Not Very Handy (Cajun Joke) and Peaceful Places (Sunday Selections)

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Just because Sandee of Comedy Plus is no longer hosting a Silly Sunday blog hop, do not expect me to quit telling Cajun jokes, especially as it has now become a habit.

One of the ladies who came on retreat with us has some property near the retreat center.  The house on that property flooded back in 2016, and so they are building a new house further from the river, and it is a raised house.  She is handling all the details and loving it, she has so much fun.  Her husband is not a handy husband type so he is leaving it to her.

Boudreaux, now he t'ink he be de handy husban'.  He be tryin' fix sumpin', an' he done drill in de wall, an' he done hit some bottle an' come out yellin', "Clothile, come look at dis!  We gots us de ol' bottle in de wall, dey might have dem de value!"

An' dey fille [daughter] Aline come out de lavatory yellin', "Mère, what fo' Père be drillin' a hole in de medicine cabinet?"

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Sunday Selections was started as a way for bloggers to use photos that might otherwise just languish in their files.  The rules have been relaxed, and it is now simply a showcase for your photos, new or old, good or bad, although nothing rude, please.  It is now hosted by Elephant's Child.    

Some photos of where the retreat was this weekend, and photos of the home of the friend that is under construction near there (and some of the pictures didn't come out, so they aren't as good as i wanted):

Campfire area where we had s'mores.

It was cold.

Sunrise.

Early morning with mist on the water.

The ducks didn't seem to mind the cold.

The Chapel.

The original house of the friend.

The river.

The river again, with signs of it rising.

View from inside the new house.

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Today is:

Apaturia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (a three day meeting of the clans and welcoming newcomers and children into the community; date approximate)

Betcha Festival -- Onomichi, Japan (men in costume "beat" children with bamboo whisks to prevent them getting ill in the coming year)

Bunka no hi -- Japan (Culture Day)

Cliche Day -- get them all out of your system today; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays    

Cuenca Day -- Cuenca, Ecuador

Daylight Saving Time ends -- Bermuda; Canada (most areas); Cuba; Greenland (some areas); Haiti; Mexico (Baja area); Saint Pierre and Miquelon; The Bahamas; US (most areas)

    National Sleep-In Day -- begun by those who want you to spend the extra hour gained resetting your clocks catching up on your ZZZZ's

    Zero Tasking Day -- spend the extra hour gained when turning the clocks back doing nothing, just practice being

Housewives' Day -- birth anniversary of Roseanne Barr

Independence Day -- Dominica(1978); Federated States of Micronesia(1986); Panama (also called Separation Day, separating from Colombia in 1903)

Let Someone Have the Last Word Day -- internet generated, probably so you will quit with the cliches

London to Brighton Veteran Car Run -- England (a race composed of only pre-1905 vehicles)

New York City Marathon -- NY, NY, US

Parsley Scattering Season ends -- Fairy Calendar

Sandwich Day -- birth anniversary of John Montague, Fourth Earl of Sandwich and reputed inventor of the food item which bears his name; make yourself a really good one in his memory

SOS Day -- on this date in 1906 the Second International Radio Telegraphic Conference at Berlin, Germany, proposed it as the new wireless distress signal to replace CQD (Come Quick, Danger)

St. Hubert's Day (Patron of archers, dogs, forest workers, furriers, hunters and hunting, machinists, mathmematicians, metal workers, opticians, precision instrument makers, smelters, trappers; Liege, Belgium; Saint-Hubert, Belgium; against dog bites, hydrophobia/rabies)

St. Martin de Porres' Day (Patron of African-Americans, bargers/hair stylists, inter-racial justice, hotel-keepers/innkeepers, paupers, persons of mixed race, poor people, public education, public health, public schools, race relations/racial harmony, social justice, state schools, television; Biloxi, MI, US; Peru)

St. Pirminius' Day (Patron of Monsheim, Germany; against poisoning, snake bite)

St. Winifred's Day (Patron of incest victims, martyrs; Gwytherin, Wales; Holywell, Wales; Shrewsbury, England)

Tunnel Day -- NY, NY, US (anniversary of the start of the first subway tunnel in 1900)

Victory Day -- Maldives

Birthdays Today:

