Wednesday, December 4, 2019

Peeking In the Organ Loft (Wordless Wednesday) and Words for Wednesday

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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 Cindi.   

Rewrite some of these commonly used idioms to make them more interesting, or maybe use them to start a story:  "Pardon my French."  "My mind is in a fog."  "You are on thin ice." 


“If you’ll pardon my French,” he said at the end of his tirade, which he hoped no passers by had heard.

That hope was dashed as a very well dressed woman walking past stopped short at that moment, turned and looked daggers at him, and with an obvious accent said, “I beg your pardon, I am French, and we do not talk that way!”

As the lady stalked away, his companion stifled a laugh and whispered to him, “I think you are thin ice with that particular lady!”

“Yeah, I shouldn’t lose my religion like that.  I'm sorry, everything is in such a jumble this time of year, and my mind is in such a fog.  One more breakdown was all it took to push me over the edge, and I am really sorry about that."

"It's okay, we're all on that ragged edge of disaster.  We all just have to tie a knot in the rope we're at the end of and hang on a few more weeks."

"Thanks for understanding, and for sticking with me."


"Hey,  it was worth it just to hear what that lady said!"



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Today is:

Christmas on the River -- Demopolis, AL, US (celebrations Southern style, including a Barbecue Cook-off; through Saturday)

Day of Shango -- Yoruba/Santería religion (various Carribean islands; ceremony for the Defender against Evil)

Day of the Artisans -- internet generated day to honor all who work

Extraordinary Work Team Recognition Day -- created in 2000 by QPC Inc., encouraging recognition of teams that "consistently work extraordinarily well together to produce significant results for their companies or organizations." 

Festival for Minerva -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Grange Day -- US Grange (Order of the Patrons of Husbandry) founded, 1887

Holiday Ale Festival -- Portland, OR, US (beer, outdoors, in the cold, in December, but it is seriously good beer and worth it; through Sunday)

National Cookie Day

National Dice Day -- get together with friends and play a game today (instructions are here)     

Navy Day -- India; Italy

Rake Leaves into the World's Largest Pile Day -- just so you can jump in, of course

Ribbons and Wrap Day -- according to the Elf Forum, which no longer has an online presence as too many of us were getting in on elf secrets, i guess; i'd suggest making sure you have enough ribbons and wrap now, anyway

Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting -- NY, NY, US

Santa's List Day -- he completes the lists today, according to some people; which one are you on?

Special Kids Day -- a day to make sure special needs kids get to visit Santa with whatever accomodations they require     

St. Barbara's Day (Patron of ammunition workers/bomb technicians/explosives workers/ordnance workers, architects, armourers, artillerymen, boatment/mariners/sailors/waterman, brass workers, brewers, builders, carpenters, construction workers, dying people, firefighters/fire prevention, fireworks, fireworks manufacturers, fortifications, foundry workers, geologists, gravediggers, gunners, hatmakers/hatters/milliners, martyrs, masons, mathematicians, military engineers, miners, prisoners, safety from storms, saltpetre workers, smelters, stone masons, tilers, warehouses; Amaroni, Italy; Barbara, Italy; Colleferro, Italy; Montecatini Terme, Italy; Paterno, Sicily; Rieti, Italy; Santa Barbara, CA; Syria; Toa Alto, Puerto Rico; against death by artillery, explosions, fire, impenitence, lightning, mine collapse, storms, sudden death)
    A young woman may place the twig of a cherry tree in a glass of water today. If it blooms by Christmas Eve, the girl is certain to marry in the following year.
    Barborka -- Poland (where Barbara is best known as Patron of Miners, thus "Miners' Day)
    Eid il-Burbara -- Lebanon; Palestine; Syria (where Barbara is celebrated with a holiday similar to Western Halloween)

St. Maruthas' Day (Patron of Iran; Persia)

Thai Environment Day -- Thailand

Wear A Beard of Bees Today Day -- a supremely silly internet generated one, if you ask me, and only for the bold and fearless, and not allergic!

