Six Sentence Story: How 25 Feels About It

His words really floored her.

"Yeah, the way this election is shaping up, if it comes down to having to choose between a douche bag and a turd sandwich, I'm not voting, and pardon my language!"

"Is that how most of your generation feels about it?" she asked him.

"Well, I can't answer for anyone else, I just know that if it's Trump or Hillary, it's like choosing between those two things I said, and I will just not vote."

"It makes me sad," she told him, "that it seems to always come down to this, especially since there are so few Trump supporters but his opponents can't get together enough to get him out of the way."

"That's part of what makes it so ridiculous," he noted, "but I also know that most of the people who could do the job well wouldn't want it, so this is what we get stuck with."

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

Today is:

Bunsen Burner Day -- on the birth anniversary of its inventor, Robert Wilhelm Eberhard von Bunsen, in 1811

Buy Some New Socks Day -- because all the websites that list it agree you are worth it

Cesar Chavez Day -- Arizona, California, Colorado, Michigan, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, & Wyoming, US

Culture and Traditions Day -- Micronesia

Day Everyone Says "31" a Lot -- Fairy Calendar

Eiffel Tower Day -- inaugurated this day in 1889

Festival for Luna -- Ancient Roman Calendar (moon festival)

Hot Guitar Day -- the day Jimi Hendrix first set fire to his guitar in 1967

Islamic Republic Day -- Iran

Jum il-Helsien (Freedom Day) -- Malta

King Nangklao Memorial Day -- Thailand

National Clams on the Half Shell Day

Oranges and Lemons Day -- St. Clement Danes Church, London, Enlgand (traditional children's service based on the rhyme that begins "Oranges and lemons/say the bells of St. Clement's)

Savannah Tour of Homes and Gardens -- Savannah, GA, US (tours of Savannah's historic homes; through Sunday)

"She's Funny That Way" Day -- pay tribute to the women in your life, and how they keep you laughing; sponsored by Brenda Meredith of Dahomey Publishing, Inc.

St. Balbina's Day (Patron of those with scrofulous diseases or stroma)

Thomas Mundy Peterson Day -- New Jersey, US (the first African-American to legally cast a vote in the US, this date in 1870)

Transfer Day -- US Virgin Islands

Vigil to Mourn China's Annexation of Tibet -- anniversary of the day in 1959 when the  Dalai Lama fled to India


Birthdays Today:

Pavel Bure, 1971
Ewan McGregor, 1971
Marc McClure, 1957
Angus Young, 1955
Edward Francis "Ed" Marinaro, 1950
Al Gore, 1948
Rhea Perlman, 1948
Gabe Kaplan, 1945
Christopher Walken, 1943
James Earl "Jimmy" Johnson, 1938
Herb Alpert, 1935
Richard Chamberlain, 1935
Shirley Jones, 1934
John Jakes, 1932
Gordie Howe, 1928
Cesar Chavez, 1927
William Daniels, 1927
Leo Buscaglia, 1925
Henry Morgan, 1915
John "Jack" Johnson, 1878
Andrew Lang, 1844
Mary Boykin Miller Chesnut, 1823
Edward Fitzgerald, 1809
Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol, 1809
Joseph Haydn, 1732
Andrew Marvell, 1621
Rene Descartes, 1596


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"'night, Mother"(Play), 1983
"The Shadow Box"(Play), 1977
"The Best Man"(Play), 1960
"The Glass Menagerie"(Play), 1945
"Oklahoma!"(Musical), 1943
"Le Chasseur Maudit/The Accursed Huntsman"(Symphonic poem), 1883


Today in History:

