Many, many are the things for which i am thankful. This is Letter M day in the A to Z Challenge, so i will try to come up with things that start with M.
Mikey. He's a big, fluffy goofball of a cat. He's part Maine coon and weighs in at 18 pounds (give or take an ounce). He even understands words like "outside", "here's your treat", and "stop it!" The last one he understands, but he does not obey. He's a smart cat, but still a cat.
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| Mikey, giving me the stink-eye. |
Music. There's always music playing here. Sweetie plays guitar, the young people listen to their weird music, and we older people listen to our weird music. The radio in the kitchen stays on day and night, so there's always something nice to listen to if you want.
Moon. Our Moon is really fascinating. It's the perfect size for eclipses, looks a little different every night, and causes our tides. Pretty cool tricks for a hunk of rock, if you ask me.
Medicine. Are there problems with medical care? Certainly. Does it seem everything now has a diagnosis and someone wants to treat it? It does to me. Am i glad i live when we have options and choices for treating major medical problems that do not depend on bleeding and leeches? Absolutely!
Mistakes. We all make them, and i am thankful that i do, and that i try to learn from them. Sometimes our mistakes and failures do more for us than our successes.
Marriage. Ours (mine and Sweetie's) has lasted, well, it will be 32 years this summer. It's a good thing. The other day at dinner, Little Girl said, "You two act like an old married couple!" We laughed and said it's because we are an old married couple.
Magazines. Most specifically my Reader's Digest. It's my favorite.
Motherhood. It's the best unpaid gig in the universe.
Muscles. Without muscles i couldn't do the work i do. If someone asks me to move a few hundred pounds of cat litter or vacuum behind the couch, it's muscle that makes it possible for me to comply and earn my pay.
Mail. It still gives me a bit of a thrill to go to the mail box and pull something out, or see what Sweetie pulled out if he gets there first. It may just be bills, or a circular, but sometimes there's something fun, or some good news (like yesterday when i found out it's cheaper to insure Lunceford the Land Yacht than it was Humphrey the Honda).
There you have it, thankfulness filed under the letter M. Find some things you are thankful for, it doesn't have to be with any particular letter, or even ten of them, and link up with Ten Things of Thankful. It's good medicine to be thankful.
Today is:
Banyan Tree Birthday Party -- Lahaina, Maui, Hawai'i (celebrating the "birthday" of Lahaina's most important landmark, their banyan tree planted back in 1973, which now covers over 2/3 of an acre; cake, nature displays, kid activities, history exhibits and more, through tomorrow)
Caballo de Paso Peruano -- Pachacamac, Peru (National Contest of Paso Horses/The National Horse Competition of the native Peruvian horse, the Paso; through the 20th)
Celtic Tree Month Saille (willow) begins
Day of the Sun -- North Korea (Kim Il Sung's Birthday Holiday)
Fast Food Day -- the first franchised McDonald's opened this day in 1955 in Des Plaines, IL, US
Father Damien Day -- Hawaii, US (Patron of lepers)
Feria Nacional de San Marcos -- Palenque, Mexico (through May 7; feast of San Marcos, with rodeos, bull fights, folk dancing, parades, mariachi and muchos mas)
Festival of Heru; Festival of Bast -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)
Fluff Appreciation Day -- internet generated; i guess as a distraction for Tax Day
Fordicalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (cow sacrifice to the earth mother, Tellus Mater)
Georgia Renaissance Spring Festival -- Atlanta, GA, US (weekends through June 4)
Guangzhou (Canton) Spring Trade Fair -- Guangzhou (Canton), China (a month-long spring trade fair held the same dates each year)
Hillsborough Disaster Memorial -- Anfield at Liverpool, England
Holy Saturday -- Christian (a/k/a Black Saturday, Holy Saturday, Easter Saturday, or Easter Eve)
Husband Appreciation Day
Income Tax Pay Day -- Philippines
Jackie Robinson Day -- Major League Baseball
National Auctioneers Day -- recognizing the contribution of auctioneers to American commerce
National Glazed Ham Day
Rubber Eraser Day -- today in 1770, Joseph Priestly described a vegetable gum which had the ability to rub out pencil marks
