Much Needed (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, Charlotte (MotherOwl ) is providing the prompts on her blog, and i am most grateful to her for doing so.  Next month it is my turn.

This week the prompts are

Alphabet

Bookends

Careful

Devoted

Gland

Elegy

and/or

Fabulous

Island

Legend

Mirror

Yak

Violent

Charlotte (MotherOwl) has also chosen Light Ivory as the color of the month.

"My, these are lovely!" Viola said to the hostess, looking at a pair of bookends which were obviously teak and interestingly carved.

"The Hawaiian ALPHABET BOOKENDS?  Thank you, I am very CAREFUL with them as we're DEVOTED to keeping them in good shape, even as we use them out here in the parlor," the hostess replied.

"Do they have a story?" Viola asked, wondering why the friend who had brought her to this event in this home had a peculiar look on her face.

"Of course they do," the hostess answered, "everything we own has a story.  When I was very, very ill with kidney and adrenal GLAND trouble and my poor, devoted husband was so worried he thought he'd be writing my ELEGY very soon, we heard about a FABULOUS doctor on one of the Hawaiian ISLANDs, and he used a blend of modern and traditional medicine to cure me.  While there, I admired these bookends.  They'd been carved by his grandfather so he would learn the letters when he was small, and he gave them to us as he said I was his favorite patient ever."

At this point Viola's friend piped up, "Later you need to tell her the LEGEND of the MIRROR, and about the Light Ivory YAK you met in Tibet that turned VIOLENT.  You certainly have some yarns, don't you!"

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Today is:

Always Live Better Than Yesterday Day

Cotton Candy Day

Feast of St. Ignatius Loyola -- (Founder of the Jesuits, especially revered in Spain; Patron of retreats, soldiers, and the Society of Jesus which he founded; Basque country; Bilbao, Spain; Bizkaia, Spain; Gipuzkoa, Spain; Guipuscoa, Spain; Guipúzcoa, Spain; Spiritual Exercises (by Pope Pius XI); Vizcaya, Spain)

Hachinohe Sansha Taisai -- Hachinohe City, Japan (one of the most elaborate neputa festivals, through Aug. 4)

Jump for Jellybeans Day

Ka Hae Hawai'i Day -- Hawai'i (State Flag Day)

Lammas Eve / Lughnassad Eve

Lithasblot -- Norse harvest festival with a "blot", or offering, to the gods, celebrated through tomorrow

Loki and Sigyn's Day - Asatru / Norse Pagan (aka Devoted Couples Day)

Make Homemade Ice Cream and Invite the Neighbors Over Day -- summer's almost over, make the most of the days we have left!

Moby Dick Marathon -- aboard the last US wooden whaler, the Charles W. Morgan, Mystic Seaport, Mystic, CT, US (through tomorrow, from noon to noon, a marathon reading of Moby Dick in honor of Melville's birthday)

Mutts' Day -- because mutts deserve a day as much as purebreeds do!

National Raspberry Cake Day

St. Germanus' Day (Patron of Auxerre, France)

St. Joseph of Arimathea's Day -- Eastern Orthodox Church (Patron of funeral directors)

Uncommon Instruments Day    

World Ranger Day -- the International Ranger Federation wants us to honor wildlife rangers around the world as they work to protect the world's natural and cultural treasures, and remember those killed in the line of duty

Birthdays Today

Eric Lively, 1981

Dean Cain, 1966

J.K. Rowling, 1965

Jim Corr, 1964

Wesley Snipes, 1962

Bill Berry, 1958

Michael Biehn, 1956

Barry Van Dyke, 1951

Evonne Goolagong, 1951

Gary Lewis, 1946

Geraldine Chaplin, 1944

Susan Flannery, 1943

France Nuyen, 1939

Ted Cassidy, 1932

Don Murray, 1929

Curt Gowdy, 1919

Milton Friedman, 1912

Debuting/Premiering Today:

The Living Daylights(Film), 1987

"The Shadow"(Radio), 1930

Today in History

Mark Antony achieves a minor victory over Octavian's forces, but most of his army subsequently deserts, leading to his suicide, BC30

The oldest recorded eruption of Mt. Fuji, 781

Thessalonica falls to the Arabs, who destroy the city, 904

The Jews are expelled from Spain when the Alhambra Decree takes effect, 1492

On his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus 

becomes the first European to discover the island of Trinidad, 1498

Aurangzeb is proclaimed Moghul emperor of India, 1658

The Treaty of Breda ends the Second Anglo-Dutch War, 1667

Daniel Defoe is placed in a pillory for the crime of seditious libel after publishing a politically satirical pamphlet, but is pelted with flowers, 1703

The U.S. Second Continental Congress passes a resolution that the services of Marquis de Lafayette  "be accepted, and that, in consideration of his zeal, illustrious family and connexions, he have the rank and commission of major-general of the United States," 1777

First U.S. patent is issued to inventor Samuel Hopkins for a potash process, 1790

Christchurch, New Zealand is chartered as a city, 1856

The first narrow gauge mainline railway in the world opens at Grandchester, Australia, 1865

The radio mystery program The Shadow is aired for the first time, 1930

Archaeologists discover engraved gold and silver plates from King Darius in Persepolis, 1938

First ascent of K2, by an Italian expedition led by Ardito Desio, 1954

At Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, the first All-Star Game tie in major league baseball history occurs when the game is stopped in the 9th inning because of rain, 1961

The last day of the officially sanctioned rum ration in the Royal Navy, 1970

Apollo 15 astronauts become the first to ride in a lunar rover, 1971

NASA releases the famous Face on Mars photo, 1976

A rare, class F4 tornado rips through Edmonton, Alberta, killing 27 people and causing $330 million in damage, 1987

Georgia joins the United Nations, 1992

Fidel Castro hands over power temporarily to brother Raúl Castro, 2006

Operation Banner, the presence of the British Army in Northern Ireland, and the longest-running British Army operation ever, comes to an end, 2007

U.S. Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps wins a record 19th Olympic medal, with gold in the 4x200metres freestyle relay, 2012

Facebook discloses and removes a Russian-linked network of site pages that are attempting to interfere in American politics, 2018

American swimming superstar Katie Ledecky wins the women's 800m gold for an unprecedented third consecutive Olympics in Tokyo, 2021

The McKinney fire at Klamath National Forest, becomes California's largest fire of the year, 2022