Silly Sunday: Alone At Last

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Silly Sunday is the place to come for weekly laughs.  The rules are simple, just have fun.

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Ms. V, the lady whose house i clean on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month, also goes to our church, as does her husband.

They have a son who is, to term it kindly and gently, a bit slow.  He is 25, can read and write and drive and hold a job pushing carts at the Mall-Mart, but he cannot live on his own.  He has a verbal processing disorder, among other things, and you have to give him a lot of time to respond if you ask him a question.

Ms. V and her husband had to go out of state for a week to move her elderly aunt into an assisted living apartment, and so i have been going to their house every evening to make sure Carl has eaten, set his alarm clocks, put his clothes out for work, and to clean up after him because that's one of the things he really does not do well for himself.

One thing Carl had wanted to do was go out for dinner on Saturday night with some friends.  When i got there yesterday, it turned out the whole evening had been called off due to something i couldn't quite make out from what he was saying, but he was so disappointed about it that i offered to go with him to a small, local cafeteria type restaurant he likes.

He looked at me for a moment, thinking about it, and then said, "Do I know you well enough to go somewhere with you?"

His parents trust me with keys to their house and making sure he's okay for a week, but he's not sure i can drive him around the block and up the street for a simple dinner.  It was too funny, especially as i am certainly not looking for reasons to run around town with a man half my age.

It did remind me of one time when Boudreaux and Clothile were dating.

Boudreaux an' Clothile was tired o' allus havin' her fam'ly dere when dey courtin'.  So Boudreaux, he come up wit' a plan where dey goin' have time by deyselves.  Dere be a big game comin' up, an' he goin' get tickets.

He come back an' he tell Clothile, "I done got t'ree tickets to de big game!"

"What fo' you get t'ree?" Clothile ax.  "How we goin' be alone wit' de extra ticket?"

"De tickets be one fo' you mama, one fo' you papa, an' one fo' you li'l sister!" he say.

Today is:

Apple Wassailing Day -- Carhampton, England (ancient tradition to bless the trees, waking the tree spirits and scaring away bad spirits)

Ati-Atihan Festival -- Aklan, Kalibo, Panay Island, Philippines (start of the vivid religious carnival/feast dating back to the 13th century to honor Santo Nino [Baby Jesus]; through the 26th)

Blessing of the Animals -- Hispanic Christian (in association with St. Anthony's Day)

Camel Wrestling Championship -- Selcuk, Turkey (a medieval tradition, and the camels are not allowed to actually harm each other, so it's a spectacular sport to watch; through Sunday)

Carlsbad Marathon and Half Marathon -- Carlsbad, CA, US

Ditch Your New Years Resolutions Day -- no info on origin, but probably someone who gave up; will you?

Felicitas -- Ancient Roman Calendar (honoring the goddess of good luck)

Festival of Janus -- Ancient Roman Calendar (main festival for the god of beginnings, endings, and doorways)

Hot Heads Chili Day -- no clue what this one means, but i guess we can have chili for dinner

Hunt For Happiness Week begins -- sponsored by the Secret Society of Happy People, who want you to join this week; through Saturday 

Kid Inventors' Day -- celebrating how inventive kids are; on the birth anniversary of Ben Franklin, who invented swim fins at age 12

Liberation Day -- Poland (liberation from the Nazis in 1945)

Make Your All-Time Top Ten Favorite TV Characters List -- because nothing says you can't make your own top ten lists

National Activity Professionals Week begins -- celebrating the contributions of Activities Professionals in all senior living communities 
 
National Hot Buttered Rum Day

Patras Carnival -- Patras, Greece (the town crier announces the opening ceremony, with festivities through Clean Monday)

Patrice Lumumba -- Democratic Republic of the Congo (Heroes' Day)

Popeye Day -- The Sailor Man debut in the comics this date in 1929

Professional Boxer's Day -- Ali's birth anniversary

Sinulog Grand Parade -- Cebu City, Philippines (biggest day of the very colorful festival about the pagan origin of the people, and their acceptance of Roman Catholicism)

