Covered (Six Sentence Story), Good Fences, Sammy's Poetry Day and Brian's Thankful Thursday, an A to Z Post

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To enjoy more blogs participating in the A to Z Challenge, click here.     http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

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Mimi had spent hours in the kitchen, making desserts for the special celebration.

She'd even made hojaldras, one of the family specialties.  It took a long time to make the pastry treats, you wanted them to have just the right flakiness when someone bit into them.

Now she was sitting with a cold glass of iced tea at the end of the bar, cooling off from standing over the stove for so long.

Once she finished it, she was going to go give the restrooms one last check, just because it's always a good idea, and then she'd come back to her seat and wait.

She wasn't sure what the plans were for this special evening, as the Tall, Thin Man hadn't exactly given much detail, but if there was plenty to eat and clean facilities it meant the bases were covered, she could simply be there to tend anything needing tending, and enjoy everything as it unfolded.

Linking up with Denise at Girlie On The Edge Blog, where she hosts Six Sentence Stories, and the cue is Flake.      

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While Good Fences Around the World seems to have gone the way of the dodo bird, i still enjoy looking for and posting interesting fences, so i will!

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It's Angel Sammy's Poetry Day!  This week's image and my poem:    

Every time this bulb burns out,

I say next time will be

the last time, now I mean it,

I'm putting in an LED!

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Angel Brian's Family of Brian's Home - Forever hosts the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop.   It's time to share something for which i am thankful.  

Today i am thankful Ms. G and i barely finished everything in time but i managed to get in from work with just enough time to slam a quick supper and get to Bible study.  We only have one week left and i'd rather not miss any.

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Today is:

American Circus Day -- the first circus in the US opened this day in Philadelphia in 1793

Anniversary of the Second Republic -- Republic of Guinea

Day Sacred to Bona Dea and Day of Proserpina's Rise from the Underworld -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Don't Go to Work Unless it's Fun Day -- and unless you have a really great job, we know your decision

Find-A-Rainbow Day -- a day to paint bright and colorful wishes for your friends, family, and sweetheart; if you actually find a rainbow in the sky, that's a plus, send a pic to the RainbowBrite site

Hanshi a/k/a Cold Food Festival -- China (especially celebrated in the Shanxi Province, a commemoration of Jie Zitui, a loyal servant; no fires are to be lit and all food is too be served cold, a precursor to the Qingming Festival)

Nafels Pilgrimage -- Canton Glarus, Switzerland (commemoration of the Battle of Nafels in 1388, observed with processions, prayers, sermon, and a reading of the names of those killed in battle)

National Chocolate Mousse Day

Overcome a Handicap Day -- on the day, in 1981, when one-legged Canadian high jumper Arnie Boldt cleared 6 feet 8¼ inches, only about a foot under the world record at the time

Pony Express Day -- US; inaugurated this day in 1860

Second Republic Day -- Guinea

St. Irene of Thessalonica's Day (Patron of girls, peace)

St. Richard of Chichester's Day (called Ricardus, ri for ridens meaning "laughing", car for carus meaning "dear", dus for dulcis meaning "sweet"; Patron of coachmen and of the Diocese of Chichester, Sussex, England)

Tweed Day -- a day to consider the costs of political corruption, on the birth anniversary of "Boss" Tweed

World Party Day -- anyone and everyone is invited to join the party  

Anniversaries Today:

Isle Royale National Park is established in Michigan, US, 1940

Edward the Confessor is crowned King of England, 1043

Birthdays Today:

Amanda Bynes, 1986

Leona Lewis, 1985

Cobie Smulders, 1982

Jamie Bamber, 1973

Jennie Garth, 1972

Picabo Street, 1971

Robert Chapin, 1964

Eddie Murphy, 1961

David Hyde Pierce, 1959

Alec Baldwin, 1958

Bernie Parent, 1945

Tony Orlando, 1944

Leona Lewis, 1943

Marsha Mason, 1942

Wayne Newton, 1942

Jane Goodall, 1934

Calvin "Baby Vet" Graham, 1930

Max Frankel, 1930

Virgil "Gus" Grissom, 1926

Jan Merlin, 1925

Marlon Brando, 1924

Doris Day, 1924

Herb Caen, 1916

Sally Rand, 1904

Henry Robinson Luce, 1898

Leslie Howard, 1893

John Burroughs, 1837

William Magear "Boss" Tweed, 1823

Edward Everett Hale, 1822

Washington Irving, 1783

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Endgame"(Play), 1957

"TV Guide"(Publication), 1953

Today in History:

