Saturday, April 1, 2017

A Thankfulness List

Happy April Fool's Day, and welcome to my meanderings through the month as we blog from A to Z!

Because it is A day and also the day i usually list my Ten Things of Thankful, i will list things for which i am thankful that start with the letter A.

Affection.  There are a lot of people in my life, and i love them, and they love me.  It's one of the things that makes life worth living.

Aquifers.  The water here in our part of south Louisiana is provided by beautiful, pristine underground aquifers.  It's very soft water and tastes great, and because these are the swamps we are living in, there's almost never a shortage.  (In fact, last August we had way too much!)  Our tap water is considered by many, including Consumer Reports and Men's Health Magazine, to be some of the best in the nation, so i am very grateful to live here where clean, delicious water is abundant.

Animals.  Our cats, Little Girlie, Tripod SissyCat, Horizon, Mikey, Dansig, Link, and EnigmaSissy.  The granddog, Pepe.  The cats at the shelter.  The pets of people whose houses i clean: Kiki Cat; Josh the half Great Dane, half huge Labrador, whole coward; Colbert the dog; Ms. G's five cats; only two of which will come near me; Choco the scaredy-dog; and Ms. GA's indoor cats and outdoor feral colony (all fixed).  Then there are the wild animals, mostly squirrels, and birds that live around here.  Animals are a huge blessing, and i'm always surrounded by many of them.

Automobiles.   The ordeal of Humphrey the Honda and his sad passing has resulted in our getting Lunceford the Land Yacht.  The whole episode has highlighted how important it is to have good, reliable transportation.  Without our automobiles, i couldn't work or do much of anything else.

Alabama.  Yes, i'm from Louisiana, but there's a lot of value in Alabama.  My cousins grew up there, and my friend DiDreaming lives there.  If there weren't an Alabama, there wouldn't be a Flora-Bama Bar with a church service every Sunday morning.  All these and more make me thankful there is a place called Alabama.

Abode.  Specifically, my own abode.  This house has its problems, i admit, some of which may never be properly repaired.  It's also a lot more than many people in this world have in which to live.

Adventures.  No, i don't have many, but the few i do seem to be doozies, mostly centered around my yearly sanity retreats.

Almonds and almond milk, always a treat.

Ants and Arachnids.  Ants are the vacuum cleaners of the world; they are fascinating, and i'm very thankful for the services they provide, as long as they stay out of my abode.  Arachnids (spiders, specifically) are welcome here, i love that they catch mosquitoes. As a certified arachnophile, it's about time they made it to my thankful list.

Asparagus.  Yes, i like my vegetables, but asparagus holds a special place in my heart.  When i was a broke college student with no money to take my cat to the vet for a urinary tract infection, i cured him with asparagus.  It really worked.

There you have it, combining my A day with my Thankful day.  List what you are thankful for (no need to stick to one letter of the alphabet, unless you want to) and link up, everyone loves to celebrate the things you are thankful for.


Ten Things of Thankful



Today is:

APAWS International Pooper Scooper week -- The Association of Professional Animal Waste Specialists believe every dog should have its day, but not on someone else's lawn!

April Fool's Day  a/k/a Huntingowk Day or Gowkie Day in Scotland, because an April Fool is called a gowk; in England it is All Fools Day or April Noddy Day, as an April fool is a "noddy"

Azalea Festival -- Muskogee, OK, US (month long celebration with citywide events throughout)

Capture of Brielle Remembrance -- Brielle, Netherlands

Civil Service Day -- Thailand

Community Spirit Days -- an open invitation, all month long, for any town or community to involve itself in a special service project

Day of Hathor -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Edible Book Day -- Sponsored by the Edible Book Festival, Austin, TX, US (celebrating books and culinary creativity by making edible representations of books, then eating them)

Edinburgh International Science Festival -- Edinburgh, Scotland (a massive celebration of science and technology; through Apr. 16)

Elmira Maple Syrup Festival -- Elmira, ON, Canada (fun for the whole family, and delicious, too!)

Every Day is Tag Day™ -- make sure your pet has an up to date tag or microchip, just in case! 

