Thank Heaven for Young People!

There's always something going on around this place, even when it feels like work and sleep is all i do.  Most of it is great stuff, the things for which i am thankful.

This week, it's the thankful for young people edition.

#1 Son loves to come have a conversation most days.  Yesterday his topic was "Death Star versus Borg Cube, which would win?"  It was fun talking that one out and hearing his arguments.  (Death Star, at least the way he sees it.)

Bigger Girl is feeling better over these last few days.  Last weekend was so difficult for her, i'm thankful she is smiling again.

#2 Son has been over a bit more often lately, and it's so nice to see him, even if it's just that he's here to take a nap between shifts at work.

Daughter-in-Law Becky has come over more often, too.  She likes the kittens, and she seems to be, i don't know, maybe a bit more mellow?  It can't be easy having a mother-in-law sometimes (i never had one, she died long before i met my Sweetie) and i am grateful she feels comfortable coming over here, and just seems friendlier.

Little Girl is gone on her two weeks of military training.  She is loving her military work, and is more certain than ever that she wants to be an army nurse.  It's such a treat watching her bloom.

Niece Bryn is now 17!  She is lovely and outgoing and it was such fun watching her joke around with my kids at the restaurant after the wedding.  Many families don't have such fun times, and i'm thankful we get along so well.

Nephew Dre is such a handsome chap, well behaved, he even cooperated with all the picture taking after the ceremony when he was hungry and could have gotten cranky and whiny.

Friend Chris is down on his luck again, and i'm thankful Mr. B, whom i help in his workshop every other Saturday, has agreed to hire him today along with me.  He will be cleaning out the "greenhouse" area, earning $10/hour, which he desperately needs.

Mike-Next-Door, who no longer lives next door but shares an apartment with friends, continues to be the best lawn person ever.  

Red-headed Alec, Sweet Sue, and yet-to-be-named baby boy are doing well.  Baby boy's due date in some time around Thanksgiving.  Alec is so very solicitous it's a delight to watch him, and he's working hard to learn as much as he can so he can move up at the store.

The young people help keep me young, and i'm thankful for every one of them, they enrich my life.

Why not list the people for whom you are thankful today and link up at Ten Things of Thankful.  You will find that gratitude makes a not-so-good day better and a good day great!

Today is:

Abbotsford Berry Festival -- Abbotsford, BC, Canada (enjoy berries at the height of the season, as well as music, clowns, games, a "berried" treasure hunt, and more, through tomorrow)

Art Fair on the Square -- Madison, WI, US (one of the Midwest's largest juried art fairs; through tomorrow)

Bald In - Bald Out Day -- sponsored by Bald Girls Do Lunch; if men can be bald and brazen, then women and children who cannot grow hair should bring bald INto their lives, and never feel on the OUTs!

Bohemian Club Annual Rites begin -- Bohemian Grove, CA US (if you are into conspiracy theories, this is supposedly when and where the male movers and shakers of the world meet for two weeks and decide the fate of the world for the next 12 months; the members of the club, including former presidents and other high level officials, do meet for a couple of weeks this time of year to have, among other things, a Cremation of Care ceremony)

Carver Day -- George Washington Carver National Monument, Diamond, MO, US

Celtic Tree Month Tinne begins (Holly)

Feast of St. Sunniva (Ancient Norse solar maiden Sunna's worship around this time of year was merged with the story of this medieval saint; Patron of Bergen, Norway and the Norwegian west coast)

Galicnik Svadba -- Galicnik, Macedonia (wedding festival, when one lucky couple gets to be married in a traditional "Galichka" style wedding, through tomorrow)

Harrison Festival of the Arts -- Harrison Hot Springs, BC, Canada (a celebration of the world of music, dance, theater, and visual arts; through the 16th)

Math 2.0 Day -- celebrating the intermingling of math with technology 

Nagoya Sumo Tournament -- Nagoya, Japan (one of the 6 major tournaments; through the 22nd)

National Milk Chocolate with Almonds Day

Old Crafts Day -- it's listed in a few places, but i can't find the history; Old time crafts, or old crafts you've had sitting around the house and never gotten done? If you have the latter, do them or toss them!

