Friday, October 29, 2021

Toctober, Little Bit, Abigail, and Little Girlie (Feline Friday), Friendly Fill-Ins, and Consequences (Monthly Poetry Challenge)

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Feline Friday was started by Steve, The Burnt Food Dude, and i'm going to believe it's because he likes cats.

He has handed hosting duties off to Sandee, of Comedy Plus, and it's simple to join, just follow the link to Sandee's page for the rules and the code.


When i asked Little Girlie, the last of our cats here at home to pose, if she wanted a Toctober picture, this is what she did:






So i've included Abigail and Ms. PA's cat. Little Bit.











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Friendly Fill-Ins are easy to do. There are four statements: the first two statements are provided by Ellen of 15AndMeowing, and the final two are offered by Lorianne The Menagerie Mom of Four-Legged Furballs. They try to make sure the statements will be fun to both answer and share. The linky will be posted at or about 12:00 AM on Friday. Please head over to one of their sites, link up, and share your thoughts!      


Here are this week's statements with my responses underlined:


1, My main concern right now is ______________________.


2. I plan to _____________________for Halloween this year.


3. If I saw a ghost, I would _________.


4. This time of year, _________ is a personal tradition of mine.



1, My main concern right now is   my friend DiDreaming (Di).  She has been back in the hospital, i am concerned that the chemo is too hard on her.


2. I plan to   give out pre-bagged candy  for Halloween this year.


3. If I saw a ghost, I would   start praying!!!


4. This time of year,   pulling out all my heating pads  is a personal tradition of mine.



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This month, i am participating in a monthly poetry challenge held by Karen at Baking in a Tornado This month's theme is Consequences.




Twas the second day of a brand new year,

First Officer Simons came on duty.

His first job was peep at the Captain's Log,

The prior day's entry was a beauty.


The Captain had written of New Year's Day,

"First Officer Simons arrived on the bridge drunk."

Simons turned pale upon reading this note,

And went about his duties in a bit of a funk.


When later Captain Laine arrived on the bridge,

Simons asked him aside for a talk.

"Sir, I read your entry for yesterday,

And really, at your note I must balk.


"The fact is I did see the New Year in

With a bit of an extra tot,

But nothing too much for the day of the year,

To call me drunk puts me in a spot!


"Of course I would like to someday soon

Receive a good promotion,

This could hurt my advancement plans

And add to my life much commotion!"


The Captain looked at his First and said,

"The log is correct factually.

If you do not like the consequences,

It's all on your head, actually."


Simons was silent and did his job,

He wouldn't be hangdog,

And as his shift was ending,

He made his note in the Captain's Log.


Captain Laine, coming in to relieve him,

Was surprised to see it say,

"January 2nd, Captain Laine

Came to the bridge sober today."


Links to the other participants:


Baking in a Tornado   

On the Border   



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Today is:


Candies Day -- they have to be kidding -- this close to Halloween we need another candy day?!


Coronation Day -- Cambodia (anniversary of King Norodom Sihamony, in 2004)


Cumhuriyet Bayrami -- North Cyprus; Turkey (Republic Day)(1923)


Frankenstein Friday --  a day to celebrate the "mother" and "father" of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley and Boris Karloff


Hermit Day / Hide From Everyone Day -- internet generated, for those who would rather have a peaceful day today than celebrate the other holidays listed; look up how to be a hermit on wikihow


Internet Day -- it's predecessor went live today, see Today in History for detail


Laugh Suddenly For No Reason A Lot Today Day (And end up either getting yourself and everyone around you in a good mood, or yourself being observed at the hospital in a padded room.)


Makoshe's Holiday/Mokosh Day -- an Asatru/Pagan Slavic Calendar holiday honoring the Mother Earth, and in Ukraine, celebrating the Slavic goddess of "women's work", a wanderer and spinner, still popular as a life giving force and protector of women)


Naming Day -- Tanzania


National Bandanna Day -- Australia (to raise funds for teens with cancer) 


National Cat Day -- US (with the goal of getting 10,000 cats adopted from shelters today)


National Disgusting Little Pumpkin-Shaped Candies Day


National Oatmeal Day


Second Fiddle of the Month -- Fairy Calendar (a very poorly attended event -- who wants to play second fiddle?)


St. Mary of Edessa's Day (Patron against sexual temptation)


World Psoriasis Day  



Birthdays Today:


Gabrielle Union, 1972

Winona Ryder, 1971

Joely Fisher, 1965

Randy Jackson, 1961

Finona Hughes, 1960

Kate Jackson, 1948

Richard Dreyfuss, 1947

Melba Moore, 1945

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, 1938

Dominick Dunne, 1925

Bill Mauldin, 1921

Fanny Brice, 1891

Charles Hercules Ebbets, 1858

Daniel Decatur Emmet, 1815

James Boswell, 1740 (wrote the biography of Samuel Johnson)

Edmund Halley, 1656 (O.S. Date) (yes, that Halley, found the comet)



Debuting/Premiering Today:


The Internet, 1969 (the first connection between computers that would become the Internet someday was made on this date when bits of data flowed between computers at UCLA and Stanford Research Institute; this grew into ARPANET, and is now the Internet we know and yell at.)

