messymimi's meanderings

There are two memos i'd like to write, if only i knew to whom to send them.

First memo: getting stuff squirted into your eyes doesn't feel good at all! When it's done to dilate your eyes, it's even worse.

Having that done yesterday so i could find out why i have been seeing an occasional flash of light in the corner of my eye gave me a new appreciation of why so many of the cats at the shelter, when they know we are putting drops or ointment into their eyes, try to take our hands off.

(And all is well with my eyes, says Sweetie's eye specialist. Optic nerves are fine, retinas are properly attached and the cataracts i am developing are nowhere near being of concern. The flashes are caused by moving my head or eye so rapidly that for a moment the vitreous humor, or liquid in the eye, pulls away from the retina for a split second. Not anything to worry about.)

Second memo: yes, i know, i am to stay flexible and able to turn on a dime, as far as plans and dealing with life are concerned. However, sometimes dealing with rapid changes is ridiculous!

Take yesterday, for example. First The Big Boss wanted me to be there to babysit Ms. P's Youngest Boy for the evening.

Then it was, i was going to meet up with the Ex to get Youngest Boy.

After that, Ex had changed his mind, he would keep Youngest Boy himself, so i was to stand down, they wouldn't need me.

Next came, could Little Girl go to a big concert at the stadium, in one of the suites, to babysit Youngest Boy and Ex's New Honey's youngest daughter? She and they would get to see the concert, and she was to keep the kids out of the adults' hair while they also enjoyed the concert.

Little Girl said yes, and was making plans to go, then came the call that while The Big Boss was trying to arrange Little Girl to babysit at the concert, Ex had called his own mother and gotten her to agree to do it!

All these changes came in the space of just over half an hour.

(Yes, this is the same New Honey who had thrown Ex out a few weeks ago, and yes, the mother called in to babysit was the Ex's mother who had picked him up when New Honey had thrown him out. Apparently, they've made up and his mother hasn't gotten tired enough of his shenanigans, either.)

So, if i can ever figure out where to send these, i just might.

Today is

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

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

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)

Bluebell Day -- Fairy Calendar

Declaration of the Bab -- Baha'i

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

Grubstake Days -- Yucca Valley, CA, US (parade, carnival, races, horseshoes tourney, beard growing contest, fun!)

International Blacksmith's Day

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

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

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 Labour Day -- Jamaica

National Taffy Day

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

Skerpla Month begins -- Traditional Icelandic Calendar (Sharpness)

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

Students' Day -- Mexico

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

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 the end of June)

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)

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)

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

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We almost always have a good many cars parked here at the house. We juggle for position in the driveway and spill over onto the street, but that's what comes of having teen and adult children living at home with their own cars.

Also, we have to be careful not to violate any of the parking regulations the parish has, so none of us get a parking ticket. So far, we haven't, but a few people in the area have, and we want to be extra careful, especially about parking on grass.

This reminds of some parking trouble Boudreaux was having.

Boudreaux had been workin' on his lawn, an' he was mighty proud of it.

So Boudreaux done got tired of his neighbors havin' lotsa frien's over an' de frien's parkin' on his lawn.

He decide to get him a sign made, so he ax Thibodeaux to rec'mend him a good sign maker.

"Go see Mr. Poche," Thibodeaux done tol' him. "He can make a sign real good, big an' sturdy!"

So Boudreaux did dat, went an' saw Mr. Poche, an' dey agree what de sign gonna say, an' how much.

A few days later, Boudreaux go to see Thibodeaux, an' he say, "Mais, what for you tell me go see Mr. Poche?"

"He can make a good sign," Thibodeaux say. "Did som'tin' happen?"

"He can make a good sign, big an' sturdy," Boudreaux say, "but he cain't spell! He done paint a sign dat say, 'Park Here, Get Toad!' De dumb neighbor's dumb frien's still be parkin' on my lawn, an' dey be axin' me where de toads be at!"

Today is

Aldersgate Day -- Methodism

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 11)

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)

French Open Tennis Tournament -- Roland-Garros Stadium, Paris, France (part of the Grand Slam of Tennis, annually since 1925; through June 7)

Independence Day -- Eritrea(1993)

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

International Tiara Day -- ladies, celebrate your powers of leadership in your life; tiara wearing is optional, it's the fact that you rule that matters

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)

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

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-- Belize

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

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)

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

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Oh, no! Rain!

Last night at Bible study, it began to pour down rain. When the host opened the front door, the two miniature poodles ran to the door, only to stop in dejection when they saw the water coming down in sheets.

Above, you can see the brown one has already noticed the rain, and his tail is down. The white one, a couple of steps behind, hasn't quite noticed yet.

They are really cute dogs, and they do not like when it's raining!

Today is

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

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

Buddha Day/Buddha's Birthday -- some Buddhists celebrate today, some next week, at the full moon

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)

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

Independence Day -- Jordan(1946)

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)

Liberation Day -- Lebanon

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 Brown-Bag-It Day

National Heroes' Day -- Turks and Caicos Islands

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)

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.

Shavuot -- Israel (Pentecost, ends at sunset)

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. 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)

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

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

...who hasn't taken a selfie? (Besides the picture i took of my swollen hand after the hornet bite. Since it was an awful picture and was only of my hand, i don't think it can be considered a real selfie. And yes, the ring is repaired and back on my now back to normal hand.)

It seems to be so popular these days that even elephants are doing it!

And in other critter news, there is a movement now in the US to allow military dogs, when they are retired, to be adopted by the handlers with whom they worked overseas.

This sounds like something that should have happened many years ago. Animals, no matter what the military says, are not weapons. They may be considered property, but they are living property and deserve consideration beyond what you would give a mere physical, non-living item.

Around here, summer has finally started. It's swim team time, they start practice today. That makes it official.

Little Girl is looking forward to it.

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!

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)

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 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)

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

Anniversaries 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

"Hey, Mini!" Red-Headed Alec said to Little Girl as he walked in from work.

While i thought i had heard him correctly, i had to check. What did you call her? i asked.

"Mini, it's my latest nickname," she said.

Latest? i asked.

"Well," Red-Headed Alec explained, "first it was Kid, then Young Jacob started calling her Dik, but I don't like that, so I started calling her Mini."

Why Mini? i asked.

"Because I'm the smallest out of all of us, except for you!" she said.

While i can understand "Kid," i noted, if you want to turn it backward, how about saying it twice?

"You mean Dik-Dik?" Red-Headed Alex asked, looking puzzled.

"Yes!" Little Girl said. "I love the dik-dik! It's so cute!"

"What is a dik-dik?" Red-headed Alec was looking even more confused.

"They are so cute!" Little Girl said again, as i answered, they are the smallest antelopes, only about 15 pounds and about 20 inches or so tall.

"That's what you can call me, Dik-Dik!" Little Girl said.

Now they will call her Mini, or Dik-Dik. Better than some nicknames i could think of, i guess. And the critters are cute, too:

A male dik-dik, with antlers. Both pics from Wikipedia.

A female dik-dik.

Today is

Abolition Day -- Guadeloupe; Saint Martin

Annapolis Valley Apple Blossom Festival -- Windsor to Digby, Nova Scotia, Canada (lots of fun in apple blossom time; through June 1)

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

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

Mother's Day -- Bolivia

National Grape Popsicle Day

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

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.

World MS Day

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

Today i am linking up with Josie Two Shoes with a Six Sentence Story. The story prompt is Rush.

Even in her rush to get to the store so she could get home in time to prepare dinner, she couldn't help looking twice at the man.

He had what she had come to recognize from her work in the homeless ministry as the thin, frail look of an elderly man who has lived on the streets and gone without a lot of meals, replacing them by imbibing his favorite cheap liquid refreshment and cigarettes. What made her look twice was that he was standing straight and tall, not stooped, and he had a purposefulness to his stride that said he was going to get where he was going, no matter what.

Her attention was abruptly drawn back to the traffic as she maneuvered her way into the store's busy parking lot and then made her way inside. As she shopped, her mind went back and forth between her list and her thoughts about the homeless and the hungry that the man's appearance had brought to her mind.

Leaving the store, she caught a glimpse of him as he came in, a few dollars grasped in his hand, marching straight for the cigarette case, and she sighed.

Today is

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

Republic Day -- Armenia; Azerbaijan

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 travellers 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

Anniversary 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

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

Feline Friday is simple to join. All you have to do is..

1) post a picture, drawing, cartoon or video of a cat (They may be silly or cute)
2) go to Steve's page, linked above, then on the menu bar click on the Feline Friday tab to get the code
3) paste the code under your cat picture
4) add your name and link

That’s all there is to it! Be sure to check back every so often and visit all the Feline Friday bloggers. Also, please leave a nice comment on their blogs. Nasty comments will be deleted!

HopeCat has an announcement to make:

You may not have your glasses and reading material until you pet me!

Today is

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

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

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)

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)

Centralia Anchor Festival -- City Square, Centralia, MO, US (anchor driving, archery shoot, tractor show, carnival, crafts, softball and more; through Sunday)

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

Ganatantra Diwas / Republic Day -- Nepal (National Day)

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; and you can learn about composting here, too

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)

Pilgrimages to St Patrick's Purgatory begin -- Station Island, Lough Derg, County Donegal, Ireland (three day pilgrimages to the island where St. Patrick supposedly showed the Irish heathens Purgatory so they would be converted continue through Aug. 15; such pilgrimages date back at least to the 10th century)

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

Portland Rose Festival -- Portland, OR, US (over 50 events, including three parades, dragon boat races, and more celebrate a city full of roses; through June 14)

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

Today i am linking up with the Favorite Summer Vacation Spot blog hop, because, well, we are leaving for vacation today!

The blog hop co-hosts are:

Lexa Cain: http://lexacain.blogspot.com/

Melanie Karsak: http://www.melaniekarsak.com/

T.F. Walsh: http://www.tfwalsh.com/blog/

Vanessa Morgan: http://vanessa-morgan.blogspot.com/

Jolie Du Pre: http://www.preciousmonsters.com/

Stuart R. West: http://stuartrwest.blogspot.com/

While i'm not certain it is our favorite vacation spot (i love Disney World, too!), it is certainly our second favorite and the most common one we go to.

Of what am i speaking?

Of the 22nd Annual Cram Everyone in a Two-Bedroom Condo at the Beach for a Week, Family Should Be Close But Not This Close Vacation, of course!

Yes, grab the sun screen and hang on, it's going to be a wild ride!

It's time again for sand in our shorts, salt breezes in the air, and hearing the children yell, "Hey! Who swiped my beach towel!"

We stay at a condo complex on Perdido Key, a hop up from Pensacola, a jump down from Orange Beach and Gulf Shores, and a couple of miles from the Flora-Bama Bar, where us half-heathen Protestants will attend the Sunday church service. (Yes, in a bar, 10am every Sunday. You may never darken the door of a church, but coming to a bar to hear the Word preached just might be downright comfortable for you. The Catholics among us will attend daily Mass at St. Thomas-by-the-Sea.)

As per our usual, we will be swimming at both the beach and in the pools, playing in the sand, shopping, going to the zoo (The Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo, dubbed "The Little Zoo That Could" by The Discovery Channel) and the Naval Air Museum, fishing from the dock for the Friday night dinner fish fry and, my favorite vacation activity -- checking the insides of the eyelids for cracks!

We leave today, come back next Saturday, and in the meanwhile this year's cast of characters is:

Grandpa -- patriarch and vacation organizer, a/k/a Doc, or Dr. Born Organized Clean. Not just a Mr. Clean, a Dr. Clean who is so hyper-organized that when Hurricane Katrina threatened New Orleans he packed his entire life into 6 small file boxes, a bag, and a valise. He could easily have restarted his whole life with just what he brought with him. The big loves of his life are The Good Lord, medicine, murder mysteries, and his family, most especially the grandchildren.

Grandma -- matriarch, a/k/a Miss Prissy. An artist, singer, shopper, and clothes horse. You don't want to know how much she packed for the evacuation.

