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Linking up with Wordless Wednesday.
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Words for Wednesday is a moveable feast of word or picture or music prompts that encourages us to write stories, poems, or whatever strikes our fancy. This month, the prompts are being posted by River at Drifting Through Life.
1. petrichor
2. sunlit
3. squinted
4. comfortable
5. disrupted
6. phones
and/or:
1. personal space
2. copper
3. granite
4. quarry
5. squat
6. parched
“Ah, by the scent of PETRICHOR I assume that we have had some precipitation,” the professor said as he stepped out of the hole in the mountain in which the archaeological expedition was digging.
One of the local assistants SQUINTED up at the professor from his position, a SQUAT over one of the many trays of dirt through which they sifted looking for treasure. At least, the assistants were supposed to be looking for what the professor and his staff considered treasure, evidence of how people lived here when it was an active GRANITE QUARRY centuries before.
The assistants were more interested in earning money, COPPER coin of the realm, and did not much care what they found so long as they were rewarded for finding it. “You sure talk fancy, professor,” he said. “But yeah, it rained and it was about time, we are PARCHED.”
At the sound of an approaching vehicle that bounced up and down as much as it made progress forward, both turned and watched as Helzer, the graduate assistant and lowest man on the academic totem pole out here, got out of what looked like the least COMFORTABLE truck on the planet and walked over.
“Did you get through to the university?” the professor asked.
“No,” Helzer said. “PHONES are not working in town right now. The area has been DISRUPTED by violence, and they think the lines are cut.”
The professor came closer, preferring to invade a graduate assistant’s PERSONAL SPACE than to be overheard by the locals. “Should we try to evacuate quietly? Are we in danger?”
Helzer looked at the SUNLIT ridge above them, took a deep breath, and chose not to mince his words.
“Sir, from what I saw in town, it’s already too late.”
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Today is:
Car Keys and Small Change Day -- ???
Dia de Andalucia -- Andalucia, Spain
DNA Day -- day in 1953 when Watson and Crick determined the double helix structure of DNA
Februalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (purification of Rome performed by citizens making sacrifices to the dead)
Floral Design Day -- a day to acknowledge this art form, sponsored by Rittners Floral School
Inconvenience Yourself™ Day -- enrich your life by looking for ways to make a positive impact on the world, even if it inconveniences you
Kalevala Day -- Finland (Finnish Culture Day)
Musikahan sa Tagum Festival -- Tagum City, Phillipines (This "Marching Showband Capital of the Philippines" stages the areas signature festival which celebrates the Filipino excellence in musical composition, performance, and production, and giving young people more opportunities to excel in learning the music industry and Filipino musical culture; through Mar. 5)
National Chocolate Souffle' Day
National Science Day -- India
National Tooth Fairy Day - and/or August 22, depending on whom you ask
Nylon Day -- the first aliphatic polyamides were produced on this day in 1935
Peace Memorial Day -- Taiwan
Public Sleeping Day -- this one even has a wikiHow page
Purim -- Judaism (begins at sundown)
Rare Disease Day -- International
Read Me Day -- local and national celebrities, with community volunteers, are encouraged to visit classrooms this week and read to children; the original idea included wearing t-shirts with writing on them and encourage the children to read the shirts, thus "read me"
St. Hedwig of Poland's Day (Patron of queens)
St. Romanus' Day (Patron of the mentally ill; against drowning, insanity)
Teacher's Day -- Algeria; Bahrain; Egypt; Jordan; Libya; Morocco; Oman; Saudi Arabia; Tunisia; United Arab Emirates; Yemen
Teal Ribbon Day -- Australia (wear a teal ribbon, raise awareness of ovarian cancer)
Anniversaries Today:
University of Pittsburgh is chartered, 1787
Birthdays Today (followed by Feb. 29 Birthdays)
Ali Larter, 1976
Robert Sean Leonard, 1969
John Tuturro, 1957
Gilbert Gottfried, 1955
Bernadette, Peters, 1948
Charles Aaron "Bubba" Smith, 1945
Brian Jones, 1942
Mario Andretti, 1940
Tommy Tune, 1939
Gavin MacLeod, 1930
Frank Gehry, 1929
Svetiana Allilueva, 1926
Charles Durning, 1923
Zero Mostel, 1915
Earl Scheib, 1907
Milton Caniff, 1907
Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, 1906
Vincente Minnelli, 1903
Linus Pauling, 1901
Ben Heckt, 1894
Charles Blondin, 1824
John Tenniel, 1820
Mary Lyon, 1797
Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, 1533
Antonio Sabato, Jr., 1972
Tony Robbins, 1960
Gretchen Christopher, 1940
Jack Lousma, 1936
Dinah Shore, 1916
Jimmy Dorsey, 1904
William Wellman, 1896
Herman Hollerith, 1860
Debuting/Premiering Today:
"On Golden Pond"(Play), 1979
"La Reine de Saba"(Opera), 1862
