Clean Around Me (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and Money (Poetry Monday)

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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!

Abigail, Mr. BA and Ms. GA's cat, snuggled while we clean around her: 

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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.

EverydayPower

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Poetry Monday was started by Diane at On The Alberta/Montana Border.  She and Jenny at Procrastinating Donkey take turns providing a theme each week.   Charlotte/Mother Owl almost always participates, too.  This week the theme is Money.          

Why do we work so hard?

Money.

Why mow my own yard?

Money.

How to buy the food we need?

For what do your children plead?

How to pay bills as agreed?

Money.

Of what is there ne'er enough?

Money.

If we have to pay for stuff --

Money.

Pinching pennies, hold on tight!

To charity give, as is right!

Yet what keeps us up at night?

Money.

What tries to run the show?

Money.

Tries to enslave and keep us low?

Money.

It tries so hard to cause you strife,

Tear apart a husband, wife,

But don't give it your whole life!

Money.

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Today is:

Act Happy Week begins -- acting happy releases the body chemicals that aid health, mental and physical

Birthday of Sparky the Fire Dog -- can't confirm the exact date, but Sparky became an official fire prevention mascot in Mar. 1951

Brain Awareness Week begins-- the global campaign to increase public awareness of the progress and benefits of brain research    

Curlew Day -- Umatilla National Wildlife Refuge, OR, US (traditional date the long-billed curlew arrives, with up to 500 reported during their nesting season)

Day of the Book Smugglers -- Lithuania (recognizing the brave people who smuggled Lithuanian language books in the Latin alphabet into the country from 1866-1904, when the Russian Empire had banned such books)

Day After Dumbstruck Day -- Fairy Calendar

Dia de Benito Juarez -- Mexico (a Fiestas Patrias)

Elaphebolia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (festival of Artemis; date approximate)

Everything You Do is Right Day -- another internet generated holiday designed to get you into trouble if you aren't careful

Feast of Heru and His Companions -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Festival of Bacchus / Bacchanalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (through tomorrow)

Freedom of Information Day -- on the birthday of James Madison, Father of the US Constitution and an advocate for openness in government

Latvian Legion Day -- Latvia (no longer a formal national holiday, still celebrated by many in the region)

Lips Appreciation Day -- after all, where would you be without them, and how would you give kisses?  sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

National Artichoke Hearts Day

St. Heribert of Cologne's Day (Patron against drought)

St. Urho's Day -- Finnish communities in Canada and the US (a made up saint, the Finns answer to St. Patrick, who supposedly drove the grasshoppers out of Finland)

Wellderly Day -- and the start of Wellderly Week, focusing on the health of the elderly

Anniversary Today:

The United States Military Academy at West Point is established, 1802

Birthdays Today:

Judah Friedlander, 1969

Lauren Graham, 1969

Kevin Tod Smith, 1963

Isabel Huppert, 1955

Alice Hoffman, 1952

Kate Nelligan, 1951

Erik Estrada, 1949

Victor Garber, 1949

Chuck Woolery, 1942

Bernardo Bertolucci, 1940

Jerry Lewis, 1926

Mercedes McCambridge, 1916

Patricia Nixon, 1912

Henny Youngman, 1906

Rosa Bonheur, 1822

Georg Simon Ohm, 1787

James Madison, 1751

George Clymer, 1739

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Gumby Show"(TV), 1957

"1776"(Musical), 1969

"Der Unbestechliche"(Comedy), 1923

"In the South / Alassio"(Elgar, Op. 50), 1904

"Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen"(Mahler Song cycle), 1896

"Thaïs"(Opera), 1894

"Freedom's Journal"(first African American newspaper in the US, in New York), 1827

Today in History:

The Babylonians capture Jerusalem and replace Jehoiachin with Zedekiah as king, BC597

Caligula becomes Roman Emperor after the death of his great uncle, Tiberius, 37

The Jews of York England commit mass suicide rather than submit to baptism, 1190

Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan reaches Philippines, 1521

Samoset, a Mohegan, visits the settlers of Plymouth Colony and greets them, "Welcome, Englishmen! My name is Samoset," 1621

The US Army Corps of Engineers is established to found and operate the United States Military Academy at West Point, 1802

Prince Willem of the House of Orange-Nassau proclaims himself King of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, the first constitutional monarch in The Netherlands, 1815

New York Stock Exchange slowest day ever (31 shares traded), 1830

Susan Hayhurst becomes the first woman to graduate from a pharmacollogy college, 1830

Edward Clark became Governor of Texas, replacing Sam Houston, who was evicted from the office for refusing to take an oath of loyalty to the Confederacy, 1861

Joseph Lister's article outlining the discovery of antiseptic surgery is published in The Lancet, 1867

Hiram R Revels makes the first official speech by an African American in the US Senate, 1869

The Barnum and Bailey Circus debuts, 1881

Sir Arthur Evans discovers the ancient city of Knossus, 1900

Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fueled rocket, at Auburn, Massachusetts, 1926

The Ford Motor Company produces its 50 millionth automobile, the Thunderbird, averaging almost a million cars a year since the company's founding, 1958

Gemini 8 is launched, the 12th manned American space flight and first space docking with the Agena Target Vehicle, 1968

General Motors produces its 100 millionth automobile, the Oldsmobile Toronado, 1968

Demolition of the radio tower Ismaning, the last wooden radio tower in Germany, 1983

Associated Press newsman Terry Anderson is taken hostage in Beirut; he will be held for 6 1/2 years, 1985

Pope John Paul II asks God for forgiveness for the inactivity and silence of some Roman Catholics during the Holocaust, 1998

Israel officially hands over Jericho to Palestinian control, 2005

Voters in Crimea vote overwhelmingly to leave Ukraine and rejoin Russia amid international condemnation of its design, 2014

Apple announces it will begin a web TV service in September, carrying 25 channels and including networks like CBS, Fox, and ABC, and costing less than most cable TV packages, 2014

A beached, dead whale in Mabini, Philippines, is found to have 88 pounds of plastic inside it, including 40 pounds of plastic bags, 2019