The End of Tocktober (Feline Friday) and Friendly Fill-Ins

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Feline Friday was started by Steve, The Burnt Food Dude, and i'm going to believe it's because he likes cats.

He has handed hosting duties off to Sandee, of Comedy Plus, and it's simple to join, just follow the link to Sandee's page for the rules and the code.

The last two tocks in our house: 

Link (a/k/a Linker Stinker)

Horizon

Hope everyone enjoyed Tocktober!

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Friendly Fill-Ins are easy to do. There are four statements: the first two statements are provided by Ellen of 15AndMeowing, and the final two are offered by Lorianne The Menagerie Mom of Four-Legged Furballs. They try to make sure the statements will be fun to both answer and share. The linky will be posted at or about 12:00 AM on Friday. Please head over to one of their sites, link up, and share your thoughts!      

Here are this week's statements with my responses underlined:

1. I didn’t _____________until I ________________.

2. I try to ____________________.

3. My fear of _________ keeps me from _________.

4. If I were a ghost, I would haunt _________.

1. I didn’t learn much Spanish until I buckled down a couple of years ago, and now i am getting better at it.

2. I try to get to bed early, but it rarely happens.

3. My fear of flying keeps me from traveling any further than i care to drive.

4. If I were a ghost, I would haunt any place quiet and restful so i wouldn't have to do too much.  Maybe a library so i could spend a lot of time reading.

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Today is:

Armed Forces Day -- Romania

Chili Cook-Off -- Washington, MO, US (chili fest and contest)

Constitution Day -- Lithuania

Day of the Basque Country -- Basque Country

Feast of Forty Martyrs of England and Wales -- Roman Catholic

Frankenstein Friday -- a day to celebrate the "mother" and "father" of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley and Boris Karloff

French Food Festival -- LaRose, LA, US (local specialties, dancing, music, and fun; through Sunday)

International Artist Day -- invite an artist to lunch, buy that painting that you've wanted for so lng, go to an art gallery or the symphony or a play -- celebrate how art adds to your life daily!  

London Bridge Days -- Lake Havasu City, AZ, US (come celebrate London Bridge, which was disassembled and moved here and put back together, with festivities and a big parade tomorrow; through tomorrow)

Makoshe's Holiday -- Asatru/Pagan Slavic Calendar (honoring Mother Earth)

Mokosh Day -- Ukraine (Slavic goddess of "women's work", a wanderer and spinner, still popular as a life giving force and protector of women, always assoociated with Friday; date approximate)

Munzipan Feast -- Fairy Calendar (a fairy delicacy, and you don't want to know how it's made)

National Bandanna Day -- Australia (to raise funds for teens with cancer)    

National Greasy Foods Day

Punk-for-a-Day Day -- internet generated; if you've always wanted to be a punk, try it out for a day

Provincial Anniversary Day -- Hawke's Bay, NZ

Republic Day -- Kazakhstan

Retrocession Day -- Taiwan

Sea Witch Halloween & Fiddler's Festival -- Rehoboth Beach/Dewey Beach, DE, US (parade, costume contest, Sea Witch Hunt, horse show on the beach, and more; through Sunday)

Sherlock Holmes Weekend -- Cape May, NJ, US (a weekend of mystery for amateur sleuths and fans of A.C. Doyle)  

Sourest Day -- as a balance, because we have so many days that emphasize sweet

Sts. Crispin and Crispian's Day (Patrons of cobblers/shoemakers, glovemakers, lace makers/lace workers, leather workers, saddle makers, tanners, weavers)

Thanksgiving Day -- Grenada

World Pasta Day -- as established by the first World Pasta Congress in 1995; a related website is here   

Birthdays Today:

Katy Perry, 1984

Midori, 1971

Tracy Nelson, 1963

Brian Kerwim, 1949

Jon Anderson, 1944

Anne Tyler, 1941

Helen Reddy, 1941

Bobby Knight, 1940

Marion Ross, 1936

Billy Barty, 1924

Minnie Pearl, 1912

Leo G. Carroll, 1892

Pablo Picasso, 1881

Georges Bizet, 1838

Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1800

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Victor/Victoria"(Musical), 1995

"Newhart"(TV), 1982

"Le Repetition"(Anouilh play), 1950

"The Time of Your Life"(Play), 1939

Today in History:

Seljuk Turks defeat the German crusaders under Conrad III at the Battle of Dorylaeum, 1147

Battle of Agincourt, in which the Welsh longbow defeats armored knights, 1415

Christopher Columbus, aboard the Santa Maria, lands at the Dominican Republic, 1492

Dutch sea-captain Dirk Hartog makes second recorded landfall by a European on Australian soil, at the later-named Dirk Hartog Island off the Western Australian coast, 1616

Governor Bradford of the US colony Plymouth disallows sport on Christmas Day, 1621

Wedding of future US President John Adams and Abigail Smith (the marriage lasted 54 years), 1764

Canadians and Mohawks defeat the Americans in the Battle of Chateauguay, 1813

Opening of the Erie Canal, 1825

Battle of Balaclava, memorialized as the "Charge of the Light Brigade", results in the deaths of 409 troops, 1854

The Toronto Stock Exchange is created, 1861

Traditionally understood date of the October Revolution in Russia, which corresponds to November 7 on the Gregorian Calendar, 1917

The Archbishop of Dubuque, Francis J. L. Beckman, denounces swing  music as "a degenerated musical system... turned loose to gnaw away at the moral fiber of young people", warning that it leads down a "primrose path to hell", 1938

Adlai Stevenson shows photos at the UN proving Soviet missiles are installed in Cuba, 1962

Uganda joins the United Nations, 1962

Nelson Mandela is sentenced to five years in prison, 1962

The United Nations seated the People's Republic of China and expelled the Republic of China, 1971

Proceedings on the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction conclude at The Hague, 1980

Three months after the end of the Ten-Day War, the last soldier of the Yugoslav People's Army leaves the territory of the Republic of Slovenia, 1991

Fidel Castro announces that transactions using the American Dollar will be banned in Cuba, 2004

Sony removed the original cassette Walkman from the market, 2010

Scientists announce that the completion of the nuclear genome study of a 24,000 year old Siberian boy's remains shows 2/3 of today's Native Americans are of Eastern Asia origin, and the others from Western Eurasia, 2013