Ready or Not (Random Tuesday)

And now, bits of random news and pictures from around here, linking up with Stacy's Random Thoughts at Stacy Uncorked.  

It’s time for The Great Neighborhood Candy Exchange, and we are as ready as we can ever be. 

One of my Monday clients rescheduled for this afternoon for health reasons, so i may be late for handing out candy.  It’s okay, Sweetie enjoys doing it, too, and since i’ll have it all set up for him, he can start and i can finish.

The neighborhoods have been getting their spooky on:

Little Girl has been busy making treat bags, and Bigger Girl has been busy making plans for the wedding of two of her friends.  Because she is now an official minister in the Universal Life Church, she has registered with the state and can perform weddings.  Said church only has two tenets:  be excellent to each other and respect each other's beliefs. She's just glad she can perform the wedding for her friends and save them some money (their only costs will be the marriage license and punch and cookies for the officiant and witnesses).

Sweetie got his new boots with his birthday money, and he is as happy as a kid at Christmas.  He's been talking about these boots forever, the ones with the steel shanks for arch support and real stitching so they can be resoled and reheeled when they need it and thus last forever.

This especially makes sense when you find out he has more clothes and shoes than i do, and spends more time and money on his hair than i do on mine.  He's a musician, and all musicians have that prima donna in there someplace.

The weather has been lovely, the parts of the pet geranium that have survived the dog are repotted into two separate pots and seem happy, and Tripod SissyCat and i are spending most evenings on the porch, her nice and cozy in her fur coat and me wrapped in jackets and clutching my rice sock.  No, it isn't that cold, but it only takes temperatures below 70° for my body temperature to drop and my fingers and toes to turn to ice cubes.  That's one reason i am willing to visit almost anyplace, but i don't want to live full time anywhere but a desert or the Deep South.   Well, maybe Hawaii or Tahiti, but i'd have to be rich to live either of those places.

Happy Halloween everyone!  May you receive only treats and no tricks.

Today is:

Admission Day -- Nevada, US

Allantide -- Cornwall, England

All Hallows Eve -- Christian

Apple and Candle Night -- Wales

Books for Treats Day -- San Jose, CA, US (give gently used books to kids, not candy -- feed their brains, not their cavities!)

Chiang Kai-Shek Day -- Taiwan

Day of the Seven Billion -- day in 2011 the UN declared the world population to have reached 7,000,000,000  

Dias de los Muertos -- Mexico, esp. Michoacan and Oaxaca (through Nov. 2; ceremonies, sand sculptures, decorated altars, and parties through the nights in the cemetaries)

Dookie Apple Night -- Newcastle, England

Duck Apple Night -- Liverpool, England

Feast of Sekhmet Bast Ra -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Festival of Inner Worlds -- Pagan (fight between the old and new year)

Founder's Day -- Girl Scouts of the USA (Juliette Gordon Low's birth anniversary)

Ghostwriter's Day

Hallowe'en or Beggar's Night

Increase Your Psychic Powers Day -- originated in England in the 19th century, some celebrated on the 30th

King Father Nordom Sihanouk's Birthday -- Cambodia

National Candy Apple Day

National Knock-Knock Joke Day

    Knock, Knock

    Who's There?

    Police.

    Police who?

    Police stop telling knock-knock jokes!

National Magic Day -- Society of American Magicians (in honor of Harry Houdini, who died on this day in 1926, and who was president of the SoAM)

National UNICEF Day

Nut-Crack Night -- England; Scotland

Old Celtic New Year's Eve

Out of the Broom Closet Day -- Pagan, Heathen, and all earth-based and ethnic religions

Reformation Day -- Protestant Christian (trad.)

    Official Holiday -- Germany; Slovenia

Samhain (northern hemisphere) / Beltane (southern hemisphere) -- Druids, Gaels, Welsh peoples, Neopagans, Wiccans (begins at sunset)

Scare a Friend Day -- just not so much that he/she isn't a friend any more

Senior Absurdity Day -- Horace Mann School, Bronx, NY, US (a day the kids look forward to each year)

Sneak Some of the Candy Yourself Before the Kids Start Knocking Day

St. Quentin's Day (Patron against coughs)

St. Wolfgang of Ratisbon's Day (Patron of apoplexics, carpenters, paralysed people, stroke victims; Regensburg, Germany; against apoplexy, paralysis, stomach diseases, strokes)

Thump-the-Door Night -- Isle of Mann

Trick or Treat Night

Vetmaetr -- Norse Calendar (Winter Nights; beginning of winter, the New Year, and the start of Odin leading the Wild Hunt)