St. Hunna's Day (Patron of laundresses, laundry workers, washerwomen)
Swallow Day -- England (traditional date of the return of chimney swallows)
Take a Wild Guess Day -- sponsored by Jim Barber as a day to honor guesses, hunches, inspirations, speculations and other forms of “intuitive intelligence”
Teach Your Daughter to Volunteer Day -- encouraging awareness of volunteerism, but the original sponsor of the day is no longer online
Tipsa Diena -- Ancient Latvian Calendar (celebration of the start of plowing)
Titanic Remembrance Day
World Creativity and Innovation Week -- always begins on DaVinci's birth anniversary
World Art Day -- because he was an artist as well as inventor
Anniversary Today:
Gallaudet University is founded, 1817 (first US public school for the deaf)
Birthdays Today:
Emma Watson, 1990
Ilya Kovalchuck, 1983
Seth Rogen, 1982
Patrick Carney, 1980
Anna Torv, 1978
Emma Thompson, 1959
Evelyn Ashford, 1957
Heloise Cruse Evans, 1951
Amy Wright, 1950
Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, 1947
Claudia Cardinale, 1939
Roy Clark, 1933
Elizabeth Montgomery, 1933
Leon Schotter, 1922
Harold Washington, 1922
Hilda Simms, 1920
Hans Conried, 1917
Bessie Smith, 1894
Thomas Hart Benton, 1889
Sam Rodia, 1875
John Munroe Longyear, 1850
Henry James, 1843
Joseph E. Seagram, 1841
Charles Willson Peale, 1741(O.S. date)
Leonardo da Vinci, 1452
Debuting/Premiering Today:
"In Living Color"(TV), 1990
"Driving Miss Daisy"(Play), 1987
Today in History:
Pope Innocent III refuses to grant permission to the Jews of Cordova, Spain, to build a synagogue, 1250
Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language is published in London, 1755
The first school for the deaf in the US opens in Hartford, Connecticut, 1817
The last day US silver coins are allowed to circulate in Canada, 1870
Harley Proctor begins producing Ivory Soap, 1878
General Electric Company is incorporated, 1892
The Titanic sinks, 1912
Insulin becomes available to diabetics, 1923
Rand McNally publishes its first road atlas, 1924
Jackie Robinson debuts with the Brooklyn Dodgers, 1947
White Rock, British Columbia officially separates from Surrey, British Columbia and is incorporated as a new city, 1957
Tokyo Disney Resort (and the Tokyo Disneyland park) opens in Tokyo Bay (Japan), 1983
Upon Hu Yaobang's death, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 begin in the People's Republic of China, 1989
Representatives of 124 countries and the European Communities sign the Marrakesh Agreements revising the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and initiating the World Trade Organization, 1994
Astronomers at San Francisco State University announce the discovery of the first multiplanet solar system besides our own, three planets around Upsilon Andromedaie, 1999
Volcanic ash from the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland leads to the closure of airspace over most of Europe, 2010
In a Schrodinger's cat experiment, researchers in Japan and Australia successfully teleport wave packets of light; this is the first transfer of quantum information from one point to another, 2011
Top of my M's is Music! All kinds of music from opera to rock. It's my constant companion.
ReplyDeleteAmble Bay's May Fair
Thank you for reminding me of some M words I don't appreciate enough...
ReplyDeleteAffirmations for a Good Life
I love that you included mistakes and muscles! Too often, we overlook the ordinary but oh-so important.
ReplyDeleteNice job on combining your two themes. (I do Spock Sundays, which is going to fall on "Z" day... I have been wracking my brain for weeks!)
Happy A-Z'ing!
I am really enjoying these A-Z Ten Things of Thankful posts of yours Mimi.
ReplyDeleteI am thankful for kitties!! Thank you for the sweet Passover wishes! catchatwithcarenandcody
ReplyDeleteThose are some great things to be thankful for. Lots of 'M' things. You all have a great day.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely blog and lots of M things to be thankful for.
ReplyDeleteJosefine from
Getting to the end
Mikey is a handsome boy. My Sammy is 18 pounds too and he is the one that sleeps on my head. I am glad you have much to be thankful for. Have a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteMikey looks like part mountain lion.
ReplyDeleteI call Readers Digest the Bathroom Mag. There is an article for every day of the month...always ends up next to the throne.
Thankful is a good thing and you are always thankful.
