Thursday, January 31, 2019

Casquette (Six Sentence Story) and Holding On (Good Fences)

(Because some people like Blogger and some like WordPress, i am putting the same content at both.  If you would prefer to read this on the other site, it is linked here.)


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"Why were they called 'casket girls' -- did someone expect most of them to die and they had to bring their own caskets and sleep in them just like some of the old crazy saints did?"

"Good guess, but the word is really derived from 'casquette', which was what the trunks they brought with them that held all their worldly goods were called.  These girls were orphans from convent orphanages, or young ladies being educated at convents, who were poor and were offered the opportunity to go to the New World to be wives for the French settlers, mostly in Mobile, Biloxi, and New Orleans."

"So kind of like the mail-order brides I've read about?"

"Similar idea, but before there was even mail the way we think about it in the Americas, these young ladies were brought over and given to the Ursuline nuns to educate and see to it they married good young men, because the Ursulines believed you couldn't have a good society if you didn't have well educated women."

"No wonder they give me so much homework!"


Linking up with Denise at Girlie On The Edge Blog, where she hosts Six Sentence Stories, and the cue is Trunk.     


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Gosia, of Looking for Identity, has taken over Good Fences, and it's now Good Fences Around The World.  Post a picture of a fence or gate, link back to her blog, and go visit other blogs to see what interesting fences there are out in this big world.     

Some people seem to hold on to those Christmas wreaths a bit longer than the rest of us:

Taken 3 days ago!


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Today is:

Backward Day -- no info on the origin, but if you want to do something backward, go ahead

Chiang Mai Flower Festival -- Chiang Mai, Thailand (if you love flowers, go to this one year, the whole city is bedecked and species shown include 1,000 varieties of orchids; through Sunday)

Eat Brussels Sprouts Day --  saute in olive oil with some garlic, they are worth it!

Eve of Brigantia -- Ireland (St. Bridget's Eve, the night when she crosses the countryside and bestows blessings)

Feast of Great Typos -- another that no one will claim inventing, but since we've all made them, we may as well celebrate them

Feast of Isis -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

H&ll is Freezing Over Day -- internet generated day to review the list of things you said you would do when h*ll freezes over

Independence Day -- Nauru(1968)

Inspire Your Heart With the Arts Day -- begun by Rev Jayne Howard Feldman as a day to use art to feed your soul

National Brandy Alexander Day

National Bug Busting Day -- UK (this is one idea that needs export to the whole world! the aim is to have every child checked for head lice on the same day, and thus get rid of them in one fell swoop, so they don't circulate endlessly)

National Gorilla Suit Day -- Mad Magazine's Maddest Artist, Don Martin, says this is the day to pull that gorilla suit out of the closet and step out in style.

Phlegm-Green, Moldy-Grey, and Gazzard Day -- Fairy Calendar (don't ask what color Gazzard is, it doesn't exist in the human world, and you don't want it to)

Play An Old Game You Haven’t Played in Years Night -- internet generated, and a great idea

Scotch Tape Day -- it hit the market this day in 1928

St. John Bosco's Day (Patron of apprentices, boys, editors, laborers, schoolchildren, students, young people-especially youth of Mexican descent)



Birthdays Today:

Justin Timberlake, 1981
Kerry Washington, 1977
Portia de Rossi, 1973
Minnie Driver, 1971
Kelly Lynch, 1959
Jhn Lydon, 1956
Nolan Ryan, 1947
Charlie Musselwhite, 1944
Richard Gephardt, 1941
Jessica Walter, 1941
Stuart Margolin, 1940
Queen Beatrix, 1938
suzanne Pleshette, 1937
Philip Glass, 1937
James Franciscus, 1934
Ernie Banks, 1931
Jean Simmons, 1929
Carol Channing, 1923
Norman Mailer, 1923
Mario Lanza, 1921
Jackie Robinson, 1919
Thomas Merton, 1915
Garry Moore, 1915
Tallulah Bankhead, 1903
Eddie Cantor, 1892
Zane Grey, 1872
Franz Schubert, 1797
Robert Morris, 1734
Tokugawa Ieyasu, Shogun of Japan, 1543