Youth Honor Day -- Iowa, US

Anniversaries Today:

Mt. Rushmore is completed, 1941

Nevada becomes the 36th US State, 1864

Birthdays Today:

Robert "Vanilla Ice" Van Winkle, 1967

Adam Horovitz, 1966

Dermot Mulroney, 1963

Rob Schneider, 1963

Peter Jackson, 1961

Larry Mullen, Jr., 1961

John Candy, 1950

Jane Pauley, 1950

Deidre Hall, 1947

Stephen Rea, 1943

David Ogden Stiers, 1942

Ron Rifkin, 1939

Michael Landon, 1936

Dan Rather, 1931

Michael Collins, 1930

Barbara Bel Geddes, 1922

Dale Evans, 1912

Ethel Waters, 1896

Chaing Kai-shek, 1887

Juliette Gordon Low, 1860

John Keats, 1795

William Paca, 1740

Jan Vermeer, 1632

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Car Talk"(Radio), 1987 (national debut, ten years after their start as a local show in Boston)

"Jamaica"(Musical), 1957

"Capricio Espagnol"(Rimsky-Korsakov Op. 34), 1887

"Tamerlano"(Handel opera, HWV 18), 1724

Today in History:

Ezra reads the Book of the Law to the Israelites after their return to Jerusalem from exile, BC445

First All Hallows Eve observed to honor all the saints, 834

Martin Luther posts his 95 Theses on the Wittenberg church door, marks the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, 1517

Georg Ludwig van Hannover is crowned as the English King George I, 1714

Execution of Girondins at Paris during the Reign of Terror, 1793

Sir Humphrey Davy of London patents the miner's safety lamp, 1815

A standard uniform is approved for US Postal workers, 1868

A tropical cyclone hits Bengal, about 200,000 die, 1876

John Boyd Dunlop patents the pneumatic bicycle tire, 1888

Arthur Conan Doyle publishes "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes", 1892

Dedication of the Lincoln Highway, the first automobile road across United States, 1913

The Battle of Beersheba of WWI marks the last successful cavalry charge in history, 1917

The first of 160 consecutive days of 100°F + temps at Marble Bar, Australia, 1923

World Savings Day is announced in Milan, Italy by the Members of the Association at the 1st International Savings Bank Congress, 1924

Mt. Rushmore sculptures are completed, 1941

The United Kingdom and France begin bombing Egypt to force the reopening of the Suez Canal, 1956

Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated by two security guards, 1984

EgyptAir Flight 990 traveling from New York City to Cairo crashes off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing all 217 on-board, 1999

Yachtsman Jesse Martin returns to Melbourne after 11 months of circumnavigating the world, solo, non-stop and unassisted, 1999

Soyuz TM-31 launches, carrying the first resident crew to the International Space Station, which has been continually crewed since, 2000

Surfer Bethany Hamilton loses her left arm and 3 liters of blood in a tiger shark attack; within a month she would be back on her board, and competing again within the year, 2003

The NYSE reopens after its first weather related shut down since the late 19th century; the two-day closure was due to Hurricane Sandy, 2012

Silly Sunday, Wedding Edition

Silly Sunday is hosted by Sandee, of Comedy Plus.

Silly Sunday is the place to come for weekly laughs.  The rules are simple, just have fun.

This is a great opportunity to get to know other bloggers and have a laugh or two in the process.

Here is how it works: Laugh and Link Up!

The wedding went off beautifully yesterday, in a most lovely church.

Very fancy.

It is official, Uncle P and Miss Eva are hitched.  Grandpa said he thought he'd never see the day.  Everyone is thrilled.

Boudreaux be talkin' to his son Tee, an' Tee done ax him, "Père, what you really t'ink 'bout marryin'?"

An' Boudreaux say, "Tee, dere be many a man say dat marryin' be a real expensive way to get you laundry done fo' free!"

Clothile, she done hear dat, an' she say, "Boudreaux, you allus be talkin' down marryin', you should be ashamed!  You jes' say all dem t'ings 'cause you don' like my relatives!"

An' Boudreaux say, "Mais, dat don' be true!  In fac' I like you mother-in-law better 'n I like mine!"