Fossil Fools Day -- part of the conservationist movement of many organizations that want us to decrease reliance on fossil fuels and stop corporate polluters

Greek Cypriot Day -- Cyprus (EOKA Day)

Historic Pendleton Spring Jubilee -- Pendleton, SC, US (through tomorrow)

International Fun at Work Day -- originally sponsored by Playfair, which encourages non-foolish humor that is non-toxic 

International Pillow Fight Day -- yes, really 

International Tatting Day

Investiture of the New Captains Regent -- San Marino (sometimes listed as National Day)

Kalends of April -- Ancient Roman Empire; also
     Festival of Fortuna Virilis -- Fortune in her role of bringing luck to women who want better relationships with men
     Veneralia -- ritual yearly washing of the statue of Venus

Katori Jingu Otaue-sai -- Sawara, Chiba Prefecture, Japan (rice planting festival; through tomorrow)

Kha b-Nisan -- Assyrians (traditional New Year celebration)

Loki's Day -- by some calculations, but more likely it was moved to this date to celebrate the trickster of all time on the trickiest day of the year

Miyako Odori -- Kobu Kaburenjo Theatre, Kyoto, Japan ("Dance of the Old Capital", the highly anticipated geisha dance and music festival, through the 30th)

National Sourdough Bread Day

Orissa Day -- Orissa, India

One Cent Day -- no history on this, just noted on several sites

Pigasus Award Announcement Day -- by James Randi, awarded to parapsychological, paranormal or psychic frauds

Reading is Funny Day -- a day to read riddles, jokes, and fun things with kids to show them how great reading can be

School Year Begins -- Japan, most schools and universities

Sizdeh Be-dar -- Iran (Nature Day, an ancient Persian celebration to get out and joyfully spend the day outdoors)

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival -- Skagit Valley, WA, US; through the 30th

Sorry Charlie Day -- a day to recognize Charlie the Tuna, always rejected but never giving up, and anyone who has ever been rejected and lived to tell about it

St. Gilbert de Moray's Day (Patron of Caithness, Scotland)

St. Stupid's Day (First Church of the Last Laugh

Tangible Karma™ Day -- set aside an hour today to become purposefully aware of the needs of someone around you, and to fulfill that need; because giving feels as good as receiving 

Tree Loving Week begins -- South Korea (always the week that includes April 5, their Arbor Day)

Uzupis Day -- Uzupis District, Vilnius, Lithuania

World Catfish Festival -- Belzoni, MS, US (a family friendly festival celebrating this ever-popular fish)


Anniversaries Today:

Nunavut becomes Canada's third independent territory, 1999
Jim Bakker marries Tammy Faye LaValley, 1961


Birthdays Today:

Randy Orton, 1980
Jon Gosselin, 1977
Rachel Maddow, 1973
Susan Boyle, 1961
Libby Riddles, 1956
Annette O’Toole, 1953
Samuel A. Alito, Jr, 1950
David Eisenhower, 1947
Daniel Joseph “Rusty” Staub, 1944
Ali MacGraw, 1938
Gordon Jump, 1932
Debbie Reynolds, 1932
Jane Powell, 1929
Anne McCaffrey, 1926
Toshiro Mifune, 1920
Abraham Maslow, 1908
Clara "Mother" Hale, 1905
Lon Chaney, 1883
Sergei Rachmaninoff, 1873
Otto von Bismarck, 1815
William Harvey, 1578
Emperor Go-Saga of Japan, 1220


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Will Rogers Follies"(Musical), 1991
"General Hospital"(TV), 1963
"The Doctors"(TV), 1963
"Der blaue Engel/The Blue Angel"(Film; premier of Marlene Dietrich), 1930


Today in History:

The ruins of the city of Pompeii are found, 1748
Japan's volcano Unsen erupts, killing about 53,000, 1793
Samuel Morey patents the internal combustion engine, 1826
Cincinnati becomes the first US city to pay firefighters, 1853
Singapore, Penang & Malakka become British crown colonies, 1867
The London-Paris telephone connection is opened, 1891
The Wrigley Company is founded in Chicago, Illinois, 1891
The Royal Air Force is created by the merger of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service, 1918
The Royal Canadian Air Force is formed, 1924
Generalisimo Frederico Franco announces the end of the Spanish Civil War, 1939
A 7.8 magnitude earthquake near the Aleutian Islands creates a tsunami that strikes Hawai'i, killing 159, 1946
The twenty-six counties of the Irish Free State become the Republic of Ireland, 1949
The Canadian government repeals Japanese Canadian internment after seven years, 1949
The BBC broadcasts the spaghetti tree hoax on its current affairs programme Panorama, 1957
Project Tiger, a tiger conservation program, is launched in the Corbett National Park, India, 1973
Apple Inc. is formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, 1976
The Halifax Regional Municipality in Nova Scotia is created, 1996
Comet Hale-Bopp is seen passing over perihelion, 1997
Nunavut is established as a Canadian territory carved out of the eastern part of the Northwest Territories, 1999
Croatia and Albania join NATO, 2009

24 comments:

  1. In Europe we also celebrate Apri Fools lively photo

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  2. Those are ten great things to be thankful for. Love all the A's. Animals are my favorite.

