It's Hard to Get Around to Yourself (Six Sentence Story), Good Fences, Sammy's Poetry Day, and Brian's Thankful Thursday

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As has become usual, Ms. G had an appointment yesterday, meaning she could not stay home and do the things around the house she wanted to get done.

We did get to a few small things, and then she pothered around, left the house, and as i knew she would, came right back in.

"I have to get to this on the computer this very minute," she said as she came back in, "and now I'm going to be late."

Ms. G is such a force as a person she is into everything for everyone, all the time, and it leaves her unable to do as much of what she says she wants to do, which is declutter her own house.

Her heart, however, is always in the right place, she does help a lot of people, is a one woman cat rescue for her neighborhood, and gets things done for her clients, making sure they can sell a house for maximum value or buy for a reasonable amount.

I've seen her about work miracles, but right now the biggest thing i wish for her is what i wish for myself, the gift of time at home to put out our own fires.

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

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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:    

The annual Snowman Convention

will now come to order please,

we have to make some decisions

before our assets freeze!

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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 Ms. G changed her mind yesterday and had me work.  I'd missed Ms. D on Monday, it's not a good week when i miss income from two jobs canceling.

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Today is:

American Historical Association Annual Meeting -- Chicago, IL, US (138th annual, with over 300 sessions covering a wide range of scholarly topics; through Sunday)

Bubble Bath Day -- remember how much fun it was as a kid?  enjoy that again today

Day Sacred to Justicia -- Ancient Roman Empire (personification of justice)

Emperor Norton Day -- E. Clampus Vitus Society puts on a party in San Francisco's Chinatown in honor of the passing on this day of Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico

Feast of Hathor and Sekhmet -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Feast of St. Gudula (Patron of single laywomen; Brussels, Belgium)

Grandmothers/Midwives Day -- Bulgaria (a/k/a Babin Den; celebrating Grandmothers as midwives of their grandchildren, for the role they play in the traditional family.)

Haloa -- Ancient Greek Calendar (fertility festival of Demeter and Dionysos called after the halos, or threshing floor; date approximate)

     Rural Dionysia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (the fertility festival of the countryside)

It All Adds Up Day -- anniversary of Hollerith's tabulating machine patent

Kim Jong-un's Birthday -- North Korea

Male Watcher's Day -- often listed as a day for the females to get even and do a little guy ogling, but no site gives any reason behind why this day was chosen

Midwife's Day / Women's Day -- Greece (women get out and go to a cafe or shopping, and the men must stay home and do the chores and care for the children, and in some areas, men caught shirking will be stripped and drenched in cold water; on the approximate date of an ancient Greek celebration of midwives)

     Gynaecocratia -- Macedonia

Milk Carton Day -- Sheffield Farms began packaging milk in paraffin lined paper cartons on this day in 1929

National Eat Something Raw Day 

National English Toffee Day

National Joygerm Day -- a day to infect others with joy; begun by Joygerm Joan, whose motto is "The only thing Joygerms allow to get depressed are their tongues!"

Old Hickory Day -- Andrew "Old Hickory" Jackson leads the victory in the Battle of New Orleans

Rock 'n' Roll Day -- on Elvis' birth anniversary, of course

Show and Tell at Work Day -- another Wellcat Holiday to observe carefully if at all

St. Severinus' Day (Patron of Austria and of San Severo, Italy)

Toka Ebisu Matsuri -- Osaka, Japan (Festival of Ebisu, god of business and prosperity; through the 11th)

Birthdays Today:

Ami Dolenz, 1969

Vladimir Feltsman, 1952

Don Bendell, 1947

David Bowie, 1947

Robbie Krieger, 1946

Kathleen Noone, 1946

Stephen Hawking, 1942

Yvette Mimieux, 1939

Bob Eubanks, 1938

Shirley Bassey, 1937

Elvis Presley, 1935

Charles Osgood, 1933

Soupy Sales, 1926

Ron Moody, 1924

Larry Storch, 1923

Jose Ferrer, 1912

Galina Ulanova, 1910

Wilkie Collins, 1824

James Longstreet, 1821

Nicholas Biddle, 1786

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Symphony No. 15 in A major (Opus 141, Dmitri Shostakovich), 1972

"Almira"(Handel's first opera), 1705

Today in History:

Monaco gains its independence, 1297

Genoa, Italy expels Jews, 1598

The oldest surviving commercial newspaper begins in Haarlem, Netherlands, 1675

The New York Fishing Company is the first American commercial corporation chartered, 1675

