A to Z: Peace (Wordless Wednesday) and Play While You Can (Words for Wednesday)

(Because some people like Blogger and some like WordPress, i am putting the same content at both.  If you would prefer to read this on the other site, it is linked here.)

***********************************

Linking up with Wordless Wednesday.

***********************************

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 Elephant's Child.   

This week's prompts are:

1. tick
2. fresh
3. droplet
4. magnificent
5. juice
6. appeal

And/or

1. clue
2. cancel
3. cheap
4. purple 
5. whales
6. love

“Gracious, child!” her grandmother exclaimed.  “You splash in your bath worse than the WHALES in the ocean!”

Bailey looked at her Nonnie and grinned as only a six-year-old with no front teeth can.  She knew the LOVE behind the mock scolding, that her grandmother really didn’t care that almost every surface of the bathroom had a sheen of DROPLETS on it.  

Besides, if there was one thing Bailey enjoyed almost as much as splashing in the tub, it was wiping down the surfaces with the towel after.  Truth be told, she loved wiping down everything except herself, and would run around wiping things until her towel was so wet she had to have a FRESH one to dry herself.

This MAGNIFICENT game had been going on for so long it had become their habit, a ritual neither was willing to miss out on.  Like all children, Bailey reveled in the love and nurturing without having a CLUE what it actually cost.

She was not supposed to be here right now, although she had no way of realizing the forces beyond her that had brought her to this point.  Her father’s lost job, then the house taken, the months in a CHEAP apartment while he tried to get their lives back on track, and finally his APPEAL to his mother to take the girl “for a while, so I can work in the oil fields — I can’t take her there with me, it’s no place for a child and I can send money home.”

Nonnie thought about these things as she coaxed her granddaughter into her favorite PURPLE pajamas.  Time for the glass of JUICE before bed, which Bailey “sucked down like a TICK on a hound dog” as Nonnie put it.  Then prayers and tucking in and a story and a kiss, and when Bailey finally fell asleep, Nonnie would finish cleaning up from supper and take her own weary self to bed.

As difficult as it was to care for a grandchild after raising her own kids, Nonnie knew the secret of being grateful for this time that would not last forever.  She would not CANCEL a moment of it, or wish it away.  Her son had sent word, he had a job offer near her, after almost a year away, he was coming home soon.

***********************************

To enjoy more blogs participating in the A to Z Challenge, click here.

***********************************

Today is:

Adult Autism Awarenes Day -- sponsored by aheadd.org 

Army Day -- Iran (Rouz-e-Artesh)

Ebertfest/Roger Ebert's Film Festival -- Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL (in the best show biz tradition, the show will go on; through Sunday)

Feast of Pak Tai -- Macau (Pak Tai who conquered the Demon King, celebrated the 3rd day of the 3rd lunar month)

Goddess Month of Maia begins

Independence Day -- Zimbabwe(1980)

International Amateur Radio Day/World Amateur Radio Day -- celebrating "ham radio" around the world; ARRI 

International Day for Monuments and Sites -- UNESCO

Invention Day -- Japan

Laundromat Day -- the first self-service "washateria" opened on this date in 1934 in Fort Worth, TX, US

Look-Alike Day -- internet generated, a day to try to look like someone you admire; some sites list it on the 20th

National Animal Cracker Day

National CPA's Goof Off Day -- US, the day after tax day because they deserve it!

National Stress Awareness Day -- sponsored by the Health Resource Network (always on the first workday after paying taxes)

Newspaper Columnists' Day -- The National Society of Newspaper Columnists in honor of the anniversary of the death of Ernie Pyle    

Pet Owners Independence Day -- the day to let your pet do the work and chores while you lie around and enjoy having only the responsibilies of your pet; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Shangsi Festival -- China (ancient Double Third festival, on the 3rd day of the 3rd lunar month)

Sleep Apnea Awareness Day -- US    

Smile Big and Say Hi for No Particular Reason Day -- if some site gave the reason for this, it would defeat the purpose

St. Agapitus Day (Patron of Palestrina, Italy; against colic)

St. Agia's Day (Patron against lawsuits)

"Third World" Day -- the phrase was first used on this date in 1955

Ushibuka Haiya Matsuri -- Furukawa, Japan (one of the liveliest dance festivals, with elements of dance styles from around the country; through the 20th)

Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day -- US (the day after you pay your taxes, bring the comforts of home to the office; sponsored by PajamaGram) 

Anniversaries Today:

The University of Alabama is founded, 1831

Birthdays Today:

America Ferrara, 1984

Cheryl Ann Haworth, 1983

Melissa Joan Hart, 1976

Eli Roth, 1972

David Tennant, 1971

Maria Bello, 1967

Conan O'Brien, 1963

Eric McCormack, 1963

Jane Leeves, 1961

Eric Roberts, 1956

John James, 1956

John Pankow, 1954

Rick Moranis, 1954

Dorothy Lyman, 1947

James Woods, 1947

Hayley Mills, 1946

Robert Hooks, 1937

Barbara Hale, 1921

Leopold Stokowski, 1882

Samuel Earl "Wahoo Sam" Crawford, 1880

Clarence Darrow, 1857

Lucrezia Borgia, 1480

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Beauty and the Beast"(Musical), 1994

"Real People"(TV), 1979

"Call Me Mister"(Musical), 1946

Today in History:

Boleslaw Chrobry is crowned the first king of Poland, 1025

The cornerstone of the current St. Peter's Basilica is laid, 1506

The Real Academia de la Historia (Royal Academy of History) is founded in Madrid, 1738

The British advancement by sea begins; Paul Revere and William Dawes, upon seeing two lanterns in the church steeple, set out to warn that "The British are coming!" 1775

Fighting ceases in the American Revolutionary War, eight years to the day after it began, 1783

Billy the Kid escapes from the Lincoln County jail in Mesilla, New Mexico, 1881

The St. Andrew's Ambulance Association is granted a Royal Charter by Queen Victoria, 1899

Denmark becomes the first country to formally adopt fingerprinting to identify criminals, 1902

Quetzaltenango, second largest city of Guatemala, is destroyed by an earthquake, 1902

The Great San Francisco Earthquake, 1906

The Los Angeles Times story on the Azusa Street Revival launches Pentecostalism as a worldwide movement, 1906

The RMS Carpathia brings the Titanic survivors to NYC, 1912

"The House that Ruth Built," Yankee Stadium, opens, 1923

Simon and Schuster publishes the first crossword puzzle book, 1924

The first "washateria" (laundromat) opens, in Ft. Worth, Texas, 1934

The League of Nations is formally dissolved, 1949

29 nations meet at Bandung, Indonesia, for the first Asian-African Conference., 1955

A United States federal court rules that poet Ezra Pound is to be released from an insane asylum, 1958

The Republic of Zimbabwe is officially established with the swearing in of Canaan Banana as its first President, 1980

The Pawtucket Red Sox and Rochester Red Wings, from the Triple-A International League, begin the longest game in professional baseball history, 33 innings, 1981

The Supreme Court of the United States upholds the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in a 5-4 decision, 2007

Kepler-62e and Kepler-62f, two planets resembling planet Earth are discovered revolving around the star Kepler-62 in the habitable zone, an area around the stars whose atmospheric pressure can suport liquid water at the surface, 2013