Bernard of Clairvaux preaches his famous sermon in a field at Vézelay, urging the necessity of a Second Crusade; Louis VII is present, and joins the Crusade, 1146
King Ferdinand & Queen Isabella sign decree ordering Jews to convert or be expelled from Spain, 1492
Jews are expelled from Prague, 1745
Commodore Matthew Perry signs the Treaty of Kanagawa with the Japanese government, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade, 1854
Thomas P Mundy of Perth Amboy, NJ, becomes the first African American to cast a vote, 1870
The Eiffel Tower, commemorating the French Revolution, opens, 1889
Richard Pearse allegedly makes a powered flight in an early aircraft, 1903
Serbia accepts Austrian control over Bosnia-Herzegovina, 1909
Construction begins on the RMS Titanic, 1909
Construction of the RMS Titanic is completed, 1912
The United States takes possession of the Danish West Indies after paying $25 million to Denmark, and renames the territory the United States Virgin Islands, 1917
Daylight saving time goes into effect in the United States for the first time, 1918
The Royal Australian Air Force is formed, 1921
The Dominion of Newfoundland joins the Canadian Confederation and becomes the 10th Province of Canada, 1949
Remington Rand delivers the first UNIVAC I computer to the United States Census Bureau, 1951
In the Canadian federal election, 1958, the Progressive Conservatives, led by John Diefenbaker, win the largest percentage of seats in Canadian history, with 208 seats of 265, 1958
The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, crosses the border into India and is granted political asylum, 1959
The Soviet Union launches Luna 10 which later becomes the first space probe to enter orbit around the Moon, 1966
Explorer 1 re-enters the Earth's atmosphere after 12 years in orbit, 1970
The USS Missouri, the last active United States Navy battleship, is decommissioned in Long Beach, California, 1992
Netscape releases the code base of its browser under an open-source license agreement; the project is given the code name Mozilla and is eventually spun off into the non-profit Mozilla Foundation, 1998
Amid unrest in the Mideast, activists claim China has launched the largest crackdown on dissenters in recent years, 2011

Wordless Wednesday: My Sweets

My favorite dessert:

Delightful stuff!

Linking up with Wordless Wednesday.

Today is:

Check for Change in Every Coin Return You Pass Day -- because someone has a sense of humor and put it on the internet

Culture and Traditions Day -- Micronesia

Doctors Day -- US (begun by Eudora Almond in 1933 because she thought her husband, Dr. Charles B. Almond deserved recognition for his hard work; www.doctorsday.org for ideas on how to thank your doctor)

Fairies of the First Wand Reunion Dinner -- Fairy Calendar

Feast of Janus and Concordia -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Festival of Bast -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (cat goddess; date approximate)

Festival of Reality Fabrication  -- internet holiday to celebrate your imagination

Festival of Salus -- Ancient Roman Calendar (god of health)

Grass Is Always Browner On The Other Side Of The Fence Day -- remember how good you have it; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

I am in Control Day -- remember Alexander Haig's words on this date in 1981? well today, if you find the phones won't stop ringing, the kids got into the glue again, the coffee maker is on the fritz, and somebody dyed the poodle purple, stand up and declare that you are in control!

Land Day Commemoration -- West Bank/Palestinian remembrance

Limited Liability Day -- because no one can be responsible for everything

Mahavir Jayanti -- Jain (local dates may vary)

Pencil Day -- the pencil with an eraser top was patented this day in 1858 by Hyman Lipman

Runic Half-Month Ewhas (Horse) begins

Spiritual Baptist/Shouter Liberation Day -- Trinidad and Tobago

St. Leonard Murialdo's Day (Patron of apprentices)

Take a Walk in the Park Day -- begun by someone who wanted to get out of the office

Turkey Neck Soup Day

Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day -- US (information here)


Birthdays Today:

Scott Moffatt, 1983
Jason Dohring, 1982
Norah Jones, 1979
Matt Doran, 1976
Mark Consuelos, 1971
Celine Dion, 1968
Ian Ziering, 1964
Tracy Chapman, 1964
M.C. Hammer, 1962
Paul Reiser, 1957
Robbie Cotrane, 1950
Eric Clapton, 1945
Astrud Gilberto, 1940
Warren Beatty, 1937
John Astin, 1930
Rolf Harris, 1930
Peter Marshall, 1930
Richard Dysart, 1929
Peter Marshall, 1927
Frankie Laine, 1913
Sean O'casey, 1880
Anna Sewell, 1820
Vincent Van Gogh, 1853
Francisco Jose De Goya, 1749


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Agnes of God"(Play), 1982
"Applause"(Musical), 1970
"Jeopardy"(TV), 1964
"Verkaufte Braut/The Bartered Bride"(Comic opera), 1866


Today in History:

The first recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet, BC240
Ketsugan, Zen teacher, performs exorcisms to free aizoji temple, 1422
Henry VIII divorces Catherine of Aragon, 1533
British and coalition forces march into Paris after the defeat of Napoleon, 1814
Dr. Crawford Long of Georgia, US, performs the first operation with anesthesia (ether), 1842
A pencil with attached eraser is patented by Hyman L Lipman of Philadelphia, 1858
Alaska is purchased from Russia by US Secretary of State William Seward, for $7,200,000 (about 2 cents per acre), 1867
Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, 1932
Einstein announces his revised unified field theory, 1953
The Yonge Street Line, the first subway in Canada, opens in Toronto, 1954
President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley, Jr., 1981
The oldest copy of Codex Holmiensis, dating from 1280, is returned to Denmark from Sweden after 300 years, and 45,000 Inca artifacts are returned to Peru's Machu Picchu after spending 100 years at Yale University, 2011

Tuesday Coffee Chat: Happy Easter!

Rory Bore at Ink Interrupted hosts the Tuesday Coffee Chat, and this week her topic is, Happy Easter!   Tell me about the best chocolate ever.  Or, if you are the religious sort, share some special thoughts on this day.

You would have to have never read my blog or been hiding under a rock to not know i am the religious sort.

Although, actually, i don't like religion.  No, i don't.  Religion doesn't help much, it doesn't do much good but instead makes people feel badly about themselves if they can't live up to all of the rules and regs, which no one really can.

Religion causes more trouble than it solves, and if you don't believe that spend about five minutes thinking about the Middle East situation.

What i like is relationship, the relationship with a personal and loving Savior.  The Savior Who cared so much He did everything possible to pay the cost and erase the separation between Him and us.

There's a popular Christian song with the lyric "All religion ever made of me was a sinner with a stone tied to my feet, it never set me free."

Don't go for religion, go for that relationship.

And Elmer's Gold Brick Eggs.  Until i gave up sugar, those were my go-to Easter standard.  Not necessarily the world's best chocolate, but locally made and delicious and they tasted like comfort to me. 

Today is:

Barthelemy Boganda Day -- Central African Republic

Borrowed Days begin -- old English/Scottish/Irish legends about how March borrowed the next 3 days from April; these are still seen as weather prognostication days based on several different legends

Day of Redress -- Fairy Calendar

Easter Tuesday -- TAS, Australia; Cyprus; Nauru

Knights of Columbus Founders Day

Martyrs' Day -- Madagascar

National Lemon Chiffon Cake Day

National Mom and Pop Business Owners Day -- as recognized by AICPA

Smoke and Mirrors Day -- some sites call it "Festival of Smoke and Mirrors Day," but appropriately no one knows who started it

Southland Provincial Anniversary Day -- Southland, NZ

St. Armogastes of Africa's Day (Patron of the poor and torture victims; against poverty and torture)

St. Gladys' and St. Gwynllyw's Day (the Welsh "Bonny and Clyde", who led a life of crime before their conversion)

Youth Day -- Taiwan


Anniversaries Today:

Harry Hamlin weds Lisa Rinna, 1997
Yeshiva College (now University) is chartered in New York, 1928


Birthdays Today:

Hideaki Takizawa, 1982
Jennifer Capriati, 1976
Lucy Lawless, 1968
Elle Macpherson, 1964
Christopher Lambert, 1957
Kurt Thomas, 1956
Earl Christian Campbell, 1955
Karen Ann Quinlan, 1954
Bud Cort, 1950
George Blaha, 1945
Eric Idle, 1943
John Major, 1943
John Joseph McLaughlin, 1927
Pearl Bailey, 1918
Sam Walton, 1918
Eugene Mccarthy, 1916
Philip Ahn, 1905
Denton True "Cy" Young, 1867
Isaac Mayer Wise, Rabbi and Founder of Reform Judaism, 1819
John Tyler, 1790
Carlo Buonaparte, father of Napoleon Bonaparte, 1746


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Woman of the Year"(Play), 1981
"The King and I"(Play), 1951
"Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows"(circus), 1919
"Mutt and Jeff"(Comic strip), 1908
"Jevgeni Onegin/Eugene Onegin"(Opera; Tchaikovsky Op. 24), 1879


