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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!
A little somebody (Annie, of course) decided riding in the stroller with her head leaned back was the best way to view the world.
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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 Back Pack.
Strap on your back pack,
hit the trails,
don't let life get
stuck on the rails.
Get out on the land
under the open sky,
do it while you can,
don't let the seasons pass by.
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The officers searching back packs
arrested him on a deduction,
from the calculator, pencils and slide rule,
they said, "Weapons of math instruction!"
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Future themes are:
May 4 Back Pack (Today!)
May 11 Futuristic Landscape
May 18 Balcony
May 25 Scooter
(All themes are from the 365 Days of Drawing Prompts and Other Arts Facebook group.)
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Today is Star Wars Day! Greet others with "May the 4th be with you!"
Thanks to Barb Kowalik and The Cat Blogosphere for the event badge.
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I'm very sad to have to say we lost a blog friend recently. Everyone who knew Ms. Jackie loved her, including me. She will be missed.
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Today is:
Bird Day -- anniversary of the first Bird Day declared in 1894 by the Superintendent of Schools in Oil City, PA, Charles Babcock
Cassinga Day -- Namibia
Compliment Someone's Smile Day
Declaration of Independence Day -- Latvia
Dodenherdenking -- Netherlands (Remembrance of those in the armed forces who have died in war or peacekeeping missions.)
Frustrating the Fairies Day -- Ireland (a day to confuse the fairies so they may not cause any mischief, although i can't find any details about how to frustrate them)
International Firefighters' Day
Lag B'Omer -- Judaism (begins sunset today)
18th Iyar
May Fourth Movement
Literary Day -- Republic of China
Youth Day -- People's Republic of China
Melanoma Monday -- learn how to check yourself for skin cancer, and how to get someone else to check your back, the most common spot for melanoma
Memorial Day -- Curacao (military ceremonies to honor victims of WWII, not a government holiday)
Midori no hi -- Japan (Greenery Day/Arbor Day)
National Candied Orange Peel Day
National Kids Fitness Day -- this one doesn't seem to have any particular sponsor or organization behind it, but please get those kids outdoors to do something fun, any time you can!
National Meeting Planners Appreciation Day 2026 -- US (you are only obligated to celebrate this if you love meetings, love to plan meetings, or have a meeting planner in your organization to humor)
National Orange Juice Day
National Weather Observers Day -- another fun day that doesn't seem to be sponsored by anyone, but Family Crafts has suggestions for how to celebrate
Petite and Proud Day -- i've never heard of this one until now, but it's the one for me!
Relationship Renewal Day -- because someone, somewhere, wants you to stop taking the ones you love for granted
Remembrance Day for Martyrs and the Disabled -- Afghanistan
Respect for Chickens Day -- International (United Poultry Concerns)
Sagami Giant Kite Festival -- Sagami, Japan (through tomorrow; giant kite that requires a team of 100 people is flown on the banks of the Sagami River)
School Bus Driver Appreciation Day -- US
St. Florian's Day (Patron of brewers, chimney sweeps, coopers, drowning victims, fire prevention, firefighters, harvests, soap-boilers; Austria; Chur, Switzerland; Linz, Austria; Poland; against battle, drowning, fire, and flood)
a recognized holiday in Austria
St. Venerius of Milan's Day (Patron of lighthouse keepers)
Youth Day -- China
Birthdays Today:
Erin Andrews, 1978
Dawn Stanley, 1970
Randy Travis, 1959
Pia Zadora, 1956
David Gutterson, 1956
Jackie Jackson, 1951
Richard Jenkins, 1947
Nicholas Ashford, 1942
George F. Will, 1941
Roberta Peters, 1930
Audrey Hepburn, 1929
Heloise Bowles Cruse, 1919
Horace Mann, 1796
Bartolomeo Cristofori, 1655
Debuting/Premiering Today:
"Beatles at Hollywood Bowl"(Album), 1977
"Another World"(TV), 1964
"New Girl in Town"(Musical), 1957
Today in History:
Religious reformers John Wycliffe and Jan Hus are condemned as heretics at the Council of Constance, 1415
Peter Minuit becomes director-general of New Netherlands, 1626
A French manufacturer debuts the first folding umbrella, 1715
Rhode Island becomes the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III, 1776
Mary Dixon Kies becomes the first woman in the US to obtain a patent, for a method of weaving hats with straw, silk, and thread, 1809
Napoleon arrives at Portoferraio on the island of Elba to begin his exile, 1814
The Haymarket Square Riot takes place in Chicago, 1886
The United States begins construction of the Panama Canal, 1904
The Royal Canadian Navy is created, 1910
May Fourth Movement: Student demonstrations take place in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, protesting the Treaty of Versailles, 1919
Al Capone begins serving an eleven-year prison sentence for tax evasion, 1932
Ernest Hemingway is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea, 1953
The "Freedom Riders" begin a bus trip through the South, 1961
The Don't Make A Wave Committee, a fledgling environmental organization founded in Canada in 1971, officially changes its name to "Greenpeace Foundation", 1972
An all-female Japanese team reaches the summit of Manaslu, becoming the first women to climb an 8,000-meter peak, 1974
Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 1979
Latvia proclaims the renewal of its independence after the Soviet occupation, 1990
The Scottish National Party wins the Scottish general election and becomes the largest party in the Scottish Parliament for the first time ever, 2007
The last nuclear reactor in Japan is shut down, leaving the country without nuclear power for the first time since 1970, 2012
California overtakes Great Britain to become the world's fifth largest economy, 2018
Halima Cisse of Mali gives birth to nonuplets (nine babies) in Morocco, in only the third known case worldwide, 2021
The WHO declares Covid-19 over as a global health emergency, although it continues to be a concern, 2023
Nearly three weeks of uninterrupted 24-hour live streaming (478 hours) of Sweden's 'Great Moose Migration' end after moose cross the Ångerman River, 2025
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