Monday, July 13, 2026

Appropriate Garb (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and Poetry Monday, Dandelion Seeds

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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!


Dada has been buying Annie's clothes lately with an eye toward hand-me-downs to baby brother.  Mama has said she's going to step in and get her some girlie stuff soon, too, just to keep her hand in!


Here she is in camo pants and a tank top, picked out by Dada and running at Ms. D's house, perfect garb for the girl he expects to be helping him fix cars and build things soon.










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Sparks is the brainchild of Annie of McGuffy's Reader, who wanted us to post something positive and uplifting at the start of the week.  While she no longer blogs, i like to post an Inspiring Quote of the Week in her honor.     







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Our dear friend Diane is taking a break

accommodations we must make

we miss her poetry and wit

so carry on as Poetry Monday's a hit!


Poetry Monday was started by Diane at On The Alberta/Montana Border.  Charlotte/Mother Owl and i are keeping it going while she takes a blog break, we hope temporarily.  Anyone else is welcome to join in the fun, just let us know!


This week the theme is Dandelion Seeds.



do I dare say it

da cheetah be very much

faster dandelion


*******


dandelion

does not

care 

if you

want it over 

there


her seeds

will chose to

blow

where're

they want to

go


bloom

right where they 

are

no matter

near or

far


in a 

sidewalk

crack

or in

the garden out

back


just take

a hint from

this

bloom where

you are, 'tis

bliss



******* 



Future themes are:


July 13 Dandelion seeds (Today!)

July 20 Beef

July 27 Relief

Aug. 3 Tractors


(All themes are from the 365 Days of Drawing Prompts and Other Arts Facebook group.)


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Today is:


Barbershop Music Appreciation Day -- anniversary of the founding of Sweet Adelines International


Beans and Franks Day


Embrace Your Geekness Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays, celebrate your love of online dungeon games, comic books, or dressing up like a vampire


Feast of Kalimat (Words) -- Baha'i Faith


Fool's Paradise Day -- a day to figure out how a fool can achieve paradise?  or how it can be paradise if it is full of fools?


Go West Day -- commemorates Horace Greeley's "Go West, young man, and grow up with the country."


Gruntled Workers Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays; those of us who are gruntled, as opposed to the disgruntled, should unite and pass along some "great work" compliments to those doing a good job


International Puzzle Day -- some sites say Jan. 29, but today is Erno Rubik's birthday


International Town Criers Day


La Retraite Aux Flambeaux -- France (night watch, before Bastille Day)


National French Fries Day


Obon (Ulambana) -- Buddhist; Shinto (Festival of the Lanterns, a time of honoring the ancestors, a reunion of them with the living; through the 15th, although Obon festivals are held on various dates in July at temples throughout the world)


Statehood Day -- Montenegro


St. Henry the Emperor's Day (Patron of childless people, disabled people, dukes, handicapped people, kings, people rejected by religious orders, physically challenged people; Bamberg, Germany; Basel, Switzerland; Benedictine Oblates; against sterility)


St. Joel the Prophet's Day (Old Testament prophet of the Book of Joel)



Birthdays Today


Anthony Jerome “Spud” Webb, 1963

Cameron Crowe, 1957

Jane Hamilton, 1957

Michael Spinks, 1956

Louise Mandrell, 1954

Cheech Marin, 1946

Erno Rubik, 1944

Harrison Ford, 1942

Roger McGuinn, 1942

Robert Forster, 1941

Patrick Stewart, 1940

Jack Kemp, 1935

Wole Soyinka, 1934

David Storey, 1933

Bob Crane, 1928

Dave Garroway, 1913

Nathan Bedford Forrest, 1821

Julius Caesar, BC100



Today in History


Capt James Cook begins 2nd trip (Resolution) to South Seas, 1772

William Wordsworth, on a walking tour through the Wye Valley, visited the ruins of Tintern Abbey and a few miles further on composed a poem about them, 1798

Greek War of Independence: Greeks defeated Ottoman forces at Thermopylae, 1822

Henry R Schoolcraft discovers the source of the Mississippi River, 1832

After 9,957 unnumbered patents, the U.S. Patent Office issues Patent No. 1, for locomotive wheels, 1836

