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It's time once again for a random and happy Tuesday, linking up with Stacy's Random Thoughts at Stacy Uncorked and Sandee at Comedy Plus.
My day started yesterday almost before it started, with a text from my client who lives across the street from Carl and family.
"Happy New Year! Please tell Ms. V her porch light has been on since Saturday, probably by mistake."
Ms. S has lived across the street from Ms. V and crew since Carl was about 3 years old. She knows how things go in that house. They're great neighbors who look out for each other.
The usual drill commences when i walk in and see the mess in the laundry, this time with a twist. Carl had some dirty clothes in the sink, so i grabbed the bundle and brought it to my staging area where i sort all the dirty clothes. A short time later, going through them all, i was rather surprised to find a pair of Ms. V's skivvies mixed with his dirty clothes.
I know that wasn't on purpose, he's not that kind of Carl, and i also found some of Mr. L's, as well as socks belonging to both of them. It just all got jumbled, so it all got washed together.
The whole time i was working in his room, i was getting a strong whiff of...something. Not something unpleasant, but unusual for Carl's room.
Someone gave him a sachet of lavender. He tore it. It made itself known to the olfactories. I cleaned it, put a piece of tape on the packet, and put it in his underwear drawer. Anything which makes his clothes smell good is welcome.
Once Carl was up and showered and dressed, he seemed to want to talk about parties.
"There's a mansion..." he said.
I asked him what happened there and he corrected himself. "Plantation!" he noted.
Again i asked what happened there.
"A surprise birthday party," he said, and i noted the plantation homes were often rented for parties and weddings.
He nodded and then said, "There's a church party."
Oh, are you going? i asked.
"Have work that day...don't know what I'm going to do..."
Is the party after work? i asked.
"It can be..." he said.
I think it's a New Year's Eve party, and since he works the next day, he will probably have to stay home and go to the party his parents have.
Yes, Ms. V and Mr. L have a party, it is only for the neighbors, since Ms. V wants only people who can walk there to come so no one takes the risk of driving that night.
It starts at 6pm and everyone goes home by 9pm. After all they are all over 65 and don't feel the need to be out late.
The weather has turned a bit cooler now and Carl was looking for his jacket as he was about to leave for work. He'd left it in his car, which leads to a story Ms. V told me later that day.
Ms. V and company are members of the church my Sweetie and i attend, but they only watch online now as Mr. L is almost housebound and Ms. V hates to drive into town on the highway by herself.
She and Carl have been going on Sundays to a smaller church nearby so she can sing in the choir and he can go to the Sunday school class for people with special needs. They are very good at understanding and dealing with Carl and others like him and nurture their spiritual growth while taking their differences into account.
Carl has been wanting to go to yet another church a bit further up the road, and his mother told him he could, and she thought he'd gone there this past Sunday while she attended the closer one.
Imagine her surprise when she sees him coming up the aisle wearing his bathrobe!
She quickly intercepted him and asked him, "Carl! Why are you at church in your bathrobe?"
"I couldn't find my jacket and I was cold!" he said very matter of factly.
He was wearing his regular clothes under it, but you couldn't tell when the huge, long thick fuzzy robe was wrapped around him.
She told him he'd better find his jacket as he was most certainly not to wear his robe to work the next day.
It's cold, and it's almost a New Year, how about some funnies.
I pray you all have a blessed and beautiful New Year's Eve.
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Today is:
Check Your Smoke Alarms Day
Feast of Sharaf (Honor) -- Baha'i
International Solidarity Day -- Azerbaijan and Azerbaijanis worldwide
Kwanzaa, Day 6, Kuumba (Creativity)
Make Up Your Mind Day/Procrastinator's Day -- you have to make up your mind
National Champagne Day
New Year's Eve -- a selection of related observances
Allendale Tar Barrel Burning/Baal Fire Festival -- Allendale, England (locals burn out the old year by carrying burning tar barrels on their heads, then use them to light one huge bonfire)
Feast of Father Time -- because he ultimately overcomes us all
Festival of Yemaya -- Yoruba/Santeria (celebration of the mother of the sun and moon)
Fire and Ice New Year's Eve Celebration -- Anchorage, AK (fire jugglers, ice carvers, fireworks, and more)
First Night -- a non-alcoholic alternative to New Year's Eve
Fravartigan -- Parsi Zoroastrian (celebration to honor the dead through the night)
Gamlarskvold -- Icelandic traditions; cows gain human speech, seals take on human form, the dead rise, and Elves move house
obtain gold from the Elves by sitting at a crossroads and waiting for them to pass
Housewives greet the Elves by reciting the rhyme of protection
Let those who want to, arrive
Let those who want to, leave
Let those who want to, Stay
Without harm to me or mine
Light a bonfire, and "blow out the year" with fireworks
Harvest Day Celebrations -- Benin (celebration of the end of harvest season at the turn of the year)
Hogmanay Day -- Scotland (Auld Year's Night)
Japanese Observances (a few, at least)
Joya no Kane -- Japan (ringing out the old year with temple bells; Buddhists believe humans are born with 108 worldly desires which are removed when the bells are rung 108 times)
Namahge -- Oga Peninsula, Japan (devil appearing holiday; young men dress as demons and run through the town warning children to behave during the coming year)
Okera Matsuri -- Yasaka Shrine, Kyoto, Japan (Sacred Fire Rite)
Omisoka Day -- Japan (the second most important day on the Japanese Calendar; tomorrow is the most important)
Noche de Pedimento -- Oaxaca, Mexico (Night of the Petition)
Ritual for Iemanja -- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (seaside rituals for the goddess of the sea and carnal pleasure, followed by a swinging party in the city and on the beaches overnight)
Samoan Fire Dance -- Samoa
Swinging the Fireballs -- Stonehaven, Kincardineshire, Scotland
Universal Hour of Peace -- begins at 11:30pm your local time, welcome the New Year with peace
Watch Night -- Christian
World Peace Meditation Day (International observance of one hour beginning 12:00 PM GMT, focusing thought and energy on peace.)
