N for Now You See Them! An Awww Monday Post

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!

For the past couple of months, there have been very few kittens at the shelter.  Most kittens have been in foster care because they were too young to come and be put up for adoption.

That is changing, and the kittens are starting to trickle in...

Today is:

American Academy of Arts and Letters Charter Day

Bat Appreciation Day -- sponsored by Bat Conservation International, at the time of year when bats begin awakening from hibernation

Blah, Blah, Blah Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Boston Marathon -- Boston, MA, US (121st running)

Easter Monday -- Christian; related observances

     Dyngus Day

     Egg Races -- Rural Northwestern Switzerland (traditional Easter Monday races with competitors carrying large numbers of eggs from village to village)

     Emaishen -- Luxembourg (traditional market)

     Family Day -- South Africa

     Hallaton Hare Pie Scramble & Bottle Kicking -- Hallaton, Leicestershire, England (traditional celebrations dating back at least 600 years)

     Memorial Day -- Republic of Georgia

     Seu Harvest Parade -- Curacao

     Sham el-Nessim -- Egypt (Smell the Breezes Day, a spring celebration for all religions; celebrated by getting outside, greeting neighbors, enjoying spring, and eating salty raw fish)

Ellis Island Family History Day -- US (by proclamation of the nations governors and in conjunction with the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, a day to celebrate the achievements and contribution of the immigrants and their descendants who came through Ellis Island; on the anniversary of the day, in 1907, when 11,747 immigrants were processed through the island, the most in one day) 

Equality Day -- Canada (the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms came into force on April 17, 1985, guaranteeing equality without regard to race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability)

Flag Day -- American Samoa

Ford Mustang Day -- International (on the "birthday" of the vehicle)

Independence Day / Evacuation Day -- Syria

International Day of Peasants Struggle

Jose de Diego's Birthday -- Puerto Rico (Father of the Puerto Rican Independence Movement, a/k/a Dia de Reafirmacion del Idioma Espanol)

National Cheeseball Day

National Haiku Poetry Day -- sponsored by The Haiku Foundation 

Nimble Fairies' Scattering -- Fairy Calendar

Nosy Neighbor Appreciation Day -- to be celebrated, if you dare, by greeting and thanking your neighbor for being nosy

Nothing Like A Dame Day -- a day to pay homage to the unique wit, wisdom, style and strength of dames past and present, and to cultivate the dame in you or in your life

Patriot's Day -- US (in observance of the first battles of the Revolutionary War)

Sechselauten -- Zurich, Switzerland (Six Ringing Festival, traditional driving out of winter through the symolic destruction of the Boog - Old Man Winter - in the form of a snowman)

St. Kateri Tekakwitha's Day (Patron of ecologists, ecology, environment, environmentalism, environmentalists, exiles, people who have lost their parents, people ridiculed for their piety)

St. Stephen Harding's Day (Co-founder of Cistercian Order)

Thargelia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (two day festival for the birthday of Apollon and Artemis; date approximate)

Toothbrush Appreciation Day -- think of what it would be like without one!

Verrazano Day -- New York, US (Celebrates discovery of New York harbor by Giovanni Verrazano, Florentine navigator)

Women's Day -- Gabon

World Hemophilia Day

Birthdays Today:

Victoria Beckham, 1974

Jennifer Garner, 1972

Liz Phair, 1967

Lela Rochon, 1966

Norman Julius “Boomer” Esiason, 1961

Sean Bean, 1958

Olivia Hussey, 1951

Don Kirshner, 1934

Cynthia Ozick, 1928

Harry Reasoner, 1923

William Holden, 1918

Thornton Wilder, 1897

Nikita Krushchev, 1894

Adrian Constantine “Cap” Anson, 1852

J.P. Morgan, 1837

Samuel Chase, 1741

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Caveman(Film), 1981

"McCartney"(Album), 1970 (first solo album)

"No Time for Comedy"(Play), 1939

Today in History:

Geoffrey Chaucer tells his Canterbury Tales for the first time, at the court of Richard II, ten years to the day after the pilgrimage actually began, 1397

Christopher Columbus signs his contract with Spain to find the Indes, 1492

Martin Luther stands firm and refuses to recant before the Diet of Worms, 1521

Sir Ralph Abercromby attacks San Juan, Puerto Rico in what would be one of the largest invasions of the Spanish territories in America, 1797

The first Sino-Japanese War ends with the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, 1895

A one day record 11,747 immigrants are processed at Ellis Island, 1907

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios is formed by the merger of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures, and the Louis B. Mayer Company, 1924

Cartoon characters Daffy Duck, Elmer J Fudd & Petunia Pig, debut, 1937

At midnight, 26 Irish counties officially break with the British Commonwealth and form the Republic of Ireland, 1949

The Bay of Pigs Invasion fiasco begins, 1961

Ford Motor Company unveils the Mustang, 1964

Jerrie Mock becomes the first woman to circumnavigate the world by air, 1964

The ill-fated Apollo 13 spacecraft returns to Earth safely, 1970

Patriation of the Canadian constitution in Ottawa by Proclamation of Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, 1982

The Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly ends, 1986

NJ Devil Martin Brodeur becomes the 2nd NHL goalie to score in a playoff game, 1997

The 5th Summit of the Americas takes place in Port of Spain; Trinidad, thirty-four heads of government attend, 2005

An explosion at a fertilizer plant in the city of West, Texas, causes 15 deaths and major damage to nearby buildings, residences, a nursing home and middle school, 2013