really a good salesman at heart (or in practice), and for another, i don't use this platform for that purpose.

This, though, is a good cause.  Jenny Woolf, who blogs at An English Travel Writer, has been working on more than just her travel writing.

For quite some time, she's been working with a classroom full of children, helping them put together a very special book.

You can read about the project, the children involved, and the idea behind the story at Nurse Mabel and Her Amazing Fleas.

The story is about what it sounds like, a flea circus owner turned nurse in The Great War.  It's about more than that, though.  It's about supporting the dreams of children who have worked hard all year to put together a book of their own, bringing to life something they can proudly say they created.

The book is for sale at the Nurse Mabel site, and i've already ordered my copy, even if i don't have young children around to read to any more.  Probably i will read it to Gracie some time.

There are a lot of books in my library, including most of the books i had as a child.  Lately, i'm careful about adding any to my library, unless it's in ebook form, as i'm mostly out of shelf space.

This book is one i'm going to be glad to have in my library, taking up room on a shelf, because it's so nice to be able to support the dreams of young people.

Check out the site, and read about the book, and maybe you will want to support their dream, too.  Plus, without even reading the whole thing yet, i'm certain they've written a really fun and enjoyable story.



Today is

Ambarvalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (purification festival to Ceres, date approximate)

Ascension Day -- Christian; related observances
     Procession of the Holy Blood -- Belgium (religious historical procession recalling the adventurous crusaders, especially Count Thierry of Alsace, who was supposed to have carried back relics of the Holy Blood)

Ascension of Baha'u'llah -- Baha'i

BookExpo America -- Jacob K. Javits Center, New York, NY, US (publishers display fall titles; through Saturday)

Castleton Garland Celebration -- Derbyshire, England (a Garland King and Lady ride the bounds of the parish on white horses, after which the garland the King wore is placed on the church tower; possibly dating back to Oak Apple Celebrations)

Democracy Day -- Nigeria

End of the Middle Ages Day -- considered such by many historians because of the fall of Constantinople on this day in 1453

Feast of Mars -- Ancient Roman Calendar
 

International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers -- UN

Learn About Composting Day -- can't find a sponsor for this day, but there is a week sponsored each year here

Mount Everest Day -- Nepal (declared on the anniversary of first ascent in 1953)

National Coq Au Vin Day

Oak Apple Day / Royal Oak Day -- England (celebration of the restoration of the monarchy; no longer officially recognized, but many localities have traditions that have grown up around this date which are still celebrated)

Pink Flamingo Day -- Don Feathersone created the first one on this day in 1957

Put a Pillow on Your Fridge Day -- supposedly dating back, in Europe and the Americas, to the days when you put a piece of cloth in your larder for good luck; why it became a pillow no one knows

Runic Half-Month of Odal (home, possessions) commences

Squoosh an Ice Cream Sandwich Day -- rules say you must squoosh, not squish or squash!

St. Bona of Pisa's Day (Patron of couriers, flight attendants, guides, pilgrims, travellers; Pisa, Italy)


Anniversaries Today:

Rhode Island becomes the 13th US State, 1790
Wisconsin becomes the 30th US State, 1848


Birthdays Today:

Noel Gallagher, 1967
Lisa Whelchel, 1963
Melissa Etheridge, 1961
Adrian Paul, 1959
Rupert Everett,1959
Annette Bening, 1958
LaToya Jackson, 1956
Danny Elfman, 1953
Anthony Geary, 1947
Kevin Conway, 1942
Al Unser, Sr., 1939
Francis Thomas "Fay" Vincent, Jr, 1938
Paul Erlich, 1932
John F. Kennedy, 1917
Tenzing Norgay, 1914
T.H. White, 1906
Bob Hope, 1903
Oswald Spengler, 1880
G.K. Chesterton, 1874
Patrick Henry, 1736


Today in History:

Ottoman armies under Sultan Mehmed II Fatih capture Constantinople after a siege, ending the Byzantine Empire, 1453
Charles II (on his birthday) is restored to the throne of Great Britain, 1660
Treaty of Middle Plantation establishes peace between the Virginia colonists and the local Natives, 1677
The right of Canadians to keep Indian slaves is upheld at Quebec City, 1733
In Patrick Henry's historic speech against the Stamp Act, he answers a cry of "Treason!" with, "If this be treason, make the most of it!" 1765
Present constitution of Switzerland takes effect, 1874
Chemist John Pemberton places his first advertisement for Coca-Cola, the ad appearing in the Atlanta Journal, 1886
Igor Stravinsky's ballet score The Rite of Spring receives its premiere performance in Paris, provoking a riot, 1913
Ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland sinks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence with the loss of 1,024 lives, 1914
Bing Crosby, the Ken Darby Singers and the John Scott Trotter Orchestra record Irving Berlin's "White Christmas", the best-selling Christmas single in history, for Decca Records in Los Angeles, 1942
Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay become the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest, 1953
First of the annual Bilderberg conferences, 1954
Amputee  Steve Fonyo completes cross-Canada marathon at Victoria, British Columbia, after 14 months, 1985
Space Shuttle Discovery completes the first docking with the International Space Station, 1999
Olusegun Obasanjo takes office as President of Nigeria, the first elected and civilian head of state in Nigeria after 16 years of military rule, 1999
A WWII Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C., US, 2004
Scientists describe the 160-million year-old fossile of Aurornis xui as the most basal species of Avialae, possibly shifting the evolutionary position of the Archaeopteryx as the oldest known bird, 2013
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