Wear Brown Shoes Day -- internet generated, by someone tired of wearing black shoes all the time most likely

Wildlife Conservation Day -- US

Wind Whirling Bacchanalia -- Fairy Calendar


Anniversary Today:

Mission Santa Barbara is founded as a Franciscan Mission in California, 1786


Birthdays Today:

Tyra Banks, 1973
Fred Armisen, 1966
Marisa Tomei, 1964
Jozef Sabovcik, 1963
Cassandra Wilson, 1955
Patricia Wettig, 1951
Jeff Bridges, 1949
Dennis Wilson, 1944
Chris Hillman, 1942
Max Baer, Jr., 1937
Stewart Rawlings Mott, 1937
Wink Martindale, 1934
Victor French, 1934
Helen M. Chase, 1924
Deanna Durbin, 1921
Francisco Franco, 1892
Lillian Russel, 1861
Crazy Horse, 1840
Samuel Butler, 1835
Thomas Carlyle, 1795


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Broadway Bound"(Simon play), 1986
"Falcon Crest"(TV), 1981
"Beatles for Sale"(Album), 1964
"Tobacco Road"(Play), 1933
"Whoopee"(Musical), 1928
"Ten Commandments"(Film), 1923*


Today in History:

Upon the death of Carloman, Karel the Great (Charlemagne), his brother, becomes king of all France, 771
The Syrian harbor city of Saida (Sidon) surrenders to the Crusaders, 1110
After 18 years, the Council of Trent holds its final session, 1563
Father Marquette begins to build the first dwelling in what is now Chicago, 1674
Britain's Observer, oldest Sunday newspaper in world, first published, 1791
Britain abolishes the practice of the "suttee" in India, 1829
The American Anti-Slavery Society is founded in Philadelphia by Arthur Tappen and William Lloyd Garrison, 1833
Oliver Hudson Kelley founds The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, (the Grange), 1867
"Boss" Tweed escapes from jail, 1875
The first edition of the Los Angeles Times is published, 1881
Lucille Atcherson becomes the first woman legation secretary in the US Foreign sService, 1922
Cecil B. DeMille's first version of "The Ten Commandments" (the one in which he flooded Hollywood Blvd. without permit 3 times to get the Red Sea Scene right, and had to bail his crew out of jail 3 times, too!) premiers, 1923
The first Burger King is opened in Miami, Florida, United States, 1954
Suriname joins the United Nations, 1975
The Unity Module, the second module of the International Space Station, is launched, 1998
An adult giant squid is caught on video for the first time by Tsunemi Kubodera near the Ogasawara Islands, 1,000 km (620 miles) south of Tokyo, 2006
Political pressure and cyber attacks against WikiLeaks are condemned by Reporters Without Borders
In Koblenz, Germany, nearly 45,000 people wait to return home while bomb squads defuse WWII bombs still hidden under the Rhine River, 2011
In Egypt, a hundred thousand people gather to protest President Morsi's proposed constitutional amendments, 2012
A new island is discovered in the Arctic Ocean's Laptev Sea and initially called Yaya, 2013
French couture house Chanel ends its use of fur and exotic skins following bans by other companies, 2018


*This was Cecile B. DeMille's first version, the one in which he asked for permission to flood Hollywood Boulevard for the Crossing of the Red Sea scene.  He didn't get permission, but he did it anyway, three times, and all three times, he had to bail his film crew out of jail for it.  He still got the scene the way he wanted it.

19 comments:

  1. Love those images. Cindi's prompts are now up - and I found them challenging. Good luck - I am looking forward to seeing what you make of them.

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  2. We have no idea what an organ room should even look like, never even heard of one before. Interesting!

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  3. It's National Cookie Day!!! That's a great excuse to buy Double Stuff Oreo's. Have a blessed day.

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  4. Very interesting Mimi. When I was an alter boy in our church, I was lucky to get into some interesting places in the church. See ya my friend.

    Cruisin Paul

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  5. Organs are always fascinating ~ neat photos ^_^

    Happy Moments to You,
    A ShutterBug Explores,
    aka (A Creative Harbor)

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  6. Interesting. I haven't seen an organ loft.

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  7. Love those pictures of the organ loft. Really interesting to see what goes on behind the scenes.

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  8. I would have to go and snoop around too. These organs are amazing.

    Thank you for joining the Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop.

    Have a fabulous Wordless Wednesday, my friend. ♥

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  9. Christmas on the River sounds like a fun time. It's a good thing I went to a cookie sale since it's National Cookie Day! And, St. Barbara was a very busy person!! xoxo

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  10. That's interesting never been near to an organ before ;-)

    Have an organtastic week :-)

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  11. That's very cool! It looks like they must have a very big pipe cleaner!

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  12. As a teen, I used to love sitting in the organ loft of my church when it was being played. You brought back happy memories.

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  13. Peeking in the organ loft sounds a little ominous to me. Sorry, too much forensic show watching on TV. 😉

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  14. Well done. You are so clever. I have always wondered about pardon my French. :)

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  15. LOVE your use of Cindi's very challenging prompts.

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  16. ECHOING what Sue said!! By gosh, you had me feeling like I was listening to a sailor and his gal on a night out in Waikiki Beach on December the 5th, 1941, when their world was a much simpler place....

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  17. Well done on the Words on Wednesday prompts!!!

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