Ms. G's New Rug (Wordless Wednesday) and Words for Wednesday

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Linking up with Wordless Wednesday, BeThere2Day, 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 Lissa.  

This week's prompts are:

1 - wonderland

2 - squander

3 - brisk

4 - postcards

5 - wait

6 - stall

7 - leftover

Note from Lissa:  This is my last week hosting Words for Wednesday.  For March, Susan Kane will provide the prompts at her blog.   

Note from me:  Charlotte/Mother Owl has provided a color of the month and would be appreciative if we added it to Words for Wednesday or Sunday Selections.  This month's color is white/signal white (a white with a light gray tint).

Not one to SQUANDER time when it came to cooking, she got up from her desk and crossed the small kitchen in her BRISK, no nonsense manner to peruse the LEFTOVER situation before deciding what to make.  With the economy being what it was, she wasn't going to waste any food if she could help it, and yesterday's bit of roast chicken and veggies could be the start of tonight's casserole.

She did STALL for a moment to sigh over the refrigerator.  The appliances came with the place, and the WHITE refrigerator showed its age.  Much of it was now almost a light gray, maybe a SIGNAL WHITE, from the many years of childish handprints which never quite came totally clean from the worn surface.

Her eyes were drawn to the POSTCARDS attached with magnets to the front, all she and the children had right now of the husband and father far away overseas.  They depicted a WONDERLAND, although she knew those more beautiful areas weren't where he was stationed.  Military life was not glamorous, here or there, as base housing for the family was mostly just adequate and living conditions for the deployed could be grueling.

Drawing herself back from her thoughts, she knew starting dinner couldn't WAIT if she wanted to have it going by the time the children got home so she could help with homework.  She was once more thankful to have an online job so she could be home to do those things.  Being a single parent for the time being wasn't easy, but it was the sacrifice she was willing to make for love.

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Today is:

Abu Simbel Festival -- Egypt (one of the two days a year when the light illuminates the statutes of Rameses, Ra and Amun in the temple complex)

     Festival of the Perpendicular Sun/Illumination of the Inner Sanctum of Ramses II's Abu Simbel Temple -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar

Ash Wednesday -- Christian (beginning of the Lenten Fast)

     Oskudagur -- Iceland (with the special tradition of hanging oskupokar [ash bags] on people, as girls try to hang bags of ash on men's clothing, and boys try to hang bags of stones on women's clothing; begins Langafasta, and during the fast, you may not even mention meat at all)

Be Humble Day -- can't find the origin of this one, s/he wants to humbly remain anonymous

Birthday of Wenchang Wang, the God of Literature -- China

Call Somebody "Boo Boo" Day -- apparently just to see what s/he will call you back; be careful, this one started before anyone heard of Honey Boo Boo and doesn't take that into account

Cat Day -- Japan (an unofficial celebration of felines, because today's date in Japanese sounds almost like "nyan, nyan, nyan" ("meow, meow, meow")

Concordia/Caristia  -- Ancient Roman Calendar, Festival of Goodwill

Feast of the Chair of St. Peter at Antioch -- Roman Catholic Church

Inconvenience Yourself™ Day -- enrich your life by looking for ways to make a positive impact on the world, even if it inconveniences you 

Independence Day -- Santa Lucia(1979)

International World Thinking Day -- a/k/a "B.-P. day" or "Founder's Day" -- World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts

     Girl Guides Day -- UK

National Margarita Day (How is that going to help with the thinking?)

