Mr. PotatoHead Her Way (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and Poetry Monday, Sunny Days

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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!

Annie plays with Mr. PotatoHead her way.

He posed for a selfie after.

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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 Sunny Days.

it's true Dracula

hates sunny days but he should

be of no a-Count

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I love the outdoors on sunny days

but it really bothers my landlady

she knows I hang out under the trees

and to her that seems a bit shady.

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On sunny days we're happy,

on dreary, full of dolor,

why are there such extremes?

Our planet is bipolar.

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Future themes are:

Aug 17 Sunny Days (Today!)

Aug 24 Photography

Aug 31 Xerophyte

Sept 7 My Culture

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

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Today is Black Cat Appreciation Day!  Black cats deserve a day and even have a Facebook page.      

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

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Today is:

#2 Pencil Day -- internet generated, but since a pencil can draw a line 35 miles long, write under water, in zero gravity, or upside down, what's not to celebrate!

Day of Rituals in the Temples of Ra, Horus, and Osiris -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Drink Coffee at the Office from A Sippy Cup Day -- begun by someone with a sense of humor, who wants you to see how long it takes people to notice

Festival of Diana -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Jari Kemerdekaan RI -- Indonesia (Independence Day)(1945)

Meaning of "Is" Day -- thank you, Clinton!

National Thrift Shop/Thrift Store Day -- no history on it, probably started by a thrift store having a summer sale; still a good idea

National Vanilla Custard Day

Odin's Ordeal begins -- based on the Ancient Norse legend, Modern Odinists and some Asatru practice silence for nine days, through the 25th

Portunalia -- Roman Empire (honoring the god of locks, keys, ports, and harbors)

Prekmurje Union Day -- Slovenia (celebrates the Slovenes in Prekmurje being Incorporated into the Mother Nation)

San Martin Day -- Argentina (death anniversary of General Jose de San Martin, liberator of Argentina, Chile, and Peru)

Stay at Home With Your Kids Day -- begun by Work at Home Moms ezine in 1999, to encourage and support parents who work from home

St. Hyacinth's Day (Patron of Camalaniugan, Philippines; Ermita de Piedra de San Jacinto, Philippines; Krakow, Poland; Lithuania; Poland; against drowning)

Yukon Discovery Day -- YT, Canada

Birthdays Today:

Mark Salling, 1982

Donnie Wahlberg, 1969

Sean Penn, 1960

Jonathan Franzen, 1959

Belinda Carlisle, 1958

Guillermo Vilas, 1952

Robert Joy, 1951

Robert DeNiro, 1943

Francis Gary Powers, 1929

Maureen O'Hara, 1920

Harrison V. Chase, 1913

Mae West, 1892

Charles I, last emperor of Austria-Hungary, 1887

Samuel Goldwyn, 1882

Davy Crockett, 1786

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Life of Brian(Film), 1979

"Symphonie Liturgique"(Honegger's Third Symphony), 1946

Animal Farm(Publication date), 1945

"Gotterdammerung/Twilight of the Gods"(Opera WWV 86D), 1876

Today in History:

The Peace of Bergerac gives political rights to the Huguenots, 1577

John White returns to Roanoke, Virginia, to find no trace of the colonists he had left there 3 years earlier, 1590

Robert Fulton's steamboat Clermont begins its first trip up the Hudson River, 1807

Solymon Merrick patents the wrench, 1835

The first bank in Hawaii opens, 1858

A patent is granted for an electric self-starter for automobiles, 1891

Pike Place Market, the longest continuously-running public farmers market in the US, opens in Seattle, 1907

Fantasmagorie by Émile Cohl, the first animated cartoon, is shown in Paris, 1908

First meeting of Narcotics Anonymous in Southern California, 1953

Quake Lake is formed by the magnitude 7.5 1959 Yellowstone earthquake near Hebgen Lake in Montana, 1958

East German border guards kill 18-year-old Peter Fechter as he attempts to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin becoming one of the first victims of the wall, 1962

Category 5 Hurricane Camille hits the Mississippi coast, killing 248 people and causing $1.5 billion in damage, 1969

Venera 7 launched. It will later become the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet (Venus), 1970

