Bianca and Splenda (Awww Monday), Thought-Provoking Quote of the Week, and My Favorite (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!

These two are Bianca and Splenda.  Their owner moved into hospice, so they need a new home.  Splenda is still shy, but Bianca has taken to escaping her cage for hugs every chance she can.

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Sparks, the brainchild of Annie of McGuffy's Reader, is on hiatus, so here's a Thought-Provoking Quote of the Week in her honor.

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Poetry Monday was started by Diane at On The Alberta/Montana Border.  Jenny at Procrastinating Donkey might or might not feel up to participating, depending on how her husband is doing.   Charlotte/Mother Owl almost always participates.  This week the theme is Pictures/Art.                     

To round out my education,

In Europe i once did tour,

Saw palaces and cathedrals,

The Louvre was dandy for sure,

So i've visited lots of museums,

Seen lots of famous art

In US and other countries,

And much of it has my heart,

But the art that i hold dearest,

What i most loved to see,

Pictures my kids put on my fridge,

They were most special to me.

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Today is:

Armed Forces Day -- Indonesia (Hari Tentara Nasional)

Blue Shirt Day / World Day of Bullying Prevention    

California Rideshare Week -- California, US (designed to encourage commuters to take personal responsibility for reducing traffic and smog by pledging to rideshare); it all started with     

     Ride-Share Week 2020-- Ventura County, CA, US (encouraging car dependent Californians to drive less, save money, keep the air cleaner, and carpool)

Child Health Day -- US (as established by President Calvin Coolidge in 1928)

Constitution Day -- Vanuatu

Country Inn, Bed-and-Breakfast Day

Do Something Nice Day -- internet generated; make someone's day brighter, it will brighten your own

Festival of the Five Toes -- Fairy Calendar

Festival of Mania -- Ancient Roman Calendar (held to placate the Manes, on dates when it was believed the doors to the underworld were open and the dead were free to roam)

International Day of No Prostitution -- information here    

Labour Day -- ACT, NSW, & SA, Australia

Long Walk Day -- David Kunst finished his walk around the world on this day in 1974; go for a long walk in his honor

Magal de Touba -- Touba, Senegal (Muslim pilgrimage to honor the memory of Sheikh Amadou Bamba; began sunset yesterday, through sunset today)

Most Common Birthday -- US (yes, according to Anybirthday.com, on average, more people are born in the US on this day than any other; wonder if it has anything to do with today being 9 months after New Year's Eve?)

National Apple Betty Day

National Education Day -- Kiribati

National Metric Week -- US (yes, it's no fun to switch; get over it and learn, it's good for your brain!)  

Nobel Conference 56 -- Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, MN, US (annual two-day symposium, this year it is online only, and the focus is Cancer in the Age of BIotechnology)

Noisy Munching Day -- a fun day for kids, or your own inner child; munch chips, celery, pickles, anything loud, to annoy others

Nubaigai -- Pagan Lithuanian Calendar (harvest festival; can't get independent confirmation that it's always on this day)

Peat-Cutting Day -- Falkland Islands (Spring Holiday)

Queen's Birthday -- QLD, Australia

Republic Day -- Portugal

St. Placid's Day

Territory Day -- Christmas Island

Thanksgiving Day -- Saint Lucia

Thesmophoria -- Ancient Greek Calendar (start of a 3 day women's festival of Demeter; date approximate)

Unicorn Questing Season begins -- as established by the late W. T. "Bill" Rabe, get your official license here   

World Architecture Day -- International Union of Architects     

World Habitat Day -- UN (Habitat for Humanity) 

World Teachers Day -- UN

Birthdays Today:

Jesse Eisenberg, 1983

Kate Winslet, 1975

Parminder K. Nagra, 1975

Josie Bissett, 1970

Mario Lemieux, 1965

Laura Davies, 1963

Michael Andretti, 1962

Maya Ying Lin, 1959

Bernie Mac, 1957

Bob Geldof, 1954

Clive Barker, 1952

Bob Geldof, 1951

Karen Allen, 1951

Jeff Conaway, 1950

Steve Miller, 1943

Vaclav Havel, 1936

Bill Dana, 1924

Glynis Johns, 1923

Bil Keane, 1922

Donald Pleasence, 1919

Allen Ludden, 1917

Larry Fine, 1902

Robert Hutchings Goddard, 1882

Louis Lumiere, 1864

Chester A. Arthur, 1829

Denis Diderot, 1713

Jonathan Edwards, 1703

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Monty Python's Flying Circus"(TV), 1969

"Love Me Do"(Single release), 1962

"Zane Grey Theater"(TV), 1956

"The Diary of Anne Frank"(Play), 1955

"You Bet Your Life"(TV), 1950

"Secret Service"(Play), 1896

"Orfeo ed Euridice/Orpheus and Euridice"(Opera), 1762

Today in History:

Founding of the city of Concepcion, Chile, 1550

The Gregorian calendar is introduced in Italy and other Catholic countries, 1582

March on Versailles by the women of Paris, 1789

Shawnee Chief Tecumseh killed in the battle of the Thames, 1813

Founding of the City of Anaheim, 1857

Destruction of most of Calcutta by cyclone, approximately 60,000 die, 1864

A strong hurricane devastates the Bay of Fundy region of Maritime Canada, 1869

The surrender of Chief Joseph, after the 1,700 mile retreat, marks the end of the Nez Pierce War, 1877

The first individual time trial for racing cyclists is held on a 50-mile course north of London, 1895

Sir Samuel Griffith is appointed the first Chief Justice of Australia and Sir Edmund Barton and Richard O'Connor are appointed as foundation justices, 1903

First appearance of the Little Orphan Annie comic strip in the NYC Daily News, 1924

Suffrage is extended to women in France, 1944

The 1948 Ashgabat earthquake kills 110,000, 1948

The first documented recovery meeting of Narcotics Anonymous is held, 

1953Dr. No, the first in the James Bond film series, was released, 1962

The first episode of the famous comedy show Monty Python's Flying Circus aired on BBC, 1969

Signature of the European Patent Convention, 1973

Raoul Wallenberg is made an honorary US citizen, 1981

Marc Garneau becomes the first Canadian in space, aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, 1984

The first official version of the Linux kernel, version 0.02, is released, 1991

The Bulldozer Revolution begins in Belgrade, eventually leading to the resignation of Slobodan Milosevic, 2000

A new, though threatened, language known as Koro, is discovered by a team of linguists on an expedition to Arunachal Pradesh, in northeastern India, 2010

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded to Edvard Moser, May-Britt Moser and John O'Keefe, neuroscientists who discovered the brain cells responsible for positioning and navigation memory, 2014

Governor Jerry Brown of California signs a bill giving terminally ill patients the "right to die," 2015

The constitutional court of Spain suspends the Catalan parliament to prevent declaration of independence, 2017