A to Z and Wordless Wednesday: Kona Grill

On the rare occasion that we go out together:

It's our favorite when we save up a bit to go out to eat.

Happy Hour Half Price Menu makes it possible!

Linking up with Wordless Wednesday.

Today is

Anniversary of the Election of Pope Francis -- Holy See (Vatican City)

Day to Give Thanks for Fish/Seafood -- anniversary of the US Fishery Conservation and Management Act 1976

Ebertfest/Roger Ebert's Film Festival -- Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL (in the best show biz tradition, the show will go on; through Sunday)

Environmental Protection Day -- anniversary of the 1962 publication of Silent Spring

Feast of Rotten Endings -- because some stories just don't end well

Huguenot Day -- Huguenot Society of the US (anniversary of the 1598 Edict of Nantes, in which King Henry IV promoted peace between Catholics and Protestants)

Ides of April -- Ancient Roman Calendar; also
     Festival of Libertas -- personification of freedom and political liberty
     Festival of Jupiter Libertas
     Festival of Jupiter Victor

International Plant Appreciation Day -- unsponsored by any but those who love plants

National Bookmobile Day -- US, on the Wednesday of National Library Week

National Peach Cobbler Day

Navpad Oli -- Jain (nine day religious festival)

Poshui Jie -- Jinghong, China (Water Splashing Festival; a 3 to four day festival around this time)

Scrabble Day -- anniversary of the 1899 birth of its inventor, Alfred Mosher Butts

Songkran Festival / Chiang Mai Songkran / Tamil New Year / Bangla New Year / Bisket Jatra -- Bangladesh; Cambodia; India; Laos; Myanmar; Nepal; Singapore; Sri Lanka; Thailand (New Year festivals, celebrated over the next few days, as the sun enters the zodiac sign of Aries)

Squashing of Moonhopper Day -- Fairy Calendar

St. Hermengild's Day (Patron of converts; against drought, flood, and thunderstorms)

Thank Your School Librarian Day -- US, on the Wednesday of National Library Week

Thingyan -- Myanmar (Water Festival; through the 16th)

Thomas Jefferson Day -- US

U.S. Elephant Day -- marking the arrival of the first elephant in the US in 1796

Vaisakhi/Baisakhi -- Sikh (celebration of the spring grain harvest and of the rebirth of the Sikh religion in the 15th Century)

Yayoi Matsuri -- Nikko, Japan (five day spring festival)



Birthdays Today:

Jonathan Brandis, 1976
Rick Schroder, 1970
Garry Kasparov, 1963
Saundra Santiago, 1957
Max Weinberg, 1951
Peabo Bryson, 1951
Ron Pearlman, 1950
Al Green, 1946
Tony Dow, 1945
Lowell George, 1945
Jack Casady, 1944
Bill Conti, 1942
Paul Sorvino, 1939
Lyle Waggoner, 1935
Don Adams, 1926
Howard Keel, 1919
Eudora Welty, 1909
Samuel Beckett, 1906
Butch Cassidy, 1866
F.W. Woolworth, 1852
Thomas Jefferson, 1743
Guy Fawkes, 1570


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Arcadia"(Play), 1993
Casino Royale(Film), 1967
Silent Spring(Publication date), 1962
"El Capitan"(Operetta), 1896
"Messiah"(Oratorio, HWV 56), 1742


Today in History:

The Seventh Crusade is defeated in Egypt with the capture of Louis IX of France, 1250
Henry IV of France signs the Edict of Nantes, granting freedom of religion and political rights to Huguenots (French Protestants), 1598
John Dryden, age 36, becomes the first English Poet Laureate, 1668
George Frideric Handel's oratorio Messiah makes its world-premiere in Dublin, Ireland, 1742
The first elephant seen in the Western Hemisphere arrives from India, 1796
The British Parliament grants religious freedom to Roman Catholics, 1829
Hungary becomes a republic, 1849
The first US Pony Express run is completed, 1860
George Westinghouse patents a steam powered brake, 1869
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is founded, 1870
J.C. (James Cash) Penney opens his first store, 1902
British troops fire on unarmed demonstrators in Amritsar, India, killing at least 379 and wounding over 1,200 more, 1919
Helen Hamilton becomes the first woman US Civil Service Commissioner, 1920
Lord Clydesdale makes the first flight over Mt. Everest, 1933
The Jefferson Memorial is dedicated on the 200th anniversary of his birth, in Washington, D.C., 1943
Van Cliburn becomes the first American to win the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, 1958 
Sidney Poitier becomes the first African-American male to win the Best Actor Oscar for Lilies of the Field, 1963
An oxygen tank aboard Apollo 13 explodes, putting the crew in great danger and causing major damage to the spacecraft while en route to the Moon, 1970
The Universal Postal Union decides to recognize the People's Republic of China as the only legitimate Chinese representative, effectively expelling the Republic of China administering Taiwan, 1972
Western Union (in cooperation with NASA and Hughes Aircraft) launches the United States' first commercial geosynchronous communications satellite, Westar 1, 1974
Portugal and the People's Republic of China sign an agreement in which Macau would be returned to China in 1999, 1987
Tiger Woods becomes the youngest golfer to win the Masters Tournament, 1997
Former President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak and sons, Alaa and Gamal, are detained for 15 days of questioning regarding charges of corruption and abuse of power, 2011
The People's Republic of China and the U.S. agree to work towards eliminating nuclear weapons in the Korean Peninsula, 2013