Oh, Mama! (Ten Things of Thankful)

(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.) 

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It’s time to do a Saturday happy dance!  Okay, so i do have two left feet.  At least i can clap to the music and sway a little.  Saturday is thankfulness day, and that’s worth a least a few minutes of a second line. 

Second Line Dancing:

We have a happy dance/second line going for Mother’s Day, celebrating mothering and nurturing and just love in general!

Mother’s Day in itself is a reason to be thankful.  It gives our family yet another excuse (as if we really need one) to get together and have fun.

The restaurant where we made reservations for Mother’s Day messed it up twice, so i am grateful Sweetie called and made certain and finally got a confirmation number.

Grandma loves one perfume and one only, and i managed to get her a bottle.

My children and daughter-in-law make me happy.

Mothering kittens makes me happy, especially when they grow up as fat and sassy and healthy as these three.

We love our tunnel tube!

The cats that live here full time are wonderful and all but one of them i bottle raised or we got as small kittens.

The grand-dogs.  Everyone should have grand-dogs to spoil and then send home!

Coda, the faithful guard dog.

The one we call T-Bone, with a former foster kitten.

Pepe hiding, embarassed by his sweater.

Memories of the little hand-made gifts i used to get for Mother’s Day warm my heart.

Being able to continue to be part of the lives of children through the church nursery and rEcess is a special blessing.

It is so special that Red-headed Alec considers me his foster mother and has named me an honorary grandmother to Baby Lee, i am very thankful to have them in my life (even if i work and he works and i don’t get to see them as much as i would like).

He’s a cutie!

Most of all, i am grateful to and for Grandma, my children’s grandmother and my mother.

Happy Mother’s Day to everyone who is a mother, nurturer or caregiver, whether your children are people or pets.  Let’s all join in on being thankful for the love that binds us together.

Josie Two-Shoes is the wonderful hostess of the Ten Things of Thankful.  The more who join in, the more happiness as we rejoice with each other in thankful things.  Make a list — it does not have to be ten, no one is picky — and come celebrate!

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

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Today is:

Albany Tulip Festival -- Albany, NY, US (celebrate spring and Albany's Dutch heritage; through tomorrow)

Armed Forces/Amateur Radio Crossband Test Day -- US (today and tomorrow, ham operators and the US military team up to test ham operators ability and expertise in contacting appropriate military radio stations in an emergency)   

Birth Mother's Day -- the day before Mother's Day, for all the women who have made an adoption plan for their babies

Cornelia de Lange Syndrome Awareness Day -- shedding light on this rare genetic condition   

Day of Purification of All Things -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Fairy Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Royal Humans Disbanded -- Fairy Calendar (and don't ask how we blew it)

Fibromyalgia Awareness Day    

Hug Your Cat Day -- another date given on many sites, and here's some advice about how to do it safely  

International CFS/ME Awareness Day -- bringing awareness about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis 

International Nurses Day -- birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale

Jamestown Day -- Jamestown, Williamsburg, VA, US (special demonstrations and programs for the anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, America's first permanent English colony)

Letter Carriers "Stamp Out Hunger" Food Drive -- US (place non-perishable food items by your mail box, and help stamp out hunger in your area)

Limerick Day -- birth anniversary of Edward Lear

Martin Z. Mollusk Day -- Ocean City, NJ (if the hermit crab sees his shadow, summer comes a week early)

National Babysitter's Day -- US, giving recognition to the babysitters who make your date nights possible

National Bake Sale Day -- US (recognizing the tradition of raising money and expanding waistlines through the old fashioned bake sale)

National Miniature Golf Day -- this one should be in every country, mini golf is too much fun to hog!

National Nutty Fudge Day

National Train Day -- US (it used to be a day to explore why trains matter, with events sponsored by Amtrak, but budget cuts mean you have to celebrate this one on your own now)

Odometer Day -- actually first called a "roadometer", it measured wagon wheel revolutions, as 360 of them made a mile, and was invented and first used this day by William Clayton, Orson Pratt, and Appleton Milo Harmon, Mormon pioneers traveling to Utah in 1847

O. Henry Pun-Off World Championships -- Austin, TX, US (presented by The P.U.N.Y. [Punsters United Nearly Yearly]

Olde May Day (Julian Calendar)

Pilgrimage to Fatima -- Fatima, Portugal (procession, mass, and etc. to commemorate the first appearance of the Virgin of the Rosary to the three shepherd children on this day in 1917)

Rotuma Day -- Rotuma, Fiji

Saint Andrew, the First Called Day -- Georgia

Snellman Day/Day of Finnish Identity -- Finland

Stay Up All Night Night -- as declared by George Mahood of Northampton, England, everyone needs to relive the excitement of staying up late like you always wanted to as a kid at least once a year

St. Diomma of Kildimo's Day (Patron of Kildimo, County Limerick, Ireland)

St. Francis Patrizi's Day (Patron of reconciliations)

St. Pancras' Day (2nd Ice Saint; Patron of children, oaths, treaties; Albano, Italy; Iserlohn, Germany; Pontevico, Italy; Sestino, Italy; against cramps, false witness, headaches, and perjury)

Sun Awareness Day -- like Melanoma Monday, a few days back, a day to remember the damage the sun can do to skin and stock up on sunscreen, if you haven't already

Windmill Day -- Netherlands (on the second Saturday of May each year, more than 600 windmills, including many that are now national monuments, are open to the public)

World Belly Dance`Day --  to celebrate the wonderful art of belly dance   

World Fair Trade Day -- sponsored by the World Fair Trade Organization; this year's theme is "Live Fair, one product at a time."    

