The Point Is?

"Hey, Mom, can Festus and me drive over to his house to get his bathing suit?" #2 Son emerged from his lair to ask this most unelegant and ungrammatical question.

Son, doesn't he live just a couple of blocks from here?

"Yeah, but it might rain, so we want to drive."

Um, you're driving in order to stay dry to go get a swimsuit so you can get wet?

"Yes."

"Mom, it's not supposed to make sense," Little Girl chimed in.

Thank you for enlightening me.


Today is:

Armed Forces Day -- Poland

Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary -- Catholic Christian Holy Day of Obligation
Related Observances
Dormition of the Theotokos -- Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Christian
Ferragosto -- Italy (During the Roman Empire, a festival to Diana and a fertility and ripening celebration)
Mother's Day -- Antwerp; Costa Rica
National Acadians Day -- Acadians
Virgin of Candelaria, patron of the Canary Islands -- Tenrife, Spain
Irmandade da Nossa Senhora da Boa Morte Fiesta -- Bahia, Brazil (Festival of the Order of Our Lady of the Good Death)
Festival of the Outremeuse -- Liege, Belgium
Public Holiday -- Austria; Belgium; Benin; Bosnia; Burundi; Cameroon; Chile; Colombia; Côte d'Ivoire; Croatia; Cyprus; France; Germany; Greece; Guatemala; Hungary; Italy; Lebanon; Liechtenstein; Lituania; Luxembourg; Macedonia; Malta; Mauritius; Paraguay; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Senegal; Seychelles; Slovenia; Spain; Switzerland; Togo; Vanuatu

Best Friends Day

Bon Festival -- Japan (biggest day of the festival)

Chauvin Day -- observed on Napoleon's birthday because his is unknown, the day is named for Nicholas Chauvin, whose blind devotion to Napoleon was immortalized in his name's use for absurdly intense attachments to any cause

Constitution Day -- Equatorial Guinea

Day of Hearts -- Amsterdam and Haarlem, Holland (originally a cross dressing festival, all men dressed as women, and women as men; revived in recent years on the 3rd weekend of August, but the 3rd Monday was the original celebration)

Eleusinian Mysteries -- Ancient Greek Calendar (through the 18th, dates approximate)

Festival of Vesta -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Fool's Dance -- Japan (part of the Awa Dance Festival)

Independence Day -- India; Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville)

India Independence Day Parade -- Devon Avenue, Rogers Park, Chicago, IL, US (yes, a Celebration of Indian and American Democracy; anything for a party, even another country's Independence Day, right?)

Liberation Day -- both Koreas
Gwangbokjeol -- South Korea
Jogukhaebangui nal -- North Korea

Maras Diena -- Ancient Latvian Calendar (celebration of the goddess Mara, later associated with Mary)

National Day -- Lichtenstein

National Failures Day (May I suggest a book called "Fail Better", a small quotations book about how failure is just the beginning.)

National Lemon Meringue Pie Day

National Relaxation Day -- yes!!!

Shoro Nagashi Nagasaki -- Nagasaki, Japan

Sproshinki -- Slavic Pagan Calendar (end of the hay harvest festival)

St. Limbania's Day

Tuva Republic Day -- Tos-Bulak fields south of Kyzuk, Tuva, Russia (celebration of the Tuva Republic, a Naadam festival of Mongolian wrestling, horse racing, and archery; held by the Tuva people, the closest genetic relatives to the North and South American Native Peoples)

V-J Day -- US observance

Wafaa El-Nil -- Egypt and Coptic Church (first day of Flooding of the Nile)

Watch-the-Pot Week begins -- Fairy Calendar

Yukon Discovery Day -- Canada


Birthdays Today:

Joe Jonas, 1989
Ben Affleck, 1972
Melinda Gates, 1964
Jimmy Webb, 1946
Linda Ellerbee, 1944
Mike Connors, 1925
Rose Marie, 1925
Huntz Hall, 1919
Oscar Romero, 1917
Julia Child, 1912
Elizabeth Bolden, American Supercentenarian, 1890 (d. 2006)
Ethel Barrymore, 1879
E. Nesbit, 1858
Sir Walter Scott, 1771
Napoleon Bonaparte, 1769


Today in History:

Battle of Roncevaux Pass, the Basques defeat Charles the Great (Charlemagne) and Roland is killed, 778
Macbeth defeats his cousin and rival King Duncan I, who is killed in the battle, and becomes king of Scotland, 1040
Battle of Lumphanan, in which King Macbeth is killed by the forces of Mael Coluim MacDonnchada, 1057
The cave city of Vardzia is consecrated by Queen Tamar of Georgia, 1185
The foundation stone of Cologne Cathedral, built to house the relics of
the Three Wise Men, is laid, 1248*
The "Mainz Psalter" is completed, the earliest dated book, 1457
Founding of Panama City, 1519
Jesuit priest St. Francis Xaverius land in Kagoshima, Japan, 1549
Joseph Haydn departs England, never to return, 1795
Country of Liberia is founded by freed American former slaves, 1824
Tivoli Gardens, one of the oldest still intact amusement parks in the world, opens in Copenhagen, Denmark, 1842
The Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu, Hawai'i, is dedicated; it is the oldest continuously used Roman Catholic Cathedral in the US, 1843
San Sebastian Church in Manila, the first all-steel church in Asia, is officially inaugurated and blessed, 1891
A male servant of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright sets fire to the living quarters of the architect's Wisconsin home, 1914
The Panama Canal opens to traffic with the transit of the cargo ship Ancon, 1914
Will Rogers and Wiley Post are killed in a plane crash, 1935
The birth of stadium rock: The Beatles play Shae Stadium, 1965
President Richard Nixon completes the break from the gold standard, 1971
The "Wow! signal": The Big Ear, a radio telescope operated by Ohio State University as part of the SETI project, receives a radio signal from deep space, 1977
An 8.0-magnitude earthquake off the Pacific coast devastates Ica and various regions of Peru killing 514 and injuring 1,090, 2007


*Yes, we just noted the other day the date of completion in 1880!