It’s Still Winter and Other Good Things, a Ten Things of Thankful Post

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Winter is back, and it's Thankful Day.  Yes, i am thankful for the cooler weather, the longer we get before air conditioning season, the better!

Last Saturday was wonderful, we got to take Coda to see Lulu for the second week in a row.  They wore each other completely out, it was glorious.

By Sunday, Becca's family was no longer in quarantine, so i offered to go over there.  Her mom said no, she wasn't on the schedule to sing in the church choir because she'd not been able to make the practice.

Here's where i am thankful i have some flexibility in a lot of my schedulingg.  She called later and asked if she could change her mind.  Her best friend from out of town was going to be here for only two days, taking care of some things while moving her mother to be near.  Could i come watch Becca so the two of them could spend an hour together Sunday morning?

Of course i could, and into the bargain, Becca's mom even got to take a trip to the grocery store.  After having been quarantined for two weeks, even a walk in the park with a friend and then a trip to the store is a big deal.

Some of the days this week were just normal, typical busy days, like Monday and most of Wednesday, and i am thankful for those when they happen.

Tuesday, well, we've been over Tuesday.  Mr. RW's funeral, all the items in the house that got lost, Sam the Dog crossing to the Rainbow Bridge, it was rough.

There was beauty, though, and thankfulness.  The service went well and i was told it was lovely.  Many people brought food, and i warmed it all up in a temperamental oven that i've never used before, and didn't burn any of it.  There's a new baby on the way in that family, and there was sharing of pictures of the ultrasound and recordings of the heartbeat.

We're all thankful for the reminders that life does go on, even though it's never the same day to day.  (Another reason to be thankful, we'd be bored if it never changed!)

Wednesday afternoon, as hinted, was a bit different, i got home early enough to put my feet up for an hour.  No nap, as Diamond-Dog-next-door is never quiet for long, but some rest is a good thing.

Thursday is when the weather broke with another small monsoon like we get sometimes.  My shoes got wet early, and i am thankful that though i had to work all day in wet shoes, i was indoors where it was warm enough that it didn't matter.

Oh, and i have another reason (like i needed one!) to be thankful for Kevin and Lenny.  We were one small payment away from having all of our car repairs paid off when Lunceford the Land Yacht needed an oil change.  They gladly added that to the total and we will only be one extra week paying everything off.  We had cash for the inspection sticker (thankful!) and it passed inspection, too (double thankful!!!).

Grandma doesn’t get out any more except to church and occasionally the hairdresser, and she’s been wanting some Seeduction Bread from Whole Foods.  It was on my Friday list.

Friday gets very busy, i am thankful for our morning Bible study and all of the work.  This week, the work included helping Mr. BA organize Mr. KW’s hunting/fishing clothes. (Mr. KW, before he died, told his friends to come get everything to give to a local organization that helps veterans that Mr. BA’s veteran son works with, and since many veterans hunt and fish, it’s all going to a good cause.)

The shelter was hopping with painting going on and people there to adopt the few kitties we have at this time.  We’re thankful for the break before kitten season hits again.

By the time i got to Whole Foods Friday night, i was so thankful to find exactly two loaves of Seeduction Bread left for Grandma!  The bakery lady sliced it for her, and i am thankful for her smile, she was especially helpful and gracious at a time of the day and week when many are out of patience and graciousness.

There we have it, there’s always plenty of good going on, and i am thankful to be able to share it.

Please write up your own list and link up to Ten Things of Thankful, where Dyanne and her co-hosts always have a warm welcome waiting.   

