Monday, May 25, 2026

Every Last Pea (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and Poetry Monday, Scooter

***********************************





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!


Someone loves peas and works hard to get every last one out of the bowl.  Usually, she lets me get the last few for her.












***********************************



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.     







***********************************


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 Scooter.               


His scooter broke down

away out of town,

he thought he was out of luck


A car happened by,

he flagged down the guy,

wishing it had been a truck


But the driver was game,

tied scooter to car frame,

to give the poor guy a tow


"If I'm going to fast,

beep your horn a good blast,

and I'll know I need to slow."


The rope held taut,

the contraption had got

about a mile up the road


Another car turned upon

the road they were on,

and the first guy forgot his load


The two started gunning

their engines and running

along in a perilous race


When a cop at a light

saw this odd sight

his eyes bugged out of his face


He took off with a spin

and then radioed in,

"I've seen street racers with brass,


But I never have seen

two guys driving mean

and a scooter honking to pass!"




Future themes are:


May 25 Scooter (Today!)

June 1 Blue

June 8 Two Minute Sketch


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


***********************************






Today is Memorial Day in the US and US Territories.  It's a day to remember and honor those whose military service to preserve our freedom cost them their lives.


It is also Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day, an interfaith encouragement to pray and work for permanent peace in the world.



Thanks to Barb Kowalik and The Cat Blogosphere for the event badge.


***********************************



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


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.


Spring Bank Holiday -- UK

     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


Whit Monday/Pentecost Monday

     Dicing for Bibles -- All Saints Church, St. Ives, Huntingdonshire, England (a ceremony dating back to a bequest in 1675 that provides Bibles for poor children of the parish; they play a dice game, in which they try to win one of the 6 Bibles provided)



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

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is re-elected Director-General of the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, 2022

According to the US Census Bureau, between 2010 and 2020 the population of the USA aged at its fasted rate in 130 years, with median age jumping from 37.2 to 38.8, 2024

Sunday, May 24, 2026

Keep In Touch (Cajun Joke), Sunday Selections, and Sunday Selfie

 ***********************************



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



Grandma can no longer get out of the house to get to church, so she watches on the TV.  It's probably what she misses most now.


Clothile done be fussin' at Boudreaux 'cause sometime he don' wan' a get hisse'f up fo' church.


"You need keep youse'f in touch wit' de spirit world!" she done tell him.


"Mais, I do be in touch wit' de spirit world, ever' time I goes me to de HubbaHubba Lounge!"



***********************************



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.  


Door wreaths.  It seems about all I have time to photograph sometimes, if i happen to be in the place where people hang them.















***********************************




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


He said he'd pose if he didn't have to get up or even really wake up!








***********************************



Today is:


Aldersgate Day -- Methodism


Battle of Pichincha Day -- Ecuador


Bermuda Day -- Bermuda


Brooklyn Bridge Day -- the most often sold bridge in the US (or so i've been told) opened on this day in 1883


Brother's Day -- celebrate all forms of brotherhood, biological, adopted, fraternity brothers, or members of your labor union


Buddha Day/Buddha's Birthday -- dates vary by country 


European Day of Parks -- Europe


Feast of Hermes Trismegistus -- Hellenistic Egyptian Calendar (thrice-blessed Hermes, patron of alchemy, date approximate)


Independence Day -- Eritrea(1993)


International Tiara Day -- ladies, celebrate your powers of leadership in your life; tiara wearing is optional, it's the fact that you rule that matters


La Fete des Saintes Maries -- Les-Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, France (Roma [gypsy] festival, to honor St. Sara, St. Marie Jacobe, and St. Marie Salome, their patrons; through the 25th)


Little Lamb Day -- publication anniversary, in 1830, of the original poem "Mary Had a Little Lamb"


Lubiri Memorial Day -- Buganda Region, Uganda


Morse Code Day -- anniversary of Morse's first message in 1844 (Morse Code Day is also celebrated on his birth anniversary, April 27)


National Escargot Day


Sara-la-Kali -- St. Sara, or St. Sara the Black's Day -- patron of the Roma (Gypsy) Peoples (pilgrimage)


Sts. Cyril and Methodius's Day (Orthodox Church celebration; Patrons of Macedonia) related observances