Gemma Ward, 1987

Evgeny Plushenko, 1982

Dolph Lundgren, 1959

Phil Simms, 1956

Adam Ant, 1954

Kathy Kinney, 1954

Kate Capshaw, 1953

Dennis Miller, 1953

Roseanne, 1952

Steve Landesberg, 1945

Ken Berry, 1933

Michael Dukakis, 1933

Monica Vitti, 1933

Charles Bronson, 1921

Bob Feller, 1918

Bronislau "Bronko" Nagurski, 1908

Edward Douglass White, 1845

William Cullen Bryant, 1794

Stephen Fuller Austin, 1793

Thomas Kyd, 1558

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Diff'rent Strokes"(TV), 1978

"Good Morning America"(TV), 1973

Play Misty for Me(Film, NYC release date), 1971

"The Unsinkable Molly Brown"(Musical), 1960

"A Connecticut Yankee"(Musical), 1927

Today in History:

Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second Muslim caliph, is killed by a Persian slave in Medina, 644

Christopher Columbus first sights the island of Dominica in the Caribbean Sea, 1493

The English parliament accepts the Act of Supremacy, declaring Henry VIII to be the leader of the Church of England, 1534

Great Patent is granted to Plymouth Colony, 1620

A great panic occurs in Europe over the close approach of a comet, 1679

Spain acquires Louisiana, 1762

The Bank of Montreal, Canada's oldest chartered bank, opens in Montreal, Quebec, 1817

The Times of India, the world's most widely circulated English language daily broadsheet newspaper, is founded as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce, 1838

John W. Menard, of Louisiana, becomes the first African-American elected to Congress, 1868

"Black Bart the Poet", stagecoach robber, commits his last robbery, leaving behind a clue that leads to his capture, 1883

J.H. Hunter patents a portable weighing scale, 1896

Chevrolet officially enters the automobile market, 1911

The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2. On board is the first animal to enter orbit, a dog named Laika, 1957

NASA launches Mariner 10 toward Mercury; it would later become the first probe to reach that planet, 1973

Dutch and British astronomers find spiral nebula Dwingeloo 1, 1994

Pervez Musharraf declares emergency rule across Pakistan, suspending the Constitution, 2007

US Border Patrol discovers a sophisticated tunnel used by drug smugglers from Tijuana, Mexico to Otay Mesa, California, 2010

UN Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon calls for global action on climate change after warning from scientists, 2014

New York's 104-storey One World Trade Center officially opens 13 years after the September 11 attacks, 2014

Quick Recap (Ten Things of Thankful)

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This is going to be quick, for reasons that will become obvious as i go along.

Also, i am sorry i don't have the linky at the bottom, it wasn't in my email in time for me to get it.  That, and i'm late reading blogs again, it's for a specific reason.

Anyway, i am thankful that i was able to go to Grandma and Grandpa's last weekend, making it twice in a row, instead of this weekend.

There wasn't a rainstorm on the way down, just a bit of drizzle that cleared up, unlike what was predicted, and i am thankful for that.

My Saturday work last week was rescheduled thanks to Mr. BA, who allowed me to come later in the week to work on the weeding.

We are all thankful that the generator worked when a downed tree took the power out the other night.

Halloween turned out to be freezing, but we are thankful the rain had cleared off and we had a great time.

Why was it so important that i reschedule work and go to NOLA last week?  That's the rest of the thankful things.

Our church is having a women's retreat, and:

Someone anonymously donated the money so i could go.

Sweetie agreed to cover for me at rEcess (a miracle!) so i could go on the retreat and not have to worry about getting the volunteers needs met.

One of my bosses paid me extra so i could pay for the rEcess dinner that Sweetie so kindly picked up and brought there and served.

Another friend who hates highway driving provided her car (Sweetie needed Lunceford the Land Yacht so he could do the rEcess detail) and i drove so i was actually able to get here.

It's one of the nicest retreat centers i've ever been in, out in the country with peace and quiet and the food is great (they even have plenty of "rabbit food" for this weirdo vegetarian), there's coffee and tea and flavored water at every turn, and it is just an all around nice get-away that i was not expecting.

When i get home, i fully intend to work on catching up with everyone.  Meanwhile, i am off duty for a few hours, and loving every minute.