World Migratory Bird Day -- original date second Saturday in May, but the WMBD organization encourages you to celebrate when birds are migrating in your area; this year's theme is "Unifying our Voices for Bird Conservation"; one celebration that is on this date:

    International Migratory Bird Celebration -- Chincoteague, VA, US (walks, talks, tours, art, and children's activities, all outdoors with the birds)

Yom Yerushalayim -- Israel (Jerusalem Day; began sunset yesterday, ends sunset today)

Anniversaries Today:

Mick Jagger marries Bianca De Macias, 1971

Eddie Fisher marries Elizabeth Taylor, 1959 

Coronation of George VI of England, 1937

Maria Theresa of Austria is crowned Queen of Bohemia, 1743

National University of San Marcos is founded in Lima, Peru (oldest in the Americas), 1551

Jagiellonian University is fouded in Krakow, Poland (oldest in Poland), 1364

Richard I (Lionheart) of England marries Berengaria of Navarre, 1191

Birthdays Today:

Emily VanCamp, 1986

Cheryl Burke, 1984

Jason Biggs, 1978

MacKenzie Astin, 1973

Christian Campbell, 1972

Jamie Luner, 1971

Kim Fields, 1969

Tony Hawk, 1968

Stephen Baldwin, 1966

Emilio Estevez, 1962

Ving Rhames, 1961

Kim Greist, 1958

Bruce Boxleitner, 1951

Gabriel Byrne, 1950

Lindsay Crouse, 1948

Steve Winwood, 1948

Millie Perkins, 1938

George Carlin, 1937

Tom Snyder, 1936

Frank Stella, 1936

Burt Bacharach, 1929

Yogi Berra, 1925

Mary Kay Ash, 1918

Katharine Hepburn, 1907

Florence Nightingale, 1820

Edward Lear, 1812

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Lena Horne: The Lady And Her Music"(Musical revue), 1981

"Mary Had a Little Lamb"(Paul McCartney & Wings single release), 1972

"The Poisoned Kiss, or The Empress and the Necromancer"(Opera), 1936

The Symphony No. 1 in F minor(Shostakovich Op. 10), 1926

"L'elisir d'amore / The Elixir of Love"(Opera), 1832

Today in History:

English Barons serve an ultimatum on King John which eventually leads to the Magna Carta, 1215

Antipope  Nicholas V, a claimant to the papacy, is consecrated in Rome, 1328

Rao Jodha, a Rajput chief  of to the Rathore clan, founds Jodhpur, India, 1459

Philip Lenzi places the first ice cream advertisement, in the NY Gazette, 1777

Society of St Tammany is formed by Revolutionary War soldiers; it later becomes an infamous group of NYC political bosses, 1789

The Manitoba Act is given the Royal Assent, paving the way for Manitoba to become a province of Canada on July 15, 1870

US District Court Judge J. Dundy rules, in Standing Bear vs. George Crook, that Native Americans are persons within the meaning of the laws of the United States, 1879

Tunisia  becomes a French protectorate, 1881

In the North-West Rebellion, the four-day Battle of Batoche, pitting rebel Métis against the Canadian  government, comes to an end with a decisive rebel defeat, 1885

Ten weeks after his abduction, the infant son of Charles Lindbergh is found dead in Hopewell, New Jersey, 1932

Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world's first working programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin, 1941

A formal North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement is signed between the United States and Canada, 1958

West Germany and Israel establish diplomatic relations, 1965

The U.S. merchant ship Mayaguez seized by Cambodian forces in international waters, 1975

South Africa prisoner Nelson Mandela sees his wife for 1st time in 22 years, 1984

Amy Eilberg is ordained in New York as 1st woman Conservative rabbi, 1985

Fred Markham of the US becomes the first person to pedal a bike at 65mph unaided by wind, 1986

Ingrid Baeyens becomes the first Belgian woman to ascend Mount Everest, 1992

Russia and chechnya sign a peace agreement after 400 years of conflict, 1997

The Texas, US, legislature is brought to a standstill when 59 Democratic lawmakers go into hiding in a dispute with Republicans over redistricting, 2003

An 8.0 earthquake in southwest China kills more than 69,000 people, 2008

Queen Elizabeth II becomes the second-longest-reigning monarch in British history, 2011 

Pope Francis canonizes a record 813 saints, the Martyrs of Otranto who were beheaded by Ottoman soldiers for refusing to convert to Islam, 2013