Beautiful Baby (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!

Today is Grandma's birthday.

She really was a beautiful baby!

***********************************

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

***********************************

Today is:

Beaufort Wind Force Scale Day -- birth anniversary of the British Navy officer whose wind scale, in refined form

Box Camera Day -- George Eastman patented the Box Camera on this day in 1888

Day of the Soldier -- El Salvador 

Experience the Awesome Stomach-Churning Wonder of a Thrill Ride Day -- internet generated, and they can have it!

Feast of St. Nicola -- Bari, Italy (celebrates's the moving of the relics of St. Nicholas -- yes, later Santa Claus -- to this town, where they still are; here he is patron of orphans and pirates, and the date of his body's arrival is celebrated as a huge three-day festival with fireworks included)

Fire Escape Ladder Day -- Joseph Winters patented a wagon-mounted version on this day in 1878

Hamburg Harbor Day -- Hamburg, Germany (founding of the city)

Homeland Defender's Day -- Kazakhstan

Homespun History Day -- internet holiday often exploited by Modern Drunkard Magazine as a day upon which to drink specifically so the stories will sound better

Melanoma Monday -- learn how to check yourself for skin cancer, and how to get someone else to check your back, the most common spot for melanoma    

National Barrier Awareness Day -- US (declared by Presidential Proclamation in 1986)    

National Library Legislative Day and Virtual Library Legislative Days -- US (40+ years of the ALA advocating for libraries, encouraging librarians around the US to go to Washington, D.C., or their own state capitals to speak to legislators about the important library issues; through tomorrow)    

National Meeting Planners Appreciation Day 2018 -- US (you are only obligated to celebrate this if you love meetings, love to plan meetings, or have a meeting planner in your organization to humor)

National Roast Leg of Lamb Day

Nones of May -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Radio Day -- Bulgaria; Russia

School Bus Driver Appreciation Day -- US

St. Domitian of Huy's Day (Patron of Huy Liege, Belgium; against fever)

Anniversaries Today:

Founding of Univerzita Karlova in Prague, the first university in Central Europe, 1348

Birthdays Today:

Owen Hart, 1965

Peter Reckell, 1955

Amy Heckerling, 1954

Tim Russert, 1950

Johnny Unitas, 1933

Teresa Brewer, 1931

Darren McGavin, 1922

Eva Peron, 1919

Gary Cooper, 1901

Archibald Macleish, 1892

Gabby Hayes, 1885

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, 1840

Johannes Brahms, 1833

Robert Browning, 1812

Francis Beaufort, 1774

David Hume, 1711

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Strike It Rich"(TV), 1951

Choral Symphony in D Minor(Beethoven's Ninth), 1824

Today in History:

The dome of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople collapses, 558

Joan of Arc leads the final charge in the Battle of Orleans, 1429

Louis XIV of France inaugurates The Palace of Versailles, 1664

The city of New Orleans is founded by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, 1718

Jews are expelled from Ukraine by Empress Catherine I of Russia, 1727

Chief Pontiac begins the "Conspiracy of Pontiac" by attacking British forces at Fort Detroit, 1763

The independence of Greece is recognized by the Treaty of London, 1832

George Eastman patents the "Kodak Box Camera," 1888

In Saint Petersburg, Russian scientist Alexander Stepanovich Popov demonstrates to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society his invention, the Popov lightning  detector — a primitive radio receiver, 1895

German  submarine  SM U-20  sinks RMS Lusitania, 1915

England lowers age of women voters from 30 to 21, 1928

Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (later renamed Sony) is founded with around 20 employees, 1946

The Council of Europe is founded during the Hague Congress, 1948

The concept of the integrated circuit, the basis for all modern computers, is first published by Geoffrey W.A. Dummer, 1952

Canadian Patrick Morrow became the first person to climb each of the Seven Summits, 1986

The Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on its first mission, 1992

Mercedes-Benz buys Chrysler for $40 billion USD and forms DaimlerChrysler in the largest industrial merger in history, 1998

The tomb of Herod the Great is discovered, 2007

A new study reports that all Europeans are related to a small group of ancestors dating back only 1,000 years; researchers believe it's likely that everyone in the world is related over the past few thousand years, 2013