Visit

 #1 Son has come home for a visit, and brought his fiancee with him.

She is a sweet girl, and it's great to finally meet her in person.

And i'm rambling, because i am both heartened and disappointed by the news i don't want to read but cannot help seeing and hearing about the storm and its aftermath.

All the bad things -- death toll rising, looters posing as FEMA workers, people having to do without basic necessities, scammers trying to pose as charities (as they always do after things like this, and i makes me sick).  All the good things -- people who sacrificed themselves to save others, charitable organizations desperately trying to meet needs, people reacting with ingenuity and empathy and kindness, the attempts to aid the animals in the affected areas.

Now another storm may be brewing.  A regular winter storm that wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't on the heels of a disaster.

So i ramble, and i will concentrate on being a good hostess and getting things done around here.


Today is:

All Souls' Day -- Christian (celebrations in Ecuador are among the most colorful; 2nd of the Dias de los Muertos in Mexico) related observances:
     Dead Relatives' Day -- Sicily
     Dia de Finados -- Brazil; Portugal

Arbor Day -- Samoa

Aztec Day of the Dead -- Ancient Aztec Calendar (date approximate)

Balfour Declaration Day -- Israel

Breeder's Cup World Championship -- Churchill Downs, Louisville, KY, US (the world's best horses compete in 14 races over two days)

Colorado Country Christmas Gift Show -- Denver, CO, US (through Sunday)

Cookie Monster's Birthday -- go have a cookie to celebrate! (but only after your dinner, as Cookie Monster now points out; boy, things have changed)

Coronation of Haile Selassie -- Rastafarian

Dia de las Iglesias Evangelicas y Protestantes -- Chile (Day of Evangelical and Protestant Churches)

Dveselu Diena -- Ancient Latvian Calendar (day for families to gather with the spirits of their ancestors at the graveyard to celebrate the continuity of life)

Festival of Fisher's Ghost -- Campbelltown City, Australia (ten days of celebrating the legends of Australia's most famous ghost, Frederick Fisher)

Festival of Guan Yin -- Thian Hock Keng, Singapore (goddess of mercy)

Festival of Hathor -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Indian Arrival Day / Arrival of Indentured Laborers' Day -- Mauritius

Karatsu Kunchi -- Karatsu and Saga, Japan

Look for Circles Day -- internet generated, and we run in circles looking for who created it and why!

Medical Science Liaison (MSL) Awareness And Appreciation Day -- US

National Deviled Egg Day

National Farm Toy Show -- National Farm Toy Museum, Dyersville, IA, US (the granddaddy of all farm toy shows; through Sunday)

National Traffic Directors Day -- meaning radio and TV traffic directors, who always schedule your favorite shows when you just can't watch, and put more and more commercials in when they can

Potting-Shed Investitures -- Fairy Calendar (Garden Fairies)

Plan Your Epitaph Day -- sponsored by Dead or Alive of Arcata, CA, because a forgettable epitaph is almost a fate worse than death, so make plans to do yours right!

Practice Being Psychic Day -- but you already knew that, didn't you?

Refuse to Capitalize the First Letters in Your Name Day -- k.d.lang's birthday

Soulcaker's Play -- Cheshire, UK

St Eustachius' Day  (Patron of difficult situations, fire prevention, firefighters, hunters and hunting, torture victims, trappers; Madrid, Spain; Poli, Italy; against fire and torture)

Will Rogers' Days -- Claremore and Oologah, OK, US (through Sunday; celebrating the man's wit and humor at his birthplace and the museum dedicated to him)

World Championship Punkin Chunkin -- Bridgeville, DE, US (come watch someone be crowned lord of the gourd! through Sunday)

World Community Day -- sponsored by Church Women United


Anniversaries Today:

North Dakota becomes the 39th US State, 1889
South Dakota becomes the 40th US State, 1889


Birthdays Today:

Stephanie Powers, 1942
Pat Buchanan, 1938
Ray Walston, 1914
Burt Lancaster, 1913
Paul Ford, 1901
Warren G. Harding, 1865
James K. Polk, 1795
Marie Antionette, 1755
Daniel Boone, 1734


Today in History:

The Plymouth, Rhode Island, Massachusetts Bay, and Connecticut colonies combine forces and attach the Great Swamp Fort of the Narragansetts during King Philip's War, 1675
The African Free School, the first free school in NYC, opens, 1787
The popular vote for US president is first recorded and Andrew "By God" Jackson (a/k/a Old Hickory) defeats John Quincy Adams, 1824
New Zealand officially adopts a standard time to be observed nationally, 1868
Johnny Campbell officially leads the crowd in cheering at a University of Minnesota football game, the official birth of cheerleading, 1898
The British newspaper the "Daily Mirror" begins publication, 1904
The Balfour Declaration proclaims British support for the "establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people" with the clear understanding "that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities", 1917
Australia's Qantas Airways begins service, 1922
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is established, 1936
In California, designer Howard Hughes performs the maiden (and only) flight of the Spruce Goose; the largest fixed-wing aircraft ever built, 1947
Penguin Books is found not guilty of obscenity in the Lady Chatterley's Lover case, 1960
The Morris worm, the first internet-distributed computer worm to gain significant mainstream media attention, is launched from MIT, 1988