It was the last day for co-op for this semester. No classes for most of us, except the piano students, who needed to practice their pieces for performance day, and a couple of the for credit high school classes.

There was standing room only for the showing of the movies the film making classes had done. One was How to be Perfect in Three Days, and the other was Freckle Juice. The kids adapted the scripts, acted, directed, and made their own props. Pure hilarity.

Then the gift exchange. The kids are divided into separate rooms by ages, so that there are no more than 20 in a room. Then all the boys put their gifts in one pile, the girls in another. Each child chooses a number from a bowl, and they go pick a gift in that order from their respective pile. It is supposed to take up about half an hour of the morning. It takes about 5 minutes. When kids want to open a present, there is no waste of time.

Finally, off to the fellowship hall for displays of art, photography, the K'nex projects, and the performances. Choir angels sang again, this time without their costumes. The dancers repeated their dance. Public speaking students, piano, violin, amen.

Good-bye, all, until next semester. I have a few weeks to decide on recipes to come.


Today is:

Astraea's Day -- Ancient Greek Calendar (goddess of justice)

Beach Day and Blessing of the Waters -- Uruguay

Bodhi Day (Rohatsu) -- Buddhism in Japan

CAROCOM-Cuba Day

Constitution Day -- Romania; Uzbekistan

Day of the National Army of Spain

Feast of the Immaculate Conception -- Roman Catholic Holy Day of Obligation

Festa da Conceição da Praia -- Salvador da Bahia, Brazil (celebrating Yemanjá, Queen of the Ocean)

Festival of Lights -- Lyon

Mother's Day -- Panama

National Brownie Day

National Students' Day -- Bulgaria

Take It In the Ear Day

Winter Flowers Day


Birthdays Today:

Teri Hatcher, 1964
Kim Basinger, 1953
Sam Kinison, 1953
Gregg Allman, 1947
Jim Morrison, 1943
James Galway, 1939
David Carradine, 1936
Flip Wilson, 1933
Maximilian Schell, 1930
Sammy Davis, Jr. 1925
Richard Fleischer, 1916
Lee J. Cobb, 1911
James Thurber, 1894
Diego Rivera, 1886
Jean Sibelius, 1865
Mary, Queen of Scots, 1542
Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus), Roman writer, BC65


Today in History

Daitokuji temple, Rinzai line, established in Kyoto by Daito Kokushi, 1326
Biblioteca Ambrosiana opens its reading room, the second public library of Europe, 1609
The Mexican border town Ciudad Juárez is founded by Fray García de San Francisco, 1659
Margaret Hughes becomes the first actress to appear on an English public stage, playing the role of Desdemona in a production of Shakespeare's play Othello, 1660
Vienna's Ring Theater is destroyed by fire, killing over 600, 1881
The American Federation of Labor is formed by 26 individual craft unions, and Samuel Gompers is elected its first president, 1886
The Japanese military police launch a violent suppression of the religious sect Oomoto, 1935
The Chinese Nationalist government moves from mainland China to Formosa, 1949
John Lennon is murdered, 1980
The leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine sign an agreement dissolving the Soviet Union and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States, 1991
The Cuzco Declaration is signed in Cuzco, Peru, establishing the South American Community of Nations, 2004
Kirsty Williams is elected the first female leader of a political party in Wales, the Welsh Liberal Democrats, 2008