Saturday, April 07, 2007

More than a day late and several dollars short!

My little blogsister, Digital Karen, has tagged me for What happened on your birthday?

And I am tickled pink to comply:

I just happen to know that (in order of how they interest me) and verified on Wikipedia:

1--in 1945 on April 30, Adolph Hitler and his mistress Eva Braun committed suicide in their Berlin bunker. Rumor has always been that their butler doused their bodies with gasoline and burned them to ashes. (Correction thanks to Nick in comments!)

2-in 1975, on April 30, the US lost the Viet Nam war. South Viet Nam surrendered to the North, who then began to call it Liberation Day.

3-in 1803 the US signed the Louisiana Purchase, thus expanding the country's borders almost exponentially.

4-in 1006, Supernova SN 1006, the brightest supernova in recorded history, appeared in the constellation Lupus. Bet it scared the you-know-what out of everybody...

5-in 779 AD, The Saxon Princess Walpurga was declared a saint, her day to be celebrated on May 1, the day she died (and thus became a saint), according to the old calendar. Today, many people recognized Walpurgis Night as the exact opposite of All Saints Day's Eve or Halloween. It was said that all the evil wandering the world was permitted full sway on that night. People stayed home and shuttered their windows. Those who dared ventured forth found huge bonfires, as well as little lights by the roadsides, to ward off the evil.

Of course, way, way back in 1954, my mom gave birth to her first daughter, after three boys. I had some sort of birthmark called a storkbite, or starberry mark, that also later showed up on my firstborn daughter. Who knows what that symbolized, eh?

When I was little, it was the first day of baseball, but as you know, that is no longer the case.

Here in Little Pond, we don't much celebrate it, unless it comes on the weekend. I've even forgot it some years! Better at remembering now, after more than a half century...

pb
Little Pond

4 comments:

Karen of Scottsdale said...

Very interesting events on your day. But what about other birthdays -- any famous people born on the same day as you?

pb said...

Eve Arden
Cloris Leachman
Willie Nelson
King Carl Gustav of Sweden
Jill Clayburgh

To name a few that I, at least, know of.

Anonymous said...

pb, I love ya girl. As an ex-Elmiran, nostalgic for things of 'Home', I have quietly enjoyed your blog & photos for quite some time. Today's, I couldn't let pass (it gives me the opportunity to say hello)... if Hitler and Braun did indeed hide in their bunker for nine years following the war, it would come as very big news.

-Nick-
Another 'April', but somewhat your senior.

pb said...

Yikes! fixed, as you can see.

Thanks!