Thursday, April 30, 2026

Zillions (Six Sentence Story), Relatives Are Coming (a Second Six Sentence Story), Good Fences, Sammy's Poetry Day, and Brian's Thankful Thursday, an A to Z Challenge Post

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To enjoy more blogs participating in the A to Z Challenge, click here.   



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Every year, the title of my final A to Z post is Zillions for one simple reason:  It is my Little Girl's birthday and we love her zillions.


Little Girl with some of our bottle babies.


She was the extra bonus baby, the one i really should not have had after almost dying with the previous two pregnancies, but of course we cannot imagine life without her.


Far from being a spoiled youngest child, she was a huge help in so many ways, all of my children were as they all worked with me in my cleaning business and all learned how to be experts at bottle raising orphaned kittens.


Now married, living in another city, graduated from college and preparing to go wherever her husband lands for his medical school training, we don't get to see her near often enough.


From her brother accidentally causing her broken arm, to becoming an army medic, to finding love and getting a job she enjoys, it's been quite a ride over the years.


Little Girl isn't so little any longer, but she will always be my Little Girl and i will always love her zillions.



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


A second helping (second six), for those who want a Ms. G story:


Ms. G has been on the go non-stop for so long it's become her default, her own house and all the projects she wants to get to take a back seat to her real estate business and all the things others "need" from her.


It has come to a head, though, as her brother has announced he is planning a visit, and the living room and den have to be presentable, the dining table cleared off, the hall bathroom needs to quit being a catch all.


As i was heading to her place yesterday, she called and said she'd need me to take a new phone case to Ms. Fiona for the phone i took out there last week, but she wasn't home and it was with her and it would be a while, and i finally talked her into letting me go pick it up from her and get it done, which turned out for the best.


Then she sent me to Cramco (the warehouse store) for a few things, as it takes me a lot less time to get the stuff when i am running through not walking behind her in one of the motorized buggies.


Now came the hard part, sorting all the stuff in the living room, as she isn't going to put these things "away" as there is no "away" to put them to, but she wants to stop and look at each family photo, have me hold up each item she wants to sell online so she can take a photo and check the value for the dozenth time, and piddle with every tiny item for so long we spend hours just shifting it all from one main room into one where the door can be closed.


Only then can i do the vacuuming and cleaning, and it all took so long there was no time for a proper supper before Bible study, but she pays for my help and so figures she can use it as she wishes, even if it's to piddle most of it away and accomplish very little of substance.



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While Good Fences Around the World seems to have gone the way of the dodo bird, i still enjoy looking for and posting interesting fences, so i will!






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It's Angel Sammy's Poetry Day!  This week's image and my poem:    







How do I tell the CEO

his presentation is bad?

You'd think he'd have a clue,

but you don't know my dad!


He founded this great company

but his speeches make us snooze,

I have to try to stay awake

or my job I'll lose!



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Angel Brian's Family of Brian's Home - Forever hosts the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop.   It's time to share something for which i am thankful.  


Today i am thankful for my Little Girl, who is now 28!






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It's National Tabby Cat Day!  The striped tabby gets to be the star of the show today.


Thanks to Barb Kowalik and The Cat Blogosphere the event badge.


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Today is:


Armed Forces Day -- Georgia


Birthday of the King / Konungens födelsedag -- Sweden (HM King Carl XVI Gustav; an official flag day)


Bugs Bunny Day -- while some consider his debut to have been in "A Wild Hare," released in July two years later, others say that Bugs was the rabbit in "Porky's Hare Hunt," released this date in 1938


Camarón Day -- French Foreign Legion


Carnival Day -- Sint Maarten


Consumer Protection Day -- Thailand


Díá De Los Niños/Díá De Los Libros -- American Library Association (Children Day/Book Day; a celebration that emphasizes the importance of literacy for children of all linguistic and cultural backgrounds)


Dia de Rincon -- Rincon, Bonaire


El Dia del Nino -- Mexico (Children's Day)


Faeriae Latinae -- Ancient Roman Calendar (Feast of the Latin League, a festival to honor Jupiter)


International Jazz Day -- UNESCO (originated with the New Jersey Jazz Society and sanctioned by the United Nations Jazz Society, the American Federation of Jazz Societies, and the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society)


Liberation/Reunification Day -- Vietnam


Make-a-Book Day -- the Thursday of Family Reading Week


May Eve -- eve of the first day of summer in many traditions, including

     Beltane/Samhain Eve -- Pagan traditions

     Carodejnice -- Czech Republic; Slovakia

     Maitag Vorabend -- Switzerland

     Mange les Morts -- Haiti (festival of the dead)