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous weekend and a blessed Easter. ☺
Marriage, mine will be in July and it will be 43 years of love with my wife MaryLou. Muscles, unfortunately, I don't have much. Oh well, have a great Saturday Mimi. See ya.
ReplyDeleteCruisin Paul
It says a lot about your attitude of thankfulness that you are able to come up with a whole list of thankfuls just for the letter M! :-)
ReplyDeleteMikey and Toby must be kin, he has that same issue with understanding everything and choosing not to comply. I think he has very selective hearing. Supper he knows, off the counter is a foreign language to him. :-)
I would so much rather be in a house that has music playing than a tv running non-stop 24/7. You are blessed to have a guitar playing husband, and to have shared over 30 years of life together! That's a great example to your kids that it can be done if you work at it!
I love the moon too, every phase, especially over the ocean waters!
I wouldn't have my Papa Bear, or my daughter, or my niece, or so many wonderful other people in my life without modern medicine, so I am very grateful. At the same time, some of the new drugs coming out seem to have more lethal side effects than benefits!!
You are right about mistakes, they are learning experiences and we tend to remember the message far longer than our successes. They also teach us to try harder and again!
I don't read many magazines, but I have always loved Readers Digest. Guideposts is my very favorite... personal stories of faith.
Motherhood is the best... and the hardest... gig I think. But I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Muscles are important! I am amazed at all the heavy work people ask you to do, and you are able to do it!
Val mentioned mail too, I think we who are a bit older still enjoy the fun of real mail arriving in our box.. cards and letters or tiny gifts. Bills aren't all that exciting. :-)
Wow, insurance for Lunceford is actually lower? Now that's a real blessing, and it makes me happy for you! Have an awesome week ahead, Mimi, and thank you for joining us at TToT!
interesting post. Happy Easter from europe
ReplyDeleteAnother successful TToT/A to Z tie in. Well done. So many M thankfuls.
ReplyDeleteAw, love weird music. The moon is my favourite thing. So much information packed into this post, like the sinking of the Titanic (which I studied extensively) because of my boat phobia as a kid. The invention of insulin and I wrote a post for the letter D about diabetes in my family and I wouldn't be here without all the advances in modern medicine. So many great items here.
Happy Easter to you.
You remind me of all I have to be great full for. Happy Easter.
ReplyDeleteMotherhood the best unpaid gig in the world. Yes to that! Yes to most of the rest too.
ReplyDeleteHere from the A-Z and wish you all the best for the rest of the challenge and a very happy Easter.
Nilanjana
Madly-in-Verse
Nice work combing the Alfalfa to Zebra Challenge and the TToT! 'M' is certainly versatile, at least in terms of words that start with it.
ReplyDeleteLovely, lovely list.
ReplyDeleteMoon, music, marriage and motherhood...like the way you've expressed these and love them all, too.
thank you.
M is for Maid of Honour
I love the picture of Mikey giving you 'the look'! I too am grateful for my cat and for music :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a great thankful post, Mimi!
ReplyDeleteFrom one old married couple to another, congratulations on 32 years together. :) We'll be at 33 years in November.
Mikey is a beautiful kitty, stink eye and all.
I love mail call, too! It is one of my favorite parts of the day. Though it hasn't happened in the last week, we usually have a mailbox full of books to review. That's even better than the pizza coupon mailers that we get. :)
I love your history section. We didn't realize that insulin became available in the 1920s. I had never really given it any thought, but David thought it wasn't available until the 1940s. Whenever it happened, I'm just glad that it is available. :)
Have a blessed Easter!
Listing things to be thankful for like that is a good exercise.
ReplyDeleteLike your list of M thankful's. Mikey is mighty fine looking. Congrats on the long happy marriage...proves the experts wrong. I check the mailbox everyday...don't get much mail but the occasional card or magazine is fun.
ReplyDeleteTerrific list! This is our 32nd year of marriage as well. Would do it all over again too. So, that is a pretty good sign I think! Congratulations to you and yours.
ReplyDeleteAnd motherhood....boy, there is not another thing I have done in my life that compares. Truly the best unpaid gig as you say!
What a great list for TToT using things that start with the letter M. My favorites are Mistakes, Marriage and Motherhood.
ReplyDelete