Six Sentence Story: Frayed Edges

"Be careful with it, it's rather frayed at the hem," she told her daughter as she gingerly handed the girl the piece of clothing she'd had for over thirty years.

"Did your Nana really make this?" the little girl asked, holding it softly, eyes wide with wonder as she tried to reconcile this dress of sateen and lace with the picture in the hall of the great-grandmother she'd never met.

"Yes, she did," she said, her eyes misty with memory.  "Nana knew I wanted to be a princess and have a princess costume, so she made this for me to wear, when I was just your age, and I even spoke to her on the phone while her sewing machine was going as she was making it -- what a thrill that was to me!"

"And now you are giving it to me to wear to the costume party!" the little girl exclaimed with delight.

"Just as soon as I add some lace to cover the frayed edges, it will be yours," she said with a smile.

Linking up with Uncharted Blog and Six Sentence Stories, where the cue is Fray

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Today is:

American Birkebeiner Race -- Cable to Hayward, WI, US (largest and most prestigious cross-country ski marathon)

Celtic Tree Month Nuin (Ash) begins

Clean Out Your Cubby Holes Day -- internet generated, but if you have any cubby holes, give them a look today, make sure nothing is in there you don't want to see

Cold Day in Hell -- snow fell in the Sahara today in 1979

Day of Spenta Armaiti -- Zoroastrian (goddess of earth and fertility, especially celebrated by women; originally on Esfand 5th, which corresponds to 24 February, but is now celebrated on the 18th for reasons i can't figure out)

Festival of Women -- Persian (traditional, it has been kept even amont those who are no longer Zoroastrian)

Fly-By for Fairies and Elves -- Fairy Calendar

Georgia National Rodeo -- Perry, GA (winners here qualify for the National Finals in December; through Saturday)

Independence Day -- Gambia(1965)

Montreal Hunting, Fishing, & Camping Show -- Montreal, Canada (weekend long celebration of the outdoors)

National Battery Day -- probably created by the battery manufacturers, but they won't claim it

National Crab Stuffed Flounder Day

Ottawa Boat and Sportsmen's Show -- Ottawa, ON, Canada (weekend long celebration of all things outdoors)

Pluto Day/Solar System Day -- the planet/planetoid was discovered on this day in 1930, and then considered to "complete" the solar system

Rastraya Prajatantra Dibas -- Nepal (Democracy Day)

Rites of Tacita -- Ancient Roman Calendar (goddess of silence, rites to keep people from speaking out in anger)

Saidai-ji Eyo -- Saidai-ji, Okayama Prefecture, Japan (Spectacular and atmospheric naked festival dating back to the 14th century, in which up to 10,000 loincloth-wearing [and sometimes drunk] men battle for sacred wooden sticks [shingi] tossed into the air by priests.)

Simplot Games -- Holt Arena, Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID, US (Indoor track and field for the top high school athletes from the US and Canada; through Saturday)

St. Bernadette of Lourdes' Day (in France; the remainder of the church celebrates her on 16 April)

St. Fra Angelico's Day (Patron of artists)

Tanigumi Odori -- Tanigumi-mura, Gifu Prefecture, Japan (dance festival)

Thumb Appreciation Day -- your first digit does more than just get mashed when you use a hammer and hit the space bar on your keyboard; take time to appreciate the complexity that is your thumb.



Anniversaries Today:

Tommy Lee marries Pamela Andersn, 1995
Ohio State University is chartered as the first US land-grant college, 1804


Birthdays Today:

Jillian Michaels, 1974
Molly Ringwald, 1968
Dr. Dre, 1965
Matt Dillon, 1964
Vanna White, 1957
John Travolta, 1954
Juice Newton, 1952
John Hughes, 1950
Cybill Shedherd, 1950
Andrea Dromm, 1941
Aldo Ceccato, 1934
Yoko Ono, 1933
Milos Forman, 1932
Toni Morrison, 1931
Gahan Wilson, 1930
George Kennedy, 1925
Helen Gurley Brown, 1922
Bill Cullen, 1920
Jack Palance, 1920
Hans Asperger, 1906
Enzo Ferrari, 1898
George "The Gipper" Gipp, 1895
Wendell Lewis Willkie, 1892
Boris Pasternak, 1890
Nikos Kazantzakis, 1883
Sholem Aleichem, 1859
Louis Comfort Tiffany, 1848
Ernst Mach, 1838
George Peabody, 1795
Count Alessandro Volta, 1745
Uesugi Kenshin, 1530 (Japanese samurai and warlord)
Mary I Tudor, 1516
Saint Jadwiga of Poland, 1374


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Roots: Next Generations"(TV Miniseries), 1979
"Any Wednesday"(Play), 1964
"The Telephone, or L'Amour à trois"(Comic Opera), 1947
Trouw(Publication, Dutch Resistance newspaper), 1943
"Simple Simon"(Musical), 1930
"Cities Service Concerts"(Radio), 1925
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn(Publication date), 1885
The Pilgrim's Progress(Publication date), 1678


Today in History:

Origin of the Kali Yuga Epoch ("age of vice" or Dark Age) of the Hindu/Buddhist calendars, BC3102
Jerusalem is taken by Emperor Frederik II, 1229
Amda Seyon I, Emperor of Ethiopia, begins his campaigns in the southern Muslim regions, 1332
Henry Tudor (Henry VIII) created Prince of Wales, 1503
Zeeland falls to Dutch rebels, 1574
John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" is published, 1678
Fort Saint Lewis, Texas, is founded by Frenchmen under LaSalle at Matagorda Bay, the basis for France's claim to Texas, 1685
Quakers conduct their first formal protest of slavery in Germantown, Pennsylvania, 1688
The premiere of George Frideric Handel's oratorio, "Samson" takes place in London, 1743
Trinidad is surrendered to a British fleet under the command of Sir Ralph Abercrombie, 1797
The Detroit Boat Club (still in existence) forms, 1839
The first continuous filibuster in the US Senate begins, lasts until March 11, 1841
The first regular steamboat service to California begins, 1849
A direct telegraph link between Britain and New Zealand is established, 1876
Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is published, 1885
The Cave of Winds at Niagara Falls goes almost dry for the first time in 50 years, 1896
Winston Churchill makes his first speech in the British House of Commons, 1901
H. Cecil Booth patents a dust removing suction cleaner, 1901
The first official flight with air mail takes place in Allahabad, British India, when Henri Pequet delivers 6,500 letters to Naini (a distance of about 10K), 1911
The US and Canada begin formal diplomatic relations, with the appointment of Vincent Massey as the first Canadian ambassador to the US, 1927
The first Academy Awards are announced, 1929
While studying photographs taken in January, Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto, 1930
The first Church of Scientology is established in Los Angeles, California, 1954
The Space Shuttle Enterprise test vehicle is carried on its maiden "flight" on top of a Boeing 747, 1977
Snow falls in the Sahara Desert in southern Algeria for the only time in recorded history, 1979
Dan Jansen skates world record 1000m (1:12.43), 1994
Pope Benedict XVI announces seven new saints - including American saint Kateri Tekakwitha - and appoints 22 new cardinals, 2012