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Today is:

Break-Up Day -- if you are over him/her, don't go through tomorrow pledging love falsely, get out today

Dream of Your Sweetheart Day -- a reminder that if you aren't ready for Valentine's Day tomorrow, you'd better get cracking

Employee Legal Awareness Day -- Australia

Get a Different Name Day -- for those who hate their name; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Ides of February -- Ancient Roman Calendar; also

     Parentalia begins -- through the 21st (honoring divi parentes -- the deified ancestors)

     Lupercalia begins -- through the 15th (to rid the city of evil spirits)

     Orgiastic festival of Juno Februa begins -- through tomorrow

I Value Your Friendship Day -- because you don't want to neglect your friends while we are remembering love this week

Madly in Love With Me Day -- because you have to love "me" before you can love "we"

National Tortellini Day

St. Catherine dei Ricci's Day (Patron of the ill)

Ta-asobi -- Akatsuka Suwa Shrine, Itabashi-ku, Japan (ceremony to pray for a good harvest)

Trndez or Tearnandarach -- Armenian Christian Church (fire celebration, begins in the evening and goes through tomorrow; originally a pagan sun worship celebration, it is now a Candlemas celebration by the OS Calendar)

Birthdays Today:

Mena Suvari, 1979

Robbie Williams, 1974

Kelly Hu, 1968

David Naughton, 1951

Peter Gabriel, 1950

Stockard Channing, 1944

Jerry Springer, 1944

Carol Lynley, 1942

Peter Tork, 1942

Bo Svenson, 1941

George Segal, 1934

Kim Novak, 1933

Chuck Yeager, 1923

Eileen Farrell, 1920

Tennessee Ernie Ford, 1919

Eddie Robinson, 1919

Grant Wood, 1892

Alvin York, 1887

Elizabeth "Bess" Virginia Wallace Truman, 1885

Randolph Henry Spencer Churchill, 1849

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord, 1754

Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, 1682

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Merlin"(Musical), 1983

"Prince Valiant"(Comic strip), 1937

Today in History:

Baghdad falls to the Mongols, and the Abbasid Caliphate is destroyed, 1258

Jews are expelled from Burgsordf, Switzerland, 1349

The Disfida di Barletta (Challenge of Barletta); Frenchman Charles de la Motte accused Italians of cowardice, and thirteen Italians proceeded to rout 13 Frenchmen in a chivalrous horseback tourney, 1503

St. Augustine, Florida, is founded, becoming the oldest continuously occupied European established city, and the oldest port, in the continental United States, 1566

Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome for trial before the Inquisition for professing belief that the Earth revolves around the sun, 1633

Treaty of Lisbon:  Spain recognizes Portugal, 1668

The Massacre of Glencoe: 78 members of the clan Macdonald are murdered for not promptly pledging allegiance to the new king, William of Orange (William III), 1692

Cholera appears in London, 1832

Work begins on the covering of the Zenne, burying Brussels's primary river and creating the modern central boulevards, 1867

The feminist newspaper La Citoyenne is first published in Paris by the activist Hubertine Auclert, 1881

Painter Thomas Eakins resigns from Philadelphia Academy of Art after controversial over use of male nudes in a coed art class, 1886

Auguste and Louis Lumière patent the Cinematographe, a combination movie camera and projector, 1894

English suffragettes storm British Parliament and 60 women are arrested, 1907

The Negro National League is formed, 1920

A jury in Flemington, New Jersey finds Bruno Hauptmann guilty of the 1932 kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby, 1935

France tests its first atomic bomb, 1960

Black Sabbath, arguably the very first heavy metal album, is released, 1970

A series of sewer explosions destroys more than two miles of streets in Louisville, Kentucky, 1981

An agreement is reached on a two-stage plan to reunite Germany, 1990

The last original "Peanuts" comic strip appears in newspapers one day after Charles M. Schulz dies, 2000

The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announces the discovery of the universe's largest known diamond, white dwarf star BPM 37093. Astronomers named this star "Lucy" after The Beatles' song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", 2004

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd makes a historic apology to the Indigenous Australians and the Stolen Generations, 2008

At 23:31:30 UTC the Unix system time (time_t) number reaches 1234567890 seconds, 2009

For the first time in more than 100 years the Umatilla, an American Indian tribe, were able to hunt and harvest a bison just outside Yellowstone National Park, restoring a centuries-old tradition guaranteed by a treaty signed in 1855, 2011

NASA confirms Mars Opportunity rover's mission, originally set to be 90 days, has ended after 15 years due to a sandstorm damaging communications, 2019

A study published in the journal Science of Arrokoth 2014 MU69 in the Kuiper Belt shows scientists are rethinking how planets are formed, not by violent collisions but by a more gentle clumping, 2020