Only You, Son

 "Mom, may I borrow dad's anvil?" #2 Son asked as he came into the kitchen.

And what, may i ask, do you want with his anvil?

"Festus and I are going to straighten up a sword.  We've got my sledgehammer, and we're going to build a fire with the oak wood I saved when that tree lost those big limbs during the hurricane.  Oak makes a good, hot fire."

Okay, son, but don't break the anvil, okay?

"Mom, how could we break an anvil?"

Well, i'm not sure, but if anyone could, it would be you and Festus.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," he grinned as he hefted the 30lb piece of metal over his shoulder.

A little while later, i heard the distinct sounds of blacksmithing going on at the side of the house.  Within a few minutes of hearing metal strike metal for the first time, i turned to see him back in the kitchen.

"I need a pot holder.  It's giving off sparks as we hit it, and I don't want to get burned."

Eventually he came in with a straightened up "sword", something he had salvaged from a garbage pile apparently, but no pot holder.

"What do you think?" he asked.

Very good, now where's the pot holder and the anvil?

"The anvil is cooling.  As for the pot holder, well, um..."

Let me guess, burned beyond all use?

"Well, I told you it was a hot fire and it was all giving off sparks!"

My son, future chef, blacksmith, pot holder ruiner.  He also broke both spatulas, and i still haven't gotten that story straight, something about chasing people and pretending to spank them, and well, only my son.

Maybe someday, when it's his kitchen, he'll be more careful.  We can only hope.


Today is:

Ashura -- Islam

Brotherhood of Goat Meat Eaters Festival -- Bellegarde-en-Marche, France (a festival that dates back, supposedly, to a battle with the English where the people of this town used sharpened goat horns to fight; goat meat is served to any and all and the whole town celebrates this outdoor occasion)

Brumalia -- Byzantine Empire celebration of Dyonisus and New Wine Festival; until the solstice

Celebrate Your Unique Talent Day -- www.youruniquetalent.com

Celtic Tree Month Ruish (Elder) begins

D.B. Cooper Day -- anniversary of the 1971 hijacking

Discovery Day -- Tasmania (by Abel Tasman in 1642)

Evolution Day -- On the Origin of Species published this day in 1859

Feast of the Martyrs of Vietnam -- Roman Catholic Church

Guadalajara International Book Fair -- Guadalajara, Mexico (through Dec. 2)

Guru Tegh Bahadur Martyrdom - Sikh

Holodomor Remembrance Day -- international commemoration of the Death By Hunger Genocide in Ukraine during the Stalin era

International Aura Awareness Day -- to increase the awareness of the human energy body, or aura 

Lachit Divas -- Assam, India

Light of the World Christmas Pageant -- Minden, DE, US (pageant and lighting up the downtown square; also tomorrow and next Sunday)

Mungabareena Ngan-Girra Festival -- Albury area, NSW, Australia (Bogong Moth Festival, now an indigenous cultural showcase)

National Sardines Day -- wonder how this would go over next to the turkey today?

Persephone Day (a/k/a Kore -- Ancient Greek Calendar (celebration of her as wheel goddess of the underworld; date approximate, but she is often associated with St. Catherine)

Pushkar Camel Fair -- Pushkar, India (through the 28th; lots of fun for camels and their two legged friends)

Ragtime Day -- birth anniversary of Scott Joplin

St. Colman of Cloyne's Day (Patron of Cloyne, Ireland)

St. Joachim Ho's Day -- a Martyr of China

St. Mary of Cordoba's Day (Patron of martyrs)

Swine Time Festival --  Climax, Georgia, US (Come on out and join the fun, the first Saturday after Thanksgiving.  Contests & Events include best dressed pig, corn shucking, hog calling, eating chitterlings, pig racing, syrup making, baby crawling and the greased pig chase!)

Teacher's Day -- Turkey

Third Bash of the Tree-Toppers -- Fairy Calendar (fairy creatures who don't believe in "one" or "two", so start counting at three)

Use Even If Seal is Broken Day -- internet generated; observe at your own risk, always!


Birthdays Today:

Katherine Heigl, 1978
William F. Buckley, Jr., 1925
Charles "Lucky" Luciano, 1897
Dale Carnegie, 1888
Scott Joplin, 1868
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1864
Bat Masterson, 1853
Frances Hodgson Burnett, 1849
Bram Stoker, 1847
Zachary Taylor, 1784
Charles Theodore Pachelbel, 1690


Today in History:

Theodosius I makes his formal entry into Constantinople, 380
Rabbi Nathan ben Yehiel of Rome completes his Talmudic dictionary, 1105
The Thames River freezes, 1434
First observation of transit of Venus occurred (only 2, record event), 1639
Abel Janzoon Tasman becomes the first European to see Van Damien's Land, later renamed Tasmania, 1642
First Lutheran pastor ordained in America, Justus Falckner at Philadelphia, 1703
Mt. Vesuvius erupts, 1759
Charles Darwin publishes "On the Origin of Species", 1859
Luik-Visé-Maastricht railway opens, 1861
Joseph F Glidden patents his improved barbed wire, 1874
The first US absentee voting law enacted by Vermont, 1896
Clyde Coleman of NYC patents automobile electric starter, 1903
Radio Belgium makes its first transmission, 1923
The first woman pilot on a transcontinental air flight, Miss Ruth Nichols (Mineola, NY to Calif), in a Lockheed-Vega, took 7 days, 1930
In Washington, D.C., the FBI Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory (better known as the FBI Crime Lab) officially opens, 1932
Lee Harvey Oswald is murdered by Jack Ruby, 1963
During a severe thunderstorm over Washington state, a hijacker calling himself Dan Cooper (AKA D. B. Cooper) parachutes from a Northwest Orient Airlines plane with $200,000 in ransom money, and is never seen again, 1971
A national speed limit is imposed on the Autobahn in Germany due to the 1973 oil crisis; it lasts only four months, 1973
The communist party resigns in Czechoslovakia, 1989
By a margin of only 50.28% to 49.72%, Ireland votes to end the 70 year old ban on divorce, 1995