Pessimism (Cajun Joke), Sunday Selections, and Sunday Selfie

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Just because Sandee of Comedy Plus is no longer hosting a Silly Sunday blog hop, do not expect me to quit telling Cajun jokes, especially as it has now become a habit

Grandma was rather sad yesterday, and I don't blame her.  It would have been Uncle P's 60th birthday (he died of Delta Covid19 in 2021).

Boudreaux done be's a bit down an' Thibodeaux done be tryin' cheer him up.

Fin'ly, Thibodeaux done say, "Boudreaux, you problem be's you's jes' a pessimist, dat's all."

An' Boudreaux done say, "Mais, you know what de pessimist be?  It be a person dat done lissen to too many optimists!"

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Sunday Selections was started as a way for bloggers to use photos that might otherwise just languish in their files.  The rules have been relaxed, and it is now simply a showcase for your photos, new or old, good or bad, although nothing rude, please.  Our friend River is hosting, and other participants often include Charlotte/Mother Owl, Andrew, and WiseWebWoman.  

I didn't have time to get nearly as many of the pictures of Easter decorations as i wanted, but here are a few, and some sunrise photos.

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This week, Jack wants to join the Kitties Blue at The Cat On My Head for their Sunday Selfies Blog Hop.  We were ordering lunch and he was asking what he was getting.  (Yes, he got his peanut butter treats.)

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Today is:

Barthelemy Boganda Day -- Central African Republic

Big Red Horse Day -- birth anniversary of Man O' War (1917) and Secretariat (1970), both of which had the nickname "Big Red"

Borrowed Days begin -- old English/Scottish/Irish legends about how March borrowed the next 3 days from April; these are still seen as weather prognostication days based on several different legends

Daylight Saving Time begins -- Albania; Andorra; Austria; Belgium; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Bulgaria; Croatia; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; Estonia; Faroe Islands; Finland; France; Germany; Gibraltar, Greece; Greenland (some areas); Holy See (Vatican City); Hungary; Ireland; Isle of Mann; Italy; Jersey; Kosovo; Latvia; Lebanon; Liechtenstein; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Macedonia; Malta; Moldova; Monaco; Montenegro; Morocco; Netherlands; Norway; Poland; Portugal; Romania; San Marino; Serbia; Slovakia; Slovenia; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; Ukraine; United Kingdom; Western Sahara

     European Union: Daylight Saving Time (Summer Time) Begins

Education and Sharing Day -- in honor of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994)

Knights of Columbus Founders Day

Martyrs' Day -- Madagascar

National Lemon Chiffon Cake Day

National Mom and Pop Business Owners Day -- as recognized by AICPA

Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday -- Western Christian

     Semana Santa -- Holy Week in Spain and Spanish speaking areas; special celebrations:

          Mexico -- through the country, but especially in Chiapas, with processions, costumes, and even fireworks, music, dance, and syncretic rituals

          Seville, Spain -- with hundreds of shuffling penitents in their hoods making the torch lit processions through the town; through Easter)

Smoke and Mirrors Day -- some sites call it "Festival of Smoke and Mirrors Day," but appropriately no one knows who started it

St. Armogastes of Africa's Day (Patron of the poor and torture victims; against poverty and torture)

St. Gladys' and St. Gwynllyw's Day (the Welsh "Bonny and Clyde", who led a life of crime before their conversion)

Youth Day -- Taiwan

Anniversaries Today:

Harry Hamlin weds Lisa Rinna, 1997

Yeshiva College (now University) is chartered in New York, 1928

Birthdays Today:

Hideaki Takizawa, 1982

Jennifer Capriati, 1976

Lucy Lawless, 1968

Elle Macpherson, 1964

Christopher Lambert, 1957

Kurt Thomas, 1956

Earl Christian Campbell, 1955

Karen Ann Quinlan, 1954

Bud Cort, 1950

George Blaha, 1945

Eric Idle, 1943

John Major, 1943

John Joseph McLaughlin, 1927

Pearl Bailey, 1918

Sam Walton, 1918

Eugene McCarthy, 1916

Philip Ahn, 1905

Denton True "Cy" Young, 1867

Isaac Mayer Wise, Rabbi and Founder of Reform Judaism, 1819

John Tyler, 1790

Carlo Buonaparte, father of Napoleon Bonaparte, 1746

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Woman of the Year"(Play), 1981

"The King and I"(Play), 1951

"Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows"(circus), 1919

"Mutt and Jeff"(Comic strip), 1908

"Jevgeni Onegin/Eugene Onegin"(Opera; Tchaikovsky Op. 24), 1879

Today in History:

The city of Salvador da Bahia, the first capital of Brazil, is founded, 1549

Treaty of Saint-Germain is signed, returning Quebec to French control after the English had seized it in 1629, 1632

