Playing Rough (Cajun Joke), Sunday Selections, and Sunday Selfie

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Just because Sandee of Comedy Plus is no longer hosting a Silly Sunday blog hop, do not expect me to quit telling Cajun jokes, especially as it has now become a habit.

For several years, Grandpa has had the poorest excuse for a comforter on his bed.  It was very torn up by Lulu dog back when she used to sleep up there (claws are hard on cloth) and worse, it was a king size on a queen size bed.  It hung down over the sides to badly i was always concerned Grandpa was going to trip over it all and break something.

His Christmas gift was a new comforter which actually fits his bed.  No more worry.

Ol' Trosclair done come to church Christmas Eve, an' he done gots hims leg in a cast and be usin' de crutches.

Boudreaux done see dat an' ax, "Trosclair, what you done did?"

An' Trosclair say, "I done broke my ankle."

O' course, Boudreaux done ax, "How you done did dat?"

An' Trosclair, who gots him de white hair, an' de big, white beard, an' de round tummy, say, "Well, you know how I really be's Papa Noel?  I was playin' some reindeer games wit' de whole gang an' somehow Comet done kicked me!"

(Please note, an older member of our congregation, who does happen to look like Papa Noel and is a Cajun, came to church Christmas Eve with a broken ankle, and that's exactly the excuse he used!)

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Sunday Selections was started as a way for bloggers to use photos that might otherwise just languish in their files.  The rules have been relaxed, and it is now simply a showcase for your photos, new or old, good or bad, although nothing rude, please.  Our friend River is hosting, and other participants often include Charlotte/Mother Owl, Andrew, and WiseWebWoman.             

Before the decorations disappear for another year, here are a few more.

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This week, Cookie and Emmy want to join the Kitties Blue at The Cat On My Head for their Sunday Selfies Blog Hop.   

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Today is:

Bairns Day -- Scotland (Begins the runic half-month of Eoh, the yew tree, which signifies the dead, and is now associated with the Slaughter of the Innocents of Christian tradition, so today is considered by some the unluckiest day of the year, and no work should be undertaken today.)

Call a Friend Day -- just to catch up a bit

Card Playing Day -- internet generated, enjoy a fun game with friends and family; "Go fish!"

Childermas a/k/a Holy Innocents Day -- (Patrons of babies, children's choirs, foundlings)

     various Christian traditions celebrate under many names and in various ways

     Els Enfarinats -- Ibn, Valencia, Spain (flour fight, and if it's anything like the tomato throwing in other towns of Spain, it's probably lots of fun)

     French Childermas tradition interpreted what the Norse saw as evidence of the Wild Hunt of Odin as the spirits of the Holy Innocents running from King Herod

     Inocentes -- Mexico, and sometimes celebrated as Mexican December Fool's Day (Herod fooled himself into thinking he had gotten rid of his rival king born in Bethlehem.)

Dyzemas Day -- Northhamptonshire, UK (an unlucky day to begin any new undertaking, "what is begun on Dysemas Day will never be finished")

     origin unknown, but often translated as Tithe Day, being very close to the Portugese word for tithe

Eat A Vegetarian Day -- an internet generated joke; yes, the vegetarian in question can be a cow

Endangered Species Act Day -- US (act passed 1973; a day to mourn species already extinct)

Fourth Day of Christmas

Incwala Day -- Swaziland (the biggest day of the 8-week Ncwala Festival, which loosely translates as "first fruits", although today's tasting of the first of the harvest by the King is only a portion of the many days of ceremonies)

King Taksin Memorial Day -- Thailand

Kwanzaa, Day 3, Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility)

National Chocolate Candy Day

Proclamation Day -- South Australia (trad.)

Return a Gift for the Cold Hard Cash Day -- and good luck, these days

Runic Half-month Eoh (yew) commences

Take a Drive and Enjoy the Christmas Lights Day -- before they are gone for another year

Unluckiest Day of the Year -- various traditions state no work should be started today, for whatever is started today will never be finished!  In Olde England, nothing of importance was ever undertaken on Childermas, because it would prove unlucky

Anniversaries Today:

Billy Ray Cyrus weds Leticia Finley, 1994

The US Pledge of Allegiance is formally adopted, 1945

Iowa becomes the 29th US State, 1846

Birthdays Today:

David Archuleta, 1990

Sienna Miller, 1981

John Legend, 1978

Joe Mangianello, 1976

Todd Richards, 1969

Malcolm Gets, 1964

Denzel Washington, 1954

Edgar Winter, 1946

Don Francisco, 1940

Maggie Smith, 1934

Nichelle Nichols, 1933

Martin Milner, 1931

Johnny Otis, 1921

Sam Levenson, 1911

Lew Ayres, 1908

Cliff Arquette, 1905

Earl "Fatha" Hines, 1905

Hendrik Meijer, 1883

Woodrow Wilson, 1856

John Molson, 1763

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Gulag Archipelago"(Publication date), 1973

"Last of the Red Hot Lovers"(Play), 1969

"Night of the Iguana"(Play), 1961

"On the Town"(Musical), 1944

"Tip-Toes"(Musical), 1925

"St. Joan"(Play), 1923

"Cyrano de Bergerac"(Play), 1897

Today in History:

The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, a/k/a Westminster Abbey, is consecrated, 1065

The reign of Emperor Hanazono of Japan begins, 1308

Galileo Galilei becomes the first astronomer to observe the planet Neptune, although he mistakenly catalogued it as a fixed star, 1612

King Taksin is crowned as king of Thailand and establishes Thonburi as a capital, 1768

Construction of Yonge Street, formerly recognized as the longest street in the world, begins in York, Upper Canada (present-day Toronto, Ontario), 1795

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake strikes Echigo, Japan, killing 30,000+, 1828

John Calhoun becomes the first US Vice President to resign (over differences with President Andrew Jackson), 1832

Spain recognizes independence of Mexico, 1836

South Australia and Adelaide are founded, 1836

Rangoon Burma, destroyed by fire, 1841

The United States claims Midway Island, the first territory annexed outside Continental limits, 1867

The Lumière brothers perform for their first paying audience at the Grand Cafe in Boulevard des Capucines, marking the debut of the cinema, 1895

The first municipally owned streetcars take to the streets in San Francisco, California, 1912

The Peak District becomes the United Kingdom's first National Park, 1950

Alexander Solzhenitsyn publishes "Gulag Archipelago", 1973

Winnie Mandela is banished from South Africa, 1976

The first American "test-tube baby", Elizabeth Jordan Carr, is born in Norfolk, Virginia, 1981

U.S. retail giant Montgomery Ward announces it is going out of business after 128 years, 2000

At 115 years old and 266 days, Jiroemon Kimura of Japan becomes the world's oldest living person, 2012

Iranian woman Vida Mohaved is arrested for protesting against the policy of the compulsory hijab, sparking other protests, 2017

L’Oréal heiress and businesswoman Françoise Bettencourt Meyers is the first woman to be worth $100 billion, 2023

Sweet and Bittersweet, a Ten Things of Thankful Post

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The days continue to slip past like pearl beads off a string, with much for which to be thankful.

I'm thankful every time #2 Son can carpool with us to NOLA, saving us the time, trouble and money of getting a rental car.

There are times when my clients say things which make me so glad they are also friends.  This past week, Ms. D needed help with her TV, of all things.  We don't have TV, just the monitor/speakers/DVD/Blu-ray set up my Sweetie uses to watch his movies and shows from the past, so most TV equipment is foreign to me.

This time, she couldn't get a particular TV to come up beyond the "press continue to perform a channel scan" or something like that.  I took the remote and i believe The Good Lord reminded me of having done this before with Ms. JAI, so i hit the "input" button and recognized HDMI1 as something we've set TVs to before.

It worked!  I was thankful, and even more, thankful when Ms. D commented, "I love your brain!"  I was quite tickled by the comment.

We had a crisis one evening when Brother-in-Law could not find the keys to his apartment.  This is a big deal as we have no spare room, and chairs but no couch for him to sleep on, and the last thing we need this time of year is to pay for him to spend the night in a hotel until someone can come on duty at the apartment complex who can get him into his unit.

He told me he'd searched his car with a flashlight, but again it was as if The Good Lord was giving me a hint -- he can't bend over, so there's no way he searched the car thoroughly, all the way under every seat.  That's what i did, and yep, i'm thankful to say there it was, further back than he could have found it.

I'm also thankful someone stepped up to help him fix his car again.

Then there was the missing DVD in Sweetie's collection.  Thankfully, mommies are magic and it was found.

Because once more we would be otherwise occupied on Thursday, our two Thursday clients were taken care of on Tuesday.  I'm thankful i got through it, and my back, which is very grumbly right now, is thankful it won't happen again until after the New Year.

I'm also thankful Mr. BA, when we got to their house, had a turkey ready for us, as it saved me from having to pick one up myself at the place which is very far out of my way, but theirs are the best and easiest to reheat.

Because of various problems i was very late in getting my Angel Tree gifts delivered, but i was very thankful to hand them off to the child's grandmother on Wednesday.  I'm also thankful i got some needed phone calls made, quite successfully.

The Christmas Eve service at the church was as beautiful as always, and Becca and i were thankful to wile away the time before it started playing Apples to Apples.

Just over a week ago, #2 Son informed me he and Daughter-in-Law were doing all the Christmas cooking!  I was very thankful, as it's a big deal, especially when Grandma is in charge of the menu and wants EVERYTHING.  They set the menu, a few things were not there but Grandma loved what they made, and we hope a new tradition has been born.

I was very thankful to be put in charge of one little person who enjoyed her whole day, eating almost constantly, delighting in gifts (mostly books), and exploring everything.

All of us were thankful for the very thoughtful gifts from #2 Son and Daughter-in-Law as well.  They'd managed to snag a picture of each member of the family holding little Annie, had them printed and framed, and those were our gifts!  I'm looking right now at a picture of me and her at the wedding back in September.

The shelter was closed Friday, but those of us who do the caretaking were still there, and we were thankful it all went well and smoothly.

