They Really Mean It (Wordless Wednesday) and Words for Wednesday

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Linking up with Wordless Wednesday, BeThere2Day, and Sandee at Comedy Plus.     

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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 David M. Gascoigne and will appear on Elephant's Child's blog.  

This week's prompts are:

1. Coveted
2. Single
3. Lunch
4. Chance
5. Wallet  

and/or

1. Earned
2. Sense
3. School
4. Pester
5. Owner

An additional prompt from Charlotte (MotherOwl) is to include Bright Red Orange in your take on the prompts.

 Have fun.

The SCHOOL LUNCH has often left much to be desired.

In many ways i imagine it's not always their fault.  They have to take into account budgetary constraints and the fact that institutional food is usually prepackaged for ease of serving many, which does not make for fine dining.

The fact there's no one OWNER of the system to whom to complain who can do anything about it adds to the problem, as there would be at a restaurant.

The school i attended was a girls only church school.  Those who sent children to this school EARNED good incomes and paid for everything from their own WALLET.  You would think, with the tuition, fees including the lunch fees, and all the fundraising they were doing all of the time, they'd have enough to keep the cafeteria food quality up to a certain level.  It would make SENSE for it to be so, but it was not so.

In fact, one of my friends became so enraged one day at what she found on her tray she went to the pay phone in the courtyard and called the Health Department.  A surprise inspection resulted in many citations against them, and my friend was disciplined by the school for doing it with a behavioral probation and loss of phone privilege.  But i digress.

Each student received a lunch card at the beginning of the month with her name on it which was presented to be punched at the date on the bottom when we received our meals.

Many of us expressed a desire for a salad instead of the fare they were serving, you might say some of the young ladies would PESTER the cafeteria staff about it.  The head of the cafeteria agreed those who would put their card in a bowl she left in the front of her office before class would receive a salad instead, with their card on the tray with it, already punched for that date.

The problem became too many of us took this CHANCE to eschew the normal fare.  These were very nice chef's salads, with fresh lettuces, Bright Red Orange cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, other seasonal veggies, shredded cheese, diced turkey, croutons and salad dressing in a large bowl, enough to keep you full until you got home from school, and she had made them all, every SINGLE one.

The salads became so COVETED they finally had the good SENSE to put in a make-your-own-salad bar, we'd grab a tray and bowl, get the card punched, and simply go to the station on the other side of the cafeteria and make our own meal.  It became an expected institution and it beat the tar out of fish sticks and macaroni and cheese, taste and health wise.

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Today is:

Ambarvalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (purification festival to Ceres, date approximate)

Ascension of Baha'u'llah -- Baha'i

Castleton Garland Celebration -- Derbyshire, England (a Garland King and Lady ride the bounds of the parish on white horses, after which the garland the King wore is placed on the church tower; possibly dating back to Oak Apple Celebrations)

Democracy Day -- Nigeria

End of the Middle Ages Day -- considered such by many historians because of the fall of Constantinople on this day in 1453

Feast of Mars -- Ancient Roman Calendar

International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers -- UN

Learn About Composting Day -- can't find a sponsor for this day, but there is a week sponsored each year here; and you can learn about composting here, too 

Mount Everest Day -- Nepal (declared on the anniversary of first ascent in 1953)

National Coq Au Vin Day

National Senior Health and Fitness Day -- US (don't let age get in the way of staying healthy!)  

Oak Apple Day / Royal Oak Day -- England (celebration of the restoration of the monarchy; no longer officially recognized, but many localities have traditions that have grown up around this date which are still celebrated)

Pink Flamingo Day -- Don Feathersone created the first one on this day in 1957

Put a Pillow on Your Fridge Day -- supposedly dating back, in Europe and the Americas, to the days when you put a piece of cloth in your larder for good luck; why it became a pillow no one knows

Runic Half-Month of Odal (home, possessions) commences

Squoosh an Ice Cream Sandwich Day -- rules say you must squoosh, not squish or squash!

