Kind of a Big Deal, This Gratitude Business, a Ten Things of Thankful A to Z Post

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To enjoy more blogs participating in the A to Z Challenge, click here.     

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It's Thankful Day and it's a big deal, this being grateful and thankful stuff.  It's important.

I'm thankful to those who started it and those who have kept it going and those who are currently keeping it going.

We're all thankful the storms last Saturday night were not nearly as stormy as had been predicted.

Daughter-in-Law is growing a small garden in our back yard, we're thankful for being able to watch it grow, and the first jalapeño pepper she harvested.

The sago palm has been trimmed, i'm very thankful for Mike-Next-Door, our lawn and landscape person.  The sago is putting out fronds everywhere, so i think it is thankful to get rid of the old, dead ones too.

We had a wonderful semester of Bible study and finished up Wednesday, i'm thankful i was able to participate and am looking forward to the summer study.

Babysitting is always a thankful.

I'm thankful there were no traffic jams on the freeway this morning, which is most unusual for a Friday.

Our foster son Red-headed Alec made it to town this week and brought his daughter, three-week-old Emmy.  I'm thankful to see him, his fiancée, and the baby.

An unexpected letter in our mailbox turned out to be for Daughter-in-Law and her aunt, i'm thankful it wasn't something nefarious.

The cat shelter is doing well, they're not overcrowded with the spring kittens yet, and the work is not backing up. 

The weather this week has been amazing, we're thankful for cool nights and warm days and blue skies.

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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Pesach/Passover begins this evening, and goes through sundown on April 20.  It is the Jewish celebration of their ancestors, who were slaves, being "passed over" by The Lord's avenging angel when it was striking down their enemies, and their subsequent release from slavery.

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

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Today is:

Baby Massage Day

Big Wind Day -- anniversary of the strongest natural wind ever recorded on the earth's surface, at Mount Washington, NH, US; the wind gusts reached 231 mph

D.E.A.R. Day (a/k/a Drop Everything And Read) -- sponsored by the ALA, on Beverly Cleary's birth anniversary 

Eat All Your Snacks Before the Movie Even Starts Day  -- with all the ads before the movie, doesn't that happen anyway?

Festival of Cerealia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (seven-day public and private festival for Ceres)

Full Pink Moon -- a/k/a Full Sprouting Moon, Grass Moon, Egg Moon, White Moon, Virgin Moon, and Fish Moon; in other traditions

     Bak Full Moon Poya Day -- Sri Lanka

     Tagu Full Moon -- Myanmar

Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day

Halifax Day -- North Carolina, US (anniversary of the resolution adopted authorizing voting for independence in 1776)

Hanuman Jayanti -- Hindu (celebration of the birth of Lord Hanuman; local dates may vary)

International Day for Street Children    

Lazarus Saturday -- Orthodox Christian

     Lazarovden -- Bulgaria (along with celebrating the raising of Lazarus, there are fertility rituals, especially involving young maidens, and honoring the goddesses of spring and love)

National Licorice Day    

Record Store Day -- celebrated by independent record stores everywhere, find one near you    

Sinhala & Tamil New Year's Eve -- Sri LankaSt. Sabas' Day (Patron of Lectors, torture victims)

St. Zeno's Day (Patron of anglers, children learning to speak, children learning to walk, fishermen, newborn babies; city and diocese of Verona, Italy)

Walk on Your Wild Side Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays, a day in which to do something no one would expect from you

Yasurai Matsuri -- Imamiya Jinja, Kyoto, Japan (festival to prevent ill health)

Yuri's Night -- International (Commemoration of first human in space, Yuri Gagarin)

     Cosmonaut's Day -- Russia

     International Day of Human Space Flight -- UN

Birthdays Today:

Saoirse Ronan, 1994

Riley Smith, 1982

Claire Danes, 1979

Sarah Jane Morris, 1977

Nicholas Brendon, 1971

Shannen Doherty, 1971

Nick Hexum, 1970

Art Alexakis, 1962

Vince Gill, 1957

Andy Garcia, 1956

David Cassidy, 1950

Tom Clancy, 1947

Dan Lauria, 1947

David Letterman, 1947

Ed O'Neill, 1946

Herbie Hancock, 1940

Dennis Banks, 1937

Tiny Tim, 1930

Ann Miller, 1923

Beverly Cleary, 1916

Henry Clay, 1777

Lyman Hall, 1724

Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara of Jainism, BC599

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"21 Jump Street"(TV), 1987

"Your Hit Parade"(Radio), 1935

"Madame Bovary"(Publication date), 1857

"Oberon, or The Elf King's Oath"(Weber opera), 1826

"The Tatler"(Journal, first edition), 1709 Note:  this original version of a publication with the name lasted only two years

