May 1

May 1

St.Brioc (of pursemakers), St. Marculf (invoked against scrofula), St Efisio (Italy), St. Peregrine Laziosi (invoked against cancer)

Executive Coaching Day, Keeping Kids Alive-Drive 25 Day, Lei Day, Mother Goose Day, National Dance Day, New  Homeowners Day, School Principals Day, Save the Rhino Day

1873 -First U. S. Postcard issued

1931-Empire State Building opened

1967- Elvis Married Priscilla

      

Birthdays:

Jack Paar 1918

Joseph Heller 1923

Judy Collins 1939

Joanna Lumley 1946

“There was only one catch and that was Catch-22”.---Joseph Heller.

April 17

April 17

St. Stephen, St. Anicetus, St. Rudolph of Berne

Blah! Blah! Blah! Day, Ellis Island Family History Day, Ford Mustang Day, Bat Appreciation Day,National Cheeseball Day, Pet Owner’s Independence Day ,Nothing  Like a Dame Day                 

Diet of Worms excommunicated Martin Luther 1521

United Artists launched film company 1919

Rolling Stones released their 1^st LP 1964

Birthdays:

Nikita Krushchev 1894

Thornton Wilder 1897

Harry Reasoner 1923

Day of  Serious Purpose

Meditation:  Laughter is the best medicine.

One word with an undeserved taint
Is surely the infamous “ain’t”.
It’s all we have got
To shorten “am not”
As “amn’t” is awfully quaint.

April 16

April 16

St. Magnus of Orkney ( of fishmongers, Norway) St. Lampert, St. Benedict Labre (of beggars, the homeless, pilgrims), St. Bernadette (of shepherds), St. Drogo (of coffeehouse owners, shepherds; invoked against hernia, gravel in the urine)(maybe that should be St. Dregs)

National Auctioneers Day,  International  Stress Awareness Day, National Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day, National  Eggs Benedict Day, Record Store Day, Teach Your Daughter to Volunteer Day

Slavery abolished in Washington DC  1862

Titanic sank 1912

US pilot, Harriet Quimby 1^st woman to fly across the English Channel  also 1912 (which is probably why she didn’t get much press)

  

Birthdays:

Wilbur Wright 1867

Charlie Chaplin 1889

Henry Mancini 1924

Day of  Classic Comedy

Meditation:  When one door closes, another door opens.

You’re a blockhead, you are, Charlie Brown!
You’re the stupidest kid in our town.
When I’m holding the ball,
You repeatedly fall
For my trick, and you flip upside down. 

April 15

April 15

St. Basilissa, St. Paternus, St Hunna (of laundresses)

Income Tax Pay Day. Titanic Remembrance Day,Rubber Eraser Day,

Global Youth Service Day

Samuel Johnson published HIS dictionary 1755

Insulin discovered by Banting 1922

McDonalds founded in Des Plaines , IL  1955

(I’m sure I’ll hear from all the English majors if I got the wrong James )

Birthdays:

Henry James 1843

Bessie Smith 1898

Emma Thompson 1959

Day of  Human Definition

Meditation:  Getting out of the way and letting things happen is sometimes the very best thing we can do.

When your projects are biogenetic,
The critics become energetic:
“No experiments using
Our genes! You’re abusing
Your role!” (They prefer the synthetic?)

Biogenetics is a technique for producing scarce biological substances (such as human insulin) by introducing plant or animal DNA into bacteria and harvesting the resulting bacterial colony….www.speedysnail.com

April 14

April 14

St. Lydwina (of skaters), St Peter Gonzalez (of sailors)

Ex Spouse Day, International  Moment of Laughter Day, Look  Up At  the Sky Day,  Reach as High as You Can Day, National Pecan Day, Children With Alopecia Day,  Pan American Day, National D.A.R.E. Day

Noah Webster published American Dictionary of English Language 1828

Edison 1^st demonstrated Kinetoscope peepshow machine 1894

Typhus vaccine discovered 1903

 

Birthdays:

Rod Steiger 1925

Loretta Lynn 1935

Steve Martin 1945

Day of  Tradition

Meditation:  A boat floats – until it sinks.

