Monday, May 25, 2020

Always Polite (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and Breathe Them In (Poetry Monday)

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Awww Monday is hosted by Sandee at Comedy Plus.

Join us every Monday for Awww...Mondays.  Post a picture that makes you say Awww... and that's it.

Make sure you get the code from Sandee's site, linked above, and leave a link to your post so we can visit you.  What better way to start the week than with a smile!

Mr. Manners is waiting for his Daddy to give the all clear and let him out in the back yard (the mowing people were there).







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Sparks, the brainchild of Annie of McGuffy's Reader, is on hiatus, so here's an Inspiring Quote of the Week in her honor.

EverydayPower


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Poetry Monday was started by Diane at On The Alberta/Montana Border She and Jenny at Procrastinating Donkey take turns providing a theme each week.   Charlotte/Mother Owl almost always participates, too.  This week the theme is Favorite Smells.         

This poem may read a bit oddly, i tried to start and end each line with the letters from the word SMELLS.  It was not easy including all my favorite scents in one free verse poem, bathed babies, jasmine, gardenia, sweet olive, coffee, baking bread, and bleach!

Snuggling with my freshly bathed babies,
May’s many scents that come from each new bloom,
Every morning having delightful coffee,
Lovely breads baking, and butter on a roll,
Lingering scent of bleach, it’s clean, you can tell,
So many wonderful favorite smells.


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To all of those who know the pain of the empty chair at the table and a folded flag on the mantle, this Memorial Day i want to say i am humbled by the sacrifice made by your loved one, and you.

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Today is:

Africa Day / African Liberation Day  -- African Union; related observance
    Heroes' Day -- Lesotho
    President Yajya Jammeh's Birthday -- Gambia

First Patriotic Government / National Day -- Argentina (Dia de la Revolucion de Mayo)

Flitting Day -- parts of England; Scotland (traditional day on which leases were up for the year and people moved)

Geek Pride Day / Nerd Pride Day -- celebrate the geek / nerd in you!  Geek culture is the obvious choice to laud when it's Glorious 25 May, Star Wars Day, and Towel Day at the same time; began in Spain as "Día del Orgullo Friki"

Glorious 25 May -- in Terry Pratchett's Discworld

Independence Day -- Jordan(1946)

Liberation Day -- Lebanon

Memorial Day -- US and Territories (obs.)
    Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day -- US (on observed Memorial Day, an interfaith encouragement to pray and work for permanent peace in the world)

National Brown-Bag-It Day

National Heroes' Day -- Turks and Caicos Islands (a/k/a James Alexander George Smith "Jags" McCartney Day)

National Missing Children's Day -- US (promoting awareness of the problem of missing children)    

National Tap Dance Day -- US, birth anniversary of Mr. Bojangles

National Wine Day

Offering to Demeter -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate)

Poetry Day -- Florida, US (since 1947, the state legislature declared this for all public schools in the state; if you don't live in Florida, enjoy a poem today, anyway)

Procession of the Statue of Artemis -- Ancient Greek and Roman Calendars, at Ephesus (date approximate, but always near the Thargelia)

Self-Reliance Day -- an internet originated holiday, based on the idea that we should all become more self reliant in this day when it is a dying art.

Sovereign's Day Holiday / Commonwealth Day -- Belize 

Spring Bank Holiday -- UK (traditional fests for this day that may or may not be taking place this year because of you-know-what)
    Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling and Wake -- Cooper’s Hill, England (ancient tradition -- pre-Roman -- of rolling a large wheel of Double Gloucester cheese down the hill; winner of the races to catch it wins the cheese, and the rolling is now always held on the Monday Spring Bank Holiday)
    Tetbury Woolsack Races -- Gumstool Hill, Tetbury, England (this formerly important wool producing town still holds races up and down the hill, from the Royal Oak Pub up to the Crown Pub and back; part of traditional Whitsuntide folklore customs, which is now always held on the Monday Spring Bank Holiday)

Star Wars Day -- Part IV, A New Hope was released this date in 1977

St. Bede the Venerable's Day (Patron of lectors; Father of English History)

St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi's Day (Patron of the ill; against illness and sexual temptation)

Towel Day -- Douglas Adams fans, unite!  Always know where your towel is  

Week of Solidarity with the People Of Non-Self-Governing Territories begins -- United Nations


Anniversary Today:

Lord Guildford Dudley marries Lady Jane Grey, 1553


Birthdays Today:

Brian Urlacher, 1978
Ethan Suplee, 1976
Lauryn Hill, 1975
Justin Henry, 1971
Jamie Kennedy, 1970
Anne Heche, 1969
Stacy London, 1969
Mike Myers, 1963
Connie Sellecca, 1955
Jessi Colter, 1947
Karen Valentine, 1947
Frank Oz, 1944
Leslie Uggams, 1943
Ian McKellen, 1939
Raymond Carver, 1938
Tom T. Hall, 1936
K.C. Jones, 1932
Beverly Sills, 1929
Robert Ludlum, 1927
Miles Davis, 1926
Jeanne Crain, 1925
Claude Akins, 1918
James Joseph "Gene" Tunney, 1898
Igor Sikorsky, 1889
Philip Murray, 1886
Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, 1878
John Alexander Dowie, 1847
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Wonder Woman(Film), 2017
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi(Film), 1983
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope(Film), 1977
"The Subject Was Roses"(Play), 1964
"H.M.S. Pinafore"(Comic Opera), 1878 


Today in History:

First recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet, BC240
Alfonso VI of Castile  takes Toledo, Spain back from the Moors, 1085
Henry the Navigator is appointed governor of the Order of Christ, 1420
The Diet of Worms ends when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, issues the Edict of Worms, declaring Martin Luther an outlaw, 1521
Richard Cromwell resigns as Lord Protector of England following the restoration of the Long Parliament, beginning a second brief period of the republican government called the Commonwealth of England, 1659
Jews are expelled from Warsaw by Marshall Mniszek, 1784
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, delegates convene a Constitutional Convention to write a new Constitution for the United States, 1787
In the May Revolution, citizens of Buenos Aires expel the Viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros during the Semana de Mayo, 1810
The Patriots of Lower Canada (Quebec) rebel against the British for freedom, 1837
The first telegraphed news dispatch is published in Baltimore Patriot, 1844
Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore opens at the Opera Comique in London, 1878
The Republic of Formosa is formed, with Tang Ching-sung as the president, 1895
John T. Scopes is indicted for teaching Charles Darwin's theory of evolution in Tennessee, 1925
Henry Ford stops production of the Model T to begin the Model A, 1927
Jesse Owens of Ohio State University breaks five world records and ties a sixth at the Big Ten Conference Track and Field  Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1935
The first ascent of Kangchenjunga (8,586 m.), the third highest mountain in the world, by a British expedition, 1955
In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Organisation of African Unity is established, 1963
Star Wars (retitled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope in 1981) is released in theaters, inspiring the Jediism religion and Geek Pride Day holiday, 1977
Bangladesh is hit by a tropical cyclone and storm surge, which kills approximately 10,000 people, 1985
Israel withdraws its army from most of the Lebanese territory after 22 years of its first invasion, 2000
32-year-old Erik Weihenmayer, of Boulder, Colorado, becomes the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, 2001
Oprah Winfrey airs her last show, 2011
The first commercial spacecraft, SpaceX Dragon, docks with the International Space Station, completing the maneuver at 12:02pm EDT, 2012
Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg receives an honorary degree from Harvard University, after dropping out in 2004, 2017
Mia Mottley, of the Barbados Labour Party, becomes the first female Prime Minister of Barbados, 2018
China’s Wolong National Nature Reserve releases the first footage of an albino panda ever taken in the wild, 2019

21 comments:

  1. Mr Manners is a cutie.
    I have problems with bleach (it makes my eyes water) but agree with your other favoured smells.
    I would add cinnamon and vanilla too. And the scent of rain washed air.

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  2. I like your favourite smells, except for jasmine which I am highly allergic to. I would add baking chocolate cake to the list, and roasting beef. Food smells, mmmm.

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  3. We are just like the cute Mr. Manners, waiting for the green light to get out of the lockdown. I like your poem about your favourite smells. I too like the smell of babies plus freshly cut grass.

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  4. Oh, I like your poem, all favourites of mine only not bleach. And I like that you began and ended the lines with the letters in SMELL. I could not pull that one off, not for lack of trying, I bow to my better.

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  5. What we see depends on what we look for - so true. That's why some people never believe in God.

    God bless.

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  6. I suppose I have, unknowingly, always celebrated Self Reliance Day. As an only child, self reliance just seemed to come naturally. I still enjoy my "alone time" and often carve out a little notch of "me, myself, and I" time for personal satisfaction. Photography and blogging fall into that time frame. Have a blessed Memorial Day.

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  7. When we see Mr Manners in pristine white furs and hear the words mowing, we envision a green pawed dog coming back after a trip to the yard! Happy Memorial Day!

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  8. I have my towel and I am not panicking. :-)

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  9. Aww! Cute Mr Manners heheh!

    I liked the quote too

    Happy Memorial Day mimi have a safetastic week 😷😷😷

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  10. Mr. Manners is adorable. That was a great poem. Excellent spark too.

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  11. Mr. Manners is a handsome manpup. I love that name.

    Love your Spark. It's spot on.

    The poem is perfect. Well done.

    Well done on the Memorial Day part. A huge thank you.

    Thank you for joining the Awww Mondays Blog Hop.

    Have a fabulous Awww Monday and week. ♥

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  12. Happy Memorial Day Mimi. Enjoy your day as best you can.

    Cruisin Paul

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  13. Love the poem, hope pup gets to go out soon, have a lovely holiday weekend.

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  14. I have never smelled jasmine or gardenia - but I would like to. I think I'd have to move further south for that! Lovely poem with evocative descriptions, Mimi.

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  15. Mimi, this is AWESOME! Absolutely brilliant!
    And yes to all those amazing smells!

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  16. Awww Mr Manners is such a lovely and patient dog! Your Spark is once again so perfect and I might add the smell of fresh laundry dried outside in the sun plus chocolate chips baking! Have a lovely day!

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  17. Thought you are unlikely to check back on my blog comments so am appending my reply to your great comment.-


    I'm glad to know there was at least some initial logic to yhe toilet paper crisis!

    I hadn't thought about the serendipity issue but it's certainly true. If I start to wander around Instagram it takes me to sites about my usual subjects - not to totally random sites. I think that would be a good subject for its own post.

    The virus had also reduced serendipity in my reading matter.

    Since the virus I have been ordering secondhand books from online. That means you need to know the title... Prior to the virus I loved wandering around charity shops and finding new authors purely by serendipity.


    Stay safe! John

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  18. Mr. Manners looks amazing! That's such a true Memorial Day sentiment, we will always remember our heroes each and every day.

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  19. Sweet doggie photo and great quote ~ thanks ^_^

    Be Safe, Be Well,
    A ShutterBug Explores,
    aka (A Creative Harbor)

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  20. Mimi,

    I love various fragrances and how they make me feel, especially the scent of line-dried bedding and although mine aren't I'm always reminded of that smell when I crawl underneath the fresh cleaned sheets. :) Nice poem. Take care and be well, my friend!

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  21. Mr Manners is looking like Mr Perfect to me. I love your poem, and to get first AND last letters to register as SMELLS - well, I'm really impressed.

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