Queen Victoria becomes the first British monarch to live at Buckingham Palace in London, 1837

First day of the New York Draft Riots in response to President Abraham Lincoln's Enrolment Act of Conscription, 1863

Horace Greeley publishes his editorial advising young men to "Go West, young man, go west and grow up with the country," 1865

PT Barnum's American Museum was destroyed in one of the most spectacular fires in New York City's history, 1865

Gold was discovered near Cochrane, Ontario, Canada, 1909

The British airship R34 lands in Norfolk, England, completing the first airship return journey across the Atlantic in 182 hours of flight, 1919

Alexander Butterfield reveals the existence of the Nixon tapes to the special Senate committee investigating the Watergate break in, 1973

The Live Aid benefit concert, a telecast fundraising concert for famine relief in Ethiopia, was held in London and Philadelphia, as well as other venues such as Sydney and Moscow, 1985

American Thoroughbred racehorse Cigar wins his 16th consecutive top-class race, the first horse to do so since Triple Crown winner Citation, 1996

Researchers reveal two studies showing the antiretroviral drugs prescribed to treat AIDS can also prevent HIV infections, 2011

The Eurozone countries agree to a conditional deal to lend €86bn over 3 years if Greece passes reforms, 2015

Drought helps to reveal the outline of a previously unknown 5,000-year-old henge at New Grange, Ireland, 2018

According to the Interagency Fire Center, the fire season in the western US has started unprecedentedly early, with 67 large fires and nearly 918,000 acres reported burnt already, 2021

Matthew Flinders, the 19th-century explorer who first circumnavigated Australia and named it, is reburied in Donington, Lincolnshire, the village of his birth, 2024

Sunday, July 12, 2026

Hitting Doubles (Cajun Joke), Sunday Selections, and Sunday Selfie from Mr. Turtle

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Just because Sandee of Comedy Plus is no longer hosting a Silly Sunday blog hop, do not expect me to quit telling Cajun jokes, especially as it has now become a habit.



Everyone once in so often, Grandma still talks about sending Grandpa to buy lottery tickets.  She knows he would go if she insisted, but she never really does it.  



One day Clothile done ax Boudreaux, "What if'n you buy you a lott'ry ticket an' de same day you win de million dollar jackpot, I gets kidnapped an' de random goin' be a million dollar.  What you goin' do?"


An' Boudreaux say, "Mais, I don' t'ink I kin hit de jackpot twice in one day!"



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Sunday Selections was started as a way for bloggers to use photos that might otherwise just languish in their files.  The rules have been relaxed, and it is now simply a showcase for your photos, new or old, good or bad, although nothing rude, please.  Our friend River is hosting, and other participants often include Charlotte/Mother OwlAndrew, and WiseWebWoman.  


More bits and bobs and a few sunsets.  Each week i start with good intentions to take more photos, each week, i run through the week and wonder how i could squeeze more in. 

I like this mound of pots with plants.  




These were taken for perspective.  






These were also for perspective, the tree behind Annie is big enough around to be an oak but is actually a magnolia grandiflora.  






Sunsets.











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This week, Mr. Turtle wants to join the Kitties Blue at The Cat On My Head for their Sunday Selfies Blog Hop.  


In fact, i asked him:


Hey, Mr. Turtle!

Yes?
Would you like to pose for a Sunday Selfie?

Of course!





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I link to this every year.  It's been 32 years since these events, sixteen since i wrote this piece.  Warning, sensitive content.     


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Today is:


Different Colored Eyes Day -- people with heterochromia, celebrate!


