Excited (Six Sentence Story), Good Fences, Sammy’s Poetry Day, and Brian’s Thankful Thursday

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

We’re so excited, and we just can’t hide it!

rEcess is starting up again this week, and we’re planning on fun.     

As usual, i will handle the care and feeding of the volunteers, it’s jambalaya, white beans with rice, salad, and of course drinks and dessert.

We’re doing a Halloween theme, naturally, so there will be candy.

Becca will be there as my “assistant.”

We expect shenanigans, hijinks, and wheelchair races, let the wild rumpus begin!

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

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

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.     

They have a pretty front yard fence at this house.

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

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

He always keeps the orders comin’,

He wins awards and that’s a fact!

Since he done it, it ain’t braggin’,

I’m one proud boss, no need for tact!

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

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

Today i am thankful that Handyman Mike’s partner Ray is supposed to come change the oil and spark plugs in the generator.  Any time one runs for days and days (as ours did after the hurricane), you have to change the oil and spark plugs, and as they maintain a lot of generators, we’re finally getting our turn!

(And i'll bet you thought i was going to be thankful for rEcess starting gain!  Well, i am but i'll be thankful for that in more detail on Thankful Day/Saturday.)

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

Today is:

Agricultural Reform Day -- Sao Tome and Principe

Ask A Stupid Question Day -- teachers wanted to get students asking more questions, so they did, even if the questions were stupid; now, it's a holiday on the last school day of September each year! 

Celtic Tree Month Gort begins (Ivy)

Day of Liberation of the Republic of Abkhazia -- Abkhazia (disputed territory on the Black Sea)

Do Something Wacky With A Grandparent Day -- just not the monkey bars, please; old bones don't knit fast enough; whatever you do, take some pictures!

Eleusinian Mysteries -- Ancient Greek Calendar (the Greater Mystery Rites, date approximate; mystery rites of Demeter and Persephone at Eleusis, one of the most sacred times of their year)

Independence Day -- Botswana

International Translation Day -- International Federation of Translators 

Kokkeisetsu -- Chinatown, Yokohama, Japan (Chinese National Founding Day in the largest Chinatown in Japan; through tomorrow)

Medetrinalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (festival fruits offer to the goddess of medicine)

Monkey Bars Day -- a day to go see if you can still do tricks on the monkey bars, because the internet wants to kill us and let the machines that would never do anything so silly take over

National Hot Mulled Cider Day

National Mud Pack Day -- give yourself a facial

St. Gregory the Enlightener (or Illuminator; Patron of Armenia)

St. Jerome's Day (Patron of archaeologists, archivists, Biblical scholars, librarians, libraries, school children, students, translators; Saint-Jerome, Quebec) 

     also an Apache celebration of Geronimo, the Native American who was named after this saint

World Maritime Day -- UN and IMO (this year's theme is “Seafarers: At the Core of Shipping's Future") 

Anniversary Today:

Haleakala National Park is established in Maui, Hawaii, 1960

Birthdays Today:

Dominique Moceanu, 1981

Marion Cotillard, 1975

Jenna Elfman, 1971

Crystal Bernard, 1964

Eric Stoltz, 1961

Fran Drescher, 1957

Deborah Allen, 1953

Victoria Tennant, 1953

Marilyn McCoo, 1943

Z.Z. Hill, 1935

Johnny Mathis, 1935

Angie Dickinson, 1931

Elie Wiesel, 1928

W. S. Merwin, 1927

Truman Capote, 1924

Deborah Kerr, 1921

Buddy Rich, 1917

William Wrigley, Jr., 1861

Rumi, 1207

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Millie's Book: As Dictated to Barbara Bush(Publication date), 1990

"Murder, She Wrote"(TV), 1984

"Cheers"(TV), 1982

"Love Child"(Single release), 1968

"The Flintstones"(TV), 1960

"Tea and Sympathy"(Play), 1953

"The Red Skelton show"(TV), 1951

"Porgy and Bess"(Opera), 1935

Little Women(Publication date), 1868

"Les pecheurs de perles/The Pearl Fishers"(Bizet opera), 1863

"Die Zauberflote/The Magic Flute"(Mozart opera, K. 620), 1791

The Gutenberg Bible(first section, publication date), 1452

Today in History:

Rambam (Maimonides) authorizes Samuel Ibn Tibbon to translate the Guide of the Perplexed from Arabic into Hebrew, 1199

