Happy 81st Birthday, Grandpa! (Wordless Wednesday) and Words for Wednesday

Linking up with Wordless Wednesday.

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This month, Elephant's Child is hosting Words for Wednesday, in which two groups of 6 words are provided, and you are challenged to write a story for each set, or one story incorporating them all.  

This is part of a serial story, and if you click on the "Alice" page above, you can read the previous segments.

The list of this week's prompt words and my story follows:

1. river
2. dashing
3. free
4. shrug
5. interest
6. naive

And/or

1. light
2. wax
3. winter
4. bucket
5. disillusioned
6. super

Alice had become DISILLUSIONED with the two patent attorneys she had tried so far.  They treated her as if she were NAIVE, like they could not believe she had been part of the development team of the chemicals she wanted to patent.  One had shown a peculiar INTEREST in her and she'd felt like she was dealing with a sleazy salesman instead of an attorney.

Treating herself to a walk by the almost frozen RIVER to clear her mind, she decided she would try to fill out the patent paperwork herself.  Alice didn't have any silly idea that she would be DASHING it off in an afternoon, and she knew she could always keep looking for another attorney for advice if she ran into too much trouble.  

Now that she'd made the decision to try, she felt free of a weight she had not even realized she had.  On the way toward the door she picked up the BUCKET by the wood pile, using her FREE hand to fill it with a few pieces and carry them in.

In the waning LIGHT of the WINTER evening, she stopped to SHRUG off her coat and drop the wood by the fireplace.  She lit a scented WAX candle and turned on her computer.  It came up, then the lights flickered and went off and her computer shut down.

"SUPER, just what I need" she thought to herself, and reached for her cell phone to call the electric company again.

Today is:

Dispute-Settling Assizes -- Fairy Calendar (no, they won't tell us what kind of disputes)

Dita e Alfabetit -- Albania and Ethnic Albanians (Day of the Albanian Alphabet)

Go for a Ride Day -- internet generated; during the crazy holiday season, go out for a relaxing sleigh ride or something

Independence Day -- Lebanon(1943)

National Cashew Day -- some sites have this on the 23rd, i celebrate both as i love cashews

National Family Caregivers' Day -- US (if you are a caregiver who needs support, you can get it here or here)

National Stop the Violence Day -- a call by US radio and TV stations for a cease fire on American streets, on the anniversary of John Kennedy's assassination; observed with white ribbons and driving with headlights on during the day

Phonograph Day -- Edison publicly  demonstrated his new music playing device on this day in 1877

Repentance Day -- Saxony, Germany (Day of Prayer and Repentance [Buss und Bettag])

    Buss und Bettag -- German speaking Lutheran, Reformed, and United Protestants (Day of Repentance and Prayer)

Start Your Own Country Day -- begun at the 1939 World's Fair in New York

St. Cecilia's Day (Patron of composers, luthiers, martyrs, music, musicians, musical instrument makers, poets, singers; Academy of Music, Rome, Italy; Albi, France; Omaha, Nebraska; Valleyfield, Quebec)

Tie One On Day -- an apron!  on US Thanksgiving eve, write a note of encouragement or prayer, tuck it in the pocket of an apron, and wrap the apron around a good home or bakery made loaf of bread, then deliver it to someone who needs a kind gesture

Wonderland of Lights -- Marshall, TX, US (through Dec. 31, includes parades, candlelight home tours, and more)

Ydalir -- Ancient Norse Calendar (Celebration of the wintertime god of skiing and archery, Ullr; date approximate)

Anniversary Today:

The Humane Society of the United States is founded, 1954

Birthdays Today:

Scarlett Johansson, 1984

Scott Robinson, 1979

Boris Becker, 1967

Mariel Hemingway, 1961

Jamie Lee Curtis, 1958

Richard Kind, 1957

Billie Jean King, 1943

Guion S. Bluford, Jr., 1942

Harry Edwards, 1942

Tom Conti, 1941

Terry Gilliam, 1940

Robert Vaughn, 1932

Rodney Dangerfield, 1921

Benjamin Britten, 1913

Hoagie Carmichael, 1899

Wiley Post, 1898

Charles de Gaulle, 1890

John Nance Garner, 1868

George Eliot (Mary A. Evans), 1819

Abigail Adams, 1744

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Cathy"(Comic strip), 1976

"The Beatles/The White Album"(Beatles album release), 1968

"Man of La Mancha"(Musical), 1965

"The Grand Canyon Suite"(Grofe suite for orchestra), 1931

"Bolero"(Ravel orchestral piece), 1928

"La Forza del Destino/The Power of Fate"(Verdi opera), 1862

On the Origin of Species(Publication date), 1859

Today in History:

The first Duke of all Brittany, Nominoe defeats the Frankish king Charles the Bald at the Battle of Ballon near Redon, 845

Spain delegates "New Laws" against slavery in America, 1542

Dutch colonial forces on Taiwan launch a pacification campaign against native villages, resulting in Dutch control of the middle and south of the island, 1635

Off the coast of North Carolina, British pirate Edward Teach (best known as "Blackbeard") is killed in battle with a boarding party led by Lieutenant Robert Maynard, 1718

Peregrine Williamson of Baltimore patents a steel pen, 1809

Canadian journalist and politician William Lyon Mackenzie called for a rebellion against Great Britain, 1837

In Dumbarton, Scotland, the clipper Cutty Sark is launched – one of the last clippers ever to be built, and the only one still surviving to this day, 1869

Victoria Street Cable Tram route begins in Melbourne, Australia, 1886

The Congress of Manastir establishes the Albanian alphabet, 1908

1st snowmobile patent granted to Carl Eliason of Sayner Wisconsin, 1927

The premier performance of Ravel's Boléro takes place in Paris, 1928

Gasoline pump patented that computes quantity & price delivered, 1932

"Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" first heard on Eddie Cantor's show, 1934

The Humane Society of the United States is founded, 1954

US President John F. Kennedy is killed and Texas Governor John B. Connally is seriously wounded by Lee Harvey Oswald, 1963

The United Nations General Assembly grants the Palestine Liberation Organization observer status, 1974

Juan Carlos is declared King of Spain following the death of Francisco Franco, 1975

In Palmdale, California, the first prototype B-2 Spirit stealth bomber is revealed, 1988

Toy Story is released as the first feature-length film created completely using computer-generated imagery, 1995

Angela Merkel becomes the first female Chancellor of Germany, 2005

Germany holds its first piracy trial in 400 years, placing 10 Somalis accused of piracy on trial for alleged attacks on a German ship, 2010

Scientists in New Britain, Papua New Guinea, discover the first orchid known to flower at night, 2011