     Bulgarian Education and Culture and Slavonic Literature Day -- Bulgaria

     Slavonic Enlighteners' Day -- Republic of Macedonia


St. Susanna's Day (Patron of martyrs)


Whit Sunday / Pentecost -- Christian

     Hvitasunnudagur -- Iceland (sleeping in on Whitsunday is detrimental to your health, but monsters are asleep through the day and can be taken by surprise)

     Romeria del Rocia -- Huelva, Spain (pilgrims transport an image of the Virgen del Rocio [Our Lady of the Dew] through Andalucia, with no motorized transport allowed, accompanied by Gypsy Caravans; when the image gets to the shrine, there is mass and a few days of fireworks and celebrating)



Birthdays Today:


Billy Gilman, 1988

Alyson Hannigan, 1974

Joe Dumars, 1963

Kristin Scott Thomas, 1960

Rosanne Cash, 1955

Alfred Molina, 1953

Jim Broadbent, 1949

Priscilla Beaulieu Presley, 1945

Patti LaBelle, 1944

Gary Burghoff, 1943

Bob Dylan, 1941

Tommy Chong, 1938

Lilli Palmer, 1914

"Engineer Bill" Stulla, 1911

Samuel I. Newhouse, 1895

Lillian Moller Gilbreth, 1878

Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, 1819

Emanuel Leutze, 1816

Abraham Geiger, 1810

Gabriel Fahrenheit, 1686



Debuting/Premiering Today:


Spy Hard(Film), 1996

Indiana Jones and Last Crusade(Film), 1989

View to a Kill(film), 1985

"Jumpin' Jack Flash"(Single release), 1968

"Mame"(Musical), 1966

"Le roi l'a Dit / The King Has Spoken"(Opera), 1873



Today in History:


The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt, 1218

Peter Minuit buys Manhattan, 1626

The English Parliamen passes the Act of Toleration protecting Protestants; Roman Catholics are intentionally excluded, 1689

John Wesley is converted, essentially launching the Methodist movement; the day is celebrated annually by Methodists as Aldersgate Day, 1738

Antonio José de Sucre secures the independence of the Presidency of Quito, 1822

"Mary Had a Little Lamb" by Sarah Josepha Hale is published, 1830

The first passenger rail service in US, from Baltimore to Elliots Mill, Maryland, begins, 1830

Samuel FB Morse taps out the first telegraph message, "What hath God wrought", 1844

The Brooklyn Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic after 14 years of construction, 1883

The United Kingdom annexes the Orange Free State, 1900

Amy Johnson lands in Darwin, Northern Territory, becoming the first woman to fly from England to Australia (she left on May 5 for the 11,000 mile flight), 1930

Igor Sikorsky performs the first successful single-rotor helicopter flight, 1940

Conclusion of the Sixth Buddhist Council on Vesak Day, marking the 2,500 year anniversary after the Lord Buddha's Parinibbana, 1956

Cyprus enters the Council of Europe, 1961

FLQ separatists bomb the U.S. consulate in Quebec City, 1968

The drilling of the Kola Superdeep Borehole begins in the Soviet Union, 1970

The International Court of Justice calls for the release of United States embassy hostages in Tehran, Iran, 1980

Eritrea  gains its independence from Ethiopia, 1991

Israel conducts Operation Solomon, evacuating Ethiopian Jews to Israel, 1991

15-year-old Sherpa  Temba Tsheri becomes the youngest person to climb to the top of Mount Everest, 2001

North Korea bans mobile phones, 2004

London's Metropolitan police remove belongings and sleeping bags of homeless people as part of 'a policy of reducing the impact of rough sleepers on the community', 2013

Kaduna state in Nigeria declares a state of emergency as a moth has destroyed 80% of the tomato crops and factories are shutting down, 2016

The world's largest cat-proof fence (44km) completed at Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary, central Australia to protect endangered species, 2018 

Millions of 17-year cicadas emerge in the US South, posing crop danger and noise issues, 2020

A constitutional crisis deepens in Samoa after the Speaker of the House shuts out Fiame Naomi Mata’afa from being sworn in as the country's first female leader in 56 years, 2021

The journal Nature publishes a report of a Swiss team which used a neurological link to help a paralyzed person walk naturally for the first time in 10 years, 2023

Iranian director Jafar Panahi's "Un Simple Accident" wins the Palme d'Or at the 78th Cannes Film Festival, 2025