Awww Monday: A Whole Day of Awww Things

Awww Monday is hosted by Sandee, of Comedy Plus.

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

DiDreaming is taking care of S's dog, Scoots.  (For those who missed it, yes, her friend S passed peacefully, when the doctors finally let her, just over a week ago.)

S lived for her dog, which has a bulging disc in his spine and has trouble walking and taking himself potty.  He's a love, and his "godmother" will be adopting him and caring for him now.

Scoots is about 12 years old and rather crippled.

Our first full day of vacation yesterday saw Sweetie sleep in while i took my usual sunrise walk and then showered and went to church.

Church is always special at the Flora-Bama Bar.  The bar owner is a man who wants people to have fun responsibly and be able to attend church on Sunday, even if you wouldn't normally darken the door of one of those formal buildings.

We clung to the Old Rugged Cross, remembered that Nothing But the Blood can wash away our sins, and listened to the band sing original words to Foreigner's song Double Vision, now re-dubbed Holy Vision.

The preaching was about why the love of G-d would lead to His giving us The Big Ten (Commandments), as a protection to keep us from falling into sin.

We flew away to the tune of I'll Fly Away, and i got this picture:

The Solid Rock in the Sand Band.

The young man in the red hat would qualify for rEcess.  They let him play tambourine or shakers every week and sing with the band, and you can feel his enthusiasm and love.

When i got back to the condo, we went to the Mall Mart for a box fan and then Ever'man's, the co-operative grocery.  It's the closest thing to a Trader Joe's/Whole Foods they have around here, and i keep a membership just so i can shop there each year.

A couple of hours were spent under the waterfall doing puzzles and checking the insides of my eyelids for cracks.  Dinner in and a sunset walk followed.

At the end of my walk, i noticed a little girl, with her mother and aunt, looking for seashells with nets and flashlights, scooping when they saw something they liked and carrying the nets back to the sand to dump and pick out what they wanted.  When i asked the girl, about age 8, if she was having any luck, she excitedly told me all about what she was finding, and said, "Here!  You can have this one!" and gave me:

One of the biggest she'd found.

A beautiful day, indeed. 

Today is:

Crowded Nest Awareness Day -- for those whose problem is the opposite of the Empty Nest, a day to remind you to keep your sense of humor and get support when you need it

Festival of Mut -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Ghost in the Machine Day -- the internet holiday that explains everything!

Helsinki Day -- Finland

Independence Day -- Philippines

International Cachaca Day -- the once illegal cocktail now has its own day of celebration 

Loving Day -- US (commemoration of Loving vs. Virginia decision by the Supreme Court which struct down all anti-miscegenation laws) 

National Jerky Day -- begun a couple of years ago, possibly by one of the jerky manufacturers (no one can track it down, sounds suspicious to me)

National Peanut Butter Cookie Day

Nazul Al-Quran -- Brunei Darussalam; Malaysia (Quran Revelation Day)

Peace of Chaco Day / Chaco Armistice Day -- Paraguay and Bolivia (commemorates the end of a war between the two)

Queen's Birthday -- Australia (except QLD, WA); Montserrat; Norfolk Island; Papua New Guinea: Turks and Caicos Islands; Tuvalu

Red Rose Day -- found all over the internet, with June 12 as the most common date cited; may have begun with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Australia, which has Rose Days as fundraisers

Russia Day -- Russia

St. Anthony's Eve -- Brazil; Portugal

     Dia dos Namorados -- Brazil (Lover's Day, celebrated on St. Anthony's Eve)

St. Onuphrius' Day (Patron of weavers; Centrache, Catanzaro, Italy)

World Day Against Child Labour -- The UN, Education International and the International Labour Organization; this year, the spotlight is: "In conflicts and disasters, protect children from child labour" 

Birthdays Today:

Frances O'Connor, 1969

Timothy Busfield, 1957

Marv Albert, 1941

Chick Corea, 1941

Jim Nabors, 1932

Anne Frank, 1929

Vic Damone, 1928

George H.W. Bush, 1924

David Rockefeller, 1915

Alexandre Tansman, 1897

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Doctor Doctor"(TV), 1989

Raiders of the Lost Ark(Film), 1981

You Only Live Twice(Film), 1967

Cleopatra(Film), 1963

Today in History:

Joan of Arc leads the French army in their capture of the city and the English commander, William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk in the second day of the Battle of Jargeau, 1429

The French begin their colonization of Algeria with the landing of 34,000 troops, 1830

The world's first Fingerprint Bureau opens in Calcutta, India, after the Council of the Governor General approves a committee report that fingerprints should be used for classification of criminal records, 1897

Shooting begins on Paramount Pictures' Dr. Cyclops, the first horror film photographed in three-strip Technicolor, 1939

Anne Frank gets her diary as a birthday present, 1942

The United States Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia declares all U.S. state laws which prohibit interracial marriage to be unconstitutional, 1967

The first man powered flight across the English Channel is performed by Bryan Allen in the Gossamer Albatross designed by Paul MacCready, 1979

At the Brandenburg Gate U.S. President Ronald Reagan publicly challenges Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall, 1987

Russia Day – the parliament of the Russian Federation formally declares its sovereignty, 1990

Queen Elizabeth II reopens the Globe Theatre in London, 1997

A disputed presidential election in Iran leads to widespread protests, 2009

Ending an extensive study on the wooly mammoth, scientists conclude that they were wiped out by multiple things, including climate change, human hunters, and shifting habitats, 2012

Sunday Doings

It's Sunday on the Florida Gulf Coast right near the Alabama state line, so that means it's time to go to church at the Flora-Bama Bar.

The Flora-Bama used to have a reputation for serving underage kids and encouraging the worst kind of imbibing behavior.  No longer.  They want you to drink and have a good time without getting totally pie-eyed and they want you to come to church on Sunday.  So they let the Worship on the Water group have two services there every Sunday morning, with The Sports Bar, on the other side of the island, serving as a remote campus with the satellite TV.  No excuse for not getting to a service just because you are on vacation!

Services are relaxed and music has a distinctively country flair.  The preaching is typical for a Methodist or non-denominational service.

Once church is done, we will go to the local health food cooperative store to get the kind of food i like (the weirdo vegan is weird on vacation, too).  The place has grown from a tiny hole in the wall to a beautiful store that rivals any high end grocery.   

Even though Sandee, of Comedy Plus, is out of town and not hosting Silly Sunday today, i have to share that i'm reminded of a discussion Boudreaux had with some visitors about some of the interesting foods Cajuns eat.

Boudreaux say, "Dere ain't no better dinner dan possum wit' some o' dem white Irish potatoes!"

An' several people in de room get upset an' say, "Dat ain't right!  You gots to serve de possum wit' de sweet potatoes!"

Den Boudreaux say, "Mais, you be right!  I jes' want to see how many o' you really done had possum!"



Today is:

Abused Women And Children's Awareness Day

Children's Sunday -- many US churches

Crowded Nest Awareness Day -- for those whose problem is the opposite of the Empty Nest, a day to remind you to keep your sense of humor and get support when you need it

Festival of Mut -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Ghost in the Machine Day -- the internet holiday that explains everything!

Helsinki Day -- Finland

Independence Day -- Philippines

International Cachaca Day -- the once illegal cocktail now has its own day of celebration 

Loving Day -- US (commemoration of Loving vs. Virginia decision by the Supreme Court which struct down all anti-miscegenation laws)

Multicultural American Child Day -- listed as a celebration on the second Sunday in June on many sites, with no way to trace it that i can find

National Jerky Day -- begun a couple of years ago, possibly by one of the jerky manufacturers (no one can track it down, sounds suspicious to me)

National Peanut Butter Cookie Day

Peace of Chaco Day / Chaco Armistice Day -- Paraguay and Bolivia (commemorates the end of a war between the two)