Swedish colonists establish the first settlement in Delaware, 1638

Ludwig von Beethoven, age 24, debuts as a pianist in Vienna, 1795

Construction is authorized of the Great National Pike, better known as the Cumberland Road, becoming the first United States federal highway, 1806

Niagara Falls stops flowing for 30 hours due to an ice jam, 1848

The United Kingdom annexes the Punjab, 1849

Ohio makes it illegal for children under 18 & women to work more than 10 hours a day, 1852

Queen Victoria gives Royal Assent to the British North America Act which establishes the Dominion of Canada on July 1, 1867

Queen Victoria presides over the opening of Albert Hall in London, 1871

The Knights of Columbus are established, 1882

Dr. John Pemberton brews the first batch of Coca-Cola in his back yard, 1886

The North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement goes into effect at 03:00 local time, 1941

Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage, 1951

NASA's Mariner 10 becomes the first space probe to fly by Mercury, 1974

The Canada Act 1982 (U.K.) receives the Royal Assent from Queen Elizabeth II, setting the stage for the Queen of Canada to proclaim the Constitution Act, 1982

Catherine Callbeck becomes premier of Prince Edward Island and the first woman to be elected in a general election as premier of a Canadian province, 1993

Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia join NATO as full members, 2004

The Republic of Ireland becomes the first country in the world to ban smoking in all workplaces, including bars and restaurants, 2004

Thirty-five countries and over 370 cities join Earth Hour for the first time, 2008

A transistor-like transcriptor is built out of DNA and RNA molecules by American bioengineers at Stanford University, 2013

Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announces that Arab leaders will be combining their military resources to combat violence in the region; Saudi Arabia has already led joint forces in airstrikes on Shia Houthi rebels in Yemen, 2015

UK Prime Minister Theresa May sends a letter to the EU invoking Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, formally triggering Brexit, 2017

The megaship Ever Given is freed after nearly a week stuck in and blocking the Suez Canal, 2021

A new study of Pluto based on 2015 footage from NASA's New Horizons Telescope is published which shows evidence of cryovolcanoes and ice lava, 2022

King Charles III makes his first state visit abroad, to Germany, 2023

The Mew York Yankees hit a franchise record 9 home runs in a 20-9 win over the Milwaukee Brewers, 2025

The Weeks Go By, the Things Get Done, a Ten Things of Thankful Post

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It really is true, each day goes past, slow and steady, and i’m thankful.

Saturday morning, my Sweetie and i prepared to leave for NOLA and saw lights on the dash of #2 Son’s car, and put off our departure until he woke up and we could ask about them.  I’m thankful to now know more about his car than i’ve ever known before and thankful it got us there and back with no trouble.

Grandma was thankful we had a car available (i don’t if i ride with #2 Son) so i could go pick up food from her favorite Oriental restaurant.  Egg drop soup is her biggest weakness next to baked potatoes.

Last week, Mr. Cal crawled under a piece of furniture rather than go for a walk and had an accident in the house, extremely unlike him.  We’re thankful this week he seems back to his old self, about jumping out of his skin to get the leash on and get to the business of walking and doing business.

Becca is thankful i now have markers in my bag so she can occupy her hands during the sermon at church.

Also, our church is updating the directory, and my Sweetie is a most reluctant picture taker, as am i, but i snagged him, dragged him over to the “photo booth,” and we were thankful to get it done (a once every ten years chore).

Ms. S was especially good company Monday as i cleaned her house, we are always thankful for chatting and laughing.

Our little Annie is becoming a more and more reluctant napper at only 18 months.  I’m thankful both babysitting days saw her finally fall asleep, and Friday she was out for more than an hour, as her not napping long enough to get resting and becoming a crankpot in the evenings is also becoming a problem.

She and i are also thankful for good walks around the neighborhood.

Ms. G ended up dropping a key out of her pocket in the car and i’m thankful my hand was small enough to get down into the tiny crevice between the seat and the seat belt and snag it out for her.

She and i were both thankful for help with the two largest pieces of furniture we needed to move that day.  The first time was when a nice stranger saw us trying to lift a table into the bed of the truck and stopped to do it for us, and the second time one of the workers who was at the house for another purpose stepped in.

We were also thankful unloading is much easier, since it’s at the storage unit and it’s just us.

I’m also thankful i got through Wednesday, as Tuesday was an almost sleepless night (first one of those i’ve had in a while).

Thursday went rather well as Ms. V was up early and Mr. L moved just in time to let me get to the bedroom, i’m thankful when i don’t have to ask Ms. V to have Mr. L to get up so i can clean, as sometimes his pain levels make it hard for him to move.

Then, too, the generator runs its test later in the day during DST, so i was thankful to be home to hear it.  If it doesn’t run, it’s a problem, and if we’re not home to know if it ran, well, we can’t k now about the problems, can we.

Thursday was also Bigger Girl’s birthday!  I was thankful my Sweetie and i got to talk to her on the phone, we hope to see her soon-ish.

