Back in Her Element (Six Sentence Story), Good Fences, Sammy’s Poetry Day, and Brian’s Thankful Thursday

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Ms. G, as noted before, has pretty well trained most of her side of the family and many of her close friends to rely on her to be the go-to for everything, especially if there is an emergency or crisis.

When i arrived yesterday, she was just coming in from her hair appointment and immediately began fielding calls for Ms. J, her godmother who has been in the hospital for a couple of weeks, and who is at a critical point where her children are being called on to make decisions they are looking to Ms. G to help with.

I simply started the usual chores, not knowing if it was going to be a long work day or short, but as i finished in the cat room and got all the cold drinks into the fridge, she got a text.

"My cousin has just gone to the hospital, internal bleeding, I guess I'm going to have to go up there and see to it," she was saying, then adding, "you do take Paypal, right, 'cause I won't be here to write a check."

Then there was a flurry of new texting as i worked away, and with all the starch taken out of her like a child whose balloon has popped she said, "Well, this cousin is like me, good head on her shoulders, thinks straight and clear, takes care of a lot of the stuff on her side of the family and she says she doesn't need me up there right now, so I'm going to put my sciatica on the heating pad and when you're done, well, we'll see what happens."

What happened was she wasn't feeling better when i was finished with the chores, she felt she needed to stay on the heating pad so she let me go home, but as i was leaving she got a text from someone who needed help with a feral mama cat and five kittens, and once again she was in her element, from her throne of a recliner chair with heating pad in place, taking charge of someone else's crisis.

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

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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!

I like fences with "character."

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

He promised to do it, and did,

though he just about flipped his lid,

to dress like a girl,

ride a bike called "pink pearl,"

it's amazing what you'll do for your kid.

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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 got home just early enough yesterday to run an errand with #1 Son, one which we needed to do but had no clue when we'd get to it.  We're thankful it's done!

Bonus, i am thankful for #1 Son whose birthday is today.

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Today is:

Atomic Bomb Day -- the first experimental bomb was set off today in 1945

Closet Space Appreciation Day -- if you have some, enjoy (we have tiny closets!)

Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel; related observances (many noting her relationship to Carmen, ancient goddess of healing and midwifery)

     Fiesta of the Virgin of Carmen -- Santurtzi, Basque Region, Spain

     Lady of Carmen Day -- Chile 

     La Madonna della Carmine -- Naples, Italy (all of Italy, actually, but especially here)

     Virgen Del Carmen -- Cetano, Puerto Rico

Fresh Spinach Day -- yippee!

Get To Know Your Customers Day -- third Thursday of each quarter

Ice Cream Cone Day -- this is one of the many days people say the confection was invented, so why not?

LaPaz Day -- Bolivia

Manu'a Cession Day -- American Samoa

National Corn Fritters Day

National Personal Chef Day -- some websites say Feb. 24, but since i'm not going to have one, you may celebrate it whichever you choose

Parking Meter Day -- the first parking meter was installed on this day in 1935 in Okalahoma City, OK

Rath Yathra & Bahuda Jatra-- Puri, India (the first is the Chariot Festival, pilgrims pull huge chariots across the city, and the second is 8 days later, the Return Festival; one of the most awaited Hindu festivals in the state and country)

St. Eustathius' Day

Talk to a Telemarketer Day -- only if i can mess with his/her mind in some way!

Anniversary Today:

Michael J. Fox marries Tracy Pollan, 1988

Birthdays Today

Mark Indelicato, 1994

Jayma Mays, 1979

Corey Feldman, 1971

Larry Sanger, 1968

Barry Sanders, 1968

Will Ferrell, 1967

Phoebe Cates, 1963

Michael Flatley, 1958

Stewart Copeland, 1952

Ruben Blades, 1948

Pinchas Zukerman, 1948

Bess Myerson, 1924

Ginger Rogers, 1911

"Miss Frances" Horwich, 1907

Barbara Stanwyck, 1907

Orville Reddenbacker, 1907

Roald Amundsen, 1872

Ida B. Wells, 1862

Mary Baker Eddy, 1821

Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1723

Andrea del Sarto, 1486

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Golden Horseshoe Revue"(Disneyland show), 1955

The Catcher in the Rye(Publication date), 1951

"Das Entfuhrung aus dem Serail"(Opera, Mozart K. 384), 1782

Today in History

The Islamic Calendar begins, 622

East-West Schism between the Eastern and Western Christian churches begin, 1054

The first banknotes in Europe are issued by the Swedish bank Stockholms Banco, 1661

Manchu Qing Dynasty naval forces under traitorous commander Shi Lang defeat the Kingdom of Tungning in the Battle of Penghu near the Pescadores Islands, 1683

Father Junipero Serra founds California's first mission, Mission San Diego de Alcalá. Over the following decades, it evolves into the city of San Diego, 1769

First performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera The Abduction from the Seraglio, 1782

The city of La Paz, in what is today Bolivia, declares its independence from the Spanish Crown, 1809