Today is:

Adonia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (date approximate, but always in July, a ritual to honor Adonis)

Buxton Wells Dressing -- Buxton, Derbyshire, England (preserving the 650+ years of traditional "dressing" wells in foliage to thank the patron saint of that well for blessings, now with parades and carnivals; through the 10th)

Distressed Elves' Creditors' Day -- Fairy Calendar

Ducktona 500 Family Festival & Car Show-- Sheboygan Falls, WI, US (lots of fun for everyone, culminating in the annual plastic duck race)

Flag & Anthem Day -- Curacao

Freedom From Fear of Public Speaking Day -- as proposed by Beverly Beuermann-King, because you don't want to blow it when your big opportunity comes because you are afraid to speak out!

I Forgot Day (the day to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, or other special days that you forgot during the first half of the year)

National Anisette Day

Palio di Provenzano -- Siena, Italy (horse race and pageant, named after the Madonna di Provenzano, whose church is in Siena)

Remember to Feed the Hummingbirds Day -- internet reminder to be nice to these beautiful creatures

St. Swithin's Day (Patron against drought; of Stavenger, England; Winchester, England)

Try to Find Your Slinky Day -- the weird holiday of the day!

Violin Lovers' Day

World UFO Day -- unfortunately, a real day observed by many around the world (on the "anniversary" of the UFO crash in Roswell, if such a thing even happened, which i doubt*) 

*i believe that if there's life elsewhere, it shows its intelligence by staying away from us!

Anniversary Today:

Prince Albert of Belgium marries Paola Ruffo di Calabria, 1959

Birthdays Today:

Lindsay Lohan, 1986

Ashley Tisdale, 1985

Johnny Weir, 1984

Jose, Jr., and Ozzie Canseco, 1964

Jimmy McNichol, 1961

Ron Silver, 1946

Vicente Fox Quesada, 1942

Richard Petty, 1937

Polly Holiday, 1937

Dave Thomas, 1932

Medgar Evers, 1925

Dan Rowan, 1922

Ken Curtis, 1916

Thurgood Marshall, 1908

Jean René Lacoste, 1904

Hermann Hesse, 1877

Thomas Cranmer, 1489

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Andy Williams Show"(TV), 1957

"The Lawrence Welk Show"(TV), 1955

"Finlandia"(Sibelius' Op. 26), 1900

Today in History:

Thomas Savery patents the first steam engine, 1698

Vermont  becomes the first American territory to abolish slavery, 1777

Charles J. Guiteau shoots and fatally wounds U.S. President James Garfield, who eventually dies from an infection on September 19, 1881

Twenty miles off the coast of Cuba, 53 rebelling African slaves led by Joseph Cinque take over the slave ship Amistad, 1893

Italian scientist Guglielmo Marconi obtains patent for radio in London, 1897

The first zeppelin flight takes place on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany, 1900

Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan are last heard from over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first equatorial round-the-world flight 1937

The first Wal-Mart store opens for business in Rogers, Arkansas, 1962

North and South Vietnam, divided since 1954, reunite to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 1976

The AbioCor  self contained artificial heart is first implanted, 2001

Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly solo around the world nonstop in a balloon, 2002

Planetoid Pluto's fourth and fifth moons officially receive the names Kerberos and Styx from the International Astronomical Union, 2013

Being thankful doesn't have to take long.

No matter how busy i get, i have time to list my thankfuls.

There's a wedding today, so yes, i'm busy.  This won't take long, but it's no less heartfelt.

My first thankful is that i got some back pay from a client who was out of town last time i was there.

The "extra" pay bought the cats' flea meds, and i'm very glad we have flea meds available.

Yesterday, work went very, very well and quickly, and then the Mall-Mart had the exact items i needed, including a purse that matched the dresses.  (That means i am now the owner of, gasp, two purses!)

Then i actually found everything i needed to pack, including the make-up i only wear about three times a year.

There was a terrible accident on the interstate, and we were able to get off and take the very-far-out-of-the-way back road, but that meant we made it to Grandma and Grandpa's house with seventeen minutes to spare.

Seventeen minutes was all i needed to shower, change clothes, and be ready to leave for the rehearsal.

The rehearsal was like clockwork, and the priest has a good sense of humor and timing.  How often does that happen?

Uncle J is Uncle P's best man.  There was a time when sibling rivalry between them was so bad they wouldn't even talk to each other.  Now they stand for each other, and it's wonderful to watch.

Dinner after the rehearsal was at Cafe Degas, and i highly recommend it.

Rounding out the list, i am grateful for my brother and new sister-in-law.

No matter if you have plenty of time to think it out, or have to list and dash off, remember to list the things you are thankful for, and link up with Ten Things of Thankful.

