What are you today?

"I'm going to the haunted house as a cute little bunny!" Red-headed Alec said, as he walked into the kitchen with bunny ears and a poofy tail.  "Could you paint some whiskers on me?"

There's a big, scary haunted house downtown each year, every weekend in October, and the young people flock to it as it's never the same two years in a row, but it's always guaranteed to frighten.

"Sure," Bigger Girl answered.  "I'll go get my paints."

What made you decide on a bunny for that haunted house? i asked.

"Oh, I just thought it would be fun," he said.  "They go all out to be terrifying, so now they can have the fun of scaring a bunny!"

"It's a good costume," Bigger Girl said.  "I remember when I used to love dressing up."

And you always wanted to be something unique, i noted.

"What were your favorites?" Red-headed Alec asked.

"Well, one year, I asked mom to wrap me in tin foil and glue the plastic food from the toy kitchen to me and call me 'leftovers,'" she said, laughing.

Then there was the time i cut a hole in the bottom of a laundry basket, used your dad's old ties to hold it on your shoulders like suspenders, and we had clothes draped over it and you called yourself 'dirty laundry'! i smiled.  Then i said, i'm heading out to clean the shelter.

"Have fun!" Bigger Girl called.

Are you going to the haunted house, too, or to work? i asked her.

"To work," she answered.

Have fun, too! i said.

"Mom, you just told me to have fun working at a pizza place!"

Well, you told me to have fun cleaning cat mess!

"Touché!" 

Today is:

Alex Kivi Day a/k/a Kivi Day -- Finland (The Day of Finnish Literature)

Apple Butter Festival -- Berkeley Springs, WV, US (simmering spicy apple butter in copper kettles in the town square, plus lots more; through tomorrow)

Arbor Day -- Poland

Blessing of the Fishing Fleet -- North Wharf, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town, South Africa (a festival, and Portuguese food, and a blessing tomorrow from the local Catholic Archbishop)

Bonza Bottler Day

Catoctin Colorfest -- Thurmont, MD, US (juried art festival, live music, food, and more; through tomorrow)

Cephalopod Awareness Days:  Squid Day/Cuttlefish Day -- celebrating the most intelligent invertebrates in the world; today, celebrate the tentacular species

Chowder Days/Chowderfest -- Mystic Seaport, Mystic, CT, US (a beautiful, and delicious, riverfront festival featuring seven kinds of New England Chowders; through Monday)

Curacao Day -- Curacao

Double Tenth Day/National Day -- China; Taiwan (In remembrance of the revolution against the Imperial Manchu Dynasty.)

Festival for Juno Moneta -- Ancient Roman Calendar (Juno as goddess of money)

Harvest Celebration -- Billings Farm, Woodstock, VT, US ('tis the season, especially for apple cider and lots of pumpkins; through tomorrow)

Independence Day / Deed of Cession Day -- Fiji(1970)

Jack-O-Launch/Punkin Chunkin Colorado -- DeLaney Farm, Aurora, CO, US (with the official Punkin Chunkin Contest, divisions include trebuchet, compressed air cannon, catapult, human power, and youth; a free festival for the whole family)

Journee Nationale de la Femme Marocaine -- Morocco (National Women's Day)

Kruger Day -- South Africa

KWP Foundation Day -- North Korea (1945)

Louisiana Art & Folk Festival -- Columbia, LA, US (celebrating the rich folklore and music arts of Louisiana)

Maroons Day -- Suriname (celebration of indigenous peoples)

Moi Day -- Kenya

Monster Myths by Moonlight -- Milford, KS, US (wear your costume and take a nature walk to learn the truth about such Halloween "monsters" as bats, snakes, spiders, vultures, etc.)

Mountain Glory Festival -- Marion, NC, US (celebrating the mountain heritage)

National Angel Food Cake Day

National Cake Decorating Day -- some websites say today, some say the 17th

National Handbag Day -- started by www.PurseBlog.com

Naval Academy Day -- US

Oyster Festival -- Chincoteague Island, VA, US (oysters served almost every way imaginable, all you can eat!)

Pine Barrens Jamboree -- Waretown, NJ, US (celebration of New Jersey Pinelands, with canoeing, nature walks, music, kids' activities, and more; free!)