Anesthetic ether is used for the first time by Dr. William Morton, who extracted a tooth, 1846

German scientist Hermann von Meyer announces the discovery of the first fossil of an archaeopteryx, 1861

The first Portuguese immigrants arrive in Hawai'i, 1878

The world's first commercial hydroelectric power plant begins operation on the Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States, 1882

Hubert Cecil Booth patents the vacuum cleaner, 1901

The first manned rocket plane flight, made by auto maker Fritz von Opel, 1929

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan and Yemen join the United Nations, 1947

The World Series, featuring the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers, is televised for the first time, 1947

The U.S. Navy submarine USS Nautilus is commissioned as the world's first nuclear reactor powered vessel, 1954

James Dean is killed in a road accident, 1955

Mexican-American labor leader César Chávez founds the United Farm Workers, 1962

James Meredith enters the University of Mississippi, defying segregation, 1962

General Suharto rises to power in Indonesia after an alleged coup by communists, and massacres over a million Indonesian people suspected of belonging to the Communist Party, 1965

BBC Radio 1 is launched and Tony Blackburn presents its first show, 1967

Ethernet specifications are published by Xerox working with Intel and Digital Equipment Corporation, 1980 

The Dalai Lama unveils the Canadian Tribute to Human Rights in Canada's capital city of Ottawa, 1990

The first images of a live giant squid in its natural habitat are taken 600 miles south of Tokyo, 2004

The controversial drawings of Muhammad are printed in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, 2005

A case of Ebola virus is diagnosed in Dallas, Texas, US, 2014

A 315 billion-ton iceberg named D28 calves from the Amery ice shelf, Antarctica, 2019

Does Everyone Keep A Garlic Bowl in the Bedroom?(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 Cindi and posted on her page Of Dandelions and Sunshine.     

 The Challenge:  They say a picture is worth 1,000 words.  Write at least 100 words about the image below.

It was the prettiest house in the area.

Even though it was mostly hidden, and people passed it by all the time for the showier homes up the road, I knew in my heart this one was the loveliest little place around.  

When our family would drive past, I'd watch for it and dream about going to visit, although I had no idea who lived there or how I'd ever get an invitation.

In later years, when I was old enough to drive and I'd pass it, I noticed it didn't seem as well kept as when I was young, and I wondered if it was just my imagination.  Maybe my childhood dreams of it had embellished it.

It wasn't my imagination, I realized, when eventually a For Sale sign appeared at the road.  I inquired about it on a whim, and I couldn't believe what the agent told me.  The owners had died some years before, the heirs fought and squabbled and no one wanted to live there, so it just sat.  Now the legal battles were over and they were letting it go cheap, so would I like to see it?

Would I!!!  Finally, a chance to see it up close.  In spite of the obviously needed repairs, once I was in it I knew it was, indeed, the prettiest house I'd ever seen.  There was just something special about it.

By now I had a good job and still just enough of the dreamer in me to go for it.  It took years of work, and mistakes, and more years of work, but I'd never trade a moment of it, because now that it's restored I absolutely live in the prettiest little house that ever was.

(Based loosely on a house near here that i always believed, and still believe, is the prettiest house ever.  It did sit empty for years, and was finally bought by a couple who lovingly restored it, and it's a delight to drive past and see it.)

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

Today is:

Banned Websites Awareness Day -- sponsored by the American Association of School Librarians   

Battle of Boqueron Day -- Paraguay

Constitution Day -- Brunei

Festival of Tezcatzonctl -- Ancient Aztec Calendar (chief god of intoxication; date approximate)

Gwynn ap Nudd's Fest -- Celtic Calendar (god of the underworld; date approximate)

International Coffee Day -- and i thought this was every day!  

Inventors Day -- Argentina

Make a List of the Top Ten Happiest Days in Your Life Day -- must have been started by an optimist

Mutation Day -- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

National Attend Your Grandchild's Birth Day -- attendingthebirth.com; a day to remind grandparents to be active in their grandchildren's lives (and if you need a reminder, i wonder about you; if you aren't allowed by bitter parents, i feel badly for you)

National Mocha Day

National Women's Health and Fitness Day -- US, sponsored by Fitness Day    

Quick Draw Day -- debut of Quick Draw McGraw and his side kick, Baba Looey, in 1959

Sts. Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and All Angels' Day  (Michaelmas)

