Cordelia (Feline Friday), Friendly Fill-Ins and Nature Friday

 ***********************************

Feline Friday was originally started by Steve, The Burnt Food Dude (may he rest in peace), and i'm going to believe it's because he liked cats.

He handed hosting duties off to Sandee at Comedy Plus, and now she's entrusting it to me.

Feline Friday is simple to join.  All you have to do is: Post a picture, drawing, cartoon or video of a cat (they may be silly or cute).  Then add your link!

One thing for sure is this is a fun and easy meme to do.  So come and join us in Feline Friday.

What better way to start the weekend than with a feline!

Cordelia is an office kitty at the shelter while waiting for her forever home.

***********************************

Friendly Fill-Ins are easy to do. There are four statements: the first two statements are provided by Ellen of 15AndMeowing, and the final two are offered by Lorianne The Menagerie Mom of Four-Legged Furballs. They try to make sure the statements will be fun to both answer and share. The linky will be posted at or about 12:00 AM on Friday. Please head over to one of their sites, link up, and share your thoughts!      

Here are this week's statements with my responses underlined:

1. A day without _________ is like a _________ without _________.

2. I find it rude when someone asks me _________.

3. I like to _________ as early as possible.

4. I tend to run late when _________.

1. A day without   prayer  is like a   meal  without   an entree, not entirely satisfying.

2. I find it rude when someone asks me   not much -- there are very few things people could ask me which i'd refuse to answer, at least common, ordinary questions.

3. I (would) like to   retire   as early as possible.

4. I tend to run late when   the traffic is bad at a time of day where it's usually running well.

***********************************

Nature Friday is hosted by LLB in Our Backyard.  Simply post a picture of the natural world, and link up!   

***********************************

Today is:

Ancient Roman Festivities today:

     Festival for Vulcan -- god of fire, volcanos, and smiths

     Rosalia -- rose festival

     Tubilustrium -- ceremony to purify the trumpet used in sacred rituals

Bermuda Day -- Bermuda (obs.)

Declaration of the Bab -- Baha'i

Don't Fry Day -- another day to raise awareness of the need for sun protection through the summer    

Heat Awareness Safety Day -- US (your guv'mint at work, and actually doing something right that you really should pay heed to)  

Linnaeus Day -- Stenbrohult, Sweden (birth anniversary of Carolus Linnaeus on the OS calendar)

Lucky Penny Day -- just a fun one, see if you find a penny today

National Death Busters Day -- US, because the upcoming Memorial Day weekend in the US is the most dangerous for driving; be careful out there!

National Labour Day -- Jamaica

National Mango Salsa Day

National Poppy Day -- US (on this Friday before Memorial Day, wear a poppy to show your support to all who have served in the military)

National Taffy Day

National Wig Out Day -- US (on the Friday before Memorial Day, don your wig and your alter ego and have fun!

Sacrifices to Leto, Pythian Apollon, Zeus, Hermes and the Dioscuri in the deme of Erchia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate)

St. Euphrosyne of Polotsk's Day (Patron of Belarus)

Students' Day -- Mexico

St. William of Rochester's Day (Patron of adopted children)

World Crohn's and Colitis Day

World Turtle Day -- sponsored by American Tortoise Rescue    

Yom HaShoah -- Judaism (Holocaust Remembrance Day; begins at sunset)

Anniversaries Today:

South Carolina becomes the 8th US state, 1788

Birthdays Today:

Kelly Monaco, 1976

Ken Jennings, 1974

Jewel, 1974

Mitch Albom, 1958

Drew Carey, 1958

“Marvelous” Marvin Hagler, 1954

Charles Kimbrough, 1936

Robert Moog, 1934

Joan Collins, 1933

Barbara Barrie, 1931

Rosemary Clooney, 1928

Helen O'Connell, 1920

Scatman Crothers, 1910

Artie Shaw, 1910

Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., 1883

Belle Aurelia Babb Mansfield, 1846

Margaret Fuller, 1810

Franz Mesmer, 1734

Carolus Linnaeus, 1707

Emperor Qinzong of China, 1100

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Tommy"(Album), 1969

"Shuffle Along"(Musical comedy revue), 1921

"Il bugiardo / The Liar"(Comedy), 1750

Today in History:

Joan of Arc is captured by the Burgundians while leading an army to relieve Compiègne, 1430

