Awww Monday and Sparks!

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'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!

rEcess was fun on Friday.  We had:

A Princess who got out of her chair for lots of fun building a castle with blocks.

Batgirl making the world a better place with arts and crafts.

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The wonderful Annie of McGuffy's Reader is hosting Sparks, an inspirational and  positive thought for the week link-up, every Monday.  

"The negative energy in the world has become thick and oppressive. Social media has become a part of this dark, negative storm. There is an obvious universal need for more positive energy. And, we can all be part of this affirmative change." ~ McGuffy Ann Morris

My "Spark" for the day is the "Pledge of Respect" from the BRRespect Movement:

As a citizen of Baton Rouge, I commit myself to help create a better community by upholding these standards of respect.

To treat others the way I want to be treated.

To practice kindness.

To return disrespect with respect.

To be slow to anger and quick to forgive.

To honor others before myself.

To give to someone who cannot give in return.

To serve without thought of recognition or personal gain.

To be my best and give my best every day.

To see beyong the past and look toward the future for the good of our community, so that together we can "secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity."

Today is:

Abolition Day -- Saint Barthelemy

Ana-hachimangu Yabusame -- Toyama Park, Tokyo, Japan (demonstration of the ancient art of horseback archery)

Cephalopod Awareness Days:  Nautilus Night -- celebrating the most intelligent invertebrates in the world; today, celebrate all of the lesser-known extant cephalopods

Columbus Day/Discovery Day/Two Worlds Day/Anti-Columbus Day/Native Americans Day/Pan America Day -- observed, several countries

    American Indian Heritage Day -- AL, US

    Columbus Day (obs.) -- Turks and Caicos Islands; US and Territories

    Dia del Respet a la Diversidad Cultural -- Argentina

    Fraternal Day -- AL, US

    Native Americans' Day -- much of the US formally; almost everywhere informally (a day to mourn Native American victims of conquest and oppression, make peace, and celebrate the empowerment of Native Americans)

Commonwealth Culture Day -- Northern Mariana Islands

Community Day -- Valencia, Spain

Curious Events Holiday -- Fairy Calendar

Establishment of the Samitinget in Norway -- Sami People's Parliament

Feast of Abraham the Patriarch -- Christian

Festival for Fausta Felicitas -- Ancient Roman Calendar (goddess of good luck and joy)

Festival for Venus -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Fitness Day / Health-Sports Day -- Japan

Give Peace a Chance Day / Instant Karma Day -- in honor of the birth aniversary of John Lennon

Guayaquil Independence Day -- Ecuador

Independence Day -- Uganda(1962)

Korean Alphabet Day -- Korea (Hangul Nal)

Leif Erickson Day -- Iceland; Norway; Minnesota and Wisconsin, US

Lotu-a-Tamaiti -- Samoa; Tokelau (Day after White Sunday)

Messenger Appreciation Day -- 10/9 in radio talk is a request to repeat information

Moldy Cheese Day (sorry, but i do not like the stinky, moldy cheeses, at least not the heavier ones; if you enjoy them, then by all means you may have my share!)

Mop Fair -- Tewkesbury, England (through tomorrow; festival dating back to the 12th century, originally a fair in which prospective employers came to find laborers, now two days of fun, fairgrounds rides, traditional games and sideshows, and more)

Naha Tug-of-War Festival -- Okinawa, Japan (tug-of-war involving a 27 ton rope)

National Chess Day -- US (declared by President Ford in 1976) 

National Day of Honor -- Peru (sometimes translated as Day of Dignity; commemorates the nationalization of the country's oil fields)

National Kick-Butt Day -- a day to kick yourself in the rump, jump start yourself to doing something you've been wanting to do and making excuses for not doing; begun by Sylvia Henderson 

National Metric Week -- US (yes, it's no fun to switch; get over it and learn, it's good for your brain!)  