Uncle P -- the elder of my two younger brothers. Has spent several years doing mission work within the US, and is currently doing home care for senior citizens. It's what he loves, taking care of people! He will be coming only from Sunday through Tuesday, as he has to get back to work.

Evelyn -- Uncle P's friend. They met while doing mission work. It might become more than friendship someday, or it might not, but they are good friends either way. She will be riding in and leaving with Uncle P.

Uncle J -- the younger of my two younger brothers. A single dad with primary custody of the two kids, he could have been a con artist as he could sell eggs to a chicken farmer. It's a good thing he uses his talent for making an honest living, but don't challenge him at video games, he will figure a way to "game" the system!

Bryn -- Uncle J's daughter. Now 14 and a far cry from the "pest" my children used to think she was. Although i will admit one of her favorite pastimes is picking on her younger brother.

Bryn's Friend -- as yet an unknown quantity, Bryn is at the age where she wants to start bringing someone to help her stay entertained. Since i've never met the friend, i can't say anything about her.

Dre -- Bryn's younger brother, Uncle J's son. At 10, girls are still icky and baths should still be optional.

Bigger Girl -- my and Sweetie's oldest daughter, who will be coming down on Tuesday and heading back on Thursday (that's all she could get off of work). Musical and artistic like Grandma, she's a philosopher who is brave enough to prod cattle into a chute at the biological research station and gentle enough to nurture baby kittens. Just don't expose her to small children, she does not do well with them. In fact, she sometimes dresses somewhat Goth because she says it's "soccer mom repellent."

Little Girl -- our youngest child, who will be coming with Bigger Girl for the three days only. Straight A student who loves swim team and gets along with everyone. She also inherited Grandma's artistic bent, and is seriously considering going into medicine like Grandpa.

Junior -- not a relative, but another friend, this time of Bigger Girl. He loves to cook as long as no one is in the kitchen with him, and you come running in to taste when he says so. A very hard worker and someone who, as Bigger Girl says, desperately needs a couple of days away from his two jobs!

#2 Son -- the budding chef and anchor of his area in the kitchen at the restaurant where he works. He also still loves the outdoors, hunting, fishing, and the catching and releasing of snakes.

Friend Becky -- coming along because of the budding of romance between her and #2 Son. She loves animals, and i guess in some ways he still qualifies (as do most teen boys).

Sweetie -- my husband the musician. He's not a huge fan of beaches, but he likes this area and all the fun things we do. Make sure he has his guitar and amp with him, and he's set.

And finally there's me, the one called upon to stay calm in every situation and keep up with the laundry, just like at home!

Today is

Anguilla Day -- Anguilla

Arrival Day -- Trinidad and Tobago

California Artichoke Festival -- Castroville, CA, US (lots of fun in the Artichoke Capital of the World; through tomorrow)

Dia de Canarias -- CN, Spain (Canary Island Day)

Dia de las Madres -- Nicaragua(Mother's Day)

Einherjar -- Asatru (Modern Norse Pagan) Calendar (a memorial for the war dead in Valhalla)

Feast Day of St. Joan of Arc (Patron of captives, martyrs, opposition of Church authorities, people ridiculed for their piety, prisoners, rape victims, soldiers, WACs, WAVES; France)

Heirloom Seed Day -- While i can't find the history of this one, it's a good one to celebrate, we need to raise awareness of and preserve heirloom seeds

Indian Arrival Day -- Trinidad and Tobago (anniversary of the 1845 arrival of the first Indian laborers to Trinidad)

Isle of Man Tourist Trophy -- Isle of Man (through June 12; two weeks of the finest road racing on earth)

Lod Massacre Remembrance Day -- Puerto Rico

Loomis Day -- because if we are going to honor Marconi, we should also honor the Washington, D.C., dentist Mahlon Loomis, who patented a wireless telegraphy system before Marconi was even born

Missouri State Championship Racking Horse Show -- Stoddard County Fairgrounds, Dexter, MO, US (an afternoon and evening of excellent and elegant showmanship)

My Bucket's Got a Hole In It Day -- this one may be listed on another day as well, since no two sites agree; mercy, just go get a new one already! or go get out your Hank Williams records

National Mint Julep Day

St. Walstan of Bawburgh's Day (Patron of agricultural workers, farmers and farm workers, field hands, husbandmen)

This Day -- Fairy Calendar

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)

Water a Flower Day -- no sponsor or reason given for this day, except that the spring rains are slowing and you don't want your garden to wilt

Wicket World of Croquet® Day 2015 -- The Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site, Indianapolis, IN, US (croquet tournament fundraiser, includes an Alice and Friends game for the little ones)

Anniversaries Today:

Henry VIII marries Jane Seymore, 1536

Birthdays Today:

Blake Bashoff, 1981
Trey Parker, 1972
Wynonna Judd, 1964
Tom Morello, 1964
Ted McGinley, 1958
Colm Meaney, 1953
Stephen Tobolowsky, 1951
Meredith MacRae, 1945
Gale Eugene Sayers, 1943
Michael J. Pollard, 1939
Keir Dullea, 1936
Clint Walker, 1927
Benny Goodman, 1909
Mel Blanc, 1908
Countee Cullen, 1903
Peter Carl Fabergé, 1846
Czar Peter the Great, 1672

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Paperback Writer"(Single release), 1966
"War Requiem"(Britten Op. 66), 1962
"Odisséia de uma raça / Odyssey of a Race"(Villa-Lobos Symphonic poem), 1954
"Prodana nevesta / The Bartered Bride"(Opera), 1866

Today in History:

Titus and his Roman legions breach the Second Wall of Jerusalem; the Jewish defenders retreat to the First Wall, 70
19-year-old Joan of Arc is burned at the stake by an English-dominated tribunal, 1431
In Florida, Hernando de Soto lands at Tampa Bay with 600 soldiers with the goal of finding gold, 1539
Publication of La Gazette, the first French newspaper, 1631
The Pennsylvania Evening Post become the first daily paper in the US, 1783
John Francis attempts to murder Queen Victoria, 1842
Westminster's Big Ben rang for the first time in London, 1859
Decoration Day (the predecessor of the modern "Memorial Day") is observed in the United States for the first time, 1868
New York City's Gilmores Garden is renamed Madison Square Garden by William Henry Vanderbilt and is opened to the public, 1879
The Treaty of London, 1913, ends the First Balkan War and Albania becomes an independent nation, 1913
In China protests erupt against the Great Powers infringing on Chinese sovereignty, 1925
A dike along the flooding Columbia River breaks, obliterating Vanport, Oregon within minutes, 1948
The Auckland Harbour Bridge, crossing the Waitemata Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand, is officially opened, 1959
launch of Surveyor 1 the first US spacecraft to achieve landing on an extraterrestrial body, 1966
At the Ascot Park in Gardena, California, daredevil Evel Knievel jumps his motorcycle over 16 cars lined up in a row, 1967
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: the 33-foot high "Goddess of Democracy" statue is unveiled in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators, 1989
272 days after the September 11 attacks, closing ceremonies are held for the clean up/recovery efforts at the World Trade Center site in New York City. The last remaining steel beam is removed and transported to the Fresh Kills Landfill in Staten Island, 2002
In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel pledges to end all nuclear power within 12 years, 2011

Silly Sunday is hosted by Sandee, of Comedy Plus.

Silly Sunday is the place to come for weekly laughs. The rules are simple, just have fun.

This is a great opportunity to get to know other bloggers and have a laugh or two in the process.

Here is how it works: Laugh and Link Up!

Post a joke.
Link Up with the URL to your joke in the Linky Tools Widget.
Read my joke.
Leave a comment to tell me how much you enjoyed my joke.
Try and visit a few others participating in Silly Sunday.
Go to Sandee's site, linked above, and get the Silly Sunday code for your blog, too!

Vacation is a wonderful thing.

Driving down here is a bear. Traffic comes to a near stop in some places on I-10, and a complete stop when you get to Mobile Bay, trying to go through the tunnel. You would think some of the people out on the roads had never driven before by the way they behave.

If it were not for the fabulous destination, it wouldn't be worth the trip.

All the driving difficulties remind me of back when dey was firs' buildin' I-10, when Boudreaux was jes' learnin' him how to drive.

He had done practiced on de roads dat was close to de bayou, but now he want to take his wife Clothile and go get on dem bigger roads.

So he get him on de new I-10, an' he be doin' 10 mile per hour, an' ever'body be honkin' an' swervin' to get aroun' him, an' fin'ly Officer Lacour done pull him over.

"Boudreaux!" say Officer Lacour. "What you t'ink you be doin', goin' so slow on dis here highway! You gots to go faster dan dat, you gone cause a wreck!"

And Boudreaux say, "But I was doin' what de sign say! It say '10'"

"Dat be de highway number, not de speed!" say Officer Lacour. Den he point to two sign an say, "Dat one be de speed sign, an dat one be de one dat say what highway you on. Got it?"

"Oui, I gots it!" Boudreaux say.

Den Officer Lacour see dat Clothile, she look white as a sheet, an' he ax her, "You be okay, Clothile? You look scared!"

"Mais!" say Clothile. "Where you be back when he were drivin' on Highway 98?"

Today is

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)

Bicycle Race Day -- anniversary of what is supposed to have been the first bicycle race ever, at the Parc de Saint-Cloud, Paris, in 1868

Dia de Castilla-La Mancha -- Castile-La Mancha, Spain

Doha Document for Peace in Darfur Commemoration -- Sudan

English Riviera Dance Festival -- Torquay, Devon, England (learn ballroom dance, or take a master class, all levels are welcome, with Gala Evenings where you can dance the night away; through June 2)

Feast of the Visitation of Mary -- Christianity (Mary's visit of her cousin Elizabeth, chronicled in Luke 1:39-56)

Lailat al-Bara'ah (Shab Barat) -- Islam (Night of Forgiveness, a preparation for Ramadan; begins at sunset, local custom dates may vary)

"Make My Day" Day -- birth anniversary of Clint Eastwood

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

National Macaroon Day

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)

Pentecost -- Orthodox Christians using the Julian Calendar

Royal Brunei Malay Regiment Day / Royal Brunei Armed Forces Day -- Brunei

Save Your Hearing Day -- because once it is gone, you will regret it; on the anniversary of the concert by The Who in 1976 which set a Guiness World Record for loudest rock concert ever

Speak in Complete Sentences Day -- be a good example!