Friday evening at the cat shelter went great.  Some volunteers were being trained on a new procedure on the computer, Ms. M and i got our work done, a room was cleaned by other volunteers and there were adoptions.  Altogether a good evening and we are thankful.

Please write up your own list and link up to Ten Things of Thankful, where Clark and his co-hosts always have a warm welcome waiting.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

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It's Respect Your Cat Day!  This is the anniversary of King Richard II's edict in 1384 forbidding the consumption of cats.

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

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Today is:

Children's Picture Book Day -- while i can't find a sponsor for this day, starting kids on a lifelong love of books is as good an excuse for a holiday as any

Commemoration of Sen no Rikyu -- Urasenke School of the Japanese Tea Ceremony, Japan (remembering the influential master in The Way of Tea)

Earth Hour -- 8:30pm-9:30pm, your local time; turn off your lights to take a stand against climate change     

Feast of Artemis -- Ancient Greek Calendar (as protector of wild animals, vegetation, and places, begins at sundown; date approximate)

Festival of the Sacrifice at the Tombs -- Ancient Roman Calendar (to honor the ancestors)

"Greatest Show on Earth" Day -- Barnum and Bailey merged their circuses on this day in 1881

Hot Tub Day -- because we all need one!

Khordad Sal (Birth of the Prophet Zarathushtra) -- Zoroastrianism (Fasli Calendar)

Komamorijinja Reisai -- Nakaedo, Kashi-sh, Gifu, Japan (festival of the the Kosazukeishi "child-granting stone")

   

National Black Forest Cake Day

Ragnar Lodbrok's Day -- Asatru/Slavic Pagan Calendar (remembrance of this Viking's sack of Paris)

Serfs Emancipation Day -- Tibet

Something on a Stick Day -- something edible, because almost everything tastes better on a stick

St. Guntramnus' Day (Patron of divorced people, guardians, repentant murderers)

Teachers' Day -- Czech Republic; Slovakia

Weed Appreciation Day -- at last, for those of us with black thumbs, since this is all we can grow. "Weeds are flowers once you get to know them!" A.A. Milne

Birthdays Today:

Lady Gaga, 1986

Julia Stiles, 1981

Annie Wersching, 1977

Kate Gosselin, 1975

Scott Mills, 1974

Juliandra Gillen, 1971

Vince Vaughn, 1970

Reba McEntire, 1955

Dianne Wiest, 1948

Ken Howard, 1944

Conchata Ferrell, 1943

Jerry Sloan, 1942

Freddie Bartholomew, 1924

Dirk Bogarde, 1921

Irving "Swifty" Lazar, 1907

August Anheuser Busch, Jr., 1899

Maxim Gorky, 1868

Frederich Pabst, 1836

St. Teresa of Avila, 1515

Fra Bartolomeo, 1472

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Hair"(Rock musical), 1968

"Philadelphia Story"(Play), 1939

Today in History:

Roman Emperor Pertinax is assassinated by Praetorian Guards, who then sell the throne in an auction to Didius Julianus, 193

Viking raiders sack Paris, who leave in exchange for a huge ransom, 845

The origin of the Fasli Era in India, 1556

Juan Bautista de Anza finds the site for the Presidio of San Francisco, 1776

Nathaniel Briggs of NH patents a washing machine, 1797

Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers discovers 2 Pallas, the second asteroid known to man, 1802

The US Salvation Army is officially organized, 1885

Henri Fabre becomes the first person to fly a seaplane, 1910

Jews are expelled from Tel Aviv & Jaffa by Turkish authorities, 1917

Constantinople and Angora change their names to Istanbul and Ankara, 1930

The McGill français movement protest occurs, the second largest protest in Montreal's history, 1969

Operators of Three Mile Island's Unit 2 nuclear reactor outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania fail to recognize that a relief valve in the primary coolant system has stuck open, leading to a partial meltdown, 1979

In South Africa, Zulus and African National Congress supporters battle in central Johannesburg, resulting in 18 deaths, 1994

The 2005 Sumatran earthquake rocks Indonesia, and at magnitude 8.7 is the second strongest earthquake since 1965, 2005

At least 1 million union members, students, and unemployed take to the streets in France in protest at the government's proposed First Employment Contract law, 2006

Australian diplomat Peter Woolcott's draft for the first-ever treaty to regulate the conventional arms trade is discussed by members of the United Nations, 2013

Britain introduces the first new pound coin in 30 years with a secret security feature inside to stop counterfeiting, 2017

The world's largest dinosaur footprint at 1.7 metres found in Kimberley, Western Australia, 2017

The study of a gene mutation that allows a 71-year-old British woman to never feel pain is published in the British Journal of Anaesthesia, 2019

Slovakia's Slovenské elektrárne shuts down operations at its last coal-fired power plant in the country, the Vojany Power Station, 2024