Pet Store Christmas Joy (Wordless Wednesday) and Words for Wednesday

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Linking up with Wordless Wednesday, Steve at BeThere2Day, Catsynth, 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 Wisewebwoman is providing the prompts and they will be posted by Elephant's Child.    

This week's prompts are:

• Jail
• Bar
• Dump Truck
• Asphyxiate
• Herring

 

and/or

• Kiwi
• Bowling
• Rifle Range
• Permit
• Daiquiri

Charlotte (MotherOwl) has selected light blue as the colour of the month.

She stood at the kitchen stove preparing HERRING for supper.  Again.  It was cheap, it was nutritious enough, the smell of it would never leave her nostrils, she just knew it.

As she worked, she thought back, looking for the clues she should have seen.  The time they were dating seemed pretty normal, even in hindsight.  He stayed in high school and graduated, not at the top but not at the bottom either, and then got a good job at the plant.

Things seemed to go well, they married, they were happy, they had Hunter and Lily.

Some time after they'd been married about six years, it started.  He'd hang out at the BAR with the guys.  Not often at first, but more and more.

Then he and his pals started pulling dumb stunts.  "Commandeering" (his word) a DUMP TRUCK, driving it behind the BOWLING alley, and climbing the roof to jump in on a dare.  They'd all jumped in, then couldn't get out, they'd been too drunk to think that far ahead.

He'd come home that night stinking so bad  from whatever was in that truck she thought she'd ASPHYXIATE.

As she peeled and sliced KIWI fruits for dessert, she went over the latest in her mind.  Showing up at the RIFLE RANGE with his hunting rifle but without his gun PERMIT and with a DAIQUIRI in his hand.  Claimed he wanted to put it in the fridge in the employee kitchen for later, but it was already almost empty.

That stunt earned him a trip to JAIL, and it was the end for her.  She wouldn't let him turn their kids into whatever it was he was intent on becoming.

His parents had finally bailed him out, after she couldn't and his so-called friends wouldn't.  They'd met him there with a Light Blue suitcase containing his clothes, and told him they'd gotten him out, but it was up to him to get sober and smarten up and realize he had a family and a grown up life he needed to live.

He'd turned and walked away angry because, "Nobody in this family has a sense of humor any more!"

It was never his fault, but until he got over that idea, he wasn't welcome at home or anywhere else.  Even his work was threatening to fire him for his absences due to "illness."

She had a job now, and her parents and his would help and band together, and if he got straight, wonderful, and if he didn't, they'd continue to walk the path they chose, and he could go his own way.

A single tear ran down her face.  She missed who he used to be, and hoped somehow he'd go to that sober living place and be fit to come home again someday.

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Today is:

Day of Shango -- Yoruba/Santería religion (various Caribbean islands; ceremony for the Defender against Evil)

Day of the Artisans -- internet generated day to honor all who work

Extraordinary Work Team Recognition Day -- created in 2000 by QPC Inc., encouraging recognition of teams that "consistently work extraordinarily well together to produce significant results for their companies or organizations." 

Festival for Minerva -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Grange Day -- US Grange (Order of the Patrons of Husbandry) founded, 1887

National Cookie Day

National Dice Day -- get together with friends and play a game today (instructions are here)

Navy Day -- India; Italy

Rake Leaves into the World's Largest Pile Day -- just so you can jump in, of course

Ribbons and Wrap Day -- according to the Elf Forum, which no longer exists; i'd suggest making sure you have enough now, anyway

Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting -- NY, NY, US

Santa's List Day -- he completes the lists today, according to some people; which one are you on?

Special Kids Day -- a day to make sure special needs kids get to visit Santa with whatever accommodations they require    

St. Barbara's Day (Patron of ammunition workers/bomb technicians/explosives workers/ordnance workers, architects, armourers, artillerymen, boatment/mariners/sailors/waterman, brass workers, brewers, builders, carpenters, construction workers, dying people, firefighters/fire prevention, fireworks, fireworks manufacturers, fortifications, foundry workers, geologists, gravediggers, gunners, hatmakers/hatters/milliners, martyrs, masons, mathematicians, military engineers, miners, prisoners, safety from storms, saltpetre workers, smelters, stone masons, tilers, warehouses; Amaroni, Italy; Barbara, Italy; Colleferro, Italy; Montecatini Terme, Italy; Paterno, Sicily; Rieti, Italy; Santa Barbara, CA; Syria; Toa Alto, Puerto Rico; against death by artillery, explosions, fire, impenitence, lightning, mine collapse, storms, sudden death)

     A young woman may place the twig of a cherry tree in a glass of water today. If it blooms by Christmas Eve, the girl is certain to marry in the following year.

