Happy Sunday to all—if you’re in that part of the world. Today, May 22, is the day on which the H.M.S. Beagle departed on its first voyage (1826). That wasn’t Darwin’s voyage, of course, but you should know when that one started, and how long it lasted. On this day in 1987, the first Rugby World Cup took place, with New Zealand playing Italy in Auckland. I didn’t look up the winner, but Heather Hastie will tell us if her beloved All Blacks won. And, just last year on this day, Ireland legalized gay marriage—the first country to do so in a referendum.
Notables born on this day include Richard Wagner (1813), Arthur Conan Doyle (1859), Hergé (1907), Peter Matthiessen (1927), and George Best (1946). Those who died on this day include Victor Hugo (1885), Langston Hughes (1967), and Alfred Hershey (1997, great genetics hero). Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is issuing Instructions for All Beasts:
Cyrus: Today’s Sunday – do we have any plans?Hili: Yes. We are not going to go to the church and we are not going to talk about politics.
Cyrus: Czy mamy jakieś plany na dzisiejszą niedzielę?
Hili: Tak. Nie pójdziemy do kościoła i nie będziemy rozmawiać o polityce.
Lagniappe: a note and photo from reader Barry:
I’m cat-stting again! The cat’s name is Eh-Gee (a Korean name). He’s a cutie. Look at that face!
Indeed!
And, Gus’s staff, Taskin, sent a picture and a quiz:
See if you can figure this picture out!
From a branch to the gutter, then something interesting was spotted?
I was sitting on a bench taking the photo straight up, he was looking at me and probably a bit annoyed. He went up the tree and was hoping to make it on to the fence but I grabbed his leash from below and was holding it so he could not go any farther. He was stuck.
Just looking at that brilliant halo, you wouldn’t think he’d ever get up to any mischief.
Could be a tree house or platform in a tree that Gus is climbing on.
That’s what I thought too.
Gus: “You are not fooling me, you know. I’m not going there. This tree house has shaky foundations and too few birds!”
Jesus loves Gus?
Of course the All Blacks won! In fact they won the whole tournament to become the first World Champions!
And they won the last world cup too, so they’re the current world champions also. 🙂
Barry – that really is a cutie you’re babysitting. I had one with a very similar face once, but she was ginger.
HMS Beagle was under the command of Capt Pringle Stokes. It was his suicide on that first voyage that lead to the appointment of a ‘gentleman companion’ (Charles Darwin) to his successor, Capt Robert Fitzroy, on the Beagle’s second voyage.
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