Disability Awareness Day -- Walton Hall Gardens, Warrington, UK (the world's largest "not for profit" volunteer-led disability exhibition) 


Etch-a-Sketch Day -- the toy was first manufactured on this day in 1960, timed to hit toy shelves for Christmas that year


Independence Day -- Kiribati(1979; a/k/a National Day); Sao Tome & Principe(1975)


Kronia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate, a festival for Kronos, part of which included masters and slaves switching places for a meal)


Lá Cuimhneacháin Náisiúnta -- Republic of Ireland (National Day of Commemoration, honoring all Irish people who have died in war or as part of a UN peacekeeping mission)


National Paper Bag Day


National Pecan Pie Day


Orangemen's Day (a/k/a Twelfth Day) -- Northern Ireland (Battle of the Boyne commemoration)


Rainmaker Day -- Salem, Oregon (while it is understood that in Salem, you are more likely to rust than sunburn, from 1892 until 2006, no measurable rain fell on this date in this normally wet city)


Simplicity Day -- sponsored by www.doonething.org on Thoreau's birthday, highlighting the concepts in the book Voluntary Simplicity by Duane Elgin, and advocating finding sustainable ways to live


St. John Gualbert's Day (Patron of foresters and forest workers, park services and parks)


St. Veronica's Day (Patron of laundry workers and photographers)


Vardavar -- Armenia (continuation of an ancient pagan festival that encourages people to pull pranks, especially dousing everyone, friend and stranger, with water)



Anniversaries Today


Henry VIII marries Catherine Parr, 1543 (the lucky wife who outlived him)



Birthdays Today


Erik Per Sullivan, 1991

Michelle Rodriguez, 1978

Brock Lesnar, 1977

Anna Friel, 1976

Kristi Yamaguchi, 1971

Lisa Nicole Carson, 1969

Rolonda Watts, 1959

Mel Harris, 1957

Paul Guilfoyle, 1955

Cheryl Ladd, 1951

Jamey Sheridan, 1951

Richard Simmons, 1948

Denise Nicholas, 1945

Christine McVie, 1943

Bill Cosby, 1937

Van Cliburn, 1934

Andrew Wyeth, 1917

Curly Joe DeRita, 1909

Milton Berle, 1908

Pablo Neruda, 1904

R. Buckminster Fuller, 1895

Oscar Hammerstein II, 1895

George Washington Carver, 1861

George Ohr, 1857

George Eastman, 1854

Henry David Thoreau, 1817

Josiah Wedgwood, 1730



Debuting/Premiering Today:


"Northern Exposure"(TV), 1990

"Family Feud"(TV), 1976

"Evening At Pops"(TV), 1970

"The Adventures of Sam Spade"(Radio), 1946

"Baseball's Sad Lexicon (Tinker to Evers to Chance)"(Publication date), 1910



Today in History


England is unified by Athelstan of England, 927

Saladin's garrison surrenders to Conrad of Montferrat, ending the two-year siege of Acre, 1191

Fray Diego de Landa, acting Bishop of Yucatan, burns the sacred books of the Maya, 1562

Ostrog Bible, the first printed Bible in a Slavic language, is published, 1580

The United States invades Canada at Windsor, Ontario, 1812

The Commonwealth Franchise Act, granting women's suffrage in Australia, is given royal assent and takes effect, 1902

Pune, India floods due to failure of Khadakvasala and Panshet dams; half of the city is submerged and the death toll exceeded 2000, 1961

A fire destroys the entire 6th floor of the National Personnel Records Center of the United States, 1973

Boris Yeltsin quits the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 1990

Israel invades Lebanon in response to Hezbollah's kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, 2006

A ticket holder in Britain wins the largest EuroMillions jackpot in history, 161,653,000GBP, 2011

The Rolling Stones, English rock band, celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of its first performance at the Marquee Club in Oxford Street, London, 2012

Malala Yousafzai addresses the United Nations, calling for worldwide access to education, 2013

A giant iceberg, about 6,000 sq km in length, breaks away from Larsen C Ice Shelf in Antarctica, 2017

Shrinkhar Chillal, holder of the world's record for growing the longest fingernails (909.6cm/29.84ft), has the nails cut off after growing them for 66 years, 2018

Netflix's drama "Squid Game," a South Korean series, becomes the first non-English series to be nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Drama, 2022

The NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, ends with Turkey agreeing to membership for Sweden and Ukraine when certain conditions are met, 2023

New Caledonia is declared a state by France in a historic autonomy deal but remains within the Republic, 2025