Today in History:

Constantinople falls to the Fourth Crusade, temporarily ending the Byzantine Empire, 1204

The formal inquest of Galileo by the Inquisition begins, 1633

The first edition of Tatler Magazine is published in London, 1709

The American Civil War begins at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, 1861

George C Blickensderfer patents a portable typewriter, 1892

Pierre Prier makes the first nonstop flight from London to Paris, in 3h 56m, 1911

Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft, at Rugby, England, 1937

The strongest surface wind gust ever measured, 231 mph, at Mount Washington, New Hampshire, 1943

The Salk vaccine is declared safe and effective, 1955

Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space, 1961

Samuel Doe takes over Liberia in a coup d'etat, ending 130 years of peaceful and democratic presidential successions, 1980

The first launch of a space shuttle, the Colombia, 1981

The Euro Disney Resort officially opens (now Disneyland Paris), 1992

Canter & Siegel post the first commercial mass Usenet spam, 1994

Zimbabwe officially abandons the Zimbabwe Dollar as their currency, 2009

Following the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster, Japan raises the crisis level to 7, equal to the disaster in Chernobyl, 2011

The new drug, ABT-450, with a 90-95% success rate for treating Hepatitis C, is announced, 2014

Scientists and internet entrepreneurs, including Yuri Milner, Stephen Hawking, and Mark Zuckerberg, announce a joint interstellar project to send a robot spacecraft to Alpha Centauri, 2016

In an attempt to stabilize world oil prices, OPEC and several major oil companies agree to the largest-ever drop in production, 2020

According to industry officials, 80% of France's vineyards are affected by the worst frost condition in half a century, 2021

Ghana becomes the first country to approve a vaccine against malaria, Mosquirix– RTS,S, made at Oxford University, 2023

rEcess Smile (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and Paper Dilemma (Poetry Monday)

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Awww Monday is hosted by Sandee at Comedy Plus.

Join us every Monday for Awww...Mondays.  Post a picture that makes you say Awww... and that's it.

Make sure you get the code from Sandee's site, linked above, and leave a link to your post so we can visit you.  What better way to start the week than with a smile!

This week’s smile is brought to you courtesy of rEcess.  Erin, the young lady i’m usually assigned to assist was celebrating a family member’s birthday so didn’t come.  Instead i had Emmy.

Emmy is 11, non-verbal, will not grow much bigger than she is now (about the size of a 5-year-old), and loves to walk, run, and climb.

Emmy's mom always puts a very fetching ribbon in her hair.

Emmy has to be held by the beltloop once she gets up there, or she'll try to dive over!

By the end of the evening, even the stuffies are tired!

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Sparks, the brainchild of Annie of McGuffy's Reader, is on hiatus, so here's an Inspiring Quote of the Week in her honor.

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Poetry Monday was started by Diane at On The Alberta/Montana Border.  She and Jenny at Procrastinating Donkey take turns providing a theme each week.  This weeks theme is Paper.  Mother Owl almost always writes one, too.                    

Where’s that paperless society

That they keep on promising me?

Someday in paper i will drown,

As it piles up to my crown.

There’s more rolling in every day

And i dare not throw some things away.

The tax papers all in a pile

That seems to stretch on for a mile,

And then there's the medical stuff -- 

What's needed and what is just fluff?

I'd keep it on my computer with pride,

But just now my battery died!

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Today is:

Bathtub Day -- can't confirm this one, but it's as good a day as any to be glad you have one!

