Vacation Was Grand, a Ten Things of Thankful Post

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Today was originally our planned going home day, and as it is Thankful Day, it's time to sum up.

We're thankful for the loan of the truck to come down here.  We offered to pay for wear and tear on it, but the owner just told us to have a good time and not worry about that.

While on the way, we'd not even gotten out of Louisiana when my phone decided it was not going to work.  Totally dead, even putting Sweetie's new battery in it (same phone type) didn't help.  Thankfully there was an AT&T store nearby, and i was able to get another phone.  There was also a Best Buy across the street and i was able to get a case for it.  No, i do not let my phone go around "naked," it would never survive, especially with my job.

When we arrived in Florida, Sweetie was anxious to meet up with someone from whom he was buying something for his guitar, and i'm just thankful we were finally able to understand his directions and get it done!

The bits and bobs of rain we had on the way down told us that the last time the wipers were replaced was "when Hector was a pup" as Grandma would say.  We were thankful to be able to do the owner that favor and get new ones.

Thankfully, there's a PepBoys Service shop not far from where we stay and even though the bays were full, the nice mechanic came out and put the new wipers on for us.

Our first day there, one of the two elevators was broken, and we were so thankful when it was fixed by Monday! 

Worship On The Water at the Flora-Bama Bar Sunday morning was a joy as usual.  The pastor started with a passage in Deuteronomy, and said, "Yeah, I know all of you were just reading Deuteronomy this morning!"

After the service, i went and told him that, in fact, my devotional that morning had been in Deuteronomy.  The Lord, i told him, has the best sense of humor in the universe, and i am thankful for it.

We got to go to Ever'man's Co-op, always a treat.

By Sunday evening, though, i had the unmistakeable signs of a bladder infection.  This is where i am thankful that the medicine to treat the symptoms is OTC (over the counter, no prescription from a doctor needed), the pharmacy is only a five mile drive away, and the nice lady knew where the product was and i got it quite quickly.

My doctor called the pharmacy the next morning,  and i was able to get on an antibiotic right away.  Of course it said to take with food, and we were out running with lots of plans for the day, so i'm thankful i had a Nature's Bakery fig bar in my pocket that Ms. GA had handed me a bit back.  It had landed in the pocket of my jacket and just stayed, this was the perfect time for it.

The rest of our Monday expedition resulted in my finding new shoes i needed, and i spent the "you spend this on a treat for yourself" money from Ms. G at a used book store.  Gotta love a good used book store.

Tuesday i spent almost the whole day reading, doing puzzles, and checking the insides of my eyelids for cracks.  A wonderful day!

Then came Wednesday, and i went to see my friend DiDreaming.  We had a lovely visit, lunch, and tour, i am always thankful when i can spend time with a friend.

Thursday was another laid back, read and nap day.

Each day started with a lovely sunrise walk and ended with a lovely sunset, whether i walked or not.

Then came Friday.  We'd heard the grumblings, something tropical in the Gulf.  Although i walked at sunrise, i knew good and well the next few days were going to be nothing but clouds so there would be no more sunrises and sunsets to see from there, and the beach was closed to swimming as the surf was too rough.

Because we didn't want to get stuck down there and not be able to leave, we decided to cut everything a day short and hit the road.

We are thankful we got out when we did.  Although the weather wasn't too bad yet, we didn't want to chance it.  We were able to get to the BBQ place and get Grandpa  his Father's Day treat, then go drop it off and clean their house.

On the way home i was especially thankful we were in a truck and not my tiny Ford, poor GusGus Die Fledermaus might have been blown clean off the road.

This means we got home last night, had time to visit with Little Girl who was there tending the cats, and today i get a real and true day off in my own house.  Thankfully, i can rest and catch up on blog reading, as yesterday was a bust in that regard.

A lovely vacation is a huge thankful thing, even if the last day was spent at home because things went a little sideways.

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:

Asatru Alliance Founding Day -- Asatru/Slavic Pagan

Birthday of José Gervasio Artigas / "Never Again" Day -- Uruguay (Dia del Nunca Mas)

Butterfly Day -- an ecard holiday; if you know someone who loves butterflies, send an ecard, let them know you are thinking of them

Day of the Independent Hungary -- Hungary (a memorial day for those martyred in 1958, and for the end of Soviet occupation)

Dollars Against Diabetes Days -- always on Father's Day weekend, with information here   

Festival for Minerva -- Ancient Roman Calendar (goddess of arts, crafts, skill, war, and intelligence)

Festival of the Coming Ice Age -- can't find out anything about this one, but it sounds hilarious