The marriage of King Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon is declared null and void, 1533

The Netherlands declare their independence  from Spain, 1568

The Second Defenestration of Prague precipitates the Thirty Years' War, 1618

After being convicted of piracy and of murdering William Moore, Captain William Kidd is hanged in London, 1701

Benjamin Franklin announces his invention of bifocals, 1785

Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned King of Italy, 1805

South American independence  leader Simón Bolívar enters Mérida, leading the invasion of Venezuela, 1813

The Báb announces his revelation, founding Bábism (the Baha'i Faith), 1844

Organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Battle Creek, Michigan, 1863

The Canadian  Parliament establishes the North West Mounted Police, the forerunner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, 1873

The fist transcontinental train arrives in Vancouver, BC, 1887

The first talking cartoon of Mickey Mouse, "The Karnival Kid", is released, 1929

American bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde are ambushed by police and killed in Black Lake, Louisiana, 1934

Tibetans sign the Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet with the People's Republic of China, 1951

Prime Minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion announces that Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann had been captured, 1960

The first version of the Java programming language is released, 1995

The Good Friday Agreement is accepted in a referendum in Northern Ireland with 75% voting yes, 1998

The fastest roller coaster in the world, Kingda Ka, opens at Six Flags Great Adventure, 2005

Alaskan stratovolcano Mount Cleveland erupts, 2006

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) awards Middle Rocks to Malaysia and Pedra Branca (Pulau Batu Puteh) to Singapore, ending a 29-year territorial dispute, 2008

Fifteen months after President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in Egypt by a revolution, voters go to the polls for a presidential election, 2012

Chinese archaeologists announce findings of earliest use of barley in China to make beer, in Shaanxi province from about 3400 BC to 2900 BC, 2016

Hamburg, Germany, becomes the first city to ban diesel cars on some roads, 2018 

The prototype of new high-speed train that will float above the track is unveiled by Chinese Railway Rolling Stock Corporation in Qingdao, 2019

New York City removes its last public payphones in Midtown Manhattan to make them part of a museum display, 2022

It Was a Doozy (Six Sentence Story), Good Fences, Sammy's Poetry Day and Brian's Thankful Thursday

 ***********************************

With Ms. G, you never know what you will get, and yesterday what we got was a doozy of a chore.

Week before last we'd stored enough linens in one of the closets, in those "vacuum all the air out bags" no less, for her to make up at least three times the number of beds she has in the house and this week she wanted to go through more stuff in the closet.

It started out with her arguing with the cat, April, about whether she would be allowed in the room, and in the end there was no help for it but to let her in, whereupon April proceeded to do nothing but get in the way, but we expected that.

Ms. G pulled out memories, is what she was really doing -- her Beatles thermos from 1965, without a mark on it, her tennis racquets, from the early 70's and in pristine condition (Chris Evert Signature Series, with one tiny scuff which she told me how it happened on the court in great detail and lamented it the whole time), and other delights, until we got to her beloved golf clubs.

Oh, my, she'd gotten a set of men's professional clubs at a pawn shop and played with them for years, carrying them in her very special and expensive bag, but in the years since she hasn’t been able to play, the grips had deteriorated and gotten black smudgy goo all over everything in the bag; out came the cleaning wipes, cling wrap to wrap around the handles to keep more of the black stuff from coming off and doing damage, old rags, and Goof Off.

Ms. G sat on the bed and i stood nearby to hand her things, in this little bedroom, with the Goo Gone, which is a miracle worker for getting this stuff off,  but smelling the room up so badly i wondered if i was going to pass out, and we got as much of everything clean as we possibly could at one go; she’s going to have the clubs re-gripped and somehow we have to figure out how to get the gunk from the inside of the bottom of a very expensive golf bag.

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

***********************************

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!

***********************************

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

The builder said, "I got this,"

but he's gone quite insane,

if he thinks I'll buy the house this way,

he better think again!

***********************************

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 neither of us passed out yesterday at Ms. G's house, with the smell of that cleaner in the small room.

