***********************************
It's time to start the year off right, with the first Thankful Post.
Last Saturday, rain was predicted, so i'm thankful we got an early start heading to NOLA as well as thankful the rains didn't actually show up until that evening, long after we were home.
All of Becca's extended family had gone home, so i was thankful to be able to go over as per usual although we only had one church service that day. Ms. A, however, had caught a cold and decided to stay home and kept Becca with her. This meant, after our walk with Mr. Cal and playing some games, i went to church by myself.
Sunday afternoon and Monday, i was thankful to get several end-of-year things wrapped up.
I was also thankful Ms. S didn't fuss about the Christmas present i'd bought (because she'd told me not to, but i knew she wanted it, so i did and she was happy).
#2 Son and His Bride both had work Tuesday, so i was thankful i got to babysit and after they were done, they took little Annie with them to a family party (her side of the family) and i got to go home and rest and do more catching up.
Ms. G is out of town visiting family for a late holiday gathering, i'm thankful for some extra income from cat-sitting.
I'm also thankful the cat shelter was almost empty when i went Wednesday, so i got done early, went and did Ms. G's, and was home early for a work day.
Mr. L was feeling very good on Thursday, for which we are all thankful. The house got cleaned with little fuss, always a plus, and Ms. V, out of the blue, has given me a raise for which i am very thankful indeed!
It was a mixed up day Friday but i'm thankful everything worked out, from being able to make phone calls for friends who had forgotten their phones (thankful i had the phone numbers on my phone) to being able to get to the cat shelter.
There had been 4 adoptions that day, and there were 3 more while i was there with extra volunteers, we're always thankful for adoptions and volunteers.
While i was at the shelter i got a most unexpected call from someone i'd not talked to in quite a while. There's a website where i have some friends, and before Covid we used to try to get together every year, coming from different parts of the country.
One of the friends has been ill for several years, and had not posted for the last couple of years. I still sent her and her husband a Christmas card each year.
The call was from her husband, He'd lost my contact information, but from the return address on the card, he was able to track down my phone number and call me to let me know his wife had died last August.
I'm very sad to know she's gone, she was loving and determined and talented and funny. I'm thankful for the joy she brought to my life and the times we got to visit, online and in person.
I'm very thankful her husband was able to track down my info and let me know, so now i can inform the rest of our friends on the website. Fivecat, you will be missed.
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.
***********************************
Today is:
Day of the Fallen against the Colonial Repression -- Angola
Day To Mourn Racism -- anniversary of the day ethnic discrimination was outlawed worldwide in 1969
Dimpled Chad Day -- if you have to ask, you wouldn't understand; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays
Earth at Perihelion -- 1:28pm UTC (closest point to the Sun)
Eleventh Day of Christmas
Feast of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (1st US-born Saint; Patron of Apostleship of the Sea, people ridiculed for their piety, widows; Shreveport, LA; against in-law problems, the death of children, the death of parents)
Festival of Fufluns -- Etruscan (god of wine, also of spring and rebirth; date approximate)
Independence Day -- Myanmar(1948)
Martyrs' Day -- Democratic Republic of the Congo
National Spaghetti Day
Ogoni Day -- Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People of the Niger River
Pop Music Chart Day -- Billboard magazine published the first one today in 1936
St. Pharaildis' Day (Patron of difficult marriages, victims of abuse, widows; Bruay, France; Ghent, Belgium; against childhood diseases)
Trivia Day -- celebration of those who have a doctorate in uselessology, sponsored by PunsCorp
World Braille Day -- birth anniversary of Louis Braille
World Hypnotism Day -- to remove myth and misconception, and promote the truths and benefits of hypnotism
Anniversaries Today:
Utah becomes the 45th US state, 1896
Birthdays Today:
Julia Ormond, 1965
Dave Roley, 1962
Michael Stipe, 1960
Matt Frewer, 1958
Ann Magnuson, 1956
Grace Bumbry, 1937
Dyan Cannon, 1937
Floyd Patterson, 1935
Don Shula, 1930
Barbara Rush, 1927
Jesse White, 1917
Jane Wyman, 1914
Sterling Holloway, 1905
Charles "Tom Thumb" Stratton, 1838
Louis Braille, 1809
Jakob Grimm, 1785
Benjamin Rush, 1746
Debuting/Premiering Today:
"Night Court"(TV), 1984
"Blondie"(TV), 1957
The Pop Music Charts in Billboard Magazine, 1936
"Academic Festival Overture"(Johannes Brahms Op. 80), 1881
Today in History:
Titus Labienus is defeated by Julius Caesar in the Battle of Ruspina, BC 46
Columbus leaves the "New World" on return from his first voyage, 1493
Spanish viceroy Alva banishes Zutphen City's only physician, Joost Sweiter, "because he is a Jew", 1570
Most of the Palace of Whitehall in London, the main residence of the English monarchs, is destroyed by fire, 1698
Andre Méchain discovers M80, the globular cluster in Scorpio, 1781
Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the United States government, 1847
4 wheeled roller skates patented by James Plimpton of NY, 1863
The New York Stock Exchange opens its first permanent headquarters at 10-12 Broad near Wall Street in New York City, 1865
Sofia is emancipated from Ottoman rule, 1878
The last known sighting of an eastern cougar, in Ontario, 1884
Dr W W Grant of Iowa, performs the first appendectomy (on Mary Gartside, 22), 1885
Thomas Stevens is the first man to bicycle around the world (SF-SF); his itinerary accounts "DISTANCE ACTUALLY WHEELED, ABOUT 13,500 MILES", 1887
The Scout Association is incorporated throughout the British Commonwealth by Royal Charter, 1912
The first elected Jewish governor, Moses Alexander, takes office in Idaho, 1915
Sputnik 1 reenters the atmosphere and burns up, 1958
Luna 1 becomes the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon, 1959
Rose Heilbron becomes the first female judge to sit at the Old Bailey in London, 1972
Elizabeth Ann Seton becomes the first American-born saint, 1975
Spirit, a NASA Mars Rover, lands successfully on Mars at 04:35 UTC, 2004
The 110th United States Congress convenes, electing Nancy Pelosi as the first female Speaker of the House in U.S. history, 2007
The Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building is officially opened, 2010
Eleven-year-old Kathryn Gray, of Canada, becomes the youngest person in the world to discover a supernova, 2011
The world's largest ever blue star sapphire at 1404.49 carats, found in a Sri Lankan mine in August 2015, is finally certified by Colombo's Gemology Institute, 2016
South Korea, the country with world's lowest birth rate, records more deaths than births for the first time, 2021
The Canadian government announces a settlement to compensate for the Indigenous child welfare system, 2022