Puerto Rican Day Parade -- NYC, NY, US (recognizing the many Puerto Ricans in the US, and especially in New York City)

Race Unity Day -- Baha'i sponsored observance promoting racial harmony

Red Rose Day -- found all over the internet, with June 12 as the most common date cited; may have begun with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Australia, which has Rose Days as fundraisers

Russia Day -- Russia

Shavuot -- Judaism (Feast of Weeks, began at sundown yesterday, through sundown tomorrow)

St. Anthony's Eve -- Brazil; Portugal
     Dia dos Namorados -- Brazil (Lover's Day, celebrated on St. Anthony's Eve)

St. Onuphrius' Day (Patron of weavers; Centrache, Catanzaro, Italy)

World Day Against Child Labour -- The UN, Education International and the International Labour Organization

Write to Your Father Day -- a week before Father's Day, write him a letter and ask him things like what he finds most enjoyable or exciting or scary or satisfying; encouraging people to stay in touch with Dad on a deeper level than the commercial holidays


Birthdays Today:

Frances O'Connor, 1969
Timothy Busfield, 1957
Marv Albert, 1941
Chick Corea, 1941
Jim Nabors, 1932
Anne Frank, 1929
Vic Damone, 1928
George H.W. Bush, 1924
David Rockefeller, 1915
Alexandre Tansman, 1897


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Doctor Doctor"(TV), 1989
Raiders of the Lost Ark(Film), 1981
You Only Live Twice(Film), 1967
Cleopatra(Film), 1963


Today in History:

Joan of Arc leads the French army in their capture of the city and the English commander, William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk in the second day of the Battle of Jargeau, 1429
The French begin their colonization of Algeria with the landing of 34,000 troops, 1830
The world's first Fingerprint Bureau opens in Calcutta, India, after the Council of the Governor General approves a committee report that fingerprints should be used for classification of criminal records, 1897
Shooting begins on Paramount Pictures' Dr. Cyclops, the first horror film photographed in three-strip Technicolor, 1939
Anne Frank gets her diary as a birthday present, 1942
The United States Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia declares all U.S. state laws which prohibit interracial marriage to be unconstitutional, 1967
The first man powered flight across the English Channel is performed by Bryan Allen in the Gossamer Albatross designed by Paul MacCready, 1979
At the Brandenburg Gate U.S. President Ronald Reagan publicly challenges Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall, 1987
Russia Day – the parliament of the Russian Federation formally declares its sovereignty, 1990
Queen Elizabeth II reopens the Globe Theatre in London, 1997
A disputed presidential election in Iran leads to widespread protests, 2009
Ending an extensive study on the wooly mammoth, scientists conclude that they were wiped out by multiple things, including climate change, human hunters, and shifting habitats, 2012

Seaside Services

My abnormal brain woke me at 4am Sunday with the message that sleep time was over, not to bother rolling over and trying for another hour.  So i quietly went through my morning routine and slipped downstairs to grab a cup of coffee and go watch sunrise on the beach.

Sunrises never used to impress me, then we started coming to the beach.  There's nothing quite like it.  The morning was cloudy so i knew i wouldn't actually see much of it, but i was able to see the sky turn rosy above them and even the thickest of the clouds were tinged with pink and orange as the light increased.  It's wonderful to get in your exercise (walking in sand is exercise, make no mistake about it) and see such a beautiful sight at the same time.

Walking back i was just in time to catch the beach attendants putting out the umbrellas and cushions for the day.  Both had already worked up a good sweat, even though it wasn't really hot yet, and one remarked to the other, "Every summer when I come back to work here, I remember why I'm in school!"  These young men, mostly college age, work hard through the summer and earn enough for a year's tuition at small, local colleges.  It's a great plan, and they earn it all.

 Since i had gotten in touch with my friend Di, who lives in Mobile, and she is out here on the island, too (the lady for whom she is "nanny and house mother" has family who own a nice place here), we decided to meet up and go to church service together on Sunday morning.

