Real Life is Good and Bad

And i have had good and bad the last couple of days.

Because of Cicero's breakdown last week, i didn't get to work.  The lady for whom i clean has 4 kids, so skipping a week means i come in to a disaster.

Indeed, it was, when i got there yesterday.  It took me an hour just to gather and sort the laundry, and i still didn't get to the boys' bed linens.   So i'm going back today to finish up.  She really needs someone there like my parents had when we were growing up.  My mom's housekeeper, who also cooked and yes, did windows, came for 4-5 hours a day, four days a week.  Maybe someday they will want me to do that.

Meanwhile, one of the good things that happen in life, a comment from a child, came my way yesterday.  The youngest boy in the family, who just turned 7, told me, "I like it when you come, cause then I can find stuff!"

Now that, friends, is a compliment!

Then i came home to a washing machine that is giving me trouble, not wanting to fill correctly, and to some bad news from Little Girl.

"Mom," she said as soon as she saw me come in from work, "you might want to be praying for our school.  One of the kids died last night!"

Well, i pray for your school anyway, i said, but what happened?

"Drive by shooting," she answered.  "I knew him, but not well, he was a cool kid.  And he wasn't the target."

Will they bring in grief counselors? i asked.

"Yeah, I think they will," she answered.  "A lot of the kids were very upset, and one girl in my class broke down."

Oh, sweetheart, i'm so sorry that happened! i told her as i gave her a hug.

Real life is good and bad, and it can all happen in the same day.




Today is:

Cayenne Festival -- French Guiana (celebration of the capital city)

Circleville Pumpkin Show -- Circleville, OH, US (celebrating with over 100,000lbs of pumpkins, squash, and gourds; through Saturday)

Day of Homage for the late King Father -- Cambodia (Norodom Sihanouk)

Dine with TV Dinners on the Floor Night -- probably started by someone who wanted to see how many websites would be crazy enough to even list this

East Texas Yamboree -- Gilmer, TX, US (yam it up with the family at the carnival, watch them crown the Yamboree Queen, enjoy the livestock show, and more; through Saturday)

Election Day -- Mozambique

Feast of the Three Noble Ladies -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (female pharoahs; date approximate)

Fete Nationale de l'Evacuation -- Tunisia (Evacuation Day, celebrates the day all foreign military finally and fully left)

Global Handwashing Day -- International (scrub up! prevent the spread of germs)

Guangzhou Autumn Trade Fair -- Guangzhou, China (through Nov. 15)

Hagfish Day -- a day to celebrate the uniqueness and necessity of even the ugliest of sea creatures, like the hagfish

Ides of October -- Ancient Roman Calendar; also on this date
     Harvest Festival of Mars
     Ludi Capitolini (games in honor of Jupiter)
     Winter's Day

Mahakiki -- Hawai'ian New Year Season (a four month season where warfare is forbidden and many ceremonies take place; begins around the time of the first sighting of the Pleiades in the Northern Hemisphere)

Mertz of All Possible Mertzes -- internet generated and on the day "I Love Lucy" premiered; i guess Fred and Ethel were the definition of what a Mertz should be!

National Cake Decorating Day -- again, because every website gives a different date

National Chicken Cacciatore Day

National Fossil Day -- US (National Park Service information)

National Grouch Day -- sponsored by Alan Miller, chairman of the board of NAG (National Association of Grouches)

National Latino AIDS Awareness Day -- AIDS.gov

National Mushroom Day

National Roast Pheasant Day

National Support Your Local Chamber of Commerce Day

National Take Your Parents To Lunch Day -- somebody out there wants you to honor your parents, if you still have them

National Tree Planting Day -- Sri Lanka

Newspaper Week -- Japan

Poetry Day -- birth anniversary of the Roman poet Virgil

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day -- Canada; NSW, Australia; UK; US (information here)

Rectification Day -- Burkina Faso

Rainbow Pickling Day -- Fairy Calendar

Sewing Lovers' Day -- internet generated, as those who love to sew deserve a day to celebrate

Shemini Azteret -- Judaism (Jewish completion of the annual cycle of reading of the Torah; begins at sunset, through sunset tomorrow)

St. Teresa of Avila's Day (Founder of the Reformation of the Discalces[Barefoot] Carmelites; Patron of lace makers/workers, people in need of grace, people in religious orders, people ridiculed for their piety, sick people; Amos, Canada; Berzano di Tortona, Italy; Pozega, Croatia; Spain; against bodily ills, headaches, sickness, the death of parents)

Teacher's Day -- Brazil

White Cane Safety Day -- US (celebrating the achievements of the blind/visually impared, and recognizing the white cane as the symbol of their independence)

Wishbones for Pets begins -- US program asking professional pet sitters to gather pet supplies and donations for homeless pets through Thanksgiving

World Rural Women's Day/International Day of Rural Women -- UN; related observance
     Mother's Day -- Malawi




Birthdays Today:

Paige Davis, 1969
Sarah Ferguson, 1959
Emeril Lagasse,1959
Tanya Roberts, 1955
Tito Jackson, 1953
Richard Carpenter, 1946
Victor Banerjee, 1946
Jim Palmer, 1945
Penny Marshall, 1942
Linda Lavin, 1937
Lee Iacocca, 1924
Mario Puzo, 1920
Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., 1917
John Kenneth Galbraith, 1908
Marty Mann, 1904
P.G. Wodehouse, 1881
Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, 1872
John L. Sullivan, 1858
Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844
Publius Vergilius Maro / Virgil, 70BCE


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Untouchables"(TV), 1959
"I Love Lucy"(TV), 1951
"Abe Lincoln in Illinois"(Play), 1938
To Have and Have Not(Publication date), 1937
"La Mer/The Sea"(Debussy orchestral composition), 1905


Today in History:

Belisarius makes his formal entry into Carthage, having conquered it from the Vandals, 533
Commissioned by Catherine De Medici, the 1st ballet "Ballet Comique de la Reine," is staged in Paris, 1581
Asser Levy is granted a butcher's license for kosher meat in New Amsterdam, 1660
The Montgolfier brothers' hot air balloon marks the first human ascent, by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, (tethered balloon), 1783
George Washington takes the first formal presidential tour, of New England, 1789
Napoleon Bonaparte is exiled to the Island of St. Helena, 1815
Child labor law takes 12 year olds out of the work force, 1874
Edison Electric Light Company is incorporated, 1878
Koln cathedral is completed, 633 years after it was begun, 1880
The German dirigible "Graf Zeppelin' lands in Lakehurst, NJ, 1928
LaGuardia Airport opens, 1939
Fortran, the first modern computer language, is shared with the coding community for the first time, 1946
The start of the 2500-year celebration of Iran, celebrating the birth of Persia, 1971
The Great Storm of 1987 hits France and England, 1987
Wayne Gretzky becomes the all-time leading points scorer in the NHL, 1989
Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, 1990
The first supersonic land speed record is set by Andy Green in ThrustSSC (United Kingdom), exactly 50 years and 1 day after Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier in the Earth's atmosphere, 1997
The Cassini probe launches from Cape Canaveral on its way to Saturn, 1997
NASA's Galileo spacecraft passes within 112 miles of Jupiter's moon Io, 2001
China launches Shenzhou 5, its first manned space mission, 2003
The final breakthrough occurs on the east bore of the Gotthard Base Tunnel in the Swiss Alps, now the world's longest railway tunnel, 2010