Monday, December 28, 2020

Bottle Babies (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and Resolved (Poetry Monday)

 ***********************************






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!


How about a flashback of bottle babies.  After all, right at the New Year, we're supposed to do a bit of looking back.
















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



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




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



Poetry Monday was started by Diane at On The Alberta/Montana Border Jenny at Procrastinating Donkey is taking a blog break due to her husband's health.   Charlotte/Mother Owl always participates, too, and SpikesBestMate will leave a contribution in the comments on one of our blogs.  This week the theme is Resolutions.              

    


I don’t make resolutions ‘cause

Those buggers i don’t keep,

You may think i am silly

But the reasons they run deep.


There are four kinds of people

When it comes to expectations

And depending on your tendency,

That’s your resolutions' foundations.


If you are an Upholder,

What you expect of you, you do,

And you are motivated also

To do what others expect of you.


When you are a Questioner,

Then others must convince,

You only do what you expect of you,

Unless you get evidence.


The Rebel says, “You can’t make me!

And I can’t make me, either!”

What you expect, and what he expects,

Well, he will just do neither.


Then there are Obligers like me,

What others expect of us,

Well, we tend to do it,

But if we ask it of ourselves, we fuss.


So Upholders keep resolutions,

And Questioners if it makes sense,

But Obligers don’t keep our word to ourselves,

And Rebels put up every defense.


If you have any questions

About these four tendencies,

Gretchen Rubin wrote a book,

Look it up, if you please!


(Yes, there is a book, The Four Tendencies, by Gretchen Rubin, and it is worth getting and reading.)



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



Today is:


Bairns Day -- Scotland (Begins the runic half-month of Eoh, the yew tree, which signifies the dead, and is now associated with the Slaughter of the Innocents of Christian tradition, so today is considered by some the unluckiest day of the year, and no work should be undertaken today.)


Call a Friend Day -- just to catch up a bit


Card Playing Day -- internet generated, enjoy a fun game with friends and family; "Go fish!"


Childermas a/k/a Holy Innocents Day -- (Patrons of babies, children's choirs, foundlings)

     various Christian traditions celebrate under many names and in various ways

     Els Enfarinats -- Ibn, Valencia, Spain (flour fight, and if it's anything like the tomato throwing in other towns of Spain, it's probably lots of fun)

     French Childermas tradition interpreted what the Norse saw as evidence of the Wild Hunt of Odin as the spirits of the Holy Innocents running from King Herod

     Inocentes -- Mexico, and sometimes celebrated as Mexican December Fool's Day (Herod fooled himself into thinking he had gotten rid of his rival king born in Bethlehem.)


Dyzemas Day -- Northhamptonshire, UK (an unlucky day to begin any new undertaking, "what is begun on Dysemas Day will never be finished")

     origin unknown, but often translated as Tithe Day, being very close to the Portugese word for tithe


Eat A Vegetarian Day -- an internet generated joke; yes, the vegetarian in question can be a cow


Endangered Species Act Day -- US (act passed 1973; a day to mourn species already extinct)


Fairy Academy of Window-Frosting Winter Exhibition -- Fairy Calendar


Fourth Day of Christmas


King Taksin Memorial Day -- Thailand


Kwanzaa, Day 3, Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility)


National Chocolate Candy Day


Proclamation Day -- South Australia (trad.)


Return a Gift for the Cold Hard Cash Day -- and good luck, these days


Runic Half-month Eoh (yew) commences


Take a Drive and Enjoy the Christmas Lights Day -- before they are gone for another year


Unluckiest Day of the Year -- various traditions state no work should be started today, for whatever is started today will never be finished!  In Olde England, nothing of importance was ever undertaken on Childermas, because it would prove unlucky



Anniversaries Today:


Billy Ray Cyrus weds Leticia Finley, 1994

The US Pledge of Allegiance is formally adopted, 1945

Iowa becomes the 29th US State, 1846



Birthdays Today:


David Archuleta, 1990

Sienna Miller, 1981

John Legend, 1978

Joe Mangianello, 1976

Todd Richards, 1969

Malcolm Gets, 1964

Denzel Washington, 1954

Edgar Winter, 1946

Don Francisco, 1940

Maggie Smith, 1934

Nichelle Nichols, 1933

Martin Milner, 1931

Johnny Otis, 1921

Sam Levenson, 1911

Lew Ayres, 1908

Cliff Arquette, 1905

Earl "Fatha" Hines, 1905

Hendrik Meijer, 1883

Woodrow Wilson, 1856

John Molson, 1763



Debuting/Premiering Today:


"The Gulag Archipelago"(Publication date), 1973

"Last of the Red Hot Lovers"(Play), 1969

"Night of the Iguana"(Play), 1961

"On the Town"(Musical), 1944

"Tip-Toes"(Musical), 1925

"St. Joan"(Play), 1923

"Cyrano de Bergerac"(Play), 1897



Today in History:


The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, a/k/a Westminster Abbey, is consecrated, 1065

