Silly Sunday: Smart Old Codger

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My "grandcats" are wearing me out.  The children moving back in and bringing their cats, or moving their cats back into the house, is not easy on the rest of us.  Just like people love their grandchildren but are glad that they can eventually send them home, i love my children's pets but would prefer to only have to deal with my own full time, thankyouverymuch.

Speaking of grandchildren, Boudreaux was reminiscing the other day wit' Clothile 'bout when he were a boy an' spendin' time wit' Gran'mere an' Gran'pere.

"Mais!" say Boudreaux.  "When I go over dere, firs' I would 'help' Gran'mere wit' de cookin'.  By de time I done 'helped' enough an' we eat, she send me wit' Gran'pere for de aft'noon so's she could clean up de kitchen an' den take a nap!

"Now, Gran'pere, he be smart.  He give me de cigarette rollin' machine, to make you own cigarette more cheap dan de store, an' de papers an' tobacco, an' I set dere all aft'noon an' make dem cigarettes.  He were a wily ol' man!"

"He be smart!" Clothile say.  "He done kep' you busy an' out his way, an' he din't have to roll him his own cigarettes."

"He be smart, you done said it, but dat's not why," Boudreaux say.  "See, he kep' me busy, an' I done made de cigarettes, but Gran'mere din't smoke, an' Gran'pere smoke de pipe, an' until I be grown I din't know he jes' had me rollin' de same tobacco over an' over, he done unwrap it when I go an' give it to me again de nex' week when I come back!"

Today is:

Alamo Day -- Texas, US

Celebrate Your Name Week -- Sunday:  Namesake Day, a day to think about how you got your name (week begun in 1997 by onomatology hobbyist Jerry Hill) 

Feast of Excited Insects -- China; Korea (sometimes called Chinese Groundhog Day, the day insects are supposed to awaken for spring; date approximate)

Foundation Day -- Norfolk Island, Commonwealth of Australia

Girl Scout Sunday -- US (encouraging Girl Scouts to wear their uniforms to church services and represent their troop to their congregations; the first day of Girl Scout Week in the US)

Headache Relief Day -- aspirin was patented today in 1899

Independence Day -- Ghana(1957)

Kirishima Jingu Otaue-sai -- Kirishima Jingu Shrine, Kirishima, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan (rice planting festival)

Laetare Sunday -- Western Christianity, 4th Sunday of Lent; related Observances
     Carnaval de la Laetare -- Stavelot, Belgium
     Mothering Sunday -- UK (fourth Sunday of Lent, originally a day to visit your "mother church" in the parish where you were raised, now celebrated as Mother's Day)

March Goblins' Galumphing Gala and Display -- Fairy Calendar

Meatfare Sunday -- Orthodox Christian (final day on which meat may be consumed before the Lenten fast)

National Frozen Food Day

National White Chocolate Cheesecake Day

National Words Matter Week -- US (focusing on the importance of words, particularly the written word; week originally sponsored by The National Association of Independent Writers and Editors) 

Oreo Cookie Day -- no history found on why this day, but if you like Oreos, do you need a reason?

Orthodox Sunday -- Orthodox Christian

Stoneware Pottery Appreciation Day -- internet generated by those who love stoneware

St. Colette's Day (Patron of Corbie, France; against the death of parents)

St. Rose of Viterbo's Day (Patron of exiles, people rejected by religious orders, tertiaries; Viterbo, Italy)

World Glaucoma Week begins -- to expand global awareness of the Silent Thief of Sight



Birthdays Today:

Ryan Nyquist, 1979
Shaquille O'Neal, 1972
Amy Pietz, 1969
Connie Britton, 1968
D.L. Hughley, 1963
Tom Arnold, 1959
David Gilmour, 1946
Rob Reiner, 1945
Kiri Te Kanawa, 1944
Dave Gilmour, 1944
Ben Murphy, 1942
Willie Stargell, 1941
Valentina Tereshkova-Nikolaeva, 1937
Lorin Maazel, 1930
Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, 1928
Alan Greenspan, 1926
Ed McMahon, 1923
Will Eisner, 1917
Lou Costello, 1906
Bob Wills, 1905
Ring Lardner, 1885
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1806
Anna Claypoole Peale, 1791
Cyrano de Bergerac, 1619
Michelangelo Bounarroti, 1475


