Wednesday, November 17, 2021

Ladies' Meeting Again (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 Margaret Adamson and her friend, Sue Fulcher.  They will also feature photographs by Margaret's friend, Bill Dodd The prompts will be posted on  Elephant’s Child's blog.              


This week the prompts are the following images:






Petya shuffled past the abandoned factory, kicking a stone along the road with him.  He walked past it daily on the way to school, a sight so common he didn't even notice it any longer.


He used to ask his father what was behind the boarded windows and crumbling iron fence, but his father just told him not to ask.  "It no longer concerns us, best to not ask too many questions."


When he asked his grandfather, the older man just looked past him with a glint of a tear in his eye.  "It was once a pride and joy.  Not any more."  After that, his grandfather wouldn't say anything else about it.


It had been the work in the factory that had brought prosperity to the area, and it was the closing of it that plunged everything into a slow and inevitable decline.  After many years of study, Petya went away to the University.  Studying economics among many other subjects, he began to understand more about the place that had dominated the background of his childhood, shaping his family as one of the "ones that stayed."


It explained his father's reluctance to dwell on the past, his grandfather's sadness over the loss.  It shaped him into one of the new generation that tried to bring renewal.  When roots run deep in a place, he realized, you just can't give up.



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



Today is:


Army Day -- Democratic Republic of the Congo


Beaujolais Nouveau Release -- France (at midnight, so really most of the celebration is tomorrow, a new wine celebration marked with fireworks and festivities)


Coping With Uncertainty Day -- of uncertain origin, as it should be


Electronic Greeting Card Day -- internet generated, and of course probably started by the electronic greeting card websites


Geographic Information Systems Day   


Homemade Bread Day -- use the bread machine, it's fun and easy, i promise!  sponsored by the Homemade Bread Day Committee of Ann Arbor, MI, US


International Students Day -- International (meant to celebrate all students around the world, not specifically students studying in countries other than their own; anniversary of the Nazi storming and closing of the University of Prague)


John Peter Zenger Day -- marking his arrest in 1734 for libel; he continued to edit his newspaper from jail and was acquitted, an early victory for freedom of the press


National Baklava Day


National Educational Support Professionals Day -- US


National Farm Joke Day


National Unfriend Day -- all those people on Facebook you regret accepting as friends?  Jimmy Kimmel suggests you unfriend them today!


Polytechneio -- Greece (anniversary of the 1973 student protests against the junta)


Presidents' Day -- Marshall Islands


Public Restroom Hand Dryer Appreciation Day -- internet generated, and why?  they've been proven less sanitary, blowing germs everywhere; i will not appreciate this one


Repentance Day -- Saxony, Germany (Day of Prayer and Repentance [Buss und Bettag])

     Buss und Bettag -- German speaking Lutheran, Reformed, and United Protestants (Day of Repentance and Prayer)


Shogi Day -- Japan (celebrating shogi, a chess-like game)


St. Elizabeth of Hungary's Day (Patron of bakers, beggars, brides, charitable societies, charitable workers, countesses, exiles, falsely accused people, hoboes, homeless people, hospitals, lace makers/lace workers, nursing homes, nursing services, people in exile, people ridiculed for their piety, tertiaries, tramps, widows; Sisters of Mercy; Teutonic Knights; Erfurt, Germany; Jaro, Philippines; against in-law problems, the death of children, toothache)


St. Hilda's Day (Patron of learning and culture)


St. Hugh of Lincoln's Day (Patron of sick children, sick people, swans)


Struggle for Freedom and Democracy Day -- Czech Republic; Slovakia


Take A Hike Day -- internet generated, and some websites say it's actually "Tell Your Boss to Take a Hike Day", but i don't recommend that unless you've recently inherited a fortune or won the Lotto


Winter Welcome Quadrilles and Dainty-Sixes -- Fairy Calendar


World COPD Day -- International (helping people understand Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease; this year's theme is "Healthy Lungs:  Never More Important")   


World Prematurity Day -- International (raising awareness about premature birth, the leading cause of newborn death each year, and what can be done to prevent it)    




Birthdays Today:


Isaac Hanson, 1980

Laura Wilkinson, 1977

Matthew Settle, 1969

Daisy Fuentes, 1966

Sophie Marceau, 1966

Dylan Walsh, 1963

RuPaul, 1960

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, 1958

Danny DeVito, 1944

Lauren Hutton, 1944

Lorne Michaels, 1944

Tom Seaver, 1944

Lauren Hutton, 1943

Martin Scorsese, 1942

Gordon Lightfoot, 1938

Rock Hudson, 1925

Sichiro Honda, 1906

Lee Strassberg, 1901

Bernard Law Montgomery, 1887

August Mobius, 1790

John Peter Zenger, 1734

Atahualpa, last Emperor of the Inca, 1502

Flavius Claudius Julianus, Roman Emperor, 331

Vespian, Roman Emperor, 9



Debuting/Premiering Today:


"Sunset Boulevard"(Musical), 1994

"Rumors"(Simon play), 1988

"The Elephant Man"(Play), 1977

"The Sorcerer"(Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera), 1877

"Andromaque"(Racine tragedy), 1667



Today in History:


Diocletian is proclaimed emperor by his soldiers, 284

England and Spain sign an anti-French covenant/treaty, 1511

Elizabeth I ascends the English throne, 1558

France and Spain sign the Peace of the Pyrenees treaty, 1659

The Church of England organizes in New England, 1785

Congress holds its first session in the still incomplete Capitol Building of Washington, D.C., 1800

The Delta Phi fraternity, America's oldest continuous social fraternity, is founded at Union College in Schenectady, New York, 1827

Ecuador and Venezuela separate from Greater Colombia, 1831

Street signs are first authorized at San Francisco intersections, 1853

David Livingstone becomes the first European to see Victoria Falls, 1855

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Slavonic March is given its première performance in Moscow, 1876

Japan and Korea sign The Eulsa Treaty, 1905

The first US dental hygienist course is formed, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, 1913

US declares the Panama Canal Zone to be neutral, 1914

Lenin defends the "temporary" removal of freedom of the press, 1917

American scientists John Bardeen and Walter Brattain observe the basic principles of the transistor, a key element for the electronics revolution of the 20th Century, 1947

Douglas Engelbart receives the patent for the first computer mouse, 1970

In Czechoslovakia, the Velvet Revolution that would overthrow the communist government begins when student protests in Prague are quelled by riot police, 1989

Brian May of the rock band Queen was appointed Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University, 2007

In Sweden, divers find the wreckage of the Svardet, a warship sunk in 1676 during the Battle of Oland, 2011

The Church of England adopts legislation enabling the appointment of female bishops, 2014

A smaller pyramid found within 2 known Kukulkan "nesting" pyramids dating from 550-580 AD is announced at Chichen Itza in Yucatan, Mexico, 2016

19 comments:

  1. The meetings photos look yummy. I abstain from reading your WfW until I wrote something, or I've given up ;) Tyhanks fo the lists.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love your story - and the world needs more Petyas. Many more.

    ReplyDelete
  3. PS: If you prefer embedded comments I have found a way to comment - using a different browser for the moment. And thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nice photos the food looks delish I hope you saved me some heheh!

    Have a yummytastic week 👍

    ReplyDelete
  5. I see avocados. I love them!
    It is always sad to see a big old building going to decay.

    ReplyDelete
  6. We have a similar fence in our back garden.

    God bless.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ladies always have food at get togethers. The bars look really yummy!

    ReplyDelete
  8. It's so nice to be able to get together again.

    ReplyDelete
  9. coppee & paste stopped bye ta help out with R commint two day coz de gurlz still sneekin round de inter webz frum werk. we wanted ta say how veree thanx ful we iz that ewe taked de time ta leeve a message on me good bye post. we a purreciatez it mor N ewe noe. bee happee & healthee & blessed bye me heer roe st francis. lovez two ewe all wayz frum de food servizz gurl and mee; tuna ♥♥

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh you ladies had a great time together. I can just tell. I helped myself.

    Love your use of the prompts. That's been played over many times over the generations. Well done.

    Thank you for joining the Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop.

    Have a fabulous Wordless Wednesday. Big hug. ♥

    ReplyDelete
  11. Are those blondies? I ignored all the healthy items on that table, and my eyes went straight for the dessert!

    I love that story, you can take an abandoned factory window and tell a poignant story - I just love your writing skills.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Lots of good food for the ladies. I like your story.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Perfect pictures to accompany your great story.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Yummy bites and your story fit those photos- time marches on and sometimes there are losses along the way- poignant story. Thanks Mimi!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I enjoyed your story and photos. I'd really enjoy those treats too!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Oh Yum! I would live some of those treats! And the story ROCKS!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Well done on the story. That is true of so many towns. My hubby's dad started a backhoe business in the mill yard in our town in the 1950's and it broke my hubby's heart to close it in 2005.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Very nice story, although now I am wondering what was made in that factory and why it could not continue.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Glad you ladies had a grand time ~ yummy looking food ~ delish ~ Xo

    Living in the moment,

    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.