     Salus -- Portugal; Spain (festival of the dead)

     Valborgsmässoafton -- Sweden

     Walpurgis Night -- Ancient Celtic/Nordic Calendars


Mr. Potato Head Day -- the classic toy went on sale this day in 1952, and you used your own potato


National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day -- US (can't find a sponsoring organization, but it's not a bad idea)  


National Honesty Day -- including Honest Abe Awards (Abies) and dishonorable mentions for those who have been particularly publicly egregious; celebrated today because we began the month with April Fooling and lies, so today is to celebrate the opposite*


National Military Brats Day -- US (Military Brats, Inc., wants the US Congress to set aside a day to recognize the sacrifices of the children of military service men and women)   


National Oatmeal Cookie Day


National Raisin Day


National Therapy Animal Day


Poem in Your Pocket Day -- carry your favorite with you to share with friends and family to celebrate National Poetry Month     


St. Adjutor of Vernon's Day (Patron of drowning victims, sailors, swimmers, yatchsmen; Vernon, France; against drowning)


St. James the Great's Day -- Orthodox Christian


Teacher's Day -- Paraguay



*to nominate someone for an Abie or a dishonorable mention, contact M. Hirsh Goldberg, founder and author of The Book of Lies, mhgoldberg@comcast.net)




Anniversaries Today:


Pele marries Assiria Seixas Lemos, 1994

The Organization of American States is founded, 1948

Louisiana becomes the 18th US state, 1812



Birthdays Today:


Dianna Agron, 1986

Kirsten Dunst, 1982

Johnny Galecki, 1975

Jeff Timmons, 1973

Carolyn Dawn Johnson, 1971

Adrian Pasdar, 1965

Michael Waltrip, 1963

Isiah Thomas, 1961

Stuart Mathis, 1960

Stephen Harper, 1959

Jane Campion, 1954

Perry King, 1948

Carl XVI Gustav, King of Sweden, 1946

Michael J. Smith, 1945

Jill Clayburgh, 1944

Burt Young, 1940

Gary Collins, 1938

Willie Nelson, 1933

Cloris Leachman, 1926

Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, 1909

Eve Arden, 1908

Ellis Wilson, 1899

Louise Dilworth Beatty Homer, 1871



Debuting/Premiering Today:


"Barnum"(Musical), 1980

"The Dresser"(Play), 1980

"Inside U.S.A."(Musical revue), 1948

"Arthur Godfrey Time"(Radio), 1945

"Pelleas et Melisande"(Opera), 1902

"Dmitri Donskoi"(Opera), 1852

"Love for Love"(Play), 1695



Today in History:


Supernova SN 1006, the brightest supernova in recorded history, appears in the constellation Lupus, 1006

Orbital calculations suggest that on this day, Pluto moved inside Neptune's orbit until July 23, 1503, 1483

Columbus is given a royal commission to equip his fleet, 1492

On the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York City, George Washington takes the oath of office to become the first elected President of the United States, 1789

The United States purchases the Louisiana Territory from France, 1803

Nicaragua declares independence from the Central American Federation, 1838

Casey Jones dies in a train wreck in Vaughn, Mississippi, while trying to

make up time on the Cannonball Express, 1900

Honolulu, Hawaii becomes an independent city, 1907

Peru becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty, 1920

Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford become the first celebrities to leave their footprints in concrete at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, 1927

The animated cartoon short Porky's Hare Hunt debuts in movie theaters, introducing Happy Rabbit (a prototype of Bugs Bunny, 1938

In Bogotá, Colombia, the Organization of American States is established, 1948

The Bristol Bus Boycott is held in Bristol to protest the Bristol Omnibus Company's refusal to employ Black or Asian bus crews, drawing national attention to racial discrimination in the United Kingdom, 1963

Communist forces gain control of Saigon and the Vietnam War formally ends, 1975

Accession of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, 1980

CERN announces World Wide Web protocols will be free, 1993

Cambodia joins the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, 1999

Two skeletal remains found near Ekaterinburg, Russia are confirmed by Russian scientists to be the remains of Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia and one of his sisters, 2008

Chrysler automobile company files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, 2009

Hailed as the largest World's Fair in history, Expo 2010 opens in Shanghai, China, 2010