The reign of Emperor Hanazono of Japan begins, 1308

Galileo Galilei becomes the first astronomer to observe the planet Neptune, although he mistakenly catalogued it as a fixed star, 1612

King Taksin is crowned as king of Thailand and establishes Thonburi as a capital, 1768

Construction of Yonge Street, formerly recognized as the longest street in the world, begins in York, Upper Canada (present-day Toronto, Ontario), 1795

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake strikes Echigo, Japan, killing 30,000+, 1828

John Calhoun becomes the first US Vice President to resign (over differences with President Andrew Jackson), 1832

Spain recognizes independence of Mexico, 1836

South Australia and Adelaide are founded, 1836

Rangoon Burma, destroyed by fire, 1841

The United States claims Midway Island, the first territory annexed outside Continental limits, 1867

The Lumière brothers perform for their first paying audience at the Grand Cafe in Boulevard des Capucines, marking the debut of the cinema, 1895

The first municipally owned streetcars take to the streets in San Francisco, California, 1912

The Peak District becomes the United Kingdom's first National Park, 1950

Alexander Solzhenitsyn publishes "Gulag Archipelago", 1973

Winnie Mandela is banished from South Africa, 1976

The first American "test-tube baby", Elizabeth Jordan Carr, is born in Norfolk, Virginia, 1981

U.S. retail giant Montgomery Ward announces it is going out of business after 128 years, 2000

At 115 years old and 266 days, Jiroemon Kimura of Japan becomes the world's oldest living person, 2012

Iranian woman Vida Mohaved is arrested for protesting against the policy of the compulsory hijab, sparking other protests, 2017

21 comments:

  1. Those kittens are so tiny! They can't be more than a month old.
    I don't make resolutions.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Definitely awww.
    I don't make resolutions either. Or not many. I do try and resolve to be kind. And mostly don't do too badly.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Awww..those kitties are so kitty. I don't make resolutions because it never works out for me. Nice poem. Happy New Year to you and yours.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Itty Bitty Kitties, adorable one and all. (how do you find the time/energy to research all this AMAZING information ... paws up to you!)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I don't make resolutions either. Instead I focus on living each day the best I can, and I'm quite busy doing that.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Those kittens are so precious! Love your Monday quotes, they are always so good! Have a great New Year's week.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Beautiful little babies. Thanx for all your good works, Mimi.

    God bless.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Good poem about why not to make resolutions. But she (and you) forgot the 5th kind: "The good-willed". The ones who start out with a will and then - whether they succeed or not - just stop following the resolutions after a week or three. I am such a one, so I know.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Such cute kittens. Great spark and poem. I have not heard of that book, I am going to add it to my Goodreads to-read list right now.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oh my what cute kittens ...awwww!

    Have a kittentastic safe day 😷😷😷

    ReplyDelete
  12. I like days that decree that I really shouldn't bother doing much of anything... Oh, except eat chocolate. :-D

    ReplyDelete
  13. Lovely kitty pics! A good poem, Mimi. I wonder why we put ourselves through this annual ritual - we know it is most likely to end in tears! I'm sticking with one resolution only this year, just for me. I'm posting it in my poem on Diane's blog. Happy New Year - may it be a much better one for us all.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Those are such sweet little bottle babies. Good Spark too. The only resolution we make is to not make resolutions and so far we've kept this one.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Awww on the kittens. You do such wonderful things for kitties. Bless you.

    Love the Spark and I don't make resolutions either. Setting yourself up for failure and I always try to avoid that. I need to read that book too.

    Thank you for joining the Awww Mondays Blog Hop.

    Have a fabulous Awww Monday and week. Big hug. ♥

    ReplyDelete
  16. Awww, those little ones are so precious! I'm not sure which category I fit into, I see myself in all of them - I'll need to read the book to really get a better idea, but it sounds like a good read - thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Ohmyword! Best. Poem. Ever! And which of those four am I, I wonder...
    Is there anything cuter than a kitten. Especially when their ears are still folded over. Soooo cute!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Awwww the babies! And the Spark-Fabulishious! We loved the poetry too!
    Purrs
    Marv, Jo Jo, Kozmo, Cinnamon and Barb

    ReplyDelete
  19. Interesting- I really did not recognize myself in any of the four-perhaps an Upholder But only if I think it is the right thing to do? Meanwhile I love your bottle babies and YES I have had my chocolate of the day! Everyday! Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  20. I miss hearing from you ~ Hope you had a wonderful Xmas ~ Xox

    Happy New Year to you,

    A ShutterBug Explores,
    aka (A Creative Harbor)

    ReplyDelete
  21. Happy Awww Monday!! It was so wonderful to see all of these cute kitten photos. It made our long day much better. Thanks for sharing. Have a wonderful rest of your day and happy upcoming New Year.
    World of Animals Rittenhouse

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for meandering by and letting me know you were here!
Comments on posts more than a week old are moderated.
If Blogger puts your comment in "spam jail," i'll try to get it hauled out by day's end.