Strays and Church and Early Sunsets, a Random Tuesday Post

And now, bits and bobs of random news from around here, linking up with Stacy's Random Thoughts at Stacy Uncorked.  

Little Girl has done it again.

Here's Zippy!

Her roommates found this one wandering their apartment complex, and it's very hard to get him to hold still for a picture.  He has fleas and ear mites and coccidia and probably everything else under the sun, but he's so friendly, always wanting to be held and petted.  We've put in the application at the shelter and offered to foster, so i'm sure he will be properly vetted and on his way to a good home soon.

This past Sunday we had a special evening service of remembrance for those who have lost unborn or infant children.  It was very moving and beautiful and sad and sweet.  All of us who have lost a baby were allowed to go light a candle 

Candles ready to be lit.

and write our child's name.  Many who had miscarried simply wrote "Baby" instead of a first name.  One family had three of those, another had four.  The names were read aloud during prayer.

The scripture was from Matthew 10, and the local Threads of Love made ornaments for us to keep.

From Matthew 18:10

In all, it was very healing.  Many years ago our church did this service once a year, but had gotten out of the habit.  Now that it has been done again, our pastor wants to keep it going, and i am very glad.

We are in the countdown to holidays, and i am starting my Christmas cards now.  If i don't start them early and get at least two a day done, i end up trying to cram it all into the last few days, and it becomes a stress instead of a blessing.  Better to do it early, i have finally learned.

Brother-in-Law, The Mouth, came by last night and was shocked that it got dark so early.  Winter is coming! i intoned solemnly, but it went totally past him.  This turning the clocks really does make a difference, though, which is why i wish we could pick one way and stick to it.

Today is the church ladies' meeting, i am bringing a salty snack for the meeting and a huge dark chocolate bar as a care item for our teacher encouragement gift for a teacher at the local public school we have "adopted".  Our discussion book is The Reason for G-d, Belief in an Age of Skepticism by Timothy Keller, i highly recommend it.  He has a lot to say about reexamining doubt and belief in different ways.

That's about it for this week's random, hope everyone has a blessed and beautiful Tuesday!

Today is:

Commemoration Day -- Tunisia

Day of Accord and Reconciliation -- Russia (formerly Great October Socialist Revolution Day, with the date determined by the Gregorian Calendar)

Feast of Blessed John Duns Scotus (the Subtle Doctor, known for merging the views from many philosophies)

    Dunce Day -- from the word Dunse, a name for the followers of the philosophy of John Duns Scotus

Feast of Stolen Fire -- find it listed on several sites, but none have any background; maybe celebrate that Prometheus stole fire for us?

International Tongue Twister Day -- internet generated

Magal de Touba -- Touba, Senegal (Muslim pilgrimage to honor the memory of Sheikh Amadou Bamba; through tomorrow)

Melbourne Cup Day -- Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne, Australia (154th running)

National Bittersweet Chocolate with Almonds Day

National Notary Public Day -- US 

National Revolution and Solidarity Day -- Bangladesh

October Revolution Day -- Belarus; Kyrgyzstan; Transdniestria

Stay Away from Anyone named Honest John Day -- internet generated; no comment

St. Florentius' Day (Patron against gall stones, ruptures)

St. Willibrord's Day (Patron of epileptics; Luxembourg; Netherlands; Utrecht, Netherlands; against convulsions, epilepsy)

Wish Granting Championships -- Fairy Calendar (Fairies)

Anniversary Today:

The Old Stoughton Musical Society, the oldest choral society in the US, is founded, 1786

Birthdays Today:

Jeremy London, 1972

Keith Lockhart, 1959

Joni Mitchell, 1943

Johnny Rivers, 1942

Barry Newman, 1938

Joan Sutherland, 1926

Al Hirt, 1922

Billy Graham, 1918

Albert Camus, 1913

Dean Jagger, 1903

Leon Trotsky, 1879

Madame Marie Curie, 1867

Captain James Cook, 1728

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"America Hurrah"(van Itallie play), 1966

"Face the Nation"(TV), 1954

"Buck Rogers in the 25th Century"(Radio),1932

The Republican Elephant, as drawn by T. Nast in Harper's Weekly, 1874

"The Conscious Lovers"(Steele play), 1722

The Oxford Gazette(first edition), 1665 (Now The London Gazette)

Today in History:

The oldest meteorite with a known date of impact, the Ensisheim Meteorite, strikes around noon in a wheat field near the village of Ensisheim, Alsace, France, 1492

Pierre Gassendi observes the transit of Mercury as predicted by Kepler, 1631

Anne Hutchinson is banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony as a heretic, 1637

The first edition of the "London Gazette", the oldest surviving journal, is published, 1665

Lewis and Clark first sight the Pacific Ocean, 1805

The first Thomas Nast cartoon depicting the Republican Party Elephant is published, 1874

Edward Bouchet becomes the first black to receive a PhD from a US college (Yale), 1876

Women in the U.S. state of Colorado are granted the right to vote, 1893

The first air freight shipment is undertaken by the Wright brothers and department store owner Max Moorehouse (from Dayton, Ohio to Columbus, Ohio), 1910

Mao Tse Tung proclaims the "Chinese People's Republic", 1931

Fiorello H. La Guardia is elected the 99th mayor of New York City, 1933

Carl B. Stokes is elected as Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, becoming the first African American mayor of a major American city, 1967

Douglas Wilder wins the governor's seat in Virginia, becoming the first elected African American governor in the United States, 1989

Mary Robinson becomes the first woman to be elected President of the Republic of Ireland, 1990

NASA launches the Mars Global Surveyor, 1996

U.S. voters in the state of Massachusetts approve a referendum legalizing the use of medical marijuana; Colorado and Washington approve the legalization of recreational use of the drug, 2012

Sierra Leone, with a total death toll of 4,000, is declared free of Ebola by the World Health Organization, 2015