Awww Monday: Still Close

Awww Monday is hosted by Sandee, of Comedy Plus.  We could all use some cute to start the work week, so post a picture that makes everyone say, "Awww!" and link up!

The kittens are big enough to get spayed and adopted, but they still like to stay close.

Kittens don't like to sleep far from littermates.

They should go this week, and we will miss them.  Until i get back from my trip in early October, i won't be taking on any more little ones.  When i get back, the second half of the year's kitten season should be in full force.




Today is:

Aizu Byakko Matsuri -- Aizuwakamatsu-shi, Fukushima, Japan (ceremonial recreation of a march to war in 1868; through the 24th)

American Business Women's Day -- US (anniversary of the founding of the American Business Women's Association)

Autumnal Equinox -- 2:29am UT, 10:29pm EDT; related observances(some today, some tomorrow)
     Mabon -- Wicca/Pagan Northern Hemisphere
     Ostara -- wicca/Pagan Southern Hemisphere
     Alban Elfed -- Celtic Winter Finding
     Chuseok -- Korean harvest festival (high point of the festival)
     Feast of Carpo -- Greek Horae, goddess of autumn
     Kukulcan Snake God Celebration -- Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico (the snake appears at the equinox, a time to honor this Mayan god)
     Festival of the Sea Goddess -- Eskimo
     Higan -- Japan
     Mabon/Fallfest -- Asatru/Norse Pagan (harvest festival, time to make wine and mead for the next winter)
     Oenach Carman -- Ancient Celtic Calendar
     Sendai Great Tug-of-War -- Sendai, Japan (festival on the equinox that dates back over 400 years)    
     Svarog's Holiday -- Slavic Pagan Calendar/Asatru (day to drink mead in honor of Svarog, god of fire and the sky)

Boidromia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate; honor Apollon as god of rescue during war)

Bonn Phchum Ben -- Cambodia (Ancestors' Day)

Breakfast, Snack, Elevenses, Snack, Lunch, Snack, Tea, Snack, Dinner, Snack, More Snacks, Supper, Snack, and Bilgewack Celebration Day -- Fairy Calendar (Borms; they are little known relatives of Goblins, given to being overweight and sedentary and lying around feeling ill; bilgewack is their term for having eaten too much and having to lie down.)

Canterbury South Provincial Anniversary Day -- Canterbury South, New Zealand

Coya Raymi -- Inca Native Americans (festival to honor Moon Goddess Quilla, with a focus on purging sickness and evil; through tomorrow, dates approximate)

Dear Diary Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays; get it down on paper!

Dominion Day -- New Zealand (obs.)

Elephant Appreciation Day -- sponsored by "Elefunteria" and WildHeart Productions

Family Day - A Day to Eat Dinner with Your Children(TM) -- sponsored by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, encouraging everyone to have a meal with the family, because all the studies show it's good for you!

Feast of Mikeli -- Ancient Latvian Calendar (harvest celebration; through the 24th)

Hobbit Day -- Bilbo's and Frodo's Birth anniversary

Ice Cream Cone Day -- Italo Marchiony applied for a patent for an ice cream cone mold on this day in 1903

Independence Day -- Bulgaria; Mali

International Day of Radiant Peace -- www.radiantpeace.org

Metropolitan Opera in NYC Opening Night

National Centenarians Day -- US

National White Chocolate Day

OneWebDay

Princess Martha Louise's Birthday -- Norway (an official flag day)

Ritual of the Netjers of the Two Lands (Upper and Lower Egypt) -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

St. Maurice's Day (Patron of armies, cloth dyers, cloth makers, infantrymen, soldiers, swordsmiths, weavers; Austria; Manresa, Spain; Pianello Val Tidone, Italy; Piedmont, Italy; Sardinia; Stadtsulza, Germany; Pontifical Swiss Guards; against cramps and gout)

World Carfree Day -- UN (encouraging all of us to go car free for a day, and see the world from a different perspective) began as:
     Car-Free Day -- this has spread to much of the world; try it for yourself!


Birthdays Today:

Billie Piper, 1982
Ronaldo, 1976
Bonnie Hunt, 1964
Catherine Oxenberg, 1961
Scott Baio, 1961
Joan Jett, 1960
Andrea Bocelli, 1958
Debby Boone, 1956
Shari Belafonte, 1954
Arthur O. Sulzberger, 1951
Paul Le Mat, 1945
Junko Tabel, 1939 (first woman to summit Everest)
Tommy Lasorda, 1927
John Houseman, 1902
Michael Faraday, 1791
Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, 1694(O.S. Date)


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Friends"(TV), 1994
"Family Ties"(TV), 1982
"Charlie's Angels"(TV), 1976
"A Delicate Balance"(Play), 1966
"Fiddler on the Roof"(Musical), 1964
"The Man from U.N.C.L.E."(TV), 1964
"Maverick"(TV), 1957


Today in History:

Legion I Italica is created by Emperor Nero, 66
Switzerland becomes an independent state, 1499
The General Provincial Court at Patuxent, MD, US, empanels the first all female jury in the colonies to try the case of a woman accused of murdering her child, 1656
A final 8 people are hanged for witchcraft in Salem, Mass., 1692
Nathan Hale is hanged for spying during American Revolution, 1776
Russia establishes a colony at Kodiak, Alaska, 1784
City of Des Moines, Iowa, is incorporated as Fort Des Moines, 1851
Abraham Lincoln, by executive proclamation, declares that the slaves in the rebelling states shall become free on Jan. 1 of the upcoming year, 1862
Richard Wagner's opera Das Rheingold premieres in Munich, 1869
The first issue of National Geographic Magazine is published, 1888
Queen Victoria surpasses her grandfather, King George III, as the longest reigning monarch in British history, 1895
Italo Marchiony granted a patent for an ice cream cone, 1903
The Duke of York's Picture House opens in Brighton, now the oldest continually operating cinema in Britain, 1910
Ralph J. Bunche becomes the first black winner of the Nobel Peace Price, 1950
The Dead Sea Scrolls are made available to the public for the first time by the Huntington Library, 1991
David Hempleman-Adams becomes the first person to cross the Atlantic Ocean in an open-air, wicker-basket hot air balloon, 2003