Gallivanting in Galveston: Lovely Sunday

Sunday morning, i finally got to see the sunrise.  As soon as it was up, i ran back up to the condo to dress for church.

Yes, even on vacation.

Grace and i took Humphrey the Honda and went to Trinity Episcopal Church.  It is one of the older churches on the island, and survived The Great Storm.  The service was lovely, very traditional and liturgical in a way i don't get to celebrate very often, and i enjoyed it immensely.

After the service, we went to the parish hall for coffee and found out the current rector is only the 11th that the church has ever had in its history, and it was founded in the 1850s (if i'm remembering correctly, it was at least that long ago).

During the service, at the time for announcements, the rector called up a young lady from the local high school to talk about the food drive.  As it took her a couple of minutes to get up there, the rector said, "Yes, we have a very long aisle, you might keep that in mind when it's time to get married!"  It's always nice to have an officiant with a sense of humor.

The Hotel Galvez has a brunch on Sunday, so after church Grace and i went back for Sunny and Little Ninja, and we all enjoyed a leisurely, and quite lavish, meal.  Then we returned to the condo and changed out of our Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes and went to the other end of the island to the beach there.

Beaches here are different from the beaches at Perdido Key in Florida in a couple of ways.  The sand is darker, the water is a bit darker, and people actually are allowed to drive their vehicles out onto the beach itself.  They are also allowed to bring pets onto the beach, and it was such fun to watch the dogs having a great time with their families in the water.

It does remind me of NOLA in one thing.  Just as there "ain't no place to pee on Mardi Gras day," as the Benny Grunch song says, there are no places at the beaches here, either.  No nice little huts up by the ranger station.  If you aren't staying in a condo or other resort type area nearby, well, as Sweetie would say, tie a knot in it.

Sunday afternoons and evenings are supposed to be a bit lazy, and ours was.  When we got tired of the beach we returned to do laundry, then wandered over to a small restaurant walking distance from the resort for a light appetizer, and spent the rest of the evening playing a board game.

Today is:

Battle of San Jacinto Day -- Nicaragua

Cochabamba Day -- Cochabamba, Bolivia (festival of the founding of the city)

Eat a Hoagie Day

Eleven Days of Global Unity -- Day 4, Economic Justice (sponsored by We, the World)

Feast of the Triumph of the Cross/Elevation of the Life Giving Cross/Holy Cross Day -- Christian

Festivals and Matsuri of Japan -- several throughout Japan, today and for the next several, most as harvest festivals or traditional horseback archery rituals)
       including the O Sannomiya Autumn Festival, Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Festival, Tono Matsuri, Kishiwada Danjiri Matsuri, Tsurugaoka-hachimangu Reitasai, Yachi Donga Festival, and Furusato Hyappei Festival

Hug a Crabby Stranger Day -- okay, as long as i don't end up on the evening news

National Cream-Filled Doughnut Day

Nutting Day -- British Isles tradition, the hazelnuts are supposed to be perfectly ripe on this day

Peddler's Village Scarecrow Competition -- Lahaska, PA (through Nov. 1, with the big Scarecrow Festival this month on the 19th and 20th)

Pennsylvania RV & Camping Show -- Hershey, PA, US (the largest RV and Camper show in the world, with the first to days for industry only; through Sunday)

Pilgrimage to the Black Madonna of Einsiedeln -- Switzerland

Rosh Hashanah -- Judaism (began last night at sundown, through tomorrow at sundown)

St. Notburga's Day (Patron of agricultural workers, husbandmen, peasants, restaurant servers)

Unclear Ideas Display -- Fairy Calendar (Imps celebration)


Birthdays Today:

Amy Winehouse, 1983
Dan Cortese, 1967
Faith Ford, 1964
Wendy Thomas, 1961 (Namesake of Wendy's Hamburgers)
Mary Crosby, 1959
Sam Neill, 1947
Joey Heatherton, 1944
Nicol Williamson, 1938
Walter Koenig, 1936
Kate Millett, 1934
Harve Presnell, 1933
Zoe Caldwell, 1933
Constance Baker Motley, 1921
Clayton Moore, 1914
Stanley Ketchel, 1886
Margaret Higgins Sanger, 1879
Ivan Pavlov, 1849
James Wilson, 1742


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Golden Girls"(TV), 1985
"The Waltons"(TV Series), 1972
"Ironside"(TV), 1967
"Have Gun Will Travel"(TV), 1957
"The Turn of the Screw"(Opera), 1954



Today in History:

Domitian becomes emperor of Rome upon the death of his brother Titus, 81
Harun al-Rashid beomes Abbasid Caliph upon the death of his brother, al-Hadi, 786
The first lighthouse in the US, in Boston, is lit, 1716
George Frederick Handel finishes "Messiah" oratorio, after working on it non-stop for 23 days, 1741
Napoleon occupies Moscow; fires begin that will not be fully extinguished for 5 days, 1812
Francis Scott Key witnesses the battle which inspires him to write "The Defense of Fort McHenry", later retitled "The Star Spangled Banner", 1814
George K Anderson of Memphis, Tennessee patents typewriter ribbon, 1886
President of the United States William McKinley dies after an assassination attempt on September 6, and is succeeded by Theodore Roosevelt, 1901
Groundbreaking for the United Nations headquarters in New York City, 1948
The Soviet probe Luna 2 crashes onto the Moon, becoming the first man-made object to reach it, 1959
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is founded, 1960
The first American saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton, is canonized by Pope Paul VI, 1975
President-elect of Lebanon, Bachir Gemayel, is assassinated, 1982
Joe Kittinger becomes the first person to fly a hot air balloon alone across the Atlantic Ocean, 1984
The Toronto Blue Jays set a record for the most home runs in a single game, belting 10 of them, 1987
Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga join the United Nations, 1999
Historic National Prayer Service held at Washington National Cathedral for victims of the September 11 attacks; a similar service is held in Canada on Parliament Hill, the largest vigil ever held in the nation's capital, 2001
In a referendum, Estonia approves joining the European Union, 2003
NASA reveals the Space Launch Program to replace the Space Shuttle program, 2011