Thursday Duo: Story and Fence

"We can create a great life here for our grandson, this is the way we can do it!" she was staring at him, her large green eyes pleading with him for understanding.

"It's not going to be that easy!" he said as he paced the room.  "There is deceit and guile and craft and trickery in it, and we don't know what bad things might result in the long run."

"We'll be careful, I'll be careful, I promise, you know I would never wish things that would hurt people on purpose.  I just want us to be able to have a good life here, for him to be able to have a good life here.  There isn't much I'll wish for, and we will always consult each other and wish together so we can work to avoid hurting anyone, but I just can't waste the chances we have now that we have a Djinn bottle!"

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

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Gosia, of Looking for Identity, has taken over Good Fences.  Post a picture of a fence or gate, link back to her blog, and go visit others to see what interesting fences there are out in this big world.

The San Antonio Riverwalk entrance to the oldest VFW Post in Texas.

Today is:

A Colonial Christmas -- Jamestown Settlement, Williamsburg, VA, US (through Dec. 31; enjoy 17th- and 18th-century Christmas traditions, comparing those of England and the Colonies)

Antarctica Day -- celebrating the Continent of Peace and Scienceapecs.is/outreach/antarctica-day

Barbes Diena -- Ancient Latvian Calendar (celebrates the fertility of sheep)

Basketball Day -- commonly seen as the day Dr. James Naismith invented the game; while we know it was early in December, 1891, i cannot find any credible source that says it was on this date

Becky Thatcher Day -- birthday of Laura Hawkins, in 1836, who inspired the character in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Bifocals at the Monitor Liberation Day -- if you can't see, feel free! sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Bizarre Bazaar -- Richmond, VA, US (Christmas shop until you drop; through Sunday)

Carnival of Celendonia -- Fairy Calendar (Celendonia is the Fairy City all Fairies want to retire to, by the way.)

Chia Pet Hunting Season begins

Christmas Festival at St. Olaf -- St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN, US (600 student musicians perform sacred and folk songs from around the world; through Sunday)

Christmas in Old Appalachia -- Clinton, TN, US (an old fashioned country Christmas; through Christmas Eve)

Christmas New Orleans Style -- New Orleans, LA, US (a full month of Christmas celebrations as only NOLA can do it)

Civil Air Patrol Day -- US (date of establishment in 1941; the US Coast Guard rescues you from peril on the water, the CAP on land)

Cookie Cutter Week begins -- sponsored by the Cookie Cutter Collectors Club

Crossing of the Cattle at Diafarabe -- Mali (celebrated through the month)

Damrong Rajanubhab Day -- Thailand (anniversary of the prince's death)

Day of the First President -- Kazakhstan

Dia de la Abolicion del Ejercito -- Costa Rica (Miliary Abolition Day; yes, really, they abolished the military after the 1948 revolution, are one of Central America's oldest democracies, and has only the Police Guard forces)

Eat A Red Apple Day

Freedom and Democracy Day -- Chad

Fullveldisdagurinn Islendinga -- Iceland (Self-governance Day)
     University Students' Celebration Day

International Prisoners for Peace Day -- a day to remember imprisoned conscientious objectors

Kalends of December -- Ancient Roman Calendar; also observed
     Festival for Neptune -- promiscuous god of the sea
     Festival for Pietas -- goddess of devotion, duty, and honor

Mindfulness Day -- Zen Buddhism (a day to mindfully see and act with compassion toward the poor and oppressed)

My Husband's Strung the Christmas Lights and Now I Can't Open the Garage Door Day -- commemorating an alleged real event, be glad this isn't your husband

National Christmas Tree Lighting -- Washington, D.C., US

National Pie Day

National Stress-Free Family Holidays Month -- sponsored by Parenting Without Pressure

National Transit Tribute to Rosa Parks Day -- American Public Transportation Association, on the anniversary of her arrest

Operation Santa Paws -- toy/treat/care drive to help local animal shelters, until the 21st; sponsored by Haute Dogs

Proclamation of the Republic -- Central African Republic

Restoration of Independence -- Portugal(1640)

