Warnings for Wordless and Words for Wednesday

***********************************

Linking up with Wordless Wednesday and Sandee at Comedy Plus.     

***********************************

Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and has become a moveable feast of word or picture or music prompts to encourage us to write stories, poems, or whatever strikes our fancy.    

This month, the prompts are being provided by Lee at Kitchen Connection.   

The words for the week are:

mythology

contemporary

instinct

overture

banter

groundbreaking

barrier

captivate

companion

unique

affair

interior

"Yipes!" she cried out, startled and  jumping back.  Then her eyes got wide.

"I thought you were MYTHOLOGY," she said in a whisper, looking at what appeared to be a real, actual, live gnome in her garden.  Every INSTINCT said run, but she was rooted to the ground, frozen with a combination of fear and curiosity.  For the moment, at least, curiosity was winning.

"That's what we want most of the CONTEMPORARY populace to believe," it growled, looking decidedly grumpy, but not at all threatening.

Still unable to believe this was real, that she was engaged in BANTER with a gnome, she took a deep, calming breath.  "So why did you let me know you are real?"

"Someone had to make an OVERTURE to you, and I was chosen."  He did not look  happy about being chosen.

"The lady from whom you inherited this property knew about us..."

"Wait," she said.  "First of all, that was my great aunt, a very, very dear person to me, and second, I thought you said you didn't want modern people to know about you."

"Quote me correctly, missy, I said we don't want most of you to know," he said, with a great emphasis on the word "most."  "Sometimes it can't be helped, and your great aunt was one of those times, and now, so are you, and I would like to get through this quickly, if you don't mind, I haven't the time to try to CAPTIVATE you with my charms, I just need to be direct and to the point."

The last part of the statement dripped with heavy sarcasm, and for some reason that set her at ease.  Under it all, he had a sense of humor, and knew how to use it.  He couldn't be all bad.

"You are doing some GROUNDBREAKING in the part of the garden right next to the house that is going to breech a BARRIER and cause some adverse effects, if you don't take care, and you need to be warned."

He stopped at that moment, moved his hat back so she could really see his eyes, and looked at her with a piercing gaze.  She was startled by the UNIQUE look of his eyes, once he'd moved enough of his hair and the hat out of the way so she could get a good look at them.  

Her great aunt had once told her, "In any AFFAIR of great importance, look at the eyes.  You have a gift, you will know whom to trust."  She was only a small child at the time, and had no idea then what it meant.  It came back to her now, as if she were reliving the moment, and his eyes told her he was speaking the truth.

"The area here is UNIQUE, and we fairy folk use it for some special purposes.  The ground you are considering moving hides the way to the INTERIOR, and more than that I am not allowed to tell you.  You don't want to change that garden bed, now or ever.  It's yours to protect."

"Am I protecting you from humankind, or humankind from the fairy folk?" she asked, with just a hint of mischief glinting from her own eyes.

"Both."

Again, from his eyes, she knew it was true.

"Thank you for warning me," she said.  "I will take it as a great responsibility to protect this land."

"Your great aunt was right about you," he said, then turned and stomped off.  His errand done, he wasted no time in disappearing into the plants that grew thickly in the very bed about which they'd been speaking.

She turned and called out to one of the landscapers from the crew she had hired to make the changes she thought she had wanted.

"Wait.  That one bed, over there, right up against the house.  I've changed my mind, I really don't want it touched.  Please go ahead and clear and clean the others, and do the new plantings we talked about, but leave that one alone."

The workman turned to his COMPANION, shrugged with a smirk as if to say, "What do you expect, it's like a woman to change her mind," and they both headed for a different part of the yard.

***********************************

Today is:

Abolition Day -- Guadeloupe; Saint Martin

Buttercup Day -- an internet holiday that just sounds fun

Cellophane Tape Day -- patented this date in 1930

Children's Day -- Nigeria (a school holiday)

FindleFritter's Stoat-Wheedling Event -- Fairy Calendar

Mother's Day -- Bolivia

National Grape Popsicle Day

National Senior Health and Fitness Day -- US (don't let age get in the way of staying healthy! this year the theme is "Life is Better in Motion")    

Pop-up Toaster Day -- Charles Strite applied for his patent on the first pop-up toaster on this day in 1919

St. Augustine of Canterbury's Day (Roman Catholic Church observance; Patron of England)

St. Melangell's Day (Patron of hares)

Sun Screen Protection Day -- an annual, and unsponsored, reminder to use that SPF protection, every day!

Throw the B*st@rds Out Day -- originally directed at politicians, (and if you want to do that, too, great!), and celebrated on various days on various sites, but whomever is making your life miserable, toss them out!  or at least, toss them out of your thoughts for today.