Today in History:

The city of Salvador da Bahia, the first capital of Brazil, is founded, 1549
Treaty of Saint-Germain is signed, returning Quebec to French control after the English had seized it in 1629, 1632
Swedish colonists establish the first settlement in Delaware, 1638
Ludwig von Beethoven, age 24, debuts as a pianist in Vienna, 1795
Construction is authorized of the Great National Pike, better known as the Cumberland Road, becoming the first United States federal highway, 1806
Niagara Falls stops flowing for 30 hours due to an ice jam, 1848
The United Kingdom annexes the Punjab, 1849
Ohio makes it illegal for children under 18 & women to work more than 10 hours a day, 1852
Queen Victoria gives Royal Assent to the British North America Act which establishes the Dominion of Canada on July 1, 1867
Queen Victoria presides over the opening of Albert Hall in London, 1871
The Knights of Columbus are established, 1882
Dr. John Pemberton brews the first batch of Coca-Cola in his back yard, 1886
The North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement goes into effect at 03:00 local time, 1941
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage, 1951
NASA's Mariner 10 becomes the first spaceprobe to fly by Mercury, 1974
The Canada Act 1982 (U.K.) receives the Royal Assent from Queen Elizabeth II, setting the stage for the Queen of Canada to proclaim the Constitution Act, 1982
Catherine Callbeck becomes premier of Prince Edward Island and the first woman to be elected in a general election as premier of a Canadian province, 1993
Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia join NATO as full members, 2004
The Republic of Ireland becomes the first country in the world to ban smoking in all work places, including bars and restaurants, 2004
Thirty-five countries and over 370 cities join Earth Hour for the first time, 2008
A transistor-like transcriptor is built out of DNA and RNA molecules by American bioengineers at Stanford University, 2013

Awww Monday: Too Pooped to Pop!

Awww Monday is hosted by Sandee, of Comedy Plus.

Join us every Monday for Awww...Mondays.  Post a picture that makes you say Awww... and that it.

Make sure you get the code from Sandee's site, linked above, and leave a link to your post so we can visit you.  What better way to start the week than with a smile!

Sadie Dog lives a mostly sedate life with Grandma and Grandpa.  When the rest of the family comes to visit, she greets everyone frenetically and plays until she is pooped!

By the time we leave, she's ready for a nap!

Today is:

Children's Picture Book Day -- while i can't find a sponsor for this day, starting kids on a lifelong love of books is as good an excuse for a holiday as any

Commemoration of Sen no Rikyu -- Urasenke School of the Japanese Tea Ceremony, Japan (remembering the influential master in The Way of Tea)

Easter Monday -- Christian; related observances
     Dyngus Day
     Egg Races -- Rural Northwestern Switzerland (traditional Easter Monday races with competitors carrying large numbers of eggs from village to village)
     Emaishen -- Luxembourg (traditional market)
     Family Day -- South Africa
     Hallaton Hare Pie Scramble & Bottle Kicking -- Hallaton, Leicestershire, England (traditional celebrations dating back at least 600 years)
     Memorial Day -- Republic of Georgia
     Seu Harvest Parade -- Curacao
     Sham el-Nessim -- Egypt (Smell the Breezes Day, a spring celebration for all religions; celebrated by getting outside, greeting neighbors, enjoying spring, and eating salty raw fish)

Feast of Artemis -- Ancient Greek Calendar (as protector of wild animals, vegetation, and places, begins at sundown; date approximate)

Festival of the Sacrifice at the Tombs -- Ancient Roman Calendar (to honor the ancestors)

"Greatest Show on Earth" Day -- Barnum and Bailey merged their circuses on this day in 1881

Hot Tub Day -- because we all need one!