Rosa Parks Day -- anniversary of her arrest in 1955

St. Eligius' Day (Patron of agricultural workers/farmers, blacksmiths/ horseshoe makers, boilermakers, cab drivers/taxi drivers, carriage makers, cartwrights, clock makers/watch makers, coin collectors/neumismatists, craftsmen, cutlers, farriers, garage workers and gas station workers -- because most of us don't use horses any more, gilders, goldsmiths, harness makers, horses/sick horses, jewelers, jockeys, knife makers, laborers, locksmiths, metal collectors/precious metal collectors, metalsmiths, miners, minters, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, saddle makers, tool makers, veterinarians, wheelwrights)

Surf Life Saving Summer Appeal -- New Zealand (Formerly National Jandal Day, now a three month campaign to raise money to support the Surf Lifeguards who keep you safe) 

Teachers' Day -- Panama

World AIDS Day -- WHO; related observance
     Day With(OUT) Art -- annual remembrance of the impact of AIDS on the visual arts, sponsored by Visual AIDS

Ziua Unirii -- Romania (National Day)


Anniversaries Today:

Yukon Order of Pioneers founded, 1894
US National Weather Service established, 1870
Napoleon marries Josephine, 1804



Birthdays Today:

Nestor Carbonell, 1967
Reggie Sanders, 1967
Carol Alt, 1960
Treat Williams, 1952
Bette Midler, 1945
John Densmore, 1944
Richard Pryor, 1940
Lee Trevino, 1939
Woody Allen, 1935
Lou Rawls, 1933
David Doyle, 1925
Mary Martin, 1913
Charles Finney, 1905
Robert Welch, 1899
Cyril Ritchard, 1897
Rex Stout, 1886
Julia A. Davis Moore, 1847
Anna Maria Grosholtz Tussaud (Madame Tussaud), 1761
Oliver Wolcott, 1726
Louis VI of France, 1081


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Happy XMas(War is Over)"(Single release), 1971
"Promises, Promises"(Musical), 1969
"Flower Drum Song"(Musical), 1958
"Candide"(Operetta), 1956
The Great Train Robbery(First Western film), 1903
Sherlock Holmes, in "A Study in Scarlet"(Published in Beeton's Christmas Annual), 1887
Dr. Pepper, 1885 (recognition by US Patent Office of first day of sale)


Today in History:

Henry V of England enters Paris, 1420
Pasha Muhammad ibn Farukh, governor, driven out of Jerusalem, 1626
Portugal regains independence from Spain, 1640
Massachusetts becomes first colony to give Statutory recognition to slavery, 1641
The first American school to offer manual training courses opens in Maryland, 1750
Charles and M.N. Roberts ascend 2,000' in a hydrogen balloon, 1783
Erie Canal closes for a month due to cold weather, 1831
Hans Christian Andersen publishes his first book of fairy tales, 1835
The first chartered mutual life insurance company opens, 1843
The first certified public accountants receive their certificates in New York, 1896
The first Israeli kibbutz is founded, Deganya Alef, 1909
Ford Motor Company introduces the first moving assembly line, 1913
The first drive-up gasoline station opens in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, 1913
Lady Nancy Astor is sworn in as the first female member of the British Parliament, 1919
The New York Daily News reports the news of Christine Jorgenson, the first notable case of sexual reassignment surgery, 1952
Opening date for signature of the Antarctic Treaty, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on the continent, 1959
Malawi, Malta and Zambia join the United Nations, 1964
Lambda Theta Phi is established as the first Latino fraternity, in New Jersey, 1975
Angola joins the United Nations, 1976
The AIDS virus is officially recognized, 1981
At the University of Utah, Barney Clark becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart, 1982
Channel Tunnel sections started from the United Kingdom and France meet 40 metres beneath the seabed, 1990
Representatives from more than 150 countries gather at a global warming summit in Kyoto, Japan, and over the course of the next ten days forge an agreement to control the emission of greenhouse gases, 1997
The Treaty of Lisbon comes into effect,  which amends the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community, which together comprise the constitutional basis of European Union, 2009
In ceremonies held at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia, the USS Enterprise, the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, is officially inactivated after a 51-year career, 2012