Birthdays Today:

Chris Colfer, 1990

André Benjamin, 1975

Jamie Oliver, 1975

Jack McBrayer, 1973

Joseph Fiennes, 1970

Jeremy Mayfield, 1969

Todd Bridges, 1965

Pat Cash, 1965

Adam Carolla, 1964

Peri Gilpin, 1961

Richard Schiff, 1955

Bruce Weitz, 1943

Louis Gossett, Jr., 1936

Ramsey Lewis, 1935

Lee Meriwether, 1935

John Barth, 1930

Henry Kissinger, 1923

Christopher Lee, 1922

Herman Wouk, 1915

Sam Snead, 1912

Hubert H. Humphrey, 1911

Vincent Price, 1911

Dolores Hope, 1909

Rachel Louise Carson, 1907

Dashiell Hammett, 1894

Isadora Duncan, 1878

Arnold Bennett, 1867

Wild Bill Hickock, 1837

Julia Ward Howe, 1819

Amelia Bloomer, 1818

Cornelius Vanderbilt, 1794

Debuting/Premiering Today

From Russia With Love(Film). 1964

The Three Little Pigs(Disney animated short), 1933

Today in History:

Habeaus Corpus Act, codifying how the writ of habeaus corpus is to be used, passes in UK, 1679

Peter the Great founds St. Petersburg, 1703

In Bolivia, the Battle of La Coronilla, in which the women from Cochabamba  fight against the Spanish army, 1812

In Canada, American forces capture Fort George, 1813

Bubonic plague breaks out in San Francisco, California, 1907

The NC-4 aircraft arrives in Lisbon after completing the first transatlantic flight, 1919

The 1,046 feet (319 m) Chrysler Building in New York City, the tallest man-made structure at the time, opens to the public, 1930

Richard Gurley Drew receives a patent for his adhesive tape, later manufactured by 3M as Scotch tape, 1930

The Walt Disney Company releases the cartoon  The Three Little Pigs, with its hit song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?", 1933

In California, the Golden Gate Bridge opens to pedestrian traffic, , 1937

Toronto's CHUM-AM, (1050 kHz) becomes Canada's first radio station to broadcast only top 40 Rock n' Roll music format, 1957

Australians vote in favor of a constitutional referendum granting the Australian government the power to make laws to benefit Indigenous Australians and to count them in the national census, 1967

In Culpeper, Virginia, actor Christopher Reeve is paralyzed from the neck down after falling from his horse in a riding competition, 1995

Russian President Boris Yeltsin meets with Chechnyan rebels for the first time and negotiates a cease-fire, 1996

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands indicts Slobodan Milosevic and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity, 1999

The May 2006 Java earthquake strikes at 5:53:58 AM local time (22:53:58 UTC May 26) devastating Bantul and the city of Yogyakarta killing over 6,600, 2006

Scientists in Canada bring 4000 year-old bryophyte specimens left behind by retreating glaciers during the Ice Age back to life, 2013

The director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde calls for "tougher regulation and tighter supervision" of the banking sector, 2014

Commercial space company SpaceX is approved as a contractor to the U.S. military for satellite launches, 2015

A research team from University of York publish a study based on 711 samples from 72 countries that shows the world's rivers are widely contaminated with antibiotics, especially in Africa and Asia, 2019

Fun Highway Sign (Wordless Wednesday) and Words for Wednesday

***********************************

Linking up with Wordless Wednesday and Sandee at Comedy Plus.     

***********************************

Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and has become a moveable feast of word or picture or music prompts to encourage us to write stories, poems, or whatever strikes our fancy.    

This month, the prompts are being provided by Mark Koopmans, and are being posted by Elephant’s Child.       

This week's prompts are:

1. Koozie
2. Porche
3. Dinosaur
4. Watergate
5. Douglas
6. Soften

· And/or 

1. Castrated
2. Chateau
3. Lego
4. Router
5. Suncream
6. Freudian

“Who would have thought,” shaking his head at the DINOSAUR themed drink KOOZIE on his soda bottle, “that having kids would change our lives this much?”

“Any parent would have thought and could have told us and did so,” she said.  “Pass the SUNCREAM, it’s time to slather more on them all, if we can get them out of the water long enough.”

“Are you joking?  Once in the kiddie pool, these tykes of ours are slipperier than Nixon in the WATERGATE hearings.  Look at what our life has become!  Instead of a CHATEAU in the countryside and a PORCHE in the garage we practically support the LEGO company by ourselves.  We need a new ROUTER for the house, but first we have to budget for the pediatrician bills.  And don’t go making me feel CASTRATED again for my fussing, you know I don’t really mean it.”

Looking at him sideways and trying not to laugh, she said, “Let’s hope that was a FREUDIAN slip and you mean ‘castigated’ not ‘castrated.’”

He looked up and turned red as he realized what he’d said, and they both laughed.

