Civic Association Sign (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 C. Lee McKenzie.     

This week's words are:

Gift

Surprise

Stubborn

Laughter

Generous

Flowers

and/or  

Yesterday

Lovely

Sprinkled

February

Husband

Marriage

"It's great to be back with you, kiddos, and especially in FEBRUARY, the month of love!"

Aunt Marigold had breezed in for a SURPRISE visit, "Just two days, kiddos, I have reservations in New Orleans, I've been invited to a Carnival Ball!  I haven't been to one of those in years!"

"It sounds like fun, Aunt Marigold," June said as Alan came in with cups of hot cocoa.

"They are, my dear, they're LOVELY.  Julius and I used to get an invitation to one once in so often, and if we could get there, we'd attend.  One year, it coincided with our wedding anniversary!  My, but that was an adventure."

"I don't believe I've heard that story," Alan said, handing the cocoa around.

"You know our MARRIAGE was a match made in Heaven, right?" Aunt Marigold had a faraway look in her eyes as she accepted her cup and both Alan and June thought they could detect the glint of a tear.

"I remember Uncle Julius as a very GENEROUS man.  Every time the two of you came back into the country to visit, there'd be a special GIFT for each one of us," Alan reminisced quietly.

"The year we were invited and it was on our anniversary, he made a huge deal of it, even more than usual.  Not just the regular carnival ball outfits, he commissioned a special matching set.  Not just a limousine to take us to the ball, but one strewn with my favorite FLOWERS all over the inside. He SPRINKLED jewelry all over me, I told him he wouldn't be able to see me for all the glint from the gems!   I remember like it was YESTERDAY, we danced and when the toast was made to the King and Queen of the ball, he quietly leaned over and said, 'You're my queen, you know.'

June and Alan sat quietly as Aunt Marigold stared past them, past everything, into the days when she danced with her first and only love.

With a sigh, Aunt Marigold continued.  "Of course, Julius  wasn't perfect any more than I am.  My HUSBAND could be STUBBORN on occasion.  But the LAUGHTER!  Oh, he was a great one to laugh.  That's what I miss the most.  When he was on duty as an ambassador he had to be very serious about his work, so when it was just the two of us, we made up for it in the laughing and enjoyment department."

All three of them sat and sipped their cocoa, each wrapped in their own thoughts.

"Alan, you do have a good Valentine's Day gift all picked out for June, don't you?"

"Yes, Aunt Marigold, and if you want, I'll show it to you tomorrow just to make sure you approve," Alan winked at June.

June piped up, "I have something special picked for him, too.  We even chose a menu to cook here at home, we both think it's much more cozy than trying to eat out on one of the busiest restaurant nights of the year."

"That's a grand idea!" Aunt Marigold smiled.

"I have an even better idea!" June said.  "How about if the three of us go out for a Valentine's Day dinner tomorrow, gifts and flowers and everything.  Beat the rush and celebrate together!"

"Kiddos, I don't want to butt into your Valentine's Day celebration!" Aunt Marigold started, but Alan jumped in.  "You aren't butting in!  I think it's a fabulous idea.  We'll still have our special menu dinner we'll cook together on the fourteenth, but I love the idea of all three of us celebrating together tomorrow."

"Please, Aunt Marigold?  Please?" June asked, making a funny pouty face, which Alan tried to imitate without much success, making them all laugh.

"You know what I think?" Aunt Marigold said, and before they could answer, she continued, "I think I have the best family in the world."

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

Today is:

Feast of Apollo -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Narvik Sun Pageant (Vinterfestuka) -- Norway (annual festival held since ancient times to honor the sun goddess)

National Bagels and Lox Day

National DAV (Develop Alternative Vices) Day -- internet generated, in hopes that bad habits will be altered to positive coping mechanisms

National Read in the Bathtub Day -- yes, the day has its own Facebook page 

Pizza Pie Day

Remembrance for Eyvind Kinnrifi -- Asatru/Slavic Pagan (martyr)

St. Apollonia's Day (Patron of dentists; Achterbos, Belgium; Ariccia, Italy; Cuccaro Monferrato, Italy; against toothaches, tooth disease)

St. Maroun's Day -- Lebanon (Syriac Maronite Church of Antioch, an Eastern Catholic Church)

Tales of Kelp-Koli begin -- Fairy Calendar (through the 16th)

Toothache Day -- and someone thought this needed a day because...?  Okay, I guess because there is a patron saint for it.  Or against it.  However that works.

Weather Day -- US (founding of the US Weather Service)

Birthdays Today:

David Gallagher, 1985

Ziyi Zhang, 1979

Mena Suvari, 1979

Shakira, 1977

Travis Tritt, 1963

Charles Shaughnessy, 1955

Judith Light, 1949

Mia Farrow, 1945

Alice Walker, 1944

Joe Pesci, 1943

Carole King, 1942

Janet Suzman, 1939

Roger Mudd, 1928

Brendan Behan, 1923

Kathryn Grayson, 1922

Bill Veeck, 1914

Gypsy Rose Lee, 1914

Ernest Tubb, 1914

Carmen Miranda, 1909

David Dean Rusk, 1909

Ronald Colman, 1891

Amy Lowell, 1874

William Henry Harrison, 1773

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Falstaff"(Verdi Opera), 1893

"Venice Preserv'd"(Otway Play), 1682

Today in History:

The Synod of Breslau orders Jews of Silesia to wear special caps, 1267

The first recorded race meet in England in Roodee Fields, Chester, 1540

The British ex-premier Walpole becomes the Earl of Oxford, 1742

After no presidential candidate receives a majority of electoral votes in the election of 1824, the United States House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams President of the United States, 1825

– The U.S. Weather Bureau is established, 1870

The first Japanese immigrants arrive in Hawaii, 1885

The Davis Cup competition is established, 1900

The first forestry school is incorporated at Kent, Ohio, 1909

Snow falls on Mauna Loa, Hawaii, 1922

Brazil becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty, 1922

Year-round Daylight saving time is re-instated in the United States as a wartime measure to help conserve energy resources, 1942

Joanne Woodward receives the first star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, 1960

Jamaica becomes an independent nation within the Commonwealth of Nations, 1962

The Beatles make their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, performing before a "record-busting" audience of 73 million viewers, 1964

First test flight of the Boeing 747, 1969

Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro League player to be voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, 1971

Space Shuttle astronauts Bernard A. Harris, Jr. and Michael Foale become the first African American and first Briton, respectively, to perform spacewalks, 1995

A storehouse of thirty Egyptian mummies is unearthed inside a 2,600-year-old tomb, 2009

Australian National University scientists discover the oldest known star at 13.6 billion years old, 2014

Storm Ciara has the unintended consequence of causing the fastest supersonic journey from New York to London by a British Airways Boeing 747-436; the plane reached speeds of 1,327 km/h / 825 mph and the trip took only 4 hours, 56 minutes, 2020

United Arab Emirates is the fifth entity to successfully orbit a probe around Mars, 2021