What The Big Boss Gave Us For Christmas (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 Hilary Melton-Butcher and will be posted by Elephant's Child.          

This week's prompts are:

1. Tangled
2. Cream   
3. Gloom  
4. Movement  
5. Visionary    
6. Bounds

And/or 

1. Vista                                               
2. Carrot                                            
3. Lyric                                                
4. Boater                                             
5. Dandelion                                      
6. Gorgonzola                                   

 

"You have to admit I was a VISIONARY when I bought this craft and turned you into a BOATER like me."

The Captain, as he liked to call himself when he was on board, smiled in self-satisfaction as he swayed with the MOVEMENT of the sea.  His "first mate" and wife of enough years to know when to indulge him and when to tell him to knock it off, just laughed.

"As long as you don't expect me to wax LYRIC about the GORGONZOLA cheese dip.  I think it's giving me indigestion."

They were out for an early evening sail on the smallest boat that could still be called a yacht, and he was in high cotton.  He wore what he liked to think of as clothing befitting his station, all from the color palette that included DANDELION and CARROT and CREAM.  She just shook her head, knowing that as much time as he spent on the TANGLED ropes, she would spend an equal amount trying to get the stains out of his outfit.

No matter the difficulties, he thought of himself as a natural born sailor, and tackled each problem that came up with vigor.  So far, they'd enjoyed their trips, even with the challenges.  His belief that they'd be pros in no time knew no BOUNDS.

They sat back and watched the VISTA before them, then made sure they got back to the dock before the GLOOM of night.  Neither of them were quite ready for being out after dark.  They'd get there, though.  He'd accept nothing less.

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Today is:

Apple Howling Day -- Henfield, West Sussex (Held at Gill Orchard, always on Epiphany Eve, horn blowing and howling at the trees is said to wake them up and yield a good crop.)

Armenian Christmas Eve -- Armenia (Old Chrismas Day in the West)

Can Opener Day -- one of the earliest forms of can opener was patented this date in 1858 by Ezra Warner of CT, US (tin cans had been around for over 50 years by then, usually opened with a knife or hammer and chisel)

Epiphany Fair -- Piazza Navona, Rome, Italy (toys, sweets, and presents among the beautiful Bernini Fountains)

Get on the Computer Day -- obviously dates back to a time when people didn't have to check email daily or get inundated

Guru Gobindh Singh Birthday -- Sikh

Joma Shinji Festival -- Kamakura, Japan (ceremony and festival to keep evil spirits away)

Mungday -- Discordianism (festival of St. Hung Mung)

National Bird Day -- US (National Association of Audubon Societies incorporated today in 1905)

National Whipped Cream Day

Nones of January -- Ancient Roman Calendar; also

     Festival of Vica Pota (ancient goddess of victory)

Review Your Wrestling Holds Day -- internet generated, and weird

St. Gerlac of Valkenberg's Day (Patron of domestic animals)

St. Simeon Stylites' Day (The original and most maniacal of the "Pillar Saints")

Take the Cake Day -- a day to do something, anything, over the top, just because

Trettondagsafton -- Sweden (Epiphany Eve)

Turn Up the Heat Day -- all over the internet, but no one explains it

Twelfth Day of Christmas -- and thus, Twelfth Night (and tomorrow, Kings Day, starts Carnival Season!)

Ume Matsuri -- Atami, Japan (celebrating the ume -- plum -- at one of the most famous plum viewing spots in the country; through early to mid-March)

Anniversaries Today:

George Washington marries Martha Dandridge Custis, 1759

Birthdays Today:

January Jones, 1978

Bradley Cooper, 1975

Warrick Dunn, 1975

Carrie Ann Inaba, 1968

Pamela Sue Martin, 1953

Diane Keaton, 1946

Charlie Rose, 1942

Juan Carlos I, King of Spain, 1938

Umberto Eco, 1932

Alvin Ailey, 1931

Robert Duvall, 1931

Walter Mondale, 1928

George Reeves, 1914

George Dolenz, 1908

Jeannette Ridlon Piccard, 1895

King Camp Gillette, 1855

Edmund Ruffin, 1794

Constanze Mozart, 1762 (wife of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)

Pietro Filippo Scarlotti, 1679

Shah Jahal, 1592 (Mughal emperor of India, built the Taj Mahal)

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"All My Children"(TV), 1970

"Bozo the Clown"(TV), 1959

"The Member of the Wedding"(Play), 1950

"Pepe LePew"(cartoon character, in "Odor-able Kitty"), 1945

Today in History:

Edward the Confessor dies with no heir, leading to a succession crisis that ends with the Norman Conquest, 1066

Felix Manz, a leader of the Anabaptist congregation in Zürich, is executed by drowning, 1527

Pope Clemens VII forbids English king Henry VIII to re-marry, 1531

A petition in Recife, Brazil leads to closing of their 2 synagogues, 1638

Anne Clarke of the Massachusetts Bay Colony is granted the first divorce in the colonies, from her absent and adulterous husband, Denis Clarke, by the Quarter Court of Boston, Massachusetts, 1643

The first Swedenborgian temple in the US holds its first service, in Baltimore, 1800

The Ohio legislature passes the first laws restricting the movement of free blacks, 1804

Davy Crockett arrives in Texas, just in time for the Alamo, 1836

The US House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Territory with the UK, 1846

The first US school of librarianship opens at Columbia University, 1887

An Austrian newspaper makes the first public report on Wilhelm Roentgen's discovery of xrays, 1896

The National Association of Audubon Society incorporates, 1905

Colombia recognizes Panama's independence, 1909

The Ford Motor Company announces an eight-hour workday and a minimum wage of $5 for a day's labor, 1914

British premier Lloyd George issues a demand for a unified peace, 1918

Nellie Taylor Ross is sworn in as governor of Wyoming, the first woman governor of a US state, 1925

Mao Tse-tung writes "A Single Spark Can Start A Prairie Fire," 1930

FM radio is demonstrated to the Federal Communications Commission for the first time, 1940

The Daily Mail becomes the first transoceanic newspaper, 1944

Warmest reliably measured temperature in Antarctica of +59°F (+15°C) recorded at Vanda Station, 1974

Eris, the largest known dwarf planet in the solar system, is discovered, 2005

The tomb of an Egyptian queen, Khentakawess III, is discovered by a team of Czech archaeologists; the queen lived during the Fifth Dynasty and was likely the wife of Pharaoh Neferefre, 2015

The Orthodox Church of Ukraine is granted independence from the Russian Orthodox Church by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, 2019

Chinese professor Zhang Yongzhen publishes the first SARS-CoV-2 genome map online, allowing health professionals worldwide to identify COVID-19, 2020