Mascot (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and An Attempt At Poetry

(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!

Riley, our prayer group dog.

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

Sparks, the brainchild of Annie of McGuffy's Reader, is on hiatus, so here's an Inspiring Quote of the Week in her honor.

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

Delores of Muted Mumblings has participated in a Monday poetry post, and this week she provided the prompts of "ice and snow."  In a rash moment, i said i would try to see what i could do, so here goes:

Ice and snow

Do not go

With alligators

Cold and bluster

tend to fluster

our hot swamps

We can tell you

Winter comes too

Often for us

We are creatures

All whose features

Love the heat

Don't know if that counts as a poem, but at least it's something.    

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

Today is:

Anniversary of the Elf Wars -- Fairy Calendar

Blue Monday -- UK (it's gloomy winter, it's after the holidays, it's time to cheer someone up by doing something nice for him/her)

Celtic Tree Month Luis (Rowan) begins

Errol Barrow Day -- Barbados

Full Wolf Moon -- the wolves howl hungrily during this cold month, sometimes called the Old Moon or the Yule Moon; some of the following celebrations began yesterday evening

    Duruthu Full Moon Poya Day -- Sri Lanka

    Mahayana New Year -- Buddhist

    Pyatho Full Moon -- Myanmar (traditionally the time of equestrian festivals)

    Thorrablot/Thurseblot -- Ancient Norse Calendar (feast honoring Thor, guardian of Midgard, at the first full moon of the new year)

    Thaipusam/Thaipoosam Cavadee -- Tamil People; Malaysia; Mauritius (Tamil Hindu multi-day celebration of the birth of the god Murugan)

International Bon Jovi Day -- they released their first album this date in 1983

Lady of Altagracia Day -- Dominican Republic

Martin Luther King Jr. Day -- US and Territories (obs.)

National Hugging Day™ -- includes the announcements of the Most Huggable People of the Year

New England Clam Chowder Day

Quebec Flag Day -- Quebec, Canada

Squirrel Appreciation Day -- sponsored by Christy Hargrove of the Western North Carolina Nature Center

St. Agnes' Day (Patron of betrothed couples, bodily purity/chastity, crops, gardeners, Girl Scouts, girls, rape victims, virgins; the Colegio Capranica of Rome; Manresa, Spain; Rockville Centre, NY)

St. Meinrad of Einsiedeln's Day (Patron of hospitality; Einsiedeln, Switzerland; Swabia, Germany)

Tu B'Shevat -- Judaism ("New Year of the Trees", began yesterday at sunset, through sunset today)

Wellington Provincial Anniversary Day -- Wellington, New Zealand (obs.; trad. date 22nd)

Anniversary Today:

Kiwanis International is founded in Detroit, 1915

Birthdays Today:

Robby Benson, 1956

Geena Davis, 1956

Billy Ocean, 1960

Jill Eikenberry, 1947

Mac Davis, 1942

Placido Domingo, 1941

Jack Nicklaus, 1940

Wolfman Jack, 1939

Benny Hill, 1925

Telly Savalas, 1924

Benny Hill, 1924

Paul Scofield, 1922

Barney Clark, 1921

Karl Wallenda, 1905

Christian Dior, 1905

Roger Nash Baldwin, 1884

John M. Browning, 1855

Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, 1824

Ethan Allen, 1738

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Kid"(Film), 1921

"The Daily News"(first issue, edited by Charles Dickens), 1848

"Power of Sympathy"(publication date of WH Brown's novel, considered the first American novel), 1789

Today in History:

Philip II, Henry II, and Richard the Lionheart initiate the 3rd Crusade, 1189

The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded, 1525

The first American novel, WH Brown's "Power of Sympathy," is published, 1789

After being found guilty of treason by the French Convention, Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine, 1793

Edward Jenner's smallpox vaccination is introduced, 1799

The envelope-folding machine is patented by Russell Hawes, Worcester, Massachusetts, 1853

The first US sewage disposal system that is separate from storm drains opens in Memphis, Tennessee, 1880

The first slalom ski race is run in Murren, Switzerland, 1922

The Flag of Quebec is adopted and flown for the first time over the National Assembly of Quebec, 1948

A B-52 bomber crashes near Thule Air Base, contaminating the area after its nuclear payload ruptures. One of the four bombs remains unaccounted for after the cleanup operation is complete, 1968

The current Emley Moor transmitting station, the tallest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom, begins transmitting UHF broadcasts, 1971

Commercial service of Concorde begins with the London-Bahrain and Paris-Rio routes, 1976

Production of the iconic DeLorean DMC-12 sports car begins in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland, 1981

NASA's MER-A (the Mars Rover Spirit) ceases communication with mission control. The problem lies in the management of its flash memory and is fixed remotely from Eart, 2004

Black Monday in worldwide stock markets. FTSE 100 had its biggest ever one-day points fall, European stocks closed with their worst result since 11 September 2001, and Asian stocks drop as much as 14%, 2008

The Eyak language in Alaska becomes extinct as its last native speaker dies, 2008

LA Lakers forward Kobe Bryant becomes the youngest NBA player to reach 25,000 career points at 31 years, 151 days, beating Wilt Chamberlain by 35 days, 2010

Gambian Dictator Yahya Jammeh finally concedes office and leaves Gambia 2 months after losing the presidential election, 2018