"Let's Face It"(Musical), 1941

"Don Giovanni"(Mozart K. 527), 1787



Today in History:


Cyrus the Great entered the city of Babylon, BC539

First trial for witchcraft in Paris, 1390

Sir Walter Raleigh, adventurer, writer, and courtier, is beheaded, 1618

A severe earthquake shakes New England, 1727

Mozart's opera Don Giovanni receives its first performance in Prague, 1787

The first Ohio River steamboat leaves Pittsburgh for New Orleans, 1811

Queen Victoria grants Cecil Rhodes rights to Zambezia, 1889

The first intercity trucking service, from Colorado City to Snyder, Texas, begins running, 1904

Turkey declares its independence as the successor state to the Ottoman Empire, 1923

Israeli forces invade the Sinai Peninsula and push Egyptian forces back toward the Suez Canal, 1956

Cassius Clay wins his first professional fight, 1960

Syria exits from the United Arab Republic, 1961

Montreal's World Fair, Expo 67, closes with over 50 million visitors, 1967

The American Galileo spacecraft makes its closest approach to 951 Gaspra, becoming the first probe to visit an asteroid, 1991

In South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission presents its report, which condemns both sides for committing atrocities, 1998

Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off on STS-95 with 77-year old John Glenn on board, making him the oldest person to go into space, 1998

In Rome, European heads of state sign the Treaty and Final Act establishing the first European Constitution, 2004

The 3G wireless transmitters at Mt. Everest make coverage available to the summit, 2010

Random House and Penguin merge to become Penguin Random House, the largest publisher in the world, 2012

Turkey opens the first underwater rail tunnel linking Europe to Asia, 2013

China ends its one child policy after 35 years, 2015

New research is published indicating that the cacao tree was not first cultivated in central America, but in Ecuador by the Maya Chinchipe culture about 5,000 years ago, 2019

Thursday, October 28, 2021

Remembering (Six Sentence Story), Halloween Good Fences, Angel Sammy’s Poetry Day, and Brian’s Thankful Thursday

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Several years ago, a good neighbor and friend, just before she moved, handed me a coffee cup from her cabinet.


When i looked at her quizzically, she said, “Several years ago, when an elderly neighbor of mine was moving to go live with her children, she handed me a coffee cup from her cabinet and said, ‘It’s a keepsake, when you see it, you will think about me.’  Ever since then, when I move, I give my best neighbor a coffee cup to remember me by.”


Since then, i’ve exchanged coffee cups with neighbors and clients and friends, and i have a nice collection.  They are kept where i can see them and some i drink from, some i use for holding pens or small kitchen items.


When i look at them in the morning while having my morning brew, it’s like having coffee with good friends from my past.



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




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Gosia at Looking for Identity has taken over Good Fences, and it's now Good Fences Around The World.  Post a picture of a fence or gate, link back to her blog, and go visit other blogs to see what interesting fences there are out in this big world.     


Another seasonal fence:






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





I want to make it big in the fashion world

So I wear what they tell me, with hair strangely curled,

Maybe someday I’ll get my big break,

Meanwhile looking silly is what I have to take.



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


Today i am thankful the rain yesterday brought some cooler weather behind it.  We love autumn around here after sweating all summer.






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Today is:



Bring Your Jack-O-Lantern to Work Day -- just check the fire code before you light that candle


Celtic Tree Month Negetal (Reed) begins


Dia do Servidor Publico -- Brazil (Civil Servants' Day)


Flying Baby Day -- celebrating the first baby born on an airplane on this day in 1929


Fyribod (or Forebode) -- Ancient Norse Calendar (announces the beginning of winter; date approximate)


Hari Sumpah Pemuda -- Indonesia (Youth Pledge Day)


Independence Day -- Czechoslovakia (from Austria-Hungary in 1918; still celebrated in the Czech Republic and Slovakia)


International Animation Day -- ASIFA (to honor the day Emile Reynaud presented the first animation to the public)


Isia -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (dates approximate; first day of the 6 day Isis festival)


Milvian Bridge Day -- Christain (day to reflect on the interrelationship of religion and government)


National Chocolate Day


Okunchi Matsuri -- Karatsu, Japan (with floats that date back to the 1800s; through the 30th)


Oxi Day / Greek National Day -- Greece (Sometimes "Ochi" or "Ohi", literally "No Day", celebrating resistance to Mussolini.)


