Awww Monday: The Shelter is Full

Awww Monday is hosted by Sandee, of Comedy Plus.

Join us every Monday for Awww...Mondays.  Post a picture that makes you say Awww... and that 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!

We gots kittens!

We're waiting for our forever homes!

Today is:

American Eagle Day 

Cuckoo Warning Day -- if you hear the cuckoo today, it will be a wet summer, according to old European traditions

Day of the National Flag -- Argentina (Anniversary of General D. Manuel Belgrano's Death)

Day of the Purification of All Things -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Feast of the Great Spirit / Great Mystery -- various Native Americans (celebrations are around the time of the solstice)
     Cherokee call the spirit Asgaya Galun Lati
     Iroquois call the spirit Orenda
     Lakota call the spirit Wakan Tanka
     Zuni call the spirit Awonawilona

Full Strawberry Moon / Rose Moon; related observances
     Ancient Celtic month Equos (horse-time) begins
     Nayon Full Moon -- Mayanmar
     Poson Full Moon Poya Day -- Sri Lanka

Festival for Summanus -- Ancient Roman Calendar (the god who threw thunderbolts at night)

Festival of the New Knee -- Fairy Calendar

Helen Keller Festival -- Tuscumbia, AL, US (performances of The Miracle Worker, historic tours, other entertainment, a fair, and more; through Sunday)

Hogueras de San Juan -- Alicante, Spain ("Bonfires of St. John," through the 29th, with the night of the 24th being the most magical as the festival is for St. John, whose day that is)

Ice Cream Soda Day -- i guess because it's hot enough now for one

International Surfing Day -- The Surfrider Foundation and Surfing Magazine suggest contests, barbecues, film screenings, and organizing beach clean ups to celebrate

Iron Skegge's Day -- Vikings (martyrdom of Iron Skegge, who died defending the temples of Maeri against Christians)

Martyr's Day -- Eritrea

National Heroes' Day -- Bermuda

National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest and Festival -- Weiser, ID, US (through Saturday)

National Vanilla Milkshake Day

New Identity Day -- an internet generated holiday, just have fun thinking about who you might want to be for a day

Organic Act Day -- US Virgin Islands (commemorates the organization of how the islands are governed)

Ride to Work Day -- ride your motorcycle or scooter!  if you don't have one, watch out for those who do

Scira/Skirophoria -- Ancient Greek Calendar (festival for Demeter, organized by the women of Athens; date approximate)

Solmanudor -- Icelandic calendar, Sun Month, with the midnight sun dominating the time of year

Solstice -- 22:34UCT/6:34pm EDT; related observances:
     Aimless Wandering Day -- use the extra daylight to wander someplace with nothing particular to do
     Anne and Samantha Day -- remembrance for Anne Frank and Samantha Smith, and their contributions to our world 
     Daylight Appreciation Day -- celebrating the benefits of sunshine 
     Finally Summer Day/Finally Winter Day
     Hump Day -- Tasmania (because it is the shortest in the year, Taswegians today feel they are over the "hump" of winter.)
     Inti Raymi -- Inca (festival of the sun god Inti, ongoing);Sacsayhuamán Andes Mountain Natives (winter solstice and New Year festival)
     Litha / Yule -- Wicca/Pagan (northern hemisphere / southern hemisphere)
     Midnight Sun Baseball Game -- Fairbanks, AK, US (begins promptly at 10:35pm local time, and played without any artificial lights allowed)
     Midsomarsblog -- Norse Viking celebrations (time of fishing, trading, and raiding)
     Midsummer -- Midsummer Festivals begin -- Juhannus Day in Finland and Midsommar in Denmark and Norway, celebrated over the next several days in many Scandinavian traditions; often this time is also associated with betrayal, as the sunlight begins to decrease, this is when Baldur was betrayed, as well as Sigurd. 
     Midsummer -- Asatru/Slavic Pagan
     Midsummer Baal -- Ancient Celtic Calendar
     Polar Bear Swim -- Nome, AK, US (if they can break through the ice!)
     Solsticio de Invierno / Ano Nuevo Aymara -- Bolivia (Winter Solstice / Aymara Indigenous People's New Year)
     We Tripantu -- Chile (Mapuche natives winter solstice festival)
     Wadjet Summer Solstice Ceremony -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate, it may have been a multi-day ceremony that began on Midsummer's Eve)

St. Michelina of Pesaro's Day (Patron of mentally ill people, people with in-law problems, widows; against death of children, insanity and mental illness)

Takekiri Eshiki Matsuri -- Kuramadera, Kyoto, Japan (bamboo cutting festival; the bamboo represents snakes, so cutting it symbolizes victory over evil)

World Productivity Day -- no central focus, just a day for suppliers of productivity tools and training to celebrate what they contribute to society

World Refugee Day -- UN


Anniversaries Today:

The University of Oxford receives its charter, 1214
West Virginia becomes the 35th US state, 1863


Birthdays Today:

Robert Rodriguez, 1968
Nicole Kidman, 1967
Michael Landon, Jr, 1964
Cyndi Lauper, 1953
John Goodman, 1952
Lionel Richie, 1949
Andre Watts, 1946
Bob Vila, 1946
Anne Murray, 1945
Brian Wilson, 1942
John Mahoney, 1940
Danny Aiello, 1933
James Tolkan, 1931
Martin Landau, 1931
Olympia Dukakis, 1931
Chet Atkins, 1924
Audie Murphy, 1924
Jean-Jacques Bertrand, 1916
Errol Flynn, 1909
Lillian Hellman, 1905
Charles W. Chesnutt, 1858
Scipio Africanus, BC236


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Jaws(Film), 1975
"The Ray Stevens Show"(TV), 1970
"The Ed Sullivan Show"(TV), 1948


Today in History:

Flavius Aetius' battles Attila the Hun; the battle was inconclusive, and Attila retreats, causing the Romans to interpret it as a victory, 451
Jews are expelled from Brazil by order of regent Don Henrique, 1567
The Irish  village of Baltimore is attacked by Algerian  pirates, 1631
A British garrison is imprisoned in the Black Hole of Calcutta, 1756
King Louis XVI of France and his immediate family begin the Flight to Varennes during The French Revolution, 1791
The U.S. vessel SS Savannah, the first steam-propelled vessel to cross the Atlantic, arrives at Liverpool, 1819
Queen Victoria succeeds to the British throne, 1837
Samuel Morse receives the patent for the telegraph, 1840 
Alexander Graham Bell installs the world's first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, 1877
Caroline Willard Baldwin becomes the first woman to earn a doctor of science degree, at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 1895
A rare June hurricane struck Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence killing 35, 1959
The so-called "red telephone" is established between the Soviet Union and the United States following the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1963
The German parliament decides to move the capital from Bonn back to Berlin, 1991
The Wikimedia Foundation is founded in St. Petersburg, Florida, 2003
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers grants private companies the right to create new website domain suffixes, 2011
Instagram offers users the ability to upload videos to their service, 2013
Dunedin and Christchurch, New Zealand, have roads cut off and flights cancelled due to adverse weather conditions, 2013