Bah Humbug! Friday the 13th

 When I woke up this morning and realized it was Friday the 13th, I very carefully removed all of the covers from around my feet before climbing out of bed. I made sure no cat was underfoot, no books or magazines or herbal teas cups littering the floor or nightstand... where I could trip over them, or knock them over.

And no, I don't suffer from friggatriskaidekaphobia, rhe fear of Friday the 13th. I've just learned to be extra careful when I get out of the bed in the morning, walk and talk at the same time, or have hungry cats underfoot.

But for many, friggatriskaidekaphobiais is a genuine phobic fear and there are those who will literally stay home from work to avoid extra anxiety, the three Fridays a year that the 13th is likely to land on.

Frigga was the name of the Norse goddess for whom "Friday" is named and triskaidekaphobia meaning fear of the number thirteen), or paraskevidekatriaphobia a concatenation (I just love that word!) of the Greek words Paraskeví, meaning Friday and dekatreís meaning thirteen.

A theory by author Charles Panati, one of the leading authorities on the subject of "Origins" maintains that the superstition can be traced back to ancient myth:

When Norse and Germanic tribes converted to Christianity, Frigga was banished in shame to a mountaintop and labeled a witch. It was believed that every Friday, the spiteful goddess convened a meeting with eleven other witches, plus the devil — a gathering of thirteen — and plotted ill turns of fate for the coming week. For many centuries in Scandinavia, Friday was known as "Witches' Sabbath."

I mean all I wanted to do was get out of bed safely and not break my foot as my friend June did when she climbed out of bed and got tangled in the bedsheets, or not end up needing knee surgery as my friend, Tonya Riccuci did right before she started the Bah Humbug! challenge. Or break a leg as my nephew did when he played ice hockey and got tackled by one of his own team members, or get his brand new hip joint popped out of its socket, as my brother did on 4 separate occasions. Or have to be life flighted off a cruise ship as my SIL did, or a kazillion other terrible accidents in the past year and a half. (note and insert...add Mrs. Goodneedle and Clare Worthy to the list of those attacked by accidentalitis this week..one in a ace bandage wrap and one in a lovely blue cast)

Well, let's face it, I went out to get my dad his morning newspaper last January and slipped on the worst black ice in Juneau's history and broke and dislocated my wrist so badly even the doctor said "this is bad, Michele...really bad." Boy, did that make me feel a lot better!

Uh, ok. So, we all need to be more careful even if it's not Friday the 13th, don't own black cats (as I always have) don't have ladders propped up all around your house (my husband is a home builder).

So, I come online to post about today...and of course...Blogger is out of commission and I can't post for hours and hours. So, I have to go out anyway, almost under a ladder, past several black cats, on Friday the 13th, and I survived....well for a couple of hours, anyway!

Phew! Maybe I can stop setting the timer on 11:11 and blowing on dandelion seeds and wishing on falling stars and saying Bless You! to myself every time I sneeze....well, no I still like that one.

So, for today...

An AAQI quilt..."Bah Humbug!" just registered for my May Quilt of the Month contribution and a potholder mailed before I went to Alaska for Tonya Riccuci...both for"getting well soon" after her surgery and saying Bah Humbug! to all of life's unruly challenges and all of our own fears.

Bah Humbug, Friday the 13th, knock on wood, cancel cancel, blow on the dandelion, 11:11 and of course....bless me and you!



Tonya Ricucci's Bah Humbug! Challenge

Michele Bilyeu quilts for AAQI..the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative. Won't you please join us? :)