     Archangel Gabriel, Patron of broadcasters, clergy, communication workers, diplomats, messengers, philatelists/stamp collectors, post offices and postal workers, radio and radio workers, secular clergy, telecommunication workers, telgraphers, telephones, television and television workers; Argentinian ambassadors; Seattle, Washington

     Archangel Michael, Patron of artists, bakers, bankers and banking, barrel makers/coopers, battle, boatmen/mariners/sailors/watermen, dying people, emergency medical technicians/paramedics/ambulance drivers, fencers and fencing, grocers and greengrocers, haberdashers and hatmakers, knights, milleners, paratroopers, police officers, radiologists and radiotherapists, security guards, sick people, soldiers, swordsmiths; for a holy death and safety at sea; England, Germany, and over 25 cities around the world; against danger at sea and temptation.     

     Archangel Raphael, Patron of apothecaries/druggists/pharmacists, blind people, doctors/physicians, guardian angels, happy meetings, love and lovers, mentally ill people, nurses, shepherdesses/shepherds, sick people, travellers, young people; Dubuque, Iowa; MacKenzie-Fort Smith, Northwest Territories; Seattle, Washington; against bodily ills, eye diseases/eye problems, insanity/mental illness, nightmares, sickness

     related observances:

     National Day of Remembrance for Policemen Killed -- Australia (St. Michael, Patron of police officers)

     Payment of Quit Rent by London Royal Courts of Justice -- Michaelmas is a traditional English "Quarter Day", when rents come due

VFW Day -- US (The Veterans of Foreign Wars was established on this day in 1899)

World Heart Day -- International (to raise awareness of the signs and dangers of cardiovascular disease)

Birthdays Today:

Emily Lloyd, 1970

John Paxton, 1960

Bryant Gumbel, 1948

Patricia Hodge, 1946

Lech Walesa, 1943

Dave Wilcox, 1942

Ian McShane, 1942

Madeline Kahn, 1942

Jerry Lee Lewis, 1935

Anita Ekberg, 1931

Lizabeth Scott, 1922

Trevor Howard, 1916

Stanley Kramer, 1913

Michelangelo Antonioni, 1912

Greer Garson, 1908

Gene Autry, 1907

Enrico Fermi, 1901

Horatio Nelson, 1758

Miguel de Cervantes, 1547

Pompey the Great, BC106

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Grace Under Fire"(TV), 1993

"Thirtysomething"(TV), 1987

"Designing Women"(TV), 1986

"MacGyver"(TV), 1985

"Houdini, A Circus Opera"(Opera), 1977

"The Judy Garland Show"(TV), 1963

"My Favorite Martian"(TV), 1963

"The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Show"(TV), 1962

"My Three Sons"(TV), 1960

"Outlaws"(TV), 1960

"The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis"(TV), 1959

"Sergeant Preston of the Yukon"(TV), 1955

"A View from the Bridge"(Play), 1955

The Barefoot Contessa(Film), 1954

A Star is Born(Film), 1954

"Make Room for Daddy"(TV), 1953

Today in History:

Darius I of Persia kills the Magian usurper Gaumata, securing his hold as king of the Persian Empire, BC522

Battle of Salamis, at which the Greek fleet under Themistocles defeats the Persian fleet under Xerxes I, BC480

Pompey the Great Celebrates ending the Mithridatic Wars on his 45th birthday, BC61

Saladin's army marches into Jerusalem, 1187

The First Congress of the US adjourns, 1789

"Scotland Yard", London's Metropolitan Police Force, goes on duty, 1829

The first practical public electric tramway ever opens in Blackpool, England, 1885

John D. Rockefeller becomes the first billionaire, 1916

The convention establishing CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) is signed, 1954

Alouette 1, the first Canadian satellite, is launched, 1962

WGPR in Detroit, Michigan, becomes the world's first black-owned-and-operated television station, 1975

Pope John Paul II becomes the first pope to set foot on Irish soil with his pastoral visit to the Republic of Ireland, 1979

The asteroid 4179 Toutatis passes within four lunar distances of Earth, 2004

The Dow Jones Industrial Average falls 777.68 points, the largest single-day point loss in its history, 2008

An 8.0 magnitude earthquake near the Samoan Islands causes a tsunami, 2009

The Koreas agree, for the first time in two years, to hold working-level military talks, 2010

Researchers discover a biofluorescent hawksbill sea turtle in waters off of the Solomon Islands; though biofluorescence has been observed in captive reptiles, this is the first occurrence seen in a wild reptile, 2015

Scientists confirm that Mars does have underground lakes, 2020