Invasion of Loaming Shores Beyond the Certain Sea Anniversary -- Fairy Calendar

Khordad Sal (Birth of the Prophet Zarathushtra) -- Zoroastrianism (Fasli Calendar)

Komamorijinja Reisai -- Nakaedo, Kashi-sh, Gifu, Japan (festival of the the Kosazukeishi "child-granting stone")

Labour Day -- Christmas Island

Mule Day Celebrations -- Columbia, TN, US (the "mule capital of the world" has mule shows, entertainment, dancing and music, food, and fun; through Sunday)

National Black Forest Cake Day

Ragnar Lodbrok's Day -- Asatru/Slavic Pagan Calendar (remembrance of this Viking's sack of Paris)

Respect Your Cat Day -- anniversary of King Richard II's edict in 1384 forbidding the consumption of cats

Serfs Emancipation Day -- Tibet

Seward's Day -- Alaska, US

Something on a Stick Day -- something edible, of course, what were you thinking?  never mind; almost everything tastes better on a stick

St. Guntramnus' Day (Patron of divorced people, guardians, repentant murderers)

Teachers' Day -- Czech Republic; Slovakia

Weed Appreciation Day -- at last, for those of us with black thumbs, since this is all we can grow! "Weeds are flowers once you get to know them!" A.A. Milne


Birthdays Today:

Lady Gaga, 1986
Julia Stiles, 1981
Annie Wersching, 1977
Kate Gosselin, 1975
Scott Mills, 1974
Juliandra Gillen, 1971
Vince Vaughn, 1970
Reba McEntire, 1955
Dianne Wiest, 1948
Ken Howard, 1944
Conchata Ferrell, 1943
Jerry Sloan, 1942
Freddie Bartholomew, 1924
Dirk Bogarde, 1921
Irving "Swifty" Lazar, 1907
August Anheuser Busch, Jr., 1899
Maxim Gorky, 1868
Frederich Pabst, 1836
St. Teresa of Avila, 1515
Fra Bartolomeo, 1472


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Hair"(Rock musical), 1968
"Philadelphia Story"(Play), 1939


Today in History:

Roman Emperor Pertinax is assassinated by Praetorian Guards, who then sell the throne in an auction to Didius Julianus, 193
Viking raiders sack Paris, who leave in exchange for a huge ransom, 845
The origin of the Fasli Era in India, 1556
Juan Bautista de Anza finds the site for the Presidio of San Francisco, 1776
Nathaniel Briggs of NH patents a washing machine, 1797
Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers discovers 2 Pallas, the second asteroid known to man, 1802
The US Salvation Army is officially organized, 1885
Henri Fabre becomes the first person to fly a seaplane, 1910
Jews are expelled from Tel Aviv & Jaffa by Turkish authorities, 1917
Constantinople and Angora change their names to Istanbul and Ankara, 1930
The McGill français movement protest occurs, the second largest protest in Montreal's history, 1969
Operators of Three Mile Island's Unit 2 nuclear reactor outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania fail to recognize that a relief valve in the primary coolant system has stuck open, leading to a partial meltdown, 1979
In South Africa, Zulus and African National Congress supporters battle in central Johannesburg, resulting in 18 deaths, 1994
The 2005 Sumatran earthquake rocks Indonesia, and at magnitude 8.7 is the second strongest earthquake since 1965, 2005
At least 1 million union members, students, and unemployed take to the streets in France in protest at the government's proposed First Employment Contract law, 2006
Australian diplomat Peter Woolcott's draft for the first-ever treaty to regulate the conventional arms trade is discussed by members of the United Nations, 2013

Silly Sunday: Save Your Prayers for When You Need Them

Silly Sunday is hosted by Sandee, of Comedy Plus.

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

This is a great opportunity to get to know other bloggers and have a laugh or two in the process.

Here is how it works: Laugh and Link Up!

1. Post a joke.
2. Link Up with the URL to your joke in the Linky Tools Widget.
3. Read my joke.
4. Leave a comment to tell me how much you enjoyed my joke.
5. Try and visit a few others participating in Silly Sunday.
6. Go to Sandee's site, linked above, and get the Silly Sunday code for your blog, too!

Because today is Easter Sunday, after church we will be going to Grandma and Grandpa's house, just over an hour drive from here.  As i said when the kids were growing up, that makes it close enough to visit frequently, but not so close that your family is all up in your daily business!

Boudreaux an' Clothile an' Tee be goin' to MawMaw Couvillion aft' de service to eat de Easter dinner.  Dey's gonna have dem de gumbo an' crawfish pie an' shrimp étouffée an' more, an' de pecan pralines fo' de dessert.  Dey do dat ever' year, sure, but Tee done had him a question fo' Boudreaux 'bout it.

