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| Gone to see MaryLou be back by 12 You've got biscuits |
Linking up with Wordless Wednesday, Keith, 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, Sean Jeating is providing the prompts and they will appear on River's blog.
This week's words/prompts are:
1.cudgeling
2.remember
3.language
4.translated
5.coined
and/or:
1.dead
2.heirs
3.between
4.existing
5.episode
We may also choose to use Charlotte's colour of the month, Pumpkin Orange.
Grant and Lally pulled their car up in front of his parent's home about a minute after Ed and Pat. The seven children they'd produced BETWEEN them bolted out of the car like hyperactive puppies.
All four parents had their hands full for a few minutes corralling the little ghosts and goblins into the house to say hello to their grandparents, who always wanted the grandkids to trick-or-treat in their neighborhood so they could see the costumed darlings and be part of the fun.
Gramps and Grammie had always enjoyed celebrating what Grammie philosophically called The Great Neighborhood Candy Exchange. "Let them dress up and go begging for candy once a year and enjoy themselves," she would say. "You don't have to make it about horror and dread and the DEAD and such if you don't want to."
Once noses had been counted and everyone was seated for a quick supper (which the children didn't bother to eat, being too excited), Grant and Ed started ribbing each other as they usually did at family events.
"My favorite costume when we were kids was when I was Little John and you were Robin Hood, REMEMBER?" Ed asked.
"How could I forget?" Grant shook his head and Ed added, "I really enjoyed CUDGELING you with my stick. I got you good several times!"
"It was rubber, for Pete's sake," Grant growled, "it didn't even hurt, and I poked you back with my sword plenty of times, I'd call it even."
Ed just grinned. Grammie had learned to be sure, after that, neither of them had anything as part of a costume which could even potentially be used as a weapon.
Meanwhile, the youngest littles were babbling in the kind of child LANGUAGE which can only be TRANSLATED by their moms and the older cousins talking in terms they'd COINED only with each other from familiarity about which neighborhood streets were most likely to have the most loot. Tonight, they were EXISTING only for "the good stuff" as they called their favorites, and hoping to hit certain houses which were known for generosity with said favorites.
Grammie just smiled on everyone and made sure they all had plenty to eat, then pulled out cupcakes with green frosting and topped with pumpkins made of white chocolate colored Pumpkin Orange. They looked for all the world like a green carpeted pumpkin patch.
Lally and Pat just exchanged looks and let it go, both thinking the same thing. Here these kids are about to get tons of candy and sneak plenty of it along the way and Grammie is giving them a dose of sugar to kick off the night.
Gramps simply smiled benevolently at all his HEIRS and prepared to settle himself on the porch among the decorations and hand out candy to all comers.
As the "witching hour" of 6pm approached, they took up their positions and the children at least managed to appear like they were listening as they were cautioned not to dawdle, to remember manners and say "thank you" politely even if they didn't like the particular candy they were handed, not to run ahead, and especially no crossing of any street for any reason unless a grown-up was already there.
Just over two hours later, seven weary but happy children, the two youngest finally willingly submitted to the strollers which had been brought along, and four even more weary grown-ups came back to the house to find Grammie and Gramps both sitting on the porch with only a few lonely candies left in their give-away bowls.
Another successful family gathering EPISODE had come and gone, leaving good memories and, unfortunately, children too excited to sleep at first when they got home.
That, however, is another story.
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Today is National Cat Day in the US!
Thanks to Barb Kowalik and The Cat Blogosphere for the event badge.
