Yes, Today

It's that time of year again. Swim team has started.

It's only Little Girl this season, which makes it easier (read cheaper). Bigger Girl tried it a couple of years back, and hated every moment. She had been talked into it by her friends, and she only competed in one race, coming in dead last with the worst time ever logged by anyone on the team. To her credit, she stuck it out for the whole season, and did her best. We were proud of her for that.

Little Girl missed all of last season with her broken arm debacle. This year, she waffled on her decision until the night before. Finally, her desire to be with her two best friends won the day.

So there we were, all ready to walk across the street to practice at the swim club, and for the first time in almost a month, storm clouds loomed.

Today? Of all days? We are in a month long drought, that also brought some of the worst flooding this area has seen in almost a century, and it has to rain at the start of swim practice?

Yes, it rained. But not until practice was almost over, no thunder, and it was two very short, very light sprinklings. Didn't even phase the kids.

Still, it was the weather showing us, yet again, as if we need the lesson after all the tornadoes recently in this country, what being in charge means.

Welcome to swim season. Let's hope for some co-operation from some quarter or other.


Today is

Alma Highland Festival and Games -- Alma College, Alma, Michigan; through the 29th, the 44th annual celebration of Scottish heritage.

Amnesty International Founding Day

Armed Forces Day -- Croatia

Day of Pin-Hiding and Button-Losing -- Fairy Calendar

Downfall of the Derg Day/National Day -- Ethiopia

Flag Day -- Philippines

Grubstakes Day -- Yucca Valley, California, US

International Jazz Day

Julia Pierpont Day -- West Virginia, US (the day to ready the graves of veterans for the upcoming Memorial Day, which she founded as "Decoration Day")

National Hamburger Day

Republic Day -- Armenia; Azerbaijan; Nepal

Sierra Club Day

Slugs Return From Capistrano Day

St. Bernard of Montjoux's Day (patron of mountain climbers, skiers)


Birthdays Today:

Joseph Cross, 1986
Jesse Bradford, 1979
Sicily Yoder, 1969
Kylie Minogue, 1968
Glen Rice, 1967
John Fogerty, 1945
Rudolph Guiliani, 1944
Gladys Knight, 1944
Annette, Cecile, Emilie, Marie, and Yvonne Dionne , 1934
Carroll Baker, 1931
Ian Fleming, 1908
Jim Thorpe, 1888


Today in History:

A solar eclipse occurs, as predicted by Greek philosopher and scientist Thales, while Alyattes is battling Cyaxares in the Battle of the Eclipse;this leads to a truce and becomes one of the cardinal dates from which other dates can be calculated, BC585
James IV of Scotland and Margaret Tudor are married according to a Papal Bull by Pope Alexander VI and a Treaty of Everlasting Peace (which lasted 10 years) between Scotland and England is signed, 1503
The Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, sets sail from Lisbon heading for the English Channel (it will takes until May 30 for all of the ships to leave port), 1588
In the first engagement of the French and Indian War, Virginia militia under 22-year-old Lieutenant Colonel George Washington defeat a French reconnaissance party, 1754
Big Ben is drawn on a carriage pulled by 16 horses from Whitechapel Bell Foundry to the Palace of Westminster, 1859
In San Francisco, California, John Muir organizes the Sierra Club, 1892
In the Russo-Japanese War, the Battle of Tsushima ends with the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet by the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1905
John B Gruelle patents Raggedy Ann doll, 1915
The US Attorney General says it is legal for women to wear trousers, 1923
The first all color talking picture, "On With the Show", is shown in NYC, 1929
The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California, is officially opened, 1937
Neville Chamberlain becomes British Prime Minister, 1937
The women of Greece are given the right to vote, 1952
The Palestine Liberation Organization is formed, 1964
Fifteen West African countries sign the Treaty of Lagos, creating the Economic Community of West African States, 1975
Eritrea and Monaco join the United Nations, 1993
NATO declares Russia a limited partner in the Western alliance, 2002
The Mars Odyssey finds signs of large ice deposits on the planet Mars, 2002
The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly of Nepal formally declares Nepal a republic, ending the 240-year reign of the Shah dynasty, 2008