Awww Monday: Winning Hearts

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!

Our newest pastor, Pastor J, has always been a dog person.  His wife, not so much.  She held out against having pets, telling him he could have a wife or a pet, but not both.

Then they moved here and there was a flood.  Lots of animals were displaced, some of them losing their way and having to be rehomed when their owners couldn't be located.

While Pastor J was working on one house, mucking out the moldy carpet and wet sheetrock, a sweet pup wandered up to that house, begging for love and food.  He couldn't resist, and for some reason, neither could Ms. A, his wife.  Ms. A is actually finding herself smitten.

This sweet girl is now a part of his family, and is in training to be a comfort dog. 

She never met a stranger, and this is the only time she's still.

She's always in motion when not in a lap.

Today is:

Act Happy Week begins -- acting happy releases the body chemicals that aid health, mental and physical

Big Bird Day -- it's his birthday, and he's still only 6 years old!  (wish i could figure out that trick)

Bockbier/Bock Beer Day -- bock is the German word for strong, so a day to honor very strong, very dark, sweet, heavy beer

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Day -- birth anniversary of children's author Bill Martin

Dia de Benito Juarez -- Mexico (a Fiestas Patrias)

Equinox -- related celebrations (11:02 UTC)
     Akitu Festival begins -- Ancient Sumerian Calendar
     Chunfen -- China
     Festival of Dumuzi -- Ancient Sumerian Calendar (return of the god of life and death to be with the goddess of life and bring the spring)
     Festival of Iduna -- Ancient Norse Calendar (goddess of spring, keeper of the apples of youth for the gods)
     Haru-no-Higan -- Japanese Buddhist
     Harvest Festival and Coming Forth of the Great Ones from the House of Ra -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar
     Jare -- Old Slavic Calendar
     Kukulcan Snake God in Chichen Itza -- Yucatan (the snake shadow appears only at the equinox, and celebrations are held before and after)
     Maslenitsa -- Asatru/Slavic Pagan Calendar
     Ostara/Mabon -- Wicca/Pagan, Ancient Norse Calendar, Old Anglo-Teutonic Calendar
     Pacha Pucuy -- Ancient Inca Calendar ("Earth Ripening")
     Shunbun no Hi -- Japan
     Taoist festival of Shen -- Deities of water, East, and Spring

Extraterrestrial Abductions Day -- another silly made up one, but try telling that to the people who believe in it!

Great American Meat Out Day -- go vegetarian today! 

Independence Day -- Tunisia

International Day of the Francophonie /  Journée internationale de la Francophonie

International Day of Happiness -- UN

International Earth Day -- the traditional date, still observed in many countries

Kiss Your Fiance Day -- do you really need to be reminded to do this? a wedding planner thinks so, that you should stop today and focus on each other, not the wedding

Lajos Kossuth Day -- Hungary

Martyrdom of Sibghatullah Shah Rashidi -- Pakistan

National Arts Advocacy Day -- US; through tomorrow 

National Cherry Blossom Festival -- Washington, DC, US (through April 14; Sakura Matsuri Japanese Street Festival and parade on April 13)

National Native American HIV/AIDS Awareness Day -- US 

National Jump Out! Day -- sponsored by Discovery Girls Magazine and Fundex Games; encouraging kids to get out and get active

National Ravioli Day

Nowruz/Nauruz/Novruz Bairam/Norooz (begins at sunset) -- Iranian diaspora, Kurdish diaspora, Zoroastrians; Afghanistan; Azerbaijan; Georgia; Iran (Persian New Year); Iraq; Kazakhstan; Kyrgyzstan; Tajikistan; Turkmenistan; Uzbekistan
     celebrations go on for up to seven days or more
     Naw Ruz -- Baha'i (New Year, and an end of the time of fasting; begins sunset)

Otago Provincial Anniversary -- Otago, New Zealand

Proposal Day® -- a day for singles to propose to their true love; on the equinox, equal night and day symbolizing equal commitment 

Smile Rejuvenation Day -- another one from the ecard companies, make someone smile today

Snowman Burning Day  -- Lake Superior State University, Sault Ste. Marie, MI, US (celebration of the start of spring; cannot confirm date, but always on or near the first day of spring)

St. Cuthbert of Lindisfane's Day (Patron of boatmen/mariners/sailors, shepherds; England; Durham, England; Lancaster, England; Northumbria, England; against plague and plague epidemics)

Wellderly Day -- and the start of Wellderly Week, focusing on the health of the elderly

Won't You Be My Neighbor Day -- in honor of Mr. Rogers' birth anniversary

World Frog Day -- an initiative, on the first day of spring, to remind people of our fragile ecosystems and the disappearance of our amphibian friends 

World Storytelling Day -- to celebrate the tradition of oral storytelling

Zipper Day -- the 'Separable Fastener' by Gideon Sundback was patented this day in 1917



Birthdays Today:

Louis "Louie" Vito, 1988
Fernando Torres, 1984
Kathy Ireland, 1963
David Thewlis, 1963
Holly Hunter, 1958
Spike Lee, 1957
Theresa Russel, 1957
Jimmie Vaughan, 1951
William Hurt, 1950
Bobby Orr, 1948
Pat Riley, 1945
Paul Junger Witt, 1943
Brian Mulroney, 1939
Lois Lowry, 1937
Hal Linden, 1931
Fred "Mr." Rogers, 1928
Carl Reiner, 1922
Marian McPartland, 1920
Bill Martin, Jr., 1916
Ozzie Nelson, 1906
B.F. Skinner, 1904
Frederick Winslow Taylor, 1856
Henrik Ibsen, 1828
Ovid, BC43


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Uncle Tom's Cabin(Publication date), 1852


Today in History:

Sixth recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet, 141
Maximus Thrax, who never set foot in Rome, becomes the first of the Foreign or Barracks Emperors of the Roman Empire, 235
A Saturn/Jupiter/Mars-conjunction is thought to be the "cause of plague epidemic," 1345
Sir Walter Raleigh is freed from the Tower of London after 13 years of imprisonment, 1616
France and Spain sign an accord for fighting protestantism, 1627
Nadir Shah occupies Delhi in India and sacks the city, stealing the jewels of the Peacock Throne, 1739
The Great Fire of Boston destroys 349 buildings, 1760
After escaping from Elba, Napoleon enters Paris with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000, beginning his "Hundred Days" rule, 1815
US and Siam sign commercial treaty, 1833
Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is published in Boston, 1852
An earthquake completely destroys Mendoza, Argentina, 1861
The first AC power plant in the US begins commercial operation, in Massachusetts, 1886
In the first known intercollegiate basketball game, Yale beats Penn 32-10, 1897
The first international figure skating championship takes place, in New Haven, Connecticut, 1914
Albert Einstein publishes his general theory of relativity, 1916
The Arts Club of Chicago hosts the opening of Pablo Picasso's first United States showing, 1923
A test of a practical radar apparatus is made by Rudolf Kuhnold in Germany, 1934
The precursor of the European Space Agency, ESRO (European Space Research Organization) is established, 1964
Libby Riddles becomes the first woman to win the 1,135-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, 1985
Ferdinand Marcos's widow, Imelda Marcos, goes on trial for bribery, embezzlement, and racketeering, 1990
Stephen Harper wins the leadership of the newly created Conservative Party of Canada, becoming the party's first leader, 2004
A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hits Fukuoka, Japan, its first major quake in over 100 years, 2005
Cyclone Larry makes landfall in eastern Australia, destroying most of the country's banana crop, 2006
In Morocco, thousands rally to demand and end to corruption and more civil rights for the Moroccan people, 2011