St. Margaret of Cortona's Day (Patron of falsely accused people, hoboes, homeless people, mentally ill people, midwives, penitent women, people ridiculed for their piety, reformed prostitutes, single laywomen, tertiaries, and tramps; against insanity, loss of parents, mental illness, sexual temptation, and temptation)

Teal Ribbon Day -- Australia (wear a teal ribbon, raise awareness of ovarian cancer) 

Walking the Dog Day -- Can't find the originator of this one, but walk your dog, or do your yoyo tricks, whichever works for you

Washington's Birthday -- US

Anniversaries Today:

Ed McMahon marries Pamela Hurn, 1992

Kurt Corbin marries Courtney Love, 1992

Bill Bixby marries Laura Michael, 1991

Pennsylvania State University is founded in State College, Pennsylvania, 1855

Washington University in St. Louis is founded, 1853

Birthdays Today:

James Blunt, 1977

Drew Barrymore, 1975

Michael Chang, 1972

Lea Salonga, 1971

Clinton Kelly, 1969

Jeri Ryan, 1968

Vijay Singh, 1963

Steve "Crocodile Hunter" Irwin, 1962

Kyle MacLachlan, 1959

Julie Walters, 1950

Julius "Dr. J" Erving, 1950

Miou-Miou, 1950

Dan Millman, 1946

Jonathan Demme, 1944

Sparky Anderson, 1934

Edward M. Kennedy, 1932

Paul Dooley, 1928

Robert Wadlow, 1918

John Mills, 1908

Sheldon Leonard, 1907

Robert Young, 1907

Luis Bunuel, 1900

Edna St. Vincent Millay, 1892

"Chico" Marx, 1891

Lady Olave Baden-Powell, 1889

Lord Robert Baden-Powell, 1857

James Russel Lowell, 1819

Frederic Chopin, 1810

Arthur Schopenhauer, 1788

George Washington, 1732

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"It Happened One Night"(Film), 1934

"Lady Windermere's Fan"(Play), 1892

"Symphony No. 4 in F minor"(Tchaikovsky Op. 36), 1878

Today in History:

Jews are expelled from Zurich, Switzerland, 1349

Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems is published, 1632

The English House of Lords rules that authors do not have perpetual copyright of their material, 1774

Jews are expelled from the outskirts of Warsaw, Poland, 1775

The first US ship to trade with China, the "Empress of China," sails from New York, 1784

The Last Invasion of Britain by the French begins near Fishguard, Wales, 1797

Spain signs the Adams-Onis Treaty, renouncing its claim to the Oregon territory and west Florida, 1819

Spain sells east Florida to the US, 1821

Edward Payson Weston, "The Father of Modern Pedestrianism," who gave lectures on the health benefits of walking, first comes into the public eye by leaving on this date to walk to Lincoln's inauguration, a distance of 478 miles, 1861*

Frank W. Woolworth opens the first US chain store, his "Woolworth's" 5 and 10 cent store, in Utica, NY, 1879

John Reid of Scotland establishes a 3 hole golf course near Yonkers, New York, thus introducing the game to the US, 1888

Hawaii becomes a US territory, 1900

Due to drought, the US side of Niagara Falls runs short of water, 1903

The Great White Fleet, the first US fleet to circumnavigate the globe, returns to Virginia, 1909

Calvin Coolidge gives the first US presidential radio address, 1924

Bert Hinkler successfully completes the first solo flight from England to Australia, 1928

Australian swimmer John Konrads sets 6 world records in two days, 1958

Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500, 1959

Following United States President Richard Nixon's visit to the People's Republic of China, the two countries agree to establish liaison offices, 1973

In Lake Placid, New York, the United States hockey team defeats the Soviet Union hockey team 4-3, in what is considered to be one of the greatest upsets in sports history, 1980

In Roslin, Scotland, scientists announce that an adult sheep named Dolly had been successfully cloned, 1997

An earthquake measuring 6.3 in magnitude strikes Christchurch, New Zealand, killing 181 people, 2011

At age 34, Mario Matt of Austria becomes the oldest champion in Olympic alpine skiing history with the slalom gold medal at Sochi, 2014

10 million people are without water in Delhi after caste protests in Jat sabotage the Munak water canal, 2016

The discovery of 7 Earth-sized planets orbiting star Trappist-1 is announced in the Journal "Nature", 2017

The Journal “Science” publishes the evidence that Neanderthals were the first artists, creating cave paintings in Spain over 65,000 years ago, 2018

*Yes, he got there in 10 days, in time for the inaugural ball!