Planning and Spanish Moss

She was standing at the kitchen sink when he came down the next morning, and without turning she asked him, "Did I hear you correctly last night, that you are thinking about a business trip to the Middle East?"

"Yes," he said, squirming inside with the thought of the misdirections and half truths he would have to tell her; after all, he couldn't just come out and say he needed to go on a trip to get rid of the Djinn that was becoming a family curse.

"What in the world would you need to do there, and why business in such a dangerous area, I really would worry if you did this," her statement was quiet as she tried to hide the fear in her voice.

"My grandparents had some of their business dealings with someone from that part of the world," he started on the explanation he had carefully prepared, "and I've been contacted and asked to come finish up some things, tidy up some loose ends they weren't able to get to before they died."

"I just don't understand why it would have to be done in person," she said.

It was hard for him to hide the tremble in his own voice when he answered, knowing if things went wrong he wouldn't be coming back from the trip; "There are some serious complications, and only their direct heir can deal with it."


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


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Gosia, of Looking for Identity, has taken over Good Fences, and it's now Good Fences Around The World.  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.

Spanish moss, often seen on the live oaks, here growing on a gate.

Today is:

9-1-1 Day -- the first 911 call in North America was placed, demonstrating the new system, on this day in 1968

Akiyoshidai Yamayaki -- Akiyoshidai, Japan (dry grass on the mountain side is burned in this coming of spring ceremony; date subject to change)

American Association for the Advancement of Science Annual Meeting -- Boston, MA, US (a meeting of top scientist; who knows what these people will come up with next, because science is amazing! through the 20th)

Bonten Matsuri -- Miyoshi-jinja Shrine, Akita, Japan (two day festival to ask for good crops this year)

Do a Grouch a Favor Day -- internet generated attempt to get us to either get the grouches on our side, or make us cynical

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

Independence Day -- Lithuania (National Day/Restoration of Statehood)(1918)

Kyoto Protocol Day -- International (treaty on climate change; today is proposed as "Wear purple for Kyoto Day")

Miami International Boat Show -- Miami, FL, US (biggest boat show in the US, and the main event for product introductions; through Monday)

National Almond Day

Respectable Tales of Kelp-Koli -- Fairy Calendar (5 minutes only) 

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. Juliana of Cumae's Day (Patron of the ill)

St. Onesimus' Day (runaway slave of Philemon, converted by Paul, of whom the Letter to Philemon was written)


Birthdays Today:

Christopher Eccleston, 1964
John McEnroe, 1959
Ice T, 1959
LeVar Burton, 1957
James Ingram, 1956
William Katt, 1951
Richard Ford, 1944
Barry Primus, 1938
Sonny Bono, 1935
Vera-Ellen, 1921
Patty Andrews, 1920
Jimmy Wakely, 1914
Hugh Beaumont, 1909
Richard McDonald, 1909
George Kennan, 1904
Edgar Bergan, 1903
Robert Joseph Flaherty, 1884
Johann Strauss, 1866
Nichiren, 1222
Emperor Yingzong of China, 1032


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"What's My Line"(TV Game Show), 1950
"Le Voyageur Sans Baggage"(Anouilh Play), 1937
"The Marquise"(Coward Play), 1927
Chung Sai Yat Po(Publication; first Chinese daily newspaper in US), 1900
"Werther"(Massenet Opera), 1892
Ladies' Home Journal(Publication), 1883
"Orpheus"(Liszt Opera), 1854
"Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard"(First Publication), 1751


Today in History:

9th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet, 374
Pope Gregory the Great issues a decree saying that "God bless you" is the correct response to a sneeze, 600
English king Charles I accepts Triennial Act, requiring the king to assemble Parliament at least once every 3 years, 1641
The first known check (cheque) is written, for 400 English Pounds Sterling (currently on display at Westminster Abbey), 1659
Kentucky passes a law permitting women to attend school under certain conditions, 1838*
Weenen Massacre: Hundreds of Voortrekkers along the Blaukraans River, Natal are killed by Zulus, 1838
American Charles Wilkes discovers Shackleton Ice Shelf, Antarctica, 1840
The Battle of Sobraon ends the First Sikh War in India, 1846
Studebaker Brothers wagon company, precursor of the automobile manufacturer, is established, 1852
The French Government passes a law to set the A-note above middle C to a frequency of 435 Hz, in an attempt to standardize the pitch, 1859
The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks forms, 1868
The "Ladies Home Journal" begins publishing, 1883
The first Chinese daily newspaper in the US, Chung Sai Yat Po, begins publication in San Francisco, 1900
The first US Esperanto Club organizes in Boston, 1905
The first synagogue in 425 years opens in Madrid, Spain, 1917
Howard Carter unseals the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, 1923
The first patent is issued for a tree, to James Markham for a peach tree, 1932
Wallace H. Carothers receives a United States patent for nylon, 1937
Canadians are granted Canadian citizenship after 80 years of being British subjects. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes the first Canadian citizen, 1947
Britain abolishes the death penalty, 1956
Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba after dictator Fulgencio Batista was overthrown on January 1, 1959
In Haleyville, Alabama, the first 9-1-1 emergency telephone system goes into service, 1968
The first computer bulletin board system is created (CBBS in Chicago, Illinois), 1978
The trial of John Demjanjuk, accused of being a Nazi guard dubbed "Ivan the Terrible" in Treblinka extermination camp, starts in Jerusalem, 1987
The Kyoto Protocol comes into force, following its ratification by Russia, 2005
The last Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) is decommissioned by the United States Army, 2006


*Unless it has been repealed recently, this is the same US state that still has a law on its books requiring every resident to take a bath at least once a year, whether the person needs it or not!