Please write up your own list and link up to Ten Things of Thankful, where Kristi and her co-hosts always have a warm welcome waiting.  

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Today is:

All Souls' Day -- Christian (celebrations in Ecuador are among the most colorful; 2nd of the Dias de los Muertos in Mexico) related observances:

    Dead Relatives' Day -- Sicily

    Dia de Finados -- Brazil; Portugal

Aztec Day of the Dead -- Ancient Aztec Calendar (date approximate)

Balfour Declaration Day -- Israel

Chhat Parwa/Chhath Puja -- Nepal (start of the four day Hindu/Vedic Festival of the sun god Surya)

Children's Day -- Malaysia

Cookie Monster's Birthday -- go have a cookie to celebrate! (but only after your dinner, as Cookie Monster now points out; boy, things have changed)

Coronation of Haile Selassie -- Rastafarian

Digital Scrapbooking Day -- it certainly takes up less room than the other kinds!

Dveselu Diena -- Ancient Latvian Calendar (day for families to gather with the spirits of their ancestors at the graveyard to celebrate the continuity of life)

Edgar Allan Poe Evermore -- Mount Hope Estate, Manheim, PA, US (nights of suspense with the stories from the master, acted by professionals; through Nov. 12)

Fall Back Night -- all areas that end Daylight Saving Time tomorrow; set your clock back one hour before you go to bed and change the batteries in your smoke alarms/carbon monoxide detectors (Bermuda; Canada (most areas); Cuba; Greenland (some areas); Haiti; Mexico (Baja area); Saint Pierre and Miquelon; The Bahamas; US (most areas))

Fall Country Jamboree -- Barberville, FL, US (celebration of pioneer life, with music, crafts, historic displays, Native and Cracker camps, and more; through tomorrow)

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

Guy Fawkes Carnival -- Bridgwater, Somerset, UK (a festival that traces its origins to the Gunpowder Plot of 1605)

Indian Arrival Day / Arrival of Indentured Laborers' Day -- Mauritius

International Day to End Impunity -- International (calling for the ending impunity for crimes against journalists and media workers)   

Karatsu Kunchi -- Karatsu and Saga, Japan

Look for Circles Day -- internet generated, and we run in circles looking for who created it and why!

National Deviled Egg Day

National Traffic Directors Day -- meaning radio and TV traffic directors, who always schedule your favorite shows when you just can't watch, and put more and more commercials in when they can; on the anniversary of the first commercial radio broadcast in Pittsburgh in 1922, sponsored by the Traffic Directors Guild of America  

Ohara-Matsuri Festival -- Kagoshima, Japan (one of Japan's largest autumn festivals, with 22,000+ dancers in the parade; through tomorrow)

Peddler's Village Apple Festival -- Lahaska, PA, US (fun for all, through tomorrow)

Potting-Shed Investitures -- Fairy Calendar (Garden Fairies)

Plan Your Epitaph Day -- sponsored by Dead or Alive of Arcata, CA, because a forgettable epitaph is almost a fate worse than death, so make plans to do yours right!

Practice Being Psychic Day -- but you already knew that, didn't you?

Refuse to Capitalize the First Letters in Your Name Day -- k.d.lang's birth anniversary

Soulcaker's Play -- Cheshire, UK

St Eustachius' Day  (Patron of difficult situations, fire prevention, firefighters, hunters and hunting, torture victims, trappers; Madrid, Spain; Poli, Italy; against fire and torture)

Steeplechase at Callaway Gardens -- Pine Mountain, GA, US (a six-race steeplechase)

Unique 300 Hands-On Mystery Object Event -- Logic Puzzle Museum, Burlington, WI, US (come join the fun and use your brain puzzling out what these 298 mystery objects, many of them antique, are or used to do; through Nov. 18)

Verboort Sausage and Kraut Dinner -- Forest Grove, OR, US (beer and their famous sausage, as well as home-baked goods and fun)

Anniversaries Today:

North Dakota becomes the 39th US State, 1889

South Dakota becomes the 40th US State, 1889

Birthdays Today:

k.d. lang, 1961

Shere Hite, 1942

Stephanie Powers, 1942

Pat Buchanan, 1938

Ray Walston, 1914

Burt Lancaster, 1913

Paul Ford, 1901

Warren G. Harding, 1865

James K. Polk, 1795

Marie Antionette, 1755

Daniel Boone, 1734

Debuting/Premiering Today:

The Spruce Goose makes its first (only) flight, 1947

KDKA Radio Pittsburgh, PA, US makes the first scheduled radio broadcast, of election results, 1920

Today in History:

The African Free School, the first free school in NYC, opens, 1787

The popular vote for US president is first recorded and Andrew "By God" Jackson (a/k/a Old Hickory) defeats John Quincy Adams, 1824

New Zealand officially adopts a standard time to be observed nationally, 1868

Johnny Campbell officially leads the crowd in cheering at a University of Minnesota football game, the official birth of cheerleading, 1898

The British newspaper the "Daily Mirror" begins publication, 1903

The Balfour Declaration proclaims British support for the "establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people" with the clear understanding "that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities", 1917

Charlotte Woodward, who attended the historic Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention of 1848, becomes the only one of the women who attended to live long enough to cast a vote in a national election, 1920

Australia's Qantas Airways begins service, 1922

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is established, 1936

In California, designer Howard Hughes performs the maiden (and only) flight of the Spruce Goose; the largest fixed-wing aircraft ever built, 1947

Penguin Books is found not guilty of obscenity in the Lady Chatterley's Lover case, 1960

The Morris worm, the first internet-distributed computer worm to gain significant mainstream media attention, is launched from MIT, 1988

The International Space Station becomes permanently staffed, 2000

China makes its first orbital docking as its unmanned Shenzhou 8 spacecraft successfully docks with the orbiting Tiangong 1 space station module, 2011

The New York Marathon is cancelled due to the damage from Hurricane Sandy, 2012

Separatists in Eastern Ukraine hold elections in Donetsk and Luhansk; Russia will recognize the elected leaders, but Ukraine and Western nations declare the elections illegitimate, 2014

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull scraps Knights and Dames from Australia's honours system, 2015

The Chicago Cubs defeat the Cleveland Indians in the World Series, ending the longest MLB championship drought at 108 years, 2016

Of Fog and Guest Speakers and Planning Trips

We've been having a lot of fog in this area lately.  Last Saturday it was so bad that the interstate was closed, so i had to take a detour to get to Grandma's house. 

Carmin the Garmin came in very handy as she steered me back onto the interstate at a point where others were simply following the old highway.  Had i not had a GPS i wouldn't have known to take that ramp.  Everyone taking the longer way back to the interstate ended up having to wait at a red light in a long line until their turn came, i could see them as i sped by!

It was weird, though.  Getting back onto a foggy interstate with no other cars around, it felt like driving into an episode of Twilight Zone.  The swamps on either side were invisible, there was no turning back, and i could only see a short distance in front of me.  It had me meditative about how sometimes life is like that.  You can't see what's ahead or to the side sometimes, and there are places where there's just no turning back and no guarantee that if you go forward you won't meet up with things you can't see now.

Then, on the way back home in the afternoon, long after the fog had burned off everywhere else, the route over the spillway was still foggy.  They've been shutting that part of the interstate down at night if there's fog, it's just too dangerous.  Again i thought about life, how you expect the fog to clear, and it doesn't.  Some things just stay murky.

The fog is normal for this time of year, as is the rain, but the warm weather is not.   This week should be cooler, and i hope it is.  It's way too early in the year for us to start melting from swamp heat.

This weekend is our church retreat, with a special guest speaker and meals and an ice cream social and plenty of time to just sit and talk to people you might not see every weekend because they attend a different service time.  All of that while being still able to go home and sleep in your own bed.  It's the best of both worlds, retreat wise.

Last night i got to see one member who hasn't attended since before she had her pancreas and kidney transplant (she's been a type 1 diabetic since she was a young child, and worked hard to control it, but her body needed the extra help).  She looks really, really great.

In other news, there are plans afoot for a sanity festival with my friends in March.  It's going to be smaller than our usual get together in the fall, but no less enjoyable for all of that.  Grace will be a grandmother by then, so i'm going to get to see pictures.  Script can't make it, but she and her DH will be nearby a couple of weeks later, so i hope to see her, too.

