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Linking up with Wordless Wednesday, Keith, Catsynth, 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, Sean Jeating was to provide the prompts on Elephant's Child's blog. It is very, very sad to say Sue, the Elephant's Child, has died unexpectedly. We thought perhaps she had been sent all the prompts and had prescheduled the posts for the rest of the year, as she seemed to indicate such in a comment earlier, but it appears not.
The lack of prompts doesn't mean I do not have anything to say about Sue.
She called herself the Elephant's Child because, like the one in Rudyard Kipling's Just So Story, she had insatiable curiosity.
Sue lived in Australia, and it was a gift to see her garden start to bloom when we were facing winter here. It was also so much fun to go along with her when she need a "'roo fix" as she would say. Her kangaroo photos always brought a smile.
She loved color and beauty, and she shared it each week in Sunday Selections. From Charlotte/Mother Owl's color of the month to the flower shows, light shows, and balloon festivals she attended, showcasing the loveliness around her seemed to bring her great joy, and i know it brought me great joy, too. Her sky photos were amazing and when she would freeze bubbles in winter, i would laugh with delight like a child to see them.
When Delores, the originator of the Words for Wednesday blog hop, had to bow out, Sue took over, assigning the months to those who wanted to provide prompts, and often providing them herself, as well as posting the words on her own blog when the providers wanted.
She was a gracious hostess, critiquing and offering suggestions or even an occasional correction with gentleness. She also wrote excellent stories of her own using the prompts.
Sue's great passion, besides seeing and enjoying beauty, and kangaroos, was suicide prevention.
For many years, she volunteered with Lifeline Australia, a suicide prevention hotline, answering phones and holding the fragile hearts who called in such great need with deep reverence, love and respect. I am sure there are many she talked out of suicide who, if they knew she was gone, would stand up to thank and bless her for her work.
In the past few years, I understand, she was also a trainer of new volunteers. I'm sure they will miss her deeply in that capacity.
Her husband, her family (i believe she had at least one brother, maybe more), and her cats are going to miss her much more than we are, and i miss her sorely.
Sue, all i can say now is thank you. My life is better for having had you in it as a blog friend.
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Today is:
Armed Forces Day -- South Korea
Balloons Around the World -- balloon artists around the world are encouraged to donate an hour or more to a charity of their choice in their community, entertaining children everywhere with balloon sculpture
Bat Appreciation Month -- hooray for Bat Conservation International!
Change a Light Day -- US (was originally sponsored by EnergyStar, promoting energy saving light bulbs; although they don't seem to be running this particular campaign any more, it's a great idea to switch to the highest efficiency bulbs you can)
while the original dates were on Wednesdays, some websites list this on the first Sunday
Christmas Seal Campaign begins
Chuuk Constitution Day -- Chuuk, Micronesia
Cut Out Dissection Day -- let's find alternatives for school kids!
Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux a/k/a Therese of the Child Jesus or The Little Flower of Jesus (Doctor of the Church; Patron of African missions, AIDS patients, air crews/aircraft pilots/aviators, florists/flower growers, missionaries, sick people, those who have lost parents, tuberculosis; Australia; France; Russia; several cities around the world; against bodily ills and tuberculosis)
Festival of Penha -- Rio de Janiero, Brazil (through the 31st; pilgrimages to the Church of Our Lady of Penha)
Firepup's® Birthday -- have fun learning fire safety from Firepup
Global Diversity Awareness Month begins -- to foster and further our understanding of the value of people of all races, genders, nationalities, ages, religions, sexual orientations, classes, and physical disabilities
Guoqing Jie -- China; Hong Kong; Macau (National Day/Founding of the Republic)
Homemade Cookies Day
Independence Day -- Cyprus(1960); Nigeria(1960); Palau(1994); Tuvalu(1976)
International Coffee Day -- and i thought this was every day!
International Day of Older Persons -- UN
International Music Day -- information from the International Music Council
Investiture of the Captains Regent -- San Marino
Kalends of October -- Ancient Roman Calendar; also
Day Sacred to Fides -- (goddess of faithfulness and keeping your word)
Festival of Juno Sororia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (Juno the Sister, protector of young women at puberty)
Little Golden Books Day -- the first twelve were published on this day in 1942 (Baby's Book of Objects, Bedtime Stories, Mother Goose, Nursery Songs, Prayers for Children, The Alphabet from A to Z, The Animals of Farmer Jones, The Golden Book of Fairy Tales, The Little Red Hen, The Poky Little Puppy, This Little Piggy and Other Counting Rhymes, Three Little Kittens)
Month of Freethought -- inspired by Freethinkers who emigrated to the US in the 19th century
National Black Dog Day
National Book It! Day -- teachers across the US can join together with Pizza Hut to encourage the love of reading each school year from today through March 31
National Homemade Cookies Day
National Lace Day -- US (a day for lace fanciers share their love of lacemaking! there's no history of who started this day, and other dates are given on some websites)
National Walk Your Dog Week begins -- a campaign to bring awareness of and fight the increasing problems in the US with canine obesity
O'qituvchi va Murabbiylar Kuni -- Uzebekistan (Day of Teachers and Instructors)
Pageantry in Oslo -- Oslo, Norway (Storting [Parliament] convenes to decide the date for its ceremonial opening, which is usually the following weekday, when the King opens the session in the presence of the Corps Diplomatique, preceded and followed by a military procession between the Royal Palace and the Storting.)
