Well Slept (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 always loved telling or hearing a good joke.  Now it's very seldom she has one to tell, but she's always up for being cheered up and we like to oblige if we can.

Clothile done be tellin' Boudreaux she be needin' a joke to tell at de book club, since dey allus be tryin' make each other laugh.

An' Boudreaux say, "Why don' you go take you a nap an' maybe you wake up wit' de joke?"

An' Clothile say, "Mais, I's only goin' be wakin' up wit' de joke if'n you come take de nap wit' me!"

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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.  

These days, i get what i get and i can't let it get me upset.

It's hard to get good pictures of the wiggle-worm that is Emmie.  

I really like seeing new trees being planted and nurtured.  

This metal welcome sign made me smile.  

I like looking for unique mailboxes.  

They have a nice front porch on which to sit and watch the world go by.  

Getting closer, i noticed a pollinator friend.

Sky shots.

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This week, Cookie and Emmie want to join the Kitties Blue at The Cat On My Head for their Sunday Selfies Blog Hop.  

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Today is:

America's Kids Day -- founded to encourage parents to teach their children the value of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

Constitution day -- Ukraine

Descendent's Day -- on the final Sunday of June each year, an encouragement for all the world's citizens to take an accounting of their activities during the prior year and how those will affect those who come after us

Festival of Terrible Poetry -- according to The Daily Bleed, and since there is some hilarious, if terrible, poetry out there, go find some, and bust a gut

Insurance Awareness Day -- now who do you think invented that!?!

International Body Piercing Day -- on the birthday of James Mark "Jim" Ward, "the granddaddy of the modern body piercing movement"

International CAPS LOCK DAY -- a parody holiday created by Derek Arnold, a user on Metafilter, in 2000

Log Cabin Day -- The Log Cabin Society, dedicated to preserving log cabins and the old-fashioned ways of life; many places that have historic log cabins plan big events the last Sunday in June to celebrate

Mnarja / L-Imnarja Festival begins -- Buskett Gardens, Malta (folk festival for Sts. Peter and Paul, begins this evening and continues through the 29th)

Mother's Day -- Kenya

National Ceviche Day

National Tapioca Day

Paul Bunyan Day -- the tall tale hero of the lumberjacks; celebrated at different times in some parts of the country, but most sites cite this date

Ra goes forth to propitiate the Nun -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Stonewall Rebellion Day -- now seen as the start of the gay liberation movement in 1969

St. Irenaeus' Day (Patron of Mobile, Alabama)

St. Paul's Feast -- Kato Paphos, Cyprus (religious festivities with the archbishop officiating and a procession of the icon of St. Paul through the streets, through tomorrow)

St. Peter's Eve -- English Christian tradition, night of bonfires and continuation of midsummer celebrations

Vidovdan (Festival for St. Vitus) -- Eastern Orthodox Christian, based on the traditional Julian Calendar date

     a recognized holiday in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Anniversaries Today:

Harry S. Truman marries Bess Wallace, 1919

Birthdays Today:

Kellie Pickler, 1986

Steve Burton, 1970

Danielle Brisebois, 1969

John Cusack, 1966

Mary Stuart Masterson, 1966

Mark Grace, 1964

John Elway, 1960

Thomas Hampson, 1955

Alice Krige, 1954

Kathy Bates, 1948

Gilda Radner, 1946

Bruce Davison, 1946

Turkan Soray, 1945

Pat Morita, 1932

Mel Brooks, 1926

Maria Goeppert Mayer, 1906

Richard Rodgers, 1902

Clara Louise Maass, 1876

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1712

John Wesley, 1703

Peter Paul Rubens, 1577

Henry VIII, King of England, 1491

Debuting/Premiering Today:

The Nutty Professor(Film), 1996

"Amos 'n' Andy"(TV), 1951

"Quiz Kids"(Radio), 1940

Today in History:

Fighters of the First Crusade defeat Kerbogha of Mosul, 1098

Ottomans defeat Serbian army in the bloody Battle of Kosovo, opening the way for the Ottoman conquest of Southeastern Europe, 1389