National Submarine/Grinder/Hoagie/Hero/PoBoy/Pierogi Day -- each of these has its own special day, but today you get to pick which one you want

Norfolk Island Agricultural Show Day -- Norfolk Island, Australia

St. Denis' Day (Patron of possessed people; France; Paris, France; against frenzy, headaches, rabies, and strife)

St. Dionysius the Areopagite's Day (considered the first Bishop of Athens, mentioned in Acts 17; Patron of Zakynthos Island, Greece; against headaches and the devil)

St. Louis Bertrand's Day (Patron of Caribbean vicariates; Columbia; Dominican novices)

Takayama Matsuri Autumn Festival -- Takayama, Japan (ancient, elaborate floats parade through the old city; through tomorrow)

Thanksgiving -- Canada (Interfaith)

Virgin Islands - Puerto Rico Friendship Day

World Post Day / Universal Postal Union Day -- UN

World Rainforest Week begins -- International 

Ziua Nationala de Comemorare a Holocaustului -- Romania (National Day of Commemorating the Holocaust)

Anniversaries Today:

Mission San Francisco de Asis, the oldest building in the city of San Francisco and now called Mission Delores, is founded, 1776

King Louis XII of France marries Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII of England, 1514

Birthdays Today:

Zachary Ty Bryan, 1981

Brandon Routh, 1979

Eddie Guerrero, 1967

David Cameron, 1966

Michael Pare, 1959

Mike Singletary, 1958

Tony Shalhoub, 1953

Scott Bakula, 1954

Sharon Osbourne, 1952

Robert Wuhl, 1951

Jackson Browne, 1948

John Entwistle, 1944

Brian Lamb, 1941

Joe Pepitone, 1940

John Lennon, 1940

Russell Myers, 1938

Donald Sinden, 1923

Jacques Tati, 1908

Bruce, Catton, 1899

Alfred Dreyfus, 1859

Camille Saint-Saens, 1835

Mary Ann Shadd Cary, 1823 (with her husband, the first black newspaper publishers in the US)

Robert de Sorbon, 1201 (founded Sorbonne University, Paris)

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"High Button Shoes"(Musical), 1949

"The Iceman Cometh"(Play), 1946

"June Moon"(Play), 1929

"Topaz"(Play)1928

Today in History:

Leif Ericson discovers "Vinland" (somewhere in New England or Nova Scotia, possibly?), 1000

Leif Ericson lands in L'Anse aux Meadows, Canada, a definitive European landing in the "New World", 1003

The Korean Hangual alphabet is devised, 1446

Founder of Rhode Island Roger Williams is banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony as a religious dissident after he speaks out against punishments for religious offenses and giving away Native American land, 1635

Collegiate School of CT (Yale University) is chartered in New Haven, 1701

Father Francisco Palou founds Mission San Francisco de Asis in what is now San Francisco, California, 1776

City of Hobart, Tasmania, founded, 1804

Official opening of the University of Ghent, 1817

Isaac Singer patents the sewing machine motor, 1855

Joshua Stoddard of Worcester, Mass., patents the first Calliope, 1855

The first US underground pipeline for carrying oil is laid in Pennsylvania, 1865

Aaron Montgomery starts the mail order business that will later become Montgomery Ward, 1872

The Universal Postal Union is created as part of the Treaty of Berne, 1874

The first 2-way telephone conversation over outdoor wires occurs, 1876

Washington Monument opens to the public, 1888

Woodrow Wilson becomes the first US president to attend a World Series Game, 1915

National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) forms, 1926

Hoover Dam begins transmitting electricity to L.A., 1936

A day after being captured, Marxist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara is executed for attempting to incite a revolution in Bolivia, 1967

The Khmer Republic is proclaimed in Cambodia, 1970

Abolition of capital punishment in France, 1981

A 13 kilogram (est.) fragment of the Peekskill meteorite lands in the driveway of the Knapp residence in Peekskill, New York, destroying the family's 1980 Chevrolet Malibu, 1992

North Korea allegedly tests its first nuclear device, 2006

The first lunar impact of the Centaur and LCROSS spacecrafts occur as part of NASA's Lunar Precursor Robotic Program, 2009