No Resolution Day / Ditch the Resolutions Day -- if you don't want to, you don't have to!
Restoration Day -- Geneva, Switzerland
Seventh Day of Christmas
St. Sylvester's Day (Patron of Feroleto Antico, Italy; Poggio Catino, Italy) related observances
Saint Sylvester's Day Celebrations-- Belgium, Germany, France and Switzerland
Silvesterklause -- Urnäsch, Switzerland
St. Zoticus of Constantinople's Day (Patron of the poor; often titled Feeder of Orphans)
You're All Done Day -- sponsored by something i haven't been able to pin down online called The Long Haul Committee (and it's more like "all done in" if you are like me!)
Anniversaries Today:
Gregory Peck marries Veronique Passani, 1955
Rocky Marciano marries Barbara Cousins, 1950
Bette Davis marries Arthur Farnsworth, 1940
Birthdays Today:
Joe McIntyre, 1972
Nicholas Sparks, 1965
Val Kilmer, 1959
Bebe Neuwirth, 1958
James Remar, 1953
Donna Summer, 1948
Tim Matheson, 1947
Barbara Carrera, 1945
Diane Halfin von Furstenberg, 1945
John Denver, 1943
Ben Kingsley, 1943
Andy Summers, 1942
Sarah Miles, 1941
Anthony Hopkins, 1937
Odetta, 1930
Simon Wiesenthal, 1908
George C. Marshall, 1880
Henri Matisse, 1869
Debuting/Premiering Today:
The London Eye(World's Largest Ferris Wheel), 1999
"Lost in Yonkers"(Play), 1990
"Pirates of Penzance"(Comic Opera), 1879
Today in History:
80,000 Vandals, Alans and Suebians attack the Rhine at Mainz, crossing into and beginning the invasion of Gallia, 406
Byzantine General Belisarius completes the conquest of Sicily, defeating the Ostrogothic garrison of Syracuse, and ending his consulship for the year, 535
Ch'an monk Ho-tse Shen-hui interred in a stupa built in China, 765
James I of Aragon the Conqueror enters Medina Mayurqa (now known as Palma, Spain) thus consummating the Christian conquest of the island of Majorca, 1229
100,000 Jews expelled from Sicily, 1492
The British East India Company chartered, 1600
The first Huguenots depart France to Cape of Good Hope, 1687
A window tax is imposed in England, causing many shopkeepers to brick up their windows to avoid the tax, 1695
Rhode Island establishes wage & price controls to curb inflation: Limit is 70 cents a day for carpenters, 42 cents for tailors, 1776
Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa as new capital of Canada, 1857
The cornerstone is laid for Honolulu, Hawai'i's Iolani Palace, the only royal palace in the US, 1879
Edison gives 1st public demonstration of his incandescent lamp, 1879
Ellis Island (NYC) opens as a US immigration depot, 1890
Brooklyn's last day as a city, it incorporates into NYC (1/1/1898), 1897
Boers & British army sign peace treaty, 1902
The first New Year's Eve celebration is held in Times Square, then known as Longacre Square, in New York, New York, 1904
For the first time a ball drops at Times Square to signal the new year, 1907
The last San Francisco firehorses are retired, 1921
The chimes of Big Ben are broadcast on radio for the first time by the BBC, 1923
Dr R N Harger's "drunkometer," the first breath test, is introduced in Indiana, 1938
The farthing coin ceases to be legal tender in the United Kingdom, 1960
The Central African Federation officially collapses and splits into Zambia, Malawi and Rhodesia, 1963
The AT&T Bell System is broken up by the United States Government, 1983
All official Soviet Union institutions have ceased operations by this date and the Soviet Union is officially dissolved, 1991
Czechoslovakia is peacefully dissolved in what is dubbed by media as the Velvet Divorce, resulting in the creation of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, 1992
This date is skipped altogether in Kiribati as the Phoenix Islands and Line Islands change time zones, 1994
The European Exchange Rate Mechanism freezes the values of the legacy currencies in the Eurozone, and establishes the value of the euro currency, 1998
The United States Government hands control of the Panama Canal (as well all the adjacent land to the canal known as the Panama Canal Zone) to Panama, 1999
The official opening of Taipei 101, the tallest skyscraper at that time in the world, 2004
Italy's ban of plastic bags goes into effect, 2010
A ship abandoned by human traffickers who deliberately set it on a collision course with the Italian coast is brought to shore safely by the Italian Coast Guard with 900 Syrian refugees on board, 2014
A ban on the ivory trade in China comes into effect, 2017
WHO grants the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine emergency authorization, paving the way for worldwide distribution, 2020
Queen Margarethe II of Denmark announces her plan to abdicate the throne on her 52nd anniversary of ascension, 2023
