Two for a Two Piece

Sweetie once told me the story of the first time he and his dad saw a woman wearing a bikini.

It was 1969, in the Deep South -- coastal Mississippi, in fact. An area of the country where not just department stores and groceries were closed on Sunday, but even the gas stations were still closed on Sunday. After all, you weren't going to be going anywhere but church on Sunday anyway, right?

Sweetie's dad, a Southern Baptist pastor, had moved from the country in central Louisiana to take a church on the coast, where he had grown up. The two were driving down the strip in Biloxi one beautiful afternoon when they saw in person what they had only read about and seen in pictures -- a woman wearing a bikini.

Both of them were flabbergasted enough to frankly stare, almost open mouthed, at her brazenness. Their eyes followed her and they couldn't tear their gazes away until CRUNCH!

Sweetie said his dad was rather tongue tied when attempting to explain to his wife how he managed to rear end another vehicle, at slow speed, on a bright sunny day when he really shouldn't have been able to miss that the light had turned red.

Since i said two for a two piece, my favorite comic strip comment about bikinis, in The Wizard of Id. Blanche, the Wizard's wife, is standing in front of the magic mirror, admiring how she looks in her dress, and asks the Wiz, "How do you think I would look in a bikini?"

"Like an egg wearing two rubber bands," he drily replied, which comment in real life would probably result in a husband being banished to the couch for a month.


Today is

Alice in Wonderland Day -- on July 5, 1862, Dodgson began writing the adventure story he had told Alice Liddel and her sisters the day before

Bikini Day -- the skimpy suit made its debut on this day in Paris in 1946

Constitution Day -- Armenia

Independence Day -- Algeria; Cape Verde; Venezuela

Feast of Anubis -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar

Hampton Court Palace Flower Show -- Hampton Court Palace, East Molesey, Surrey, England (through the 10th, the world's largest flower show)

National Apple Turnover Day

National Work-a-holics Day

Poplifulgia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (a ceremony to commemorate the "Flight of the People" when they had to flee enemies)

St. Anthony Zaccaria's Day

Saints Cyril and Methodius Day -- Czech Republic; Slovakia

St. Zoe of Rome's Day

Tynwald Day -- Isle of Man

Unity Day -- Zambia


Birthdays Today

Dolly the Sheep, 1996 (first cloned mammal)
Huey Lewis, 1951
Warren Oates, 1928
Georges Pompidou, 1911
Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., 1902
Jean Cocteau, 1889
Cecil Rhodes, 1853
P.T. Barnum, 1810


Today in History

Scotland and France form the beginnings of the Auld Alliance, against England, 1295
John Guy sets sail from Bristol with 39 other colonists for Newfoundland, 1610
Isaac Newton publishes Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, 1687
The Salvation Army is founded in the East End of London, England, 1865
Police open fire on striking longshoremen in San Francisco, on Bloody Thursday, 1934
Spam, the luncheon meat, is introduced into the market by the Hormel Foods Corporation, 1937
Highest recorded temperature in Canada, at Yellow Grass, Saskatchewan: 45°C (113°F), 1937
Larry Doby signs a contract with the Cleveland Indians baseball team, becoming the first black player in the American League, 1947
National Health Service Acts created the national public health systems in the United Kingdom, 1948
The Knesset passes the Law of Return which grants all Jews the right to immigrate to Israel, 1950
William Shockley invents the junction transistor, 1951
The BBC broadcasts its first television news bulletin, 1954
Arthur Ashe becomes the first black man to win the Wimbledon singles title, 1975
Japan launches a probe to Mars, and thus joins the United States and Russia as a space exploring nation, 1998
The SARS virus is declared to be contained by the WHO, 2003
Indonesia holds its first presidential election, 2004
Roger Federer wins a record 15th Grand Slam title in tennis, winning a five set match against Andy Roddick at Wimbledon, 2009
The largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold ever discovered, consisting of more than 1,500 items, is found near the village of Hammerwich, near Lichfield, in Staffordshire, England, 2009