Today is:

Build a Scarecrow Day -- keep the crows out of that field of freshly growing corn out on the back 40!

Canada Day -- Canada

Cherokee Green Corn Ceremony -- honoring maize goddess Selu with thanksgiving for the maize harvest; date approximate, as many towns set their own times to celebrate

Creative Ice Cream Flavors Day -- a great way to start off Ice Cream Month; try a new one and you just might find a new favorite.

Day to Celebrate All the World's Creatures -- commemorates the day in 1975 that endangered species became internationally protected.

Distressed Elves Day -- Fairy Calendar

Doctors' Day -- India

Eastport Fourth of July and "Old Home Week" -- Eastport, ME, US (bounded on all sides by the Bay of Fundy and Canadian islands, the celebration runs through the 4th)

Emancipation Day -- Sint Maarten

Halfway Point of the Year Day -- related observance

     Half-Year Day -- China

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day -- Hong Kong

Hop A Park Day -- US (several years ago the Colleyville, Texas, Park and Recreation Commission started this celebration on the first Saturday of July, which is National Parks and Recreation Month; go visit a park today, or make plans to do it soon!)

Hug a Cowboy Day -- always on Canada Day

Independence Day -- Burundi(1962); Rwanda(1962)

Intact Day -- celebrating genital integrity, as far as possible from the Feast of the Circumcision on Jan. 1

International Cherry Pit Spitting Championship -- Tree-Mendus Fruit Farm, Eau Claire, WI, US

International Chicken Wing Day -- some sites say the 2nd, celebrate today or tomorrow, your choice

International Day of Cooperatives -- U.N.

International Joke Day -- as declared by many internet sites, but i can't find out why today; then again, why not?

International Reggae Day  

International Tartan Day -- anniversary of the repeal, in 1782, of the Act of Proscription which banned the wearing of Tartans; celebrated especially by Scottish diaspora in Australia; New Zealand

Joust of the Quintana -- Ascoli Piceno, Italy (reenactment of a medieval jousting tournament)

July Morning -- Bulgaria (dates back to the '70s, young and old people hitchhike to the Black Sea in late June to greet the dawn of July 1 with Uriah Heep's hit song July Morning; began as a suble anti-communist protest, now in memory of the fall of communism and to celebrate the start of summer vacation)

Keti Koti -- Suriname (Emancipation Day)

Madeira Day -- Madeira

Marrakech Popular Arts Festival -- Marrakesh, Morocco (the country's best Folklore Festival, featuring art and music as well; through the 31st)

Memorial Day -- Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Mescalero Apache Ceremonial and Rodeo -- Mescalero Apache Reservation, NM, US (a great way to learn about Native American culture, and including Apache Maidens' Puberty Rites; through the 4th)

Mount Fuji Official Climbing Season begins -- Japan (through Aug. 31)

Moving Day -- Quebec, Canada

National Boating Day -- US

National Ducks and Wetlands Day -- US (presidential designation in 1990)

National Financial Freedom Day -- can't find how this one started, but it's as good a day as any to take a good look at your finances, and start learning how to better manage them.

National Gingersnap Day

Punxsutawney Ground Hog Festival -- Punxsutawney, PA, US (through next Saturday; because the groundhog is worth more than just one cold day in February!)

Rebildfesten/Rebild Festival/American Independence Day Celebration -- Aalborg, Denmark (the town dresses in red, white and blue, celebrating with BBQ, American beer, and more; through the 4th)

Republic Day -- Ghana; Somalia

Rockport Art Festival -- Rockport, TX, US (top artists from around the country line the waterfront today and tomorrow, with good music and good food to add to the fun)

Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo -- Halifax, NS, Canada (through the 8th)

Skiraphoria -- Ancient Greek Calendar (festival of cutting and threshing the grain)

Sir Seretse Khama Day -- Botswana

St. Serf of Culross' Day (patron of the Orkney Islands)

Sts. Cosmas and Damian's Day -- Eastern Catholic Churches

     Holy Healers' Day -- Bulgaria (a special festival for the two saints/brothers who were healers; celebrated especially by all healers, fortune-tellers, witches, sorceresses and herbalists)

Territory Day -- British Virgin Islands

The Dam Experience -- Warsaw, MO, US (fireworks viewed from land and boat at the Truman Dam)

Tour de France -- through Sunday, July 23

U.S. Postage Stamp Day -- first US postage stamp issued this day in 1847

Yukon Gold Panning Championships -- Dawson City, YT, Canada

Zip Code Day -- US (inaugural anniversary in 1963; when you mail that letter, zip it up! no zip, slow trip; wrong zip, long trip)