Edward the Confessor is crowned king of England, 1043

The US Pony Express begins its first run, 1860

Gottlieb Daimler receives a German patent for his engine, 1885

Trial of the libel case instigated by Oscar Wilde begins, eventually resulting in his imprisonment on charges of homosexuality, 1895

The US House of Representatives accept the "American's Creed," a patriotic contest winner by William Tyler Page, as the official creed of the US, 1918

The building of the RMS Queen Mary is commissioned, 1929

President Harry S. Truman signs the Marshall Plan, 1948

Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech, 1968

The first portable cell phone call is made in New York City, 1973

Bobby Fischer refuses to play in a chess match against Anatoly Karpov, giving Karpov the title of World Champion by default, 1975

Conventional-Train World Speed Record: a French TGV train on the LGV Est high speed line sets an official new world speed record, 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph), 2007

Australia formally adopts the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 2009

Following the News International phone hacking scandal, James Murdock resigns as Chairman of BskyB, 2012

France outlaws the hiring of models who do not meet new Body Mass Index (BMI) minimums for a certain period of time before and during a modeling job; the law aims to prevent promotion of anorexia among models and people who emulate them, 2015

Captain Brett Crozier is cheered as he leaves his ship after being fired for requesting more help for his sailors infected with Covid19, 2020

The Taliban outlaws cultivation of opium in Afghanistan, reducing the world's supply by 80%, 2022

NASA announces the four astronauts for the 2024 Artemis II lunar mission will be Americans Christina Hammock Koch, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman and Canadian Jeremy Hansen, 2023

Recipes and Randomness, a Random and Happy Tuesday Post

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It's time once again for a random and happy Tuesday, linking up with Stacy's Random Thoughts at Stacy Uncorked and Sandee at Comedy Plus.  

It's also time for the cookie recipe swap done every year by my friend Jz.  

Please note if you visit her, she sometimes posts content that is higher than a PG rating, and so do some of her other friends whose recipes are linked below.  Please know i am endorsing only those posts which contain a recipe.  After all, who doesn't like getting new recipes for delights at this time of year!

The other participants this year are:
Baker
blossom
Cat
greengirl
Hermione
Jz
Lindy
little monkey
Mrs. Fever
olivia
Ronnie
Ryan
Sassy
Selkie (her recipe will be on Jz’s blog, link above)
morningstar

While it is technically a cookie recipe swap, any kind of treat is allowed, so i am sharing the recipe for our family favorite, hojaldras.  Everyone in the family loves these, they are a typical sweet, fried cake, such as almost every culture has. 

Hojaldras

The original old family recipe:

~10c flour

~2c sugar

1c water

1c melted Crisco

5 eggs

Mix and knead for one hour. Let the dough rest an hour, then knead for another hour. Roll into balls and let rest another hour.

Melt enough Crisco in the cast iron skillet to float a battleship -- you want the dough to not touch the bottom.

Press each ball of dough out by hand until very flat, cut 3 vent slices in the middle (like you would in a top pie crust), and fry until crisp. Drain each one on a fresh paper towel.

My version

5c flour

1c sugar

1/2 c water

1/2 c no name brand vegetable shortening(don't have to melt it)

3 medium eggs

Put it all in the bread maker and select "dough only" setting.

When it's done, and you get good and ready, melt half shortening and half cheap vegetable oil in the skillet.

Pull off dough in small handfuls and roll out with the rolling pin. Cut vent slices and fry.

Drain on a paper towel, but not one for each hojaldra, those doggone paper towels are too expensive now to do that!

With either version, store in a paper bag. Not sure why, but that's what the family always did. My dad freezes them in the bag, and pulls out one each day.

Yes, my version is cheaper, easier, and Grandpa, who grew up eating them made the old way, can't tell the difference.