Popcorn and Tears Movie Appreciation Night -- go see a tear jerker; if guys don't want to go, make them stay home and vacuum
Pudding Season begins (Time to preserve meat from slaughtering for the winter by making meat puddings.)
Ram Mating Ceremony -- various towns and villages in Turkey (through the 20th, each village setting its own date; after being separated from the females for two months, the rams are returned with ceremonies to ensure good luck and lots of babies next spring)
Right-Brainers Rule Month begins (because left handers / right brainers are in their "right" minds)
St. Remigius of Rheims' Day (Patron of France; Rheims, France; against epidemics, fever, plague, religious indifference, snakes, and throat pain)
St. Romanos the Melodist's Day (hymn writer of the early 6th Century whose surviving works are still sung)
Unification Day -- Cameroon
US Fiscal Year begins (Why in October?)
World Bullying Prevention Month™
World Vegetarian Day
Yom Kippur -- Judaism (begins at sundown)
Anniversaries Today:
EPCOT opens, 1981 (Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow, or, if you work there, the insider title, Every Person Comes Out Tired)
Walt Disney World opens, 1971
Johnny Carson marries Joan Morrill Wolcott, 1949
Stanford University opens, 1891
Yosemite National Park and Yellowstone National Park are founded, 1890
South African College is founded, 1829 (Now University of Cape Town)
Birthdays Today:
Zach Galifianakis, 1969
Mark McGwire, 1963
Esai Morales, 1962
Grete Waltz, 1953
Randy Quaid, 1950
Stephen Collins, 1947
Tim O'Brien, 1946
Rod Carew, 1945
Stella Stevens, 1936
Julie Andrews, 1935
Albert Collins, 1932
Richard Harris, 1932
George Peppard, 1928
Tom Bosley, 1927
Jimmy Carter, 1924
William Rehnquist, 1924
James Whitmore, 1921
Walter Matthau, 1920
Bonnie Parker, 1910
Vladimir Horowitz, 1903
James Lawrence, 1781
Richard Stockton, 1730
Henry III, King of England, 1207
Debuting/Premiering Today:
Compact Discs, 1982 (Billy Joel's 52nd Street)
"Remington Steele"(TV), 1982
"Kung Fu"(TV), 1972
Night of the Living Dead(Film), 1968
"The Merv Griffin Show"(TV), 1962
"The Honeymooners"(TV), 1955
"This is Your Life"(TV), 1952
"Tom Corbett, Space Cadet"(TV), 1950
"Best Foot Forward"(Musical), 1941
Ford's Model T, 1908
World Series Baseball, 1903 (the Boston Americans beat the Pittsburgh Pirates)
Postal Special Delivery, 1885 (USPS began special delivery services)
Postcards, 1869 (in Vienna, Austria)
Today in History:
Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia, BC331
The Russian Parliament accepts the annexation of the Ukraine, 1653
First session of the new French legislative assembly is held, 1791
Spain cedes Louisiana to France in a secret treaty, 1800
The first steamboat to sail the Mississippi River arrives in New Orléans, Louisiana, 1811
Maria Mitchell discovers a non-naked-eye comet, 1847
A cyclone strikes Calcutta, India, killing 70,000, 1864
Karl Marx' "Das Kapital" is published, 1867
The world's first postcards are issued, in Vienna, Austria, 1869
John Philip Sousa becomes the new director of the USMC Band, 1880
Thomas Edison opens the first electric lamp factory, 1880
The USPS begins special delivery mail service, 1885
Jews are expelled from major Russian cities, 1898
Arab forces under T.E. Lawrence, a/k/a Lawrence of Arabia, capture Damascus, 1918
An oil field accident cost aviator Wiley Post his left eye, but he used the settlement money to buy his first aircraft, 1926
The Pennsylvania Turnpike, often considered the first superhighway in the United States, opens, 1940
Mensa International is founded in the United Kingdom, 1946
First broadcast of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, 1962
The Concorde supersonic transport plane breaks the sound barrier for the first time, 1969
Walt Disney World opens near Orlando, Florida, United States, 1971
The United States returns sovereignty of the Panama canal to Panama, 1979
EPCOT Center opens at Walt Disney World, 1982
William Gibson's groundbreaking novel Neuromancer is published, introducing the word "cyberspace" to the English language, 1984
Denmark introduces the world's first legal modern same-sex civil union, 1989
The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom takes over the judicial functions of the House of Lords, 2009
A dedicated 3D TV channel, Sky 3D, launches in the UK, 2010
The NY Yankees record the 10,000th win in their illustrious history, 2015
A new trade deal to replace NAFTA is agreed upon by Canada, Mexico, and the United States, 2018
Peru's President Martín Vizcarra dissolves Congress over its refusal to support his anti-corruption reforms, sparking a political crisis, 2019
Claudia Sheinbaum is sworn in as Mexico's first female president, 2024