Have a happy Saturday, everyone!


Today is:

Anniversary of the Elf Wars -- Fairy Calendar

Bald Eagle Appreciation Days -- Keokuk, IA, US (through tomorrow)

Celtic Tree Month Luis (Rowan) begins

Errol Barrow Day -- Barbados

Gasparilla Extravaganza -- Tampa, FL, US (the rum free version of the Pirate Festival celebration, with a kid's parade and lots of fun; the adult version is next Saturday)

Ice Fest -- Ligonier, PA, US (ice sculpture contest and lots of family fun; through tomorrow)

International Bon Jovi Day -- they released their first album this date in 1983

KidFilm Festival -- Dallas, TX (international children's film festival; through tomorrow)

Lady of Altagracia Day -- Dominican Republic

Learn to Ski Day -- always the 3rd Saturday of January, and you go right ahead

National Hugging Day™ -- includes the announcements of the Most Huggable People of the Year

New England Clam Chowder Day

Quebec Flag Day -- Quebec, Canada

Sight-Saving Sabbath Weekend -- to alert synagoge and church members to the importance of regular eye exams

SOS Radio Week -- UK (The Royal National Lifeboat Institution keeps the seas safer, and Radio Amateurs help them raise funds; through the 29th)

Squirrel Appreciation Day -- sponsored by Christy Hargrove of the Western North Carolina Nature Center

St. Agnes' Day (Patron of betrothed couples, bodily purity/chastity, crops, gardeners, Girl Scouts, girls, rape victims, virgins; the Colegio Capranica of Rome; Manresa, Spain; Rockville Centre, NY)

St. Meinrad of Einsiedeln's Day (Patron of hospitality; Einsiedeln, Switzerland; Swabia, Germany)

Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities -- Eatonville, FL, US (celebrating Hurston's work, hometown, and cultural contributions, and the contributions of all Africa-descended people; through Friday)


Anniversary Today:

Kiwanis International is founded in Detroit, 1915


Birthdays Today:

Robby Benson, 1956
Geena Davis, 1956
Billy Ocean, 1960
Jill Eikenberry, 1947
Mac Davis, 1942
Placido Domingo, 1941
Jack Nicklaus, 1940
Wolfman Jack, 1939
Benny Hill, 1925
Telly Savalas, 1924
Benny Hill, 1924
Paul Scofield, 1922
Barney Clark, 1921
Karl Wallenda, 1905
Christian Dior, 1905
Roger Nash Baldwin, 1884
John M. Browning, 1855
Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, 1824
Ethan Allen, 1738


Debuting/Premiering Today:

The Kid(Film), 1921
The Daily News(first issue, edited by Charles Dickens), 1848
Power of Sympathy(publication date of WH Brown's novel, considered the first American novel), 1789  

Today in History:

Philip II, Henry II, and Richard the Lionheart initiate the 3rd Crusade, 1189
The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded, 1525
The first American novel, WH Brown's "Power of Sympathy," is published, 1789
After being found guilty of treason by the French Convention, Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine, 1793
Edward Jenner's smallpox vaccination is introduced, 1799
The envelope-folding machine is patented by Russell Hawes, Worcester, Massachusetts, 1853
The first US sewage disposal system that is separate from storm drains opens in Memphis, Tennessee, 1880
The first slalom ski race is run in Murren, Switzerland, 1922
The Flag of Quebec is adopted and flown for the first time over the National Assembly of Quebec, 1948
A B-52 bomber crashes near Thule Air Base, contaminating the area after its nuclear payload ruptures. One of the four bombs remains unaccounted for after the cleanup operation is complete, 1968
The current Emley Moor transmitting station, the tallest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom, begins transmitting UHF broadcasts, 1971
Commercial service of Concorde begins with the London-Bahrain and Paris-Rio routes, 1976
Production of the iconic DeLorean DMC-12 sports car begins in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland, 1981
NASA's MER-A (the Mars Rover Spirit) ceases communication with mission control. The problem lies in the management of its flash memory and is fixed remotely from Eart, 2004
Black Monday in worldwide stock markets. FTSE 100 had its biggest ever one-day points fall, European stocks closed with their worst result since 11 September 2001, and Asian stocks drop as much as 14%, 2008