Another Wild Rumpus rEcess (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.)

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

I'm thankful rEcess was back in session, and this is mostly in pictures because it was a late, late night and today was an early, early morning:

Good food.

Crazy friends. 

King cake, with, oh horrors, a naked plastic baby!  We have them everywhere down here, take that, Facebook.

Pool was played.

Crazy socks were shown off

Artwork was done.

We made our own rules! 

Origami! 

More volunteers than you can shake a stick at.

The "disaster" of the night, when one young lady spilled her drink in her sister's bag that had the formula and tube for feeding.  Poor kid came out yelling, "I need paper towels, fast!"  It took me about thirty seconds to clean it, which relieved her mind.

And there are no pictures that can describe our Karaoke show.  The emcee picked the songs for each contestant, and picks ranged from the Russian National Anthem to Mr. Rogers' Neighbor song, Twist and Shout to We Are The Champions, and lots in between.  One of the children very solemnly asked me if i've ever heard of John Denver when Take Me Home, Country Roads was chosen, and it was very hard to keep a straight face when answering him.

Please join us and our gracious and wonderful hostess Kristi from ThankfulMe, write up your own list and link up to Ten Things of Thankful.   

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

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

Today is:

Anniversary of Treaty of Tartu -- Estonia

Bonza Bottler Day™

Candlemas -- Christian -- or Presentation of Our Lord (f/k/a the Purification of the Virgin Mary) - commemorates the presentation of Jesus in the Temple and purification of Mary on the 40th day after the birth of Jesus. Candles have been blessed on this day since the 11th century, and this was the original forecaster, “If Candlemas is fair and clear, there’ll be two winters in the year.”

    Bank Holiday -- Liechtenstein

    Candelaria Festival -- Puno, Peru (Virgen de la Candelaria, through the 16th)

    Dia de la Candelaria/Virgin of Candelaria -- Mexico; Spain

    La Fete de la Chandeleur -- Canada; France

    Matka Boska Gromniczna (Mother of God of the Blessed Thunder Candle) -- Poland

Festival of Juno Februa -- Ancient Roman Calendar (Juno as goddess of motherly and matrimonial love)

Groundhog Day/Hedgehog Day/Badger Day -- what animal you looked to in order to predict the weather depended on where you lived

    Hromnice -- Czech Republic (hrom = thunder, a weather forecasting day)

Homstrom -- Scuol, Switzerland (burning of the straw man effigy of Old Man Winter, signaling the coming spring and winter's demise)

Imbolc/Sughnassad -- Pagan/Wiccan (Northern Hemisphere/Southern Hemisphere)

    Brigmid -- Druid Calendar, also called Feast of Imbolc, celebrated later as St. Bridget's Day, but originally a festival for Brigid, (also known as Brighid, Bríde, Brigit, Brìd) goddess of poetry, healing, and smithcraft.  It is always halfway between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox, so some years it is on Feb. 1 with St. Brigid's Day

    Disting/Charming of the Plough -- Asatru/Slavic Pagan (a feast of new beginnings and spring)

    Serpent Day -- Celtic (The tradition was that on this day, the Brigmid, snakes or badgers would come out of their winter dens and predict the weather; perhaps a precursor to North America's Groundhog Day.)

    Wives' Feast Day -- Northern England (ancient celebration in association with Imbolc)

Inventors' Day -- Thailand

Laura Ingalls Wilder Gingerbread Sociable -- Pomona, CA, US (Pomona Public Library has on permanent display many of her original manuscripts)

Le Jour des Crepes -- France (Crepes Day, as crepes are traditionally served on Candlemas; if you can flip the crepe pan and catch the crepe in it with your right hand, while holding a gold coin in your left, you will become rich this year!)

