Key (Six Sentence Story), Good Fences, Sammy’s Poetry Day and Brian’s Thankful Thursday, an A to Z Post

 ***********************************

To enjoy more blogs participating in the a to Z Challenge, click here.

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

"Our insurance is prepared to offer you..."

"I am not interested in hearing what your insurance is prepared to offer me, I am going to tell you what you are going to do and why.  

"My wife brought her new car, which she had bought from you, with only a couple of hundred miles on it and only in our possession less that four weeks, because you as the dealer were to do some recall work on it at no charge to us.  

"You placed that car in your lot, with the valet key in the glove box, the doors unlocked, and your people did not shut and lock the gates that night and her car was stolen, taken for a joyride using that valet key, and found trashed and wrecked over 70 miles away, due to your negligence.  

"Therefore, you are going to let my wife come and get another new car without charging us anything more, as we are not going to let you say this was a 'used' car and give us one that has more mileage and more wear and tear on it than the one your negligence allowed to be ruined.

"And you would do well to remember I have an attorney on retainer before you and your 'insurance' make your final offer."

Linking up with Denise at Girlie On The Edge Blog, where she hosts Six Sentence Stories, and the cue is Valet.      

(True story, be careful where you leave that valet key.)

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

While Good Fences Around the World seems to have gone the way of the dodo bird, i still enjoy looking for and posting interesting fences, so i will!

We went back out to the house Ms. G is putting on the market soon, and i tried to get fence photos though the window of the moving car.  I was not very successful.

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

It's Angel Sammy's Poetry Day!  This week's image and my poem:    

The "Ice Hotel" is nifty,

but you won't catch me there,

except a brief walk through,

don't offer me a chair.

There's no way for me to stand it,

this tender southern plant

would freeze to death to sleep there,

sorry, I really just can't!

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

Brian of Brian's Home hosts the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop.   It's time to share something for which i am thankful.  

Today i am thankful for a visit yesterday with #2 Son, whom i have not seen in a while.

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

Today is:

Anniversary of the Election of Pope Francis -- Holy See (Vatican City)

Day to Give Thanks for Fish/Seafood -- anniversary of the US Fishery Conservation and Management Act 1976

Environmental Protection Day -- anniversary of the 1962 publication of Silent Spring

Feast of Rotten Endings -- because some stories just don't end well

Festival of Matsu/Mazu -- Southern China and Taiwan (Taoist goddess of the sea who protects fishermen and sailors; often worshiped in sea-faring areas surrounding China as well, although some local dates will vary)

     Ma Zu, Goddess of the Sea’s Birthday -- Buddhism; Taoism

Holy Thursday -- Orthodox Christian

Huguenot Day -- Huguenot Society of the US (anniversary of the 1598 Edict of Nantes, in which King Henry IV promoted peace between Catholics and Protestants)

Ides of April -- Ancient Roman Calendar; also

     Festival of Libertas -- personification of freedom and political liberty

     Festival of Jupiter Libertas

     Festival of Jupiter Victor

International Plant Appreciation Day -- unsponsored by any but those who love plants

Laotian New Year's Eve -- Laos (celebrations of Pi Mai, the new year, last through the 15th and sometimes beyond; at the start of the monsoon season)

National Peach Cobbler Day

Pesach/Passover -- Judaism (ends at sundown tonight)

Poshui Jie -- Jinghong, China (Water Splashing Festival; a 3-to-four-day festival around this time)

Scrabble Day -- anniversary of the 1899 birth of its inventor, Alfred Mosher Butts

Songkran Festival / Chiang Mai Songkran / Tamil New Year / Bangla New Year / Bisket Jatra -- Bangladesh; Cambodia; India; Laos; Myanmar; Nepal; Singapore; Sri Lanka; Thailand (New Year festivals, celebrated over the next few days, as the sun enters the zodiac sign of Aries)

Squashing of Moonhopper Day -- Fairy Calendar

St. Hermengild's Day (Patron of converts; against drought, flood, and thunderstorms)

Thingyan Eve -- Myanmar (Water Festival Eve; through the 17th)

Thomas Jefferson Day -- US

U.S. Elephant Day -- marking the arrival of the first elephant in the US in 1796

Yayoi Matsuri -- Nikko, Japan (five-day spring festival)

Birthdays Today:

Jonathan Brandis, 1976

Rick Schroder, 1970

Garry Kasparov, 1963

Saundra Santiago, 1957

Max Weinberg, 1951

Peabo Bryson, 1951

Ron Pearlman, 1950

Al Green, 1946

Tony Dow, 1945

Lowell George, 1945

Jack Casady, 1944

Bill Conti, 1942

Paul Sorvino, 1939

Lyle Waggoner, 1935

Don Adams, 1926

Howard Keel, 1919

Eudora Welty, 1909

Samuel Beckett, 1906

Butch Cassidy, 1866

F.W. Woolworth, 1852

Thomas Jefferson, 1743

Guy Fawkes, 1570

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Arcadia"(Play), 1993

Casino Royale(Film), 1967

Silent Spring(Publication date), 1962

"El Capitan"(Operetta), 1896

"Messiah"(Oratorio, HWV 56), 1742

Today in History:

The Seventh Crusade is defeated in Egypt with the capture of Louis IX of France, 1250

Henry IV of France signs the Edict of Nantes, granting freedom of religion and political rights to Huguenots (French Protestants), 1598

John Dryden, age 36, becomes the first English Poet Laureate, 1668

George Frideric Handel's oratorio Messiah makes its world-premiere in Dublin, Ireland, 1742

The first elephant seen in the Western Hemisphere arrives from India, 1796

The British Parliament grants religious freedom to Roman Catholics, 1829

Hungary becomes a republic, 1849

The first US Pony Express run is completed, 1860

George Westinghouse patents a steam powered brake, 1869

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is founded, 1870

J.C. (James Cash) Penney opens his first store, 1902

British troops fire on unarmed demonstrators in Amritsar, India, killing at least 379 and wounding over 1,200 more, 1919

Helen Hamilton becomes the first woman US Civil Service Commissioner, 1920

Lord Clydesdale makes the first flight over Mt. Everest, 1933

The Jefferson Memorial is dedicated on the 200th anniversary of his birth, in Washington, D.C., 1943

Van Cliburn becomes the first American to win the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, 1958 

Sidney Poitier becomes the first African-American male to win the Best Actor Oscar for Lilies of the Field, 1963

An oxygen tank aboard Apollo 13 explodes, putting the crew in great danger and causing major damage to the spacecraft while en route to the Moon, 1970

The Universal Postal Union decides to recognize the People's Republic of China as the only legitimate Chinese representative, effectively expelling the Republic of China administering Taiwan, 1972

Western Union (in cooperation with NASA and Hughes Aircraft) launches the United States' first commercial geosynchronous communications satellite, Westar 1, 1974

Portugal and the People's Republic of China sign an agreement in which Macau would be returned to China in 1999, 1987

Tiger Woods becomes the youngest golfer to win the Masters Tournament, 1997

Former President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak and sons, Alaa and Gamal, are detained for 15 days of questioning regarding charges of corruption and abuse of power, 2011

The People's Republic of China and the U.S. agree to work towards eliminating nuclear weapons in the Korean Peninsula, 2013

The world’s largest plane by wingspan (117m/385ft), built as a flying launch pad for satellites and called the Stratolaunch, takes its first flight from Mojave, California, 2019

Australian super-horse Winx ends her extraordinary career with a 3rd Queen Elizabeth Stakes win in Sydney giving her 33 consecutive race wins, a world record 25 Group One victories and $26.4 million Australian dollars prize money, 2019