Now, i have been to some services.  Growing up Roman Catholic, going to Greek Orthodox church with friends, going to Anglican church with other friends, being in the middle of the Catholic Charismatic movement, and variously going to Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, non-denominational, and churches that dance in the aisles and pray in tongues, not much surprises me and i very much enjoy most types and kinds of services, traditional and modern.  It is simply balm to my heart to be in church.  This one, the one we decided to attend, is still unique.

In all the years we have been coming down here, i have never ventured into one of the shore's most famous landmarks:  The Flora-Bama Bar.  The famed place sits right on the state line between Florida and Alabama, and is home to the Interstate Mullet Toss.  People come from all over the country to this place, and it is a run-down ramshackle of a place, several buildings on both sides of the road, tents, beachfront, and souvenir shop.

This church service is in the bar tent, with the Solid Rock in the Sand Band worship team set up right on the stage on which they have the bikini contests.  With beer banners all over, all of the wooden picnic tables moved and folding chairs set up, smaller kiddie tents where your children can draw and color before the service begins, and brightly colored fishing tackle boxes as collection boxes (which are not passed, if you want to donate, you go find a box to put it in), they play and sing and preach and the music is old-time religion mixed with honky-tonk and modern praise and worship tunes.

On this particular Sunday there was an acapella quartet visiting that specializes in fifties music as well as gospel.  They were fabulous, and as usual, the bass was the tallest and skinniest guy in the group.  (Did you ever notice the bass is always the tall, skinny dude?  You never see a short, fat bass in one of these groups, even Sweetie, back when he was the bass for such a church group, was the tall, skinny guy.)  They put on quite a show, the sermon was short and to the point, and they gave a prize to the people who had come from furthest away -- they had people there from Hawaii and Alberta, Canada.  You could tell that the church that puts this on each week love G-d with their whole heart, it shows in how many of them come out and serve to bring G-d's love even into a bar, and they do it after the two morning services back at their main campus.

Once church let out, we went back to the condo and decided to head to Everman's, the place where i get my health food fix for the week -- yes. even on vacation.  It's in the old part of Pensacola, so we made the almost half hour drive into town to find that two things have changed.  The sewage treatment area behind the store has been moved, and the store is doing so well that it is expanding.  By the time we come back next year, it will have almost doubled in size.

We spent a pleasant hour eating some very delicious stuff -- wraps and sandwiches for everyone else, a nice wheatgrass smoothie and salad for me and Bigger Girl -- and then i shopped and got bread that i can eat and fruits and veggies and even a few healthy snack foods.

On the way home, i received two phone calls.  The first was from #2 Son.  Doc had taken him to BigBoxStore to get a fishing license, because now that he is 17 he has to have one, and it turns out he needs more than just his state ID, he has to have his Social Security Number, too.  Of course, i don't have his memorized, so he'll have to wait until i can call our accountant on Monday, he will have it in his records and we will get it that way.

The second call was from our bank.  Although i had warned them beforehand that we would be in this area vacationing for a week, and given them they dates, they were calling to verify that the recent huge transaction at several stores were really from us.  This is service, getting calls like this on a Sunday -- and i thank her for it.  It's nice to know if my card ever gets stolen and is suddenly being used in unfamiliar ways, they will notice and find out about it very quickly.

Sunday afternoon attendance at Bedside Baptist being mandatory for us, as many as i could get to do so took an afternoon siesta, and the evening was spent going from pool to beach to cooking burgers for dinner (Doc cooked, and those of us who don't eat burgers had fruit smoothies with spinach and other yummies), and hanging out on the beach outside watching the sunset until the final traces of red faded from the sky, swept away, it seemed, with the light clouds rolling in.


Today is

Broken Dolls Day -- Japan (all broken dolls are taken by their children to monks for burial)

Callynteria -- Ancient Greek Calendar (a service of atonement and cleaning Athena's temple; date approximate)

Chimborazo Day -- to publicize that while Mt. Everest may be the highest, the top of Mt. Chimborazo in Ecuador is the furthest from the center of the earth

Dr. Charles Drew Day -- honoring the man who made blood transfusions possible

Emanicipation Day -- Tonga (obs.)