"Pere," Tee ax, "why when we eat at our house, we allus gots to pray afore we eat, but ever' time we go MawMaw's house, you jes' eat an' don' wait to pray?"

"Mais," say Boudreaux, "dat's because MawMaw know how to cook!"

Today is:

Armed Forces Day -- Myanmar

Guan Shi Yin Pu Sa -- Buddhism (birthday of Guan Yin, the goddess of mercy)

Cherry Blossom (Sakura) Viewing and Celebrations begin -- Japan (the festivities get started around now, and vary by region depending on when the trees bloom in that area over the next 6 weeks)

Commemoration of Sen no Rikyu -- Omotesenke School of the Japanese Tea Ceremony, Japan (remembering the influential master in The Way of Tea)

Corkscrew Day -- M.L. Byrn of New York patented "covered gimlet screw with a 'T' handle" on this date in 1860

Daylight Saving Time begins -- Albania; Andorra; Austria; Azerbaijan; Belgium; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Bulgaria; Croatia; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; Estonia; Faroe Islands; Finland; France; Germany; Gibraltar, Greece; Greenland (some areas); Holy See (Vatican City); Hungary; Ireland; Isle of Mann; Italy; Kosovo; Latvia; Lebanon; Liechtenstein; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Macedonia; Malta; Moldova; Monaco; Montenegro; Morocco; Netherlands; Norway; Poland; Portugal; Romania; San Marino; Serbia; Slovakia; Slovenia; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; Turkey; Ukraine; United Kingdom; Western Sahara
     European Union: Daylight Saving Time (Summer Time) Begins

Easter -- Christian (remembrance of the resurrection of Jesus)
     Paskar -- Iceland (Easter, the day trolls and evil beings sleep through the day, so an auspicious day to look for the wishing stone)

National Baked Ham with Pineapple Day -- always on Easter Sunday

National "Joe" Day -- no, it isn't official, but today you can make everyone call you "Joe" if you want, and call them the same; probably started by someone who had no memory for names

National Spanish Paella Day

Quirky Country Music Song Titles Day -- after all, they do need their own day; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Root Canal Awareness Week begins -- sponsored by the American Association of Endodontists

St. John Damascene's Day (Patron of pharmacists, icon paiting, theology students)

St. Rupert of Salzburg's Day (Patron of Salzburg; celebrated on the 24th in the rest of the Church)

World Theatre Day


Anniversaries Today:

Mary Pickford marries Douglas Fairbanks, 1920


Birthdays Today:

Brenda Song, 1988
Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson, 1975
Nathan Fillion, 1971
Mariah Carey, 1970
Quentin Tarantino, 1963
Xuxa, 1963
Maria Schneider, 1952
Austin Pendleton, 1940
Michael York, 1942
David Janssen, 1931
Anthony Lewis, 1927
Mstislav Rostropovich, 1927
Sarah Vaughan, 1924
Harold Nicholas, 1921
Gloria Swanson, 1899
Thorne Smith, 1892
Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe, 1886
Edward Steichen, 1879
Patty Smith Hill, 1868
Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, 1845
Nathaniel Currier, 1813


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Starlight Express"(Rock musical), 1984
Funky Winkerbean(Comic strip), 1972
Singin' in the Rain(Film), 1952
"La Rondine/The Swallow"(Puccini Opera), 1917
"The Colleen Bawn"(Play), 1860


Today in History:

Ptolemy V ascends to the throne of Egypt, BC196
Pope Clement V excommunicates the entire population of Venice, 1309
Juan Ponce de Leon discovers Florida, 1513
The first English child born in Canada at Cuper's Cove, Newfoundland to Nicholas Guy, 1613
The dike at Hardinxveld breaks, causing the Alblasserwaard flood, 1709
Spain losses Menorca & Gibraltar, 1713
John Parker Paynard originates medicated adhesive plaster, precursor to the band-aid, 1848
First reported sighting of the Yosemite Valley by Europeans, 1851
M L Byrn patents "covered gimlet screw with a 'T' handle" (corkscrew), 1860
The first international rugby football match, England v. Scotland, is played in Edinburgh at Raeburn Place, 1871
Famous Apache warrior, Geronimo, surrenders to the U.S. Army, ending the main phase of the Apache Wars, 1886
The first Japanese cherry blossom trees planted in Washington, D.C., 1912
The first successful blood transfusion takes place in Brussels, 1914
Typhoid Mary, the first healthy carrier of disease ever identified in the United States, is put in quarantine, , 1916
Charlie Chaplin receives France's distinguished Legion of Honor, 1931
Nikita Khrushchev becomes Premier of the Soviet Union, 1958
The Good Friday Earthquake, the most powerful earthquake in U.S. history at a magnitude of 9.2 strikes South Central Alaska, killing 125 people and inflicting massive damage to the city of Anchorage, 1964
The Concorde makes its first supersonic flight. 1970
Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System begins, 1975
The Norwegian oil platform Alexander L. Kielland collapses in the North Sea, killing 123 of its crew of 212, 1980
The Solidarity movement in Poland stages a warning strike, in which at least 12 million Poles walk off their jobs for four hours, 1981
The US FDA approves Viagra, 1998
HMS Scylla (F71), a decommissioned Leander class frigate, is sunk as an artificial reef off Cornwall, the first of its kind in Europe, 2004

Sometimes you need to go on an adventure.

This past Wednesday, i had a rare opportunity to meet up with a friend who lives far away so i don't see her often.

Every autumn, a group of us who met on a website try to meet up together on what i call my yearly sanity retreat.  Script is one of the members of the group, but she hasn't always been able to get together with us.

When i found out she and her husband were going to be in Natchez, which is less than two hours from here, i had to try to get to see her.  Natchez is a lot closer than Toronto.

Wednesday morning i went to the cat shelter for my usual cat duty, then plugged in Carmen the Garmin for the drive up.  It's a four lane highway, but not an interstate, so the drive took me through small towns and past cow pastures and farms.

Those occasions when i travel and it's not on an interstate, i'm a stickler for staying at the speed limit.  This proved to be a very good thing, as it seems there are many small towns where the officers spend most of their time simply running speed traps.  It helps to slow down as you approach a town even before you see what speed limit they set.

Arriving in Natchez at 11am, i found Script and Mr. Script, whom i'd never met, in the lobby of the hotel waiting for me.  There were lots of hugs, and Mr. Script left to give us time to talk and catch up.

We did catch up a lot.  She showed me tons of pictures and told me about family doings.  Cruises, trips, events at her mother's senior residence, the best wedding anyone in the family had ever thrown (as she put it, when two gay men who both have taste and a bit of money put on a wedding, it's going to be a doozy!).  We talked about all the crazy things my kids are up to.

Script had made a reservation at a locally owned restaurant for our lunch, and as she and Mr. Script had eaten there before, the staff greeted her by name and said how glad they were she had come back.  The whole time we ate and talked locals were coming in and being greeted by name.  Yes, such places still exist.

The plan after lunch was to walk and perhaps see one of the beautiful homes for which Natchez is famous.  There was a specific one that is famous for its garden, and though the house was closed with no tours offered that day, the owner, as he was leaving, said we could take a peek in the garden.

We peeked for about 10-15 minutes, with Script snapping her beautiful pictures with her proper camera (she's an artist), and i took a few with my phone, because no matter what i use they mostly all turn out alike anyway.

Camelias were everywhere, with the prettiest always just out of reach.

Wisteria makes even the mundane lovely.

Fallen petals make a beautiful carpet!

This azalea hedge was so long, i couldn't get it all in.  At least 10 different colors of azaleas!

Another place we stopped was the cathedral.  Inside was grand and lovely, but the best thing i saw in there was a card that looked similar to this:

Every church needs these!

There was a prayer garden outside.  It looked like a beautiful place to sit and meditate, except at that moment when there was tree trimming going on at one side.  As Script did point out, that maintenance is part of working for the Lord, too.

Part of the prayer garden.  Tree trimming was too the right, next to the parking area.

After walking back to the car and then driving back to her hotel, we went up to find Mr. Script in the room.  It was nice to visit there a while as i drank some tea, then they walked me out to the car and i got back in town just in time to meet Sweetie at church for his choir practice.

