A to Z Challenge: T is for Travel

Yes, i promise not to sing, even if On The Road Again is running through my head.

A few weeks ago, my very good friend Di Dreaming hit a snag in some plans she had.  She doesn't have the stamina she used to, before the chemo, and before her asthma got so bad.  So i spoke to my Sweetie, and he agreed that i would travel to Alabama to visit her and give her a hand with that project.

She was thrilled, and got her project to the point where my being there could do her the most good.

Why travel down there right now?  Because this week is Spring Break for Little Girl and #2 Son.  Bigger Girl's was last week, but that's okay, she is around the house enough that the cat chores will be split pretty evenly.

The Jalopy probably couldn't make the trip, so i'm taking Sweetie's Honda.  As is usual, everything was a madhouse getting out of town, making sure there was plenty to eat in the house that they could easily fix for themselves, stocking up on kitten formula, running last minute errands.

In the middle of all of that, we had Sweetie's final retirement meetings.  It went well, but more on that later.


Right now, i've got to get on down the road.  Solo road trips have become my sanity savers in recent years, and i'm grinning from ear to ear. 


April 23 Public school day -- look up Boston Latin School

Today is

4#Administrative Professionals Day -- Wed. of last full week

^*Alfred G. "Alferd" Packer Day -- Colorado

4#American Quilter's Society Quilt Show -- Paducah, KY, US (auction, workshops, and prizes for the best quilts; through Saturday)

^*Book Day and Lover's Day -- Spain, especially Catalan (women give books to men, while men give flowers to the women. Celebrated in the Spanish city of Barcelona since 1714 to honor Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes [author of "Don Quixote"] and in observance of St. George's Day)

4#Buccaneer Days Festival -- Corpus Christi, TX, US (rodeo, festival, parade, and fun; through May 3)

^*Canada Book Day

^*Chance Day -- Fairy Calendar

^*Children's Day -- North Cyprus; Turkey

4%Community Day -- CL, Spain

4#Ebertfest/Roger Ebert's Film Festival -- Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL (in the best show biz tradition, the show will go on; through Sunday)

^*English Language Day -- UN http://www.un.org/en/events/englishlanguageday/index.shtml

^*Impossible Astronaut Day -- if you are a Dr. Who fan, you know, and if not, go here and find outhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Impossible_Astronaut  http://www.geekykool.com/impossible-astronaut-day-april-23rd/

^*Independence Day -- Conch Republic, Key West, FL. US (a tongue-in-cheek micronation which seceeded from the Union in 1982; celebrated yearly with a week long festival)

^*International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day -- on St. George's Day, encouraging members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America to continue to be what Howard V. Hendrix derrogatorily termed "webscabs", posting their stories free on the internet

^*International Sing Out Day -- no one will claim responsibility for this one, but i promise not to observe it!

^*Jurgi Festival -- Ancient Latvian Calendar (day sacred to Usins; first day outdoor work began for the summer)

^*National Cherry Cheesecake Day

^*National Picnic Day -- US

^*National Sovereignty Day -- Turkey

4#Peppercorn Ceremony -- St. George, Bermuda (commemorates the renting of what is now the Old State House by the Masonic Lodge to the governor of Burmuda for the cost of one peppercorn per annum)

4#Polk County Ramp Tramp Festival -- Polk County, TN, US (come out and celebrate with the 4-H club the ramp, a local wild leek, and enjoy the Bluegrass music and games; through Saturday)

^*Sigurd the Dragon Slayer's Day -- because he was probably the inspiration for the legends about St. George

^*St. Adalbert's Day (Patron of Bohemia; Czech Republic; Poland; Prague, Czech Republic; Prussia)

^*St. George's Day (Patron of archers, armourers, Boy Scouts, butchers, cavalry, chivalry, Crusaders, equestrians, farmers, field hands, field workers, horsemen, horses, husbandmen, knights, lepers, Order of the Garter, Palestinian Christians, riders, Romanian Army, saddle makers, saddlers, sheep, shepherds, soldiers, Teutonic Knights; Canada; England; Ethiopia; Georgia; Germany; Greece; Lithuania; Malta; Portugal; Cappadocia; Catalonia; Palestine; over 20 cities and diocese around the world; against herpes, leprosy, plague, skin diseases, skin rashes, syphilis; by the middle ages, St. George was revered in much of Europe as the personification of chivalry)*

^*Take a Chance Day -- internet generated encouragement to try something different

^*Talk Like Shakespeare Day -- on The Bard's birth anniversaryhttp://www.talklikeshakespeare.org/

4#USA Film Festival -- Dallas, TX, US (major showcase of new studio and indie films; through Sunday)

^*Vinalia Priora -- Ancient Roman Calendar (tasting the first wines of the year)

^*World Book & Copyright Day -- UN (this date chosen because of how parts of Spain celebrate St. George's Day, with books)http://www.un.org/en/events/bookday/
     World Book Night -- Germany; Ireland; UK; US (anniversary of the birth and death of Shakespeare, and the death of Miguel de Cervantes; over 20 book titles have been specially chosen for this year and special editions of those books printed so you can share books and your love of reading with those who don't read muchhttp://www.us.worldbooknight.org/

*To save a Maid, St. George the Dragon slew
A pretty tale, if all is told to be true
Most say, there are no Dragons, and tis said
There was no George: pray God there was a Maid.
-- John Aubrey, Remains of Gentilism (1688)


Birthdays Today:

Dev Patel, 1990
John Cena, 1977
Kal Penn, 1977
Scott Bairstow, 1970
Melina Kanakaredes, 1967
George Lopez, 1961
Valerie Bertinelli, 1960
Craig Sheffer, 1960
Jan Hooks, 1957
Judy Davis, 1955
Michael Moore, 1954
Joyce DeWitt, 1949
Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, 1947
Sandra Dee, 1942
David Birney, 1940
Lee Majors, 1940
Roy Orbison, 1936
Shirley Temple Black, 1928
Vladimire Nabokov, 1899
Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson, 1897
Sergei Prokofiev, 1891
Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck, 1858
Granville T. Woods, 1856
James Buchanan, 1791
William Penn, 1621
William Shakespeare, 1564(attributed -- only the day of his baptism, April 26, is known for certain)


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Baywatch"(TV), 1989
"No Man's Land"(Play), 1975
"She Loves Me"(Musical), 1963
"Patience; or, Bunthorne's Bride"(Opera), 1881
"Il re pastore/The Shepherd King"(Mozart opera, K 208)1775
"The Tender Husband"(Comedy), 1705


Today in History:

The founding of the Order of the Garter by King Edward III is announced on St George's Day, 1348
William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor is first performed, with Queen Elizabeth I in attendance, 1597
The first public school in the United States, Boston Latin School, is founded in Boston, Massachusetts, 1635
Connecticut is chartered as an English colony, 1662
Canada issues its first postage stamps, 1851
The Vitascope system of movie projection debuts the first motion picture at Koster & Bial's Music Hall in NYC, 1896
Namibia becomes the 160th member of the UN and the 50th member of the Commonwealth of Nations, 1990
Eritrians vote overwhelmingly for independence from Ethiopia, 1993
Beijing closes all schools for two weeks because of the SARS virus, 2003
The gamma ray burst GRB 090423 is observed for 10 seconds. The event signals the most distant object of any kind and also the oldest known object in the universe, 2009
Despite an initial ban on the film 'Borat,' Kazakhstan issues and official 'thank you' to actor Sacha Baron Cohen for his character, Borat Sagdiyev, 2012