Premiere performance of George Frederic Handel's Ariodante at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 1734

US President George Washington delivers the first "State of the Union" address, 1790

Victor, the Wild Boy of Aveyron, emerges voluntarily from the wild in southern France (he had been captured and escaped before), 1800

The Battle of New Orleans, 1815

The first US music school, the Boston Academy of Music, is established, 1833

The US national debt hits $0 for the first and only time, 1835

Alfred Vail demonstrates a telegraph system using dots and dashes (this is the forerunner of Morse code), 1836

French physicist Jean Foucault proves, using his "Foucault's pendulum," that the Earth rotates on its axis, 1851

Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle with the US Cavalry at Wolf Mountain in Montana Territory, 1877

Dr. Herman Hollerith receives the first US patent for a tabulating machine, considered by some to be the earliest computer, 1889

The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library system, 1904

Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is exhibited in the United States for the first time, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., 1963

Soviet space mission Luna 21 is launched, 1973

The RMS Queen Mary 2, the largest passenger ship ever built, is christened by her namesake's granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II, 2004

Some scientists claim 2012 weather as the hottest year ever recorded, 2013

The previous year, 2017, is declared a record year for cost of natural disasters, coming in at $306 billion, 2018

China loosens travel restrictions and reopens its borders after 3 years, 2023

US Army veteran Henry "Robby" Robinson (98) is awarded France's Medal of Honor for his service in WWII by French Ambassador to the US in a ceremony in Las Vegas, Nevada, 2024

Ms. G's Newest Toy (Wordless Wednesday) and Words for Wednesday

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Linking up with Wordless Wednesday, Keith, Catsynth, 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 Sean Jeating and they will appear on River's blog.

This week's words/prompts are:

1.become  

2.emigrate  

3.every  

4.reliable  

5.soonish

and/or:

1.disunited  

2.joining  

3.million  

4.referendum  

5.vote

use either list or both, or mix and match, just have fun.

Charlotte's colour of the month is Carmine.

Ms. G, who has cast a VOTE in every election and REFERENDUM since 1972, has long had a dream.

Like many of her generation, she dreamed of JOINING the MILLIONs of people who own an RV and drive across the country, seeing the sights.

She wasn't going to EMIGRATE from Louisiana permanently, just spend the hottest part of EVERY summer in a cooler part of the country.

The trouble, of course, is she used to be super woman.  She golfed, she fished, she did much of her own work when flipping houses.  She could do carpentry and some plumbing and electrical, could heft and lift as much as many men, and in doing all of it, she ruined her back, knees, and ankles.

Her grasp is DISUNITED, so to speak, from what she can actually reach and do.

Ms. G bought Patience, her camper, with the greatest of intentions, and did take a few trips to campgrounds within about a two- to three-hour drive.

It's BECOME increasingly obvious the amount of work it takes to hook the camper up to her truck hitch, the hefting and lifting and work involved in the whole process of setting up and breaking down at the campgrounds, and everything else in the maintenance, is too much for her now not-so-RELIABLE back and knees.

She's got a plan to sell Patience very SOONISH.  Meanwhile, she has already switched gears and the photo above is her new bag.

It's a pontoon boat, the smallest made.  Her favorite part of the camping trips she did take, and what she seems to miss most, is the fishing portion.  Her plan is to take this almost Carmine colored beauty and go fish.  It's supposed to be easier to hook up to her truck, and not hard to launch or put back on the trailer.

We'll see how this latest adventure pans out.

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Today is:

Fasching Carnival -- Munich, Germany (through Shrove Tuesday)

Festa del Tricolore -- Italy (Tricolour or Flag Day)

Harlem Globetrotters' Day -- anniversary of their first game in 1927

I'm Not Going To Take It Anymore Day -- declared by Bob O'Brien, Consumer Advocate, who encourages us to fight back

Nanakusa no Sekku -- Japan (Festival of Seven Herbs, dates back to the 7th century and recalls the medicinal herbs that were traditionally served to the emperor)

National Tempura Day

Nativity of Christ / Orthodox Christmas / Coptic Christmas -- Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Christians still using the Julian Calendar.

