Needed (Six Sentence Story), Good Fences, Sammy's Poetry Day, and Brian's Thankful Thursday

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From the outside looking in, anyone seeing the way Ms. G lives her life, running like a crazy lady to help everyone else with their lioves while all her plans stand still, might be tempted to think she’s mad as a March hare.

The difficulty lies in the fact she has convinced herself and many other people they cannot handle their own problems without her help, so they call her first when anything goes wrong and expect her to either advise or drop everything and come help, which she often does.

The gentleman she is currently assisting is a special needs adult who does not have our friend Carl’s advantages of a family working to be sure he has a place; in fact, when his brother asked their father what Sean was going to do when Dad died, Dad said, “Well, I won’t be there to worry about it, will I?”

Thus here we are, Dad has passed on, the house is being sold, Sean is temporarily moving into a hotel until some friends can assist him with getting disability and other help he has needed for years, and Ms. G is in a tearing hurry to empty the remaining stuff out of the house and do some basic cleaning, since the new buyers are doing a last walk-through before closing.

Which is why yesterday found us once again loading items into the back of her "pick-em-up-truck,"  ferrying them to the storage unit, directing other helpers to move some items to the curb for garbage pick-up, and lots of vacuuming, all while watching an autistic man with OCD and other diagnoses wander around in a daze, grieving for his father and seeing everything he has ever known his whole life go out the door.

And of course, Ms. G is doing this for some commission on the house sale, but she's put a lot of her own time and money into the moving mostly for the items from the house she has been gifted, now moved into storage so she can sell them online as her pay as she cares for yet another of the many people in her life who truly depend on her.

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

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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:    

I’ll let you in on a secret

if you promise not to tell,

the best way to keep a secret is for

it only in your mind to dwell!

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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 i have small hands which enabled me to reach between the buckle and the seat of Ms. G’s truck to get the key which had dropped in there.  Sometimes there are advantages to being a grown up who is child size.

I am also thankful that both times we had to load a table in the truck, a much stronger  man happened to be around who offered to help (two different houses, two different tables, two different men).

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It's Purple Day, a day to support those who have epilepsy.

The Five Sibes and Their Scribe   were five Siberian Husky dogs and their human and one of the dogs, Gibson, had epilepsy.  They advocate for dogs with epilepsy, proving that with treatment, they can LiveGibStrong and have wonderful lives.

If you or anyone you know has a dog with epilepsy, they're a great resource.  Today, we celebrate strides made in caring for people and dogs (and other pets) with epilepsy.

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Today is:

Day to Mourn Victims of Biological Weapons -- commemorates the day they were outlawed in 1975

Fiesta del Arbol -- Spain (Tree Festival or Arbor Day)

Independence Day and National Day -- Bangladesh(1971)

Khordad Sal -- Zoroastrian (Birth of the Prophet Zaranhushtra)

Legal Assistants' Day

Make Up Your Own Holiday Day -- Wellcat Holidays, which has made up a bunch, wants you to do the same today!

Martyr's Day / Democracy Day -- Mali

National Letting Go of Stuff Day -- see lettinggocafe.com for details

National Nougat Day

Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianole Day -- Hawaii, US (Hawaiian Royal who worked to preserve the Hawaiian culture)

Purple Day -- International (supporting epileptics around the world)   

Spinach Day -- on this day in 1937, spinach growers in Crystal City, Texas, erected a statue of Popeye in honor of their favorite veggie

St. Braulio's Day (Patron of Aragon, Spain)

St. William of Norwich's Day (Patron of kidnap and torture victims)

Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel -- Eastern Orthodox Christianity (celebration of his role is the Annunciation)

Anniversaries Today:

Ricki Lake weds Rob Sussman, 1994

Founding of the University of Utrecht, 1636

Birthdays Today:

Keira Knightley, 1985

Amy Smart, 1976

T.R. Knight, 1973

Josh Lucas, 1972

Leslie Mann, 1972

Kenny Chesney, 1968

John Stockton, 1962

Marcus Allen, 1960

Jennifer Grey, 1960

Catherine Keener, 1960

Leeza Gibbons, 1957

Curtis Sliwa, 1954

Teddy Pendergrass, 1950

Martin Short, 1950

Vicki Lawrence, 1949

Steven Tyler, 1948

Diana Ross, 1944

Bob Woodward, 1943

Erica Jong, 1942

James Caan, 1939

Alan Arkin, 1934

Leonard Nimoy, 1931

Sandra Day O'Connor, 1930

Pierre Boulez, 1925

Tennessee Williams, 1911

Viktor Frankl, 1905

Robert Frost, 1874

Jane Arminda Delano, 1862

Nathaniel Bowditch, 1773

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Fences"(Play), 1988

"The Young and the Restless"(TV), 1973

"Cannon"(TV), 1971

"Funny Girl"(Musical), 1964

"Die Ehe des Herrn Mississippi/The Marriage of Mr. Mississippi"(Play), 1952

Today in History:

William Caxton prints his translation of Aesop's Fables, 1484

The first British Sunday newspaper is published (British Gazette & Sunday Monitor), 1780

The US Congress orders removal of Indians east of Mississippi to Louisiana, 1804

An earthquake destroys 90% of Caracas, Venezuela, leaves 20,000 dead, 1812

The Book of Mormon is published in Palmyra, NY, 1830

Eastman Film Co manufactures the first commercial motion picture film, 1885

New Delhi replaces Calcutta as capital of British-Indies, 1931

William H. Hastie becomes the first black Federal Judge in the US, in the US Virgin Islands, 1937

Jonas Salk announces the first successful test of his polio vaccine on a small group of adults and children, 1953

East Pakistan declares its independence from Pakistan to form People's Republic of Bangladesh, 1971

Anwar al-Sadat, Menachem Begin and Jimmy Carter sign the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty in Washington, D.C., 1979

The "Melissa worm" infects Microsoft word processing and e-mail systems around the world, 1999

A jury in Michigan finds Dr. Jack Kevorkian guilty of second-degree murder for administering a lethal injection to a terminally ill man, 1999

The Taiwanese government calls on 1 million Taiwanese to demonstrate in Taipei, in opposition to the Anti-Secession Law of the People's Republic of China, 2005

Richard III of England (1452-1485) is reburied at Leicester Cathedral in England, after being discovered under a carpark in Leicester in 2012, 2015

US, European Union and Ukraine expel more than 100 Russian diplomats in response to Russian use of nerve gas in UK, 2018

The US Federal Trade Commission confirms it will investigate Facebook over privacy concerns, 2018

The Pablo Picasso painting Buste de Femme(1938), stolen 20 years prior, is recovered by a Dutch art detective, 2019

The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapses after being struck by a cargo ship that had lost power, 2024

Masaki Kashiwara becomes the first Japanese mathematician to be awarded Mathematics' highest honor, the Abel Prize, for his work on the theory of symmetry, 2025

Water Heater Held Together by Rust (Wordless Wednesday) and Words for Wednesday

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Linking up with Wordless Wednesday, Catsynth, Keith, 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 River at Drifting Through Life.    

This week's words/prompts are:

1.concoction  

2.premises  

3.smoky  

4.genuine  

5.stronger  

6.grease

Charlotte's colour of the month is Ocean Twilight.

I knew from the time I was a very small child the herb woman in our village was GENUINE, and I knew from the talk that in some villages, this was not the case.  

Not that I knew how to express it, but somehow I felt it the first time I walked onto her PREMISES at the age of almost three, clutching my mama’s skirts and coughing fit to choke from the grippe.

I watched, wide-eyed with wonder, as she stoked her SMOKEY fire and put together a CONCOCTION  for my mama to give me.  It was thick with honey and some kind of GREASE and the color of Ocean Twilight, but it didn’t taste bad and I remember being in such awe of the herb woman I swallowed the first dose right then with no resistance.

“I made it STRONGER,” she told my mama, “you let her go long before bringing her to me.”

“I am sorry, we had the fields to tend before the rains so I could not get away sooner and I did not realize how sick she was getting,” my mama said.

“Bring her back next week, fields or no fields,” the herb woman said.  “She may need more.  Also, look at the eyes of her, even ill she has not stopped her looking.  If she has the makings of an herb woman, and she has the marks, I want to apprentice her early.”

Since becoming an herb woman myself, I now know, yes, she was good; so am I, thanks to her.

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Today is:

Anniversary of the Arengo and the Feast of the Militants -- San Marino

Annunciation of the Virgin Mary -- Roman Catholic Christian

     Lady Day/Quarter Day -- England; Ireland; Wales (traditional New Year's Day)

     Varfrudagen -- Sweden (waffle day)

Day of the Shining Ones of Heaven move Upstream -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Festival of King Amenhotep I -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (rituals depicting his death and burial, performed for the Deir-el-Medina workforce; date approximate)

Hilaria -- Ancient Roman Empire ("Day of Joy", honoring Attis)

Independence Day -- Cyprus; Greece(1821)

International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade -- UN

International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members -- UN

International Waffle Day -- based on Sweden's tradition of having waffles on Annunciation Day

Little Red Wagon Day

Medal of Honor Day -- US (first one awarded this date in 1963)

Mother's Day -- Slovenia

National Day of Celebration of Greek and American Democracy -- Greece; US

National Lobster Newburg Day

National Pecan Day -- anniversary of George Washington's planting of Pecan trees at Mt. Vernon in 1775

National Waffle Day -- possibly also International Waffle Day, depends on the site you search

