It's Quite an Obligation, a Random and Happy Tuesday Post

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It's time once again for a random and happy Tuesday, linking up with Stacy's Random Thoughts at Stacy Uncorked and Sandee at Comedy Plus.  

People at our church love to visit and chat with one another, and many of us come to Wednesday evening Bible study early to spend a bit of time with our hostess (and her dog) and each other just chatting about prayer requests and what's going on in our lives.

Starting time takes us all by surprise, and when our leader says it's time to find our seats, there's often a mad scramble for our Bibles, chairs, and a pen for note taking.

Last Wednesday, one lady was coming up empty in the pen department and our hostess kindly brought her one (she keeps several).  The lady who was using it said, "I promise not to leave with your pen!" with a smile, knowing this happens a lot to pens (they do grow legs, don't they?).

The hostess responded, "No, you have to keep it, it becomes a big responsibility because it means you have an obligation to bring it back so you have to attend next week!"

We all laughed, of course.  I didn't notice if she gave the pen back or accepted the obligation.

How about some funnies.

Have a blessed and beautiful Tuesday, everyone!

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Today is the 2026 Autumnal Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere and the Spring Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere, at exactly 22:05 UTC(6:05pm EDT); some related observances are:

     Mabon -- Wicca/Pagan Northern Hemisphere

     Ostara -- Wicca/Pagan Southern Hemisphere

     Alban Elfed -- Celtic Winter Finding

     Chuseok -- Korean harvest festival (high point of the festival)

     Feast of Carpo -- Greek Horae, goddess of autumn

     Kukulcan Snake God Celebration -- Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico (the snake appears at the equinox, a time to honor this Mayan god)

     Festival of the Sea Goddess -- Eskimo

     Higan -- Japan

     Mabon/Fallfest -- Asatru/Norse Pagan (harvest festival, time to make wine and mead for the next winter)

     Oenach Carman -- Ancient Celtic Calendar

     Sendai Great Tug-of-War -- Sendai, Japan (festival on the equinox that dates back over 400 years)     

     Svarog's Holiday -- Slavic Pagan Calendar/Asatru (day to drink mead in honor of Svarog, god of fire and the sky)

Thanks to Barb Kowalik and The Cat Blogosphere for the event badge.        

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Today is:

Aizu Byakko Matsuri -- Aizuwakamatsu-shi, Fukushima, Japan (ceremonial recreation of a march to war in 1868; through the 24th)

American Business Women's Day -- US (anniversary of the founding of the American Business Women's Association)

Boidromia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate; honor Apollon as god of rescue during war)

Coya Raymi -- Inca Native Americans (festival to honor Moon Goddess Quilla, with a focus on purging sickness and evil; through tomorrow, dates approximate)

Dear Diary Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays; get it down on paper! 

Elephant Appreciation Day -- sponsored by "Elefunteria" 

Feast of Mikeli -- Ancient Latvian Calendar (harvest celebration; through the 24th)

Hobbit Day -- Bilbo's and Frodo's Birth anniversary

Ice Cream Cone Day -- Italo Marchiony applied for a patent for an ice cream cone mold on this day in 1903

Independence Day -- Bulgaria(1908); Mali(1960)

International Husky Day   

National Centenarians Day -- US

National Voter Registration Day -- US (Celebrating Democracy in America) 

National White Chocolate Day

OneWebDay

Princess Martha Louise's Birthday -- Norway (an official flag day)

Ritual of the Netjers of the Two Lands (Upper and Lower Egypt) -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

St. Maurice's Day (Patron of armies, cloth dyers, cloth makers, infantrymen, soldiers, swordsmiths, weavers; Austria; Manresa, Spain; Pianello Val Tidone, Italy; Piedmont, Italy; Sardinia; Stadtsulza, Germany; Pontifical Swiss Guards; against cramps and gout)

Woman Road Warrior Day -- to recognize the traveling businesswomen in today's world

World Car Free Day -- UN (encouraging all of us to go car free for a day, and see the world from a different perspective) began as:

     Car-Free Day -- this has spread to much of the world; try it for yourself! 

Birthdays Today:

Billie Piper, 1982

Ronaldo, 1976

Bonnie Hunt, 1964

Catherine Oxenberg, 1961

Scott Baio, 1961

Joan Jett, 1960

Andrea Bocelli, 1958

Debby Boone, 1956

Shari Belafonte, 1954

Arthur O. Sulzberger, 1951

Paul Le Mat, 1945

Junko Tabel, 1939 (first woman to summit Everest)

Tommy Lasorda, 1927

John Houseman, 1902

Michael Faraday, 1791

Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, 1694(O.S. Date)

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Friends"(TV), 1994

"Family Ties"(TV), 1982

"Charlie's Angels"(TV), 1976

"A Delicate Balance"(Play), 1966

"Fiddler on the Roof"(Musical), 1964

"The Man from U.N.C.L.E."(TV), 1964

"Maverick"(TV), 1957

Today in History:

Legion I Italica is created by Emperor Nero, 66

Switzerland becomes an independent state, 1499

The General Provincial Court at Patuxent, MD, US, empanels the first all female jury in the colonies to try the case of a woman accused of murdering her child, 1656

A final 8 people are hanged for witchcraft in Salem, Mass., 1692

Nathan Hale is hanged for spying during American Revolution, 1776

Russia establishes a colony at Kodiak, Alaska, 1784

City of Des Moines, Iowa, is incorporated as Fort Des Moines, 1851

Abraham Lincoln, by executive proclamation, declares that the slaves in the rebelling states shall become free on Jan. 1 of the upcoming year, 1862

Richard Wagner's opera Das Rheingold premieres in Munich, 1869

The first issue of National Geographic Magazine is published, 1888

Queen Victoria surpasses her grandfather, King George III, as the longest reigning monarch in British history, 1895

Italo Marchiony granted a patent for an ice cream cone, 1903

The Duke of York's Picture House opens in Brighton, now the oldest continually operating cinema in Britain, 1910

Ralph J. Bunche becomes the first black winner of the Nobel Peace Price, 1950

The Dead Sea Scrolls are made available to the public for the first time by the Huntington Library, 1991

David Hempleman-Adams becomes the first person to cross the Atlantic Ocean in an open-air, wicker-basket hot air balloon, 2003

CERN scientists announce their discovery of neutrinos breaking the speed of light, 2011

NASA's MAVEN space probe successfully arrives in orbit over Mars, 2014

The WHO warns that urgent action is needed against air pollution as it is on par with smoking and poor diet in causing premature deaths, 2021

China's Hefei Institutes of Physical Science creates a magnet so strong its magnetic field is 800,000 times stronger than the Earth's own magnetic field, 2024

Airports in Copenhagen, Denmark and Oslo, Norway close temporarily due to suspicious drones being sighted near their airspace, 2025