What Will They Think of Next? (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, Alex J. Cavanaugh is providing the prompts which will be posted by Elephant's Child.     

This week's prompts are:

specter

mountains

puppies

nature

cockamamie

burnt

and/or

carving

zombie

dongle

foliage

candlelight

crapulence

Charlotte (MotherOwl)  has given us Mint Green as the colour of the month.  If you can also incorporate it into your stories she (and I) will be grateful.

Have fun.

She was done with the CRAPULENCE of the past.

That's how she thought of it, those holidays from her awful childhood, the ones which could haunt her dreams still if she dwelt on them too much.  

Her mother, whose beloved "Prince Valium" turned her into a ZOMBIE more times than not, CARVING a half-BURNT turkey and making a COCKAMAMIE mess of it.

Her uncle, like a SPECTER in the background, growling about politics and grumbling about how he couldn't get a break in life.

She'd watched them both turn early old and end in the graveyard by the grandparents she vaguely remembered and adored, and by the time she was 20 she was free to make her own life.  She decided to make it count.

It wasn't easy.  She'd needed remedial classes in college, but she knew it wasn't her fault and she wasn't there just to put in time.  As she'd told her counselor, "My public school education in the poor part of town didn't teach me a donut from a DONGLE, but I'm not stupid and I can do better for myself, and I will!"

When she crossed the stage and got the degree, the family of friends she'd chosen knew what it cost and were there for her.  Also for her promotions, and marriage, and the ones who were able were coming for this holiday to her and her husband's home in the MOUNTAINS.

She'd always loved NATURE, and here she had her fill, the FOLIAGE had turned all the colors this year and given her golden beautiful days all though autumn.

The PUPPIES started whimpering at the door, signaling they were done with being outside, so she opened the door and stopped a moment to savor the view as they came rushing in.

Then she turned back to the kitchen to find her favorite Mint Green candle.  She wanted CANDLELIGHT on the table tonight.  She always thought of it as putting the crowning touch on a beautifully set table.

The sound of her husband's truck turning in the drive made her smile.  Intimate dinner with him tonight, big feast with the friends who would drive in tomorrow and stay the weekend, life was good.

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Today is:

American Enterprise Day -- US (a project of Future Business Leaders of America, Phi Beta Lambda Chapter)

America Recycles Day -- US     

Beaujolais Nouveau Release -- France (at midnight, so really most of the celebration is tomorrow, a new wine celebration marked with fireworks and festivities)

Changeling Restitution Day -- Fairy Calendar (Goblins)

Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day -- this reminder comes from the folks at CooksInfo.com, where they think you need to get rid of USO's (unidentified shriveled objects)   

Day of the German-speaking Community of Belgium -- German-speaking Community of Belgium

Don't Try To Do Everything At Once Day -- internet generated, and a blow to us multitaskers

Ennead Feast in the House of Ra, Horus, and Osiris -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Geographic Information Systems Day   

George Spelvin Day/More Than One Role Day -- date of first use, in 1886, of this name for an actor playing two roles in one play; George and Georgette Spelvin have since acted in over 10,000 roles on Broadway

I Love to Write Day -- encouraging everyone to write something, begun by John Riddle; this is the perfect time for it, really, in the middle of NaNoWriMo

King's Feast / Dynasty Day -- Belgium

National Bundt Pan Day -- yes, really, celebrating the pan itself

National Educational Support Professionals Day -- US

     Wed. of American Education Week

National Peace Day -- Cote d'Ivoire

National Philanthropy Day® -- Association of Fundraising Professionals 

National Raisin Bran Cereal Day

National Spicy Hermit Christmas Cookie Day

Nativity Fast begins a/k/a Winter Lent (through Dec 24) -- Orthodox Christian

Pack Your Mom's Lunch Day -- in honor of all the times she packed yours; combine it with I Love to Write Day and include a note telling her how special she is

Republic Day -- Turkish Republic of North Cyprus

Republic Proclamation Day -- Brazil

Rock Your Mocs Day -- Indigenous Americans (begun by Jessica Jaylyn Atsye, a Laguna Pueblo, to encourage all Native Americans to wear the one item they all have in common, hand-made moccasins, with pride)

Safety Razor Day -- King Gillette was granted the patent for his style of safety razor on this day in 1904, changing how men shaved each day

Shichi-Go-San (Shrine Visiting Day)/Seven-Five-Three Festival -- Japan (picturesque festival in which 3-year-old children of either sex, five-year-old boys, and seven-year-old girls go to shrines dressed in their best; guardian spirits are thanked for the health of the children and prayers said for their future to be equally bright)

Sing in Your Car Day -- they need a day for this?