Prater's Mill Country Fair -- Dalton, GA, US (a Southern festival of quality artists, craftsmen, music, and food; through tomorrow)

Scenic Drive Festival -- Van Buren County, IA, US (includes flea markets, an arts festival, and historic architecture; through tomorrow)

Sedona Arts Festival -- Sedona, AZ, US (celebration of visual, performing, and culinary arts, with proceeds going to student art programs and scholarships; through tomorrow)

Shaker Village Harvest Festival -- Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village, New Gloucester, ME, US (with free demonstrations and paid workshops and events)

St. Francis Borgia's Day (Patron of Portugal; Rota, Marianas; against earthquakes)

St. Paulinus of York's Day (Patron of Rochester, England)

Tag der Volksabstimmung -- Austria (Referendum Day)

The NILE (Northern International Livestock Exposition) -- MetraPark, Billings, MT, US (rodeo, trade show, horse clinics, and livestock sales; through Saturday)

Vermont Apple Festival -- Springfield, VT, US (family fun, farm animals, food, farmer's market, crafts, and apples; a true family oriented event held at Riverside Middle School)

War of Independence Anniversary -- Cuba

World Day Against the Death Penalty -- International

World Homeless Day -- no one should be homeless 

World Mental Health Day -- International

World Porridge Day -- celebrating Scotland's traditional national dish 


Anniversaries Today:

Edward M. Kennedy, Jr., marries Katherine Anne "Kiki" Gershman, 1993
Richard Burton marries Elizabeth Taylor, 1975 (second time)
The United States Naval Academy opened with 50 midshipmen and 7 professors, 1845


Birthdays Today:

Adrian Grenier, 1976
Bob Burnquist, 1976
Dale Earnhardt, Jr., 1974
Mario Lopez, 1973
Brett Favre, 1969
Daniel Pearl, 1963
Tanya Tucker, 1958
David Lee Roth, 1955
Nora Roberts, 1950
Jessica Harper, 1949
Charles Dance, 1946
Ben Vereen, 1946
Harold Pinter, 1930
Richard Jaeckel, 1926
Thelonious Monk, 1917
Edward D. Wood, Jr., 1924
Helen Hayes, 1900
Giuseppe Verdi, 1813
Henry Cavendish, 1731 (discovered hydrogen)


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Upstairs, Downstairs"(TV), 1971
"The Bob Newhart Show"(TV), 1962
"Milk and Honey"(Musical), 1961
"Porgy and Bess"(Folk opera), 1935
"Die Chinesische Mauer/The Great Wall of China"(Play), 1946
The Tuxedo, 1886 (introduced at The Tuxedo Club in New York)


Today in History:

The Great Hurricane of 1780 kills 20,000 to 30,000 in the Carribean, 1780
The first non-Native American settlement is founded in Oklahoma, 1802
William Lassell discovers Neptune's moon Triton, 1846
The first "Dinner Jacket" is worn to the Autumn Ball at Tuxedo Park, NY, 1886
President Woodrow Wilson triggers the explosion of the Gamboa Dike thus ending construction on the Panama Canal, 1913
Ho Chi Minh enters Hanoi after the French pull out of the city, 1954
U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologizes to the finance minister of Ghana, Komla Agbeli Gbdemah, after he is refused service in a Dover, Delaware restaurant, 1957
The Windscale fire in Cumbria, U.K. is the world's first major nuclear accident, 1957
The opening ceremony at The 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, is broadcast live in the first Olympic telecast relayed by geostationary communication satellite, 1964
The Outer Space Treaty, signed on January 27 by more than sixty nations, comes into force, 1967
In Montreal, Quebec, a national crisis hits Canada when Quebec Vice-Premier and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte becomes the second statesman kidnapped by members of the FLQ terrorist group, 1970
Sold, dismantled and moved to the United States, London Bridge reopens in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, 1971
After having closed borders for about two hundred years, Armenia and Turkey sign protocols in Zurich, Switzerland to open their borders, 2009
Pope Benedict XVI adds Arabic to the languages in which the weekly Vatican address is broadcast, 2012