Guadeloupe becomes a French colony, 1635

The coronation of Victoria of the United Kingdom, 1838

The Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique in Paris premieres the ballet Giselle, 1841

The first conformation dog show is held in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, 1859

Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria and his wife Sophie are assassinated in Sarajevo by young Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip, the casus belli of World War I, 1914

The Treaty of Versailles is signed in Paris, formally ending World War I, 1919

The Irish Civil War begins with the shelling of the Four Courts in Dublin by Free State forces, 1922

Israel annexes East Jerusalem, 1967

COMECON, as part of the last vestige of the Soviet Bloc, is formally disbanded, followed by the Warsaw pact 3 days later, 1991

Slobodan Milosevic is deported to ICTY to stand trial, 2001

The Republic of Montenegro is admitted as the 192nd Member of the United Nations, 2006

The U.N. reports 10 million people are effected by the worst drought in 60 years, 2011

A power company uncovers a Neolithic wooden trackway 2,300 years old in Suffolk, England; it will become one of the largest archaeological digs in Europe at 16,000 square meters, 2018

For the first time since the position was created in 1343, Amsterdam elects a woman mayor, Femke Halsema, 2018

Due to lack of rainfall dropping the water level in the Mosul Dam reservoir, a 3,400-year-old Bronze Age palace from the Mittani Empire is uncovered on the banks of the Tigris River, 2019

AirCar, a prototype flying car capable of flying 1,000km (600 miles), at heights of up to 8,200ft (2,500m), completes a 35 min test flight between Nitra and Bratislava airports in Slovakia, 2021

Rocket Lab launches NASA's CAPSTONE from Mahia peninsula, New Zealand, to orbit the Moon, research for future Gateway and Artemis missions, 2022

A US Supreme Court decision clears the way for states to place bans on homeless people sleeping in public, 2024

Good Days, Hard Days, and Growing Up, a Ten Things of Thankful Post

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Each week we get to Thankful Day and i read over my list (yes, i have to keep a list, i'm thankful i do or i'd never remember it all) and wonder how it all happens in just one short week.

Last Saturday was the day before Father's Day, the day i always go get Grandpa a big order of BBQ from a local place known for doing it right.  I walked in with his goodies and he looked at me oddly, and i said, Happy Father's Day!

He had totally forgotten, so it was a huge surprise for him.  I'm thankful there is something i can still get for him which he really enjoys, as he doesn't grill for himself any longer.

By the time i started home we were having another frog strangler rain, and for once people on the interstate were actually driving reasonably since none of us could see well in the deluge.  I was thankful for this and for the fact the rain and the driving 30mph on the freeway was over by the time i got to the spillway.

Our wet weather wasn't over yet, though, and on Sunday Mr. Cal, a dog who loathes rain with a passion, actually chose to walk even though there was a light sprinkle of rain!  It seems he loathes missing his walk more than being a little wet, and i'm thankful Becca and i didn't get too wet and we weren't out long.

Father's Day afternoon, i was thankful to get to watch #2 Son testing out his gift, some kind of electrical something or other he was placing up against the electric cord of everything running, telling us at what efficiency it was running and something about amperage (i have no clue).  It was fun to watch him having fun.

Ms. D was asking me Monday if i know a handyman as she not only needed the house cleaned after her daughter left (not that messy, but when there's two in the house instead of one, you know crumbs and things accumulate), she also needed the old and now broken toilet seat replaced in the hall bathroom.

I'm thankful i know how to replace toilet seats, having done many in my day, and we made short work of it.

Our little Annie has been having trouble napping, not wanting to go down and once sleeping, not wanting to sleep long.  I'm thankful she took a good, long, almost 2 1/2 hours nap on Tuesday.  She needed it, and so did we.

I was thankful to watch her for a while that evening, too, after #2 Son came home from a very tough day at work.  I'm thankful to be able to do that and thankful those tough days don't come too often.

