Monday, March 30, 2026

New Driver (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and Poetry Monday, The Moon Tonight

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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!


Mike-Next-Door's kids have outgrown this toy he left at his parent's house, so they passed it on to us and our little somebody likes it.











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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 The Moon Tonight.               


There's going to be a full moon tonight,

if you've no objection, my dear,

perhaps we'll watch it rise together

as the view will be quite clear.


You're interest in astronomy's sudden,

and as for viewing the  moon,

I think you want me out in the dark

for a chance with a girl to spoon!


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Future themes are:


March 30 The Moon Tonight (Today!)

April 6 Passover

April 13 Fabulous

April 20 Superhero


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


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Today is Take a Walk in the Park Day!  Maybe it was begun by someone who wanted to get out of the office, which, if you get stuck in one often, is a great idea.


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


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Today is:


Check for Change in Every Coin Return You Pass Day -- because someone has a sense of humor and put it on the internet


Culture and Traditions Day -- Micronesia


Doctors Day -- US (begun by Eudora Almond in 1933 because she thought her husband, Dr. Charles B. Almond, deserved recognition for his hard work; www.doctorsday.org for ideas on how to thank your doctor)


Feast of Janus and Concordia -- Ancient Roman Calendar


Festival of Bast -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (cat goddess; date approximate)


Festival of Reality Fabrication  -- internet holiday to celebrate your imagination


Festival of Salus -- Ancient Roman Calendar (god of health)


Grass Is Always Browner On The Other Side Of The Fence Day -- remember how good you have it; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays


I am in Control Day -- remember Alexander Haig's words on this date in 1981? well today, if you find the phones won't stop ringing, the kids got into the glue again, the coffee maker is on the fritz, and somebody dyed the poodle purple, stand up and declare that you are in control!


Land Day Commemoration -- West Bank/Palestinian remembrance


Limited Liability Day -- because no one can be responsible for everything


Pencil Day -- the pencil with an eraser top was patented this day in 1858 by Hyman Lipman


Runic Half-Month Ewhas (Horse) begins


Spiritual Baptist/Shouter Liberation Day -- Trinidad and Tobago


St. Leonard Murialdo's Day (Patron of apprentices)


Turkey Neck Soup Day


Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day -- US (information here 



Birthdays Today:


Scott Moffatt, 1983

Jason Dohring, 1982

Norah Jones, 1979

Matt Doran, 1976

Mark Consuelos, 1971

Celine Dion, 1968

Ian Ziering, 1964

Tracy Chapman, 1964

M.C. Hammer, 1962

Paul Reiser, 1957

Robbie Cotrane, 1950

Eric Clapton, 1945

Astrud Gilberto, 1940

Warren Beatty, 1937

John Astin, 1930

Rolf Harris, 1930

Peter Marshall, 1930

Richard Dysart, 1929

Peter Marshall, 1927

Frankie Laine, 1913

Sean O'casey, 1880

Anna Sewell, 1820

Vincent Van Gogh, 1853

Francisco Jose De Goya, 1749



Debuting/Premiering Today:


"Agnes of God"(Play), 1982

"Applause"(Musical), 1970

"Jeopardy"(TV), 1964

"Verkaufte Braut/The Bartered Bride"(Comic opera), 1866



Today in History:


The first recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet, BC240

Ketsugan, Zen teacher, performs exorcisms to free aizoji temple, 1422

Henry VIII divorces Catherine of Aragon, 1533

British and coalition forces march into Paris after the defeat of Napoleon, 1814

Dr. Crawford Long of Georgia, US, performs the first operation with anesthesia (ether), 1842

A pencil with attached eraser is patented by Hyman L Lipman of Philadelphia, 1858

Alaska is purchased from Russia by US Secretary of State William Seward, for $7,200,000 (about 2 cents per acre), 1867

Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, 1932

Einstein announces his revised unified field theory, 1953

The Yonge Street Line, the first subway in Canada, opens in Toronto, 1954

President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley, Jr., 1981

The oldest copy of Codex Holmiensis, dating from 1280, is returned to Denmark from Sweden after 300 years, and 45,000 Inca artifacts are returned to Peru's Machu Picchu after spending 100 years at Yale University, 2011

North Carolina repeals its controversial bathroom law that restricted transgender use, 2017

Pope Francis arrives in Rabat, Morocco, on his first-ever visit to the Magreb region of Northern Africa, 2019

Zuzana Caputova is elected President of Slovakia, becoming the country's first female head of state, 2019

The computer world's Turing Award is given to American programmer Jack Dongarra, whose work paved the way for the current generation of supercomputers, 2022

The unmanned German-built Spectrum Orbital Rocket is launched from Andoya, Norway, becoming the first orbital rocket to launch from mainland Europe, but crashes soon after take-off, 2025


Sunday, March 29, 2026

Pessimism (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



Grandma was rather sad yesterday, and I don't blame her.  It would have been Uncle P's 60th birthday (he died of Delta Covid19 in 2021).


Boudreaux done be's a bit down an' Thibodeaux done be tryin' cheer him up.


Fin'ly, Thibodeaux done say, "Boudreaux, you problem be's you's jes' a pessimist, dat's all."


An' Boudreaux done say, "Mais, you know what de pessimist be?  It be a person dat done lissen to too many optimists!"



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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.  


I didn't have time to get nearly as many of the pictures of Easter decorations as i wanted, but here are a few, and some sunrise photos.

















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This week, Jack wants to join the Kitties Blue at The Cat On My Head for their Sunday Selfies Blog Hop.  We were ordering lunch and he was asking what he was getting.  (Yes, he got his peanut butter treats.)






