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

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Ms. G hadn't seen Ms. Fiona in person for at least three weeks, partly because she had been ill and didn't want to take her sinus infected self to the retirement home, contagious or not, and partly because it has become an option to just send me instead, which is what she will be planning for next week.

Yesterday she could put it off no longer and we hied ourselves out to The Meadows retirement and rehabilitation home, with more cheese and peanut butter crackers for Ms. Fiona's snack stash.

We met Ms. Fiona coming down the hall to go to the dining room as it was almost time for lunch, and  Ms. G pushed her back to her room so we could visit a few minutes.

Ms. G rather treats Ms. Fiona the way a daughter would treat her aged mother, which makes sense because, although they are not related, Ms. G likes to manage and boss people and Ms. Fiona has no living relatives near enough to help her and she has given Ms. G legal permission to do everything for her you'd expect her son to do if he even spoke to his mother any longer, which now she has no money to give him, he does not.

Thus they went back and forth over whether she was comfortable in those socks, and let me take your other pair of slippers home to wash them, and show me your arms, how's your rash, oh, good, it's gone, your orchids are lovely, what is this, here, mimi, this vase is dirty please wash it for us and other such things.

Finally, it was time to wheel her to the dining area and say good-bye, and Ms. G and i were off to shop at the bulk club and then go home to do various and sundry chores since Ms. G will be busy next week and is sending me to help Ms. Fiona sort out her mountains of laundry, probably with her on the phone the whole time to direct the process.

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

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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:    

Celebrate life!

Don't slow down!

Kick up your heels!

Get out of town!

Go do something!

Make it count!

Making life worthwhile

is paramount!

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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 the Ford Focus, called GusGus die Fledermaus, is finally running properly!  No A/C still, but #2 Son replaced the fuel valve whatchamacallit which was keeping the check engine light on all of the time and making it run rough and threaten to not start after putting gas in it.  Now we can get it inspected!  Also, he changed the cabin air filters in GusGus and Lawrence (the Honda) and a relay in Slow-Moe (the Pontiac).  It's such a blessing to have a child who is mechanically inclined.

Extra note to Mr. Terry at Brian's Home - Forever:  i have tried commenting on the blog and it keeps telling me my nonce is invalid, whatever that means.  If i don't get to comment, i am not ignoring you, i just don't know how to get that nonce to behave itself, much less where it is hiding right now.

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Today is:

Arrephoria -- Ancient Greek Calendar (ceremony for the two girls chosen to weave the new robe for Athena's Statue and care for her sacred olive tree during the next year; date approximate)

Career Nursing Assistants' Day -- and the start of CNA Week 

Corn on the Cob Day

Fandens Fodselsdag(The Devil's Birthday) -- Denmark (traditional date when contracts between masters and servants expired, making them free to renew or renegotiate or sever ties; it was also considered The Devil's Birthday because taxes and rents came due!)

Hug Holiday -- some internet sites have this one, and since hugs are good for mental health, indulge!

King Kamehameha Day -- Hawaii, US

National German Chocolate Cake Day

Rites of Matralia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (honoring of Mater Matua, goddess of dawn and childbirth, by women who had been married once) related observance:

     Day Sacred to Fortuna Virgo (Fortune the Virgin, the day marriage robes of girls were dedicated to this goddess)

St. Barnabas the Apostle's Day (Patron of Antioch; Cyprus; Marbelia, Costa del Sol, Spain; Marino, Italy; invoked as a peacemaker; against hailstorms) a/k/a Barnaby Bright Day or Long Barnaby*

*Under the Julian calendar, June 11, St. Barnabas' Day, was the longest day of the year --

Barnaby Bright, Barnaby Bright,

The longest day

And the shortest night

Anniversaries Today:

Henry VIII marries Catherine of Aragon, 1509

Birthdays Today:

Shia LeBeouf, 1986

Joshua Jackson, 1978

Caroline Quentin, 1961

Dr. Mehmet Oz, 1960

Hugh Laurie, 1959

Joe Montana, 1956

Peter Bergman, 1953

Adrienne Barbeau, 1945

Jackie Stewart, 1939

Chad Everett, 1936

Prince Henrik of Denmark, 1934

Gene Wilder, 1933

William Clark Styron, Jr., 1925

Vince Lombardi, 1913

Jacques Cousteau, 1910

Jeannette Pickering Rankin, 1880

Richard Georg Strauss, 1864

John Constable, 1776

Ben Jonson, 1572

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"American Idol"(TV), 2002

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial(Film), 1982

"Main Street Electrical Parade"(Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Florida), 1977

"Rock 'n' Roll Music"(Beatles' UK album release), 1976

A Day at the Races(Marx Brothers film), 1937

Today in History:

Troy is sacked and burned, according to calculations by Eratosthenes, BC1184

Philip II recognizes the rights and privileges of the local nobles and chieftains in the Philippines, which paves way to the creation of the Principalía, 1594

The Continental Congress appoints Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston to the Committee of Five to draft a declaration of independence, 1776

Russian explorer Gerasim Izmailov reaches Alaska, 1788

The first American stove patent is granted to Robert Haeterick, 1793

The Limelight Department, one of the world's first film studios, is officially established in Melbourne, Australia, 1892

New Zealand annexes the Cook Islands, 1901

Sir Barton wins the Belmont Stakes, becoming the first horse to win the Triple Crown, 1919

Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin become the only prisoners to escape from the prison on Alcatraz Island, 1962

Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington become the first women to receive the rank of general in the U.S. Army, 1970

Cassini-Huygens makes its closest flyby of the Saturn moon Phoebe, 200

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes an official apology to Canada's First Nations for residential school abuse that isolated native children from their homes, families, and cultures for a century, 2008

Ancient Korean royal books looted by French troops in 1866 are returned to South Korea; 1,000 officials and locals celebrate the return of the 297-volume 'Oegyujanggak' books, 2011

Winds in southwestern Western Australia of up to 140km/h batter the area and leave more than 170,000 homes without power, 2012

Japan passes a law that will allow Emperor Akihito to abdicate, 2017

“The New York Times” reveals that the fire on the back lot of Universal Studios in Los Angels eleven years earlier had destroyed over 500,000 original master recordings, including many by Chuck Berry, Louis Armstrong, and Ella Fitzgerald, 2019

A US lobsterman survives being swallowed by a humpback whale off the coast of Provincetown, Massachusetts, 2021

Estonian Biobank opens its portal allowing 200,000 Estonians to access their genetic information, including disease risk and ancestry markers, 2024

I've Never Seen This Happen Before (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 Hilary Melton-Butcher and can be found right here at River's blog.

This week's words/prompts are:

1.baker  

2.canoe  

3.gable  

4.training  

5.rot

and/or:

1.lily-livered  

2.provisions  

3.barley  

4.arrow  

5.border

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

Charlotte's colour of the month is Razzmatazz.

"It's not that I'm LILY-LIVERED," she protested with a laugh at his choice of words.  "I'm just a bit cautious is all."

He smiled.  Her saying she was a bit cautious was almost like a ninja saying he was on the BORDER of being stealthy.

They were discussing what to do with the children come summertime.  Neither wanted the kids sitting around the house all day letting their brains ROT.  Both had gone to summer camps as kids themselves and believed in them.

The difference was she had always gone to what was called a "day camp," you were shuttled there every morning, just like you were taken to school during the rest of the year, and then came home in the afternoon.

He, on the other hand, had gone to "sleepover" camps where you went away for several weeks and just stayed there.

She remembered having fun, making friends, and being at home in her own bed every night.  He remembered having fun, making friends, and enjoying the fun of sleeping in a cabin in the woods at night.

Thus he was trying to talk her into sending the kids away, she was trying to convince him it was better to keep them nearby.

"Just look at this place," he said, glancing again at the brochure and information.  "They'd teach our son how to shoot a bow and ARROW properly, on an archery field.  It sure beats him making his own bow and arrows in the woods behind the house and practicing by shooting at our fence.  And they'd have TRAINING on how to paddle a CANOE, too.  You love the water, we could take a family vacation next summer, spend time on a river."

"I know," she said, looking out of the GABLE window with its Razzmatazz pink curtains over the fence at their son, way up in a tree again in what they called "the woods," a small treed area which led to a creek.  "But our daughter wants to become a BAKER.  Just yesterday she told me she found a recipe online that uses BARLEY and could I get her some.  The nearby camp has a cooking and baking session for those who choose it, and she'd love it.

"Also, you know what she said to me yesterday?  She said, 'I don't want to go on hikes where I have to carry my own PROVISIONS.  I'm like Grandmother, I think roughing it is a hotel with no room service!'"

They both laughed, and he said, "Well, there's another reason to send them both, he'd get some lessons in safety" -- glancing out the window at their son, now about to drop out said tree on purpose from a rather high distance -- "and she'd get a little more ready for the fact life isn't always going to be 'hotels with room service.'"

"Both camps have two summer sessions of four weeks each," he continued.  "We sign them both up for the first session at the overnight camp, then let our son stay for the second session and bring her home for the day camp cookery lessons for the second session."

She looked down, thinking, knowing it was really a good idea to do just that, but wondering how she'd break the news to their little girl, who was getting a little too fastidious for her own good.

"Deal," she said finally, and they both smiled, relieved the decision had been made.  Now to let the kids know they wouldn't be home sleeping in and doing nothing all summer long.