Double Eagle II becomes first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean when it lands in Miserey near Paris, 137 hours after leaving Presque Isle, Maine, 1978

The first Compact Discs are released to the public in Germany, 1982

The first forced evacuation of settlers, as part of the Israel unilateral disengagement plan, starts, 2005

Afghan archeologists discover the remains of a Buddhist site located south of Kabul, 2010

Trogloraptor marchingtoni, an unusual spider discovered in 2010 is determined to be a new family of spiders previously unknown in the world of science; the new spider family has been named Trogloraptor, meaning 'cave robber', 2012

LIGO picks up images of two neutron stars colliding, the first time scientists have ever been able to witness that event, 2017

The landmark power-sharing deal signed by military and civilian leaders is celebrated in Khartoum, Sudan, with a transitional government to take over as of the beginning of September, 2019

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill becomes the first US university to send students home and convert to all online classes after 135 Covid19 cases are detected on campus, 2020

One in five US hospital ICUs are at or over 95% capacity due to Delta surge of COVID-19, 2021

 The WHO holds its first Traditional Medicine Global Summit in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India, 2023

Bodhana Sivanandan (10) defeats grandmaster Pete Wells (60) in final round of 2025 British Chess Championships in Liverpool, England, becoming youngest female player to beat a grandmaster, 2025

Mistakes (Cajun Joke), Sunday Selections, and Sunday Selfie

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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.

Grandpa made a mistake yesterday with something online while i was at their house and he told me, "Don't get old."  I joked back at him, saying, Young people make mistakes, too, after all, we all got married, didn't we? and he laughed.

Boudreaux done be on hims deathbed an' he call in Clothile an' he say, "Clothile, I gots to tell you my dyin' wish.  Six month's after I be's gone, I wants you to marry Guidry.  Promise!"

An' Clothile say, "But Boudreaux, what fo' you want me to marry him?  I thought you done hate Guidry!"

An' Boudreaux say, "Mais oui, I do!"

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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 Owl, Andrew, and WiseWebWoman.  

I've posted pictures of this first house before, I like the garden full of metal flowers and other fun outdoor decorative items, but the other day I passed it at night for the first time, and wow!

The next three pictures are from a house i visited.

                   

I do like these little libraries when i find them.

Another house with a garden i admire, especially the shiny blue bird in the middle.

Sunsets.

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This week, Mr. Cal wants to join the Kitties Blue at The Cat On My Head for their Sunday Selfies Blog Hop with his, "I'm ready for my treat for posing" selfie.  (Yes, of course he gets a treat for posing.)  

photo

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Today is:

Baba Au Rhum Day -- of course, on rum day, bake some cake with the stuff!

Bratwurst Day

Children's Day -- Paraguay

Daimonji Bonfire -- Mt. Nyoigadake, Kyoto, Japan (spectacular bonfires in the shapes of word pictures on the mountains surrounding the city)

Elvis Presley Day -- anniversary of his birth

Festival of the Minstrels -- Tutbury Castle, UK (middle ages; celebrated with great pomp, as the Duke of Lancaster had decreed that they each year elect a new king of the minstrels)

Fete de l'Independance -- Gabon (National Day)

Harmonic Convergence Day -- modern followers of Maya and Aztec calendars

Hartjesdagen -- Amsterdam and Haarlem, Holland ("Little Hearts Day"; the folklore is that this was the day non-nobles could hunt deer in the woods around Haarlem, and became a two-day cross dressing festival, all men dressed as women, and women as men, to see how the other half lived; revived in recent years on the 2nd or 3rd weekend of August, because the 3rd Monday was the original celebration, and is still the biggest day; through tomorrow)

Joe Miller's Joke Day -- anniversary of the death of English comic actor Joseph Miller in 1738

Madonna del Voto Day -- Siena, Italy (a/k/a Palio dell'Assunta, 2nd of the traditional yearly horse races)

National Airborne Day -- US (honors all Airborne Military)

National Tell a Joke Day -- seems internet generated, but probably related to Joe Miller Joke Day

National Rum Day

Remember What Your Spouse Wore the First Time You Met Day -- internet generated and dangerous!

