Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Our Snowbirds (Wordless Wednesday) and Words for Wednesday

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




Linking up with Wordless Wednesday and Sandee at Comedy Plus.     




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




Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and has become a moveable feast of word or picture or music prompts to encourage us to write stories, poems, or whatever strikes our fancy.    

This month, the prompts are being provided by River at Drifting Through Life.    

This week's words/prompts are: 
1. suitable 
2. rapturous 
3. smeared 
4. snuffle 
5. bookmark 
6. scoop 

and/or: 
1. snick 
2. funny 
3. twilight 
4. espionage 
5. synchronicity 
6. feisty


"What SYNCHRONICITY, kiddos, that I'm back in town just in time for this!"

FEISTY Aunt Marigold was back, and at the moment she was RAPTUROUS as she danced around the kitchen making her special deviled egg recipe, wielding the SCOOP to mound up the yolk in the center of each egg just right as if she were a queen  waving around her scepter.  Even the pepper that she'd accidentally breathed in, which had caused her to SNUFFLE uncontrollably for several minutes, hadn't been able to put a damper on her spirits.

Her apron was SMEARED with ingredients -- "I've always been a messy cook, June, but don't worry, I always clean my mess!" -- and she had bought a special tray just for presenting the dish.  "Have to have a SUITABLE platter for showing off your wares at the county fair!" she'd said when she came back with three of them, asking June and Alan to help pick their favorite.

The contest at the fair was the next day, so Aunt Marigold hauled herself off to bed right at TWILIGHT.  "Gotta get my beauty rest, and besides, I fell asleep reading last night, didn't even have a chance to put my BOOKMARK in before I nodded off.  Not going to let that happen again tonight, kiddos!"  

She had wrapped her eggs and stowed them comfortably in the second fridge, where Alan had obediently emptied a shelf just for her, and she closed her bedroom door with a SNICK sound.

June, as she always did when Aunt Marigold closed a door, sighed and then giggled.  She found her husband's aunt to be fun and FUNNY and exhausting.  Since the first visit six months before, June has asked Alan a lot about his Aunt Marigold, and she wasn't sure what to think.

"How is it that she is well off enough to travel the world, money seems to be no object with her," June had noted once, when they got a postcard from Tasmania.

"She is well off enough that money is not a problem for her," he answered.  "She married a man who had inherited a fortune.  Uncle Julius was from a very wealthy political family, he was an ambassador to several countries.  'Veiled ESPIONAGE' is what Aunt Marigold called his job.  They traveled all over and the travel bug bit her hard and never let go.  No kids, and she inherited everything he left, so she does as she pleases."

"I know her eggs are delicious, I tasted them last time she was here, and they are different and unique, but she's so sure she's going to win that contest.  What will she do if she doesn't?" June asked.

Alan shrugged.  "Knowing her, she will 'retire from the battlefield, bruised but determined to come back' as she once said when her cherry pie only took second place.  That's when she decided to always stick to the eggs.  No matter what, she's having fun, and after tomorrow's contest, she will probably pack up and head back on another adventure."

"Well, I'm a bit worried," June said.

"About what?" Alan asked with concern

"She's starting to grow on me!" June answered, and they both laughed then headed for bed.


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


Today is:

Armed Forces Day -- Mexico

Birthday of Minerva -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Birth Anniversary of Shivaji -- Maharashtra, India

Carnaval de Ponce -- Ponce, Puerto Rico (through Mardi Gras)

Chaoflux -- Discordianism

Chief Leschi Day -- US, especially Washington State (Native American chief wrongly executed for murder on this date in 1958; fully exhonerated 2004)

Cracker Jacks Prize Day -- the first prizes were added to the boxes of carmel popcorn this date in 1913

Flag Day -- Turkmenistan

Fly-By for Goblins and others -- Fairy Calendar

National Chocolate Mint Day (because every day needs chocolate in some form)

Prajatantra Diwas -- Nepal (Democracy Day, celebrating the overthrow of the Rana Dynasty in 1951)

Solar System Day -- birth anniversary of Copernicus

St. Conrad of Piacenza's Day -- (Patron against hernias)

Straw Wrapper Appreciation Day -- an internet spread holiday to remind you of how much fun it was as a kid to blow the wrappers off the straws

Temporary Insanity Day -- anniversary of the first time someone successfully pleaded temporary insanity in a court of law; Daniel Stickles, in 1859

Vassil Levski Day -- Bulgaria (Bulgaria's "Apostle of Freedome")


Anniversary Today:

Knights of Pythias founded, 1864


Birthdays Today:

Haylie Duff, 1985
Andrew Shue, 1967
Benicio Del Toro, 1967
Justine Bateman, 1966
Jonathan Lethem, 1964
Seal, 1963
Prince Andrew, Duke of York, 1960
Ray Winstone, 1957
Jeff Daniels, 1955
Margaux Hemingway, 1955
Amy Tan, 1952
Stephen Nichols, 1951
Lou Christie, 1943
Smokey Robinson, 1940
Lee Marvin, 1924
Merle Oberon, 1911 (some sources say Feb. 18)
Willam III, 1817 (last king of the Netherlands -- there have only been queens since)
David Garrick, 1717
Nicolas Copernicus, 1473


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"A Woman of Independent Means"(TV Miniseries), 1995
"Crazy For You"(Musical), 1992
"Eastenders"(TV), 1985
"Rumours"(Album release), 1977
The Feminine Mystique(Publication date), 1963
"Picnic"(Inge Play), 1953
"Alexander's Feast"(HWV 75), 1736
  

Today in History:

Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus' defeats beats Clodius Albinus at Lyon, 197
Emperor Constantius II shuts down all pagan temples, 356
The second Medieval Iconoclastic Controversy ends as a council in Constantinople formally reinstates veneration of icons in the churches, 842
Jews of Tyrnau, Hungary (then Trnava, Czech) are expelled, 1539
The Peruvian stratovolcano Huaynaputina explodes in the most violent eruption in the recorded history of South America, 1600
Britain and the Netherlands sign the Peace of Westminster, and New Amsterdam formally becomes New York, 1674
British explorer William Smith discovers the South Shetland Islands, and claims them in the name of King George III, 1819
The first practical coal burning locomotive in the US makes a trial run, in Pennsylvania, 1831
Tin-type camera is patented by Hamilton Smith of Gambier, Ohio, 1856
Daniel E. Sickles is acquitted of the murder of his wife's lover, Phillip Barton Key (son of Francis Scott Key), on the grounds of temporary insanity, the first time this defense is successfully used, 1859
Tsar Alexander II abolishes serfdom in Russia, 1861
Thomas Edison patents the gramophone (phonograph), 1878
Kansas becomes the first US state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages, 1881
WK Kellog and Charles Bolin found the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Co., 1906
The first prize is inserted into a Cracker Jack box, 1913
Ed Wynn becomes the first talent to sign as a regular radio entertainer, 1922
Ezra Pound is awarded the first Bollingen Prize for poetry, 1949
Bill Keane's "Family Circus" comic strip makes its debut, 1960
Artificial heart recipient William J. Schroeder becomes the first such patient to leave hospital, 1985
The Soviet Union launches its Mir spacecraft, 1986
NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system, 2002
NASA loses communication with the International Space Station's for three hours as a result of updating the station's command and control software, 2013

21 comments:

  1. I would LOVE an Aunt Marigold in my life - particularly if she does clean up her own messes.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Snowbirds ... erm where's the snow?
    The story was hilarious. I hope she wins!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I liked the photo and the story was funny heheh!

    I had a cat named Marigold heheh!

    Have a marigoldtastic week :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. The picture reminds me of the friend who said, "When you hear about geese flying south for the winter, you never think that it actually means, 'to your mother's lawn in New Jersey'!"

    ReplyDelete
  5. Do Canadian geese play football?

    God bless.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Enjoy the story. Aunt Marigold sounds like a wonderful person.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Please keep those snow birds. We can't stand them up here. While they are pretty, they are mean, and they make huge messes. Canada, please take all your geese back!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Mimi,

    Nice short story. It would be nice to not have to worry about money, huh? Great shot of the geese! Happy WW!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. You have to be careful with these snowbirds especially if they have their young. They can bite. Not me. LOL See ya MIMI.

    Cruisin Paul

    ReplyDelete
  10. Nice story, she does sound like a fun aunt. I am craving a deviled egg now though :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm ready for the birds to head north. Soon and it makes my heart happy because that means the warm weather is around the corner.

    I love your take on the prompts. You do these so very well. Entertaining.

    Thank you for joining the Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop.

    Have a fabulous Wordless Wednesday. Big hug. ♥

    ReplyDelete
  12. That was a fun story! Hey, we wondered where our big birds went!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Great list. Chocolate w/mint is always a winner.

    ReplyDelete
  14. We have a park right across the street that looks just like that because we live about 5 blocks from Fox River where they go too!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Fun story share! Always like looking over the list. Chocolate Mint...hmmmm....Chocolate in general is great! Have a great rest of the week. HUGS

    ReplyDelete
  16. I like Aunt Marigold, but I think she's best in small doses. Love the story :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. Great list. Chocolate w/mint is always a winner. custom iphone case

    ReplyDelete
  18. That was a fun story! Hey, we wondered where our big birds went!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Neat photo of the geese ~ ^_^

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

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for meandering by and letting me know you were here!
Comments on posts more than a week old are moderated.
If Blogger puts your comment in "spam jail," i'll try to get it hauled out by day's end.