Anniversaries Today:

Prince Albert II of Monaco marries Charlene Whittstock, 2011

Haleakala National Park established, HI, US, 1961

Mammoth Cave National Park established, KY, US, 1941

Dwight D. Eisenhower marries Mamie Geneva Dowd, 1916

Birthdays Today:

Hilary Burton, 1982

Liv Tyler, 1977

Ruud Van Nistelrooy, 1976

Missy Elliott, 1971

Pamela Anderson, 1967

Andre Braugher, 1962

Princess Diana, 1961

Carl Lewis, 1961

Michelle Wright, 1961

Alan Ruck, 1956

Dan Aykroyd, 1952

Deborah Harry, 1945

Karen Black, 1942

Genevieve Bujold, 1942

Twyla Tharp, 1941

Jamie Farr, 1934

Jean Marsh, 1934

Leslie Caron, 1931

Farley Granger, 1925

Olivia DeHavilland, 1916

William James "Willie" Dixon, 1915

Estee Lauder, 1906

Charles Laughton, 1899

Thomas Andrew Dorsey, 1899

Louis Charles Joseph Blériot, 1872

Ignaz Semmelweis, 1818

George Sand, 1804

Debuting/Premiering Today:

CourtTV(Network, now TruTV), 1991

"Nick at Nite"(TV), 1985

"The Liberace Show"(TV), 1952

"Mama"(TV), 1949

NBC(Network, first scheduled TV broadcast ever), 1941

Today in History

Tiberius Julius Alexander orders his Roman legions in Alexandria to swear allegiance to Vespasian as Emperor, 69

La Noche Triste: a joint Mexican Indian force led by the Aztec ruler Cuitláhuac defeat Spanish Conquistadores led by Hernán Cortés, 1520

Lexell's Comet passed closer to the Earth than any other comet in recorded history, approaching to a distance of 0.0146 a.u., 1770

American privateers attack Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, 1782

A system of the civil registration of births, marriages and deaths is established in England and Wales, 1837

U.S. Postage stamps went on sale for the first time, 1847

In the first instance of photojournalism, a French photographer's daguerrotypes of Paris riots were turned into woodcuts so as to be published in the weekly newspaper L'Illustration Journal Universel on this date in 1848

Keti Koti (Emancipation Day) in Suriname, marking the abolition of slavery by the Netherlands, 1863

The British North America Act of 1867 takes effect as the Constitution of Canada, creating the Canadian Confederation and the federal dominion of Canada; Sir John A. Macdonald is sworn in as the first Prime Minister of Canada, 1867

The Philadelphia Zoological Society, the first US zoo, opens; admission twenty-five cents for adults and ten cents for children, 1874

The world's first international telephone call is made between St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada, and Calais, Maine, United States, 1881

SOS is adopted as the international distress signal, 1908

Grant Park Music Festival begins its tradition of free summer symphonic music concert series in Chicago's Grant Park, which continues as the United States' only annual free outdoor classical music concert series, 1935

NBC makes the first scheduled television broadcast, 1941

Tokyo City merges with Tokyo Prefecture and is dissolved; since then, no city in Japan has had the name "Tokyo" (present-day Tokyo is not officially a city), 1943

The merger of two princely states of India, Cochin and Travancore, into the state of Thiru-Kochi (later re-organized as Kerala) in the Indian Union ends more than 1,000 years of princely rule by the Cochin Royal Family, 1949

Zip Codes are introduced for the U.S.mail, 1963

The first color television transmission in Canada takes place from Toronto, 1966

The European Community is formally created out of a merger with the Common Market, the European Coal and Steel Community, and the European Atomic Energy Commission, 1967

Sony introduces the Walkman, 1979

O Canada officially becomes the national anthem of Canada, 1980

German re-unification: East Germany accepts the Deutsche Mark as its currency, thus uniting the economies of East and West Germany, 1990

The People's Republic of China resumes sovereignty over the city-state of Hong Kong, ending 156 years of British colonial rule, 1997

Saturn orbit insertion of Cassini-Huygens begins at 01:12 UTC and ends at 02:48 UTC, 2004

Smoking is banned in all indoor public spaces in England, 2007

The oldest European remains of a white man are discovered in Australia; the Manning River Skull may belong to a man born in 1650, predating the country's history that Captain James Cook was the first to land on Australia's east coast in 1770, 2013