The beetroot’s delicious and red,
Like a burgundy turnip that’s bled
On your fingers and palms.
It delivers its charms
In a chutney, or pickled instead.  ---www.speedysnail.com

April 13

April 13

St. Hermenegild, St. Martius, St Ursus of Acosta (invoked against faintness, kidney disease)

Scrabble Day, Blame Someone Else Day,Thomas Jefferson Day, Cambodian New Year’s Day

Pony Express made 1^st delivery to Sacramento 1860

Handel’s Messiah first performed 1742

Sidney Poitier became 1^st black actor to win Oscar 1964

       

Birthdays:

Thomas Jefferson 1743

F.W. Woolworth 1852

Day of  the Iconoclast

Meditation:  On the verge of life, a change of scene can further the action. (???? Hey folks, I just copy what’s on the calendar)

The Arabic alphabet’s read
Right to left (Roman’s left-right, instead).
The part I forget is
Its actual letters—
Their numerals, I have in my head.

April 12

St. Julius I, St. Damian, St Zeno (of anglers)

Be Kind To Lawyers Day, Big Wind Day, Russian Cosmonaut Day

Union Jack adopted as flag of Great Britain 1606

Yuri Gagarin 1^st man to orbit the Earth 1961

Caren and 7 other Vistas arrive in Chicago and meet their neighbors Jim Deignan and Frank McNutt  1966

  

Birthdays:

Henry Clay 1777

David Letterman 1947

Scott Turow 1949

Day of  Societal Awareness

Meditation:  Denial of what happens slows down the process of self discovery

It’s blowing a blizzard out there;
It’s snowing and freezing the air.
The world’s turning white,
So it’s winter, all right.
Just a shame that I’m no polar bear.

April 11

St. Leo the Great, St. Gemma Galgani ( of hospital pharmacists) St Godberta, (invoked against drought and plague), St. Stanislaus, (of Poland)

Barbershop Quartet Day, Eight Track Tape Day, International  “Louie Louie” Day

Jackie Robinson became 1^st black major league baseball player 1947

Popeye first appeared in Hearst newspaper 1929

Dylan made 1^st appearance at Gerde’s Folk City 1961

Birthdays:

James Parkinson 1755

Joel Grey 1932

Day of  the Policy Makers

Meditation: If there is any hope for the world, it  can only be in small acts of personal kindness.

Them bluegrass performers sure quicken
Their pace with their pluckin’ and pickin’
When folks paddle by...
Ain’t got no idea why
It makes all o’ them city boys chicken.  ___www.speedysnail.com

April 10

St. Bademus, St. Fulbert, St Hedda

Golfers Day, National Siblings Day, Encourage a Young Writer Day

Bananas first appeared in British stores 1633

U.S. Patent system began 1790

Safety pin patented in US  1849

   

Birthdays:

William Booth 1827

Joseph Pulitzer 1847

Paul Theroux 1941

Day of  Daring

Meditation: Simply seeing is an act of creation

His life was cartoonish, replete
With hilarious scenes of defeat.
When he tried to walk tall,
He would meet with a fall
From banana skins left in the street.

April 9

St. Mary of Egypt, St Casilda( invoked against bad luck, sterility)

National Cherish an Antique Day., Winston Churchill Day, Name Yourself Day

Louisiana claimed for France and named by Robert Cavelier Sieur de la Salle 1682

James Cook arrived in Botany Bat 1770

Concorde made 1^st test flight 1969

I dare you to figure out how/why the combs are related to the date....betcha can't

Birthdays:

Efrem Zimbalist 1889

Paul Robeson 1898

Hugh Hefner 1926

Day of  Excess

Meditation: There is always someone “ better”.

Fletcher Christian sent off William Bligh,
Without charts or a means of supply,
In a small open boat.
Forty-six days afloat!
But the blighter neglected to die.

