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It's time once again for a random and happy Tuesday, linking up with Stacy's Random Thoughts at Stacy Uncorked and Sandee at Comedy Plus.
Now, about that retreat. It was wonderful, and had its moments, as everything does.
The best of "those" was when i woke early Saturday morning and went to the main building for coffee. They were having trouble with the electricity. The kitchen and dining room was totally down, and in the main building, the coffee room was down.
Deep breath, get some tea (they had hot water, but no way to make coffee), and go to the chapel to sit and pray, which is where i was planning to go after fetching the coffee anyway.
It was while sitting alone in the chapel that the electricity to the whole compound went out. It was funny, i laughed and giggled and used the light from my tablet (it has one of my prayer books downloaded) to gather everything and went back to the main building where i knew there was a fire in the fireplace. The temps were frigid, just like Halloween night.
Why not use my phone flashlight? The phone was the alarm for my roomie, Ms. V (yes, mother of our friend Carl, the special needs adult), as no one in her house is a morning person and she has no phone and needed a way to wake up.
Anyway, as i giggled and groped my way down the paths, they worked on the electric problem and by the time i got to the main building, it was all back on and coffee was brewing. There's nothing like that first morning cup.
Dr. D had us working on taxes yesterday. Last year's taxes, not this year. No, she hasn't filed for last year yet, it doesn't matter, she doesn't owe anything so she can be late. We went through every check she wrote last year looking for deductions. By that time my eyes were rolling around in my head and i got sent to the store to clear it. That always works, especially when i get three phone calls while there for stuff that didn't make it onto the list.
On to some random funnies:
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Today is:
Conmemoracion Patriotica en la Ciudad de Colon -- Panama
Day of the First Shout for Independence -- El Salvador
Egyptian Day -- Medieval Europe day of bad forturne (common saying on this day was, "Notwithstanding, I will trust the Lord.")
Festival of Amun -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)
Guy Fawkes' Day -- Canadian province of Newfoundland & Labrador; New Zealand; UK; a/k/a Gunpowder Day, bonfires celebrate that Guy Fawkes plot did not succeed; related famous celebrations
Burning of the Tar Barrels -- Ottery St. Mary, Devon, UK (17 barrels soaked in tar are lit outside 17 taverns and carried through the town)
Lewes Bonfire Night -- Lewes, East Sussex, UK
Turning the Devil's Stone -- Shebbear, Devon, UK (erratic stone, possibly from an Ice Age deposit, turned every year on this day to assure good forturne)
Melbourne Cup Day -- Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne, Australia (154th running)
National Doughnut Day -- well, it's better than buy a donut day, that one's too obvious
Nones of November -- Ancient Roman Calendar
Popes Day -- US name for the remembrance of Guy Fawkes' Day
St. Elizabeth's Day and St. Zechariah's Day -- parents of John the Baptist (Elizabeth is Patron of pregnant women)
Wet Wellington Day -- Fairy Calendar (Imps and Gremlins; they really love it when this falls on a Wednesday)
Wuwuchim Fire Ceremonies begin -- Hopi Native American (dating approximate, as these ceremonies are now mostly closed to outsiders, a celebration of Masaw, god of death, and Spider Woman, the earth mother; a 16 day festival and manhood ceremony for adolescent boys)
Anniversary Today:
George W. Bush marries Laura Welch, 1977
Birthdays Today:
Kevin Jonas, 1987
Corin Nemec, 1971
Judy Reyes, 1967
Tatum O'Neal, 1963
Tilda Swinton, 1960
Bryan Adams, 1959
Bill Walton, 1952
Peter Noone, 1947
Sam Shepard, 1943
Art Garfunkel, 1941
Elke Sommer, 1940
Geoffrey Wolff, 1937
Ike Turner, 1931
Vivien Leigh, 1913
Roy Rogers, 1911
Joel McCrea, 1905
Strom Thurmond, 1902
Raymond Loewy, 1893
Will Durant, 1885
Ida M. Tarbell, 1857
Eugene Debs, 1855
Debuting/Premiering Today
"Into the Woods"(Sondheim musical), 1987
"Fifth of July"(Wilson play), 1980
"The Nat King Cole Show, 1956
The New York Weekly Journal(first edition), 1733
Today in History:
Wu MeKuan, a collection of 48 Zen koans, compiled in China, 1228
Publication of the Catholicon in Treguier (Brittany); it is the first Breton dictionary as well as the first French dictionary, 1499
St. Felix's Flood ravages the Dutch coast and destroys the city of Reimerswaal in the Netherlands, 1530
The Gunpowder Plot, in which Catholics were trying to blow up the English Parliament, is foiled, 1605
The first post office in the Colonies is opened in the home of Richard Fairbanks, 1639
Susan B. Anthony is arrested for trying to vote in Rochester, NY, 1871
The first US patent for a gasoline driven motor car is granted to George B. Selden, 1895
Calbraith Rodgers arrives in Pasadena from Sheepshead Bay, NY, completing the first transcontinental plane flight, in 49 days, 1911
Colombia joins the United Nations, 1945
USS Rentz, USS Reeves and USS Oldendorf visit Qingdao (Tsing Tao) China — the first US Naval visit to China since 1949, 1986
André Dallaire attempts to assassinate Prime Minister Jean Chrétien of Canada, but is thwarted when the Prime Minister's wife locks the door, 1995
Saddam Hussein, former president of Iraq, and his co-defendants Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti and Awad Hamed al-Bandar are sentenced to death in the al-Dujail trial, 2006
China's first lunar satellite, Chang'e 1 goes into orbit around the Moon, 2007
Collins Dictionary names "binge-watch" the word of the year, followed by "transgender", 2015
NASA's Voyager 2 probe leaves the solar system, becoming the second human-made object to reach interstellar space, 2018