Coming in July, We Hope (Wordless Wednesday) and Words for Wednesday

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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, Wisewebwoman  is providing the prompts and they will appear on River's blog.

This week's words/prompts are:

1. Greek  

2.salad  

3.sausage  

4.concrete

and/or:

1.peninsula  

2.symphony  

3.pinafore  

4.pirate

Charlotte's colour of the month is Thrash Pink, if you choose to use it.

use either list or both, or mix and match, just have fun.

Living on a PENINSULA had both advantages and disadvantages.

One advantage was the spectacular views, and the colors at sunrise and sunset were usually amazing, unless the day or night was stormy, with every color of the rainbow appearing by turns.  Her favorites were the Thrash Pink mornings, as she called them, even if they did often mean there would be a rainy afternoon.

Even the storms at sea had their own fascination, although they did  have to evacuate if it was going to be too bad.  They’d built their house out of the solid CONCRETE blocks, so they weren’t much worried about being blown away, just flooded.  It still meant leaving if they had to, and they’d furnished their “little pad” as they called it with furniture betokening their early poor college student years.  “I don’t want to have to worry about how we will replace everything if the worst happens,” she would tell family when they asked why.

Many did ask why they didn’t move to a “better” location, but not being surrounded by the tourist towns was another reason to stay in their minds.  The fishing families who lived in the area with them were good company when they wanted company, and all lived as simply as the two of them did.  They had the money to live the way they wanted, and below their means far from the crowds was where they chose.

It had a delightful history, too, of PIRATE days and maybe treasure buried there, though they’d never heard more than rumors.

She lit the grill to start the SAUSAGES, then went in to put on her “PINAFORE,” as her Granny had always called an apron, to start the GREEK SALAD, a light meal to which she would add home made bread and good butter.  They didn’t want to be late, and there was one of the few disadvantages of their location.

If they wanted to go anywhere, such as tonight’s SYMPHONY performance, they had to leave early and drive far. Tonight, after, they’d have a late supper and stay in a hotel, driving home the next morning after breakfast and doing the grocery shopping for the next two weeks.  In their minds, it was worth it.

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Today is:

Christmas Festival in Salvador -- Salvador, Brazil (one fun party, with many different activities, that begins around now, lasts until New Year's Day)

Clean Air Act Day -- US (passed this day 1963; a day to give thanks for the air we breathe)

Cookie Cutter Day

Daniel the Prophet's Day -- Orthodox Catholic Feast Day

December 17 Anniversary -- Tunisia

Feast of Babalu Aye -- Yoruba/Santeria (celebration of the healer of deadly diseases)

Hagoita Ichi -- Sensoji Temple, Japan (sale of specially decorated paddles, called hagoita; through the 19th)

Icelandic Yuletide Lad of the Day, Askasleikir -- Bowl-licker, who hides under the bed and snatches bowls set on the floor to lick them clean

Kasuga Wakamiya Festival -- Nara, Japan (rarely performed traditional dances at a festival held every year since 1136)

National Day -- Bhutan

National Maple Syrup Day

Procession of Agnios Dionysios -- Zakynthos, Greece (one of the biggest festivals of the year, when the relics of this island's patron saint is honored)

Saturnalia begins (through Dec. 23) -- Ancient Roman Calendar (festival for Saturn, the planter god)

Sow Day -- Orkney Islands, Scotland (ritual slaughter of a sow for the Yule feast)

St. Lazarus of Bethany's Day

Take a New Year's Resolution to Stop Smoking -- Tanyrtss, the annual campaign goes through February; make the decision now to improve your life and health next year   

Wright Brother's Day -- US

Anniversary Today:

Tiny Tim weds Miss Vicky, 1969

Birthdays Today:

Milla Jovovich, 1975

Duff Goldman, 1974

Sean Patrick Thomas, 1970

Mike Mills, 1958

Bill Pullman, 1954

Wes Studi, 1947

Eugene Levy, 1946

Chris Matthews, 1945

Ernie Hudson, 1945

Bernard Hill, 1944

Tommy Steele, 1936

Bob Guccione, 1930

William Safire, 1929

Willard Frank Libby, 1908

Arthur Fiedler, 1894

John Greenleaf Whittier, 1807

W. L. Mackenzie King, 1874

Joseph Henry, 1797

Deborah Sampson, 1760

William Floyd, 1734

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Simpsons"(TV), 1989

Turner Broadcasting System(Cable TV Network), 1976

"El Pessebre"(Casals' Oratorio), 1960

"On The Beach"(Film), 1959

Today in History:

The Ostrogoths of King Totila conquer Rome by bribing the Byzantine garrison, 546

Sultan Nasir-u Din Mehmud's armies in Delhi are defeated by Timur, 1398

Pope Paul III excommunicates England's King Henry VIII, 1538

Go-Yozei becomes Emperor of Japan, 1586

Shimabara Rebellion: Japanese peasants led by Amakusa Shiro rise against daimyo Matsukura Shigeharu, 1637

Congregation Shearith Israel of NY purchases a lot on Mill Street in lower Manhattan, to build NY's first synagogue, 1728

France recognizes independence of English colonies in America, 1777

Aztec calendar stone discovered in Mexico City, 1790

NYC traffic regulation creates first 1-way street, 1791

Opening of the first legislative assembly of Lower Canada in Quebec city, 1792

The US state of Kentucky abolishes debtors prisons, 1821

General Ulysses S. Grant issues General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky, 1862

First performance of the Unfinished Symphony by Franz Schubert, 1865

Violent riots in Montreal, as workers demand work or bread,1875

France declares Madagascar a protectorate, 1885

George Brownell patents a machine to make paper twine, 1895

A first prize of 100,00 francs offered for communications with extraterrestrials but Martians are excluded - considered too easy, 1900

The Wright Brothers make their first successful flights, 1903

First flight of the Douglas DC-3 airplane, 1935

Ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and dummy Charlie McCarthy first appear on TV, 1936

The SALT I talks begin, 1969

Fernando Collor de Mello defeats Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the second round of the Brazilian presidential election, becoming the first democratically elected President in almost 30 years, 1989

SpaceShipOne flight 11P, piloted by Brian Binnie, makes its first supersonic flight, 2003

NASA completes a successful mission to map the Moon’s gravity field, 2012

French sailor François Gabart sets the round-the-world record for the fastest solo navigation of the globe in 42 days 16 hours, 2017

Astronomers announce they have identified the furthest object in the solar system, 2018 VG18 (nicknamed Farout); it is 120 times further from the sun than Earth, 2018

Scientists announce they've been able to extract human DNA that is 5,700 years old from a piece of birch sap that was used as a type of chewing gum, 2019

China's Chang'e-5 mission successfully returns from collecting rock samples from the Moon, 2020

The news of the discovery of the first true millipede (Eumillipes persephone) with 1,000 legs found down a drill hole in Western Australia is published in "Scientific Reports", 2021

Pope Francis confirms two assassination attempts on him were foiled in 2021 by British intelligence and Iraqi police during his visit to Mosul, Iraq, 2024