St. Petronilla's Day (Patron of mountain travellers; against fever)

Take This Job and Shove It Day -- birth anniversary of Johnny Paycheck

This Day (again) -- Fairy Calendar

Trinity Sunday -- Christian

What You Think Upon Grows Day -- Stephanie West Allen wants you to remember the power of positive thinking

World No Tobacco Day -- WHO

Birthdays Today:

Jonathan Tucker, 1982
Colin Farrell, 1976
Phil Keoghan, 1967
Brooke Shields, 1965
Lea Thompson, 1961
Chris Elliot, 1960
Roma Maffia, 1958
Kyle Secor, 1958
Gregory Harrison, 1950
Tom Berenger, 1950
John Bonham, 1948
Sharon Gless, 1943
Joe Namath, 1943
Johnny Paycheck, 1941
Terry Waite, 1939
Peter Yarrow, 1938
Clint Eastwood, 1930
Patricia Roberts Harris, 1924
Prince Rainier of Monaco, 1923
Denholm Elliott, 1922
Don Ameche, 1908
Norman Vincent Peale, 1898
Fred Allen, 1894
Walt Whitman, 1819

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Survivor"(TV), 2000
"Seinfeld"(TV), 1990
"Beatlemania"(Musical), 1977

Today in History:

Rameses II (The Great) becomes pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, BC1279
A devastating earthquake strikes Antioch, Turkey, killing 250,000, 526
Mongol armies of Genghis Khan led by Subutai defeat Kievan Rus and Cumans, 1223
Citing poor eyesight, Samuel Pepys records the last event in his diary, 1669
The Godiva procession through Coventry begins, 1678
The Province of Pennsylvania bans all theater productions, 1759
In Australia, Lawson, Blaxland and Wentworth, reached Mount Blaxland, effectively marking the end of a route across the Blue Mountains, 1813
In the Fenian Invasion of Canada, John O'Neill leads 850 Fenian raiders across the Niagara River at Buffalo, New York/Fort Erie, Ontario, as part of an effort to free Ireland from the United Kingdom. Canadian militia and British regulars repulse the invaders in over the next three days, 1866
Dr James Moore of the UK wins the first recorded bicycle race, a 2k velocipede race at Parc de St Cloud, Paris, 1868
Dr. John Harvey Kellogg patents corn flakes, 1884
Arrival at Plymouth of Tawhiao, King of Maoris, to claim protection of Queen Victoria, 1884
Over 2,200 people die after a dam break sends a 60-foot (18-meter) wall of water over the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, 1889
The Union of South Africa (predecessor of the Republic of South Africa) is created, 1910
The last Ford Model T rolls off the assembly line after a production run of 15,007,003 vehicles, 1927
A 7.1 magnitude Earthquake destroys Quetta in modern-day Pakistan, 1931
The Republic of South Africa is created, 1961
The Ancash earthquake causes a landslide that buries the town of Yungay, Peru, 1970
In accordance with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1968, observation of Memorial Day occurs on the last Monday in May for the first time, rather than on the traditional Memorial Day of May 30, 1971
The Muppet Movie, Jim Henson's Muppets' first foray into the world of feature length motion pictures, is released, 1979
The burning of Jaffna Library, Sri Lanka, is one of the violent examples of ethnic biblioclasm of the twentieth century, 1981
Forty-one tornadoes hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, leaving 76 dead, 1985
Athena 98.4 FM, the first legal private radio station in Greece, starts broadcasting, 1987
Vanity Fair reveals that Mark Felt was Deep Throat, 2005
Asteroid 1998 QE2, an asteroid measuring nearly 1.7 miles across, and its moon, pass within 3.6 million miles of the earth, 2013

Awww Monday is hosted by Sandee, of Comedy Plus.

Join us every Monday for Awww...Mondays. Post a picture that makes you say Awww... and that it.

Make sure you get the code from Sandee's site, linked above, and leave a link to your post so we can visit you. What better way to start the week than with a smile!

Perdido Key is a beautiful island with sugar sand beaches and part of it is preserved as a state park. The condos where we stay are touted as a garden paradise, and this is what awaited us in the master bathroom of our unit:

What a pretty welcome!

Talk about island magic! And you don't have to leave the panhandle of Florida to get it.

Right here i'm going to take a moment to make a correction. Last year, we went to the Worship on the Water church service at the Flora-Bama Bar Sunday morning, and it was at 10am. This year, i found out the hard way that enough people now attend that they have 2 services, 9am and 11am! Just thought anyone who reads this should know, in case you ever want to come on down here. This week's sermon was on speaking encouragement into people's lives as part of reining in our tongues.

Today is

Arrival of the Swiss at the Port-Noir -- Switzerland

Dia da Crianca -- Cape Verde (Youth Day)

Dia de la Marina -- Mexico (Day of the Navy)

Early Bird Day -- an internet derived day that reminds us the early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese

Famadihana -- Madagascar (from now until November, various areas celebrate the Malagasay culture's "turning the bones," a fascinating reburial of the dead ceremony)

Feast of St. Justin Martyr (a/k/a Justin the Philosopher; Patron of apologists, lecturers, orators, philosophers, speakers)

Festival of Non-Linearity -- another one you find on the internet, no meaning or rhyme to it, but if you like to think in non-linear ways, enjoy today!

Festival of the Oak Nymph -- Celtic/Pagan (around this time of year, the Celts took a day to honor all hamadryads, the female nature spirits who inhabit oak trees)

Flip a Coin Day -- as noted by The Ultimate Holiday Site, which claims Julius Caesar invented it (doubtful, but the Romans did toss coins)

Gawai Dayak -- Sarawak, Malaysia (harvest festival begins today)

Global Day of Parents -- UN

Go Barefoot Day -- originally sponsored by Soles4Souls, which recycles shoes to those who have none; while i cannot find if they are sponsoring a day or week this year, it's a good reminder not to let your old shoes end up in a landfill

Hari Lahir Pancasila -- Indonesia (Pancasila Day)

Heimlich Maneuver Day -- Dr. Heimlich first published his suggestion for aiding choking victims with "subdiaphragmatic pressure" on this day in 1974

Helen Keller Day -- sponsored by the Lions Clubs

Hen-Peeler's Holiday -- Fairy Calendar

Independence Day/National Day -- Samoa

International Children's Day

Kaiko Kinenbi -- Yokohama, Japan (Yokahama Port Opening Festival; through tomorrow)

Kalends of June -- Ancient Roman Calendar; related observances:
     Day Sacred to Tempestas (goddess of storms)
     Festival for Juno Moneta (Juno as goddess of money)
     Festival of Carna (goddess of health and vitality, and also of doors and locks, which were to be repaired today)

Madaraka Day -- Kenya (National Day or self-rule/responsibility day)

Mint Julip Day -- Oxford University, England (the drink was introduced there this day in 1845, and they liked it so well, they dedicated a day to it!)

Mothers' and Children's Day -- Mongolia

National Hazelnut Cake Day

National Leave the Office Earlier Day -- sponsored by Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro, who urges people to maximize productivity so they can leave the office earlier every day
     note that some websites say this should be the first Monday, and some the first Wednesday, of June

National Tree Planting Day -- Cambodia

Oscar the Grouch Day -- according to the Sesame Workshop, today is his birthday

President's Day -- Palau

Say Something Nice Day -- as declared by the mayor of a town in South Carolina who is tired of all the negative talk all the time

Fashion in Colonial Virginia -- Jamestown Settlement, Williamsburg, VA, and Yorktown Victory Center, Yorktown, VA, US (spend time this month exploring how clothing of the period was fashioned, how dyes were made, and lots more)

Queen's Birthday -- New Zealand; Niue

South Carolina Festival of Flowers -- Greenwood, SC, US (thirty-six events, something for everyone; through the 28th, but the displays are through the month)

Sovereign's Birthday -- Cook Islands

Stand for Children Day -- stand.org founded this day as a rally in 1996, seeking to ensure all children graduate from high school

St. Theobald Roggeri's Day (Patron of church cleaners, cobblers, porters, shoemakers; against fever and sterility)

Summer Library Book Club Season begins -- anywhere that school is out, check your local library for a summer book club for children or adults; you never know what world you will discover when you read

Superman Day -- publication of the first Superman comic was this day in 1938

Victory Day -- Tunisia (anniversary of the Adoption of the Constitution of Tunisia in 1959)

Western Australia Day -- Western Australia (formerly called Foundation Day)

Yobuko Otsunahiki -- Higashi Matsuura, Saga prefecture, Japan (two day Big Tug-of-War Festival, with one team representing the land and the other the sea; victory for the land means good crops, for the sea means good catches)

Anniversaries Today:

Charlie Chaplin marries Paulette Goddard, 1934
Ohio University, in Athens, Ohio, is founded as the first US land-grant university, 1808
Tennessee becomes the 16th US state, 1796
Kentucky becomes the 15th US state, 1792
Anne Boleyn is crowned Queen Consort of England, 1533

Birthdays Today:

Justine Henin, 1982
Alanis Morissette, 1974
Heidi Klum, 1973
Mark Curry, 1964
Lisa Hartman Black, 1956
Ron Wood, 1947
Jonathan Pryce, 1947
Frederica von Stade, 1945
Robert Powell, 1944
Rene Auberjonois, 1940
Cleavon Little, 1939
Morgan Freeman, 1937
Colleen McCullough, 1937
Pat Boone, 1934
Edward Woodward, 1930
James Hadley Billington, 1929
Bob Monkhouse, 1928
Andy Griffith, 1926
Marilyn Monroe, 1926
Nelson Riddle, 1921
Brigham Young, 1801
Jacques Marquette (Père Marquette), 1637

Debuting/Premiering Today:

FX(TV network), 1994
Gremlins(Film), 1984
Cable News Network/CNN(TV network), 1980
"Live and Let Die"(Song release), 1973
"The Prisoner"(TV), 1968
"Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"(Album release), 1967

Today in History:

Hugh Capet is elected King of France, 987
Beijing, then under the control of the Jurchen ruler Emperor Xuanzong of Jin, is captured by the Mongols under Genghis Khan, ending the Battle of Beijing, 1215
Friar John Cor records the first known batch of scotch whisky, 1495
Anne Boleyn is crowned Queen of England, 1533
Mary Dyer is hanged for defying a law banning Quakers from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1660
The battle of the Glorious First of June is fought, the first naval engagement between Britain and France during the French Revolutionary Wars, 1794
U.S. President James Madison asks the Congress to declare war on the United Kingdom, 1812
James Lawrence, the mortally-wounded commander of the USS Chesapeake, gives his final order: "Don't give up the ship!" 1813
James Clark Ross discovers the North Magnetic Pole, 1831
American adventurer William Walker conquers Nicaragua, 1855
Treaty of Bosque Redondo is signed allowing the Navajos to return to their lands in Arizona and New Mexico, 1868
Thomas Edison receives a patent for his electric voting machine, 1869
Napoleon Eugene, the last dynastic Bonaparte, is killed in the Anglo-Zulu War, 1879
The United States Census Bureau begins using Herman Hollerith's tabulating machine to count census returns, 1890
Louis D. Brandeis becomes the first Jew appointed to the United States Supreme Court, 1916
The First Conference of the Communist Parties of Latin America is held in Buenos Aires, 1929
Charles de Gaulle comes out of retirement to lead France by decree for six months, 1958
New Zealand's first official television broadcast commences at 7.30pm from Auckland, 1960
Kenya gains internal self-rule (Madaraka Day), 1963
The Heimlich maneuver for rescuing choking victims is published in the journal Emergency Medicine, 1974
The first black-led government of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 90 years takes power, 1979
The Warsaw Pact officially dissolves, 1991
Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines erupts for the first time in 600 years, 1991
Air France Flight 447 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil, Killing all 228 passengers and crew, 2009
General Motors files for chapter 11 bankruptcy, 2009
Russia enacts a country-wide smoking ban, effecting most public places, 2013

If it's Monday and we are in Florida on vacation, we must be going shopping, right on schedule.

Grandma loves the shops at the outlet mall about a half-hour drive up the road, so we pack everyone in two or three cars and head out, getting there just around the time the shops open.

Once there, everyone scatters to his or her favorite places. Children head toward the stores that have stuff they won't be caught dead in once another 30 years have rolled around, but you can't tell them that now. Sweetie is mostly along for the ride, wanting to see the knife store and little else. Grandma goes to the cosmetics store to get a year's supply of her favorite perfumes and pretty stuff, and though my interest is in finding a pair of jeans that fit and maybe a new undergarment or two and i only wear make-up about once a year, i stick with Grandma.

She and i do agree on one thing though: Sketchers.

Sweetie is the one in our family with the over full closets and huge shoe collection, and i only keep about 5 pair of shoes at any one time. My Sketcher Go-Walks were worn out, my only pair of sneakers had holes in them, and my other three pair consist of nice ballet flats i can wear to church, one pair of heels for when i have to put them on, and my bedroom slippers. All of them except the slippers are solid black so they can go with anything. Can you tell i'm a fashion maven?

Anyway, we were trying on the Sketchers and Grandma noted that she wasn't sure what size she needed, as these seemed to run a bit big. When i told her that i wear either a 7 wide or a 7.5, she asked me how my feet got so big.

It's simple, i told her, i had 5 pregnancies in 7 1/2 years and my feet are now flat!

Of course, she and the sales people and customers within ear shot had to laugh, but it's true! When i married, my shoe size was 5. Anyway.

At one point, Grandma got thirsty and tried to get a water bottle from one of the machines. It wouldn't take her dollar. We tried the next machine, and it ate the money and gave her nothing for it. After getting her the money back we tried another machine, which wouldn't give her a bottle but did give her the dollars back -- as change. Eventually she settled for a Sprite, which she hates, because she was so thirsty. It was warm. Sometimes you just don't win.

