Sunshine Comes In Many Forms, a Ten Things of Thankful Post

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After our drought last year, we've had a lot of gray, drizzly days this week, and even a few thunder bumpers, for which to be thankful.

Meanwhile, i've looked for sunshine in the other happenings of the week and found plenty.

Grandma was much happier this past Saturday.  No coffee was spilled, it all got into her, and all was right in her world.

Both of my boys came by for a visit over the course of the weekend.

As cold as Sunday was, Mr. Cal thoroughly enjoyed his walk, and Becca and i did not totally freeze.

After taking care of both Carl and Ms. D, i got to visit Ms. JAI in the hospital.  I was there visiting until the transport people came for her to take her to the rehab, and i'm going to go visit her there this week.

Our civic association had the annual meeting and we got all caught up with the latest.  Our neighborhood is a good one, and remains so.  The main highway in front of the neighborhood is going to be under construction for the better part of the next year and a half, but we know the timeline and will be able to follow progress, as well as be assured access and egress from our homes, although it won't be quite as convenient as before.

Tuesday morning, i was trying to stop for gas and quickly get to Ms. V's house so we could go to our ladies' circle meeting.  I pulled up to a pump and it malfunctions, the computer on it was frozen from the previous customer.  I was about to give up when the lady in front of me pulled out just in time for me to pull up, gas up, and get to Ms. V's.

We had a wonderful meeting.

The biggest rain day was Wednesday, and somehow, every time i went to drive to my next work place, the rain slacked off.  It was a huge blessing.

I managed to get to the bank Friday and take care of a bit of paperwork which has been hanging over me.

We had plenty of volunteers at the shelter Friday evening.

See?  Plenty of sunshine in the midst of the clouds.

Please write up your own list and link up to Ten Things of Thankful, where Dyanne and her co-hosts always have a warm welcome waiting.   

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Today is:

Big Snow Day -- remembering the 15-inch snowflakes that fell on in Fort Keough, Montana, on this date in 1887

Chocolate Cake Day

Day of Remembrance for Victims of Nazism -- Germany (anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz)

Day the Netjers of Heaven Receive Ra -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Family Literacy Day -- Canada

Gasparilla Pirate Fest -- Tampa, FL (reenactment of the invasion of Tampa by pirates, this is the adult version of last weekend's celebration for kids)

International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust

Iroquois Mid-Winter Ceremony -- Iroquois Native Americans (for the continuation of all life-sustaining things; a multi-day ceremony and feast that begins around this time of year)

Listen to Classical Music During Lunch Day -- in honor of Mozart

Mozart Day

National Storytelling Week -- UK (the Society for Storytelling encourages you to celebrate one of the most ancient art forms; through Feb. 4)  

Punch the Clock Day -- internet generated, and no reason for it given; this has to be one of the more baffling ones

St. Angela Merici's Day (Founder of the Sisters of the Order of St. Ursula; Patron of the disabled and ill; against bodily ills and the death of parents)

St. Devota's Day (Patron of Corsica; Monaco)

Thomas Crapper Day -- death date, in 1910, of the perfector of the flush toilet mechanism

Wakakusa Yamayaki -- Nara, Japan (Grass Burning on Mt. Wakakusayama, and fireworks; an annual New Year tradition)

Anniversaries Today:

Founding of the National Geographic Society, 1888

The first sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta, is founded at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, 1870

The University of Georgia is chartered, the first state university in the US, 1785

Birthdays Today:

Julie Foudy, 1971

Jennifer LB Leese, 1970

Patton Oswalt, 1969

Alan Cumming, 1965

Bridget Fonda,1964

Cris Collinsworth, 1959

Mimi Rogers, 1956

Mikhail Baryshnikov, 1948

Nick Mason, 1944

Mairead Corrigan, 1944

James Cromwell, 1942

Troy Donahue, 1936

Donna Reed, 1921

David Seville, 1919

Skitch Henderson, 1918

Hyman George Rickover, 1900

Jerome Kern, 1885

Samuel Gompers, 1850

Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson), 1832

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1756

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Laverne and Shirley"(TV), 1976

"Tarzan of the Apes"(Film), 1918

Today in History:

Trajan becomes Roman Emperor, 98

The Rashidun Caliphate ends with the death of Ali, 661

Song Dynasty General Yue Fei is wrongfully executed, 1142

Dante Alighieri becomes a Florentine political exile, 1302

The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators begins, ending with their execution on January 31, 1606

The first American lime kiln begins operation in Providence, Rhode Island, 1662

Mustafa II becomes the Ottoman sultan in Instanbul, 1695

Czar Peter the Great sets the first Russian state budget, 1710

Abdication of Stanislas, the last king of Poland, 1736

The US Congress approves the opening of Indian Territory for settlement, which led to the forced relocation of Native Americans on the "Trail of Tears," 1825

Manitoba and the Northwest Territories are incorporated, 1870

Thomas Edison is granted a patent for the electric incandescent lamp, 1880

The National Geographic Society is organized, in Washington, D.C., 1888

"Tarzan of the Apes," the first Tarzan movie, premiers, 1918

Apollo 1 – Astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee are killed in a fire during a test of their spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center, 1967

More than sixty nations sign the Outer Space Treaty banning nuclear weapons in space, 1967

Through cooperation between the U.S. and Canadian governments, six American diplomats secretly escape hostilities in Iran in the culmination of the Canadian caper, 1980

The pilot shaft of the Seikan Tunnel, the world's longest sub-aqueous tunnel (53.85 km) between the Japanese islands of Honshu and Hokkaido, breaks through, 1983

American-born sumo wrestler Akebono Taro becomes the first foreigner to be promoted to the sport's highest rank of yokozuna, 1993

Germany first observes International Holocaust Remembrance Day, 1996

Western Union discontinues its Telegram and Commercial Messaging services, 2006

Albert II, former king of Belgium, admits paternity after a DNA test confirms he fathered a child, Delphine, with Baroness Sybile de Selys Longchamps, 2020

Australian officials launch a search effort for a small radioactive capsule dropped from a truck somewhere on a 1,400km journey through Western Australia, 2023