Can’t Boil Water (Cajun Joke) and Sunday Selections

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Just because Sandee of Comedy Plus is no longer hosting a Silly Sunday blog hop, do not expect me to quit telling Cajun jokes, especially as it has now become a habit.

Grandma has always enjoyed sweets, and like so many women i've known and tended in their elder years sweets are starting to make up the bulk of her diet.  (Some might remember Ms. PA, who still has only cake and milk for lunch each day, and Ms. S, whose capacity for eating nothing but sugar was legendary.)

When we go to the store now, we have to be sure to get her ice cream, her fruit flavored yoghurt, her cookies, her chips, and her gelatin and pudding cups.

The latter two she insists must be sugar free.  We're not sure why, but she insists she's trying to watch her sugar intake, while asking for Fritos and ice cream for lunch.  We just go with it.

Grandpa makes no such pretense, he wants gelatin, too, but he wants the regular stuff.  When we were at the store yesterday at the section with the pre-made sweetened gelatin cups he asked, "Do they still make the boxes of mix where you make your own?"  He was talking about boxes of Jell-O mix, which was all that was available when we were children.

Yes, i told him, you can buy the boxes and make your own gelatin, it's easy.  "I want to try that, where can I find that?"  Sending him to the cake mix and dessert aisle of the store, i continued to pick out what Grandma wanted.

Heading to the checkout, i told him it was easy to make the Jell-O he'd found, just dissolve in hot water, add cold water and ice, then let it thicken for a while in the fridge.  He was quite surprised it was that easy.  Back at the house, he told Grandma, "I'm going to make my own Jell-O, it's cheaper.  I'm going to experiment!"

Knowing him, he'll not only figure it out, he'll have another recipe under his belt to go with his killer meatballs and sauce and his fabulous sautéed shrimp.

Boudreaux done be decide he goin' cook a recipe he done foun' in de paper dat he t'ink he can make.  Clothile done try talk him out o' it, but it be no use.

When Aline an' Tee done get home from de school, dey see Clothile settin' on de po'ch an' ax, "Mère, what be wrong?"

"Boudreaux be done goin' cook de dinner," she say.

"Mère, non!  Din't you try talk him out o' it?" ax Aline.

"Course I did!" Clothile exclaim.

"What we be goin' do?" ax Tee.

An' Clothile say, "Mais, de same t'ing I allus do, I done took de batt'ry out de smoke alarm 'til dinner be done an' I gots the fire extinguisher where's I can reach it!"

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Sunday Selections was started as a way for bloggers to use photos that might otherwise just languish in their files.  The rules have been relaxed, and it is now simply a showcase for your photos, new or old, good or bad, although nothing rude, please.  It was hosted by River, who still participates, and is now hosted by Elephant's Child.        

Flowers and sunsets are about all i have time to photograph.

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Today is:

Ambarvalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (purification festival to Ceres, date approximate)

Ascension of Baha'u'llah -- Baha'i

Bermuda Day -- Bermuda

Castleton Garland Celebration -- Derbyshire, England (a Garland King and Lady ride the bounds of the parish on white horses, after which the garland the King wore is placed on the church tower; possibly dating back to Oak Apple Celebrations)

Democracy Day -- Nigeria

End of the Middle Ages Day -- considered such by many historians because of the fall of Constantinople on this day in 1453

Feast of Mars -- Ancient Roman Calendar

International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers -- UN

Learn About Composting Day -- can't find a sponsor for this day, but there is a week sponsored each year here; and you can learn about composting here, too 

Mother's Day -- Algeria; Cameroon; Dominican Republic; France; French Antilles; Haiti; Madagascar; Mali; Mauritius; Morocco; Niger; Senegal; Sweden; Tunisia

Mount Everest Day -- Nepal (declared on the anniversary of first ascent in 1953)

National Coq Au Vin Day

Oak Apple Day / Royal Oak Day -- England (celebration of the restoration of the monarchy; no longer officially recognized, but many localities have traditions that have grown up around this date which are still celebrated)

Pink Flamingo Day -- Don Feathersone created the first one on this day in 1957

Put a Pillow on Your Fridge Day -- supposedly dating back, in Europe and the Americas, to the days when you put a piece of cloth in your larder for good luck; why it became a pillow no one knows

Runic Half-Month of Odal (home, possessions) commences

Squoosh an Ice Cream Sandwich Day -- rules say you must squoosh, not squish or squash!

St. Bona of Pisa's Day (Patron of couriers, flight attendants, guides, pilgrims, travelers; Pisa, Italy)

Yom Yerushalayim -- Israel (Jerusalem Day; began sunset yesterday, ends sunset today)

Anniversaries Today:

Rhode Island becomes the 13th US State, 1790

Wisconsin becomes the 30th US State, 1848

Birthdays Today:

Noel Gallagher, 1967

Lisa Whelchel, 1963

Melissa Etheridge, 1961

Adrian Paul, 1959

Rupert Everett,1959

Annette Bening, 1958

LaToya Jackson, 1956

Danny Elfman, 1953

Anthony Geary, 1947

Kevin Conway, 1942

Al Unser, Sr., 1939

Francis Thomas "Fay" Vincent, Jr, 1938

Paul Erlich, 1932

John F. Kennedy, 1917

Tenzing Norgay, 1914

T.H. White, 1906

Bob Hope, 1903

Oswald Spengler, 1880

G.K. Chesterton, 1874

Patrick Henry, 1736

Today in History:

Ottoman armies under Sultan Mehmed II Fatih capture Constantinople after a siege, ending the Byzantine Empire, 1453

Charles II (on his birthday) is restored to the throne of Great Britain, 1660

Treaty of Middle Plantation establishes peace between the Virginia colonists and the local Natives, 1677

The right of Canadians to keep Indian slaves is upheld at Quebec City, 1733

In Patrick Henry's historic speech against the Stamp Act, he answers a cry of "Treason!" with, "If this be treason, make the most of it!" 1765

Present constitution of Switzerland takes effect, 1874

Chemist John Pemberton places his first advertisement for Coca-Cola, the ad appearing in the Atlanta Journal, 1886

Igor Stravinsky's ballet score The Rite of Spring receives its premiere performance in Paris, provoking a riot, 1913

Ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland sinks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence with the loss of 1,024 lives, 1914

Bing Crosby, the Ken Darby Singers and the John Scott Trotter Orchestra record Irving Berlin's "White Christmas", the best-selling Christmas single in history, for Decca Records in Los Angeles, 1942

Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay become the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest, 1953

First of the annual Bilderberg conferences, 1954

Amputee  Steve Fonyo completes cross-Canada marathon at Victoria, British Columbia, after 14 months, 1985

Space Shuttle Discovery completes the first docking with the International Space Station, 1999

Olusegun Obasanjo takes office as President of Nigeria, the first elected and civilian head of state in Nigeria after 16 years of military rule, 1999

A WWII Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C., US, 2004

Scientists describe the 160-million year-old fossile of Aurornis xui as the most basal species of Avialae, possibly shifting the evolutionary position of the Archaeopteryx as the oldest known bird, 2013

A heatwave in Karachi, Pakistan, kills 65 as temperatures soar above 110 degrees Fahrenheit, 2018

The world's smallest surviving baby, a girl, is discharged from Sharp March Birch Hospital in San Diego after being born at 23 weeks weighing 8.6 ounces (245 grams), 2019