Reality?

 When Bigger Girl walks into the kitchen to have a chat, you never know what you are going to get.

"Mom, what if the Earth is actually just a reality show for aliens, and if we ever do actually make peace, the show will get cancelled?" was her latest.

Hm, i told her, i think i'll have to go to church and pray about that one.

Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately since they are my kids, my sarcasm is usually lost on them.

Today will be full, with nursery duty at church, and then doing my second work day at the neighborhood pool (everyone has the option of working a few days, or paying extra dues, and i'm too, shall we say, frugal -- read stingy -- to pay someone else to do the work i know i can do over there), and then prayer meeting.

If the aliens get bored watching me, i'm sure the reality show that is someone else's life will keep them satisfied for a bit longer, and if our show gets cancelled, well, i won't have to worry about the ironing pile any more.


Today is

Arrival Day -- Guyana

Be Kind to Animals Week -- sponsored by the American Humane Association, through Saturday

Bevrijdingsday -- Netherlands(Liberation Day)

Bonza Bottler Day

Cartoonists Day -- celebrates the first color cartoon ever published, The Yellow Kid, on this day in 1895.

Children's Day -- South Korea

Cinco de Mayo / Anniversary of the Battle of Puebla -- Mexico, and anyplace that beer brewers want to make a minor battle into a big deal to increase beer sales today

Constitution Day -- Kyrgyzstan

Coronation Day -- Thailand (crowning of King Bhumibol Adulyadej in 1950)

Day of Adoration of Anubis -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar

Easter/Pascha -- Orthodox Christians following the Julian Calendar

Europe Day -- Council of Europe

Fairy Ring Day (Receiving) -- Fairy Calendar

Halfway Point of Spring/Autumn

Hanswijk Procession -- Mechelen, Belgium (since the year 1272, the Sunday before Ascension Thursday, the town celebrates Our Lady of Hanswijk, in thanks for the ending of plague and war)

Hidirellez  -- Turkey (arrival of spring and a religious holiday of the Alevi peoples, celebrating the meeting on Earth of the Prophets Al-Khidr and Elijah; begins this evening and goes through tomorrow)

International Bereaved Mothers' Day -- for mothers who are grieving the loss of their children

International Day of the Midwife -- an old option becomes new again
 
Kodomo-no-hi (Children's Day)-- Japan

Lusophone Culture Day -- Community of Portuguese-speaking countries

Martyr's Day -- Lebanon

Mother's Day -- Hungary; Lithuania; Mozambique; Portugal; Spain

Motorcycle Mass and Blessing of the Bikes -- Paterson, NJ (on the first Sunday of May, which is Motorcycle Safety Month; some other places will also observe bike blessings throughout the month)

National Chocolate Custard Day

National Hoagie Day

National Infertility Survival Day® -- encouraging infertility survivors to reach out to those still coming to terms with being diagnosed as infertile

National Childhood Stroke Awareness Day -- yes, children can have strokes, too

Orthodox Easter/Pascha -- Orthdox Christians following the Julian Calendar

Patriot's Victory Day -- Ethiopia

Perfect Game Day -- Cy Young pitches baseball's first officially recorded perfect game on this day in 1904

Senior Citizens Day -- Palau

St. Judith's Day (Patron of Prussia)

Totally Chipotle® Day -- details are here

World Laughter Day -- sponsored by Dr. Madan Kataria, founder of the worldwide Laughter Yoga movementhttp://www.laughternetwork.co.uk/world-laughter-2013.html

Ziua Barbatului -- Romania (Men's Day)



Birthdays Today:

Danielle Fishel, 1981
Tina Yothers, 1973
Brian Williams, 1959
Tammy Wynette, 1942
Pat Carroll, 1927
Ann B. Davis, 1926
Alice Faye, 1915
Tyrone Power, 1913
James Beard, 1903
Nelly Bly, 1864
John Batterson Stetson, 1830
Karl Marx, 1818
Soren Kierkegaard, 1813


Today in History:

Rebel barons begin a chain of events that leads to King John of England's eventual signing of the Magna Carta, 1215
Kublai Khan becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire, 1260
Jews are expelled from Speyer Germany, 1430
Christopher Columbus lands at Jamaica and claims it for Spain, 1494
In France, the Estates-General convenes for the first time since 1614, 1789
Citizenship is denied to Jews of Canton of Aargau Switzerland, 1809
Mary Kies becomes the first woman issued a US patent, for a method of weaving, 1809
The American Bible Society organizes in NY, 1816
Emperor Napoleon I dies in exile on the island of Saint Helena, 1821
In Belgium, the first railway in continental Europe opens between Brussels  and Mechelen, 1835
The American Medical Association forms in Philadelphia, 1847
Cinco de Mayo in Mexico: troops led by Ignacio Zaragoza halt a French invasion  in the Battle of Puebla, 1862
The first train robbery in the US occurs in North Bend, Ohio, 1865
Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into Canada to avoid harassment by the United States Army, 1877
The Music Hall in New York City (later known as Carnegie Hall) has its grand opening and first public performance, with Tchaikovsky as the guest conductor, 1891
Cy Young pitches the first perfect game in modern baseball history, 1904
Coco Chanel introduces Chanel No. 5, 1921
John T. Scopes is arrested for teaching evolution in violation of Tennessee's Butler Act, 1925
West Germany gains full sovereignty, 1955
Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into outer space, 1961
Bobby Sands dies in the Long Kesh prison hospital after 66 days of hunger-striking, aged 27, 1981
The government of Sudan signs an accord with the Sudan Liberation Army, 2006
Mass protests in Greece erupt in response to austerity measures imposed by the government as a result of the Greek debt crisis, 2010