Vacation Adventures

One of the prettiest things to watch along the shore is the birds.

I watched one morning as Turd Bird and his competitor soared the thermals and dove for fish. I could almost hear the cry of "Curses, foiled again!" when one missed, and the triumph radiated from every feather when they succeeded.

They would also, if it was early enough, walk the shore in search of ghost crabs still out of the water. The crabs blend with the sand, and range in size from a body as small around as a penny to almost big enough to use for a crab boil. The birds walk along carefully stalking the fast scuttling crabs, and its hilarious to see how quickly the birds strike out, and how even faster the crab, if it is lucky, runs sideways, scooting for the water and safety.

There are other, smaller birds, too, that hunt the crabs through the night, and in the morning you can see tracks of them in the sand, crisscrossing each other in intricate patterns.


Today is

American Eagle Day

Father's Day

Festival of the New Knee -- Fairy Calendar

Flag Day, Argentina

Husband Caregiver Day

Ice Cream Soda Day

Independence Day, Senegal

Lailat Al-Garr -- Muslim "night of power"

Loch Ness Day

Martyr's Day, Eritrea

National Vanilla Milkshake Day

New Identity Day

Procession of the Golden Chariot a/k/a Battle of the Lumeçon, Mons, Belgium (a reenactment of St. George slaying the dragon)

St. Osana of Mantua (patron of schoolgirls)

World Refugee Day


Anniversaries Today:

The University of Oxford receives its charter, 1214
West Virginia becomes the 35th US state, 1863


Birthdays Today:

Nicole Kidman, 1967
John Goodman, 1952
Lionel Richie, 1949
Bob Vila, 1946
Anne Murray, 1945
Brian Wilson, 1942
Danny Aiello, 1933
Martin Landau, 1931
Chet Atkins, 1924
Audie Murphy, 1924
Jean-Jacques Bertrand, 1916
Errol Flynn, 1909
Lillian Hellman, 1905
Scipio Africanus, BC236


Today in History:

Flavius Aetius' battles Attila the Hun; the battle was inconclusive, and Attila retreats, causing the Romans to interpret it as a victory, 451
Jews are expelled from Brazil by order of regent Don Henrique, 1567
The Irish village of Baltimore is attacked by Algerian pirates, 1631
A British garrison is imprisoned in the Black Hole of Calcutta, 1756
King Louis XVI of France and his immediate family begin the Flight to Varennes during The French Revolution, 1791
The U.S. vessel SS Savannah, he first steam-propelled vessel to cross the Atlantic, arrives at Liverpool, 1819
Queen Victoria succeeds to the British throne, 1837
Samuel Morse receives the patent for the telegraph, 1840
Alexander Graham Bell installs the world's first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, 1877
A rare June hurricane struck Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence killing 35, 1959
The German parliament decides to move the capital from Bonn back to Berlin, 1991