We reeled everyone in with the only place of interest to all, which is the food court. At noon we ended up there and all got lunch, and Grandma tried to get tea. None of the vendors have unsweetened tea. She bought a cup to get soda, that particular vendor's soda machine was out. She put ice in the cup and i took it in the rest room and filled it with water. Maybe life with declare that a draw.

After lunch i finally found a pair of jeans that fit at a kid's department, and socks were purchased for everyone because i am so tired of never having enough socks in the house and the kids swiping each others and fussing about it. Grandma was tired and we took her back to the condo.

Sweetie and i still had a bit of energy, so we decided to check out two of our personal favorite places, the Five and Dime Store, and the Grocery and Tackle Store. Why? Because the Five and Dime Store has everything, and the Grocery and Tackle Store has everything else, including the Hula shirts and Top Siders Sweetie wears any time he is not at work.

Sweetie's newest Hula shirts, thanks to the Five and Dime Store.

Hula shirts Sweetie brought with him.

The young people ended the day by going to the movies, while Sweetie and i went for a beach walk at sunset. Very relaxing.

Today is

Coronation Day -- United Kingdom

Coronation Day and Social Forestry Day -- Bhutan (anniversary of the coronation day of the Jigme Singye Wangchuck, the 4th Druk Gyalpo, in 1974, and the day children plant trees)

Festa della Republica -- Italy (National Day/Feast of the Republic)

Festival of Light and Dark Spots -- Fairy Calendar

Festival of Utter Confusion -- an internet declared holiday, and this is the one for me!

Full Strawberry Moon / Rose Moon*; related observances
     Ancient Celtic month Equos (horse-time) begins
     Nayon Full Moon -- Mayanmar
     Poson Full Moon Poya Day -- Sri Lanka

Hristo Botev Day -- Bulgaria (poet and national hero who fell fighting the Turks this day in 1876)

"I Love My Dentist" Day -- no one will claim starting this one, so it makes me suspicious

Isabel Province Day -- Isabel Province, Solomon Islands

National Bubba Day -- created by comedian T. Bubba Bechtol for Bubbas everywhere to have their day

National Rocky Road Day

St. Blandina's Day (Patron of girls, people falsely accused, torture victims; Lyon, France)

St. Elmo's Day (a/k/a St. Erasmus; Patron of ammunition workers, boatmen, childbirth and women in labor, explosives workers, mariners, navigators, ordnance workers, sailors, watermen; Gaeta, Italy; against abdominal pains, appendicitis, birth pains, childhood intestinal disease, colic, danger at sea, intestinal disorders, seasickness, stomach diseases, storms)

Stevenson Depot Days -- Stevenson, AL, US (bringing back the days when the Iron Horse of the Rails was king of transportation; through Sunday)

Yell "Fudge" at the Cobras in North America Day -- at noon, your local time, because according to Wellcat Holidays, cobras hate fudge and will not stay if we mention it

Anniversaries Today:

U.S. President Grover Cleveland marries Frances Folsom, 1886 (only president to wed in the executive mansion)
Elizabeth II is crowned Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Her Other Realms and Territories & Head of the Commonwealth, 1953 (the first major international event to be televised)

Birthdays Today:

Justin Long, 1978
Zachary Quinto, 1977
Queen 'Masenate Mohato Seeiso, Queen consort of Lesotho, 1976
Wayne Brady, 1972
Wentworth Miller, 1972
Joel Tobeck, 1971
Dana Carvey, 1955
Gary Grimes, 1955
Dennis Haysbert, 1954
Diana Canova, 1953
Cornel West, 1953
Jerry Mathers, 1948
Marvin Hamlisch, 1944
Charles Haid, 1943
Stacy Keach, Jr., 1941
Charlie Watts, 1941
Sally Kellerman, 1937
Milo O’Shea, 1926
Johnny Weissmuller, 1904
Hedda Hopper, 1890
Sir Edward Elgar, 1857
Thomas Hardy, 1840
Marquis de Sade, 1740
Martha Dandridge Custiss Washington, 1731

Today in History:

The Vandals enter Rome and begin 2 weeks of plundering, 455
The First Siege of Antioch ends when Crusader forces take the city, 1098
The first Récollet missionaries arrive at Quebec City, from Rouen, France, 1615
Bridget Bishop is the first person to go to trial in the Salem witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts, 1692
The Derby horserace is held for the first time in Epsom, England, 1780
P. T. Barnum and his circus start their first tour of the United States, 1835
The Slavic congress in Prague begins, 1848
Guglielmo Marconi applies for a patent for his early radio device, 1896
U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signs the Indian Citizenship Act, making Native American Indians withing US territories and states US citizens, 1924
Lou Gehrig begins his streak of 2,130 consecutive games played, 1925
In a referendum, Italians vote to turn Italy from a monarchy into a Republic, and exile their king, Umberto II di Savoia, 1946
The USSR and Yugoslavia sign the Belgrade declaration and thus normalize relations, 1955
Surveyor 1 lands in Oceanus Procellarum on the Moon, becoming the first U.S. spacecraft to soft land on another world, 1966
Pope John Paul II visits his native Poland, becoming the first Pope to visit a Communist country, 1979
The Bhutan Broadcasting Service brings television transmissions to the Kingdom for the first time, 1999
Europe launches its first probe to voyage to another planet, Mars, 2003
The World Health Organization announces the E. coli strain responsible for the 2011 E.coli O104:H4 outbreak had never before been isolated from patients, 2011

On Tuesday i took my usual early morning beach walk to pray and see the sun rise.

Sunrise from the beach.

Is it just me, or does that cloud to the left look like a dinosaur?

These walks take me onto the state beach property, so on my first walk on Sunday, i stop and go to the park entrance to pay my fee for the week. The rangers here mark the turtle nests and set up the ropes to keep people away from the birds nests.

Sea turtle nest -- do not disturb!

One smaller bird has decided he doesn't like my morning walk, so he strafes me!

These walks have me in the company of the larger birds, some type of heron or stork, and the little ghost crabs.

There are a lot of these birds around.

Ghost crabs are difficult to see, they blend with the sand.

Behind me the roar of the waves mixed with the thunder from the storm rolling in.

So i took one last look at the sunrise, and went in.

It was a quick morning shower that rolled in and out fast.

We are as crowded as clams in a good chowder, but as long as the younger set are content to keep sleeping late and then falling into the water at regular intervals, all is well.

Flowers are blooming everywhere.

Just don't step on a jellyfish!

Today is

Broken Dolls Day -- Japan (all broken dolls are taken by their children to monks for burial)

Callynteria -- Ancient Greek Calendar (a service of atonement and cleaning Athena's temple; date approximate)

Chimborazo Day -- to publicize that while Mt. Everest may be the highest, the top of Mt. Chimborazo in Ecuador is the furthest from the center of the earth

Dr. Charles Drew Day -- honoring the man who made blood transfusions possible

Festival to Bellona -- Ancient Roman Calendar (goddess of war)

Impersonate Authority Day -- at your own risk, i will not bail you out just because i noted an internet holiday and you decided to celebrate it ;)

Jack Jouett Day -- Virginia (the "Paul Revere" of his day and place, rode to warn Governor Thomas Jefferson that the British were coming, 1781)

June Bug Days -- Baldwin, WI, US (music, tractor pull, free outdoor movie night, and more; through Sunday)

Mabo Day -- Australia

Martyr's Day -- Uganda

National Chocolate Macaroon Day

National Egg Day

National Running Day -- runningday.org

Opium Suppression Movement Day -- Taiwan

Pull Your Pants Up Day -- internet generated, various dates given, and some are trying to make it a national movement; to encourage young men to pull up their pants for 24 hours and see if they enjoy having both hands free

Repeat Day -- i said, "repeat day" (no, i don't know who comes up with this stuff, sometimes; if i do, i try to place the blame appropriately)

Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival -- Sedalia, MO, US (with a variety of free and paid venues, it's a good time for all; through Saturday)

St. Clotilde's Day (Patron of adopted children, brides, disappointing children, exiles, parenthood, parents of large families, queens, widows; against the death of children)

St. Kevin of Glendaulough's Day (Patron of blackbirds; Dublin, Ireland; Glendaulough, Ireland; Ireland)

Tailor's Day -- the first Wednesday of June is noted on many sites as the day to thank your tailor

The National Tournament -- Spruce Meadows, Calgary, AB, Canada (features the Spruce Meadows Show Jumping Championship and the Nexen Cup, with live entertainment and activities daily; through Sunday)

Turtle Races -- Nisswa, MN, US (Wednesdays through August 19th, go race a turtle, it's only $4 to adopt a turtle for the race and get a participation racing button!)

Worst Day in the Fairy Year -- Fairy Calendar (must be nice to know when your worst day will be)

Anniversaries Today:

U.S. Air Force Academy first graduating class, 1959
The Duke of Windsor marries Wallis Simpson, 1937
Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo founded, 1770

Birthdays Today:

Lalaine, 1987
Rafael Nadal, 1986
Anderson Cooper, 1967
Charles Hart, 1961
Scott Valentine, 1958
Deniece Williams, 1951
Suzi Quatro, 1950
Curtis Mayfield, 1942
Larry McMurtry, 1936
Norman Brinker, 1931
Raul Castro, 1931
Chuck Barris, 1929
Colleen Dewhurst, 1926
Allen Ginsberg, 1926
Tony Curtis, 1925
Leo Gorcey, 1917
Josephine Baker, 1906
Dr. Charles Drew, 1904
Ransom E. Olds, 1864
Jefferson Davis, 1808

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Dragnet"(Radio), 1951
“Casey at the Bat”(Publication date), 1888

Today in History:

French scholar Peter Abelard is found guilty of heresy, 1140
Hernando De Soto claims Florida for Spain, 1539
Construction of the oldest stone church in French North America, Notre-Dame-des-Anges, begins at Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, 1620
Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo is founded in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, 1770
President John Adams moves to Washington, D.C., to live in a tavern (the White House wasn't ready), 1800
In Humen, China, Lin Tse-hsü destroys 1.2 million kg of opium confiscated from British merchants, which prompts the First Opium War, 1839
In the last military engagement fought on Canadian soil, Cree leader Big Bear escapes the North West Mounted Police, 1885
The poem "Casey at the Bat", by Ernest Lawrence Thayer, is published in the San Francisco Examiner, 1888
The coast to coast Canadian Pacific Railway is completed, 1889
One thousand unemployed Canadian workers board freight cars in Vancouver, British Columbia, beginning a protest trek to Ottawa, Ontario, 1935
Launch of Gemini 4, the first multi-day space mission by a NASA crew, which included the first space walk by an American, 1965
A blowout at the Ixtoc I oil well in the southern Gulf of Mexico causes at least 3,000,000 barrels of oil to be spilled into the waters, the worst oil spill ever recorded, 1979
SkyDome is officially opened in Toronto, Ontario, 1989
Aboriginal Land Rights are granted in Australia in Mabo v Queensland (1988), a case brought by Eddie Mabo, 1992
USS Carter Hall engages pirates after they board the Danish ship Danica White off the coast of Somalia, 2007
A pageant on London's River Thames marks the highpoint of a series of events celebrating The Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II, 2012
Three of the most extremely well-preserved and most complete triceratops specimens ever found are unearthed in Wyoming, 2013

We love the Naval Aviation Museum and watching the Blue Angels practice.

They used to practice very early in the morning, as in, 8:30am early. Now it's at 11:30am, but you better get there by about 10am or you won't get a parking space.

We went yesterday in 3 separate vehicles and Bigger Girl, even after all these years, had to ask for directions.

Go to the Wal-Mart and take a right, i told her. With her, you have to keep it very simple. As she says, "Mom, I could get lost in a Kleenex box!"

While we were there, i got a call from Bigger Girl, too. Yes, it's a huge museum, you lose children and even the adults you came with in there. She had lost Junior.