As i'd arranged a few weeks in advance, i did the cat shelter volunteer shift Wednesday morning, and was thankful to be able to because they were very short on staff this week, then took the rest of the day off.

While at the shelter, out of the corner of my eye i saw someone approaching through the front windows with a box in his hand.  My breath caught as my mind went right to the thought someone was once again going to abandon a box of cats/kittens on the shelter doorstep, although it's illegal, they are supposed to call and make an appointment, but it doesn't stop them.

I was so thankful when i noticed the "smile" on the back of the man's jacket, it was an Amazon box being delivered, and it was such a relief to open the door and take the package, i had a big smile myself as he took the "photo proof of delivery."

At 11am, i picked up Ms. V and we went to the church for a beautiful luncheon and time of sharing.  I was thankful to get to go, and thankful i'd reminded Ms. V about it and suggested she come, too.  We both had a great time.

While there, i was thankful to do some of what i call "stealth janitoring."  When i see things which need cleaning, i tend to them and just don't say anything about it.  Someone had accidentally left the ice machine open and it was partially defrosting, i was thankful to be able to clear out the jammed ice and get it properly working and closed again and no one the wiser.

On Thursday, Ms. SE and the boys had gotten back from Europe Sunday and were desperately trying to catch up before her parents came in that evening, as the whole family were turning around and going to the beach for Ms. SE's birthday week.

I'm thankful the boys were cooperative about tidying up, not making huge messes in the kitchen i was cleaning when they fixed snacks, folded their own laundry and vacuumed their own bedrooms.  They also helped with the dogs.  Altogether things went wonderfully well considering their family is even busier than mine usually is!

Friday i was watching Annie again and i had the chance to observe several things with great thanks.  

She wants to be helpful.  If i pull out the broom, she wants a broom so she can sweep, too (i grab the spare).  She also loves to help pick up her toys.

Her speech is improving.  All babies mispronounce some things, much to our amusement, but they have to outgrow it sooner or later and she is now saying "water" more often instead of her own version, "dandah" and the same with other words.  She still has a few delightful things she says, and while it's bittersweet to watch these slowly disappear, i'm also thankful as it shows she's growing and developing well.

Her love of good, real food remains unabated, and i was thankful yesterday she was running full speed to the fig tree in our yard to find figs to pick and eat, right off the tree.  I'm thankful she knows what real food should be and that it grows from the ground, instead of always coming from a store, and her mama and dada let her help water their kitchen garden and pick cherry tomatoes, strawberries and blueberries.

The evening shift at the cat shelter was just about textbook perfect last night, and we're thankful for adoptions, people looking and trying to decide about adopting, volunteers, and one very sweet older woman who got lost on the way but finally made it because, "she wanted to bring a donation check."  We let her hang out as long as she wanted and pet kittens to her heart's content, as her dog is cat aggressive and she can't adopt at this time.

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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Today is International Maltese Cat Day!

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

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Today is:

Armed Forces Day -- United Kingdom 

ARRL Field Day -- American Radio Relay League's most popular on-air operating event, in which amateur/ham radio operators practice and drill for communications during emergencies; through tomorrow     

Birthday of Cheng Huang -- Taiwan (the gods that are city guardians are celebrated with a procession of actors on stilts doing dragon and lion dances on this 13th day of the fifth moon)

Canadian Multiculturalism Day -- Cananda

Day of National Unity -- Tajikistan

Day of Turkmen Workers of Culture and Art -- Turkmenistan

Day Sacred to the Lares -- Ancient Roman Calendar (personal household gods); also

     Festival of Jupiter Stator -- Jupiter, Stayer of the Rout, god who helped soldiers especially to stand their ground

     Initium Aestatis -- three-day festival for the goddess of summer, which season they saw as beginning on this day

Decide to Be Married Day -- sponsored by Barbara Gaughen-Muller; to focus on the joy of couples deciding to be married

Great American Picnic Day -- various dates given, with the most common being the final Saturday of June

Guan Sheng Di Jun Dan -- Taoism (Heavenly Sage Guan Di's Birthday [god of war])