“What’s really behind this mini-tirade?” she asked.

He tried not to look down at his phone, but was unsuccessful at hiding it, she knew where his glance would have gone had he let it.

“Let me guess.  DOUGLAS?”

“He’s off on another adventure, he and his latest girl.  I do not envy him a different relationship every few months, never have, never will.  Sometimes I do envy his ability to move from his summer home to his winter hideaway, his ability to consult only what he wants to do, living that high of a life.  Sometimes.”

Her look began to SOFTEN, as did her voice.  “We will have our adventures.  Someday.”

“I know it,” he said.  “Meanwhile, we take the kids with us, and make most of our own adventures in our own back yard.”

“Like rebuilding the shed, so you can finally fix that car you bought all those years ago?”

“That will be fun,” he mused.  “I wonder if Sam is big enough to use a hammer yet?”

“Just don’t let him experiment in the house, okay?”

“Deal!”

***********************************

Today is:

Apple Gifting Day

Bad Hangover Day -- but only for some (she says, trying not to look too virtuous)

Birth of Moonhopper -- Fairy Calendar

Black Nazarene Fiesta -- Philippines (through the 9th)

Bonza Bottler Day™

Buckle-Up Day -- the first US mandatory seat belt law went into effect in New York on this day in 1985

Carnival Day/Grand Parade of Troupes -- Saint Kitts and Nevis

Constitution Day  -- Italy

Daydreamers' Day -- take time out today to dream, on paper, what you want this year to hold

Day of the Establishment of the Slovak Republic -- Slovakia

Days of Volos -- Slavic Pagan Calendar (a time to be thankful to the god Volos for pets and farm animals; through the 6th)

Eighth Day of Christmas

Feast of the Circumcision of Christ -- Eastern Orthodox Church

Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus - Orthodox Christian; Lutheran

First-Foot Day -- make sure an auspicious or good person is the first to set foot in your home for the New Year

Foundation Days -- Taiwan (a/k/a Republic Day, celebrated through tomorrow)

Gantan-sai (New Years) -- Shinto

Get A Life Day -- now even the internet is urging you to use the New Year wisely

Grandfather Frost Day -- Russia; Ukraine (Ded Moroz; an equivalent of Santa Claus who visits on New Year's Day and delivers the gifts in person with his granddaughter, the Snow Maiden, and fighting off Baba Yaga the witch who tries to steal them; in some areas, he comes on "Old Christmas Day", in about a week)

Hangover Handicap Run -- Couer d'Alene, ID, US (an early morning run, saluting the night before by giving out beer can trophies)

Horan Enya -- Bungo Takada City, Japan (ceremony for safety at sea and large catches)

Independence Day -- Haiti(1804); Sudan

International Get Over It Month -- urging you to let the past go and move forward

Kaapse Klopse -- Cape Town, South Africa (Minstrel Carnival, with parties and parades through February; main parade is tomorrow at midday)

Kalends of January -- Ancient Roman Calendar; also

    Agonalia (giving dates, figs, and honey to Janus, and gifts to family members)

    Day Sacred to Janus, Juno, and Jupiter

    Festival for Aesculapius (god of healing)

    Festival for Vedovus (god of the spirits of ancestors)

    Sacrifice to Fortuna Day (Sacrifice something to the goddess of Fortune so she will give you a good year.)

Kwanzaa, Day 7, Imani (faith)

Liberation Day -- Cuba (a/k/a Triumph of the Revolution)

London New Year's Day Parade -- London, England (one of the best New Year parties in the world)

Mary, Mother of God -- Catholic Christian (Feast of the Solemnity of Mary, Octave Day of Christmas)

Mummer's Parade -- Philadelphia, PA, US

National Bloody Mary Day -- um, didn't you get enough of that last night?!! (or do you need the hair of the dog?)

National Tree Planting Day -- Tanzania

New Year's Day

New Year's Dishonor List Day -- Lake Superior State University announces the misused and overused words from the previous year which should be banished from the Queen's English

Polar Swim Day / Polar Bear Swim / Polar Bear Plunge -- various locations throughout Canada, Netherlands, and US

Restoration Day of the Independent Czech State -- Czech Republic

Sacrifices to the Wind Gods -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate)

Scout's Day -- Burma (celebration of Boy Scouts and Girl Guides in Burma)

Shogatsu -- Japan (New Year, most important holiday of the year)

Shusho-e Matsuri -- Buddists in Japan go to temple on the first day of the year for a special ceremony

Snake Eyes Day -- no, i won't, it's too obvious

Sovereignty Day -- Iraq

St. Basil's Day / Basil the Great -- Eastern Orthodox (Patron of education, exorcisms, hospital administrators, Liturgists, monks, reformers, and of Russia and Cappadocia; bringer of gifts and inspector of livestock in Greece)

St. Clarus' Day  (Patron of tailors)

St. Zedislava Berka's Day  (Patron of difficult marriages, people ridiculed for piety)

Tewa Turtle Dance -- Tewa Native Americans (celebration of life and the first Creation; through the 4th)

Tournament of Roses Parade -- Pasadena, CA, US

Vienna New Year's Concert -- Vienna, Austria

Year of Coasts and Waters -- Scotland (a year of celebrating the World Heritage Sites, ancient monuments, historic battlefields, listed buildings, cultural traditions, myths and legends that proudly tell the history of Scotland!)