When i told her not to worry, he couldn't leave the base except in her car she said, "Mom, I know that, but how in the world do you lose a 6'1", 300-pound Cuban with a Mohawk?"

That i cannot answer, except to say that she can probably also lose anything in the aforementioned Kleenex box as well.

As i tried to rest during the afternoon after we got back, Little Girl called me with a problem. She hadn't planned and packed properly for a "women's issue."

Into the car and drive a mile-and-a-half or so up the road to the mini-mart. Back with what i thought she wanted. Nope. Back to the car, back to the mini-mart, and to the condo again. Finally, now she will feel comfortable enough to go swim.

The evening was spent going to the arcade up the road. You know the kind, with go-karts and mini-golf and the games where you spend a ton of money to get tickets that you can trade for a ten-cent trinket. We had a blast, with Bryn and Bryn's Friend choosing as their prizes fake glue-on mustaches. With their trench coats and hats and mustaches we were all in hysterics.

And yes, somehow, we lost Junior again. How a guy that big disappears is beyond me. That must be one of his talents, along with cooking (he made a fabulous vegetable teriyaki for dinner) and playing air hockey. Don't challenge him, you won't win.

Today is

Audacity to Hope Day -- to encourage all to have the audacity to keep hope

Curwood Festival -- Owosso, MI, US (over 40 events commemorate the life and work of James Oliver Curwood, the Owosso-born author and conservationist; through Sunday)

Emancipation Day -- Tonga (trad.)

Fardagar -- Traditional Icelandic Calendar (time when farm workers moved from one farm to another, the time to settle debts, and until the 20th-Century, the day to start the fiscal year; always the Thursday through Sunday of the 7th week of summer)

Festival for Hercules Custos -- Ancient Roman Calendar (Hercules the Custodian)

Flag Day -- Estonia

Flag Day -- Finland (Armed Forces observe the birth anniversary of Carl Gustaf Mannerheim)

Great American Brass Band Festival -- Danville, KY, US (this year's theme is Brass Greats of American Jazz; through Sunday)

Harvard Milk Days Festival -- Harvard, IL, US (parade, carnival, food, fireworks, petting zoo, and more, all as a salute to hard working dairy farmers; through Sunday)

Hug Your Cat Day -- yet another date for this noted on many sites; if you celebrate all of them, your cat will be well hugged!

International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression -- UN

Jarila's Day -- Asatru/Slavic Pagan Calendar (Festival of Jarila, god of the sun and fertility)

Lassie Day -- the first dog to play the role of Lassie, in the movie Lassie, Come Home, was born this day in 1940

National Cheese Day -- not to be confused with Cheese Lover's Day earlier in the year

National Cognac Day

National Frozen Yogurt Day -- not to be confused with the Frozen Yogurt Day celebrated on Feb. 6 in Los Angeles, where the temperatures make such a thing possible

National Unity Day -- Hungary

Old Maid's Day -- supposedly established after WWII, when there were so many eligible young ladies who weren't getting any younger

Plynteria -- Ancient Greek Calendar (festival in Athens in honor of Athena; date approximate)

Shelburne County Lobster Festival -- Shelburne County, NS, Canada (celebrating the Lobster Capital of Canada; through Sunday)

St. Petroc's Day (Patron of Cornwall and Wales, as well as many locations in Cornwall, Wales, and England, and Saint-Meen, France)

Winnipeg International Children's Festival -- The Forks, Winnipeg, MB, CA (a premier family festival with incomparable entertainment and activities; through Sunday)

Birthdays Today:

Evan Lysacek, 1985
Russell Brand, 1975
Angelina Jolie, 1975
Noah Wyle, 1971
James Callis, 1971
Scott Wolf, 1968
Cecilia Bartoli, 1966
Sam Harris, 1961
Eldra DeBarge, 1961
Keith David, 1956
Parker Stevenson, 1953
George Noory, 1950
Bettina Gregory, 1946
Michelle Phillips, 1944
Joyce Meyer, 1943
Freddy Fender, 1937
Bruce Dern, 1936
John Drew Barrymore, 1932
Dr. Ruth Westheimer, 1928
Dennis Weaver, 1924
Robert Merrill, 1919
Rosalind Russell, 1907
George III, 1738
Aesop, BCE620 (not certain, but close enough)

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Born in the USA"(Album release), 1984
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan(Film), 1982
"Cavalcade of Stars"(TV), 1949

Today in History:

Chinese astronomers make the first recording of a solar eclipse, BC781
Sir Walter Raleigh establishes the first English colony on Roanoke Island, old Virginia (now North Carolina), 1584
Forces under the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu take Osaka Castle in Japan, 1615
New England planters arrive to claim land in Nova Scotia, Canada taken from the Acadians, 1760
A transit of Venus is followed five hours later by a total solar eclipse, the shortest such interval in history, 1769
The Montgolfier brothers publicly demonstrate their montgolfière (hot air balloon), 1783
Captain George Vancouver claims Puget Sound for the Kingdom of Great Britain, 1792
The Ottoman Empire cedes Cyprus to the United Kingdom but retains nominal title, 1878
Henry Ford test drives his first prototype automobile, the Ford Quadricycle, 1896
Massachusetts becomes the first state of the United States to set a minimum wage, 1912
A patent for the ATM is granted to Donald Wetzel, Tom Barnes and George Chastain, 1973
The Tiananmen Square protests are violently ended in Beijing by the People's Liberation Army, 1989
Solidarity's victory in the first (somewhat) free parliamentary elections in post-war Poland sparks off a succession of peaceful anti-communist revolutions in Eastern Europe, 1989
Falcon 9 Flight 1 was the maiden flight of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket,2010

Have you ever looked a sloth in the face?

No, i am being serious, have you?

Yesterday i did, and they are cute as a button!

There's this lovely little zoo down here called the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo. It was dubbed "The Little Zoo That Could" by The Discovery Channel, which did a series on it.

The zoo is small, and will be moving to a larger area to give some of their animals larger habitats. They also want to be further inland by a few miles, to better protect the animals during storms. They don't want any more instances of Chuckie the alligator getting into the swamp behind his habitat in a hurricane. (Chuckie is a zoo favorite, he got sent to the zoo because he would harass people at the state park for their picnic baskets. Yes, really.)

Being a smaller zoo does give them the advantage of being able to offer animal encounters. If you have plenty of money and book way in advance, you can spend a half hour with tiger cubs. We have watched others with the cubs, but we content ourselves with reptile encounters (#2 Son's favorite), holding the kangaroo joeys (they snuggle in a cloth pouch in your arms), petting the baby lemurs (one of them once groomed #2 Son's fake dreadlocks on his Bob Marley hat), and new this week, feeding and petting the sloths.

These are two-toed sloths, and they lie upside down on suspended benches, clinging to branches that are part of the enclosure. The keeper hands you a bamboo skewer with a piece of vegetable on it, and you feed it to the sloth. While the sloth chews, you may pet his or her back. There was one girl and one boy, and the girl liked fruit as well as veggies, the boy didn't much care for the fruit pieces. The lemurs' fur is soft, these sloths fur was very rough and course.

All of these animals, perhaps with the exception of the reptiles, are cute little things. (Yes, i like reptiles, and i've had pet snakes. They are great animals, but they aren't really cute.)

After the zoo, i ran Little Girl to the stores she wanted to visit, since she wasn't here Monday when the rest of us went. It had to be the fastest mall trip ever, as she hates shopping and only wanted to go into two stores. She went in both, and spent a total of 35 minutes actually picking things out that she needed.

#2 Son cooked dinner, it was a big fish fry. Lots of catfish that he and Friend Becky and Bryn and Bryn's Friend have caught were seasoned and cooked and gobbled down in record time.

There was also time to swim and walk in the sand and sit around relaxing.

Altogether, a beautiful day. Don't say it was slothful, though. They are too cute to use them as a derogatory word.

Today is

15th Khordad National Uprising -- Iran (1963)

Apple II Day -- the Apple II first went on sale today in 1977
note that some historians say it went on sale June 10, others say the first models were shipped out that day

Arbor Day -- New Zealand

Beypazari Havuç Güveç -- Turkey (weekend festival celebrating a traditional carrot dish)

Buffalo Days Celebration (with Buffalo Chip Throw) -- Luverne, MN, US (parade, arts in the park, and the throwing contest; through Sunday)

Clean Air Day -- Canada

Derby Festival begins -- Epsom Downs Racecourse, Surrey, England (today is Surrey Ladies Day, with Derby Day tomorrow)

Farmington Country Days -- Farmington, MO, US (fun for the family, celebrated the old country way; through Sunday)

Festival of Popular Delusions Day -- begun as this was the last day before D-Day that the Germans could delude themselves that they could win; thus a day to question your own assumptions and try to align your beliefs with facts and reality

Great Wisconsin Cheese Festival -- Little Chute, WI, US (celebrate with other Cheeseheads; through Sunday)

Grunklovsdag -- Denmark and the Faroe Island (Constitution Day)

International Horseradish Festival -- Collinsville, IL, US (lots of fun in the "Horseradish Capital of the World"; through Sunday)

Indian Arrival Day -- Suriname (marking the arrival of indentured laborers from the Indian subcontinent)

Judgement Day -- Fairy Calendar (Nosegays)

Labour Day / Sir Randol Fawkes Day -- Bahamas

Liberation Day -- Seychelles

Lilac Festival -- Mackinac Island, MN, US (largest summer event on the Island; through the 14th)

Natalicio de Oblang Nguema Mbasogo -- Equatorial Guinea (President's Day)

National Attitude Day -- if this is really a day to celebrate, try to have a positive one

National Donut Day -- US (successor to the original Donut Day begun by the Salvation Army in 1938 to honor the women who served doughnuts to soldiers during WWI and as a fundraiser in Chicago, and it is still used as a fundraiser there for Salvation Army projects; look for a doughnut shop to give out freebies near you)

National Gingerbread Day

National Moonshine Day -- with its own sponsor

Nones of June -- Ancient Roman Calendar; related observance
Festival of Semo Sancus -- god of loyalty, honesty and oaths (one of the oldest Roman cults, probably Etruscan or Oscan originally)

Red Earth Native American Cultural Festival -- Oklahoma City, OK, US (more than 100 tribes meet to pow wow and celebrate their heritage, through Sunday)

Riverbend Festival -- Chattanooga, TN, US (nine days of fun on the banks of the Tennessee River)

Shirone Takogassen -- along the Nakanokuchi river bank in Shirone, Japan (kite flying and kite fighting; through the 9th)

St. Boniface's Day (Patron of brewers, file cutters, tailors; Fulda, Germany; Germany; Saint-Boniface, Manitoba, Canada)

Summer Farm Toy Show -- National Farm Toy Museum, Dyersville, IA, US (farm toys, parade, tractor rides, and more; through tomorrow)

Tecumseh! the Epic Outdoor Drama -- Chillicothe, OH, US (Mon-Sat, until Aug. 29; spectacular reenactment of the life and death of the great Shawnee leader)

Telluride Balloon Festival -- Telluride, CO, US (volunteer to help with the festival and you may get a free balloon ride! through Sunday)

World Environment Day -- UN

Birthdays Today:

Chad Allen, 1974
Mark Wahlberg, 1971
Brian McKnight, 1969
Kenny G, 1956
Jill Biden, 1951
Suze Orman, 1951
Ken Follett, 1949
Spalding Gray, 1941
Margaret Drabble, 1939
Bill Moyers, 1934
Tony Richardson, 1928
Richard Mcclure Scarry, 1919
William "Hopalong Cassidy" Boyd, 1895
Panco Villa, 1878
Adam Smith, 1723 (O.S. Date)
Thomas Chippendale, 1718
Pu Songling, 1640

Today in History:

Traditional date for the sinking of Atlantis, 8498BC
Titus and his Roman legions breach the middle wall of Jerusalem in the Siege of Jerusalem, 70
Kraków, Poland receives city rights, 1257
The first Great Lakes steamer, the Frontenac, is launched, 1817
Houston, Texas is incorporated by the Republic of Texas, 1837
Denmark becomes a constitutional monarchy, 1849
Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery serial, Uncle Tom's Cabin or, Life Among the Lowly starts a ten-month run in the National Era abolitionist newspaper, 1851
Denmark amends its constitution to allow women's suffrage, 1915
Elvis Presley introduces his new single, "Hound Dog", on The Milton Berle Show, scandalizing the audience with his suggestive hip movements, 1956
The first government of the State of Singapore is sworn in, 1959
The Apple II, the first practical personal computer, goes on sale, 1977
Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi orders an attack on the Golden Temple, the holiest site of the Sikh religion, 1984
A severe heat wave across Pakistan and India reaches its peak, as temperatures exceed 50°C (122°F) in the region, 2003
The planet Venus makes its last transit of the 21st century beginning at 22:09 UTC June 5, and ending 4:49 UTC June 6, 2012

The last full day of vacation is often the best, because i insist that i will not go anywhere!