Finally, there's the bittersweet ending of Lunceford the Land Yacht.  (Yes, we name our cars, don't judge.)  Lunceford was one of those huge "granny cars," a Lincoln Town Car of the huge type you often see being driven by some older lady who seems barely able to see over the dash.  We bought him used and he served as a great workhorse for us, including keeping up during the 9 months when my Sweetie, Brother-in-Law, and i had only Lunceford to use for all of us, and each of us had a different work schedule and Brother-in-Law was not even living with us.

Quite a while back, Lunceford was diagnosed as needing major engine work, and we parked him and started looking for a buyer.  A few seemed interested but it all fell through, and finally, yesterday, we finished our donation of him to the local Society of St. Vincent de Paul.  It was sad and yet satisfying when the tow truck drove away with Lunceford, which will be taken apart for the pieces of him which are still usable, since such Town Cars are still plentiful and beloved by many.

I'm very thankful we had Lunceford the Land Yacht and i'll miss him, but at least i'm thankful some use will be made of him and the money raised by the donation will go to feeding and housing the homeless.

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

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

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Today is:

Anniversary of Benazir Bhutto's Death -- Sindh, Pakistan

Calli (House) Day -- Aztec Calendar (a good day for all things hearth and home and family. a bad day to participate in public life; date approximate, but soon after the solstice)

Constitution Day -- Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea)

Festival of Nehebkau -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (Beginning of Eternity, celebrating the snake god and his role of binding the sun to the earth at the beginning of time; date approximate)

Kwanzaa, Day 2, Kujichagulia (Self-Determination)

Make Cut Out Snowflakes Day -- internet generated, with Christmas over, you need to do winter decorations

Modern Medicine Day -- birth anniversary of Louis Pasteur

National Fruitcake Day -- unless, of course, you are like me and have spent your last several days with fruitcake relatives, at which point you get a day off from fruitcakes! ;D 

Second Day of the Stanley Races -- Falkland Islands

St. Fabiola's Day (Patron of difficult marriages, divorced people, victims of abuse, victims of adultery, widows)

St. John the Divine's Day (Patron of art dealers, authors, bookbinders, booksellers, burn victims, compositors, editors, engravers, friendships, lithographers, painters, papermakers, printers, publishers, tanners, theologians, typesetters, writers; Asia Minor; Boise, Idaho, Borgo Santo Sepolcro, Italy; Cleveland, OH; Eger, Hungary; Milwaukee, WI; Morra, Netherlands; Saint-Jean – Longueuil, Québec; Sansepoicro, Italy; Sundern, Germany; Taos, NM; Umbria, Italy; Wroclaw, Poland; against burns, poisoning)

St. Stephen's Day -- Eastern Orthodox, a public holiday in Romania

Third Day of Christmas

Visit the Zoo Day -- don't know who put this one in the middle of winter, but there it is

Watch the Children Day -- internet generated, a day to take a page from the book of the young and remember how to play like a child

Birthdays Today:

Heather O'Rourke, 1975

Masi Oka, 1974

Bill Goldberg, 1966

Tovah Feldshuh, 1952

Gerard Depardieu, 1948

Cokie Roberts, 1943

John Amos, 1939

Oscar Levant, 1906

Marlene Dietrich, 1901

Sydney Greenstreet, 1879

Louis Pasteur, 1822

George Cayley, 1773

Johannes Kepler, 1571

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Knots Landing"(TV), 1979

"Howdy Doody"(TV), 1947 (first successful children's television show)

"Radio Roxyettes"(Now the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes), 1932

Today in History:

The Hagia Sofia of Constantinople is completed, 537

The Spanish Crown issues the Laws of Burgos, governing the conduct of settlers with regards to native Indians in the New World, 1512

The first public railroad using steam locomotive completed in England, 1825

Charles Darwin embarks on his journey aboard the HMS Beagle, 1831

Worst English avalanche kills 8 of 15 buried in Lewes Sussex, 1836

Ether is first used in childbirth in US, in Jefferson, Ga., 1845

The world's first cat show is held at the Crystal Palace, London, 1871

Carrie Nation's first public smashing of a bar, at the Carey Hotel, Wichita, Kansas, 1900

Unsuccessful attempt on prince-regent Hirohito of Japan, 1923

Stalin's faction wins All-Union Congress in USSR, Trotsky is expelled, 1927

Radio City Music Hall opened in New York City, 1932

The Shah of Persia declares Persia is now Iran, 1934

The World Bank was created with the signing of an agreement by 28 nations, 1945

Apollo 8 splashes down in the Pacific Ocean, ending the first orbital manned mission to the Moon, 1968

The People's Republic of China is granted permanent normal trade relations with the United States, 2001

Radiation from an explosion on the magnetar SGR 1806-20 reaches Earth. It is the brightest extrasolar event known to have been witnessed on the planet, 2004

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is assassinated, 2007

Toyota Motor Corporation agrees to pay $1 billion to settle over a dozen lawsuits related to sudden acceleration, 2012

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visits Pearl Harbor, offering “sincere and everlasting condolences to the souls of those who lost their lives” and adding, “[Japan] must never repeat the horrors of war again," 2016

Thousands of union members in Argentina protest deregulation and austerity measures meant to revive their economy, 2023