Hopeful (Awww Monday) and Sparks!

(Because some people like Blogger and some like WordPress, i am putting the same content at both.  If you would prefer to read this on the other site, it is linked here.)

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! 

Lulu sits by the table, ever hopeful:

She never gives up.

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The wonderful Annie of McGuffy's Reader has started the blog hop called Sparks as a way to put more positive energy into the world.  Join her in combating the often negative influence of social media by adding your own Spark!

I believe we are meant to be lights in this world. If we allow our light to shine, we can see where we are going. It is then that we can begin to truly see each other clearly. Together, we can light up the entire world! ~ McGuffy Ann Morris

My "Spark" for the day

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Today is:

Abraham Lincoln's Birthday -- US (with a wreath laying ceremony at the rebuilt cabin near where he was born)

Borrowed Days (through the 14th) -- Scottish Highlands (Gaelic Faoilteach, days supposedly borrowed from January, and if the weather is bad, the rest of the year will be good.)

Clean out Your Computer Day -- always the second Monday of February

Darwin Day -- International (birth anniversary)

Day Holy to Diana -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Family Day -- BC, Canada

Go Green Week begins -- UK (helping people find greener alternatives)   

Lost Penny Day -- in honor of pennies, the first US coin to commemorate a person; collect all those pennies you have hanging around and donate them to a good cause

Lundi Gras -- Fat Monday, Carnival, one of the last to days to feast before the Lenten fast begins Wednesday

    Bolludagur -- Iceland (Bun Day, the children wake the parents with a "spanking" while calling for cream buns that will be eaten that day)

    Old Mask Parade -- Oranjestad, Aruba (with the Burning of the Momo tomorrow, marking the end of Carnival)

    Rosenmontag -- German-speaking Countries (Rose Monday, highlight of Karneval)

Oatmeal Monday -- Scotland (traditionally, at universities in Scotland, the day the students were allowed to go home and get more "meal", or oatmeal, and other supplies, as they had to provide their own food and fuel for the fires while in school)

Oglethorpe Day/Georgia Day -- Georgia, US (landing of General Oglethorpe at what is now Savannah in 1733)

Pick A New Love Song Day -- internet generated, and why?  Only bother if your old one has worn thin.

Plum Pudding Day -- shouldn't this be at Christmas? Ah, well, i don't set them, i just report them.

Powamu Festival -- Pueblo/Hopi Native Americans (8 day sacred Bean Dance and purification ceremonies; date approximate)

Red Hand Day -- UN (Drawing attention to the plight of child soldiers.)

Royal Hobart Regatta Day -- Tasmania, Australia

Runic Half Month of Sigel (Sun) begins

Sacrifice to Dionysos -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate)

St. Julian the Hospitaler (Patron of boatmen, carnival/circus workers, childless people, clowns, ferrymen, fiddlers, hospitality, hotel keepers/innkeepers, jugglers, knights, pilgrims, repentant murderers, shepherds, travellers, wandering musicians; to obtain lodging while travelling; San Giljan, Malta)

Union Day -- Myanmar

Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show (through tomorrow)

Youth Day -- Venezuela

Anniversaries Today:

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is founded, 1909

Michigan State University is founded, 1855

Maria Therese Habsburg marries Emperor Francios I, 1736

Birthdays Today:

Jennifer Stone, 1993

Christina Ricci, 1980

Jesse Spencer, 1979

Naseem Hamed, 1974

Josh Brolin, 1968

Chyna Phillips, 1968

Arsenio Hall, 1955

Joanna Kerns, 1953

Michael McDonald, 1952

Simon MacCorkindale, 1952

Steve Hackett, 1950

Cliff De Young, 1947

Maud Adams, 1945

Ray Manzarek, 1939

Judy Blume, 1938

Joe Don Baker, 1936

Bill Russell, 1934

Arlen Specter, 1930

Joe Garagiola, 1926

Franco Zeffirelli, 1923

Dom DiMaggio, 1917

Lorne Greene, 1915

Ted Mack, 1904

Roy Harris, 1898

Omar Bradley, 1893

Anna Pavlova, 1881

John Llewellyn Lewis, 1880

John Graham Chambers, 1843

Charles Darwin, 1809

Abraham Lincoln, 1809

Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 1775

Cotton Mather, 1663

John Winthrop the Younger, 1606

John Winthrop the Elder, 1588

Kujo Yoritsune, Japanese shogun, 1218

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Child's Play"(Play), 1970

Dracula(Film), 1931

"Rhapsody In Blue", 1924

"Beggar on Horseback"(Play), 1924

"Fruen Fra Havet(The Lady from the Sea)"(Ibsen Play), 1889

Today in History:

Vasco da Gama sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, on his second voyage to India, 1502

Santiago, Chile, is founded by Pedro de Valdivia, 1541

A year after claiming the throne of England for nine days, Lady Jane Grey is beheaded for treason, 1554

The Onderlinge van 1719 u.a., the oldest existing life insurance company in the Netherlands is founded, 1719

Englishman James Oglethorpe founds Georgia, the 13th colony of the Thirteen Colonies, and its first city at Savannah, 1733

The first US fugitive slave law, requiring the return of runaway slaves, is passed, 1793

The Teatro di San Carlo, the oldest working opera house in Europe, is destroyed by fire, 1816

The Creek Indian treaty is signed, requiring the tribes to turn over all of their land in Georgia to the government and migrate west by Sept. 1 the following year, 1825

Ecuador annexes the Galapagos Islands, 1832

Official proclamation sets April 15 as last day of grace for US silver coins to circulate in Canada, 1870

The US Congress abolishes bimetallism and authorizes $1 and $3 gold coins, 1873

King David Kalakaua of the Sandwich Islands/Hawaii becomes the first king to visit the US, 1874

The first news dispatch by telephone takes place, between Boston and Salem, Massachusetts, 1877

News of the Battle of Isandlwana, the single greatest defeat for the British Army at the hands of a native army, reaches London, 1879

The New York to Paris auto race, via Alaska and Siberia, begins; George Schuster wins after 88 days behind the wheel, 1908

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) forms, 1909

The last Ch'ing (Manchu) emperor of China, Hsuan T'ung, abdicates, 1912

A meteor creates an impact crater in Sikhote-Alin, in the Soviet Union, 1947

U.S.S.R. launches Venera 1 towards Venus, 1961

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, winner of the Nobel Prize in literature in 1970, is exiled from the Soviet Union, 1974

Carmen Lawrence becomes the first female Premier in Australian history when she becomes Premier of Western Australia, 1990

NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft touchdown in the "saddle" region of 433 Eros becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid, 2001

The city of San Francisco, California begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in response to a directive from Mayor Gavin Newsom, 2004

The 21st Winter Olympic Games open at Vancouver, Canada, 2010

North Korea allegedly conducts its third nuclear test, saying it was a nuclear device that could be weaponized, 2013

Intel entrepreneur and co-founder of the X-PRIZE Foundation, Peter Diamandis, claims that 50% of US jobs are under threat of being mechanized within 10 years, 2014

Pope Francis meets with Patriarch Kirill, the first meeting between Catholic and Russian Orthodox church heads for nearly 1,000 years, 2016