No, i'm not running anyone to the store, or to the gift shop, or anywhere else. That's the day i treat myself to getting my nails done at the salon that's in our resort.

Being a janitor/housekeeper/babysitter/chief cook and bottle washer, getting my nails done is not high on my list because it doesn't last. On vacation, i take the time, because it's fun.

Sparkly fingers and toes, in my favorite color!

And because i've just had them done, no, i'm not doing the dishes that night, either!

Everyone who hasn't gone home already by that time is on their own to eat leftovers so we don't have as much to take back. Please wash your clothes here, i don't want everyone fighting over the washer once we get home, either.

Go fall in the pool one last time, build one last sandcastle, and spend one last evening at dusk catching ghost crabs. (Catch and release, of course.)

Friday may be the last day, but it's the slowest paced and most relaxing. Don't talk to me about what time we will leave tomorrow, just let me saunter through this last day, thank you.

Friday night's sunset.

Today is

Belmont Stakes -- Belmont, NY, US (147th Annual, the third jewel of the Triple Crown)

Birthday of SPB Yang di-Pertuan Agong -- Malaysia (in this elective monarchy, the current king's birthday is celebrated on the first Saturday in June, regardless of his actual birth date)

Bonza Bottler Day™

Capitol Hill People's Fair -- Denver, CO, US (arts, entertainment, and fun; through tomorrow)

Children's Day -- North Korea

D-Day -- 71st Anniversary

Dare Day -- Manteo, NC, US (a fun festival and unofficial kick-off for summer)

Derby Day -- Epsom Downs Racecourse, Surrey, England

Do-Dah Parade -- Kalamazoo, MI, US (a "Salute to Silliness" that is worth seeing)

Drawing Day/Pencil Day -- used to be sponsored on the first Saturday with the motto "Drop Everything and Draw", but even though no longer promoted by any specific group, you can still enjoy some time drawing today

Drive-In Movie Day*

Eel Festival -- Jyllinge, Denmark (through tomorrow; every restaurant and pub in town serves fried eel, and there's lots more fun around town)

Elfreth's Alley Day (Fete Day) -- Philadelphia, PA, US (one of the oldest continuously inhabited streets in the country)

Helicopter Day -- the first one was tested in Berlin on this day in 1936

Hyun Choong Il -- South Korea (Memorial Day)

Judgement Day -- Fairy Calendar (Petal Hats)

Kidspree -- Aurora, CO, US (free outdoor festival for kids; through tomorrow)

Kuramae Jinja Matsuri -- Kuramae Jinja Shrine, Tokyo, Japan (a big two-day celebration held every other year at one of the shrines where Sumo originated)

Maritime Gig Festival -- Gig Harbor, WA, US (parades, entertainment, and fun with the view of Mount Rainier to grace it all; through tomorrow)

National Applesauce Cake Day

Nationaldagen -- Sweden (National Day)

National Family Recreation Day -- US (seems to have been started by the community Arvada, CO, US, wanting families to enjoy the great outdoors together)

National Gardening Exercise Day -- because gardening is good for the body and soul

National Huntington's Disease Awareness Day -- US

National Trails Day -- US (be safe out there, if you want help becoming a hiker there's info here)

National Yo-Yo Day -- Donald F. Duncan, Sr.'s, birth anniversary; go get out your old Duncan and see if you still remember how to go around the world (but not near Great Aunt Mabel's antique lamp she left you, please)

Peddler's Village Fine Art and Contemporary Craft Show and Festival -- Lahaska, PA, US (juried competitions, crafts, art activities for children, and more; through tomorrow)

Russian Language Day -- UN

Sjómannadagurinn -- Iceland (traditional Seamen's Day was alternately celebrated June 6 or the first Sunday of June, depending on which authority you ask, but is now a weekend long Festival of the Sea)

St. Norbert of Xanten's Day (Patron of peace; Bohemia; Madgeburg, Germany; against birth complications)

Strawberry Festival -- Independence, MO, US (one of many such festivals all over as strawberries come into season -- look for one near where you live some time this month, and go have a good time)

Teachers' Day -- Bolivia

Toppenish Mural Society's "Mural-In-A-Day" -- Toppenish, WA, US (professional artists work to paint a complete and historically accurate mural in one day, accompanied by an arts and crafts show and food fair)

Birthdays Today:

Staci Keanan, 1975
Max Casella, 1967
Paul Giamatti, 1967
Ena, 1966
Amanda Pays, 1959
Bjorn Borg, 1956
Kenny G, 1956
Sandra Bernhard, 1955
Harvey Fierstein, 1954
Harvey Fierstein, 1952
Robert Englund, 1947
Gary U.S. Bonds, 1939
Marian Wright Edelman, 1939
Billy Whitelaw, 1932
Thomas Mann, 1875
Robert Falcon Scott, 1868
Alexander Pushkin, 1799
Nathan Hale, 1755

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"20/20"(TV), 1978
"Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust"(Album release), 1972
"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"(Song release), 1965

Today in History:

Twenty-four wagonloads of Talmudic books are burned in Paris, 1242
The Qing Dynasty Manchu forces led by the Shunzhi Emperor capture Beijing during the collapse of the Ming Dynasty; the Manchus would rule China until 1912 when the Republic of China is established, 1644
The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England, opens as the world's first university museum, 1683
A devastating fire destroys one-third of Moscow, including 18,000 homes, 1752
Napoleon's brother, Joseph Bonaparte is crowned King of Spain, 1808
The Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) is founded in London, 1844
More than 100,000 inhabitants of Bombay are killed as a cyclone in the Arabian Sea pushes huge waves into the harbour, 1882
The eruption of Novarupta in Alaska begins, the second largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century, 1912
The Chrysler Corporation is founded by Walter Percy Chrysler, 1925
*The first drive-in theater opens, in Camden, New Jersey, United States, 1933
A new Instrument of Government is promulgated making Sweden a parliamentary monarchy, 1974
Mongolia holds its first direct presidential elections, 1993
A near-Earth asteroid estimated at 10 meters diameter explodes over the Mediterranean Sea between Greece and Libya with an estimated force slightly greater than the Nagasaki nuclear bomb, 2002
Tamil is established as a Classical Language in India, 2004
In east London, archeologists find remains of the Curtain Theatre, which opened in 1577 and was where some of Shakespeare's plays were performed, 2012
A solar plane, called The Solar Impulse, lands in Morocco after completing the world's first intercontinental flight powered by the Sun, 2012

Silly Sunday is hosted by Sandee, of Comedy Plus.

Silly Sunday is the place to come for weekly laughs. The rules are simple, just have fun.

This is a great opportunity to get to know other bloggers and have a laugh or two in the process.

Here is how it works: Laugh and Link Up!

Post a joke.
Link Up with the URL to your joke in the Linky Tools Widget.
Read my joke.
Leave a comment to tell me how much you enjoyed my joke.
Try and visit a few others participating in Silly Sunday.
Go to Sandee's site, linked above, and get the Silly Sunday code for your blog, too!

While on vacation, the young people get to eat whatever they want. (Mostly, at least. We do cook meals, with veggies, and they do have that and salad.)

So, here's a picture of what #2 Son and Friend Becky picked:

Junk food city!

And here's a shelf of what i brought for me and for Sweetie, who is trying to eat more healthfully:

Bean chips, nuts, seaweed, raisins, etc.

The problem is, some of the snacky type things that ended up in the fridge, like the key lime pie, ended up being too tempting for him. He was good, though, he only had one piece. In years past, he would have had one every night!

This reminds me of the time Boudreaux an' Clothile decide dey need to go on a diet. Dey go look at de diet books, an' dey fin' dem one dey t'ink dey can stick wit'.

Sho' nuf, de firs' night Clothile she follow de recipes for de breakfas', dinner, an' supper, an' as she cook de meal she divide it in half an' give half to Boudreaux, an' she eat half.

Ever't'ing seems be goin' good, dey eatin' good food, an' dey don' never feel hungry, but soon dey see dey ain't losin' weight, dey be gainin'!

So dey look closer at dat dere recipe diet book, an' Clothile put on her readin' glass, an' look at de fine print, an' mais! did dey get upset when she realize ever' recipe in de book is for 6 servings!

Today is

Birthday of Prince Joachim -- Denmark

Celebration of the Arts -- Community Center, Yorba Linda, CA, US (fine arts and music festival for all ages)

Children's Awareness Memorial Day -- a day to remember children who have died from violence

Day of the Rice God -- Chiyoda, Japan (rice transplanting festival to honor Wbai-sama, the Shinto rice god)

Daniel Boone Day -- Kentucky, US (date that he first sighted, in 1767, what would become Kentucky)

Enshu Hamakita Hiryu Matsuri -- Hamamatsu City, Japan (honors the river god Ryujin; through tomorrow)

Father's Day -- Lithuania; Switzerland

Flag Day -- Peru

Journalist's Day -- Argentina (marking the first publication of a newspaper in Argentina on this day in 1810)

Judgement Day -- Fairy Calendar (Leaping songs)

National Cancer Survivors Day -- US (National Cancer Survivors Day Foundation)

National Chocolate Ice Cream Day

Sette Giugno -- Malta (commemoration of the tragedy of June 7, 1919, considered their National Day)

St. Meriadoc's Day (Patron of the deaf and against deafness)

Torikoe Matsuri -- Torikoe Jinja Shrine, Tokyo, Japan (festival and highlighting of Tokyo's largest Mikoshi[portable Shinto shrine]; through tomorrow)

Union Dissolution Day -- Norway

VCR Day -- the first Sony Betamax went on sale today in 1975

Vestalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (multi-day festival for Vesta, goddess of the hearth, this first day termed the Vesta Asperit; through the 15th)

Vivien Kellems Memorial Day -- born this date in 1896, she fought the IRS and income tax for her whole life

Anniversaries Today:

Jimmy Osmond marries Michele Larson, 1991
YMCA is founded by George Williams, 1844

Birthdays Today:

Michael Cera, 1988
Anna Kournikova, 1981
Larisa Oleynik, 1981
Bill Hader, 1978
Allen Iverson, 1975
Bear Grulls, 1974
Karl Urban, 1972
Roberto Alagna, 1963
Prince, 1958
Louise Erdrich, 1954
Liam Neeson, 1952
Orham Pamuk, 1952
Jenny Jones, 1946
Bill Kreutzmann, Jr, 1946
Tom Jones, 1940
John Napier Turner, 1929
Gwendolyn Brooks, 1917
Dean Martin, 1917
Jessica Tandy, 1909
Virginia Apgar, 1909
James Braddock, 1906
Paul Gauguin, 1848

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Ghostbusters(Film), 1984
"Johnny Cash Show"(TV), 1969
"The $64,000 Question"(TV), 1955
"The Seven Deadly Sins"(satirical ballet chanté), 1933

Today in History:

The first Crusaders begin their Siege of Jerusalem, 1099
Port Royal, Jamaica, is devastated by an earthquake, 1692
David Thompson reaches the mouth of the Saskatchewan River in Manitoba, 1800
Asian cholera reaches Quebec, brought by Irish immigrants, and kills about 6,000 people in Lower Canada, 1832
1,800 Fenian raiders are repelled back to the United States after they loot and plunder around Saint-Armand and Frelighsburg, Quebec, 1866
Tolbert Lanston receives patents for monotype typesetting machines, 1887
Norway's parliament dissolves its union with Sweden, 1905
Sony introduces the Betamax videocassette recorder for sale to the public, 1975
Priscilla Presley opens Graceland to the public, 1982
Mt. Pinatubo erupts, sending an ash cloud 7km/14.3mi high, 1992
The United Nations defines the Blue Line as the border between Israel and Lebanon, 2000
According to a new study, breast milk boosts brain development by 30% compared to babies who are fed formula, 2013

Awww Monday is hosted by Sandee, of Comedy Plus.

