Who Wants a Cookie? (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and Poetry Monday

(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.) 

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Awww Monday is hosted by Sandee at 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!

Our client's dog, Cookie, is getting bigger but is no less cute (the pictures are at a bit of a distance because if you get near enough she jumps like she's got a spring under her rump and you can't get a photo):

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

KeepInspiring.me

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Delores and her friend Jenny are taking turns providing a theme for Poetry Monday, and i am trying my hand at participating.  This weeks theme is Portal.      

Portals and pathways are open galore

Sometimes you lose one, and then you gain more.

The way to your dreams is quite open to view,

How you get down that path, well, it's all up to you.

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Today is:

Araw ng Maynila -- Philippines (Manila Day)

Bannockburn Day -- Scotland (decisive battle of the first Scottish War of Independence, led by Robert Bruce)

Burning of the Lamps in Egypt at Sais -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar, a celebration of Isis and Neith (date approximate)

Calcio Fiorentino -- Florence, Italy (reviving 16th century style football in period costumes, through the 28th)

Carabobo Day -- Venezuela (battle commemoration)

Celebration of the Senses -- Wellcat Holidays urges you to enjoy all five (six?) of your senses today

Countryman's Day -- Peru (one of Peru's three Fiestas Patrias Peruanas)

Day of the Caboclo -- Amazonas State, Brazil

Discovery Day -- NL, Canada

Eastern Music Festival --  Guilford College, Greensboro, NC, US (an acclaimed festival and school, with world-class guest artists; through July 27)

Feast of Rahmat (Mercy) -- Baha'i

Flying Saucer Day -- anniversary of Kenneth Arnold's 1947 sighting, while flying near Mt. Rainier, of 9 metallic, circular objects he could not identify

Fors Fortuna -- Ancient Roman Calendar (rites and festival for the goddess of good luck and fortune)

International Fairy Day/Faerie Day -- day for collectors, believers, and artists to share their love for the little folk     

Kirkpinar Oil Wrestling Festival -- Kirkpinar, Edirne, Turkey (since 1362, the oldest wrestling festival in the world as well as the oldest continually running, sanctioned sporting event in the world, in which men clad in leather britches and covered in olive oil wrestle; through Sunday)

Lost Handkerchief Day -- Fairy Calendar

Museum Comes to Life Day -- another fun and funny day someone came up with

National Creamy Pralines Day

Please Take My Children To Work Day -- originally sponsored by mamasaid.net; a tongue-in-cheek way to request that you give a full- or part-time stay-at-home mom a break today!

Solmanudor -- Icelandic calendar, Sun Month, with the midnight sun dominating the time of year

St. John the Baptist's Nativity Day and related Midsummer celebrations (Patron of baptism, bird dealers, converts, children with convulsions, epileptics, farriers, French Canadians, lambs, monastic life, motorways, printers, tailors; against convulsions, epilepsy, hail and hailstorms, and spasms; Patron of over 60 cities and countries around the globe)

   Inti Raymi -- Peru (Incan Sun Festival)

   Jaanipaev -- Estonia

   Jani -- Latvia

   Jónsmessa -- Iceland (feast of St. John the Baptist, considered a magical night when cows can speak, seals take on human form, finding magical stones and herbs is propitious, and rolling naked in the dew is healing.)

   Macau Day -- China (celebrating the defeat of Dutch invasion forces in 1622 and paying homage to St. John as the port's Patron Saint)

   Midsummer Day -- England

   National Holiday -- Quebec, Canada (Sant Jean-Baptiste)

   Saint John the Baptist Day -- Andorra

   Saint Jonas Festival or Jonines -- Lithuania

   San Juan -- CT and GA, Spain

   Surinal -- North Korea

   Zuni Buffalo, Corn, and Comanche Dances -- Zuni Native Americans (for fertility of land and people; Vespers is also observed, as San Juan is their Patron Saint)

Swim a Lap Day -- just for fun!

Swing a Kid Day -- if swimming isn't right for you

Anniversaries Today:

Eton College is founded by Henry VI, 1441

Birthdays Today:

Sherry Stringfield, 1967

Joe Penny, 1956

Nancy Allen, 1950

Phyllis George, , 1949

Peter Weller, 1947

Mick Fleetwood, 1947

Ellison Shoji Onizuka, 1946

Jeff Beck, 1944

Michele Lee, 1942

Claude Chabrol, 1930

John Anthony Ciardi. 1916

Phil Harris, 1904

Jack Dempsey, 1895

Roy O. Disney, 1893

Ambrose Bierce, 1842

Henry Ward Beecher, 1813

Debuting/Premiering Today:

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse(Film), 2010

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest(Film), 2006

Catch-22(Film), 1970

"Hopalong Cassidy"(TV), 1949

"American Mercury Presents:  Meet the Press"(Radio), 1945

Today in History:

Battle of Cedynia, the first documented victory of Polish forces, takes place, 972

A sudden outbreak of St. John's Dance causes people in the streets of Aachen, Germany, to experience hallucinations and begin to jump and twitch uncontrollably until they collapse from exhaustion, 1374

John Cabot lands in North America at Newfoundland; the first European 

exploration of the region since the Vikings, 1497

Miguel Lopez de Legazpi founds Manila, the capital of the Republic of the Philippines, 1571

Samuel de Champlain discovers the mouth of the Saint John River, site of Reversing Falls and the present day city of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, 1604

The colony of New Jersey is founded, 1664

Kingston, Jamaica is founded, 1692

The Premier Grand Lodge of England, the first Masonic Grand Lodge in the world (now the United Grand Lodge of England), is founded in London, England, 1717

The first republican constitution in France is adopted, 1793

The decisive battle in the war of independence of Venezuela from Spain, the Battle of Carabobo takes place, 1821

First performance of O Canada, the song that would become the national anthem of Canada, at the Congrès national des Canadiens-Français, 1880

The first exhibition of Pablo Picasso's work opens, 1901

Mary Pickford becomes the first female film star to get a million dollar contract, 1916

The first airmail service in Canada from Montreal to Toronto begins, 1918

Siam is renamed Thailand by Plaek Pibulsonggram, the third prime minister, 1939

The Soviet Union makes overland travel between the West with West Berlin impossible, 1948

The United Kingdom grants Zanzibar internal self-government, 1963

Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud completes his first mission, becoming the first Arab and first Muslim in space, as a Payload Specialist, 1985

John Isner of the United States defeats Nicolas Mahut of France at Wimbledon, in the longest match in professional tennis history, 2010

The last known Pinta Island Tortoise, Lonesome George, is found dead in the Galapagos Islands, 2012

British Prime Minister David Cameron resigns after the UK votes to leave the EU, 2016