Motivation (Six Sentence Story), Good Fences, Sammy’s Poetry Day and Brian’s Thankful Thursday

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"How goes the packing to move?"

"I'm at the point of asking myself if I really like the rest of the my stuff enough to pack it or if I just want to leave it all behind for the new people to discover.  I mean, I have boxes in the basement I never opened after the last move and I'm only taking them from fear, not because I like what they do for the basement.  Talk me into continuing this endless packing merry-go-round before I give up."

"I'm coming over to help myself to your cast iron pots and the divan I've always wanted, as well as all your pashminas."

"Touch them and die, honey, okay, I'll get back to it."

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

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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!

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

Honey, you might want to stop

and go back the way you came,

I'll stop you 'cause something's wrong

and I hope for me, you'd do the same!

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Angel Brian's Family 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 the cat shelter has reopened in a limited fashion, with many areas still off limits while kitties recover but so far everyone is getting better.

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Today is:

American Eagle Day    

Cuckoo Warning Day -- if you hear the cuckoo today, it will be a wet summer, according to old European traditions

Day of the National Flag -- Argentina (Anniversary of General D. Manuel Belgrano's Death)

Day of the Purification of All Things -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Feast of the Great Spirit / Great Mystery -- various Native Americans (celebrations are around the time of the solstice)

     Cherokee call the spirit Asgaya Galun Lati

     Iroquois call the spirit Orenda

     Lakota call the spirit Wakan Tanka

     Zuni call the spirit Awonawilona

Festival for Summanus -- Ancient Roman Calendar (the god who threw thunderbolts at night)

Hogueras de San Juan -- Alicante, Spain ("Bonfires of St. John," through the 29th, with the night of the 24th being the most magical as the festival is for St. John, whose day that is)

Ice Cream Soda Day -- i guess because it's hot enough now for one

International Surfing DayInternational Surfing Day -- The Surfrider Foundation and Surfing Magazine suggest contests, barbecues, film screenings, and organizing beach clean ups to celebrate 

Iron Skegge's Day -- Vikings (martyrdom of Iron Skegge, who died defending the temples of Maeri against Christians)

Martyr's Day -- Eritrea

National ASK Day -- prevent gun violence and accidental deaths, ASK if there is an unlocked gun anywhere that your child plays, because Asking Saves Kids! 

National Dump the Pump Day -- The American Public Transportation Association used to sponsor this day to encourage you to consider public transportation as a way to cut down on high gasoline prices    

National Vanilla Milkshake Day

New Identity Day -- an internet generated holiday, just have fun thinking about who you might want to be for a day

Recess at Work Day -- engage in productive play!   

Scira/Skirophoria -- Ancient Greek Calendar (festival for Demeter, organized by the women of Athens; date approximate)

Solstice -- 20:50 UTC/4:50pm EDT; related observances:

     Aimless Wandering Day -- use the extra daylight to wander someplace with nothing particular to do

     Anne and Samantha Day -- remembrance for Anne Frank and Samantha Smith, and their contributions to our world

     Daylight Appreciation Day -- celebrating the benefits of sunshine     

     Finally Summer Day/Finally Winter Day

     Hump Day -- Tasmania (because it is the shortest in the year, Taswegians today feel they are over the "hump" of winter.)

     Inti Raymi -- Inca (festival of the sun god Inti, ongoing);Sacsayhuamán Andes Mountain Natives (winter solstice and New Year festival)

     Litha / Yule -- Wicca/Pagan (northern hemisphere / southern hemisphere)

     Midnight Sun Baseball Game -- Fairbanks, AK, US (begins promptly at 10:35pm local time, and played without any artificial lights allowed)

     Midsomarsblog -- Norse Viking celebrations (time of fishing, trading, and raiding)

     Midsummer -- Midsummer Festivals begin -- Juhannus Day in Finland and Midsommar in Denmark and Norway, celebrated over the next several days in many Scandinavian traditions; often this time is also associated with betrayal, as the sunlight begins to decrease, this is when Baldur was betrayed, as well as Sigurd.