St. Albertus Magnus' Day (Patron of medical technicians, natural sciences, philosophers, schoolchildren, scientists, students, theology students; Cincinnati, Ohio)

St. Leopold's Day (King Leopold III, Patron of dying children, large families, step-parents; Austria)

     Leopoldstag/Goose Day -- Austria (the start of the heurigen, the new wine season)

World COPD Day -- International (helping people understand Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease; this year's theme is "Breathing is Life - Act Earlier")   

Anniversary Today:

William Shatner marries Nerine Kidd, 1997

Birthdays Today:

Jonny Lee Miller,1972

Kevin Eubanks, 1957

Beverly D'Angelo, 1954

Daniel Barenboim, 1942

Sam Waterston, 1940

Yaphet Kotto, 1937

Joanna BArnes, 1934

Petula Clark, 1932

Ed Asner, 1929

Bill "C.W. McCall" Fries, 1928

Joseph Wapner, 1919

Erwin Rommel, 1891

Georgia O'Keeffe, 1887

Forrest Clare "Fogg" Allen, 1885

F. William Herschel, 1738

William Pitt the Elder, 1708

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"A Few Good Men"(Play), 1989

Love Me Tender(Film), 1956

"Li'l Abner"(Musical), 1956

"The Planets"(Holst Op. 32), 1920

"Masse Mensch/Mass Man"(Toller play), 1920

Today in History:

Christopher Columbus notes the first recorded reference to tobacco, 1492

The NY General Assembly permits Jews to omit the phrase "Upon the faith of a Christian" from adjuration oaths, 1727

Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon begin surveying the Mason-Dixon Line between Pennsylvania and Maryland, 1763

The Articles of Confederation are adopted by the Continental Congress, 1777

Georgetown University, the first Catholic college in the US, opens, 1791

Zebulon Pike gets his first sight of Pike's Peak, Colorado, 1806

Isaac Pitman introduces his steno/shorthand system of writing, 1832

Union Major General Sherman burns Atlanta, Georgia, 1864

King C. Gillette patents the Gillette razor blade, 1904

The first telecast of an unscheduled event, a fire, takes place on W2XBT, in NY, 1938

In Columbus, Ohio, Dave Thomas opens the first Wendy's restaurant, 1969

Intel releases world's first commercial single-chip microprocessor, 1971

René Lévesque and the Parti Québécois take power to become the first Quebec government of the 20th century clearly in favour of independence, 1976

The Anglo-Irish Agreement is signed at Hillsborough Castle by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Irish Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald, 1985

An independent State of Palestine is proclaimed by the Palestinian National Council, 1988

The first Fairtrade label, Max Havelaar, is launched in the Netherlands, 1988

Cyclone Sidr hit Bangladesh, killing an estimated 5000 people and destroyed the world's largest mangrove forest, Sundarbans, 2007

Sony introduces the Playstation 4, selling a million units the first day, 2013 

World leaders gather in Brisbane for the G20 Summit, which will focus on economic growth, 2014

France launches air strikes on Isis stronghold Raqqa in Syria in the wake of terror attack on Paris, 2015

Pakistan unveils the remains of 1,700 year-old sleeping Buddha in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, 2017

Art experts in England authenticate two bronzes of men riding panthers as Michelangelo’s only surviving bronze works, 2018

The SpaceX Falcon 9 is launched on its first regular flight to the International Space Station with four astronauts aboard, 2020

The world's population reaches 8billion, just 11 years after reaching 7billion (and is expected to be 9billion by 2037), 2022