Festival to Bellona -- Ancient Roman Calendar (goddess of war)

Impersonate Authority Day -- at your own risk, i will not bail you out just because i noted an internet holiday and you decided to celebrate it ;)

Jack Jouett Day -- Virginia (the "Paul Revere" of his day and place, rode to warn Governor Thomas Jefferson that the British were coming, 1781)

Mabo Day -- Australia

Martyr's Day -- Uganda

National Egg Day

National Chocolate Macaroon Day

National Leave the Office Earlier Day -- sponsored by Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro, who urges people to maximize productivity so they can leave the office earlier every day
     note that some websites say this should be the first Monday, and some the first Wednesday, of June

Opium Suppression Movement Day -- Taiwan

Pull Your Pants Up Day -- internet generated, various dates given, and some are trying to make it a national movement; to encourage young men to pull up their pants for 24 hours and see if they enjoy having both hands free

Queen's Birthday -- New Zealand; Niue

Repeat Day -- i said, "repeat day" (no, i don't know who comes up with this stuff, sometimes; if i do, i try to place the blame appropriately)

Sovereign's Birthday -- Cook Islands

St. Clotilde's Day (Patron of adopted children, brides, disappointing children, exiles, parenthood, parents of large families, queens, widows; against the death of children)

St. Kevin of Glendaulough's Day (Patron of blackbirds; Dublin, Ireland; Glendaulough, Ireland; Ireland)

Western Australia Day -- Western Australia (formerly called Foundation Day)

Worst Day in the Fairy Year -- Fairy Calendar (must be nice to know when your worst day will be)


Anniversaries Today:

U.S. Air Force Academy first graduating class, 1959
The Duke of Windsor marries Wallis Simpson, 1937


Birthdays Today:

Lalaine, 1987
Rafael Nadal, 1986
Anderson Cooper, 1967
Deniece Williams, 1951
Suzi Quatro, 1950
Curtis Mayfield, 1942
Colleen Dewhurst, 1926
Allen Ginsberg, 1926
Tony Curtis, 1925
Leo Gorcey, 1917
Josephine Baker, 1906
Dr. Charles Drew, 1904
Ransom E. Olds, 1864
Jefferson Davis, 1808


Today in History:

French scholar Peter Abelard is found guilty of heresy, 1140
Hernando De Soto claims Florida for Spain, 1539
Construction of the oldest stone church in French North America, Notre-Dame-des-Anges, begins at Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, 1620
Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo is founded in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, 1770
President John Adams moves to Washington, D.C., to live in a tavern (the White House wasn't ready), 1800
In Humen, China, Lin Tse-hsü destroys 1.2 million kg of opium confiscated from British merchants, which prompts the First Opium War, 1839
In the last military engagement fought on Canadian soil, Cree leader Big Bear escapes the North West Mounted Police, 1885
The poem "Casey at the Bat", by Ernest Lawrence Thayer, is published in the San Francisco Examiner, 1888
The coast to coast Canadian Pacific Railway is completed, 1889
One thousand unemployed Canadian workers board freight cars in Vancouver, British Columbia, beginning a protest trek to Ottawa, Ontario, 1935
Launch of Gemini 4, the first multi-day space mission by a NASA crew, which included the first space walk by an American, 1965
A blowout at the Ixtoc I oil well in the southern Gulf of Mexico causes at least 3,000,000 barrels of oil to be spilled into the waters, the worst oil spill ever recorded, 1979
SkyDome is officially opened in Toronto, Ontario, 1989
Aboriginal Land Rights are granted in Australia in Mabo v Queensland (1988), a case brought by Eddie Mabo, 1992
USS Carter Hall engages pirates after they board the Danish ship Danica White off the coast of Somalia, 2007