April 13

April 13

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

Scrabble Day – So I guess it’s also Words With Friends 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

April 12

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

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

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, National Submarine 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.

 

April 10

April 10

St. Bademus, St. Fulbert, St Hedda

Golfers Day, National Siblings 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 9th

April 9

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

Dyngus Day (Look it up if you don’t know !)., 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 know you are expecting pictures here but this is orientation week so until I get on some kind of schedule, some of these will just have to be pictureless....  cb

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.

unless otherwise noted the limericks are all from www.speedysnail.com/limerick

 

April 8

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

April   7

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

No Housework Day  ,World Health Day,  Caramel Popcorn 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.  ....www.speedysnail.com/limericks

 

April 6

April 6

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

National Walk to Work Day, Plan Your Epitaph Day, Sorry Charlie 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.) ...speedysnail.com

 

April 5

April 5

St. Vincent Ferrer (of builders) St. Gerard

Go For Broke 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

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.  ---also from speedysnail.com

 

April 4

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

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

 

April 2

April 2

St. Theodosia, St. Francis of Paolo (of naval officers, sailors, seafarers), St Urban of Langres (of barrel makers, drunkards, vintners, invoked against blight, frost)

Children’s Book Day, National Peanutbutter and Jelly Day, Reconciliation Day                  

US mint established in Philadelphia 1792

British trains fitted with toilets – only in sleeping cars 1873

 

Birthdays:

Hans Christian Andersen 1805

Buddy Ebsen 1908

Emmylou Harris 1948

Meditation: By keeping alive to what is happening, we live in the present.

When his jester diminished his bliss
With a watery gag on some miss
(A cornier joke
Than the King liked), he spoke,
“What aqueous humour is this?”