***********************************

Today is:

Abolition Day -- Martinique

Bear Waking Day -- Norway (traditionally said to be the day the bears awaken from their hibernation, at least according to many sites)

Buy a Musical Instrument Day -- even just a kazoo, and have some fun making music; maybe if this one spreads around the world and enough of us do it, it will foster some harmony in our lives

Harvey Milk Day -- The Harvey Milk Foundation    

Independence Day -- Montenegro

International Day for Biological Diversity -- UN

National Maritime Day -- US (commemorating the first transoceanic voyage under steam power)

National Sovereignty Day -- Haiti

National Vanilla Pudding Day

St. Julia's Day (Patron of torture victims; Corsica, Portugal; Livorno, Italy)

St. Rita of Cascia's Day/La Abodada de Impossibles (Patron of desperate causes, difficult marriages, forgotten causes, illness, lost causes, parenthood, sick people, sterile people, victims of physical spousal abuse, widows, wounded people; against abuse, infertility, loneliness, sickness, sterility, wounds, unhappy marriages; Cascia, Italy; Dalayap, Philippines; Igbaras, Philippines)

Toothpaste Tube Day -- the tube was invented on this day in 1892 by dentist Washington Wentworth Sheffield, who wanted to replace the unhygenic practice of dipping the brush into a jar of dental cream

Unity Day / National Day -- Republic of Yemen

World Goth Day -- Get your Goth on around the world! 

Birthdays Today:

Apolo Anton Ohno, 1982

Ginnifer Goodwin, 1978

A.J. Langer,1974

Naomi Campbell, 1970

Morrissey, 1959

George Best, 1946

Paul Winfield, 1941

Michael Sarrazin, 1940

Frank Converse, 1938

Richard Benjamin, 1938

Susan Strasberg, 1938

Garry Wills, 1934

Peter Nero, 1934

Charles Aznavour, 1924

Judith Crist, 1922

Sun Ra, 1914

Sir Laurence Olivier, 1907

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859

Mary Cassatt, 1844

Richard Wagner, 1813

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood"(TV), 1967

"Paulus / St. Paul"(Oratorio, Mendelsshon Op. 36), 1836

Today in History:

The Macedonian army of Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of the Granicus, BC334

The Hashshashin (Assassins) attempt to murder Saladin near Aleppo, 1176

Pope Gregory XI issues five papal bulls to denounce the doctrines of English theologian John Wycliffe, 1377

Richard, Duke of York, defeats and captures King Henry VI of England, 1455

A grand jury indicts former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr on a charge of treason, 1807

On the second and last day of the Battle of Aspern-Essling (near Vienna), Napoleon is repelled by an enemy army for the first time, 1809

The SS Savannah leaves port at Savannah, Georgia, United States, on a voyage to become the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean; the ship arrived at Liverpool, England on June 20, 1819

HMS Beagle  departs on its first voyage, 1826

The transporting of British convicts to the New South Wales colony is abolished, 1840

Farmers Lester Howe and Henry Wetsel discover Howe Caverns, 1842

The Blackwall Tunnel under the River Thames is officially opened, 1897

The Wright brothers are granted U.S. patent number 821,393 for their "Flying-Machine", 1906

Lassen Peak erupts with a powerful force, and is the only mountain other than Mount St. Helens to erupt in the continental US during the 20th century, 1915

The most powerful earthquake ever documented, the Great Chilean Quake, measures 9.5 and strikes southern Chile, 1960

The nuclear-powered submarine the USS Scorpion sinks with 99 men aboard 400 miles southwest of the Azores, 1968

Ceylon adopts a new constitution, thus becoming a Republic, changes its name to Sri Lanka, and joins the Commonwealth of Nations, 1972

Namco releases the highly influential arcade game Pac-Man, 1980

Microsoft  releases the Windows 3.0 operating system, 1990

Johnny Carson retires from The Tonight Show after 30 years, 1992

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia join the United Nations, 1992

A jury in Birmingham, Alabama, convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murders of four girls in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church, 2002

Sarah West, a British naval officer Commander is appointed commander of HMS Portland, the Royal Navy frigate; she is the first female officer to take command of a major British warship, 2012

Japanese researchers from University of Yamanashi report birth of mice from freeze-dried sperm stored on the International Space Station, 2017

The New York Stock Exchange announces Stacey Cunningham will be its first woman head in its 226-year history, 2018

Washington State becomes the 1st US state to legalize composting human bodies, 2019

Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, forcing evacuations by sending rivers of lava toward the nearby city of Goma, 2021

California, Arizona and Nevada agree to a deal cutting water use of the Colorado River, 2023