St. Bona of Pisa's Day (Patron of couriers, flight attendants, guides, pilgrims, travelers; Pisa, Italy)

Anniversaries Today:

Rhode Island becomes the 13th US State, 1790

Wisconsin becomes the 30th US State, 1848

Birthdays Today:

Noel Gallagher, 1967

Lisa Whelchel, 1963

Melissa Etheridge, 1961

Adrian Paul, 1959

Rupert Everett,1959

Annette Bening, 1958

LaToya Jackson, 1956

Danny Elfman, 1953

Anthony Geary, 1947

Kevin Conway, 1942

Al Unser, Sr., 1939

Francis Thomas "Fay" Vincent, Jr, 1938

Paul Erlich, 1932

John F. Kennedy, 1917

Tenzing Norgay, 1914

T.H. White, 1906

Bob Hope, 1903

Oswald Spengler, 1880

G.K. Chesterton, 1874

Patrick Henry, 1736

Today in History:

Ottoman armies under Sultan Mehmed II Fatih capture Constantinople after a siege, ending the Byzantine Empire, 1453

Charles II (on his birthday) is restored to the throne of Great Britain, 1660

Treaty of Middle Plantation establishes peace between the Virginia colonists and the local Natives, 1677

The right of Canadians to keep Indian slaves is upheld at Quebec City, 1733

In Patrick Henry's historic speech against the Stamp Act, he answers a cry of "Treason!" with, "If this be treason, make the most of it!" 1765

Present constitution of Switzerland takes effect, 1874

Chemist John Pemberton places his first advertisement for Coca-Cola, the ad appearing in the Atlanta Journal, 1886

Igor Stravinsky's ballet score The Rite of Spring receives its premiere performance in Paris, provoking a riot, 1913

Ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland sinks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence with the loss of 1,024 lives, 1914

Bing Crosby, the Ken Darby Singers and the John Scott Trotter Orchestra record Irving Berlin's "White Christmas", the best-selling Christmas single in history, for Decca Records in Los Angeles, 1942

Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay become the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest, 1953

First of the annual Bilderberg conferences, 1954

Amputee  Steve Fonyo completes cross-Canada marathon at Victoria, British Columbia, after 14 months, 1985

Space Shuttle Discovery completes the first docking with the International Space Station, 1999

Olusegun Obasanjo takes office as President of Nigeria, the first elected and civilian head of state in Nigeria after 16 years of military rule, 1999

A WWII Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C., US, 2004

Scientists describe the 160-million year-old fossile of Aurornis xui as the most basal species of Avialae, possibly shifting the evolutionary position of the Archaeopteryx as the oldest known bird, 2013

A heatwave in Karachi, Pakistan, kills 65 as temperatures soar above 110 degrees Fahrenheit, 2018

The world's smallest surviving baby, a girl, is discharged from Sharp March Birch Hospital in San Diego after being born at 23 weeks weighing 8.6 ounces (245 grams), 2019

A man disguised as an elderly disabled woman throws cake at the Mona Lisa in an unsuccessful vandalism attempt (it is behind protective glass), 2022

At Home, Up the Road, and In Church, 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.  

Carl was snuggled in his sleep chair with the beatific smile on  his face he wears when he gets to stay home and sleep late.  Upon checking his schedule posted on the fridge, yep, he had asked for the day off work.

Why?  Because it was Memorial Day, of course.  He asks for all such holidays off, because it's a holiday!

The good part of his being home is no need to pack his lunch, gather his cool vest and ice blocks, and try to get him out the door.  Jump-starting a Carl is not easy.

The bad part is he's home.  His teeth feel fuzzy.  He needs a shower.  He wants to get dressed so he can go somewhere.  He needs to brush again.

It's all good, we muddle through.

As he was safely ensconced in slumber, i simply tackled the usual stuff.  While gathering clothes, i noticed a pair of pants which felt unusually heavy.  I had my suspicions and shook it very hard.  Yep, a shoe was caught up in the leg of the pants.

He is supposed to be staying away from sugar (and for the record, i did not snitch about the cookies in his kitchen, he did that to himself taking them in the big kitchen and leaving them there for his mom to find).  He has decided to chew gum instead to try to satisfy his sweet tooth.