"Happy Birthday to You" Day -- tune composed this day in 1859

Independence Day / National Day -- Djibouti

Industrial Workers of The World Day -- founded this day in 1905

Martyrdom of Joseph & Hyrum Smith -- Mormon

Mixed Races Day -- Brazil

National HIV Testing Day -- US 

National Indian Pudding Day

National Orange Blosssom Day

National Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Day -- US (by Senate resolution) 

Seven Sleepers Day (Siebenschläfertag) -- Germany (according to legend, today's weather determines the pattern for the next seven weeks)

St. Ladislaus' Day (Patron of Szekszard, Hungary)

Sunglasses Day -- a reminder to wear those shades, protect your eyes from UV damage!  Sometimes called National Sunglasses Day

Veteranendag -- Netherlands (Veterans Day)

Birthdays Today:

Gabi Wilson, 1997

Madylin Sweeten, 1991

Ed Westwick, 1987

Drake Bell, 1986

Tobey Maguire, 1975

J.J. Abrams, 1976

Jason Patric, 1966

Isabelle Adjani, 1955

Julia Duffy, 1951

James Daughton, 1950

Norma Kamali, 1945

Shirley-Anne Field, 1938

H. Ross Perot, 1930

Bob "Captain Kangaroo" Keeshan, 1927

Helen Keller, 1880

Patrick Lafcadio "Koizumi Yakumo" Hearn, 1850

Charles Stewart Parnell, 1846

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Live and Let Die(Film), 1973

"Dark Shadows"(TV), 1966

"Captain Video and His Video Rangers"(TV), 1949

Today in History:

General James Wolfe begins the siege of Quebec, 1759

Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and his brother Hyrum Smith, are murdered by a mob at the Carthage, Illinois jail, 1844

George Dixon becomes the first black world boxing champion in any weight class, while also being the first ever Canadian-born boxing champion, 1890

The first solo circumnavigation of the globe is completed by Joshua Slocum from Briar Island, Nova Scotia, 1898

Sailors start a mutiny aboard the Russian Battleship Potemkin, denouncing the crimes of autocracy, demanding liberty and an end to war, 1905

Capt. Lowell H. Smith and Lt. John P. Richter perform the first ever aerial refueling in a DH-4B biplane, 1923

The United States decides to send troops to fight in the Korean War, 1950

The world's first nuclear power station opens in Obninsk, near Moscow, 1954

The world's first ATM is installed in Enfield, London, 1967

The President of Uruguay dissolves Parliament and heads a coup d'état, 1973

U.S president Richard Nixon visits the U.S.S.R., 1974

France grants independence to Djibouti, 1977

The current international treaty defending indigenous peoples, ILO 169 convention, is adopted, 1989

Slovenia, after declaring independence two days before, is invaded by Yugoslav troops, tanks, and aircraft, starting the Ten-Day War, 1991

Bill Gates resigns from Microsoft to focus on his charity work, 2008

The first democratic election in the history of Guinea is held, 2010

Tests show radioactive cesium is present in small quantities in residents of Iitate and Kawamata, Fukushima, towns located 25 miles from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, 2011

NASA launches IRIS, the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, a space probe to observe the Sun, 2013

The European Union fines Google a record $2.7 billion for unfair competition practices, 2017

The Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa 2 arrives at asteroid Ryugu, 2018

The science journal Nature publishes an article describing carbon-based molecules, previously only seen on Earth or in meteorites, that were found by the Cassini spacecraft on Saturn's moon Enceladus, 2018

Apple's chief designer, Jony Ive, designer of the iMac and the iPhone, announces he is leaving Apple after 30 years, 2019 

A locust invasion is named "Swarmageddon" by The Times of India as it reaches Delhi, 2020

NASA launches a rocket from a commercial spaceport outside the US for the first time, at Arnhem Space Centre, Northern Territory, Australia, 2022

Archaeologists in the city of Pompeii uncover a fresco which shows a flatbread with toppings, possible evidence of "pizza" style foods as early as the first century, 2023