Part Your Hair Crooked Just To See If Anyone Will Say Anything About It Day -- internet generated, celebrate at your own risk


Plush Animal Lovers' Day -- internet generated; celebrate your love of stuffed animals today


Punkie Night -- Hinton St George, Somerset, England (a celebration for children and adults who carry candle-lit punkies -- the best one wins a prize -- made out of mangel-wurzels, a type of beet, and sing old punkie songs asking for money or treats)


Runic Half-month Hagal (hailstone) begin


St. Jude Thaddeus' Day (Patron of desperate or hopeless cases -- the reason Danny Thomas chose this saint to invoke as patron of the hospital he helped found.)


St. Paraskevi of Iconium's Day (Patron of fairs and traders; in Russia, patron of marriage; associated in Ukrain with Mokosh, the ancient women's divinity, and celebrated on the final Friday of the month)


St. Simon the Zealot's Day (Patron of curriers, sawmen, tanners)


Wild Foods Day -- as in, grown or caught in the wild (please be careful if you like mushrooms and want to gather your own!)




Anniversaries Today:


Statue of Liberty dedicated, 1886

Maimonides College is founded, 1867 (first Jewish college in the US)

R.H. Macy & Co. in NYC opens, 1858

Founding of Harvard University, 1636

Universidad Santo Tomas Aquino is established, 1538 (first university in the New World)



Birthdays Today:


Matt Smith, 1982

Joaquin Phoenix, 1974

Brad Paisley, 1972

Jeremy Davies, 1969

Julia Roberts, 1967

Andy Richter, 1966

Jami Gertz, 1965

Daphne Zuniga, 1962

Lauren Holly, 1963

Bill Gates, 1955

Annie Potts, 1952

Bruce Jenner, 1949

Telma Hopkins, 1948

Dennis Franz, 1944

Jane Alexander, 1939

Charlie Daniels, 1936

Cleo Laine, 1927

Jonas Salk, 1914

Francis Bacon, 1909

Edith Head, 1907

Howard Hanson, 1896

Georges Auguste Escoffier, 1846

Desiderius Erasmus, 1467



Debuting/Premiering Today:


"The Jack Benny Program"(TV), 1950

"Dead End"(Play), 1935

Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Pathetique(Tchaikovsky Op. 74), 1893



Today in History:


Constantine the Great defeats Maxentius, 312

Battle of Yaunis Khan in which Turkish forces under the Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha defeat the Mameluks near Gaza, 1516

Battle of Amba Sel, in which Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi again defeats the army of Lebna Dengel, Emperor of Ethiopia; the southern part of Ethiopia falls under Imam Ahmad's control, 1531

Peruvian cities of Lima & Callao are demolished by an earthquake, 18,000 die, 1746

Eli Whitney applies for a patent on the cotton gin, 1793

The first railroad in Spain, between Barcelona and Mataro, is opened, 1848

The Statue of Liberty is dedicated by President Grover Cleveland, and celebrated by the first ticker tape/confetti parade in NYC, 1886

An earthquake strikes Mino-Owari, Japan, kills 7,300, 1891

Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Pathétique, receives its première performance in St. Petersburg, only nine days before the composer's death, 1893

The St. Louis police try a new investigation method -- fingerprints, 1904

Czechoslovakia gains its independence in the break up of Austria-Hungary, 1918

The Volstead Act, passed by Congress over Wilson's veto, starts Prohibition, 1919

The first coast to coast radio broadcast of a football game, 1922

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt rededicates the Statue of Liberty on its 50th anniversary, 1936

The Alaska Highway (Alcan Highway) is completed through Canada to Fairbanks, Alaska, 1942

Swiss chemist Paul Müller is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the insecticidal properties of DDT, 1948

The modern Kingdom of the Netherlands is re-founded as a federal monarchy, 1954

Nikita Khrushchev announces that he had ordered the removal of Soviet missile bases in Cuba, 1962

Nostra Aetate, the "Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions" of the Second Vatican Council, is promulgated by Pope Paul VI; it absolves the Jews of responsibility for the death of Jesus, 1965*

Britain launches its first satellite, Prospero, into low Earth orbit atop a Black Arrow carrier rocket, 1971

The centenary of the dedication of the Statue of Liberty is celebrated in New York Harbor, 1986

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner becomes the first woman elected President of Argentina, 2007

The US celebrates the 125th anniversary of the dedication of the Statue of Liberty, 2011

The World Health Organization ranks tuberculosis alongside HIV as 2014's two deadliest infectious diseases, 2015

The EU agrees to another Brexit extension to January 31 2020, 2019

The fifteenth-century medieval manuscript "The Book of Lismore", returns to Ireland after being donated by Chatsworth Settlement to University College Cork, 2020