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Lend me a Tenor"(Play), 1986
"Deep Blue Sea"(Play), 1952
"Both Your Houses"(Play; Pulitzer Prize for Drama), 1933
"La Traviata"(Opera), 1853
"La Sonnambula"(Opera), 1831


Today in History:

Ferdinand Magellan arrives at Guam, 1521
The First Fleet arrives at Norfolk Island (an external territory of Australia) in order to found a convict settlement, 1788
York, Upper Canada is incorporated as Toronto, 1834
After a thirteen day siege by an army of 3,000 Mexican troops, the 187 Texas volunteers defending the Alamo are defeated and the fort is captured, 1836
Giuseppe Verdi's opera La Traviata receives its premiere performance in Venice, 1853
Dmitri Mendeleev presents the first periodic table to the Russian Chemical Society, 1869
Bayer registers "aspirin" as a trademark, 1899
The trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg begins, 1951
United Kingdom colonies Gold Coast and British Togoland become the independent Republic of Ghana, 1957
After 19 years of presenting the CBS Evening News, Walter Cronkite signs off for the last time, 1981
Michelangelo computer virus begins to affect computers, 1992
A referendum in Moldova results in the electorate voting against possible reunification with Romania, 1994
Picasso's painting Tête de Femme is stolen from a London gallery, and is recovered a week later, 1997
Microsoft is fined €561 million for not providing E.U. residents with an alternative web browser to Internet Explorer, 2013

It was a whinin'...

...and a cryin', and a fussin', and a wailin'.

Sung to the tune of "Wishing and Hoping", the one sung by Dionne Warwick, that's the song that rattles in my brain right now.

Talking about the church nursery, where i served yesterday.

My first assignment was the room for the 2's, but there was enough help in there, so i got moved to the older 3's.  Again, another extra person showed up, and everyone was behaving, so after i tidied while the other teacher did story time (it was hilarious hearing those little mouths try to pronounce Mephibosheth), i got moved again, this time to the baby room.

Three volunteers at that moment, seven children under 12 months, and three of them screaming their little heads off.

By the time we had five volunteers, we had 10 babies, and five screamers.

It was quite a morning, to say the least.

The one who was no trouble was four-month-old Lucas, who sat in the swing and ate his fists and his bib until his mom showed up to nurse him.  We never heard a peep from him as he watched the activity of the room with his big eyes.

At one point, while holding a screaming baby on my hip with one arm and sweeping oat circle cereals off the floor with the other, i thought, this, this is why i didn't have more kids.  Although i was laughing as i thought it.

As the morning went on, the fussing rose and fell, with a couple of occasional lulls.  Anther little guy who was mostly happy, sat in a high chair a good bit of the time, eating.  He had a voracious appetite, especially for banana.

The one whose cries were the longest and loudest was  Cole, and his screams didn't bother me a bit.  He's one for whom the whole church was praying last September when he was born, and he almost didn't make it.  For him to even be there, and screaming in my ear at that, was a good thing.

By the end of the morning, though, all of us were ready for the moms to come.  Of course, the ones who had been at it the longest and the loudest had the parents who came the latest.  Yep, i thought, they know their kids!  Again, i thought it with a laugh.

Taken altogether, though, it was a good day.  Watching the little just barely able to crawl girls play near each other and watch each other closely reminded me of a lot about babies that i have missed.

And no, i still don't want any more myself, or any grandbabies for a while, either.  We are holding out for them to be old enough to be settled and able to handle such things.  As i used to tell mine, until you have a decent job to support you and a ring on that finger, don't even think about bringing me a grandchild.

We will make do with the grandcats for now.

 
Today is

Be a Dork Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays, which encourages you to wear goofy clothes and fall off a swing set today and be proud of Dorkiness

Birthday of Don Luis Muñoz Rivera / Munoz-Rivera Day -- Puerto Rico (obs.)