Born without a trachea, a 2-year-old Korean-Canadian child is the youngest patient in history to receive a bioengineered organ made from stem cells; she received the transplanted organ at the Children's Hospital of Illinois, 2013

Willem-Alexander becomes the first male Monarch of Netherlands in 123 years, following the abdication of his mother, Queen Beatrix, 2013

The MESSENGER spacecraft is intentionally deorbited and destroyed, 2015

A new species of water beetle from the Malaysian Borneo’s Maliau Basin is named after actor Leonardo DiCaprio, 2018

The world's oldest known spider, a female trapdoor in Western Australia, dies at the age of 43 after being stung by a wasp, 2018 

Japan’s Emperor Akihito declares his abdication, effective the next day, 2019

Captain Tom Moore, who raised more £30 million for the National Health Service by walking in his garden, turns 100 and is made an honorary colonel by the Queen, 2020

After surviving Ewing's sarcoma and receiving a prosthetic leg, Jacky Hunt-Broersma sets a world record by running 104 consecutive marathons in 104 days, 2022

Wednesday, April 29, 2026

Yellow! (Wordless Wednesday) and Words for Wednesday, an A to Z Challenge Post

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To enjoy more blogs participating in the A to Z Challenge, click here.   



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Linking up with Wordless WednesdayCatsynthKeith, and Sandee at Comedy Plus.     




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Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and has become a moveable feast of word or picture or music prompts to encourage us to write stories, poems, or whatever strikes our fancy.    


This month, the prompts are being provided by yours truly right here.



This week's prompts are:


artist

kitchen

alive

manage

case


and/or these fabulous, funny words:


bamboozled  (fooled or cheated someone)

persnickety (fussy over minor details)

kerfuffle (commotion or fuss)



Charlotte's  colour of the month is Sea Green.



She was an ARTIST in the KITCHEN.


Her distant cousin was not.  None of us grandchildren, who didn't believe the distant cousin was distant enough, were BAMBOOZLED by the cousin's claims to have the best versions of all the family recipes.


Grandmother was not PERSNICKETY about us children being underfoot when she was in the kitchen.  If distant cousin was there (none of us even liked calling her by name, as if doing so would call up her presence like invoking an evil spirit), us children even looking into the kitchen could cause a KERFUFFLE.


We did MANAGE to get Grandmother to teach us all her recipes and secrets while she was still ALIVE.  Beautiful in her Sea Green apron with all the pockets, she patiently went over some things again and again until we had it down, both in written form and in our hands and brains.  


Needless to say, it was also in our mouths, we ate everything as fast as we cooked it and taste/smell memories are potent, any of us can now tell if someone substituted an ingredient or took a short cut.


Distant cousin tried to make a CASE for us coming to her house "to continue your cooking lessons" once Grandmother was gone, but none of us did.


Both of them live on in our memories, but only Grandmother's recipes live on in our holiday and other meals, and yes, we're all teaching our children, too.


The apron?  I was the one blessed to get it.  How about we go cook something.



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Today is:


Administrative Professionals Day -- US


Arita Ceramic Fair -- Arita, Japan (finest porcelain in Japan; during Golden Week until May 5)


Cheng Cheng Kung Landing Day -- Taiwan (anniversary of the landing in Taiwan of Ming Dynasty loyalist Cheng Cheng Kung to oust the Dutch colonists)


Feast of the Secret Masters -- can't find any real info on this one, and why should i if it's such a secret, but it is fun to think about


Fish Cleaning Night -- sponsored by David Letterman (it's okay if you don't have an audience, or Mariel Hemingway)


International Dance Day -- International Dance Committee of the International Theatre Institute (ITI), a UNESCO partner


International Guide Dog Day


National Adult Public Skipping Day -- because somebody out there either wants you to feel like a kid again, or make a fool of you


National Shrimp Scampi Day


"Peace" Rose Day -- an explanation of this name for the Rosa 'Madame A. Meilland variety   


Remembrance of Victims of Chemical Weapons -- on the day chemical weapons were outlawed in 1997


Ridvan, Ninth Day -- Baha'i (one of the festival days on which work and school should be suspended)


Runic Half Month of Lagu (water) begins


Showa No Hi -- Japan (Showa Day, the birth anniversary of Emperor Showa, begins the Golden Week holiday period of four major national days, through May 5)


Solar Alignment at Teotihuacan, City of the Gods -- Teotihuacan, Mexico (the ritual cave opening aligns to the sunset on Aug. 12 and Apr. 29, the same horizon position of the setting of the Pleiades)


