Gallivanting to Galveston in Six Sentences

Sighing, i knew i wouldn't get any more sleep when i woke at 3am, so i went through my usual morning routine and got to the shelter early, a good thing with two rooms and two kitten cages on isolation and the medication page longer than i'd ever seen it.

By the time i got finished feeding, watering, medicating, and changing or scooping the litter boxes in the whole place, i went home to put my bags into Humphrey; i had decided against packing before going to the shelter because i like to leave food in an ice chest for the shortest time possible, even if it is in an air conditioned car.

The clock in the car read exactly noon when i pulled out, and i knew it would be about five hours of driving, plus a ferry ride, if the traffic cooperated, which it did.

Sweetie only called me seven times, and since he has scheduled the A/C repair for today that the warranty company will cover, and since he also got the garbage and recycling out, i'm not going to keep counting.

Except for the car that almost ran into me just as i was getting on the interstate less than a mile from home, the drive down was uneventful, the ferry ride was fun -- i'd never driven onto a ferry before -- and i pulled into the parking lot at the place we are staying just in time to see Little_Ninja and Sunny finishing up with emptying their car.

Later that evening, after Fivecat and Mr. Fiver joined us for the dinner Grace prepared, walking on the dark, beautiful Galveston beach, i knew the circumstances of the last few days haven't been the best, but that moment, right then, everything was perfect.

Linking up with Uncharted Blog and Six Sentence Stories, where the cue is "Perfect."

Today is

Dia del Nino -- Honduras (Children's Day)

Feast of San Gennaro -- New York, NY, US (an 11 day street fair centered around Little Italy and its Patron Saint, Gennaro, whose feast day is the 19th; includes a Mass and parading of the Saint's statue on the final Saturday of the celebrations)

Harvest Home Nibbling Contest  -- Fairy Calendar (Gremlins)

Heritage Open Days -- UK  (What's on your doorstep?  Go find out, explore for free places that often charge admission or are not usually open to the public, castles to cottages to battlefields, all over the country; through the 13th) 

Jeune Genevois -- Geneva, Switzerland (Geneva festival, dating back to the 16th century)

Longs Peak Scottish/Irish Highland Festival -- Estes Park, CO, US (wonderful celebration of the heritage of the Highlands and Ireland; through Sunday)

Marion Popcorn Festival -- Marion, OH, US (performances by nationally renowned entertainers, races, parade, arts and crafts, and more popcorn than you could ever shuck; through Saturday)

National Day -- Gibraltar

National Day of the Working Parent -- US (can't find a sponsor, but it's listed on several sites as the 2nd Thursday of September)

Rettir -- Iceland (around this time of year; a traditional sheep round up celebrated in Iceland during September and int October, actual round up dates may vary from region to region)

Saint George's Caye Day -- Belize (National Day)

Sewing Machine Day -- date of issuance of an early sewing machine patent, to Elias Howe; some sites call this "Sew Be It! Day"

Swap Ideas Day -- Robert L. Birch of Puns Corp wants people to explore ways in which their ideas can be put to work to benefit all humanity and develop incentives to encourage using our creative imaginations

St. Finian's Day (Patron of Ulster, Ireland)

St. Nicholas of Tolentino's Day (Patron of animals, baby, dying people, mariners/sailors, sick animals; Albi, Italy; Cabanatuan, Philippines; Guimbai, Philippines; Lambuna, Philippines; Mati, Philippines; Tandag, Philippines; Toentino, Italy)

Teacher's Day -- China

Toronto International Film Festival -- Toronto, ON, CA (through the 20th)

TV Dinner Day

United Tribes International Pow-Wow -- Bismark, ND, US (over 70 Native American Tribes represented at the major cultural event; through Sunday)

World Suicide Prevention Day

Yellow Daisy Festival -- Stone Mountain, GA, US (annual arts and crafts festival and fun; through Sunday)


Birthdays Today:

Guy Ritchie, 1968
Clark Johnson, 1964
Randy Johnson, 1963
Colin Firth, 1960
Amy Irving, 1953
Joe Perry, 1950
Judy Geeson, 1948
Jose Feliciano, 1945
Stephen Jay Gould, 1941
Karl Lagerfeld, 1938
Charles Kuralt, 1934
Roger Maris, 1934
Arnold Palmer, 1929
Rin Tin Tin, 1918
Fay Wray, 1907
Adele Astaire, 1896
Elsa Schiaparelli, 1890
Franz Werfel, 1890
Ian Fleming, 1888
Isaac Kauffman Funk, 1839
Marie Laveau, 1801
Carter Braxton, 1736

Louis IV of France, 920


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The X Files"(TV), 1993
"Gentle Ben"(TV), 1967
"The Road Runner Show"(TV), 1966
"Gunsmoke"(TV), 1955
"Benvenuto Cellini"(Berlioz opera), 1838


Today in History:

The Battle of Marathon takes places between the forces of the Persian Empire and those of Athens, BC490*
An earthquake known as "The Lesser Judgment Day" hits Istanbul, 1509
John Smith is elected president of Jamestown, Va., Colony Council, 1608
Nathan Hale answers the call of George Washington for a volunteer spy, 1776
Simón Bolívar is named President of Peru, 1823
Elias Howe is granted a patent for the sewing machine, 1846
George Mary Searle discovers the asteroid 55 Pandora, 1858
Lincoln Highway, the first paved coast-to-coast road in the US, opens, 1913
Austria and the Allies sign the Treaty of Saint-Germain recognizing the independence of Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, 1919
20 African-American students enter public schools in Alabama, 1963
Hamida Djandoubi, convicted of torture and murder, is the last person to be executed by guillotine in France, 1977
Switzerland, traditionally a neutral country, joins the United Nations, 2002
The Large Hadron Collider at CERN, described as the biggest scientific experiment in history is powered up in Geneva, Switzerland, 2008

*actual date disputed, but it was the 9th day of the 9th moon on their calendar