Central Maine Egg Festival -- Pittsfield, Maine (more fun with eggs than you ever thought you could have; through Saturday)

Cigarette Warning Day -- anniversary of the 1968 law passed in the US that requires health warnings on cigarette packaging

Feast of Rowana/Rauni -- Druid/Cornish/Flemish (rowan tree goddess; date approximate)

Festival of Castor and Pullox -- Ancient Roman Calendar every five years (celebrated with a cavalry and chariot procession)

Festival of Santa Rosalia -- Palermo; Sicily (remembrance of the Patron saint of the city on the date, in 1624, when she stopped the plague)

Global Hug Your Kids Day -- information here

Gorestnici -- Bulgaria (fire festival of 3 days duration, honoring the ancient belief that today and the next two are the 3 hottest days of the year)

Gummi Worm Day

Hakata Gion Yamagasa -- Kushida Shrine, Fukuoka, Japan (festival of floats, dates back to the 13th century, includes dousing teams carrying one ton floats with water as they race!)

Hundadagar -- Icelandic tradition, the "dog days" of summer begin, through Aug. 23

Ides of July -- Ancient Roman Calendar

I Love Horses Day -- all over the web with no specific reason given, but do you need a reason to celebrate horses?

National Get Out of the Doghouse Day -- the day to work out any troubles with people you care about, so that you "get out of the doghouse"

National Tapioca Pudding Day

No-Hitter Day -- George Bradley of the St. Louis Brown Stockings pitched the first officially recognized no-hitter in MLB against the Hartford Dark Blues on this date in 1876

Petal-Hopping for Beginners Day -- Fairy Calendar

President's Day -- Botswana

Respect Canada Day -- because Canada deserves it!

St. Bonaventure's Day (Patron against intestinal problems; of Bagnoregio, Italy; Cochiti Indian Pueblo; St. Bonaventure University, New York)

St. Swithin's Day -- Saint Swithin's Society Annual Celebration in Toronto, ON, Canada; the weather prognostication associated with this saint says if it rains today, it will rain for the next 40 days (Patron against drought; of Stavenger, England; Winchester, England)

St. Vladimir of Kiev's Day (Patron of converts, parents of large families, reformed and penitant murderers; Russia; Ukranian Catholic Diocese of Stamford, Connecticut; Winnipeg, Manitoba)

Sultan's Birthday -- Brunei Darussalam

Tisha B'Av -- Judaism (begins at sundown, through tomorrow; fast in remembrance of the destruction of the First Temple in 586BCE and the Second Temple in 79AD)

Umi No Hi -- Japan (Ocean Day / Marine Day)



Birthdays Today

Tanner Maguire, 1998
Emily Roeske, 1991
Brian Austin Green, 1973
Beth Stern, 1972
Forest Whitaker, 1961
Kim Alexis, 1960
Jesse Ventura, 1951
Linda Ronstadt, 1946
Jan-Michael Vincent, 1944
Alex Karras, 1935
Clive Cussler, 1931
Mother Fraqnces Xavier Cabrini, 1850
Thomas Bulfinch, 1796
Clement Clarke Moore, 1779
Rembrandt Van Rijn, 1606


Today in History

Christian soldiers take the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem after the final assault of a difficult siege, 1099
John Ball, a leader in the Peasants' Revolt, is hanged, 1381
Alexei Chirikov sights land and sends men ashore in a longboat, making them the first Europeans to visit Alaska, 1741
The Rosetta Stone is found in the Egyptian village of Rosetta by French Captain Pierre-François Bouchard during Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign, 1799
Zebulon Pike begins an expedition from Fort Belle Fountaine to explore the west, 1806
Napoléon Bonaparte surrenders aboard HMS Bellerophon, 1815
A fire destroys the ancient Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, 1823
Georgia becomes the last of the former Confederate states to be readmitted to the Union, 1870
The stratovolcano Mount Bandai, Japan, erupts killing approximately 500 people, 1888
In Seattle, Washington, William Boeing and George Conrad Westervelt incorporate Pacific Aero Products (later renamed Boeing), 1916
Eighteen Nobel laureates sign the Mainau Declaration against nuclear weapons, later co-signed by thirty-four others, 1955
AOL Time Warner disbands Netscape Communications Corporation; the Mozilla Foundation is established on the same day, 2003