Ms. G's Angel Cat Deserves a Bling Bowl (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 are being posted by Elephant's Child.           

This week's prompts are:

synthetic

aquamarine

clock

ring

curious

structure

and/or

nuanced

blessed

abalone

blanket

puff-pastry

sea silk

He lives in an apartment, a STRUCTURE well past its prime.

He's well past his prime, too, forced to retire before he wanted to, living on less than what he'd hoped to have, weakened by years of wear on his body from the addictions.

Clean and sober from everything but those horrible cancer sticks, he still has a CURIOUS mind and is sharp enough to have NUANCED discussions.

What he's not sharp enough to do sometimes is know when to say no, or when to decide to do something totally different.

He does eat a bit fancy sometimes.  No PUFF-PASTRY, but he bakes very nice cakes for himself.  When he does get to the store, he wants salmon and artichoke hearts if he can get them on special.  He saves up so on occasion he can cook something really nice for himself.  That's one of his simple pleasures.

He doesn't own fancy things.  No BLANKET soft as SEA SILK, no diamond RING, no jewels of AQUAMARINE or emerald or ruby, no fancy ABALONE cuff links.  The one item he did value most, the gold watch from his father, was taken.  That, along with his very nice CLOCK, his television, his computer.

He befriended a couple whose SYNTHETIC smiles took him in.  He rented them a room, thinking it would help all of them get by better in this economy.  They wouldn't pay, wouldn't help out, beat him when he had them evicted and called the police saying he fought with them.

He locked them out, they tore the door off the hinges, took the few things of value, and left the place in a shambles.

He's BLESSED they didn't hurt him worse than what they did.

Our church member and friend Stu hasn't had an easy life, and this isn't making anything easier.  We're helping with the clean-up.

Like my friend Ms. S, who fought moving to any kind of assisted situation with everything that was in her long past her ability to stay on her own, Stu is fighting moving out of state to be with his only remaining family members.

He's convinced that everything's going to be okay "as soon as."  As soon as he gets his place straightened up.  As soon as he can get on disability.  As soon as he can save up and get his car fixed.

Of course, he's going to run out of "soon" someday, and like Ms. S, by then the decision will be out of his hands.

Meanwhile, we help where we can.

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Today is:

Barbershop Music Appreciation Day -- anniversary of the founding of Sweet Adelines International

Beans and Franks Day

Embrace Your Geekness Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays, celebrate your love of online dungeon games, comic books, or dressing up like a vampire

Feast of Kalimat (Words) -- Baha'i Faith

Fool's Paradise Day -- a day to figure out how a fool can achieve paradise?  or how it can be paradise if it is full of fools?

Full Buck Moon a/k/a Full Thunder Moon or Full Hay Moon; related observances

     Adhi-Esala Full Moon Poya Day -- Sri Lanka

     Waso Full Moon / Dhamma Cakka Day -- Myanmar

Go West Day -- commemorates Horace Greeley's "Go West, young man, and grow up with the country."

Gruntled Workers Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays; those of us who are gruntled, as opposed to the disgruntled, should unite and pass along some "great work" compliments to those doing a good job

International Puzzle Day -- some sites say Jan. 29, but today is Erno Rubik's birthday

La Retraite Aux Flambeaux -- France (night watch, before Bastille Day)

National French Fries Day

Obon (Ulambana) -- Buddhist; Shinto (Festival of the Lanterns, a time of honoring the ancestors, a reunion of them with the living; through the 15th, although Obon festivals are held on various dates in July at temples throughout the world)

Statehood Day -- Montenegro

St. Henry the Emperor's Day (Patron of childless people, disabled people, dukes, handicapped people, kings, people rejected by religious orders, physically challenged people; Bamberg, Germany; Basel, Switzerland; Benedictine Oblates; against sterility)

St. Joel the Prophet's Day (Old Testament prophet of the Book of Joel)

Birthdays Today

Anthony Jerome “Spud” Webb, 1963

Cameron Crowe, 1957

Jane Hamilton, 1957

Michael Spinks, 1956

Louise Mandrell, 1954

Cheech Marin, 1946

Erno Rubik, 1944

Harrison Ford, 1942

Roger McGuinn, 1942

Robert Forster, 1941

Patrick Stewart, 1940

Jack Kemp, 1935

Wole Soyinka, 1934

David Storey, 1933

Bob Crane, 1928

Dave Garroway, 1913

Nathan Bedford Forrest, 1821

Julius Caesar, BC100

Today in History

Capt James Cook begins 2nd trip (Resolution) to South Seas, 1772

William Wordsworth, on a walking tour through the Wye Valley, visited the ruins of Tintern Abbey and a few miles further on composed a poem about them, 1798

Greek War of Independence: Greeks defeated Ottoman forces at Thermopylae, 1822

Henry R Schoolcraft discovers the source of the Mississippi River, 1832

After 9,957 unnumbered patents, the U.S. Patent Office issues Patent No. 1, for locomotive wheels, 1836

Queen Victoria becomes the first British monarch to live at Buckingham Palace in London, 1837

First day of the New York Draft Riots in response to President Abraham Lincoln's Enrolment Act of Conscription, 1863

Horace Greeley publishes his editorial advising young men to "Go West, young man, go west and grow up with the country," 1865

PT Barnum's American Museum was destroyed in one of the most spectacular fires in New York City's history, 1865

Gold was discovered near Cochrane, Ontario, Canada, 1909

The British airship R34 lands in Norfolk, England, completing the first airship return journey across the Atlantic in 182 hours of flight, 1919

Alexander Butterfield reveals the existence of the Nixon tapes to the special Senate committee investigating the Watergate break in, 1973

The Live Aid benefit concert, a telecast fundraising concert for famine relief in Ethiopia, was held in London and Philadelphia, as well as other venues such as Sydney and Moscow, 1985

American Thoroughbred racehorse Cigar wins his 16th consecutive top-class race, the first horse to do so since Triple Crown winner Citation, 1996

Researchers reveal two studies showing the antiretroviral drugs prescribed to treat AIDS can also prevent HIV infections, 2011

The Eurozone countries agree to a conditional deal to lend €86bn over 3 years if Greece passes reforms, 2015

Drought helps to reveal the outline of a previously unknown 5,000-year-old henge at New Grange, Ireland, 2018