A Beautiful Start (Wordless Wednesday) and Words for Wednesday

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Linking up with Wordless Wednesday and Sandee at Comedy Plus.     

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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 Elephant’s Child.     

This week's prompts are:

1. Thread
2. Butterflies
3. Say
4. Unsuitable
5. Sea
6. Shattered

And/or

1. Press
2. Eyelids
3. Spaghetti
4. Standing
5. Cardboard
6. Dumped

She barely followed the THREAD of the conversation, STANDING at the stove babysitting the SPAGHETTI.  They moved from BUTTERFLIES (which stage is called chrysalis and which is the pupal stage?) to SEA creatures (which ones have EYELIDS?).  She kept her mind on the pot, not wanting the pasta to turn out either like CARDBOARD or mush, but didn’t want the conversation degenerating into anything UNSUITABLE so she kept her ears open also.

These children she watched behaved well most of the time, but once in so often they’d get into a rip roaring yelling match that SHATTERED the peace and quiet.  She wasn’t wanting to have one of those nights, since their parents only needed her for a couple of hours while they went to a neighborhood meeting.  A quick supper of pasta with marinara and salad, baths and ready for bed by the time their parents came home was her plan.

While she DUMPED the spaghetti into the strainer in the sink, she heard one of them SAY, “Well, I don’t think that’s a good idea!”

“Don’t PRESS this issue any further!” she said, rather sharply.  Both boys looked at her quizzically.  “What do you mean?”

“Don’t be cutting down each other’s ideas, I don’t need an argument tonight, just for you to eat and bathe and behave.”

“No,” the younger said, “it’s a friend of mine at school who has an idea for a prank he wants to play for April Fools...”

“And I really don’t think it’s a good idea,” the elder finished up.

“You can tell me about it over supper,” she said, “and if it really is a bad idea, instead of either of you being the tell tale at school, I’ll clue my sister in, she’s one of the teachers there.”

It ended up being a really good night.

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Today is:

A Colonial Christmas -- Jamestown Settlement, Williamsburg, VA, US (through Dec. 31; enjoy 17th- and 18th-century Christmas traditions, comparing those of England and the Colonies)

Antarctica Day -- celebrating the Continent of Peace and Science  

Barbes Diena -- Ancient Latvian Calendar (celebrates the fertility of sheep)

Basketball Day -- commonly seen as the day Dr. James Naismith invented the game; while we know it was early in December, 1891, i cannot find any credible source that says it was on this date

Becky Thatcher Day -- birthday of Laura Hawkins, in 1836, who inspired the character in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Bifocals at the Monitor Liberation Day -- if you can't see, feel free! sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Carnival of Celendonia -- Fairy Calendar (Celendonia is the Fairy City all Fairies want to retire to, by the way.)

Chia Pet Hunting Season begins

Christmas in Old Appalachia -- Clinton, TN, US (an old fashioned country Christmas; through Christmas Eve)

Christmas New Orleans Style -- New Orleans, LA, US (a full month of Christmas celebrations as only NOLA can do it)

Civil Air Patrol Day -- US (date of establishment in 1941; the US Coast Guard rescues you from peril on the water, the CAP on land)

Cookie Cutter Week begins -- sponsored by the Cookie Cutter Collectors Club

Crossing of the Cattle at Diafarabe -- Mali (celebrated through the month)

Damrong Rajanubhab Day -- Thailand (anniversary of the prince's death)

Day of the First President -- Kazakhstan

Eat A Red Apple Day

Freedom and Democracy Day -- Chad

Fullveldisdagurinn Islendinga -- Iceland (Self-governance Day)

     University Students' Celebration Day

International Prisoners for Peace Day -- a day to remember imprisoned conscientious objectors

Kalends of December -- Ancient Roman Calendar; also observed

     Festival for Neptune -- promiscuous god of the sea

     Festival for Pietas -- goddess of devotion, duty, and honor

Mindfulness Day -- Zen Buddhism (a day to mindfully see and act with compassion toward the poor and oppressed)

My Husband's Strung the Christmas Lights and Now I Can't Open the Garage Door Day -- commemorating an alleged real event, be glad this isn't your husband

National Pie Day

National Stress-Free Family Holidays Month -- sponsored by Parenting Without Pressure

National Transit Tribute to Rosa Parks Day -- American Public Transportation Association, on the anniversary of her arrest

Operation Santa Paws -- toy/treat/care drive to help local animal shelters, until the 21st; sponsored by Haute Dogs

Proclamation of the Republic -- Central African Republic

Restoration of Independence -- Portugal(1640)

Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting -- NY, NY, US

Rosa Parks Day -- anniversary of her arrest in 1955

Special Kids Day -- a day to make sure special needs kids get to visit Santa with whatever accomodations they require    

St. Eligius' Day (Patron of agricultural workers/farmers, blacksmiths/ horseshoe makers, boilermakers, cab drivers/taxi drivers, carriage makers, cartwrights, clock makers/watch makers, coin collectors/neumismatists, craftsmen, cutlers, farriers, garage workers and gas station workers -- because most of us don't use horses any more, gilders, goldsmiths, harness makers, horses/sick horses, jewelers, jockeys, knife makers, laborers, locksmiths, metal collectors/precious metal collectors, metalsmiths, miners, minters, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, saddle makers, tool makers, veterinarians, wheelwrights)

Surf Life Saving Summer Appeal -- New Zealand (Formerly National Jandal Day, now a three month campaign to raise money to support the Surf Lifeguards who keep you safe) 

Teachers' Day -- Panama

World AIDS Day -- WHO; related observance

     Day With(OUT) Art -- annual remembrance of the impact of AIDS on the visual arts, sponsored by Visual AIDS

Ziua Unirii -- Romania (National Day)

Anniversaries Today:

Yukon Order of Pioneers founded, 1894

US National Weather Service established, 1870

Napoleon marries Josephine, 1804

Birthdays Today:

Nestor Carbonell, 1967

Reggie Sanders, 1967

Carol Alt, 1960

Treat Williams, 1952

Bette Midler, 1945

John Densmore, 1944

Richard Pryor, 1940

Lee Trevino, 1939

Woody Allen, 1935

Lou Rawls, 1933

David Doyle, 1925

Mary Martin, 1913

Charles Finney, 1905

Robert Welch, 1899

Cyril Ritchard, 1897

Rex Stout, 1886

Julia A. Davis Moore, 1847

Anna Maria Grosholtz Tussaud (Madame Tussaud), 1761

Oliver Wolcott, 1726

Louis VI of France, 1081

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Happy XMas(War is Over)"(Single release), 1971

"Promises, Promises"(Musical), 1969

"Flower Drum Song"(Musical), 1958

"Candide"(Operetta), 1956

The Great Train Robbery(First Western film), 1903

Sherlock Holmes, in "A Study in Scarlet"(Published in Beeton's Christmas Annual), 1887

Dr. Pepper, 1885 (recognition by US Patent Office of first day of sale)

Today in History:

Henry V of England enters Paris, 1420

Pasha Muhammad ibn Farukh, governor, driven out of Jerusalem, 1626

Portugal regains independence from Spain, 1640

Massachusetts becomes first colony to give Statutory recognition to slavery, 1641

The first American school to offer manual training courses opens in Maryland, 1750

Charles and M.N. Roberts ascend 2,000' in a hydrogen balloon, 1783

Erie Canal closes for a month due to cold weather, 1831

Hans Christian Andersen publishes his first book of fairy tales, 1835

The first chartered mutual life insurance company opens, 1843

The first certified public accountants receive their certificates in New York, 1896

The first Israeli kibbutz is founded, Deganya Alef, 1909

Ford Motor Company introduces the first moving assembly line, 1913

The first drive-up gasoline station opens in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, 1913

Lady Nancy Astor is sworn in as the first female member of the British Parliament, 1919

The New York Daily News reports the news of Christine Jorgenson, the first notable case of sexual reassignment surgery, 1952

Opening date for signature of the Antarctic Treaty, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on the continent, 1959

Malawi, Malta and Zambia join the United Nations, 1964

Lambda Theta Phi is established as the first Latino fraternity, in New Jersey, 1975

Angola joins the United Nations, 1976

The AIDS virus is officially recognized, 1981

At the University of Utah, Barney Clark becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart, 1982

Channel Tunnel sections started from the United Kingdom and France meet 40 metres beneath the seabed, 1990

Representatives from more than 150 countries gather at a global warming summit in Kyoto, Japan, and over the course of the next ten days forge an agreement to control the emission of greenhouse gases, 1997

The Treaty of Lisbon comes into effect,  which amends the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community, which together comprise the constitutional basis of European Union, 2009

In ceremonies held at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia, the USS Enterprise, the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, is officially inactivated after a 51-year career, 2012

Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn is declared King of Thailand, succeeding his father King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 2016

Japanese broadcaster NHK launches the world's first super-high definition 8K television channel, 2018

Syrian shadow puppetry is added to the UN's list of cultural activities in urgent need of saving, 2019

The Chinese robotic spacecraft Chang’e-5 lands on the Moon as part of two-day mission to retrieve rock samples, 2020