Olive Branch Petition Day -- the final attempt, by the 13 Colonies, to avoid a complete break with England in 1775

Pori Jazz Festival -- Pori, Finland (a major international music event with world class performances; through the 16th)

SCUD Day (Savor the Comic, Unplug the Drama) -- a good habit, on every day

Soapy Smith Wake -- held simultaneously in 5 locations from this evening through noon tomorrow, local time: 1.) Eagles Hall, Skagway, AK, US; 2.) Magic Castle, Hollywood, CA, US; 3.) The Tivoli Club (a reproduction of Soapy's Saloon in Denver, Colorado, US), Whitehorse Ranch movie lot, Landers, California, US; 4.) The Wizard's Club, Chicago, IL, US; 5.) The Lumber Baron Inn, Denver, CO, US (held by Soapy Smith Preservation Trust and Friends of Bad Man Soapy Smith, preserving the memory of one of the Wild West and Alaskan Gold Rush's most notorious con men, killed in a gunfight this day in 1898)*

Sodbuster Days -- Fort Ransom, ND, US (learn how rural North Dakotans lived in the early 1920s; through tomorrow)

Sts. Aquila and Prisca's Day

St. Kilian's Day (Patron of people with gout or rheumatism, whitewashers; Bavaria, Germany; Paderborn, Germany; Tuosist, Ireland; Wurzburg,Germany)

Stone House Day -- Hurley, NY, US (tour of several 250+ year old stone houses within 150-yards of each other)

Stroud International Brick and Rolling Pin Throwing Contest -- held simultaneously in the 4 cities called Stroud: Gloucestershire, England; Oklahoma, US; Ontario, Canada; and New South Wales, Australia (results are compiled internationally following the event)

Thangka Unveiling at Tashihungpo -- Tibet (Buddha Exhibition Festival, in which the large Thangka with the image of Buddha on it is unfolded in public) related observance

    Zamling Chisang -- Universal Prayer Day (to the Tibetan Deities, especially Samye Dolde)

Video Games Day -- do they really need a day?

Vitulatio -- Ancient Roman Calendar (when Vitula was given the first fruits of the earth)

White Cloud's Birthday and Tatanka (Bison) Festival -- National Buffalo Museum, Jamestown, ND, US (annual 3 day celebration of bison and their role in American history, near the birthday of White Cloud, the true albino bison born in 1996)

Ziegfeld Follies Day -- his first "Follies of 1907" opened on this day

*If you cannot make it to the Soapy Smith Wake in one of these locations, please at 9:15pm, your local time, have a glass of something grown-up and offer the traditional toast: "Relatives and friends, raise your glass.  Here's to Soapy's Ghost!"

Anniversary Today:

Prince Richard of Gloucester marries Birgitte Eva van Deurs, 1972

Birthdays Today

Jaden Smith, 1998

Sophia Bush, 1982

Milo Ventimiglia, 1977

Kathleen Robertson, 1973

Beck Hansen, 1970

Billy Crudup, 1968

Toby Keith, 1961

Kevin Bacon, 1958

Christopher G. Moore, 1952

Marianne Williamson, 1952

Anjelica Huston, 1951

Wolfgang Puck, 1949

Kim Darby, 1948

Raffi, 1948

Cynthia Gregory, 1946

Jeffrey Tambor, 1944

Steve Lawrence, 1935

Marty Feldman, 1933

Roone Arledge, 1931

Billy Eckstine, 1914

Nelson Rockefeller, 1908

Louis Thomas Jordan, 1908

Philip Cortelyou Johnson, 1906

Alfred Binet, 1857

John D. Rockefeller, 1839

Ferdinand von Zeppelin, 1838

Etienne De Silhouette, 1709

Today in History

Vasco da Gama sets sail on first direct European voyage to India, 1497

Charles II of England grants John Clarke a Royal Charter to Rhode Island, 1663

Battle of Restigouche – British defeat French forces in last naval battle in New France, 1760

The Olive Branch Petition is drafted by the Second Continental Congress as the Congress' last attempt to get King George III of Great Britain to reason with them, 1775

The Declaration of Independence has its first public reading, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the Liberty Bell is rung, 1776

Chippewas turn over huge tract of land in Ontario to the United Kingdom, 1822

Commodore Perry sails into Tokyo Bay, 1853

The initial force of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police begin their March West, 1874

The first issue of the Wall Street Journal is published, 1889

St. John's, Newfoundland is devastated in the Great Fire of 1892

The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level of the Great Depression, bottoming out at 41.22, 1932

The United States Air Force accepts its first female recruits into a program called Women in the Air Force (WAF), 1948

Richard Nixon delivers a special congressional message enunciating Native American Self-Determination as official US Indian policy, leading to the Indian Self-Determination Act, 1970

The Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe creates the office of High Commissioner on National Minorities, 1992

NATO invites the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland to join the alliance, membership to become effective in two years, 1997

The Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched in the final mission of the U.S. Space Shuttle program, 2011

Pope Francis condemns the 'global indifference' to the plight of immigrants who have drowned trying to reach Europe, 2013

The mission of the NASA Curiosity Mars rover begins, 2013