Ms. V, his mom, got the gum out of the dryer as she told me, and yesterday i got it out of the washer.  Something is going to have to give, and it just may be the major appliances.  Or maybe he can switch to sugar free mints.

Carl has a propensity for not putting caps back on things, and for using whatever is on his counter at the moment as a cup.  Thus the caps remain off of his mouthwash, and he uses said cap for getting a sip of water.  Then he leaves water in it.

It's not often I forget any more, but today I did.  Score one for Carl.

Once the first load was in the washer, i sorted and looked for clothes, and one last pair of pants turned up under the bed, dirty, of course.  As were two of the shirts he'd hung up inside out.

He keeps me on my toes.

He does so particularly with his garbage can.  The clips which hold his bag in place were gone, but he had a nice, clean bag in there.

I thought, how nice, he remembered to put a bag in when he changed it.  Then i noticed how heavy the can felt.

It's hard to tell, but there was stuff down in there.

Near as i can figure, he took the garbage out at his mother's behest, actually remembered to put in a new bag, threw in garbage and because he'd set the clips aside and not replaced them, the bag fell into the can, so he simply got another bag.

I found the clips and order was restored.

I also located and put all of his Beano bottles in the medicine cabinet.

Why 4 of them?  Because he forgets he has one, or cannot find it, and buys another.

Why not consolidate them?  Because when he leaves the top off, which he will do, and it spills, which does happen, he won't spill all of them and then have to go buy more.

Eventually he woke up and brushed his teeth, then started talking about "art class at the rec center."  Probably another reason he wanted this day off.

He told me about looking for a jambalaya festival on Saturday in a small town up the highway from here.  "Shouldn't have done that." he said.  "Roads everywhere!"

I knew what he meant.  This particular small town does not put street signs on any of their streets.  If you stop and ask for directions, they will tell you, "Just go up to such-and-such-road."  When you ask which one that is, because there are no signs, they respond with, 'Well, everyone knows where it is!  It's the third or fourth one up the street from here, you can't miss it."

No, i don't think they they like visitors very much.

He also talked about church members going to New York, a "thingamabobber" he'd seen somewhere i couldn't quite decipher, got up in the middle of putting his shoes on to tell me about one singer we heard on the radio whom he'd seen in concert years ago, and told me, "Someone got baptized today!"

Today? i gently asked.

He looked confused, then brightened up.  "No, yesterday.  They went all the way in the water!"

Note he was raised Presbyterian, which does not traditionally do immersion baptisms.  When his father is too ill to attend Sunday services, he and his mother, instead of driving all the way into town to our church, simply go to a lovely Baptist church around the corner.  The baptism there would have been unusual to him.

Just to show Carl isn't my only client who can do funny things, Ms. D was up next and she wanted the sheets on the guest bed changed.  A few weeks ago she had company, and she simply hadn't gotten the time to do this yet.

We went in the room and she started pulling out sheets.  "Hmmm, flat king, flat king, um, I think this is, yes, flat queen, um, well, it's a queen size bed and, well, go ahead and look for a fitted sheet but you won't find one.  I guess you'll have to tuck a flat king sheet under instead."

I looked, and as she predicted, i did not find any fitted queen sheets in the drawer.  I did, however, find 3 of them on the bed!

When i pointed this out to her she said, "Oh, that's right!  I don't need to buy a fitted queen size sheet, when my sister came with her dog and insisted it get in bed with her, I made her put on the extra sheets to protect the mattress cover!"

The bed is made with a flat king sheet knotted at the corners and tucked under, and once the fitted queen sheets are clean, it will be remade with one of them and i simply hope she doesn't have an overnight guest with a dog before then.

How about some baptism funnies?  (And all meant in fun, not to make fun of anyone's beliefs.)

Have a blessed and beautiful Tuesday, everyone!