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Today is:


Barthelemy Boganda Day -- Central African Republic


Big Red Horse Day -- birth anniversary of Man O' War (1917) and Secretariat (1970), both of which had the nickname "Big Red"


Borrowed Days begin -- old English/Scottish/Irish legends about how March borrowed the next 3 days from April; these are still seen as weather prognostication days based on several different legends


Daylight Saving Time begins -- Albania; Andorra; Austria; Belgium; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Bulgaria; Croatia; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; Estonia; Faroe Islands; Finland; France; Germany; Gibraltar, Greece; Greenland (some areas); Holy See (Vatican City); Hungary; Ireland; Isle of Mann; Italy; Jersey; Kosovo; Latvia; Lebanon; Liechtenstein; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Macedonia; Malta; Moldova; Monaco; Montenegro; Morocco; Netherlands; Norway; Poland; Portugal; Romania; San Marino; Serbia; Slovakia; Slovenia; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; Ukraine; United Kingdom; Western Sahara

     European Union: Daylight Saving Time (Summer Time) Begins


Education and Sharing Day -- in honor of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994)


Knights of Columbus Founders Day


Martyrs' Day -- Madagascar


National Lemon Chiffon Cake Day


National Mom and Pop Business Owners Day -- as recognized by AICPA


Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday -- Western Christian

     Semana Santa -- Holy Week in Spain and Spanish speaking areas; special celebrations:

          Mexico -- through the country, but especially in Chiapas, with processions, costumes, and even fireworks, music, dance, and syncretic rituals

          Seville, Spain -- with hundreds of shuffling penitents in their hoods making the torch lit processions through the town; through Easter)


Smoke and Mirrors Day -- some sites call it "Festival of Smoke and Mirrors Day," but appropriately no one knows who started it


St. Armogastes of Africa's Day (Patron of the poor and torture victims; against poverty and torture)


St. Gladys' and St. Gwynllyw's Day (the Welsh "Bonny and Clyde", who led a life of crime before their conversion)


Youth Day -- Taiwan



Anniversaries Today:


Harry Hamlin weds Lisa Rinna, 1997

Yeshiva College (now University) is chartered in New York, 1928



Birthdays Today:


Hideaki Takizawa, 1982

Jennifer Capriati, 1976

Lucy Lawless, 1968

Elle Macpherson, 1964

Christopher Lambert, 1957

Kurt Thomas, 1956

Earl Christian Campbell, 1955

Karen Ann Quinlan, 1954

Bud Cort, 1950

George Blaha, 1945

Eric Idle, 1943

John Major, 1943

John Joseph McLaughlin, 1927

Pearl Bailey, 1918

Sam Walton, 1918

Eugene McCarthy, 1916

Philip Ahn, 1905

Denton True "Cy" Young, 1867

Isaac Mayer Wise, Rabbi and Founder of Reform Judaism, 1819

John Tyler, 1790

Carlo Buonaparte, father of Napoleon Bonaparte, 1746



Debuting/Premiering Today:


"Woman of the Year"(Play), 1981

"The King and I"(Play), 1951

"Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows"(circus), 1919

"Mutt and Jeff"(Comic strip), 1908

"Jevgeni Onegin/Eugene Onegin"(Opera; Tchaikovsky Op. 24), 1879



Today in History:


The city of Salvador da Bahia, the first capital of Brazil, is founded, 1549

Treaty of Saint-Germain is signed, returning Quebec to French control after the English had seized it in 1629, 1632

Swedish colonists establish the first settlement in Delaware, 1638

Ludwig von Beethoven, age 24, debuts as a pianist in Vienna, 1795

Construction is authorized of the Great National Pike, better known as the Cumberland Road, becoming the first United States federal highway, 1806

Niagara Falls stops flowing for 30 hours due to an ice jam, 1848

The United Kingdom annexes the Punjab, 1849

Ohio makes it illegal for children under 18 & women to work more than 10 hours a day, 1852

Queen Victoria gives Royal Assent to the British North America Act which establishes the Dominion of Canada on July 1, 1867

Queen Victoria presides over the opening of Albert Hall in London, 1871

The Knights of Columbus are established, 1882

Dr. John Pemberton brews the first batch of Coca-Cola in his back yard, 1886

The North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement goes into effect at 03:00 local time, 1941

Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage, 1951

NASA's Mariner 10 becomes the first space probe to fly by Mercury, 1974

The Canada Act 1982 (U.K.) receives the Royal Assent from Queen Elizabeth II, setting the stage for the Queen of Canada to proclaim the Constitution Act, 1982

Catherine Callbeck becomes premier of Prince Edward Island and the first woman to be elected in a general election as premier of a Canadian province, 1993

Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia join NATO as full members, 2004

The Republic of Ireland becomes the first country in the world to ban smoking in all workplaces, including bars and restaurants, 2004

Thirty-five countries and over 370 cities join Earth Hour for the first time, 2008

A transistor-like transcriptor is built out of DNA and RNA molecules by American bioengineers at Stanford University, 2013

Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announces that Arab leaders will be combining their military resources to combat violence in the region; Saudi Arabia has already led joint forces in airstrikes on Shia Houthi rebels in Yemen, 2015

UK Prime Minister Theresa May sends a letter to the EU invoking Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, formally triggering Brexit, 2017

The megaship Ever Given is freed after nearly a week stuck in and blocking the Suez Canal, 2021

A new study of Pluto based on 2015 footage from NASA's New Horizons Telescope is published which shows evidence of cryovolcanoes and ice lava, 2022

King Charles III makes his first state visit abroad, to Germany, 2023

The Mew York Yankees hit a franchise record 9 home runs in a 20-9 win over the Milwaukee Brewers, 2025