July 19th, 2023 has arrived. It’s only taken 4.5 billion years to get here. I’m grateful to be alive to enjoy it. I’ve got nothing special planned, so I’ll try to focus on and enjoy the small stuff. That means really looking at things you normally take for granted. Today is National Hot Dog Day which could be the menu for dinner. It’s also International Retainer Day, Islamic New Year, National Daiquiri Day, National Raspberry Cake Day, National Words with Friends Day, New Friends Day, Stick Out Your Tongue Day, and Take Your Poet to Work Day.   Now some history: On this day in the year 64 Circus Maximus in Rome catches fire. On this day in 1324 Mansa Musa, ruler of the Mali Empire, arrived Cairo on this way to Mecca with a procession of 600,000 men, 12,000 slaves and 80 camels each carrying 300 pounds of gold. Wow. On this day in 1553 the 15-year-old Lady Jane Grey was deposed as England’s Queen after 9 days. This was an attempt to maintain Protestant rule. I didn’t work. She would be beheaded in a few months. On this day in 1692 five more people were hanged for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts. On this day in 1860 the first railroad reached Kansas. On this day in 1880 the San Francisco public Library started lending books. On this day in 1940 Hitler ordered Great Britain to surrender. They said no. On this day in 1941 the US Army flying school for black cadets was dedicated in Tuskegee, AL. On this day in 1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed the Fair Employment Practice Committee created to stop discrimination against black workers in government jobs and in the defense industry.   Today we get to hear from Frank McCourt who was a writer who won a Pulitzer Prize. Frank said, “Sing your song. Dance your dance. Tell your tale.” “Your mind is a treasure house that you should stock well and it’s the one part of you the world can’t interfere with.” “Love her as in childhood though feeble, old and grey. For you’ll never miss a mother’s love till she’s buried beneath the clay” I’ll end with “You feel a sense of urgency, especially at my advanced age, when you’re starting into the grave.” True enough. Abide.