April 8

St. Walter of Pontnoise (of prisoners, vintners) St Dionysius (who ,to MY way of thinking , should be the patron of vintners)

All is Ours Day, Draw a Picture of a Bird Day (http://www.dabday.com/)

Ponce de Leon claimed Florida for Spain 1513

Great Western, 1^st transatlantic steamship set off on maiden voyage 1838

Louisiana became a state 1812

Birthdays:

Mary Pickford 1893

Ian Smith 1919

Julian Lennon 1963

Day of  Conscience

Meditation: I am a human being from the planet Earth

Bibliography: Name-ordered list
Of references; these can consist
Of articles, books,
And the like. (Well, it looks
Like we’re done, so let’s go and play whist.)----www.speedysnail.com

April   7

St. Francis Xavier, St John-Baptist de la Salle (of teachers)

No Housework Day  ,World Health Day,  Caramel Popcorn Day , National Coffee Cake Day      

1^st matches sold by their inventor in Stockton England 1827

Mt Vesuvius erupted 1906

Albert Fell secretly leased Teapot Dome oil reserves 1922

FTC voted to restructure & deregulate the telephone industry 1980

  

  

Birthdays:

Billie Holiday 1915

Ravi Shankar 1920

Francis Ford Coppola 1939

Day of Enthusiastic Belief

Meditation: A carpenter says. “measure twice- cut once”.(so do quilters)

Bhopal is in Madhya Pradesh;
It’s a city where memories are fresh
Of the havoc once wreaked
When some holding tanks leaked
And the culprits all prayed to Ganesh.

April 6

St. Sixtus, St. Celestine, St Notker, St Balbulus (invoked against stammering)

Plan Your Epitaph Day, Sorry Charlie Day, National Deep Dish Pizza Day

Joseph Smith founded the Mormon Church in NY 1830

1^st modern Olympic games in Athens 1896

U.S. raised mandatory retirement age from 65 to70  1978

Birthdays:

Harry Houdini 1874

James Watson 1928

Merle Haggard 1937

Day of  the Experimenter

Meditation: Nothing is insignificant

Those Olympian gods were a bore:
Zeus and Hera, and Artemis—snore!
They were far too abundant,
And now they’re redundant.
(Except Ares, the Greek god of war.)

April 5

St. Vincent Ferrer (of builders) St. Gerard

Go For Broke Day, National Read a Road Map Day, Tomb Sweeping Day, (China),

Oscar Wilde sued the Marquess of Queensberry for libel 1895

Jack Johnson defeated by “the great white hope”, Jess Willard 1915 (didn’t we just have that one?)

Winston Churchill resigned 1955

Birthdays:

Elihu Yale (of college fame)

Spencer Tracey 1900

Gregory Peck 1916

Day of  Consequence

Meditation: If you have two legs-run; if you have one leg-hop; if you have no legs- fly!

Modern Arabic isn’t a tongue
Used by many whom I live among,
But in Middle East lands
And North African sands
It is commonly spoken and sung.  ---

April 4

St. Isidore of Seville,St. Benedict the Black, (of African Americans)

Hug a Newsman Day, Walk Around Things Day, School Librarian Day,

Tell a Lie Day

Ignatius de Loyola became 1^st superior-general of the Jesuits 1541

Francis Drake returned home after sailing around the world 1581

Gold discovered in the Yukon 1896

NATO founded 1949

  

Birthdays:

Linus Yale 1821 (of lock fame)

Muddy Waters 1915

Maya Angelou 1928

Day of  the Initiative

Meditation: To remain still may be humanity’s greatest challenge

Hold a barbie or two on your lawn
And yer wintertime blues’ll be gone.
Chuck a snag on the grill,
Crack a Tooheys, and chill:
Come an’ barbecue up a raw prawn!  ----www.speedysnail.com

April 3

St. Robert Pacratius, St.Irene (of peace) St. Richard ( of coachmen)

Tweed Day, Don’t Go to Work Unless it’s Fun Day.

Pony Express began operating from St Joseph, MO to San Francisco CA  1860

Jim Morrison arrested by the FBI in LA  for lewd and lascivious behavior  1969

Dutchess of Windsor’s Jewels sold for 31 million pounds 1987

(the doors are in Paris for those of you who get the reference)

  

Birthdays:

Washington Irving 1783

Doris Day 1924

Marlon Brando 1924

Day of  the Fulcrum

Meditation: The chicken is the egg’s way of reproducing itself.

That philatelist, what a disgrace—
Penny Blacks stored inside an old case!
That’s what albums are for:
Keeping covers and more
All together in just the right place.   …from www.speedysnail.com