Hooray! (Six Sentence Story), Ivy (Good Fences), Build The Sky (Sammy's Poetry Day), and It Passed! (Brian's Thankful Thursday)

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"It's an epic day!" she said jubilantly.

"I'd hardly say that," he responded.

She would not have her enthusiasm quenched, not for anything.

"When a 20-year-old car passes inspection, meaning you can still legally use it, that is epic and you celebrate!" and she actually danced a little jig right there in the parking lot of the mechanic's shop.

Shaking his head, he climbed into said 20-year-old vehicle and simply replied, "I'll see you back at the house."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she yelled to the sky as she turned to get in her own vehicle and head home.

Linking up with Denise at Girlie On The Edge Blog, where she hosts Six Sentence Stories, and the cue is Epic.      

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Gosia at Looking for Identity has taken over Good Fences, and it's now Good Fences Around The World.  Post a picture of a fence or gate, link back to her blog, and go visit other blogs to see what interesting fences there are out in this big world.      

This is a great example of ivy covered brick:

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It's Angel Sammy's Poetry Day!  This week's image and my poem:    

No, I'm not afraid.

Why would I be?

This is what I do,

Build the skies.

Working in the clear blue,

For love of the thrill,

For joy at making

A new building come alive,

I dare what others don't.

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Brian of Brian's Home hosts the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop.   It's time to share something for which i am thankful.  

Today i truly am thankful that for just the cost of mid-priced tires, we were able to get a new inspection sticker for Lunceford the Land Yacht, as noted in the above story.  The stickers don't cost much, but lack of a valid one of those little suckers is very, very expensive if you are caught on the road.  It's always a nail biter to know if one of our old vehicles will pass, so when it happens, i celebrate!

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Today is:

Balloon Ascension Day / Aviation in America Day -- the first manned free balloon flight in the US was on this date in 1793 at Philadelphia

Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival -- Chicago, IL, US (19th annual, celebrating the best in local and national sketch comedy; through the 19th)

Duelo Nacional -- Panama (Martyrs' Day)

Feast of All Fairies -- Fairy Calendar

Feast of the Most Holy Black Nazarene -- Quiapo District, Manila, Philippines (culmination of the celebrations; a 400 year old Catholic procession with a black life-sized wooden statue of Jesus)

Festival of the Agonalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (gifts given to Janus)

Hatsu-Ichi -- Maebashi, Japan (a daruma -- good luck doll -- market, to start the year off right)

"I Will Stay" Day -- Brazil (anniversary of the start of the Independence Movement in 1922)

London Boat Show -- London's Docklands, London, England (worth a trip to England for anyone who loves boats; through the 13th)

National Apricot Day

Peace Agreement Day -- South Sudan

Positively Penguins Day -- a day to celebrate all things penguin

Republic Day -- Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Sinulog -- Cebu City, Philippines (a very colorful ten day festival about the pagan origin of the people, and their acceptance of Roman Catholicism; the Grand Parade, highlight of the festival, is on the 19th)

Static Cling/Static Electricity Day -- on some sites, listed as April 26; i can only ask why it's listed anywhere for any reason

St. Marciana's Day (Patron of those with wounds)

Stepfather's Day -- not official, but it should be, there are some great stepfathers out there

Stuffed Animal Laundry Day -- give that old bear a bath!

Toka Ebisu -- Japan (parades and shrine rituals through Japan, but especially in Kyoto, Osaka, and Fukuoka; through the 11th)

Ultimate Fishing Show -- Detroit, MI, US (through Sunday)

Winterskol -- Aspen, Colorado (Aspen's annual "toast to winter", through Sunday)

Anniversaries Today:

Connecticut becomes the 5th US State, 1788

Birthdays Today:

Sergio Garcia, 1980

Dave Matthews, 1967

Joely Richardson, 1965

Mark Martin, 1959

Imelda Staunton, 1956

J.K. Simmons, 1955

Crystal Gayle, 1951

Jimmy Page, 1944

Joan Baez, 1941

Susannah York, 1941

Byron Barlett "Bart" Starr, 1934

Bob Denver, 1935

Judith Krantz, 1928

Lee Van Cleef, 1925

Les Paul, 1915

Gypsy Rose Lee (Rose Hovick), 1914

Richard Nixon, 1913

Simone De Beauvoir, 1908

Chic Young, 1901

Carrie Lane Chapman Catt, 1859

Gracie Fields, 1898

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"It Takes a Thief"(TV), 1968

"Rawhide"(TV), 1959

"Dear Abby"(newspaper column), 1956

"Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze"(Film), 1894

Today in History:

Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople, 475

Seven hundred Jews, believed to be causing the Black Death, are burned in their homes in Basel, Switzerland, 1349

The first sighting of manatees by a European (Columbus), 1493

Philip Astley stages the first modern circus in London, 1768

The first hot-air balloon flight in the US lifts off in Philadelphia, 1793

Income Tax is introduced in the UK (to fund the war against Napoleon), 1799

Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson receives a state funeral and is interred in St Paul's Cathedral, 1806

Sir Humphry Davy tests the Davy lamp for miners at Hebburn Colliery, 1816

The Daguerrotype photo process is announced at French Academy of Science, 1839

Thomas Henderson makes the first measure of stellar parallax, of Alpha Centauri, 1839

The Astor Library opens in NYC, 1854

The first hostilities of the Civil War, at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, 1861

The Great Gale of 1880 devastates parts of Oregon and Washington with high wind and heavy snow, 1880

New England Telephone and Telegraph installs the first battery-operated telephone switchboard in Lexington, Massachusetts, 1894

Alfred Tennyson's son, Hallam, the Second Baron Tennyson, becomes the second Governor General of Australia, 1903

Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc., the first historically black intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity to be officially recognized at Howard University is founded, 1914

The Ottoman Empire prevails in the Battle of Çanakkale, as the last British troops are evacuated, 1916

Juan de la Cierva makes the first autogiro (helicopter) flight, Spain, 1923

A fire at the Laurier Palace movie theatre in Quebec, Montreal, kills 78 children, 1927

Several Panamanian youths try to raise the Panamanian flag on the U.S.-controlled Panama Canal Zone, leading to fighting between U.S. military and Panamanian civilians, 1964

Elections are held to replace Yasser Arafat as head of the Palestine Liberation Organization. He is succeeded by Rawhi Fattouh, 2005

Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement rebel group sign a peace agreement in Naivasha, Kenya, 2005

Venezuela's Supreme Tribunal of Justice determines they can defer the latest inauguration of President Hugo Chavez while his cancer operation recovery continues, 2013
Car manufacturer Hyundai unveils a model of a proposed walking car for first responders, 2019