Z Day -- for all the people whose names begin with Z and always have to wait to be last; sponsored by Tom Zager

Anniversary Today:

Establishment of Bryce Canyon National Monument, UT, US, 1923

Ellis Island opens, 1892

Birthdays Today:

James McAvoy, 1979

Verne "Mini-Me" Troyer, 1969

Michael Imperioli, 1966

Kathleen Casey, 1946

Don Novello, 1943

Helmut Jahn, 1940

Frank Langella, 1940

B. Kliban, 1935

J. D. Salinger, 1919

Hank Greenberg, 1911

Barry Goldwater, 1909

Xavier Cugat, 1900

J. Edgar Hoover, 1895

E.M. Forster, 1879

Betsy Ross, 1752(O.S.)

"Mad Anthony" Wayne, 1745(O.S.)

Paul Revere, 1735

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Profiles in Courage(publication date), 1956

"Modern Times"(Film), 1936

Traveler's Checks(first issued by the London Exchange Banking Company), 1772

Today in History:

The Julian Calendar takes effect for the first time, BC45

Origin of the Christian Era, 1

The last gladiator competition in Rome, 404

Muhammad sets out toward Mecca with his army, 630

Jews of Sicily are no longer required to attend conversionist services, 1430

Portuguese navigators become the first Europeans to see the Guanabara Bay, which they thought was the mouth of a river and first called Rio de Janeiro (River of January), 1502

Scotland begins its numbered year on January 1 instead of March 25, 1600  

German astronomer Simon Marius first sees Jupiter's moons (he did not report them, though, Galileo did, on July 10 of the same year), 1610

Samuel Pepys makes his first diary entry, 1660

The first traveler's cheques go on sale in London, for use in 90 European cities, 1772

The Irish Parliament votes to join the Kingdom of Great Britain, forming the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 1801

The dwarf planet Ceres is discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi, 1801

Emperor Gia Long orders all bronze wares of the Tay San Dynasty to be collected and melted into nine cannons for the Royal Citadel in Hue, Vietnam, 1803

Haiti gains independence from France (National Day), 1804

Import of slaves into the US is banned, 1808

The first homestead under the Homestead Act claimed, near Beatrice, Nebraska, 1863

Japan begins using the Gregorian Calendar, 1873

England's Queen Victoria proclaimed empress of India, 1877

Twenty-five nations adopt Sanford Fleming's proposal for Standard Time and Time Zones, 1885

The first Tournament of Roses is held, 1900

The British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia federate as the Commonwealth of Australia, 1901

Vancouver, BC starts driving on the right side of road, 1922

Turkey adopts the Gregorian calendar: December 18, 1926 (Julian), is immediately followed by January 1, 1927 (Gregorian), 1927

Emperor Hirohito of Japan announces he is not a god, 1946

The European Community is established, 1958

United States Navy SEALs established, 1962

The Internet's Domain Name System is created, 1985

The first British mobile phone call is made by Ernie Wise to Vodafone, 1985

A single market within the European Community is introduced, 1993

The North American Free Trade Agreement comes into effect 1994

The World Trade Organization goes into effect, 1995

The European Central Bank is established, 1998

The Euro currency is introduced in 11 countries, 1999

Euro banknotes and coins become legal tender in twelve of the European Union's member states, 2002

Taiwan officially joins the World Trade Organization, as Chinese Taipei, 2002

The Open Skies mutual surveillance treaty officially comes into force, 2002

Sydney, Australia swelters through its hottest New Years Day on record. The thermometer peaked at 45 °C (113 °F), sparking bushfires and power outages, 2006

Bulgaria and Romania officially join the European Union. Also, Bulgarian, Romanian, and Irish become official languages of the European Union, 2007

Malta and Cyprus officially adopt the Euro currency and become the fourteenth and fifteenth Eurozone countries, 2008

Estonia officially adopts the Euro currency and becomes the seventeenth eurozone country, 2011

Lithuania adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas and becoming the 19th member of the Eurozone, 2015

Portuguese politician and diplomat Antonio Guterres becomes United Nations Secretary General, replacing South Korean Ban Ki-Moon, 2017 

Qatar withdraws from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) after 57 years of membership, 2019