Restoration of the Republic -- Dominican Republic

Roller Coaster Day -- the first one was patented this day in 1898

Rushbearing -- Macclesfield Forest and St. Stephens Church Forest Chapel, Cheshire, England (ancient tradtion of bringing new rushes, plaited in traditional weaves, to carpet the church and keep it warm, always on the first Sunday after Aug. 12)

Shahenshahi -- DD, DN, GJ, MH, India (Parsi New Year)

St. Roch's Day (Patron of bachelors, dogs, falsely accused people, invalids, surgeons, tile makers; of over 20 cities in Italy as well as Istanbul, Turkey; for relief from pestilence; against cholera, diseased cattle, epidemics, knee problems, plague [Black Death], skin diseases and rashes) 

St. Stephen of Hungary's Day (Patron of bricklayers, kings, masons, stonecutters; Hungary; against the death of children)

Surveillance Day -- formerly Wave at the Surveillance Cameras Day, go ahead and make the lives of those monitoring your every move a little less boring and more pleasant by giving a little wave when you know you are being watched   

Xicolatada -- Palau-de-Cerdagne, France (hot chocolate festival)*

Anniversary Today:

Sean Penn marries Madonna, 1985

Paul Simon marries Carrie Fisher, 1983

Gioachino Antonio Rossini marries Olympe Pélissier, 1846

Birthdays Today:

Seth Peterson, 1970

Steve Carell, 1963

Laura Innes, 1960

Timothy Hutton, 1960

Angela Bassett, 1958

Madonna, 1958

Jeff Perry, 1955

James Cameron, 1954

Kathie Lee Gifford, 1953

Reginald VelJohnson, 1952

Leslie Ann Warren, 1946

Julie Newmar, 1935

Eydie Gorme, 1932

Frank Gifford, 1930

Ann Blyth, 1928

Fess Parker, 1925

Menachem Begin, 1913

George Meany, 1894

T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia), 1888

Bernarr Macfadden, 1868

Amos Alonzo Stagg, 1862

Hongxi Emperor of China, 1378

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Siegfried"(Opera, WWV 86C), 1876

Today in History:

Henry VIII defeats the French at the Battle of Guinegate/Battle of the Spurs, forcing the French to retreat, 1513

Jack Broughton formulates the earliest code of rules for boxing, 1743

Chang and Eng Bunker, the original "Siamese" twins, arrive in Boston to be exhibited, 1829

U.S. President James Buchanan inaugurates the new transatlantic telegraph cable by exchanging greetings with Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, 1858

Arica, Peru (now Chile) is devastated by a tsunami which followed a magnitude 8.5 earthquake, 1868

Gold is discovered in the Klondike, at Bonanza Creek, 1896

Edwin Prescott patents the roller coaster, 1898

In Valparaiso, Chile, an 8.6 earthquake followed by fire destroys the city and kills 20,000, 1906

The first color sound cartoon, called Fiddlesticks, is made by Ub Iwerks, 1930

Democrats nominate Adlai E. Stevenson as presidential candidate, 1956

Joseph Kittinger parachutes from a balloon over New Mexico at 102,800 feet (31,300 m), setting three records that still stand today: High-altitude jump, free-fall, and highest speed by a human without an aircraft, 1960

A solar flare from the Sun creates a geomagnetic storm that affects micro chips, leading to a halt of all trading on Toronto's stock market, 1989

For only 2nd time Stanley Cup leaves North America (heads to Russia), 1997

In England, two men who created a Facebook site to incite violence during the riots are sentenced to four years imprisonment, 2011

The world's first floating dairy farm opens in Merwehaven Harbour, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, with 40 cows milked by robots, 2018

The first official water shortage is declared at Lake Mead, the major reservoir on the Colorado River, 2021

Ötzi the Iceman, the 5,300 year-old-mummy found frozen in the Tyrolean Alps in 1991, was descended from early Anatolian farmers according to a DNA study, 2023

Buddy Guy tops Billboard's Blues Albums chart with his "Ain't Done With the Blues," released on his recent 89th birthday, 2025

*Yes, they celebrate a hot chocolate festival in the summer.  It all started when the 15th of August was a feast day on which the locals always drank a bit much, and the chocolatier of the town claimed his brew was a good remedy the day after.  The original festival on the 15th has ceased, but the hot chocolate is brewed to this day, served at 11am promptly.