Such a lovely day as i will remember for a long time.

Today is:

Daylight Saving Time begins -- Palestinian Territories

Day to Mourn Victims of Biological Weapons -- commemorates the day they were outlawed in 1975

Edinburgh International Science Festival -- Edinburgh, Scotland (massiver celebration of science and technology; through Apr. 10)

End of Zimbor-Quattor's Revenge Week and Day of Reconcilliation with All Those Whose Hats Have Been Damaged -- Fairy Calendar

Fiesta del Arbol -- Spain (Tree Festival or Arbor Day)

Holy Saturday -- Christian (a/k/a Black Saturday, Holy Saturday, Easter Saturday, or Easter Eve)

Independence Day and National Day -- Bangladesh(1971)

Khordad Sal -- Zoroastrian (Birth of the Prophet Zaranhushtra)

Legal Assistants' Day

Make Up Your Own Holiday Day -- Wellcat Holidays, which has made up a bunch, wants you to do the same today!

Martyr's Day / Democracy Day -- Mali

National Nougat Day

Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianole Day -- Hawaii, US (Hawaiian Royal who worked to preserve the Hawaiian culture)

Purple Day -- International (supporting epileptics around the world)

Spinach Day -- on this day in 1937, spinach growers in Crystal City, Texas, erected a statue of Popeye in honor of their favorite veggie

St. Braulio's Day (Patron of Aragon, Spain)

St. William of Norwich's Day (Patron of kidnap and torture victims)

Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel -- Eastern Orthodox Christianity (celebration of his role is the Annunciation)


Anniversaries Today:

Ricki Lake weds Rob Sussman, 1994
Founding of the University of Utrecht, 1636


Birthdays Today:

Keira Knightley, 1985
Amy Smart, 1976
T.R. Knight, 1973
Josh Lucas, 1972
Leslie Mann, 1972
Kenny Chesney, 1968
John Stockton, 1962
Marcus Allen, 1960
Jennifer Grey, 1960
Catherine Keener, 1960
Leeza Gibbons, 1957
Curtis Sliwa, 1954
Teddy Pendergrass, 1950
Martin Short, 1950
Vicki Lawrence, 1949
Steven Tyler, 1948
Diana Ross, 1944
Bob Woodward, 1943
Erica Jong, 1942
James Caan, 1939
Alan Arkin, 1934
Leonard Nimoy, 1931
Sandra Day O'Connor, 1930
Pierre Boulez, 1925
Tennessee Williams, 1911
Viktor Frankl, 1905
Robert Frost, 1874
Jane Arminda Delano, 1862
Nathaniel Bowditch, 1773


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Fences"(Play), 1988
"The Young and the Restless"(TV), 1973
"Cannon"(TV), 1971
"Funny Girl"(Musical), 1964
"Die Ehe des Herrn Mississippi/The Marriage of Mr. Mississippi"(Play), 1952


Today in History:

William Caxton prints his translation of Aesop's Fables, 1484
The first British Sunday newspaper is published (British Gazette & Sunday Monitor), 1780
The US Congress orders removal of Indians east of Mississippi to Louisiana, 1804
An earthquake destroys 90% of Caracas, Venezuela, leaves 20,000 dead, 1812
The Book of Mormon is published in Palmyra, NY, 1830
Eastman Film Co manufactures the first commercial motion picture film, 1885
New Delhi replaces Calcutta as capital of British-Indies, 1931
William H. Hastie becomes the first black Federal Judge in the US, in the US Virgin Islands, 1937
Jonas Salk announces the first successful test of his polio vaccine on a small group of adults and children, 1953
East Pakistan declares its independence from Pakistan to form People's Republic of Bangladesh, 1971
Anwar al-Sadat, Menachem Begin and Jimmy Carter sign the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty in Washington, D.C., 1979
The "Melissa worm" infects Microsoft word processing and e-mail systems around the world, 1999
A jury in Michigan finds Dr. Jack Kevorkian guilty of second-degree murder for administering a lethal injection to a terminally ill man, 1999
The Taiwanese government calls on 1 million Taiwanese to demonstrate in Taipei, in opposition to the Anti-Secession Law of the People's Republic of China, 2005