Emily Stowe becomes the first female physician licensed to practice medicine in Canada, 1880

The world's first parking meter is installed in the Oklahoma capital, Oklahoma City, 1935

The world's first nuclear weapon, the "atom bomb," is detonated in New Mexico, 1945

The storming of the cockpit of the Miss Macao passenger seaplane, operated by a subsidiary of the Cathay Pacific Airways, marks the first aircraft hijacking of a commercial plane, 1948

J.D. Salinger novel The Catcher in the Rye published by Little, Brown and Company, 1951

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus closes its very last "Big Tent" show in Pittsburgh, due to changing economics all subsequent circus shows will be held in arenas, 1956

USS George Washington (SSBN-598) a modified Skipjack class submarine successfully test fires the first Ballistic missile while submerged, 1960

The Mont Blanc Tunnel linking France and Italy opens, 1965

Apollo 11, the first manned space mission to land on the Moon, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, 1969

Mahathir bin Mohamad becomes Malaysia's 4th Prime Minister; he will be in office 22 years, Asia's longest-serving political leader, 1981

Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collides with Jupiter (impacts continue until July 22), 1994

John F. Kennedy, Jr., piloting a Piper Saratoga aircraft, dies in a plane mishap over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, along with his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette, 1999

Chicago's Millenium Park is opened to the public, 2004

The funeral for the final heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Otto von Habsburg, occurs in Vienna, attended by monarchs and members of the political elite, 2011

NASA's Dawn space probe enters orbit around the protoplanet Vesta, 2011

Scientists reveal the first close-up pictures of Pluto, sent by the New Horizons probe, 2015

The BBC announces that the first ever female Doctor Who will be played by Jodie Whittaker, 2017

Scientists at the Carnegie Institute for Science announce the discovery of 12 more moons orbiting Jupiter, bringing the total of Jupiter’s known moons to 79, 2018

The Persian Gulf International Airport on Iran’s southwestern coast registers a record high heat index of 152 degrees Fahrenheit (66.7 C) at 12:30 p.m., 2023

One of three known "Rosebud" props from the 1941 film 'Citizen Kane' sells at auction for $14.75M , 2025

Fake! (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 words/prompts are supplied by Charlotte and can be found here.

This week's words/prompts are:

1.ants  

2.sushi  

3.meeting  

4.miniature  

5.juniper  

6.leaves

and/or:

1.mushroom  

2.seagull  

3.windy  

4.glass  

5.knit  

6.safe

also this image of a dormer window:

Charlotte's colour of the month is Jade Green.

Use any or all of the words, or just use them as a springboard for something else, be creative and have fun.

The highlight of a day with my little one is when we are able to take a walk in the mornings.  On very hot days, we have to go early.  If it's raining, we can wear rain gear and have fun splashing unless there is lightening, and then we are out of luck.  If it's too cold, the same.

But most days have a time when we can have a walk, long or short, in the neighborhood.  We see such interesting things, at least to a grandmother and very young granddaughter.

One time, we saw ANTS congregated around a dropped piece of SUSHI.  It looked to me for all the world like a MEETING of the board of directors of a company in MINIATURE, and they were too busy eating what was on the menu to get back to discussing business.

We see all kinds of plants, in cooler months there are camellia blooms, then the azaleas, then ligustrums, and so on, JUNIPER, jasmine, and a couple of neighbors even have sweet olive trees.  We see greens in every shade from Jade Green to plain grass green, and she is fascinated by LEAVES of every shape, magnolia and oak and crepe myrtle.

Of course, if it's been raining, there are the MUSHROOM colonies, if that's what they are called, which are always of some poisonous variety or other.  Maybe toadstools would be a better word, they just spring up with a lot of moisture and are gone soon after.

She will say, "Tweet, tweet, tweet!" when she hears the birds, we have mockingbirds and blue jays, cardinals and doves, crows and even the occasional owl.  Once i saw a very lost SEAGULL, at least he was probably lost, we have no ocean here, just plenty of lakes and waterways and a few gulls hang out near them, but he was far from home.

When it's WINDY, we note the flags people put out flapping in the breeze, sometimes the nation's flag, sometimes decorative flags, and once in so often, one of those black and white striped flags with a yellow stripe in the middle, the Gadsden, I think it is called.

My little also loves to play with rocks and will sit down wherever they are, even on the edge of the road, and have a good time digging, throwing or just picking up and looking at various rocks.  One time a very nice lady stepped through her GLASS storm door wearing her KNIT jumper to ask if we were SAFE and if all was well.  I told her we were just playing with rocks and we'd be careful to watch for cars.  We have good neighbors.

There are houses of many varieties, the ones which fascinate me are those with dormer windows.

I always wanted one so as to create a reading nook out of it, but it hasn't happened yet and probably won't.

Then there are the gardens.  Big ones, small ones, some with just a couple of plants, some with dozens.  One day, there were such beautiful orange flowers in one garden we stepped closer so as to get a good picture and guess what!  The flowers were fake!  Yes, from the street they looked like perfect, beautiful blooms and no one would be the wiser unless he or she stepped close as we did.