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  3. I like all of your A's especially asparagus. The only problem with asparagus is after I go to pee, there is an odour but what the heck, I can deal with it for awhile. See ya Mimi.

    Cruisin Paul

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  4. Great start on the A-Z!!! I didn't realize you had 7 cats- I knew I liked you :) That water does sound nice compared to chemical filled town water. We are lucky to have a well, but if I lived in town, I would buy bottled water. Have a great weekend!

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  5. I'm sorry the Honda gave up on you, but now you have good transportation again. Excellent.

    You have much to be thankful for and you tell us about how thankful you are almost every single day.

    Have fun doing A to Z this year. ☺

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  6. Consistent all the way. Good job! Enjoy the yacht.

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  7. I love this list, with all As! As well as almonds and almond milk, I'd add almond butter! That stuff is gorgeous, although more expensive than peanut butter, so I tend to stick to peanut butter!

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  8. I love your grateful list. It's always good to focus on gratitude. Today, I'm grateful for the gorgeous weather. It's the perfect temperature out, and it's about to rain! My plants will be so grateful as well.
    DoreeWeller from
    Doree Weller’s Blog

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  9. Oh, Mimi, I love how you incorporated the A-Z into your Ten Things of Thankful. Asparagus is my favorite, too. We don't often think about the importance of clean water. Interesting aquifer facts about Louisiana. Makes me want to visit even more than I did before. Good luck with the A-Z Challenge.

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  10. Would you believe I've never sampled almond milk? I really should try it. I wonder how you milk almonds.

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  11. Love your list. You do have plenty to be grateful for and that's a very good thing. I love your joie de vivre.

    As an arachnophile, I thought you might enjoy Our Pool Spiders

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  12. what an excellent TToT/Aphids-to-Zylophone* post!

    very creative melding of the list, although in the interest of full disclosure I would have to put the last two Items in the hypo-frat category... (well, not the ants, they're small and hard to see and all), but the spiders and asparagueseses not so much lol

    *better ask Val... I start doing this joke thing with A to Z that I find funny even though most everyone looks at me and says, 'er ok, it was fun for the first half of the alphabet, enough already.

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  13. What a great list of "A" things you are thankful for. - We have "ants" in our "abode" so we aren't to thankful for them.

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  14. Well done on your creative A list. I didn't know asparagus had healing properties! Another reason to like it so much.

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  15. Great TToT list to start the A to Z Challenge except for the spiders. I tell them outside they can live inside they die.

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  16. I like your thankful list. This year's April Fool's day was rather quiet. When we think of it, there are so many things to be thankful for. Have a beautiful day!

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  17. I love the way you put the two challenges together :) I decided to not do the A to Z this year due to time crunches. But I hope once I get more consistent in my blogging that I can join in next year :)

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  18. I love your "A" list. I am a sucker for adventures...

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  19. What a great idea on how to combine A to Z with TToT! I like asparagus, too, but artichokes are my favorite. :-)

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  20. I like your idea to combine TToT and A to Z and I may have to follow your lead next weekend. I am doing A to Z for the first time and I don't know if I can last the month.

    Catfish. Yuck. I prefer my cats and my fish separate. I do love edible books and sourdough bread though.

    :-)

    Have a lovely week.

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  21. Well done incorporating your TToT and A to Z challenge! I'll take your almonds and milk (yum) but will pass on ants and arachnids, thank you very much!
    Have a great week!

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  22. What a great list and one that could be linked to two different blog hops. Well done. I didn't know that asparagus helped a person (or a cat) with a UTI. Good to know. Wow, spiders that catch mosquitos. You must have some big spiders in the South. I haven't witnessed such a feat here. It is nice that you live where you have good clean water. That is a blessing, one that many people in the world lack. See you next week.

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  23. Re-reading this post it appears that my original comment didn't post for some reason. I'm glad I came back because this was an Awesome post of A-words! :-) We've been in Southern Louisiana this week (leaving tomorrow), and I've fallen in love with it... the massive oak trees, green growth and water everywhere, and now the lovely beach at Grand Isle... and people are so friendly!

    I love all your animals, especially the ones you've fostered and the ones at the shelter you care for, and I love asparagus too! I think I could eat it every day, along with avocados. :-)

    I am grateful that you now have a reliable automobile, and a house that fits your needs. Really, that's what house needs to be, not a fancy showplace, just a place that fits the family that calls it home.

    You are off to a great start for the A to Z and I love how you're combining it with your regular weekly posting. I always love reading here!

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