Still a Kid at Heart

"Mom, mom, mom, look what I have!"  Little Girl had gotten her sister to take her to the store, and she came in with her prize, a pumpkin.

Little Girl's pumpkin, waiting for carving.

"It's just right!" she gloated.  "I'm going to carve it in a couple of weeks.  Until then, may I set it on the porch?"

Of course, i said.  After all, i'm a Y'at from N'Awlins, and you always know us by having stuff on the front porch that needs to be put up.

As usual, my tone was lost on her, and really, that is one way you know a Y'at.  Anyway.

The next morning, as i was preparing to take her to school, she said, "I'm so glad I don't have to ride the bus in the morning.  The afternoon is okay, but the bus driver, Miss Fatima, yells a lot.  She doesn't like noise or anyone moving around much on the bus.  And I really don't like yelling in the morning.  This way, it's nice and quiet on the way to school."

Do you want me to start picking you up in the afternoons again? i asked.

"No," she said.  "I don't mind her in the afternoons, and she likes me.  I'm just glad I don't have to get up even earlier in the morning to take the bus."

Then, as i headed to the car, i noticed that she lagged behind.  Leaning over to peek around the Sago palm bush, i saw her do something that made my heart sing.

As much as she tries to be a grown up, she showed me that the little kid in her is still alive and well.  She was saying good-bye to her pumpkin!




Today is:

Abolition Day -- Saint Barthelemy

Bring Your Teddy Bear to Work Day -- at your own risk! sponsored by Susan E. Schwartz of "Teddies Are The Answer"

Community Day -- Valencia, Spain

Curious Events Holiday -- Fairy Calendar

Emergency Nurses Day

Establishment of the Samitinget in Norway -- Sami People's Parliament

Feast of Abraham the Patriarch -- Christian

Festival for Fausta Felicitas -- Ancient Roman Calendar (goddess of good luck and joy)

Festival for Venus -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Frankfurt Book Fair -- Frankfurt, Germany (world's largest international book fair; through Sunday)

Give Peace a Chance Day / Instant Karma Day -- in honor of the birth of John Lennon

Independence Day -- Uganda(1962)

International Top Spinning Day -- sponsored by the Spinning Top and Yo-Yo Museum, to recognize the Earth as a large spinning top; add your spins to the total and e-mail results to the sponsor

International Walk to School/Bike to School Day -- to promote both healthy exercise and less pollution

Korean Alphabet Day -- Korea (Hangul Nal)

Leif Erickson Day -- Iceland; Norway; Minnesota and Wisconsin, US

Messenger Appreciation Day -- 10/9 in radio talk is a request to repeat information

Moldy Cheese Day (Sorry, but I do not like the stinky, moldy cheeses, at least not the heavier ones.)

Mop Fair -- Tewkesbury, England (through tomorrow; festival dating back to the 12th century, originally a fair in which prospective employers came to find laborers, now two days of fun, fairgrounds rides, traditional games and sideshows, and more)

National Day of Honor -- Peru (sometimes translated as Day of Dignity; commemorates the nationalization of the countries oil fields)

National Stop Bullying Day -- US

National Submarine/Grinder/Hoagie/Hero/PoBoy/Pierogi Day -- each of these has its own special day, but today you get to pick which one you want

Presidential Election Day -- Azerbaijan

SAVE Today -- US (Stop America's Violence Everywhere, a day created in 1995 by the American Medical Association Alliance)

St. Denis' Day (Patron of possessed people; France; Paris, France; against frenzy, headaches, rabies, and strife)

St. Dionysius the Areopagite's Day (considered the first Bishop of Athens, mentioned in Acts 17; Patron of Zakynthos Island, Greece; against headaches and the devil)

St. Louis Bertrand's Day (Patron of Caribbean vicariates; Columbia; Dominican novices)

Takayama Matsuri Autumn Festival -- Takayama, Japan (ancient, elaborate floats parade through the old city; through tomorrow)

Tavistock Goosey Fair -- Tavistock, Devon, UK (dating back to 12th-century Michaelmas fairs, this original livestock fair is now mostly a fun festival)

World Post Day / Universal Postal Union Day -- UN

Ziua Nationala de Comemorare a Holocaustului -- Romania (National Day of Commemorating the Holocaust)


Anniversaries Today:

King Louis XII of France marries Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII of England, 1514


Birthdays Today:

Eddie Guerrero, 1967
Tony Shalhoub, 1953
Scott Bakula, 1954
Sharon Osbourne, 1952
Jackson Browne, 1948
John Entwistle, 1944
Brian Lamb, 1941
John Lennon, 1940
Jacques Tati, 1908
Bruce, Catton, 1899
Camille Saint-Saens, 1835
Mary Ann Shadd Cary, 1823 (with her husband, the first black newspaper
publishers in the US)
Robert de Sorbon, 1201 (founded Sorbonne University, Paris)


Today in History:

Leif Ericson discovers "Vinland" (somewhere in New England or Nova Scotia, possibly?), 1000
Leif Ericson lands in L'Anse aux Meadows, Canada, a definitive European landing in the "New World", 1003
The Korean Hangual alphabet is devised, 1446
Founder of Rhode Island Roger Williams is banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony as a religious dissident after he speaks out against punishments for religious offenses and giving away Native American land, 1635
Collegiate School of CT (Yale University) is chartered in New Haven, 1701
Father Francisco Palou founds Mission San Francisco de Asis in what is now San Francisco, California, 1776
City of Hobart, Tasmania, founded, 1804
Official opening of the University of Ghent, 1817
Isaac Singer patents the sewing machine motor, 1855
Joshua Stoddard of Worcester, Mass., patents the first Calliope, 1855
The first US underground pipeline for carrying oil is laid in Pennsylvania, 1865
Aaron Montgomery starts the mail order business that will later become Montgomery Ward, 1872
The Universal Postal Union is created as part of the Treaty of Berne, 1874
The first 2-way telephone conversation over outdoor wires occurs, 1876
Washington Monument opens to the public, 1888
Woodrow Wilson becomes the first US president to attend a World Series Game, 1915
National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) forms, 1926
Hoover Dam begins transmitting electricity to L.A., 1936
A day after being captured, Marxist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara is executed for attempting to incite a revolution in Bolivia, 1967
The Khmer Republic is proclaimed in Cambodia, 1970
Abolition of capital punishment in France, 1981
A 13 kilogram (est.) fragment of the Peekskill meteorite lands in the driveway of the Knapp residence in Peekskill, New York, destroying the family's 1980 Chevrolet Malibu, 1992
North Korea allegedly tests its first nuclear device, 2006
First lunar impact of the Centaur and LCROSS spacecrafts as part of NASA's Lunar Precursor Robotic Program, 2009