National Heavenly Hash Day

Orchid Festival -- Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO, US (through Mar. 24)

Presentation of Christ in the Temple -- Anglican Catholic Christian

Shiretoko Fantasia -- Shiretoko, Hokkaido, Japan (laser lights and music illuminate the drift ice and waves of the Okhotsk Sea each night; through early March)

Sled Dog Day -- anniversary of the arrival, in 1925, of diphtheria antitoxin in Nome, Alaska; in memory of the sled dogs, especially lead dogs Togo and Balto, who made it possible

St. Cornelius the Centurion's Day (the Cornelius converted by St. Paul in the Book of Acts)

Veja Diena -- Ancient Latvian Calendar (day of wind, with rituals performed to assure no wind damage next summer)

Wand Dedication Day -- Fairy Calendar

World Wetlands Day -- UN       

Yukon Quest International 1,000 Mile Sled Dog Race -- Whitehorse, YT, Canada to Fairbanks, AK, US (two week international competition for the best mushers and dogs from around the world)

Anniversaries Today:

Marina Ogilvy (daughter of Princess Alexandra) weds Paull Mowatt, 1990

Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) marries Olivia Langdon in Elmira, NY, 1870

Birthdays Today:

Shakira, 1977

Michael T. Weiss, 1962

Christie Brinkley, 1954

Ina Garten, 1948

Farah Fawcett, 1947

Graham Nash, 1942

David Jason, 1940

Tom Smothers, 1937

Les Dawson, 1934

Stan Getz, 1927

Elaine Stritch, 1925

James Dickey, 1923

Liz Smith, 1923

Ayn Rand, 1905

George “Papa Bear” Halas, 1895

William Rose Benét, 1886

James Joyce, 1882

Solomom R. Guggenheim,1861

Toyotomi Hideyoshi,1536 (Japan's second "great unifier")

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Rich Little Show"(TV), 1975

"The Midnight Special"(TV), 1973

"And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little"(Play), 1971

"What's My Line?"(TV), 1950

"Le Dame aux Camelias"(Play, Dumas, fils), 1848

"Artaxerxes"(Opera, Thomas Arnes), 1762

Today in History:

Alaric II, eighth king of the Visigoths promulgates The Breviary of Alaric (Breviarium Alaricianum or Lex Romana Visigothorum) a collection of Roman law, 506

Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1536

New Amsterdam (later New York) is incorporated as a city, 1653

The first leopard is exhibited in the US, in Boston (admission 25 cents), 1802

Russian settlers establish the Ft. Ross trading post north of San Francisco, 1811

Jonathan Martin sets York Cathedral afire, does £60,000 damage, 1829

The first Chinese workers arrive in San Francisco, 1848

The first public men's toilet in Britain opens, on Fleet Street in London, 1852

Samuel Clemens uses the pen name Mark Twain for the first time, 1863

James Oliver invents the removable tempered steel plow blade, 1869

The SS Strathleven arrives in London with the first frozen mutton imported from Australia, 1880

The Knights of Columbus forms in New Haven, Connecticut, 1882

The first official Groundhog Day is observed in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, 1887

The bottle cap with cork seal is patented by William Painter of Baltimore, 1892

The longest boxing match under modern rules takes place in Nameoki, Illinois; 77 rounds between Harry Sharpe and Frank Crosby, 1892

The first movie close-up, of a man sneezing, is made at the Edison Studio in West Orange, NJ, 1893

The Australian Premiers' Conference held in Melbourne decides to locate Australia's capital, Canberra, between Sydney and Melbourne, 1899

Queen Victoria's funeral takes place, 1901

Musher Gunner Kaasan and his sled team, led by Balto, finish the serum run from Nenana to Nome, Alaska, delivering the much needed diphtheria medication (inspiration for the Iditarod), 1925

Leonarde Keeler tests the first polygraph machine, 1935

The Groundhog Day gale hits the north-eastern United States and south-eastern Canada, 1976

F.W. de Klerk allows the African National Congress to function legally and promises to release Nelson Mandela, 1990

Iran launches its first domestically made satellite, Omid, into orbit, 2009

Shinzo Abe, Japan’s Prime Minister, vows to defend the Senkaku Islands "at all costs", 2013

All 955 miners are rescued from the Beatrix gold mine in Welkom town, South Africa, after 2 days underground, 2018