Join us every Monday for Awww...Mondays. Post a picture that makes you say Awww... and that it.

Make sure you get the code from Sandee's site, linked above, and leave a link to your post so we can visit you. What better way to start the week than with a smile!

We've just come back from vacation, and we had fun. There were beautiful sunrises and sunsets, cute critters, a great air show, and lots of other things that made me smile.

My biggest smile came, though, when i realized that, even at age 22, Bigger Girl doesn't want to leave home without her most special possession, Spot.

Her stuffed dog, Spot, with her luggage.

Today is

Best Friends Day -- as declared by the ecard people

Bounty Anniversary Day -- Norfolk Island (celebrates the arrival of the Bounty descendants from Pitcairn Island)

Emanicipation Day -- Tonga

Feast of Bona Mens -- Ancient Roman Calendar (goddess of right thinking, the personification of the mind)

Judgement Day -- Fairy Calendar (The Good and Evil are given their just rewards)

Lindisfarne Day -- Asatru/Slavic Pagan (commemorating the Viking raid on Lindisfarne in 793)

Name Your Poison Day -- just another wacky holiday with no explanations

National Caribbean-American Health and Aids Awareness Day -- with events all over the US

National Jelly-Filled Doughnut Day

Primoz Trubar Day -- Slovenia (birth anniversary of the author of the first Slovene language books and consolidated the Slovene language)

Queen's Birthday -- Australia (except WA); Papua New Guinea

St. Medard's Day (Patron of brewers, captives, imprisoned people, mentally ill people, peasants, prisoners, vineyards; for good harvests, good weather, and rain; against bad weather, imprisonment, sterility, and toothache) related event:
Festival of the Rose -- Salency, France (on St. Medard's Day, and supposedly begun by that saint before the year 545)

Upsy Daisy Day -- the day to remind people to get up joyfully and gratefully each morning (tell that to my sleep-til-noon family!)

Vacuum Cleaner Day -- Ives W. McGaffee obtained a patent on this day in 1869 for the first carpet cleaner that worked on a vaccuum principle

Watch Day -- the sign that you are over 30, you still wear a watch!

World Brain Tumor Day -- International

World Oceans Day -- www.worldoceanday.org

Anniversary Today:

Christopher O'Neill marries Princess Madeleine of Sweden, 2013

Birthdays Today:

Kim Clijsters, 1983
Kayne West, 1977
Julianna Margulies, 1966
Keenen Ivory Wayans, 1958
Scott Adams, 1957
Tim Berners-Lee, 1955
Griffin Dunne, 1955
Kathy Baker, 1950
Sara Paretsky, 1947
Boz Scaggs, 1944
Don Grady, 1944
Andrew Weil, MD, 1942
Nancy Sinatra, 1940
Bernie Casie, 1939
James Darren, 1936
Joan Rivers, 1933
Jerry Stiller, 1927
Barbara Bush, 1925
Robert Preston, 1918
Byron Raymond White, 1917
Francis Crick, 1916
Frank Lloyd Wright, 1867

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Trading Places(Film), 1983
Malaeska; The Indian Wife of the White Hunter(First "dime novel", Publication date), 1860

Today in History:

Vikings raid the abbey at Lindisfarne in Northumbria, commonly accepted as the beginning of the Scandinavian invasion of England, 793
Richard the Lionheart's Crusade begins with his arrival at Acre, 1191
American attackers are driven back at Trois-Rivières, Quebec, 1776
The volcano Laki, in Iceland, begins an eight-month eruption which kills over 9,000 people and starts a seven-year famine, 1783
Mr. Hall of NYC advertises the first commercially made ice cream, 1786
Ives W McGaffey of Chicago patents the first vacuum cleaner, 1869
Herman Hollerith receives a patent for his punched card calculator, 1887
Theodore Roosevelt signs the Antiquities Act into law, authorizing the President to restrict the use of certain parcels of public land with historical or conservation value, 1906
Carl Laemmle incorporates Universal Pictures, 1912
Milton Berle hosts the debut of Texaco Star Theater, 1948
The United States Supreme Court rules that Washington, D.C. restaurants could not refuse to serve black patrons, 1953
The first World Ocean Day is celebrated, coinciding with the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1992
The first Transit of Venus since 1882 takes place, 2004
Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, is hit by the State's worst storms and flooding in 30 years, 2007
Australia bans live cattle exports to Indonesia for up to six months in response to reports of cruel treatment at Indonesian slaughterhouse, 2011

It didn't take long. Monday morning, i got a text from The Big Boss. Could i come babysit that evening?

Of course i can. And while i am there i can do a couple of loads of laundry, too.

Also while i'm at it, i can shake my head in despair over the boys' room.

How do they get to the bed?

A whole lot of stuff has been removed from the house, although it might not look like it from the angle above. There's a lot now in the attic for if they ever move into a bigger house, or things they just don't have room for but might need someday.

Babysitting went well, they ate what i gave them and, since it is summer, we substituted a lot of time outdoors with the hose for a bath. They had fun and didn't stink, so we called it sufficient.

Another really good thing has come out of the move. It's one of those unexpected stories where the Good Lord provides something you didn't even know you would need.

On one of the last times i went to the old house to clean, i noticed some of the decorative items from the walls of the house had been put on top of a trash pile.

None of them were expensive, but they were nice wall sconces with silk flowers and small decorative wall hangings.

Instead of letting them get carted off to a landfill, i went ahead and put them in my Jalopy with an eye toward taking them to the church meeting for the homeless. Not everyone who goes there is homeless, some very impoverished people who live in that neighborhood also attend. My thinking was that just because you don't have a lot of money, doesn't mean you don't want pretty things for your home. Thus my intent was to put them with the clothing being given away.

When i put the items near the clothing, Miss J from our church, who is very involved with this ministry, smilingly told me she thought those had been provided by Pastor M for the memorial he was going to have that day for Ms. Amelia, who had recently died. She was a cornerstone of the ministry, and he wanted to honor her during the service.

No, i told her, i brought them myself. As i explained, she said, "Those would be wonderful to use during the memorial service! And then her family could have something pretty and tangible to take home."

Yes, i agreed, that's fine, as long as they are put to good use.

"The Lord knew what we needed before we did!" Miss J said as she brought the items over to Pastor M. He was glad to have them, as he knew Ms. Amelia would have loved them, they were just her style.

Some things are just meant to be.

Today is

Accession Day -- Jordan (King Abdullah's accession to the throne in 1999)

Community Day -- LO, MU, Spain

Donald Duck Day -- his screen debut was today in 1934

La Rioja Day -- La Rioja, Spain

Murcia Day -- Murcia, Spain

National Heroes Day -- Uganda

National Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Day

Profess Your Love Day -- promoted by ecard companies which think you need to say "I love you" more often

Purple People Eater Day -- Sheb Wooley's hit reached #1 this date in 1958

Remembrance for Sigurd the Dragonslayer -- Asatru/Slavic Pagan (in some traditions called Siegfried)

Sjalvstyrelsedagen -- Aland Islands (Self-Governing Day)

St. Columbia of Iona's -- Celtic Christian, today is one of the luckiest days of the year to superstitious Highland Scots, especially propitious if it's a Thursday (Apostle to the Picts; Patron of bookbinders, poets; Ireland; Scotland; Pemboke, Ontario, Canada; against floods)

St. Ephraem's Day (creator of hymns; Patron of spiritual directors, spiritual leaders; Syria)

World APS Day -- spreading awareness of Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome

World Pet Memorial Day -- some sites say this is always on June 10, others that it's always on the second Tuesday in June, but none can tell us where it came from or who started it that i can find

Anniversaries Today:

Japan's Crown Prince Naruhito marries Masako Owada, 1993
Nero marries Claudia Octavia, 53

Birthdays Today:

Natalie Portman, 1981
Johnny Depp, 1963
Michael J. Fox, 1961
Dick Vitale, 1940
Jackie Mason, 1928
Les Paul, 1915
Robert Cummings, 1910
Cole Porter, 1891

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Congo(Film), 1995
What's Love Got To Do With It(Film), 1993
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier(Film), 1989

Today in History:

Roman Emperor Nero commits suicide, 68
Odo of Aquitaine defeats the Moors in the Battle of Toulouse, 721
Jacques Cartier is the first European to discover the Saint Lawrence River, 1534
The Harvard Corporation is established as the first corporation in the Americas, 1650
James Oglethorpe is granted a royal charter for the colony of Georgia, 1732
The Congress of Vienna, forerunner of the League of Nations and the UN, ends with much of Europe's borders redrawn and settled, Switzerland's neutrality confirmed, and free navigation guaranteed on many rivers, 1815
Five hundred Mormons leave Iowa City, Iowa and head west for Salt Lake City carrying all their possessions in two-wheeled handcarts, 1856
Alexandra Palace in London burns down after being open for only 16 days, 1873
China agrees to lease Hong Kong to Britain for 99 years, 1898
Alice Huyler Ramsey, a 22-year-old housewife and mother from Hackensack, New Jersey, becomes the first woman to drive across the United States, 1909
Queen Elizabeth II officially opens London Gatwick Airport, 1958
Israel captures the Golan Heights from Syria, 1967
Secretariat wins the Triple Crown, 1973
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) opens its priesthood to black males after 148 years, 1978
The British lease of Hong Kong expires, 1997
The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and NATO sign a peace treaty, 1999
In Riyadh, Saudia Arabia, six women were arrested for practicing driving in an empty car lot; women are banned from driving on the road, 2011

"Well, that wasn't my best idea ever," Little Girl said. She was standing in cut-off jean shorts over her swimsuit, a towel draped around her shoulders, dripping on the kitchen floor.

Giving her a quizzical look, she said, "Going swimming in the rain."

Rain! i retorted. You tried to go swimming in a downpour!

"Yes, I know, which is why I said it was not my best idea, maybe not even one of my better ones. Taking my bowl of ice cream out there with me, though, that was totally worth it!"

Before i could think of something to say to that, we heard "Achoo!" from the hall.

"Uh, oh, here comes the walking germ factory!" Little Girl said with a grin.

"Achoo!" Bigger Girl said, coming into the kitchen. Then, "I heard that, and I can't help it, I'm on the tail end of this cold!"

"Well, keep all the ends away from me, I don't want to miss work or swim team!" Little Girl said as she got her own tail out of there. "I'm going back to the pool, rain or not!"

At that moment, lightning struck so close it was probably in our back yard, hitting the metal overhand again, and the resultant clap of thunder was so loud it shook the house and rumbled on for about 20 seconds.

"Um, never mind. I think I'll go dry off and find something to read!"

Good idea, i told her as she left.

"Mom, we need more cough drops," Bigger Girl was telling me.

Wait a minute, i bought a bag of 80! i told her.

"Yeah, I know, and that's about how many I've had trying to numb my sore throat, so we need more. I've been chomping them down like candy, and I think they are about as effective!"

At what point were you going to figure out that they weren't working too well? i asked.

"Sorry, I was desperate, I have to work, too. And I have a very difficult chemistry lab. The professor is from Nigeria, and he's very hard to understand. He has a lisp! A very good teacher, very nice, but a lisp! About the only reason I'm catching what he says is that he's so polite, in his country you repeat yourself over and over to be polite and make sure people understood what you tried to teach them. And I have to get this report done, he wants us to detail every safety precaution and where all of the safety equipment is located and how to use it. So anyway, we need more cough drops."