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Today is:

Abolition Day -- French Guiana

Alcoholics Anonymous Founders Day

    

Army Day -- Jordan

Ball Point Pen Day -- date, in 1943, Biro patented one of the early models of a ball point pen (it was as awful as the other early ones, though!)

Celtic Tree Month Duir (Oak) commences

Dia de Portugal e de Camoes -- Portugal (National Day)

Herbs & Spices Day

National Black Cow Day

National Iced Tea Day

National Time Out Day -- US, sponsored by The Association of Operating Room Nurses, which wants everyone involved in surgeries to take time out before the procedure to verify the surgery site, type, and patient and decrease OR errors  

Rape of Lidice/Lidice Memorial Day -- Czech Republic and Slovakia/New Jersey, US (in one of the most-remembered atrocities of WWII, the small town of Lidice, Czechoslovakia, was invaded by Nazi troops who murdered every man, burned every house, and sent all the women and children for "reeducation.")

Reconciliation Day -- Republic of the Congo

St. Brigid of Ireland's Day (Patron babies/infants/newborns, blacksmiths, boatmen/mariners/sailors/watermen, cattle, children whose parents are not married, dairymaids/dairy workers, fugitives, midwives, nuns, poets, poultry farmers, printing presses, scholars, travelers; Douglas, Lanarkshire, Scotland; Ireland; Ivrea, Turin, Italy; Kildare, Ireland; Leinster, Ireland)

Where the Wild Things Are Day -- birth anniversary of Maurice Sendak

Anniversary Tday:

Alcoholics Anonymous is founded, 1925

Birthdays Today:

Joey Zimmerman, 1986

Tara Lipinski, 1982

Leelee Sobieski, 1982

Hoku Ho, 1981

Shane West, 1978

Doug McKeon, 1966

Elizabeth Hurley, 1965

Linda Evangelista, 1965

Jeanne Tripplehorn, 1963

Michael Burger, 1957

John Edwards, 1953

Jeff Greenfield, 1943

F. Lee Bailey, 1933

Maurice Sendak, 1928

Nat Hentoff, 1925

Judy Garland, 1922

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, 1921

Saul Bellow, 1915

Frederick Loewe, 1904

Hattie McDaniel, 1889

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Tales from the Crypt"(TV), 1989

"Paperback Writer"(UK song release), 1966

"Tristan und Isolde"(Opera), 1865

Today in History:

Frederick Barbarossa drowns leading his troops across the Saleph River to attack Jerusalem in the Crusades, 1190

The first American log cabin is built, at Fort Christina in Wilmington, Delaware, 1639

Bridget Bishop becomes the first person hanged for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, 1692

Captain James Cook runs aground on the Great Barrier Reef, 1770

A landslide dam on the Dadu River created by an earthquake ten days earlier collapses, killing 100,000 in the Sichuan province of China, 1786

The Jardin des Plantes museum opens in Paris; a year later, it becomes the first public zoo, 1793

The first Boat Race between the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge takes place, 1829

Myall Creek Massacre in Australia: 28 Aboriginal Australians are murdered, 1838

The first class of the United States Naval Academy students graduate, 1854

Mount Tarawera in New Zealand erupts, killing 153 people and destroying the famous Pink and White Terraces, 1886

Americus Callahan of Chicago patents the window envelope, 1902

The inaugural service for the United Church of Canada, a union of Presbyterian, Methodist, and Congregationalist churches, is held in Toronto Arena, 1925

Dr. Robert Smith takes his last drink, and Alcoholics Anonymous is founded in Akron, Ohio, United States, by him and Bill Wilson, 1925

Six-Day War ends: Israel and Syria agree to a cease-fire, 1967

Apple ships its first Apple II personal computer, 1977

The Spirit Rover is launched, beginning NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission, 2003

Twenty inches of rainfall in Escambia County, Florida damages roadways and bridges, and leaving parts of the Florida Panhandle and coastal Alabama under water, 2012

German authorities are forced to evacuate 10 villages as heavy rains swell the Elbe River, breaching its banks, 2013

Heavy monsoon rains cause the collapse of a partially-finished building on a residential block in Mumbai, India, 2013

Juan Felipe Herrera, age 66, is named by U.S. Congress as this year's national poet laureate, the first Latino to be given the title, 2015

According to a DNA study published in the science journal “Nature Plants”, grapes grown for some types of wine in modern France are genetically similar and, in some cases identical to grapes grown 900 years ago, 2019

The European Space Agency announces a new probe, the EnVision, to study Venus, 2021

Apple announces it will be using generative A.I. on its devices and in its update for Siri, in a partnership with OpenAI, 2024