The Wordless Wednesday picture above is them in all their glory!

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Today is Pet Fire Safety Day.  Make a plan to get yourself and your pets safely out of your home in case of a fire, it's important to be prepared.

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

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Today is:

Be a Dork Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays, which encourages you to wear goofy clothes and fall off a swingset today and be proud of Dorkiness

Cigarette Warning Day -- anniversary of the 1968 law passed in the US that requires health warnings on cigarette packaging

Feast of Rowana/Rauni -- Druid/Cornish/Flemish (rowan tree goddess; date approximate)

Festival of Castor and Pullox -- Ancient Roman Calendar every five years (celebrated with a cavalry and chariot procession)

Festival of Santa Rosalia -- Palermo; Sicily (remembrance of the Patron saint of the city on the date, in 1624, when she stopped the plague)

Gorestnici -- Bulgaria (fire festival of 3 days duration, honoring the ancient belief that these are the 3 hottest days of the year)

Gummi Worm Day

Hakata Gion Yamagasa -- Kushida Shrine, Fukuoka, Japan (festival of floats, dates back to the 13th century, includes dousing teams carrying one-ton floats with water as they race!)

Hundadagar -- Icelandic tradition, the "dog days" of summer begin, through Aug. 23

Ides of July -- Ancient Roman Calendar

I Love Horses Day -- all over the web with no specific reason given, but do you need a reason to celebrate horses?

National Tapioca Pudding Day

No-Hitter Day -- George Bradley of the St. Louis Brown Stockings pitched the first officially recognized no-hitter in MLB against the Hartford Dark Blues on this date in 1876

Respect Canada Day -- because Canada deserves it!

St. Bonaventure's Day (Patron against intestinal problems; of Bagnoregio, Italy; Cochiti Indian Pueblo; St. Bonaventure University, New York)

St. Swithun's Day -- Saint Swithun's Society Annual Celebration in Toronto, ON, Canada; the weather prognostication associated with this saint says if it rains today, it will rain for the next 40 days (Patron against drought; of Stavenger, England; Winchester, England)

St. Vladimir of Kiev's Day (Patron of converts, parents of large families, reformed and penitent murderers; Russia; Ukrainian Catholic Diocese of Stamford, Connecticut; Winnipeg, Manitoba)

Sultan's Birthday -- Brunei Darussalam

Birthdays Today

Tanner Maguire, 1998

Emily Roeske, 1991

Brian Austin Green, 1973

Beth Stern, 1972

Adam Savage, 1967

Irene Jacob, 1966

Forest Whitaker, 1961

Lolita Davidovich, 1961

Kim Alexis, 1960

William Aames, 1960

Terry O’Quinn, 1952

Jesse Ventura, 1951

Arianna Huffington, 1950

Richard Russo, 1949

Linda Ronstadt, 1946

Jan-Michael Vincent, 1944

Alex George Karras, 1935

Ken Kercheval, 1935

Julian Bream, 1933

Clive Cussler, 1931

Jacques Derrida, 1930

Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini, 1850

Thomas Bulfinch, 1796

Clement Clarke Moore, 1779

Rembrandt Van Rijn, 1606

Debuting/Premiering Today:

MSNBC(Network), 1996

"One Life to Live"(TV), 1968

Today in History

Christian soldiers take the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem after the final assault of a difficult siege, 1099

John Ball, a leader in the Peasants' Revolt, is hanged, 1381

Alexei Chirikov sights land and sends men ashore in a longboat, making them the first Europeans to visit Alaska, 1741

The Rosetta Stone is found in the Egyptian village of Rosetta by French Captain Pierre-François Bouchard during Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign, 1799

Zebulon Pike begins an expedition from Fort Belle Fountaine to explore the west, 1806

Napoléon Bonaparte surrenders aboard HMS Bellerophon, 1815

A fire destroys the ancient Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, 1823

Georgia becomes the last of the former Confederate states to be readmitted to the Union, 1870

The stratovolcano Mount Bandai, Japan, erupts killing approximately 500 people, 1888

In Seattle, Washington, William Boeing and George Conrad Westervelt incorporate Pacific Aero Products (later renamed Boeing), 1916

Eighteen Nobel laureates sign the Mainau Declaration against nuclear weapons, later co-signed by thirty-four others, 1955

AOL Time Warner disbands Netscape Communications Corporation; the Mozilla Foundation is established on the same day, 2003

Entire villages are burned to the ground and 40,000 people flee their homes in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 2010

An 8-year-old girl finds a pre-Viking-era sword in Vidostern Lake, Sweden, and is jokingly proclaimed Queen of Sweden, 2018

Devastating floods linked to climate change sweep through towns in western Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, 2021

Italian and American scientists announce the discovery of a lunar cave, approximately 250 miles (400 km) from the landing site of Apollo 11, the Mare Tranquillitatus pit, 2024