St. Catherine of Siena's Day (Patron of fire prevention, firefighter, nurses, nursing services, people ridiculed for piety, sick people; Europe; Italy; Theta Phi Alpha Sorority; Allentown, PA, US; Siena, Italy; Verazze, Italy; against bodily ills/sickness, fire, miscarriages, sexual temptation)


Walk @ Lunch Day -- founded and encouraged by Blue Cross / Blue Shield


World Wish Day -- from the Make-A-Wish Foundation, marking the date in 1980 that local police let seven-year-old leukemia patient Chris Grecicius be an officer for a day, sparking the idea of the Make-a-Wish Foundation


Zipper Day -- while i can't confirm it, the modern zipper was supposedly patented on this day in 1913



Anniversaries Today:


Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, marries Catherine "Kate" Middleton, 2011

Mike Nichols marries Diane Sawyer, 1988

Princess Irene marries Prince Carel Hugo de Bourbon Parma, 1964



Birthdays Today:


Andre Agassi, 1970

Uma Thurman, 1970

Carnie Wilson, 1968

Eve Plumb, 1958

Michelle Pfeiffer, 1958

Daniel Day-Lewis, 1957

Kate Mulgrew, 1955

Jerry Seinfeld, 1954

Nora Dunn, 1952

Dale Earnhardt, 1951

Johnny Miller, 1947

Zubin Mehta, 1936

Lane Smith, 1936

Rod McKuen, 1933

Robert Gottlieb, 1931

Celeste Holm, 1919

Tom Ewell, 1909

Hirohito, 1901

Duke Ellington, 1899

William Randolph Hearst, 1863

Oliver Ellsworth, 1745



Debuting/Premiering Today:


"Hair"(Musical), 1968

"ABC's Wide World of Sports"(TV), 1961

"Young Dr. Malone"(Radio), 1940

"There Shall be No Night"(Play), 1940

Roget's Thesaurus(Publication date), 1852

Violin Sonata No. 32 in B-flat major(Mozart K. 454), 1784



Today in History:


The Moors arrive at Gibraltar to begin their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula, 711

Joan of Arc arrives at Orleans to relieve the siege, 1492

Francis Drake leads a raid in the Bay of Cádiz, sinking at least 23 ships of the Spanish fleet, 1587

Eleven Dutch ships depart for the conquest of Peru, 1623

The Ming Dynasty occupies Taiwan, 1661

James Cook arrives at and names Botany Bay, Australia, 1770

The French Fleet prevents Britain from seizing the Cape of Good Hope, 1781

Peter Roget publishes the first edition of his Thesaurus, 1852

The "Elektromote" – forerunner of the trolleybus – is tested by Ernst Werner von Siemens in Berlin, 1882

Gideon Sundbach of Hoboken, NJ, receives a patent for the zipper, 1913

The North Sea floodgate at Ijmuiden, the biggest in world, officially opens, 1930

The telephone connection of England-Australia goes into service, 1930

The first U.S. experimental 3D-TV broadcast airs, and episode of "Space Patrol" shown over ABC affiliate KECA in Los Angeles, 1953

The first military nuclear power plant opens, in Ft. Belvoir 1957

A cyclone strikes the Chittagong district of southeastern Bangladesh with winds of around 155 mph, killing at least 138,000 people and leaving as many as 10 million homeless, 1991

Oldsmobile builds its final car ending 107 years of production, 2004

Syria completes withdrawal from Lebanon, ending 29 years of occupation, 2005

Economic losses mount and class action lawsuits are filed as the U.S. Coast Guard plans a controlled burn to remove spilled oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster, 2010

The International Chemical Weapons Convention deadline for chemical weapon stockpiles comes into effect, 2012

German Measles is declared eradicated from North and South America, the first world regions to do so, 2015

The animated series “The Simpsons” surpasses the "Gunsmoke" 635-episode count to have highest episode count of any series on TV, 2018

A mile-wide asteroid, 1998 OR2, passes within 3.9 million miles of Earth, 2020

The world's longest pedestrian bridge (516 metres / 1,700 feet) opens inside northern Portugal's Arouca Geopark, 2021

The Bach Long (White Dragon) bridge opens in Moc Chau Island mountain park and resort, Vietnam, becoming the world's longest glass-bottom bridge, 2022

Minnesota Wild Marc-Andre Fleury (40) appears in his record 18th Stanley Cup playoff, the most for any NHL goaltender, 2025