Blue Shirt Day / World Day of Bullying Prevention   

BOL Foundation Day -- Laos

California Rideshare Week -- California, US (designed to encourage commuters to take personal responsibility for reducing traffic and smog by pledging to rideshare); it all started with 

    Ride-Share Week 2019-- Ventura County, CA, US (encouraging car dependent Californians to drive less, save money, keep the air cleaner, and carpool)   

Child Health Day -- US (as established by President Calvin Coolidge in 1928)

Chung Yeung Festival -- China; Hong Kong; Macau (Double Ninth Festival/Ancestors' Day; date differs in other parts of Asia)

Country Inn, Bed-and-Breakfast Day

Feast Day of Ma'at -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Festival of the Deerk Toes -- Fairy Calendar (celebrating the toes on a fairy's "deerk", for which there is no human equivalent)

If At First You Don't Succeed Day -- in honor of Frank Sinatra, whose CBS-TV musical variety show debuted on this day in 1950; it and the other two shows that followed didn't succeed, but he never gave up and had a great carreer

Labour Day -- ACT, NSW, & SA, Australia

Lepanto Day -- Greece

Nagasaki Kunchi -- Nagasaki, Japan (harvest festival, through the 9th)

National Flower Day -- US (anniversary of President Reagan signing the bill, in 1986, that made the rose the US National Flower)

National Frappe Day

National Metric Week -- US (yes, it's no fun to switch; even i need to get over it and learn, it's good for our brains!)  

Nones of October -- Ancient Roman Calendar; other observances

    Festival of Juno Cutitis and Jupiter Fulgor

    Victoria, Lady of Victories Day a/k/a Pallas Athena -- also celebrated by the Ancient Greeks

Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary -- Catholic Christian

Peat-Cutting Day -- Falkland Islands (Spring Holiday)

Queen's Birthday -- QLD, Australia

St. Justina of Padua's Day (Patron of Padua, Italy; Santa Giustina, Italy)

Territory Day -- Christmas Island

Thanksgiving Day -- Saint Lucia

Try To Start An Argument Over Which Is the Best Muppet Day -- Kermit, hands down (argue below, if you wish)(Possibly started by the International Association of People without a Life)

World Architecture Day -- International Union of Architects (this year's theme: Architecture...Housing for All)    

World Habitat Day -- UN (Habitat for Humanity)

You Matter To Me Day -- because the phrase "you matter to me" can make a profound difference in someone's life   

Anniversaries Today:

Larry King married Julie Alexander, 1989

Dow Jones makes the first report, in the Wall Street Journal, of an average of the prices of 12 industrial stocks, 1896

Birthdays Today:

Toni Braxton, 1967

Simon Cowell, 1959

Michael W. Smith, 1957

Yo-Yo Ma, 1955

Vladimir Putin, 1952

John Cougar Mellencamp, 1951

Joy Behar, 1943

Charles Dutoit, 1936

Thomas Keneally, 1935

Amiri Baraka, 1934

Bishop Desmond Tutu, 1931

Al Martino, 1927

R. D. Laing, 1927

June Allyson, 1917

Vaughn Monroe, 1911

Andy Devine, 1905

Niels Bohr, 1885

Thomas J. Wise, 1859

James Whitcomb Riley, 1849

Caesar Rodney, 1728(O.S. date)

Debuting/Premiering Today:

The Independent(Newspaper, first issue), 1986

"Cats"(Musical), 1982

"Route 66"(TV), 1960

"Your Hit Parade"(TV), 1950

"One Touch of Venus"(Musical), 1943

"Eve of St. Mark"(Play), 1942

Today in History:

The epoch of the modern Hebrew calendar (Proleptic Julian calendar), BC3761

The first public burning of books in Louvain, Netherlands, 1520

Ralph Wedgewood patents carbon paper in London, 1806

The first chartered railway in the US, the Granite Railway, begins operations, 1826

Spain abolishes slavery in Cuba, 1886

Henry Ford institutes the moving assembly line, 1913

Georgia Tech defeats Cumberland college in the infamous 222-0 football game, 1916

160 consecutive days of 100*F+ temperatures begin at Marble Bar, Australia, 1924

Beat poet Allen Ginsberg reads his poem "Howl" for the first time at a poetry reading in San Francisco, 1955

U.S.S.R. probe Luna 3 transmits first ever photographs of the far side of the moon, 1959

Nigeria joins the United Nations, 1960

Oman joins the United Nations, 1971

Cats opens on Broadway and begins a run of nearly 18 years, 1982 

The Great Flood of 1993 ends at St. Louis, Missouri, 103 days after it began, 1993

Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, is found tied to a fence after being savagely beaten, 1998

The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan begins, 2001

A Southampton University research fellow discovers a long lost Antonio Vivaldi flute concerto at the National Archives of Scotland in Edinburgh, 2010

Scientists Stefan Hell of Germany and Eric Betzig and William Moerner of the U.S. share the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing 'super-resolved fluorescence microscopy'; the technology can be used to observe molecular activity in living cells, 2014