Tuesday

Apr. 30, 1996

TUESDAY 4/30

Today's Reading: "Lilies" by Mary Oliver from NEW AND SELECTED POEMS, published by Beacon Press

Today is Beltane, also called May Eve, one of the "Greater Sabbats" during the Wiccan year.

Today Sweden celebrates the Feast of Valborg, a spring festival that takes its name from St. Walpurgis.

George Washington was inaugurated as the first US president on this day in 1789.

The United States doubled its size in 1803 with the Louisiana Purchase.

It's the birthday of John Crowe Ransom, born in Pulaski, Tennessee in 1888.

Railroad engineer Casey Jones died today in 1900 when his Cannonball Express collided with the back of another freight train.

Orchestra conductor Robert Shaw was born on this day in Red Bluff, California in 1916.

Willie Nelson was born in Abbott, Texas in 1933.

Musician Charlie "Bird" Parker cut his first record at Decca Records in 1941.

Author Annie Dillard, who wrote PILGRIM AT TINKER CREEK, was born in Pittsburgh in 1945.

It was in 1975 that Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese, ending the 15 year war.

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.®

 

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