     Barborka -- Poland (where Barbara is best known as Patron of Miners, thus "Miners' Day)

     Eid il-Burbara -- Lebanon; Palestine; Syria (where Barbara is celebrated with a holiday similar to Western Halloween)

St. Maruthas' Day (Patron of Iran; Persia)

Thai Environment Day -- Thailand

Wildlife Conservation Day -- US

Anniversary Today:

Mission Santa Barbara is founded as a Franciscan Mission in California, 1786

Birthdays Today:

Tyra Banks, 1973

Fred Armisen, 1966

Marisa Tomei, 1964

Jozef Sabovcik, 1963

Cassandra Wilson, 1955

Patricia Wettig, 1951

Jeff Bridges, 1949

Dennis Wilson, 1944

Chris Hillman, 1942

Max Baer, Jr., 1937

Stewart Rawlings Mott, 1937

Wink Martindale, 1934

Victor French, 1934

Helen M. Chase, 1924

Deanna Durbin, 1921

Francisco Franco, 1892

Lillian Russel, 1861

Crazy Horse, 1840

Samuel Butler, 1835

Thomas Carlyle, 1795

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Broadway Bound"(Simon play), 1986

"Falcon Crest"(TV), 1981

"Beatles for Sale"(Album), 1964

"Tobacco Road"(Play), 1933

"Whoopee"(Musical), 1928

"Ten Commandments"(Film), 1923*

Today in History:

Upon the death of Carloman, Karel the Great (Charlemagne), his brother, becomes king of all France, 771

The Syrian harbor city of Saida (Sidon) surrenders to the Crusaders, 1110

After 18 years, the Council of Trent holds its final session, 1563

Father Marquette begins to build the first dwelling in what is now Chicago, 1674

Britain's Observer, oldest Sunday newspaper in world, first published, 1791

Britain abolishes the practice of the "suttee" in India, 1829

The American Anti-Slavery Society is founded in Philadelphia by Arthur Tappen and William Lloyd Garrison, 1833

Oliver Hudson Kelley founds The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, (the Grange), 1867

"Boss" Tweed escapes from jail, 1875

The first edition of the Los Angeles Times is published, 1881

Lucille Atcherson becomes the first woman legation secretary in the US Foreign Service, 1922

Cecil B. DeMille's first version of "The Ten Commandments" (the one in which he flooded Hollywood Blvd. without permit 3 times to get the Red Sea Scene right, and had to bail his crew out of jail 3 times, too!) premiers, 1923

The first Burger King is opened in Miami, Florida, United States, 1954

Suriname joins the United Nations, 1975

The Unity Module, the second module of the International Space Station, is launched, 1998

An adult giant squid is caught on video for the first time by Tsunemi Kubodera near the Ogasawara Islands, 1,000 km (620 miles) south of Tokyo, 2006

Political pressure and cyber attacks against WikiLeaks are condemned by Reporters Without Borders

In Koblenz, Germany, nearly 45,000 people wait to return home while bomb squads defuse WWII bombs still hidden under the Rhine River, 2011

In Egypt, a hundred thousand people gather to protest President Morsi's proposed constitutional amendments, 2012

A new island is discovered in the Arctic Ocean's Laptev Sea and initially called Yaya, 2013

French couture house Chanel ends its use of fur and exotic skins following bans by other companies, 2018

Mt. Semeru erupts on Java island, Indonesia, 2021

Mt. Semeru erupts again, blanketing villages with volcanic ash, 2022

Caitlin Clark posts 22 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists for Iowa against Wisconsin, surpassing the Big Ten career triple-double record, 2023