How about i get you something more natural to soothe your throat, i'll see what they have at the health food store, and you drink some of that throat soothing tea, i told her.

"Okay, but I hate hot tea in the summer heat. Oh, well, it's better than drowning. My body is surrounding the viruses with mucus to get them out of me, but meanwhile the tail end of this cold is going to drown me!"

Let's hope not, i said as she set out to make some tea.

Today is

Abolition Day -- French Guiana

Alcoholics Anonymous Founders Day

Army Day -- Jordan

Ball Point Pen Day -- date, in 1943, Biro patented one of the early models of a ball point pen (it was as awful as the other early ones, though!)

Celtic Tree Month Duir (Oak) commences

Dia de Portugal e de Camoes -- Portugal (National Day)

Herbs & Spices Day

Holiday of the Wan Thing -- Fairy Calendar (the Wan Thing arrived in Fairyland this day an unremembered number of years ago and has sat there looking wan ever after, so the Fairies decided to give it its own holiday)

Kuopio Dance Festival -- Kuopio, Finland (exotic dance art by familiar and new artists from around the world on the sunlit summer nights; through next Tuesday)

Midnight Sun Film Festival -- Sodankyla, Lapland, Finland (one of the world's most unique film festivals; through Sunday)

National Black Cow Day

National Iced Tea Day

National Time Out Day -- US, sponsored by The Association of Operating Room Nurses, which want everyone involved in surgeries to take time out before the procedure to verify the surgery site, type, and patient and decrease OR errors

Old Fort Days and Billy the Kid Tombstone Race -- Fort Sumner, NM, US (fun for all, including a rodeo, dance, demonstrations by Native Americans, and a race through an obstacle course carrying an 80lb tombstone! through Sunday)

Rape of Lidice/Lidice Memorial Day -- Czech Republic and Slovakia/New Jersey, US (in one of the most-remembered atrocities of WWII, the small town of Lidice, Czechoslovakia, was invaded by Nazi troops who murdered every man, burned every house, and sent all the women and children for "reeducation.")

Reconciliation Day -- Republic of the Congo

St. Brigid of Ireland's Day (Patron babies/infants/newborns, blacksmiths, boatmen/mariners/sailors/watermen, cattle, children whose parents are not married, dairymaids/dairy workers, fugitives, midwives, nuns, poets, poultry farmers, printing presses, scholars, travellers; Douglas, Lanarkshire, Scotland; Ireland; Ivrea, Turin, Italy; Kildare, Ireland; Leinster, Ireland)

Where the Wild Things Are Day -- birth anniversary of Maurice Sendak

Anniversary Today:

Alcoholics Anonymous is founded, 1925

Birthdays Today:

Joey Zimmerman, 1986
Tara Lipinski, 1982
Leelee Sobieski, 1982
Hoku Ho, 1981
Shane West, 1978
Doug McKeon, 1966
Elizabeth Hurley, 1965
Linda Evangelista, 1965
Jeanne Tripplehorn, 1963
Michael Burger, 1957
John Edwards, 1953
Jeff Greenfield, 1943
F. Lee Bailey, 1933
Maurice Sendak, 1928
Nat Hentoff, 1925
Judy Garland, 1922
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, 1921
Saul Bellow, 1915
Frederick Loewe, 1904
Hattie McDaniel, 1889

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Tales from the Crypt"(TV), 1989
"Paperback Writer"(UK song release), 1966
"Tristan und Isolde"(Opera), 1865

Today in History:

Frederick Barbarossa drowns leading his troops across the Saleph River to attack Jerusalem in the Crusades, 1190
The first American log cabin is built, at Fort Christina in Wilmington, Delaware, 1639
Bridget Bishop becomes the first person hanged for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, 1692
Captain James Cook runs aground on the Great Barrier Reef, 1770
A landslide dam on the Dadu River created by an earthquake ten days earlier collapses, killing 100,000 in the Sichuan province of China, 1786
The Jardin des Plantes museum opens in Paris; a year later, it becomes the first public zoo, 1793
The first Boat Race between the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge takes place, 1829
Myall Creek Massacre in Australia: 28 Aboriginal Australians are murdered, 1838
The first class of the United States Naval Academy students graduate, 1854
Mount Tarawera in New Zealand erupts, killing 153 people and destroying the famous Pink and White Terraces, 1886
Americus Callahan of Chicago patents the window envelope, 1902
The inaugural service for the United Church of Canada, a union of Presbyterian, Methodist, and Congregationalist churches, is held in Toronto Arena, 1925
Dr. Robert Smith takes his last drink, and Alcoholics Anonymous is founded in Akron, Ohio, United States, by him and Bill Wilson, 1925
Six-Day War ends: Israel and Syria agree to a cease-fire, 1967
Apple ships its first Apple II personal computer, 1977
The Spirit Rover is launched, beginning NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission, 2003
Twenty inches of rainfall in Escambia County, Florida damages roadways and bridges, and leaving parts of the Florida Panhandle and coastal Alabama under water, 2012
German authorities are forced to evacuate 10 villages as heavy rains swell the Elbe River, breaching its banks, 2013
Heavy monsoon rains cause the collapse of a partially-finished building on a residential block in Mumbai, India, 2013

"Please keep your eyes out for my black cargo pants," Red-headed Alec was asking #1 Son. "I can't find them anywhere, and I'll need them for work."

Could they be in the clean pile right there? i asked, pointing to clothes i had taken out of the dryer and folded the day before.

"No, I looked there," he said, and #1 Son, looked at the pile and said, "Wait! Those are mine!"

Well, they had to belong to someone, i noted, then grinned and added, someone who conveniently leaves them to be folded by the next person who needs to use the dryer!

"I do that?" #1 Son said, also grinning. Then he turned back to Red-headed Alec. "Hey, Nicky and I are going to see that band [here he mentioned a name i wouldn't recognize as a band name in a million years], they're going to be in New Orleans. Do you want to come?"

"Nah, I'm saving up my money for getting the car my Grandmother promised she'd help me with," he said. "Besides, they aren't my favorite."

"Yes, and I know you aren't as fond of what you are hearing now as you used to be." #1 Son said this as Sweetie cranked up another Beatles tune.

"You are right!" Red-headed Alec answered. "I used to think their music was okay, but I hear it so much in this house, I've come to not like it much!"

"We should start a band," #1 Son said. "We could call them the B8tles, with the number 8 instead of the vowels!"

"No, that wouldn't work," Red-headed Alec said.

"Sure it would!" he responded. "Wait! We'd call it the Beetles Battle B8tles! We'd mess up the Beatles' music by playing it mixed with some of our favorites! It would make the parents nuts!"

Just don't make me sit here and watch your father's reaction, was my request as they laughed and started what they call a knuckle-battle. It's like a fist bump with a vengeance.

"I'll at least beat you in knuckle-battle!" Red-headed Alex said.

"Yes, you will, because I'm quitting now!" #1 Son said, rubbing his sore knuckles. "Remind me to only play with my brother, because I can always beat him! In fact, I could break his knuckles!"

Please, no, not again! i said. That's not something any of us need a second dose on, thankyouverymuch.

Crazy boys, it always comes down to muscles, doesn't it?

Today is

Arrephoria -- Ancient Greek Calendar (ceremony for the two girls chosen to weave the new robe for Athena's Statue and care for her sacred olive tree during the next year; date approximate)

Birthday of Prince Henrik -- Denmark

Coal Miner Days -- Sparwood, BC, Canada (festival and fun! through Sunday)

Corn on the Cob Day

Fandens Fodselsdag(The Devil's Birthday) -- Denmark (traditional date when contracts between masters and servants expired, making them free to renew or renegotiate or sever ties; it was also considered The Devil's Birthday because taxes and rents came due!)

Glenn Miller Birthplace Society Festival -- Clarinda, IA, US (come celebrate the music of an era; through Sunday)

Holiday of the Happy Gnomes -- Fairy Calendar (grumpy Gnomes are not allowed to attend this holiday!)

Hug Holiday -- some internet sites have this one, and since hugs are good for mental health, indulge!

King Kamehameha Day -- Hawaii, US

Career Nursing Assistants' Day

National German Chocolate Cake Day

Rites of Matralia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (honoring of Mater Matua, goddess of dawn and childbirth, by women who had been married once) related observance:
Day Sacred to Fortuna Virgo (Fortune the Virgin, the day marriage robes of girls were dedicated to this goddess)

Show-Me State Games -- Colombia, MO, US (Olympic-style sports festival for all ages and skill levels, to encourage people to develop their physical and competitive abilities to the height of their potential through participation in fitness activities; through Sunday, and again July 17-19 and 24-26)

St. Barnabas the Apostle's Day (Patron of Antioch; Cyprus; Marbelia, Costa del Sol, Spain; Marino, Italy; invoked as a peacemaker; against hailstorms) a/k/a Barnaby Bright Day or Long Barnaby*

Superman Celebration -- Metropolis, IL, US (only in Metropolis, right? through Sunday)

*Under the Julian calendar, June 11, St. Barnabas' Day, was the longest day of the year --
Barnaby Bright, Barnaby Bright,
The longest day
And the shortest night

Anniversaries Today:

Henry VIII marries Catherine of Aragon, 1509

Birthdays Today:

Shia LeBeouf, 1986
Joshua Jackson, 1978
Caroline Quentin, 1961
Dr. Mehmet Oz, 1960
Hugh Laurie, 1959
Joe Montana, 1956
Peter Bergman, 1953
Adrienne Barbeau, 1945
Jackie Stewart, 1939
Chad Everett, 1936
Gene Wilder, 1933
William Clark Styron, Jr., 1925
Vince Lombardi, 1913
Jacques Cousteau, 1910
Jeannette Pickering Rankin, 1880
Richard Georg Strauss, 1864
John Constable, 1776
Ben Jonson, 1572

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"American Idol"(TV), 2002
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial(Film), 1982
"Main Street Electrical Parade"(Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Florida), 1977
"Rock 'n' Roll Music"(Beatles' UK album release), 1976
A Day at the Races(Marx Brothers film), 1937

Today in History:

Troy is sacked and burned, according to calculations by Eratosthenes, BC1184
Philip II recognizes the rights and privileges of the local nobles and chieftains in the Philippines, which paves way to the creation of the Principalía, 1594
The Continental Congress appoints Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston to the Committee of Five to draft a declaration of independence, 1776
Russian explorer Gerasim Izmailov reaches Alaska, 1788
The first American stove patent is granted to Robert Haeterick, 1793
The Limelight Department, one of the world's first film studios, is officially established in Melbourne, Australia, 1892
New Zealand annexes the Cook Islands, 1901
Sir Barton wins the Belmont Stakes, becoming the first horse to win the Triple Crown, 1919
Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin become the only prisoners to escape from the prison on Alcatraz Island, 1962
Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington become the first women to receive the rank of general in the U.S. Army, 1970
Cassini-Huygens makes its closest flyby of the Saturn moon Phoebe, 2004
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes an official apology to Canada's First Nations for residential school abuse that isolated native children from their homes, families, and cultures for a century, 2008
Ancient Korean royal books looted by French troops in 1866 are returned to South Korea; 1,000 officials and locals celebrate the return of the 297-volume 'Oegyujanggak' books, 2011
Winds in southwestern Western Australia of up to 140km/h batter the area and leave more than 170,000 homes without power, 2012

Memos

Silly Sunday: Park It!

Awww Monday: But it's all wet!

Am i the only one left...

Nicknames

Six Sentence Story: Rush

Feline Friday: Priorities, People!

Our Favorite Vacation Spot!

Silly Sunday: Learning to Drive

Awww Monday: Swan Hearts

On schedule.

Relax, you are at the beach!

Losing People

Why is Sloth a Sin?

Last

Silly Sunday: What's on your plate?

Awww Monday: Spotting the Cute Stuff

Back in the Saddle

Wet and Cold

Get with the Beet?