Old Rock Day -- a/k/a "St. Distaff's Day" or simply Distaff Day(the distaff, for spinning yarn, was also called a "rock"; today was the day women went back to spinning after the Christmas holidays)

St. Raymond of Penyafort's Day (Patron of attorneys, barristers, canonists, lawyers, and medical record librarians)

Usokae -- Kameido Tenmangu Shrine, Fukuoka, Japan (Bullfinch Exchange Day, Uso also means "lie" so when exchanging carved birds, it is considered a way of exchanging lies for the truth)

Victory Day over the Genocidal Regime -- Cambodia

Anniversary Today:

Princess Juliana of Netherlands weds Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, 1937

Birthdays Today:

Dustin Diamond, 1977

Jeremy Renner, 1971

Nick Cleg, 1967

Nicholas Cage, 1964

Katie Couric, 1957

David Caruso, 1956

Erin Gray, 1950

Kenny Loggins, 1948

Jann Wenner, 1947

Paul Revere, 1938

William Peter Blatty, 1928

Jean-Pierre Rampal, 1922

Vincent Gardenia, 1922

Charles Addams, 1912

Butterfly McQueen, 1911

Aristotle Onassis, 1906

Zora Neale Hurston, 1891

St Bernadette, 1844

Millard Fillmore, 1800

Jacques Etienne Montgolfier, 1745

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Video-Telephone, 1992 (US$1,499)

"Fame"(TV), 1982

"Flash Gordon"(comic strip), 1934

"Buck Rogers in the 25th Century A.D."(comic strip), 1929

"Tarzan of the Apes"(comic strip), 1929

Transatlantic telephone service, 1927 (US$75 for 5 minutes)

Today in History:

Calais, the last English possession in France, is taken back by the French, 1558

Boris Godunov seizes the Russian throne upon the death of Feodore I, 1598

Fire destroys Jamestown, Virginia, 1608

Galileo discovers the first 3 moons of Jupiter (Io, Europa, and Ganymede), 1610

Francis Bacon becomes the English Lord Chancellor, 1618

A prototype typewriter is patented by Englishman Henry Mill, 1714

Battle at Panipat India: the Afghan army beats Mahratten, 1761

The Bank of North America opens in Philadelphia, the first US commercial bank, 1782

The first gas balloon flight across the English channel, by Blanchard and Jeffries, 1785

The modern Italian flag is first used, 1797

Liberia is colonized by Americans, 1822

The first railroad station in the US, in Baltimore, opens, 1830

Fanny Farmer publishes her first cookbook, 1896

The distress signal "CQD" is established only to be replaced two years later by "SOS", 1904

The first steamboat passage through the Panama Canal, 1914

The Harlem Globetrotters play their first game, 1927

The first transatlantic telephone service is established – from New York City to London, 1927

"Buck Rogers", the first sci-fi comic strip, and "Tarzan," one of the first adventure comic strips, premier, 1929

Guy Menzies flies the first solo non-stop trans-Tasman flight (from Australia to New Zealand) in 11 hours and 45 minutes, crash-landing on New Zealand's west coast, 1931

The "Flash Gordon" comic strip (by Alex Raymond) debuts, 1934

President Harry Truman announces that the United States has developed the hydrogen bomb, 1952

The first public demonstration of a machine translation system, is held in New York at the head office of IBM, 1954

Marian Anderson becomes the first black singer to perform at the Met (NYC), 1955

The Polaris missile is test launched, 1960

Surveyor 7, the last spacecraft in the Surveyor series, lifts off, 1968

Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), 1984

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launches Sakigake, Japan's first interplanetary spacecraft and the first deep space probe to be launched by any country other than the United States or the Soviet Union, 1985

The interior of the Leaning Tower of Pisa is closed to the public because of safety concerns, 1990

U.S. President Clinton goes on trial before the U.S. Senate for perjury and obstruction of justice in the Monica Lewinsky scandal, 1999

The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics estimates at least 17 billion planets exist that are comparable to the size of the Earth, 2013

A terrorist attack on the offices of satirical newspaper "Charlie Hebdo" in Paris kills 12 and injures 11, 2015

It snows in the Sahara Desert - up to 15 inches as reported in Aïn Séfra, Northwest Algeria, 2018

Puerto Rico suffers a 6.4 magnitude earthquake, its worst in almost a century, resulting in one death and 800 homes destroyed, 2020

A genetically modified pig's heart is successfully transplanted into a 53-year-old male patient in Baltimore, Maryland, US, 2022

The USDA approves the first ever vaccine for honeybees in the US, against the bacteria which causes American Foulbrood, 2023

Former US President Jimmy Carter lies in state in the US Capitol, 2025