A to Z Challenge:E is for Enigma

When I was a tiny kitten, I was named Enigma. 

Aren't I beautiful?

Some of you might recall a bit of my story.  My brother was Curlicue Q. Crooktail and my sister was Dr. Penguin.  We were found under an abandoned car, screaming for food.  Our mother had starved to death, and was wrapped around us.  She died trying to keep us warm and fed and safe.

We were brought into this house when the other litter, Anomaly, Perplexity, and Conundrum were here.  Since the mother person who lives here also wanted to use the name Enigma, that was given to me, although now my full title is "The Charismatic Enigma Sissicat."  Yes, it's a mouthful, but I like it.

While my brother and sister were adopted out, I now own #1 Son.  He loves me a lot, and I actually co-own him with Mikey, who will get his day later in the month.

#1 Son had moved out of this house for a while.  We went to Kansas, which was very different.  We had snow!  I wasn't used to snow, and one day, when he opened the door, Mikey and I escaped.  We jumped out of the door and up to our bellies in the soft, white stuff.  It was a shock, but soon Mikey and I were both running, leading #1 Son on a merry chase to catch us and get us back in the apartment.  It was fun, especially the way he hollered at us!

We didn't like it much when he would come home to visit and leave us at the apartment alone for a few days.

We liked it even less when we had to ride with him for hours and hours.  Sometimes he would stop at a hotel, and that wasn't too great, but at least it was a break.  In the car for hours, I would sometimes howl and howl.

Link looks at me angrily when he thinks I'm in his way.  Of course, I don't let him get away with it.

After we moved back down here, #1 Son moved in a house with some friends.  The friends had dogs!  That was new, and I made friends with one of the dogs.  The other one they had to keep away from us because he always wanted to chase us and we would fight back.

Now we are back in the house where we were raised.  It's okay, but Link doesn't like that we are back.

Still, there are good things. like getting to sit and look out of the window.  There are birds to watch, and sometimes a squirrel, and Butch, the cat two doors down who is allowed to go outside (he wears a tag and everything!) sometimes comes by.

My favorite perch.

It's a good life.



Today is

Babu Jagivan Ram's Birthday -- Andhra Pradesh, India

Bell Bottoms Day -- remember those? apparently so did someone who wanted to celebrate the fact

Crabbie's Grand National -- Aintree Racecourse, Liverpool, England (the world's greatest steeplechase, according to many, dating back to 1839)

Easter Island Day -- anniversary of the "discovery" of the Island in 1722, on Easter Sunday of that year

Edinburgh International Science Festival -- Edinburgh, Scotland (massiver celebration of science and technology; through the 20th)

Elmira Maple Syrup Festival -- Elmira, ON, Canada (fun for the whole family, and delicious, too!)

Every Day is Tag Day -- make sure your pet has an up to date tag or microchip, just in case!

Fringe Fairies Welcome Party -- Fairy Calendar

Go for Broke Day -- take a risk, and make it count!  step out and do something extraordinary; anniversary of the day in 1945 that a US Army unit made up of almost all Japanese-Americans, the 442nd Regimental, went for broke and managed to break through the Nazi Gothic line in Italy in one day

Historic Pendleton Spring Jubilee -- Pendleton, SC, US (through tomorrow)

International Pillow Fight Day -- yes, really

International Tabletop Day -- encouraging people to play games on a table, not online, face to face

Katori Jingu Otaue-sai -- Sawara, Chiba Prefecture, Japan (rice planting festival; through tomorrow)

Lady Luck Day -- in honor of the Roman festival of Fortune held each year on this date

National Caramel Day

National Deep Dish Pizza Day -- anniversary of the day in 1979 that Uno Chicago Grill, originator of the deep dish pizza, first opened a restaurant outside the Chicago area

National Raisin and Spice Bar Day

Nones of April -- Ancient Roman Calendar; also
     Fortuna Publica -- festival of Fortune in her role as the Luck of the People

Quing Ming Jie -- China; Hong Kong; Macau; North Korea; Taiwan (Tomb Sweeping Day, last day of the Quingming Festival)(a/k/a Festival of Clear Brightness, Festival for Tending Graves, Grave Sweeping Day, Chinese Memorial Day, Tomb Sweeping Day, Spring Remembrance, and All Souls Day (not to be confused with the Roman Catholic holiday of the same name); the festival includes kite flying and rituals to call the spring rains, as well as cleaning the graves of ancestors and offering them gifts)

Saint Vincent Ferrer's Day (Patron of brick makers, builders, construction workers, pavement workers, plumbers, tile makers; of Calamonaci, Italy; Casteltermini, Agrigento, Italy; Leganes, Philippines)

Sikmogil -- South Korea (Arbor Day)

Tangible Karma™ Day -- set aside an hour today to become purposefully aware of the needs of someone around you, and to fulfill that need; because giving feels as good as receiving tangiblekarma.com

World Catfish Festival -- Belzoni, MS, US (a family friendly festival celebrating this ever-popular fish)


Anniversary Today:

John Rolfe marries Pocahontas, 1614


Birthdays Today:

Mitch Pileggi, 1952
Agnetha Faltskog, 1950
Max Gail, 1943
Michael Moriarty, 1942
Judith A. Resnik, 1949
Colin Powell, 1937
Frank Gorshin, 1934
Roger Corman, 1926
Gale Storm, 1921
Gregory Peck, 1916
Bette Davis, 1908
Spencer Tracy, 1900
Booker T. Washington, 1856
Joseph Lister, 1827
Elihu Yale, 1649


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Secret Garden"(Musical), 1991
"Married . . . with Children"(TV), 1987
"Secret Agent"(TV), 1961
"Fireside Theatre"(TV), 1949
"Pavane pour une infante défunte"(Ravel piano solo, Pavane for a Dead Princess), 1902
"Die Fledermaus"(Operetta), 1874
The Symphony No. 2 in D major(Beethoven Op. 36), 1803


Today in History:

St. Patrick returns to Ireland as a missionary bishop, 456
Two hundred Dutch noblemen petition to have the Spanish Inquisition suspended in the Netherlands, 1566
The Daimyo (Lord) of the Satsuma Domain in southern Kyushu, Japan, completes his successful invasion of the Ryukyu Kingdom in Okinawa, 1609
The Native American Indian princess Pocahontas, daughter of Chief Powhatan, marries Englishman John Rolfe, 1614
Jacob Roggeveen discovers Easter Island, 1722
The first recorded meteorite in Scotland falls in Possil, 1804
Helen Keller learns her first word, "water," from Anne Sullivan, 1887
The Greco-Turkish War, also called "Thirty Days' War", is declared between Greece and the Ottoman Empire, 1897
Archaeologists in Knossos, Crete, discover a large cache of clay tablets with hieroglyphic writing in a script they call Linear B, 1900
Firestone Tire and Rubber Company begins production of balloon-tires, 1923
In an act of civil disobedience, Mohandas Gandhi breaks British law after marching to the sea and making salt, 1930
In the Dominion of Newfoundland, 10,000 rioters seize the Colonial Building leading to the end of self-government, 1932
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are sentenced to death for espionage, 1951
Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of the UK because of failing health, 1955
Ripple Rock, an underwater threat to navigation in the Seymour Narrows in Canada is destroyed in one of the largest non-nuclear controlled explosions of the time, 1958
In Japan, the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge linking Shikoku with Honshu, the largest suspension bridge in the world, opens, 1998
North Korea launches its controversial Kwangmyongsong-2 rocket, 2009
SkyNews admits it illegally hacked emails that belonged to members of the public on two separate occasions, 2012