My Sentiments Exactly (Wordlesss Wednesday) and 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.) 

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Linking up with Wordless Wednesday and Sandee at Comedy Plus.     

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Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and has become 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 provided by Elephant's Child.     

This week's prompts are:

1. transparent
2. solve
3. theory
4. loot
5. take
6. wing

And/or

1. demonstrate
2. graduate
3. justify
4. strain
5. stain
6. blackmail

"Can you think of any ways we could make some money before Christmas?" Joe asked Sam, a TRANSPARENT look of sadness on his face.

"No, I can't think of anything either," Sam said.

The two nine-year-olds sat on WING chairs on Joe's porch, their usually erect and alert bodies drooping in such a way as to DEMONSTRATE to the world at large that not all was right in their smaller worlds at this moment.

As they contemplated the need for buying gifts for the upcoming season, they tried to come up with ways to SOLVE the dilemma of small allowances that already saw the STRAIN of meeting their usual needs and large (at least to them) families for whom it would be a STAIN on their honor to not at least get each member something, no matter how little.

"Maybe we could look for pirate LOOT?" Joe said, but without much enthusiasm.

"Nah, too late.  Even if we could find pirates and dig up their treasures, we'd need more time to get the gold turned to regular money so we could buy stuff.  The store doesn't take gold coins, you know," was Sam's reply.

"Well, it was a theory," Joe noted a bit defensively.

"What's 'theory'?" Sam asked.

"I think it means an idea," Joe said, having heard his oldest brother the high school GRADUATE use the word the week before.  He adored that oldest brother, and would TAKE every opportunity to imitate the young man in every way possible, including using words he didn't quite understand.

Joe continued, "Could we BLACKMAIL someone?"  They had seen a movie which had that as an element at the cinema during the summer, and Joe had been intrigued with the idea ever since.

"Nah, we have to know a secret about somebody who's rich.  The only secret I know is that my sister is putting on make-up at school after mom told her she wasn't supposed to wear it, and she doesn't have any money, either."

With Sam putting the kibosh on his every idea, Joe was feeling more than ever that he had to find something, if only to JUSTIFY the notion that there was something they could do.

Finally Sam said, "Well, there's nothing we can do tonight anyway, and my mom's gonna be calling me for dinner soon.  Maybe tomorrow we can come up with something."

"See ya," said Joe as Sam picked up his bike and headed up the street.  Deciding to go into the house to wait for his own evening meal, a sudden thought came to him and he laughed.  It was so simple, so easy, so obvious.  He was still laughing softly about it when his mom told him to wash up before dinner, still grinning as he went to bed.

He could hardly wait, he knew there was no way Sam would be able to shoot this idea down.

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Today is:

Armed Forces Day -- Bangladesh

Beaujolais Nouveau Release -- France (at midnight, so really most of the celebration is tomorrow, a new wine celebrationmarked with fireworks and festivities)

Bon Om Touk -- Cambodia (a/k/a The Water Festival, it is Cambodia's largest party, always held for two days around the time of the full moon in November)

False Confessions Day -- internet generated, and not for the faint of heart

Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin -- Eastern and Roman Catholic Christian (those following the Gregorian Calendar)

Festival of Madonna della Salute -- Venice, Italy

Furniture Memory Day -- an internet generated test of your memory; see if you remember where you got each piece of furniture you own, how much it cost, and how its most precious scratch came to be; you are also encouraged to dust if you want to

General Framework Agreement Day -- RS, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Geographic Information Systems Day   

Gerard d'Aboville Day -- marking the day, in 1991, he arrived in Ilwaco, WA, US, after departing Japan 4 months earlier in a rowboat!

Gingerbread Day

Mawlid an Nabi -- Islam/Muslim (Prophet's Birthday, began sunset yesterday; celebrated over the next several days, depending on which country)

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

National Stuffing Day -- various dates given on many sites, so if you enjoy stuffing, celebrate them all

No Music Day -- www.nomusicday.com for the explanation

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)

St. Gelasius' Day

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

Ugly Day -- Fairy Calendar

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

World COPD Day -- International (helping people understand Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease; this year's theme is "Never Too Early, Never Too Late")   

World Hello Day -- recognizing the importance of communication in world peace, say hello to people you don't usually greet today   

World Television Day -- UN

Anniversaries Today:

South Carolina becomes the 12 US State, 1789

Birthdays Today:

Tasha Schwikert, 1984

Ken Griffey, Jr., 1969

Troy Aikman, 1966

Bjork, 1965

Nicollette Sheridan, 1963

Cherry Jones, 1956

Cynthia Rhodes, 1956

Lorna Luft, 1952

Goldie Hawn, 1945

Harold Ramis, 1944

Marcy Carsey, 1944

Tweety Bird, 1942

Juliet Mills, 1941

Marlo Thomas, 1938

James DePreist, 1936

Laurence Luckinbill, 1934

Joseph Campanella, 1927

Stan Musial, 1920

Coleman Hawkins, 1904

Rene Magritte, 1898

Hetty Green, 1834

William Beaumont, 1785

Josiah Bartlett, 1729

Voltaire, 1694

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"I'm Gonna Make You Love Me"(Single release), 1968

"A Tale of Two Kitties"(Warner cartoon, debut of Tweety Bird), 1942

"The Relapse, or, Virtue in Danger"(Vanbrugh play), 1696

Today in History:

Judas Maccabaeus, son of Mattathias of the Hasmonean family, restores the Temple in Jerusalem; this is the event commemorated each year by the festival of Hanukkah, BC164

The Pilgrims, aboard the Mayflower, reach what is now called Provincetown Harbor, Massachusetts, and sign the Mayflower Compact, 1620

Richard Johnson, a free black, is granted 550 acres in Virginia, 1654

In Paris, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent, Marquis d'Arlandes, make the first untethered hot air balloon flight, 1783

Colonel Napoléon Bonaparte is promoted to full general and appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of the French Republic, 1791

First Jewish Reform congregation in US forms, Charleston, SC, 1824

Moses F Gale patents a cigar lighter, 1871

Tom Edison announces his "talking machine" invention (phonograph), 1877

Rebecca Latimer Felton of Georgia takes the oath of office, becoming the first female United States Senator, 1922

First commercial crossing of Pacific by plane (China Clipper), 1935

The Alcan Highway is completed, 1942*

The British Natural History Museum announces that the "Piltdown Man" skull is a hoax, 1953

The first permanent ARPANET link is established between UCLA and SRI, 1969

Gerard d'Aboville completes his four-month solo journey to row across the Pacific Ocean, 1991

The Dayton Peace Agreement is initialed at the Wright Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, Ohio, ending three and a half years of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1995

NATO invites Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia to become members, 2002

Iran's President Ahmadinejad rejects the country's successful family planning program and tells Iranian girls they should marry at 16, 2010

The three most senior surviving members of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge regime are charged with genocide and crimes against humanity, 2011

For the second time in four months, New Zealand's Mount Tongariro volcano, on the North Island, erupts, 2012

The Alabama parole board grants posthumous pardons to three members of the Scottsboro boys, 2013

Scientists announce the first known comet from another start system, Oumuamua comet, 2017

*Not opened to general vehicular traffic until the next year