That is one part of today's random, and here's another.  Mr. BA was telling a story about when he'd hired a new employee at work, and told the guy to go over the documents and highlight the errors.  The employee did a fabulous job of it, and said, "Sir, look at these mistakes!  You're going to have to do better!"

Mr. BA responded with, "George, catching the mistakes is your job.  If I was perfect, I wouldn't need you!"

He says they got along great after that.

Someone asked one of the men at church this past Sunday, "What are you thinking about?" as he stared off into space.

"Just contemplating what's going on at work.  I'm trying figure out how to get money into the bank faster than my wife can get it out, but it's not working."

Said someone then remarked, "I never see her in the same outfit twice, that's for sure."

He answered back, "Yep, then she wonders why we can't have a bigger house.  And she's smart!  She's got a degree!  Well, maybe she's smart, but not about this!”

And now, just when you thought you’d seen everything:

Have a great Tuesday, everyone!

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Today is:

Chief Red Cloud Day -- marking the Sioux leader's death in 1909; defender of Native rights, son of Lone Man and Walks As She Thinks

Constitution Day -- Thailand

Dewey Decimal System Day -- anniversary of Melvil Dewey's birth

Do Something Wild and Crazy with Velveeta Day -- guess they mean besides turn it into Hillbilly Hor d'oeuvres (melted with Rotel and served with chips)

Human Rights and Peace Day -- Kiribati

International Animal Rights Day

International Human Rights Day -- anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948

Jane Addams Day -- Hull House Museum, Chicago, IL, US (sponsored by the American Association of University Women-Illinois) 

Lux Mundi -- Ancient Roman Calendar (honoring Libertas as the bringer of light into the world)

National Lager Day

Nobeldagen -- Sweden (Alfred Nobel Day, presentations of the Nobel Prizes at the Stockholm Concert Hall)

    Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony -- Oslo City Hall, Oslo, Norway

Sister-Friend Day -- internet generated, but if you have a sister who is a good friend to you, it's worth celebrating

St. Eulalia of Merida's Day (Patron of runaways, torture victims, widows; Merida, Spain; Oviedo, Spain)

Whirling Dervishes Festival -- Konya, Turkey (through the 17th)

Anniversaries Today:

Mississippi becomes the 20th US State, 1817

Birthdays Today:

Raven-Symone, 1985

Bobby Flay, 1964

Kenneth Branagh, 1960

Susan Dey, 1952

Gloria Loring, 1946

Dan Blocker, 1928

Harold Gould, 1923

Dorothy Lamour, 1914

Chet Huntley, 1911

Hermes "Pan" Panagiotopolous, 1909

Mary Norton, 1903

Melvil Dewey, 1851

Emily Dickinson, 1830

Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, 1787

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Wings Over America"(Album release), 1976

Lawrence of Arabia(Film), 1962

"The Mighty Mouse Playhouse" (TV), 1955

Grand Ole Opry (first radio broadcast), 1927

Today in History:

Martin Luther publicly burns the papal edict demanding that he recant, 1520

Isaac Newton's paper De Motu Corporum in Gyrum, containing the derivation of Kepler's laws from his theory of gravity, is read to the Royal Society by Edmund Halley, 1684

The Massachusetts Bay Colony becomes the first American Colonial government to borrow money, 1690

The metric system is formally established in France, 1799

The first traffic lights are installed outside the Palace of Westminster in London, 1868

Women's suffrage is granted in Wyoming Territory, the first in the US, 1869

Women are granted suffrage in Tasmania, 1902

The 10,000,000th Model T Ford is assembled, 1915

The Grand Ole Opry makes its radio debut, in Nashville, Tn, 1927

UN General Assembly adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948

Ralph J Bunche becomes the first black to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, 1950

The United Nations General Assembly approves Pakistan's proposal for establishing nuclear free-zone in South Asia, 1981

The last shift leaves Wearmouth Colliery in Sunderland; the closure of the 156-year-old pit marks the end of the old County Durham coalfield, which had been in operation since the Middle Ages, 1993

An archive documenting the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda is revealed in the capital city of Kigali, 2010

Mary Barra of General Motors becomes the first female CEO of a major automotive company, 2013

Governor Jerry Brown tours Southern Californian wildfires and declares them "the new normal", 2017