Cats are...

...connoisseurs of comfort.  So James Herriot said,

But all connoisseurs need a bit of training to get it right, and a kitten's idea might not exactly match up to that of his grown counterpart.

Then again, kittens just have a style of their own.

For example:

Sometimes the surfaces aren't uniformly soft, or even uniform.

Then there is:

An adult cat would tell this young one in training not to mix eating with sleeping, but to savor one at a time.


And finally:

Yes, she really is sound asleep up there, on top of the scratching post.  An adult cat would eschew danger if she really wanted to cut loose and relax in comfort.

Kittens do have a lot to learn, don't they?


Today is


Aoi Matsuri -- Kyoto, Japan (Hollyhock Festival)

Carabao Festival -- San Isidro, Pulilan, and Angono, Philippines (on St. Isidore of Madrid's Day; the farming communities celebrate their beasts of burden and have them blessed)

Cold Sophie's Day (5th Ice Saint)

Dakinis' Day -- Tantric Buddhists (day to make offerings to the Dakinis and Mother Tantra to manifest positive social change and environmental healing)

Flip Your Mattress Day -- because it's a good thing to do

Ides of May -- Ancient Roman Calendar; related observances
     Feast of Maia and Vesta
     Mercuralia
     Sacrifice day to the Tiber River

Independence Day -- Paraguay

International Conscientious Objectors' Day

International Day of Families -- UN

La Corsa del Ceri -- Gubbio, Italy (feastival on the eve of the saint day of the city's patron, St. Ubaldo)

Mother's Day -- Paraguay

National Chocolate Chip Day

National Safety Dose Day -- cannot confirm they sponsor a day any more, but the Safety Dose people still want us to remember that more is not necessarily better when it comes to taking medicines, and to dose them correctly for children

Nylon Stockings Day -- they went on sale at stores around the US this date in 1940

Police Officer/Peace Officer Memorial Day

Relive Your Past By Listening to the First Music You Ever Bought No Matter What It Was No Excuses Day -- no, i can't find out who started this, or why; maybe we should all take a pass at this one

Sea Monkey Day -- because somebody really loves theirs, and wants you to love them, too

St. Dympna's Day (*atron of the insane, asylums, mental health workers; against epilepsy, insanity, sleepwalking)

St. Hallvard's Day (Patron of Oslo; defending innocence)

St. Isidoreof Madrid 's Day (Patron of farmers, farm workers, ranchers, Madrid)

Straw Hat Day -- just as you don't wear white after Labor Day, you don't wear straw hats before today

Teacher's Day -- Mexico; South Korea


Anniversaries Today:

Mary, Queen of Scots, marries James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, 1567


Birthdays Today:

Jamie-Lynn Sigler, 1981
David Krumholtz, 1978
David Charvet, 1972
Emmit Smith, 1969
George Brett, 1953
Madeleine Albright, 1937
Trini Lopez, 1937
Anna Maria Alberghetti, 1936
Jasper Johns, 1930
Eddy Arnold, 1918
James Mason, 1909
Joseph Cotten, 1905
Abraham Zapruder, 1905
Katherine Anne Porter, 1890
Pierre Curie, 1859
L. Frank Baum, 1856


Today in History:

Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, is sentenced to death, 1536
Bartholomew Gosnold becomes the first European to see Cape Cod, 1602
Johannes Kepler confirms his discovery of the third law of planetary motion, 1618
James Puckle, a London lawyer, patents the world's first machine gun, 1718
The Seven Years' War begins when Great Britain declares war on France, 1756
Diego Marín Aguilera flies a glider for "about 360 meters", at a height of 5-6 meters, during one of the first attempted flights, 1793
George III survives two assassination attempts in one day, 1800
Opening of the first private mental health hospital in the United States, the Asylum for the Relief of Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason (now Friends Hospital) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1817
Francis Baily observes "Baily's beads" during an annular eclipse, 1836
Rama IV is crowned King of Thailand (The King and I), 1851
Opening of the present Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, 1858
Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the National Woman's Suffrage Association, 1869
Las Vegas, Nevada, is founded, 1905
The United States Supreme Court  declares Standard Oil to be an "unreasonable" monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act and orders the company to be broken up, 1911
The Winnipeg General Strike begins; by 11:00 a.m., almost the whole working population of Winnipeg, Manitoba had walked off the job, 1919
Mickey Mouse premiered in his first cartoon, Plane Crazy, 1928
In an attempted Coup d'état, the Prime Minister of Japan Inukai Tsuyoshi is killed, 1932
The Moscow Metro is opened to public, 1935
The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3, 1958
Mercury-Atlas 9 astronaut L. Gordon Cooper becomes the first American to spend more than a day in space, 1963
President Richard Nixon appoints Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington the first female United States Army Generals, 1970
Portrait of Doctor Gachet by Vincent van Gogh is sold for a record $82.5 million, the most expensive painting at the time, 1990
Edith Cresson becomes France's first female prime minister, 1991
California becomes the second U.S. state after Massachusetts in 2004 to legalize same-sex marriage, 2008
Jessica Watson, age 17, becomes the youngest person to sail, non-stop and unassisted around the world solo, 2010