St. Anthony the Great's Day (a/k/a Anthony of Egypt, Anthony the Abbot, Patriarch of the Abbots; Patron of amputees, animals/domestic animals, basket weavers, brush makers, butchers, cemetary workers/grave diggers, epileptics, hermits, monks, relief from pestilence, swine/hogs, swineherds; Hospitaliers; Burgio, Sicily, Italy; Canas, Brazil; Castrofilippo, Agrigento, Italy; Fivizzano, Italy; Fontainemore, Italy; Mook, Netherlands; Sant'Angelo Lodigiano, Italy; against eczema, epilepsy, ergotism, erysipelas, pestilence, Saint Anthony's Fire, skin diseases and rashes) related observance
     Blessing of the Animals at the Cathedral -- Church of San Antonio, Mexico City, Mexico (where this saint is San Antonio Abad)

Uzhavar Thirunal -- TN, India (Farmer's Day portion of the Pongal celebrations)

World Religion Day -- Baha'i

Zirgu Diena -- Ancient Latvian Calendar (Day of the Horses)


Anniversaries Today:

George Burns marries Gracie Allen, 1926
Octavian marries Livia Drusilla, BC38


Birthdays Today:

Kid Rock, 1971
Naveen Andrews, 1969
Michelle Obama, 1964
Jim Carrey, 1962
Susanna Hoffs, 1959
Anthony Glise, 1956
Andy Kaufman, 1949
Muhammad Ali, 1942
Maury Povich, 1939
Shari Lewis, 1934
James Earl Jones, 1931
Don Zimmer, 1931
Vidal Sassoon, 1928
Eartha Kitt, 1927
Betty White, 1922
Al Capone, 1899
Nevil Shute, 1899
Robert Maynard Hutchins, 1899
Mack Sennett, 1884
David Lloyd George, 1863
Anton Chekhov, 1860
Anne Bronte, 1820
Benjamin Franklin, 1706


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Frontline"(TV), 1983
"The Goldbergs"(TV), 1949
"Popeye the Sailor Man"(Comic character created by Elzie Segar, in the Thimble Theatre comic strip), 1929
"The Cherry Orchard"(Chekhov Play), 1904
"The Rivals"(Sheridan Play), 1775


Today in History:

Pope Gregory XI moves the Papacy back to Rome from Avignon, 1377
Cesare Borgia returns in triumph to Rome from Romagna, 1501
Giovanni da Verrazzano begins his voyage to find a passage to China, 1524
The Edict of St Germain recognizes Huguenots in France, 1562
England's Long Parliament passes the Vote of No Addresses, breaking off negotiations with King Charles I and thereby setting the scene for the second phase of the English Civil War, 1648
An avalanche destroys every building in Leukerbad, Switzerland, kills 53, 1718
Capt James Cook becomes the first to cross Antarctic Circle (66° 33' S), 1773
The first cable car patented, by Andrew S Hallidie (begins service in 1873), 1871
Queen Liliuokalani is deposed, the Kingdom of Hawaii becomes a republic, 1893
Sir Robert Falcon Scott reaches the South Pole, one month after Roald Amundsen, 1912
The first fully automatic photographic film developing machine patented, 1928
Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, credited with saving tens of thousands of Jews from the Nazis, is arrested by secret police in Hungary, 1945
The United Nations Security Council holds its first meeting, 1946
The Goldbergs, the first sitcom on American television, first airs, 1949
The Great Brinks Robbery - 11 thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car Company's offices in Boston, Massachusetts, 1950
The world's first nuclear-powered submarine, the Nautilus, makes its maiden voyage, 1955
A B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, dropping three 70-kiloton nuclear bombs near the town of Palomares and another one into the sea in the Palomares incident, 1966
Harald V becomes King of Norway on the death of his father, Olav V, 1991
The Czech Republic applies for membership of the European Union, 1996
Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people, 2002
Rioting begins between Muslim and Christian groups in Jos, Nigeria, which resulting in at least 200 deaths, 2010