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Today is:

Araw ng Watawat -- Philippines (Flag Day)

Armed Forces Day -- Croatia

Contemplate Your Vicissitudes Day -- no, i still don't know who thinks up this stuff, i can think of much better things to contemplate, thank you

Downfall of the Dergue Day/National Day -- Ethiopia

National Brisket Day

National Hamburger Day

Republic Day -- Armenia; Azerbaijan

Slugs Return From Capistrano Day -- where they spent the winter, so don't go out on the patio barefoot until the first frost; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

St. Bernard of Montjoux's Day (Founder of Alpine hospices; Patron of Alpinists, the Alps, mountain climbers, mountaineers, skiers, and travellers in the mountains)

Whooping Crane Day -- US (birth anniversary of the first crane born in captivity; because those born in captivity refused to breed after they grew up, the attempt to restore numbers this way was discontinued, but these are beautiful birds worth saving)

Women in Trousers Day -- US (on this day in 1923, the US Attorney General announced his determination that it was indeed legal for women to wear trousers anywhere)

World Hunger Day -- The Hunger Project      

Anniversary Today:

Amnesty International is founded, 1961

Sierra Club is founded, 1892

Birthdays Today:

Joseph Cross, 1986

Carey Mulligan, 1985

Jesse Bradford, 1979

Sicily Yoder, 1969

Kylie Minogue, 1968

Glen Rice, 1967

Christa Miller, 1964

Sondra Locke, 1947

John Fogerty, 1945

Rudolph Guiliani, 1944

Gladys Knight, 1944

Annette, Cecile, Emilie, Marie, and Yvonne Dionne , 1934

Carroll Baker, 1931

Barry Commoner, 1917

Ian Fleming, 1908

Jim Thorpe, 1888

Louis Agassiz, 1807

William Pitt, 1759

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Magic Show"(Musical), 1974

"Lock Up Your Daughters"(Musical), 1959

Melody(Disney cartoon film, first ever in 3-D), 1953 

"Zoo Parade"(TV), 1950

"Louisiana Purchase"(Musical), 1940

"Mathis der Maler / Matthias the Painter"(Opera), 1938

"L'Arianna / Ariadne"(Opera), 1608

Today in History:

A solar eclipse occurs, as predicted by Greek philosopher and scientist Thales, while Alyattes is battling Cyaxares in the Battle of the Eclipse;this leads to a truce and becomes one of the cardinal dates from which other dates can be calculated, BC585

James IV of Scotland and Margaret Tudor are married according to a Papal Bull by Pope Alexander VI and a Treaty of Everlasting Peace (which lasted 10 years) between Scotland and England is signed, 1503

The Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, sets sail from Lisbon heading for the English Channel (it will takes until May 30 for all of the ships to leave port), 1588

In the first engagement of the French and Indian War, Virginia militia under 22-year-old Lieutenant Colonel George Washington defeat a French reconnaissance party, 1754

Big Ben is drawn on a carriage pulled by 16 horses from Whitechapel Bell Foundry to the Palace of Westminster, 1859

In San Francisco, California, John Muir organizes the Sierra Club, 1892

In the Russo-Japanese War, the Battle of Tsushima ends with the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet by the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1905

John B Gruelle patents Raggedy Ann doll, 1915

The US Attorney General says it is legal for women to wear trousers, 1923

The first all color talking picture, "On With the Show", is shown in NYC, 1929

The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California, is officially opened, 1937

Neville Chamberlain becomes British Prime Minister, 1937

The women of Greece are given the right to vote, 1952

The Palestine Liberation Organization is formed, 1964

Fifteen West African countries sign the Treaty of Lagos, creating the Economic Community of West African States, 1975

Eritrea and Monaco join the United Nations, 1993

NATO declares Russia a limited partner in the Western alliance, 2002

The Mars Odyssey finds signs of large ice deposits on the planet Mars, 2002

The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly of Nepal formally declares Nepal a republic, ending the 240-year reign of the Shah dynasty, 2008

'Le Monde' reports the Assad regime in Syria continues to use chemical weapons, 2013

The Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) has banned 11 people after an ethics investigation; the banned officials have recently or previously been indicted for corruption by the U.S. Justice Department, 2015

The discovery of a mass grave with the remains of 215 children at the former site of Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia, Canada is announced, 2022

Surgeons at NYU Langone Health complete the world's first whole eyeball transplant with a partial facial transplant, for a US veteran, 2023