     Midsummer -- Asatru/Slavic Pagan

     Midsummer Baal -- Ancient Celtic Calendar

     Polar Bear Swim -- Nome, AK, US (if they can break through the ice!)

     Solsticio de Invierno / Ano Nuevo Aymara -- Bolivia (Winter Solstice / Aymara Indiginous People's New Year)

     We Tripantu -- Chile (Mapuche natives winter solstice festival)

     Wadjet Summer Solstice Ceremony -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate, it may have been a multi-day ceremony that began on Midsummer's Eve)

St. Michelina of Pesaro's Day (Patron of mentally ill people, people with in-law problems, widows; against death of children, insanity and mental illness)

Takekiri Eshiki Matsuri -- Kuramadera, Kyoto, Japan (bamboo cutting festival; the bamboo represents snakes, so cutting it symbolizes victory over evil)

Thangka Unveiling at Tashihungpo -- Tibet (Buddha Exhibition Festival, in which the large Thangka with the image of Buddha on it is unfolded in public; also celebrated as Amitabha Buddha Day, or the birth anniversary of the Buddha) related observance

    Zamling Chisang -- Universal Prayer Day (to the Tibetan Deities, especially Samye Dolde)

World Productivity Day -- no central focus, just a day for suppliers of productivity tools and training to celebrate what they contribute to society

World Refugee Day -- UN

Anniversaries Today:

The University of Oxford receives its charter, 1214

West Virginia becomes the 35th US state, 1863

Birthdays Today:

Robert Rodriguez, 1968

Nicole Kidman, 1967

Michael Landon, Jr, 1964

Cyndi Lauper, 1953

John Goodman, 1952

Lionel Richie, 1949

Andre Watts, 1946

Bob Vila, 1946

Anne Murray, 1945

Brian Wilson, 1942

John Mahoney, 1940

Danny Aiello, 1933

James Tolkan, 1931

Martin Landau, 1931

Olympia Dukakis, 1931

Chet Atkins, 1924

Audie Murphy, 1924

Jean-Jacques Bertrand, 1916

Errol Flynn, 1909

Lillian Hellman, 1905

Charles W. Chesnutt, 1858

Scipio Africanus, BC236

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Jaws(Film), 1975

"The Ray Stevens Show"(TV), 1970

"The Ed Sullivan Show"(TV), 1948

Today in History:

Flavius Aetius' battles Attila the Hun; the battle was inconclusive, and Attila retreats, causing the Romans to interpret it as a victory, 451

Jews are expelled from Brazil by order of regent Don Henrique, 1567

The Irish village of Baltimore is attacked by Algerian pirates, 1631

A British garrison is imprisoned in the Black Hole of Calcutta, 1756

King Louis XVI of France and his immediate family begin the Flight to Varennes during The French Revolution, 1791

The U.S. vessel SS Savannah, the first steam-propelled vessel to cross the Atlantic, arrives at Liverpool, 1819

Queen Victoria succeeds to the British throne, 1837

Samuel Morse receives the patent for the telegraph, 1840

Alexander Graham Bell installs the world's first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, 1877

Caroline Willard Baldwin becomes the first woman to earn a Doctor of Science degree, at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 1895

A rare June hurricane struck Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence killing 35, 1959

The so-called "red telephone" is established between the Soviet Union and the United States following the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1963

The German parliament decides to move the capital from Bonn back to Berlin, 1991

The Wikimedia Foundation is founded in St. Petersburg, Florida, 2003

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers grants private companies the right to create new website domain suffixes, 2011

Instagram offers users the ability to upload videos to their service, 2013

Dunedin and Christchurch, New Zealand, have roads cut off and flights cancelled due to adverse weather conditions, 2013

Rome elects its first female Mayor, Virginia Raggi, who is also its youngest ever, at age 37, 2016

The Hungarian government passes legislation that criminalizes aiding undocumented migrants, 2018

An historic dust cloud reaches the Caribbean Sea, making it the largest in a half century, 2020

A record high temperature is recorded within the Arctic Circle, 38C (100F) in Verkhoyansk, Siberia, 2020

The Largo di Torre Argentina, site of Julius Caesar's assassination, opens to the public for the first time, 2023