Garfield the Cat Day (his birthday/comic strip premier)

Husband Caregiver Day -- to honor husbands who give health care to family members (wives, children, or extended family)

International Box Day -- if you do not understand this one, you do not have a cat

Juneteenth -- US, celebrates the news of freedom on the day it came to slaves on Galveston Island, Texas

Labour Day -- Trinidad and Tobago

National Martini Day -- some sites specify a dry martini

New Church Day -- Swedenborgian Christian

Rusalka's Week begins -- Asatru/Slavic Pagan Calendar (week long festival to honor the divinity of rivers)

Spooky Stories Appreciation Night -- because someone thought it would be a good night to tell a few scary tales

St. Boniface of Querfurt's Day (Patron of Prussia)

St. Jude's Day (Patron of desperate situations, forgotten/impossilbe/lost causes, hospitals, hospital workers; Saint Petersburg, FL, US)

Tiger-Get-By's Second Birthday -- Fairy Calendar

World Sauntering Day -- origin unknown, but perhaps begun at Grand Hotel (Mackinac Island) in Michigan during the 1970s as a response by W.T.Rabe to a growing movement toward the recreation of jogging and the idea was to encourage people to slow down and appreciate the world around them; the rules are to observe the lost art of Victorian sauntering, discouraging jogging, lollygagging, sashaying, fast walking, and trotting, but no word on meandering that i can find!

World Sicle Cell Day   

Anniversaries Today:

Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, marries Sophie Rhys-Jones, 1999

Birthdays Today:

Zoe Saldana, 1978

Poppy Montgomery, 1972

Mia Sara, 1967

Andy Lauer, 1965

Aung San Suu Kyi, 1965

Paula Abdul, 1962

Kathleen Turner, 1954

Ann Wilson, 1951

Phylicia Rashad, 1948

Salman Rushdie, 1947

Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane, 1942

Gena Rowlands, 1930

Louis Jourdan, 1919

Pauline Kael, 1919

Pat Buttram, 1915

Abe Fortas, 1910

Earl W. Bascom, 1906

Lou Gehrig, 1903

Guy Lombardo, 1902

Moe Howard, 1897

Wallis Simpson, 1896

Elbert Green Hubbard, 1856

Charles H. Spurgeon, 1834

Blaise Paschal, 1623

King James I of England and VI of Scotland, 1566

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Batman Returns(Film), 1992

"The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas"(Musical), 1978

"The Rocky Horror Show"(Musical), 1973

"Devil May Hare"(Cartoon short, Tazmanian Devil's premier), 1954

"I've Got a Secret"(TV), 1952

"Moon Mullins"(Comic strip), 1923

Today in History:

King Louis IX of France orders all Jews  found in public without an identifying yellow badge to be fined ten livres  of silver, 1269

The Earl of Pembroke's army defeats Bruce's Scottish army at the Battle of Methven, 1306

English colonists leave Roanoke Island, N.C., after failing to establish England's first permanent settlement in America, 1586

Emanuel Swedenborg reports the completion of the Second Coming of Christ in his work True Christian Religion, 1770

Battle of Seven Oaks between North West Company and Hudson's Bay Company, near Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, 1816

The first officially recorded, organized baseball match was played under Alexander Joy Cartwright's rules on Hoboken's Elysian Fields (Hoboken, New Jersey)with the New York Base Ball Club defeating the Knickerbockers 23-1; Cartwright umpired, 1846

Over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, slaves in Galveston, Texas, United States, are finally informed of their freedom; the anniversary is still officially celebrated in Texas and 35 other states as Juneteenth, 1865

Maximilian I of the Mexican Empire is executed by a firing squad in Querétaro, Querétaro, 1867

After all of the Southern States are formally readmitted to the United States, the Confederate States of America ceases to exist, 1870

The Herzegovinian rebellion against the Ottoman Empire begins, 1875

The first Father's Day is celebrated in Spokane, Washington, 1910

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are executed at Sing Sing, in New York, 1953

Kuwait declares independence from the United Kingdom, 1961

In one of the first militant attacks by Hezbollah, David S. Dodge, president of the American University in Beirut, is kidnapped, 1982

Norway ratifies the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention of 1989, 1990

Prime ministers of several northern European nations participate in a ceremonial "laying of the first stone" at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Spitsbergen, Norway, 2006

The first full genetic study of house cats, published in "Nature Ecology and Evolution", reveals that they were domesticated about 9,000 years ago, and are all descended from one species, the African wildcat, 2017

General Electric is dropped from the Dow Jones Index, the last original member from 1907, 2018

Joy Harjo is named the first Native American US Poet Laureate, 2019