Navpad Oli/ Ayambil Oli -- Jain (nine day religious festival)

Old New Year's Day -- until 1751, British Empire

Revolution Day -- Greece (anniversary of the revolt against the Ottoman Empire in 1821)

Sacrifice to Kronos -- Ancient Greek Calendar (private sacrifices to Kronos; date approximate)

Seward's Day -- Alaska, US

St. Dismas' Day ("Dismas" is the name given to the unnamed "Thief on the Cross", crucified next to Jesus according to Biblical accounts, and who repented; Patron of condemned/death row prisoners, funeral directors/undertakers, penitent criminals, prisoners, reformed thieves; Merizo, Guam)

Struggle for Human Rights Day -- Slovakia

The Tichborne Dole - in Alresford, Hampshire, UK; since 1150, a gallon of flour is given to every resident by the Tichborne family head on this day, to avoid a curse

Tolkien Reading Day -- sponsored by The Tolkien Society on the anniversary of the fall of Sauron

Whole Grain Sampling Day -- sponsored by the Whole Grains Council   

Birthdays Today:

Danica Patrick, 1982

Lee Pace, 1979

Sheryl Swoopes, 1971

Sarah Jessica Parker, 1965

Marcia Cross, 1962

John Stockwell, 1961

Mary Gross, 1953

Paul Miles, 1952

Bonnie Bedelia, 1948

Elton John, 1947

Bonnie Bedelia, 1946

Paul Michael Glaser, 1943

Aretha Franklin, 1942

Anita Bryant, 1940

Gloria Steinem, 1934

James Lovell, 1928

Eileen Ford, 1922

Simone Signoret, 1921

Howard Cosell, 1920

Norman Borlaug, 1940

David Lean, 1908

Bela Bartok, 1881

Arturo Toscanini, 1867

Gutzon Borglum, 1867

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Barrymore"(Play), 1997

"Cagney & Lacey"(TV), 1982

Today in History:

The first Easter, according to calendar-maker Dionysius Exiguus, 31

According to legend, Venice, Italy is born today at noon, 421

Richard I is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting France, leading to his death on April 6, 1199

Robert the Bruce becomes King of Scotland, 1306

Sir Walter Raleigh renews Humphrey Gilbert's patent to explore North America, 1584

Henry Hudson embarks on an exploration for Dutch East India Co., 1609

Lord Baltimore founds Catholic colony of Maryland, 1634

Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is discovered by Christian Huygens, 1655

Mount Etna in Sicily erupts, destroying Nicolosi, killing 20,000, 1669

The Slave Trade Act becomes law, abolishing the slave trade in the British Empire, 1807

The Swansea and Mumbles Railway in England, then known as the Oystermouth Railway, becomes the first passenger carrying railway in the world, 1807

Percy Bysshe Shelley is expelled from the University of Oxford for publishing the pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism, 1811

Greeks revolt against the Ottoman Empire, beginning the Greek War of Independence, 1821

In New York City, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire kills 146 garment workers, leading to factory reform laws, 1911

The Georgian Orthodox Church restores its autocephaly abolished by Imperial Russia in 1811, 1917

The first successful tornado forecast predicts that a tornado will strike Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, 1948

The European Economic Community is established (West Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg), 1957

Canada's Avro Arrow makes its first flight, 1958

Civil rights activists led by Martin Luther King, Jr. successfully complete their 4-day 50-mile march from Selma to the capitol in Montgomery, Alabama, 1965

The first fully functional space shuttle orbiter, Columbia, is delivered to the John F. Kennedy Space Center to be prepared for its first launch, 1979

The world's first wiki, a part of the Portland Pattern Repository, is made public by Ward Cunningham, 1995

The European Union's Veterinarian Committee bans the export of British beef and its by-products as a result of mad cow disease, 1996

Protesters demanding a new election in Belarus, following the rigged Belarusian presidential election, clash with riot police, 2006

In southwest China, environmental and health concerns among residents are raised when 1,000 dead ducks were pulled from the Sichuan River, 2013

The world's largest banana split ever, at 8,040 metres long, is made in Innisfail, Australia, 2017

Doctors perform the first ever organ transplant from a live HIV+ patient to an HIV+ recipient, a kidney transplant in Boston, MA, US, 2019

NASA has to cancel a planned all female spacewalk because it doesn't have enough space suits in the right size, 2019

The Renaissance masterpiece The Ghent Altarpiece (1432) by Hubert and Jan Van Eyck goes on display, after a seven-year restoration, in St Bavo's Cathedral in Ghent, Belgium, 2021

A rare, long-track tornado travels 170 miles from Rolling Fork to Armory, Mississippi leaving a trail of devastation, 2023

The first widespread outbreak of bird flu in cows is reported at farms in six US states, 2024