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"These Are My Children"(TV), 1949 (first daytime TV Soap Opera)
"The Green Hornet"(Radio), 1936
"The Lone Ranger"(Radio), 1933
"Three Sisters"(Chekhov Play), 1901
"Hedda Gabler"(Ibsen Play), 1891


Today in History:

Guy Fawkes is executed for his plotting against Parliament and James I of England, 1606
The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital, 1747
The Corn Laws (tariffs on imported grains) are abolished in Britain, paving the way for more free trade, 1849
The United States orders all Native Americans to move into reservations, 1876
The Bulletin of Sydney is founded, publishes for 128 years, 1880
An automobile exceeds 100 mph (161 kph) for the first time, at Daytona Beach, driven by A. G. MacDonald, 1905
The Soviet Union exiles Leon Trotsky, 1929
Scotch tape is first marketed by the 3M Company, 1930
Ida May Fuller of Ludlow, Vermont, US receives the first US Social Security monthly payment check, for $22.54, 1940
President Harry S. Truman announces a program to develop the hydrogen bomb, 1950
A North Sea flood causes over 1,800 deaths in the Netherlands, 1953
Explorer 1 – The first successful launch of an American satellite into orbit, 1958
James Van Allen discovers the Van Allen radiation belt, 1958
Mercury-Redstone 2 – Ham the Chimp travels into outer space, 1961
The Soviet Union launches the unmanned Luna 9 spacecraft as part of the Luna program, 1966
Astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell, aboard a Saturn V, lift off for a mission to the Fra Mauro Highlands on the Moon, 1971
The first McDonald's in the Soviet Union opens in Moscow, 1990
Comet Hyakutake is discovered by Japanese amateur astronomer Yuji Hyakutake, 1996
NASA reveals the Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot (RASSOR), a lunar mining robot which could be used to produce fuel and water directly on the Moon, 2013
Lydia Ko, 17, becomes the youngest golfer in men's or women's golf history to be ranked No. 1 in the world, 2015
Sergio Matarella is elected President of Italy, 2015
"World's best chef" French-Swiss Benoît Violier is found dead after apparent suicide weeks after being named world's best by La Liste, 2016

17 comments:

  1. Fascinating snippet about the casquette girls. The nuns were ahead of their time too.

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  2. Good to know! I wasn't aware of these customs.

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  3. I didn't know about casket girls until now. Lovely fence.

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  4. So lucky to have been in the part fhte world and history that I have. Such a difficult and lonely and harsh life for many.

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  5. I've learned something today, thank you! As for Eat Brussels Sprouts day...I'll give it a miss thank you!

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  6. Good one. Love the well educated women idea. So true. And Backward day! And I love Brussels Sprouts!

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  7. Sounds like old Pope Gregory III was a bit of a roger.*
    Loved this Six 'cause it totally waved at me from the Wikipedian forest... 'hey clark, lets explore!'


    * he, according to Wikipedia decided that the order should go all cloistered and not be a distraction

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  8. Amazing when you teach us new things in life about the casket girls. Just amazing Mimi. See ya.

    Cruisin Paul

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  9. Interesting story ~ we don't treat the female gender very well still ~ Neat fence photo!

    Happy Day to you,
    A ShutterBug Explores,
    aka (A Creative Harbor)

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  10. Never expected the last line :) Certainly something new

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  11. I didn't know this. I learn so many wonderful things here.

    Have a fabulous day and rest of the week, my friend. ♥

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  12. Very interesting. I wonder who educated the men? :)

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  13. Thank you! I just learned something.

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  14. The Ursulines were right on point, weren't they? :D
    I really enjoyed your 6. It sent me off on an exploratory search and voila! who knew there were ghost stories and vampire lore all rolled up into one. I'm a sucker for ghost stories lol

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