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling(Publication date), 1749
Today in History:
Coronation ceremony of Liu Bang as Emperor Gaozu of Han takes place, initiating four centuries of the Han Dynasty's rule over China, BC202
The first edition of Henry Fieldings' "Tom Jones" is published, 1749
John Wesley charters the Methodist Church, 1784
The first commercial railroad in US, Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) is chartered, 1827
Robert Nelson, leader of the Patriotes, proclaims the independence of Lower Canada (today Québec), 1838
Regular steamboat service from the west to the east coast of the United States begins with the arrival of the SS California in San Francisco Bay, 4 months 22 days after leaving New York Harbor, 1849
The Bulgarian Exarchate is established by decree of Sultan Abd-ul-Aziz of the Ottoman Empire, 1870
The American Telephone and Telegraph Company is incorporated in New York State as the subsidiary of American Bell Telephone, 1885
The USS Indiana, the lead ship of her class and the first battleship in the United States Navy comparable to foreign battleships of the time, is launched, 1893
Queen Ranavalona III, the last monarch of Madagascar, is deposed by a French military force, 1897
Egypt regains independence from Britain, but British troops remain, 1922
DuPont scientist Wallace Carothers invents Nylon, 1935
Basketball is televised for the first time, 1940
In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down with the loss of 30,000 civilian lives, 1947
James D. Watson and Francis Crick announce to friends that they have determined the chemical structure of DNA; the formal announcement takes place on April 25 following publication in April Nature (pub. April 2), 1953
The first-ever color television sets using the NTSC standard are offered for sale to the general public, 1954
The United States and People's Republic of China sign the Shanghai Communiqué, 1972
Andalusia approves its statute of autonomy through a referendum, 1980
GRB 970228, a highly luminous flash of gamma rays, strikes the Earth for 80 seconds, providing early evidence that gamma-ray bursts occur well beyond the Milky Way, 1997
First flight of RQ-4 Global Hawk, the first unmanned aerial vehicle certified to file its own flight plans and fly regularly in U.S. civilian airspace, 1998
Over 1 million Taiwanese participating in the 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally form a 500-kilometre (300-mile) long human chain to commemorate the 228 Incident in 1947, 2004
Jupiter flyby of the New Horizons Pluto-observer spacecraft, 2007
Egypt annunces the discovery of a granite head from a statue of King Tut's grandfather, Amenhotep III, 2010
Historic Events for February 29:
The Romans create the first Leap Year by adding a day to their calendar, BC46
The Scottish Parliament makes it illegal for a man to refuse to marry a woman who proposes on Leap Day, the only day women could propose; his penalty for refusing would be to give her a kiss, some gold, and a pair of gloves (to hide the fact that she didn't have a wedding ring), 1288
Christopher Columbus uses his knowledge of a lunar eclipse that night to convince Native Americans to provide him with supplies, 1504
February 29 is followed by February 30 in Sweden, in a move to abolish the Swedish calendar for a return to the Old style, 1712
The Jay Treaty between the United States and Great Britain comes into force, facilitating ten years of peaceful trade between the two nations, 1796
St. Petersburg, Florida, is incorporated, 1892
In South Carolina, the minimum working age for factory, mill, and mine workers is raised from twelve to fourteen years old, 1916
Baby Snooks, played by Fanny Brice, debuts on the radio program The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air, 1936
For her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind, Hattie McDaniel becomes the first African American to win an Academy Award, 1940
In a ceremony held in Berkeley, California, because of the war, physicist Ernest Lawrence receives the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics from Sweden's Consul General in San Francisco, 1940
An earthquake in Morocco kills over 3,000 people and nearly destroys Agadir in the southern part of the country, 1960
The Family Circus comic strip debuts, 1960
In Sydney, Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser sets a new world record in the 100-meter freestyle swimming competition (58.9 seconds), 1964
Hank Aaron becomes the first player in the history of Major League Baseball to sign a $200,000 contract, 1972
Gordie Howe of the then Hartford Whalers makes NHL history as he scores his 800th goal, 1980
Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau announces he will retire as soon as the Liberals can elect another leader, 1984
South African archbishop Desmond Tutu is arrested along with 100 clergymen during a five-day anti-apartheid demonstration in Cape Town, 1988
Jean-Bertrand Aristide is removed as President of Haiti following a coup, 2004