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Today is:
Chung Yeung Festival -- China; Hong Kong; Macau (Double Ninth Festival/Ancestors' Day; date differs in other parts of Asia)
Coronation Day -- Cambodia (anniversary of King Norodom Sihamony, in 2004)
Cumhuriyet Bayrami -- North Cyprus; Turkey (Republic Day)(1923)
Hawaiki Nui Va'a Race -- French Polynesia (spectacular three-day open water outrigger canoe races from Huahine to Raiatea to Tahaa to Bora Bora)
Hermit Day / Hide From Everyone Day -- internet generated, for those who would rather have a peaceful day today than celebrate the other holidays listed; look up how to be a hermit on wikihow
Internet Day -- it's predecessor went live today, see Today in History for detail
Laugh Suddenly For No Reason A Lot Today Day (And end up either getting yourself and everyone around you in a good mood, or yourself being observed at the hospital in a padded room.)
Naming Day -- Tanzania
National Disgusting Little Pumpkin-Shaped Candies Day
National Oatmeal Day
St. Mary of Edessa's Day (Patron against sexual temptation)
Birthdays Today:
Gabrielle Union, 1972
Winona Ryder, 1971
Joely Fisher, 1965
Randy Jackson, 1961
Finona Hughes, 1960
Kate Jackson, 1948
Richard Dreyfuss, 1947
Melba Moore, 1945
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, 1938
Dominick Dunne, 1925
Bill Mauldin, 1921
Fanny Brice, 1891
Charles Hercules Ebbets, 1858
Daniel Decatur Emmet, 1815
James Boswell, 1740 (wrote the biography of Samuel Johnson)
Edmund Halley, 1656 (O.S. Date) (yes, that Halley, found the comet)
Debuting/Premiering Today:
The Internet, 1969 (the first connection between computers that would become the Internet someday was made on this date when bits of data flowed between computers at UCLA and Stanford Research Institute; this grew into ARPANET, and is now the Internet we know and yell at.)
"Let's Face It"(Musical), 1941
"Don Giovanni"(Mozart K. 527), 1787
Today in History:
Cyrus the Great entered the city of Babylon, BC539
First trial for witchcraft in Paris, 1390
Sir Walter Raleigh, adventurer, writer, and courtier, is beheaded, 1618
A severe earthquake shakes New England, 1727
Mozart's opera Don Giovanni receives its first performance in Prague, 1787
The first Ohio River steamboat leaves Pittsburgh for New Orleans, 1811
Queen Victoria grants Cecil Rhodes rights to Zambezia, 1889
The first intercity trucking service, from Colorado City to Snyder, Texas, begins running, 1904
Turkey declares its independence as the successor state to the Ottoman Empire, 1923
Israeli forces invade the Sinai Peninsula and push Egyptian forces back toward the Suez Canal, 1956
Cassius Clay wins his first professional fight, 1960
Syria exits from the United Arab Republic, 1961
Montreal's World Fair, Expo 67, closes with over 50 million visitors, 1967
The American Galileo spacecraft makes its closest approach to 951 Gaspra, becoming the first probe to visit an asteroid, 1991
In South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission presents its report, which condemns both sides for committing atrocities, 1998
Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off on STS-95 with 77-year old John Glenn on board, making him the oldest person to go into space, 1998
In Rome, European heads of state sign the Treaty and Final Act establishing the first European Constitution, 2004
The 3G wireless transmitters at Mt. Everest make coverage available to the summit, 2010
Random House and Penguin merge to become Penguin Random House, the largest publisher in the world, 2012
Turkey opens the first underwater rail tunnel linking Europe to Asia, 2013
China ends its one child policy after 35 years, 2015
New research is published indicating that the cacao tree was not first cultivated in central America, but in Ecuador by the Maya Chinchipe culture about 5,000 years ago, 2019
A new DNA study of dogs suggests they were the first animal domesticated by humans, about 11,000 years ago, 2020
Misuzulu ka Zwelithini is crowned Zulu King in Duban, South Africa in the first coronation since the 1994 democratic elections, 2022
Using a LiDAR laser survey, archaeologists discover a complex Mayan city in Campeche State, Mexico; named Valeriana, it was capable of supporting up to 50,000 people and was most heavily occupied from 750-850AD, 2024
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